Ashlynn d’Elyse, the Queen’s Blade

File:MercenariesLogo.jpg

Template:FH2 Template:FH3 Template:FH2 Template:FH3 Template:FH2 Template:FH3

This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Following Ashlynn’s efforts in leading the liberation of Llael, the nation’s newly coroneted queen proclaimed her “The Queen’s Blade”, bestowing upon her the highest military authority in the land. Ashlynn is joined by a retinue of famous Llaelese duelists: Marie Aguillon, renowned for her master swordsmanship, and Vayne di Brascio, a skilled gun mage who spent years as a freedom fighter under Ashlynns command.

Basic Info

Mercenary - In a 2+ caster game, she can work for Template:Crucible Guard mercenary, Template:Cygnar mercenary, or Template:Menoth mercenary.

Ashlynn2

Feat: Battle Cry

1. Return up to 3 friendly destroyed Faction solos with points costs of 6 or less each to play.
   • Place those models B2B with Ashlynn.
   • Returned models must forfeit their Normal Movement or Combat Action the turn they were returned to play.
   • Models that were destroyed this turn cannot be returned as a result of Battle Cry.
2. Additionally, while in Ashlynn's Template:Control range, friendly Faction models gain Dying Breath.

   Template:Dying Breath-alt

Battle Cry lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Groundwork
• Template:Hero of the People
• Template:Tactician

Weapons

Hand Cannon
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			Template:-			12
Revanche
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				7				12
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Weapon Master Template:Thresher

Spells

{{Category: Template:Artifice of DeviationTemplate:Blood of LibertyTemplate:Hand of FateTemplate:PerditionTemplate:True Path }}[[Category: Template:Artifice of DeviationTemplate:Blood of LibertyTemplate:Hand of FateTemplate:PerditionTemplate:True Path ]]

Vayne di Brasco

Abilities

• Template:Duelist
• Template:Granted (Template:Reposition 3-alt)
• Template:Point Blank

Weapons

Dual Magelock
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		10			2			Template:-			10
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Attack Type Template:Black Penny Template:Trick Shot Template:Thunderbolt Template:Both Barrels
Sword
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				3				8

Marie Aguillon

Abilities

• Template:Duelist
• Template:Granted (Template:Riposte-alt)

Weapons

Dueling Blade
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				4				10
Template:Weapon Master This weapon becomes RNG 2 during this model's activation.
Weighted Cloak
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				1				7
Template:Trip Up

Theme Forces

• Template:Flame in the Darkness. Ashlynn gains access to Khador and Cygnar warjacks in this theme.
• Template:Llaelese Resistance. This unit gains Pathfinder in this theme. Vayne gains Sniper.
• Template:Steelies
• Template:The Irregulars

Thoughts on Ashlynn2

Ashlynn2 in a nutshell

Ashlynn2 is conceived to be leading from the front. Her high DEF and immunity to knockdown's DEF penalty permit this to a certain extent, though she really isn't hardy enough to play very far forward in the early game - even a simple cavalry charge from the right model could quite possibly do her in. She also doesn't hit hard enough to encourage you to play forward like you would with Butcher3 or Barnabas2. Also, Reposition 3" isn't good enough to get her back to safety.

So instead of leading from the front, she usually casts True Path and juggles Hand of Fate, which is kinda boring, but effective. Yet another issue with her kit is that Marie wants to be charging, whilst Vayne and Ashlynn herself would rather not.

She has a mid to late-game feat that brings back up to 18 points of models and can make for some janky assassination runs.

Feat thoughts

Three solos come back and are allowed to either move OR act in the same turn providing they did not die this turn. You can use this to assassinate the opposing caster, or to take out a high-value target while getting back 10-18 points of your own. Obvious candidates are Anastasia to trigger Espionage and let the solos move and attack even if they have to give up their movement, Gorman1 to blind, Boss MacHorne to combo smite, Hermit or Ragman to produce an ARM debuff and Savio to make two strong attacks. All of these models can be taken in either Llaelese Resistance or Flame in the Darkness.

Living the dream would mean charging towards a model near the opposing caster with Ashlynn and then using the feat to bring back Anastasia, and somebody like Gorman. Assuming you brought back on Anastacia within 5" of the opposing caster, she could then trigger Espionage allowing Gorman to walk forward and blind the caster thereby setting up the assassination from a Hand of Fated Galleon. Not as easy as it sounds.

Alternatively, you can just revive potent ranged models to give them odd shooting angles and shoot something of value (preferably the enemy caster) to death. This works best in Irregulars where you can bring Harlowe, Scythe, and Delores. Other possibilities for interesting effects exist like Hutchuk or Dez, so use your imagination. This method of using the feat allows you to haphazardly throw away powerful solos to score some early attrition gains and then bring them back once destroyed.

Note that you cannot bring back Thrall Warriors as they do not have a points cost and as such do not cost 6 points or lower. None doesn't mean zero in this case.

There is also the Dying Breath portion of the feat, which allows destroyed models to make an attack before being removed. Ranged units and weapon masters would be best for this. Most especially gun mages in the Llaelese theme. However, this is more of a neat feature of the feat rather than the primary benefit and you will forget about it unless you play her a few times.

Note that returned journeymen do not return with any focus on them and won't regain control of their jacks if they are still around. the latter is also true for any jack marshals you may bring.

Spell thoughts

With only 6 focus and 1-2 upkeeps out, you'll be picking any 1-2 of these spells per turn and forgoing the rest.

• Artifice of Deviation
  • This is Ashlynn's sole defense against ranged attacks so if you need it, it's nice to toss it out there.
  • In the rare instance your opponent does not have pathfinder, it can make for good board control as well.

• Blood of Liberty
  • You'll probably only cast this if you're using Llaelese Resistance, because in other themes you're unlikely to have enough pure Llaelese models to justify it. Also, the pure Llaelese models have eggshell armour so the +2 ARM is unlikely to make a difference.
  • Stacking it with Feign Death from Gibbs is moderately helpful.
  • Unyielding is only really beneficial on high-ARM and/or multiwound troops (such as Exemplar Cinerators and Exemplar Bastions). Those sorts of models also appreciate being sped up with True Path, so you're steered pretty hard toward those models.
  • Otherwise you ignore this spell.

• Hand of Fate
  • A great spell it works well on just about anything, but in particular, on any of the 6 colossals she can bring.
  • It's an exceptional spell that you may wish to juggle - if you can spare the focus to upkeep and recast it.

• Perdition
  • This spell is basically a back-pocket assassination enabler. You're looking for an opportunity where giving your warjack an extra advance is game-changing, and you've got a low ARM target in range that you've got a good chance of damaging with a POW 10, and you can afford to cast this spell (and probably boost it, too).
  • Note that the warjack has to move towards the nearest enemy, but it doesn't have to be directly towards it.

• True Path
  • This will be one of your main spells in the early turns and eat up all your focus. +2" movement is super useful.
  • The Pathfinder aspect will be irrelevant if you're using Llaelese Resistance, since that grants Pathfinder for free.
  • Note that Vayne and Marie do not benefit from True Path, because of the unfortunate way the spell is worded.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• She was advertised as a "leading from the front" type of caster, just like Rahera was, yet, just like Rahera, she can't actually play forward very far due to boosted 10's and 11's being fully capable of hitting her and her wanting to spend all her focus. This concept only really came into its own with Azazello, and boy, did he perfect it.
• She has virtually no focus for a battle group, in fact, she will likely not have much focus period. Most of the time you will upkeep HoF and cast True Path every round and camp the rest, or else she will die easily.
• Her two companions have lower DEF leaving her vulnerable to enemy debuffs like Crippling Grasp or Freezing Grip if those models are left exposed.
• Aurora1, Shae and Blaize all have +2 MOV spells and also have better delivery mechanisms than Ashlynn.

Tricks & Tips

• Di Brascio:
  • He gets to choose an Attack Type even when he does a Both Barrels attack. Note that, if you pick Trick Shot, the second damage roll doesn't get +4 damage.
  • When he uses Point-Blank, he gets two melee attacks with his ROF 2 gun plus his sword attack.
  • Or he can use Point-Blank with Both Barrels. You won't get a sword attack if you choose this option though.
  • His Point-Blank attacks get to pick an Attack Type too.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Your biggest challenge will be safely delivering the army mostly intact. Ashlynn offers limited ranged defense and has no great way to stop enemy alpha strikes if they out-threat her or if they have a strong defensive feat.

Llaelese Resistance

One huge draw for this theme is the free rubble, which effectively doubles her Artifice of Deviation spell to stop shooting. As well as access to the medium infantry of other factions.

• For her feat, you have Princess Delores, Malvin2, Boss MacHorn, Anastasia, Taryn and sometimes Ragman, Crosse1 or Gibbs to choose from.
• Two units of Crucible Guard Assault Troopers make for an excellent core to the list, being able to be night unshootable with Carapace and threatening super far with True Path their main threat is Weapon Master single wound infantry, which are preyed upon by Thamarite Archons and Gun Mages. The Morrowan Archon makes them way dodgy in melee as well.
• Exemplar Cinerators - Similar to Ass Troopers, but they trade Back Draft and Carapace for Take Down and Vengeance.
• Choir of Menoth - If you want to soup up a Galleon with Hand of Fate, these guys are your friends.
• Thamarite Archon - Two of them, always! Hot swap Hand of Fate between them and watch them evaporate skirmish screens and even put dents in heavies witht heir Free shots. Parking them in an Artifice is almost unfair.
• Thorn Gun Mages - The bring 6 Sniper shots per unit, with which they can delete Single Wound Infantry for the rest of the list. Bring Gibbs to give them Repo and let them hang out in some fog, the theme rubble or an Artifice to keep them safe.

Flame in the Darkness

• Alexia2, Alexia3, Savio, Delores and Hermit are the obvious feat target solos.
• Bring 1-2 Morrowan Archons, and 2 Thamarite Archons. They are amazing models and make great use of True Path.
• Precursor Knights with Hand of Fate should get there with Vengeance and True Path and they should annihilate just about anything. 2 Units should be about all you can afford.
• Legion of Lost Souls care a high-quality unit with recursion and RFP.
• Gallant - It's a Shield Guard that has Accumulator and therefore demands less focus from her.
• The Reliant or Stormclad can Accumulate from Savio.
• Grolar a fully loaded Grolar with Hand of Fate on it is an incredible assassination piece, as Vladimir2 players will attest. Ash can replicate that here.
• She has access to a total of six colossals here. All of them will do well with HoF on them.
  • Stormwall has a lot of utility and two really long-range guns.
  • Hurricane offers outstanding guns for HoF and Ashlynn's True Path spell gets around the problem of your Archons losing Flight when near the thing.
  • Conquest - HoF ups the likelihood of Critical Devastation going off.
  • Victor - A 20" main gun with good attack types and Flak Guns that are able to shred Archons.

Irregulars

Scythe, Alexia2, Hermit and Delores are great solos to bring back. Hermit helps the output of an HoF Galleon, Princess, Nemo or Croes. In Irregulars, you would simply be trying to leverage Hand of Fate and True Path to deliver your army as you have no Morrowan Archons to help you play forward.

• Asphyxious4 you will hardly find a better use for True Path than throwing a Hand of Fate'd Gaspy at the enemy at high speeds. He also brings a very important damage fixer.
• Croes Cutthroats - Under Hand of Fate they should be able to gun down a good portion of the enemy army, then throw down in melee with the help of True Path, Dark Shroud, and Master of Ruin. Crosse sets up Backstab for obscene levels of damage output.
• Crosse1 - Discombobulate sets up Backstab for Croes. He is also an expensive solo to bring back with the feat, but he returns without focus, so your mileage may vary.
• Flugwug, Underboss Vizkoya - They both have the ability to pull in an enemy caster with an attack and thus make for nifty feat targets
• Nemo4 - With Hand of Fate he becomes a terrifying gun platform, or he can bring a jack who takes to it very well, too, like a Charger. The added recursion and extra solos (most likely a Steelhead Ironhead) are just gravy on top!
• Gudrun2 - Parking models in an Artifice and having Gudrun nearby for Kinetic Distorsion makes them not worth shooting at.
• Kayazy Eliminators - With True Path the threaten very far and don't need much else in terms of input.

Soldiers of Fortune

The main reason to play in this theme is to juggle the hell out of Hand of Fate between Steelhead Halberdiers and Steelhead Cavalry units. Just load up on the dudes and send them screaming across the table with True Path. Also Halberdiers in Verendrye's command range get Wall of Steel, which helps them resist blast damage when bunched up in an Artifice of Deviation.

• The best feat solos here are Gorman1, Anastasia, and Dez in order to slam something over the enemy caster. Or Alexia2 and Stannis to get 12 points worth of models back into the game.
• Rocinante provides focus efficiency and Guard Dog. The Guard Dog ability allows Ashlynn to play forward a bit further than in Irregulars and a gun with HoF on it will do some serious damage, too.
• A Galleon with HoF will perform very well supported by Mark the Target and an Arcanist.

Battlegroup

She has too many spells to cast so her battlegroup is going to be small, either one colossal or two heavies.

• There are a few jacks mentioned previously, because they're only available in specific themes.
• Galleon - Normally a terrible colossal, Hand of Fate enables it to sit back and launch the hate, especially with Choir or Hermit.
• Blockader - Also good with Hand of Fate but she offers it no threat extension.
• Mangler - It has a free charge and can wreck some shop under Hand of Fate
• Mariner - It can sit back and shoot every turn and not always demand focus to accomplish something.
• Nomad - 2-3 of them make a cheap battlegroup that puts out big hits. Thanks to Powerful charge they don't need to boost to hit on a charge, most of the time, so they don't need focus input.
• Toro - 2 of them fill her WJPs exactly and give you access to the Princess (see above), who is arguably her best feat target.

Other

Trivia

• Released 2020.03
• Ashlynn was the inaugural winner of the Warmadness 2019 popularity contest (out of a pool of 64 casters), making her ostensibly the most beloved character in the game. Her prize was the creation of Ashlynn2.
• Her sword is her dead father's sword.