Theme - The Talion Charter
Template:Mercenary Theme Force
This mk3 Theme Force is somewhat similar to the mk4 Legacy Army. If you're planning on starting a mk4 Talion Charter army you may get some use out of this article, espcially the In a Nutshell, the Theme Weaknesses, and maybe even the List-Building Tips sections. |
The Talion Charter originally set out the terms and conditions for those serving on the Talion, a ship crewed largely by men and women brought together by mutiny and turned to piracy for survival. It has been expanded to serve as a rallying point for a motley assortment of powerful and well-armed pirates and privateers. These include several notable warcasters-for-hire such as Phinneus Shae, the Talion’s captain; Captain Bartolo “Broadsides Bart” Montador of the Calamitas; and the Thamarite sorceress Fiona the Black. The sell-swords of the Talion Charter have proven they can stand on equal footing with any mercenary company in western Immoren and offer their services at quite reasonable rates, both on land and at sea.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made using the The Talion Charter theme force can include only the following Mercenary models:
- Mercenary Template:Privateer warcasters
- Non-character Mercenary warjacks
- Scallywag
- Privateer models/units
- Death Archon solos
- This army can also include Cryx Scharde units. These units are considered to be friendly Mercenary Privateer units instead of Cryx units and can include command attachments but cannot include ranking officers.
Full Model List
Requisition Points
- One Scharde Dirge Seer unit
- Two Sea Dog Deck Gun units
- Three Powder Monkey solos
- One other Small- or medium-based Mercenary solo with a point cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Solos in this army gain Sacrificial Pawn [Sea Dog trooper].
- You gain a pre-game bombardment
- After models are deployed at the start of the game, you can place up to two 3˝ AOEs anywhere on the table at least 6˝ away from the nearest enemy model.
- These AOES are hazards and rough terrain that remain in play for the first round of the game.
- A model entering or ending its activation in one of these AOEs suffers an unboostable POW 12 blast damage roll.
Thoughts on The Talion Charter
The Talion Charter in a nutshell
Do you like Pirates? Arrr! Then this be the list for ye!
There are two ways to play Talion Charter.
- As an infantry theme (probably led by Captain Phinneus Shae or Fiona the Black) flooding the field with cheap Pirates, support solos to make them good, and Sacrificial Pawn to keep them alive.
- As a ranged/combined arms warjack theme (almost certainly lead by Captain Bartolo Montador or Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Sea) with the Privateer jacks and support that is not available in any other mercenary theme (especially not The Irregulars) provided by ancillary attacks (and Empowers) from a Powder Monkey or three to get lots of extra shots and Eyeless Sight provided by Scharde Dirge Seers.
Of course, even if you're running an infantry theme you're probably bringing at three Powder Monkeys as a requisition choice.
Pirate Infantry is exceptionally strong against other infantry-based forces, both single and multi-wound. This is because of the bonuses to accuracy and damage granted by First Mate Hawk and Rockbottom. The theme is above average against the many archons seen all over the table. The army can struggle into a more battlegroup or battle engine-oriented force, though Fiona and Aiyana make these matchups more playable.
Theme weaknesses
Almost all the Talion infantry is relatively low powered, specializing in removing infantry and being cheap and getting underfoot; without Fiona's ARM debuff it's all too pillow fisted to play into high ARM even despite Aiyana's damage buff, and trying to play them into warjack, warbeast, or battle engine heavy lists can be disheartening. The privateer warjacks don't help much capping out at PS 17. Thus a Blockader, Death Archons, and Bloody Bradigan and Black Bella1 are recommended to pick up the slack in any non-Fiona list.
Hawk's Object of Desire ability makes pirates strong into multi-wound infantry, but not non-warriors. Hawk, Black Bella, Bradigan, Morland, and Mar are all hardish-hitters to supplement for the weaker pirates.
Privateers are also extremely squishy outside the small bubble of protection afforded by Doc and Bosun. They die about as fast as anything with tough can.
If the enemy has many blasts, it's bad news. If they have anti-healing, it's real bad news.
List Building Tips
Free cards
The most valuable free options are:
- Six points: Scharde Dirge Seers
- Six points: Three Powder Monkey solos
- Six points: two Sea Dog Deck Guns
- Five points: First Mate Hawk
- Five points: Bosun Grogspar
The first two choices are superb, as is Bosun Grogspar. The deck guns are outclassed by the other options. Note that these are the most expensive free optios compared to most themes, so make use of that and bring a trio of monkeys and seers plus Hawk for a total of 17 points.
Privateer warjacks
Although this theme has access to all the mercenary warjacks, you probably want at least your first three warjacks to be Privateers thanks to the Powder Monkeys:
- Light
- Heavy
- Colossal
Other
If you don't want to spend beyond your jack points on your battlegroup (for Fiona and Shae) you can still get a very effective battle group with two Mariners supported by two Powder Monkeys using Ancillary Attack and one using Empower to be able to throw down four 4" AoEs every turn until you charge in. A unit of Scharde Dirge Seers is a hard counter to quite a lot of trickery thanks to Guidance and if you don't need them to do that they have other skills so it's a good investment.
The elite troops of the Talion Charter are the Scharde Pirates backed by Lord Rockbottom and Money Shot; 17" non-linear threat ranges with RAT 7 POW 14 sprays are no joke.
The main draw with Shae is how fast the entire list moves. Schade and Sea Dogs have No Quarter, Press Gangers have either Ambush or Advance Deployment, so the can rocket up the board under Coup de Main and feat and lock down scenario.
A privateer warjack army led by Bart and his powder monkey pals and the Dirge Seers to pierce through stealth and clouds is a solid competitor to The Irregulars.
Caster thoughts
- Captain Phinneus Shae makes the whole thing blindingly fast. In irregulars he commands an army of more elite pieces, here he floods the enemy with a tidal wave of disposable but fast bodies.
- Captain Bartolo Montador with lots of jacks and Monkeys is a very strong possibility. Scharde Dirge Seers can give his ranged jacks Guidance when they need it.
- Fiona the Black is decidedly better in Flames or Irregulars - she runs Talion well enough, but Talion aren't as powerful for her as Morrowans, Thamarites, Asphyxious4, Nemo4, or most of the Riot Quest, etc.
- Rahera keeps the lads safe from shooting and greatly appreciates Powder Monkeys, but Soldiers of Fortune and The Irregulars both have their appeal. Powder Monkeys and Dirge Seers do make a strong case, however.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
- Shae1 [+28 WJP]
- Mariner [14 pts]
- Freebooter [9 pts]
- Buccaneer [6 pts]
- First Mate Hawk [Free] Template:Grey
- Lord Rockbottom [4 pts]
- Bloody Bradigan [3 pts]
- Powder Monkey[2 pts]
- Swamp Gobber River Raider[1 pt]
- Sea Dog Pirates (Max unit) [11 pts]
- Command Attachment [3 pts]
Other
Trivia
- Released in the Themeopaclypse (2017.09)
- Expanded in the Talion CID (2019.05)
Other Mercenary models/themes
Rules Clarifications
Template:RC Sacrificial Pawn Template:RC The Talion Charter Template:RC Theme