Blighted Nyss Legionnaires

The Legionnaires effortlessly cut through flesh and bone with perfectly executed strikes. Following an ancient warrior tradition and entrusted with ornate armor, these sentries tirelessly guarded the passes into Nyss territory. Now as Thagrosh’s personal guard, they form a wave of tremendous flashing blades that dismembers any standing before them.

The ranks of the legionnaires are a weapon wielded by one hand—that of Farilor, Bladeguard of the Prophet. He directs their every strike for the glory of Thagrosh, and the obedient legionnaires follow with unflinching discipline. So great is their devotion to Captain Farilor, legionnaires can ignore the most grievous wounds and punishing blows in order to hold the line beneath the Legion’s standard.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Everyone
  • Template:Combined Melee Attack
  • Template:Battle-Driven
  • Template:Vengeance
  • Template:Wall of Steel

• Farilor only
  • He has +1 MAT and 5 hitpoints
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Cleave
  • Template:Hold Ranks

• Standard only
  • He doesn't have CMA ... because he's got no Melee Attack. Despite this, he can still get a Vengeance move.
  • Template:Standard Bearer
  • Template:Take Up

Weapons

• Leader & Grunts

Great Sword
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				4				10

• Farilor

Great Sword
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				4				10
Template:Weapon Master

• Standard
  • Template:Unarmed

Theme Forces

• Template:Children of the Dragon.

Thoughts on Blighted Nyss Legionnaires

File:FarilorandStandard.jpg

Command Attachment

Blighted Nyss Legionnaires in a nutshell

Legionnaires are an average all rounder unit that then becomes a durable, more powerful and highly mobile one - providing they take casualties / suffer damage.

Sporting the only weapons with 2" reach among the infantry units (well the units you want in melee aka not the Spawning Vessel), Legionnaires are the disposable screen/jamming elements of the Children of the Dragon lists. They have fairly average stats on their card, but become all the more dangerous if they start to take casualties. With SPD6 and Wall of Steel they can effectively screen your more important units and beasts, and when bullets and blows start to fly around, Battle Driven kicks in, amping both their protection + damage beside providing Pathfinder. Since Battle Driven is their bread and butter, we collected the most important caveats about it in Tips and Tricks.

Normally Legion infantries don't like to be in base to base due to their poor ARM, but with Wall of Steel + Battle Driven they reach a very respectable ARM 19, where even High Explosive weapons may fail to kill them without boost.

Thoughts on the CA

That's +4 points for one Weapon Master attack (or 2 with Cleave) and an unarmed standard bearer who can still trigger Battle Driven with his death, provide Wall of Steel and is eligible for Defensive Line during the minifeat. You will probably want to include Fairlor if you want him to lead the CMA, or expect pop&drop tricks against which Hold the Line will help you out on a crucial turn. It is also very effective against Cavalry and Battle Engines which cause knockdown with their melee- charge- or impact attacks. Apart from the aforementioned scenarios his inclusion is situational, as Children of the Dragon has many excellent solos and UAs to choose as free cards and all have higher price tags than Fairlor. He also won't solve placement and LOS issues during charge and vengeance attacks either, as he has no abilities like Practiced Maneuvers or Tactician. Fortunately, the latter is the CotD theme bonus, so it is somewhat amended if your warlock is nearby.

Combos & Synergies

• Kallus1 can offer the unit Unyielding if he plays far enough forward (that he definitely should if you want to double-dip on Tactician), and they can make an okay screen in front of him as long as the enemy can't trample over them, or has a lot of Arcing Fire guns. Like any other infantry, they're reasonable Incubus generation during the feat, though they won't be positioned in annoying locations like a unit of Banshees or Raiders might be.
• Kryssa1 - Her Total Obedience aura has natural synergy with Fairlor's Minifeat for a turn of no-knockdown tough, and under her feat they can hit with a minimum of +5 damage bonus that literally can be turned up to 11 with the Blackfrost Shard's Kiss, Battle Driven and the Blightbringer's aura.
• Being irritating to take down they make excellent hosts for Incubi to further punish the opponent for dealing with them.
• Bethayne1 - Blood Thorn is an infantry polisher second to none, and Deceleration provides yet another defense against incoming fire.
• Thagrosh1 can achieve similar effects as Kallus1 if he keeps his Legionnaires close enough to utilize Death Shroud. His Fog of War may also help you to survive early shooting a tiny bit better.
• Fyanna2 can cast Iron Flesh on them, which makes for a potential +6 ARM swing with Battle Driven and a Blightbringer aura. That should make sure they can weather incoming fire and blasts. Fury stacked on top of Battle Driven and or the Blightbringer aura also makes them hurt really, really bad. In addition the Dodger and +3 DEF from her feat are amazing of models who cannot be knocked down making Farilor actually worth it for Hold Ranks.
• Blightbringer - The aforementioned aura stacks really well with Battle Driven and the other buffs Legion warlocks have.
• Blight Archon - Another ARM buff in Dragon's Blood. You get the picture. Veteran Leader is really nice, too.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Average MAT and placement can be challenging outside your warlock's Tactician bubble
• Battle Driven won't be triggered on non-attack damages (collateral, e-leap, trick shot and the like).
• Fix damage dealing attacks and abilities (Cont. Corrosion, Sniper, Puncture, etc.) will kill them despite their ARM bonus.
• Vengeance can eat a lot of time in timed games. Practice accordingly.

Tricks & Tips

• Beginners' guide: unlike Shield Wall, Wall of Steel is not an order, so you can enjoy the +2 ARM bonus even if your Legionnaires ran in their activation. If you don't expect boostable blasts, the triangle/arrowhead formation is also advised as your enemy will need to shoot down 2 of them to cancel the Wall of Steel bonus.

Battle Driven

• This ability lacks the "expect when they advance" restriction, meaning that it can be triggered on free strikes as well. The enemy will have tough choices - let you reach your target in tact, or boost the survivors' stats.
• The bonus remains active throughout one round, meaning that your Vengeance attacks will only benefit from them if you a.) activated it in the enemy's turn, b.) provoked a free strike during your Vengeance move and it damaged your model before the other models attacked.
• Watch out for simultaneous attacks (e-leaps, sprays, AoEs, etc.). The extra ARM will only become effective after all the attack and damage rolls from that attack had been resolved.

Other

Trivia

• Unit released in Hordes: Evolution (2007)
• CA released in Hordes: Domination (2011)