Alexia Ciannor & The Risen

Template:Mercbox2 This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Amidst a swarm of the walking dead, the infamous Alexia Ciannor reaps the souls of her enemies with the hell-forged blade Witchfire. The dark sorceress can raise an army of terrifying thrall warriors from the grave and moves alongside them as she lays about her with her sword, leaving nothing but ashes where she strikes.

Basic Info

Alexia & The Risen

Mercenary - This unit will work for Template:Cygnar Mercenary, or Template:Khador Mercenary.

Abilities

• Alexia
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Death Magic
  • Template:Granted (Template:Spell Ward-alt)
  • Template:Magic Ability
    • Template:Craft Thrall Rune
    • Template:Dominate Undead
  • Template:Stir the Dead

• The Risen
  • Template:CMA
  • Template:Undead

Weapons

Alexia	Handcannon File:Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW  12 1 Template:- 12 Witchfire File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  1 8 12 Template:Magical Weapon
The Risen	Claws File:Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S  0.5 2 7

Thrall Warrior

The Thrall Warrior is not part of the unit, he is a separate solo. You start the game with zero Thrall Warriors, but can end up with a theoretically infinite number of them via Craft Thrall Rune. Template:Thrall Warrior

Theme Forces

• Mercenaries
  • Template:Flames in the Darkness. Alexia & the Risen gain Vengeance in this theme.
  • Template:Operating Theater (only if controlled by a Cephalyx Dominator)
  • Template:Steelies. The Thrall Warriors she spawns gain Mark Target in this theme.
  • Template:The Irregulars

• Other Factions
  • Mercenarymodels can be hired by other Factions. Normally those Factions' themes will have a limit on how many models they can hire. Refer to #Other Theme Forces, below.
  • Aside from that, there are a few themes that will change what Faction this model counts as (and thus what "friendly Faction only" buffs it can receive). They are:
    • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Crosse2 is leading the army.
    • Cygnar and Khador players can use this unit in the Template:Flames in the Darkness theme. Alexia & the Risen gain Vengeance in this theme.

Thoughts on Alexia1

Alexia1 in a nutshell

This unit does 3 things: it's a recursion tarpit unit (and the respawned Risen can activate normally on the turn they're spawned unlike many other recursion-based units), it generates a decent solo each turn that can activate the same turn, and Alexia herself can be pretty powerful in melee by burning Risen to buy/boost attacks. (Note that Alexia can't smash stuff in melee and generate a solo in the same turn.) Lastly Alexia has Dominate Undead, but that is more "niche" rather than a core part of her role.

Alexia is played in armies that wish to exploit recursion and scenario play. Simply take her alongside a living unit and she'll replace fallen models with Risen. Risen are nearly worthless, stats-wise, but their mere presence greatly extends how long you can contest or even control scenario zones.

Her unit normally walks every turn so Alexia can spawn a Thrall solo. These solos can be spawned almost anywhere you like, then activate normally. This makes them great for running deep into the enemy lines, contesting even more scenario elements. All without you actually having to give up anything of value.

Alexia1 is quite a popular Mercenary choice for warjack-centric themes that otherwise have very few units to choose from, such as Heavy Metal.

Combos and Synergies

In order to feed Alexia corpses you need large units of cheap living troops. You can't depend on the enemy bringing the bodies for you! Ideally you want these cheap troops to be in front of Alexia.

• Press Gangers are tough and advance deploy. You end up with a lot of bullet sponges by the time people are through the Gangers and the Risen.
• Steelhead Halberdiers are very cheap and pretty effective. A very strong build involves the Risen and 57 Halberdiers run by Magnus2.
• Winter Guard Infantry are cheap and with Alexia get even more able to jam.
• Operating Theatre (Cephalyx). One common list is infantryspam (well, drudge spam). The more dead drudges, the more Risen. But if you aren't using drudge-spam don't bring Alexia.
  • Cephalyx Dominator is needed to take Alexia in Operating Theatre.

Other combos:

• Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - makes the Risen tough, which really sucks for the other guy to deal with.
• Lanyssa Ryssyl is one of the only ways to increase her threat range.
• The Commodore Cannon can use the spawned Thralls as "homing beacons" for its slam attacks. Simply spawn and run the Thrall in front of a small-based model you want to knock down, then use the Cannon to shoot the Thrall in the back.
• Shae's feat can give the spawned Thralls another 3", letting them dig even deeper into enemy lines.
• Malakov2 + a Ranking Officer can let you give Backstab to the Risen. Since they spawn in the Control Phase, it is quite easy to spawn them in the enemy's back arc.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If you use the run/charge order, Alexia can't spawn a Thrall Warrior (or cast Dominate Undead).
• The Risen only have a 9.5" threat range.
• The Risen have terrible stats - but that's what you expect for their points cost.
• Spell Ward means you can't buff them.
• There are quite a few models who love hunting down flimsy undead grunts for their corpses, most notably the Death Archon
  • The Void Archon also loves soft targets to trigger Void Walk and wreak havoc in the back lines.

Tricks & Tips

• Any buffs you put on Alexia's unit do not apply to any Thrall Warrior she spawns. They are solos, not part of the unit.
• Alexia can be good in melee with her ability to boost/buy attacks, but be careful who you go after. Burning through all of her Risen on the wrong target will leave her horribly exposed to counterattack.
  • The Risen can use their Combat Action to make an attack before Alexia burns them to buy/boost.
• Thralls score flags in Steamroller and/or are great for contesting stuff on your opponent's side of the table. This is probably her best feature.
• If you use Ranking Officers you can get around Spell Ward:
  • Run Alexia out of the Ranking Officer's CMD range, this will make the whole unit lose Spell Ward. Cast the buff spell you want on them, then next turn run Alexia back into CMD range.
  • You cannot deploy the unit out of formation at the start of the game, so using this trick this will mean Alexia will lose her Combat Action for two turns (turn 1 she ran out of formation on purpose, turn 2 she started out of formation so can't use her Combat Action).
  • You can do something cute like cast Zephyr to let Alexia move out of formation after spawning a Thrall; or kill the Ranking Officer after you've cast the buff spell (so Alexia resumes the unit commander role).
• If you're playing on the clock, you may want to skip the Risen's attacks entirely. Their stats are so rubbish that you're literally wasting time rolling dice for them (most of the time).

Other

Trivia

File:Alexia1 Alt.jpg

Alexia, Handmaiden of Death, Limited Edition Sculpt (Mini Crate)

• Released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)
• Alexia was the main plot related NPC in The Witchfire Trilogy (a D&D adventure) - the first published material in the Iron Kingdoms.
• Template:LES