Madrak Ironhide, Champion of the Kriels

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

Before accepting the accursed Rathrok, Madrak Ironhide established himself as one of the greatest champions of his kriel. He made a name for himself in the Kuor dueling arena as a youth and later sought to explore the ominous Thornwood Forest, batling Tharn and stranger things deep within its twisting depths. And his reputation grew again in the early Trollkin wars as he led warriors and warbeasts alike against the human kingdoms. Even without the legendary weapon, Madrak was destined to forge a legacy like no other.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Tough
• Template:Henchmen (Template:Life Link)
• Template:Lesser Warlock
• Template:Relentless Charge
• Template:Righteous Vengeance

Weapons

Thrown Shard
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		8			1			Template:-			14
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Thrown
Stoneshard
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				6				14
Template:Magical Damage Template:Krielstone Echo

Spells

{{Category: Template:BracerTemplate:Jackhammer }}[[Category: Template:BracerTemplate:Jackhammer ]]

Theme Forces

• Trollblood
  • Template:Band of Heroes. He gains "Optional Take Down" in this theme.
  • Template:Kriel Company. He gains "Mark Target" in this theme.
  • Template:Power of Dhunia
  • Template:Storm of the North. He becomes a Northkin model and gains Immunity: Cold in this theme.
  • Template:Vengeance of Dhunia. (Note that the Farrow warlocks in this theme can't use him.)

• Other Factions
  • Minion players can also use this solo in the Vengeance of Dhunia theme. (Note that the Farrow warlocks in this theme can't use him.)

Thoughts on Madrak0

Madrak0 in a nutshell

Madrak0 is a super solo with great stats all round and a very survivable defensive prodile. The consensus is to play him in one of 3 ways:

• Dedicate a 3rd of your army to him & an Troll Axer + Troll Impaler. Taking full advantage of Henchmen bonus This let's you use Lifelink to soak up great amounts of damage and play him forward in his nost survivable build.
• Ignoring the Henchmen rule, and using Bracer to buff a heavy or gargantuan warbeast and giving it a buttload of attacks via Jackhammer. This build mostly ignores Madrak (though he will always try to throw a axe or trigger kriel echo) but will get make 1 warbeast truly devastating.
• Play him as a high risk Support model where you are mainly trying to trigger Kriel Echo on the rest of your army with 1 cheap beast (likely an Axer).

He will always want to trigger Kriel Echo and should try do so at every opportunity. Bracer and Kriel Echo will make 1 beast very durable with +6 armour.

Battlegroup thoughts

Madrak's beast loadout influence what kind of model he is going to be on the table and thus should be considered carefully:

• Running a Troll Axer and an Troll Impaler gives him two free transfer targets and they gain extra MAT and RAT in turn. Running both makes him actually quite costly.
  • With the Axer he can be your designated Rush Animus bot, if you need one. So he functions as a very durable support model with some good lategame damage potential.
  • The Impaler on the other hand gives him access to Snipe, but you cannot trigger Kriel Stone Echo off of ranged attacks, so this only gives him something to do until the lines meet. If you want a durable combat solo that contributes all game and later buffs your stuff a bit, this is the beast for you. Jackhammer is wasted on this thing however. As it isn't that accurate or hard hitting.
• You can also just ignore his Henchmen rule and run another light with a valuable Animus, such as a Pyre Troll or Slag Troll, then he becomes a squishier, but still durable support model with a punch. Especially if you put one of the animi on him.
• A Troll Bouncer with Bracer on it becomes an ARM 21 Shield Guard and no longer needs to cast it's animus, making it more efficient.
• A Swamp Troll with Bracer is also a pain to remove and if Madrak can't charge something using it's tongue to pull something closer is handy.
• A Troll Basher comes with innate MAT fixer in Chiller and has a powerful crit effect. So using Jackhammer until you get a Crit Stagger can be a cute strategy.
• An Earthborn Dire Troll reaches absurd amounts of ARM with Elemental Communion, Bracer, Krielstone Echo and Protective Aura, making it an effective roadblock. If it gets the +2 SPD from Rough Terrain you can run it quite far and then start Jack Hammering, too. It does lack some punch though, unless you juice it up with Flamings Fists, Stone Strength and Elemental Communion.
• War Hog - In Vengeance of Dhunia of course. With Bracer it goes to a casual ARM 20 and it can Bulldoze to go inconvenient places it cannot be dislodged from. It's also a prime Jackhammer target.

Combos & Synergies

• Trollkin Champion Hero grants him Retaliatory Strike. Kriel Echo can trigger from your Retaliatory Strike.
• Kriel Stone - Obviously, for the extra bonuses and +2 ARM, which stacks with Bracer and Kriel Echo, giving you a +6 ARM swing.
• If you brought an Axer and an Impaler, you have two free transfer targets, meaning he becomes even more resilient if you have Dhunian Archon(s) and Hermit prevent damage rolls on him.
• Ragnor - Ragnor is all about his brick, and Madrak makes anything around him, and his warbeast, brickier. Earth's Sanctuary can keep Madrak very safe on the approach, then the feat makes him impossible to dislodge after triggering Krielstone Echo. With Field Marshal: Weight of Stone you can tag an enemy model and then have Madrak's beast run in and whale on it with Jackhammer.
• Horgle2 - Madrak can run a Bracer'd Road Hog for him, which will set the world on fire in the literal sense and also alleviates the Fury burden the Hog creates.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• No playing him with any of the full Warlock Madraks.
• You need a Trollblood Warlock to include him, so no mingling with Farrow Warlocks in Vengeance of Dhunia. This is sad especially for Azazello, who would love a model like him in his army.
  • In a 2 caster game Azazello could get access to him - but how common are games that size.
• Henchmen encourages you to play an Axer and/or Impaler, if just for the Lifelink targets to make him extra survivable, but they are nowhere near auto-includes in most armies and there are better lights that you'd want to put on a Lesser like him most of the time, such as the Pyre Troll, which don't get the full benefit from Henchmen.
• There is not really one particular beast for him that takes amazingly to every part of his kit. Axers and Impalers are encouraged due to Henchmen and especially Lifeline, but their output is shoddy and their animi situational. Other light beasts like the Pyre Troll have great animi but no inherent synergy with his kit and you lose the free transfer. Bracer calls for a beats with high native ARM, so unless you go for a Bouncer or Swamp Troll, you have to go for a heavy, which inflates his cost considerably. Jackhammer calls for a beast with high native damage output and accuracy, so a costly Mauler or Brawler are required.
  • On the other hand, this means there are actual decision points to make in his beast loadout, and which part of his kit you want to lean into the most instead of taking the same tried and true combo in every list, always.

Tips & Tricks

• Righteous Vengeance happens before leeching fury. Be careful you don't walk too far away from your beasts.
• The Kriel Echo aura is not the regular Kriel aura, so you can stack both together for +4 ARM.

Other

Trivia

• Released 2021.10
• Released to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Warmachine, alongside Krueger0, Thagrosh0, Makeda0, and Barnabas0. Four of them are characters from the 2006 Primal rulebook, and the 5th is Barnabas.