Iona the Unseen

Though the Tharn possess their share of shamans, true warlocks are rare and revered, each a formidable leader, capable of unsurpassed feats on the battlefield. Iona the Unseen is among the rare few, a huntress whose fierce gaze can force obedience from both warbeast and subordinate Tharn alike. A fearless hunter, Iona draws on the predatory aspect of the Devourer Wurm, granting her forces speed and stealth as they surround her enemies like a pack of dusk wolves. She employs clever feints and decoys and relishes the sight of her enemies’ confusion as her pack slowly encircles them.

Basic Info

• This model is a Warlock.

Warlock Rules A warlock is an Independent Model. a Leader model. a Battlegroup Controller controls warbeasts. Warlocks use Fury Manipulation Uses ARC to determine how many fury points it gains each turn. Begins the game with a number of fury points equal to its ARC. Cannot exceed its ARC stat in fury points as a result of leeching. Can spend fury points only during its activation (unless a special rule states otherwise) for the following: Buy additional attacks Boost attack rolls Boost damage rolls Shake some effects Can leach fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup in its control range. Spirit Bond allows the warlock to gain a fury for each of its dead battlegroup warbeasts. Reaving allows the warlock to pull fury points from a warbeast in its battlegroup when it dies.

Feat: Time of the Beast

1. While in Iona's Template:CTRL range, friendly Tharn models gain +3 STR and ARM.
2. While in Iona's Template:CTRL range, friendly Faction warrior models can reroll missed attack rolls. Each attack roll can be rerolled only once as a result of Time of the Beast.

Time of the Beast lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Parry
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Stealth
• Template:Dodge

Leadership

While within {{{d}}} of this model, friendly [[{{{model}}}]] models gain [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]].

• Template:Overtake
• Template:Preternatural Reflexes

Weapons

Wurmtooth
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				7				13
Template:Brutal Charge Template:Magical Weapon Template:Blood Boon
Fighting Claw
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0,5				3				9
Template:Magical Weapon

Spells

{{Category: Template:AbattoirTemplate:Hunter's MarkTemplate:PursuitTemplate:Sure Foot }}[[Category: Template:AbattoirTemplate:Hunter's MarkTemplate:PursuitTemplate:Sure Foot ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Si
• Template:The Bones of Orboros. She can start the game with friendly upkeeps in play in this theme.
• Template:The Devourer's Host
• Template:The Wild Hunt

Thoughts on Iona the Unseen

Iona the Unseen in a nutshell

Iona is an aggressive infantry warlock made to play in Devourer's Host. Her entire kit is centered around delivering Tharn to the enemy, and her feat ensures they hit like trucks when they do. She's not exactly a frontline warlock, but her defensive and offensive stats let her play closer to the front. Although Abattoir is a battlegroup spell, her army should mostly be made up of Tharn.

Feat thoughts

Her feat is a massive force multiplier to Tharn. The STR buff and re-rolls will help Tharn of all types (including herself) break the hardest of bricks, while re-rolls help ensure they hit their targets. The ARM benefit is nice, but given the low base ARM of Tharn models, won't really help them brick up; at best, expect them to survive blast damage and low-POW attacks easier under the feat.

Spell thoughts

• Abattoir is melee Broadsides, allowing them an extra out of activation attack. It can be useful for getting one last attack in to destroy a model or clear off a jammer that went into your heavy. Don't depend on it to clear off high-DEF enemy models, but don't forget this as part of her kit, either.

• Pursuit gives you some control against the enemy. It gives you out of activation movement for your battlegroup, allowing you to move them up for extra ground or move away from an opposing model. Remember that it's often better to take a single free strike from an engaging model while moving away from it instead of a whole barrage of attacks.

• Sure Foot is pretty good on just about everything Circle offers, though it really shines on any of the Warpwolves. They already have high DEF, so adding +2 more makes them damn near unhittable by anything without some serious effort (A Khador Juggernaut is on 9s to hit, and any heavy at MAT 6 is on 10s). Warpwolves are notorious for being susceptible to knockdown mechanics to bypass their absurd DEF; Sure Foot mitigates this nicely. It works well on Tharn units due to her giving them Dodge, and she can put it on herself in a pinch if you're worried about her being knocked down or hit.

• Hunter's Mark makes everything better. Frees up fury for buying/boosting, as well as gives you an edge with charge distances. Just when your opponent thought they were out of range, you channel Hunter's Mark through a Gallows Grove and wreck their faces with a heavy they never saw coming.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• The ARM/STR portion of her feat doesn't affect non-Tharn models. This also means she'll really only see play in Devourer's Host (not that she's not great in it).
• Has no battlegroup specific buffs besides Abattoir, although Hunter’s Mark and Pursuit offer movement and positioning opportunities that can be a side benefit to her battlegroup.
• Not particularly hardy - 16/14 with Stealth and Dodge are good, but there are some lists (Sloan, many versions of Primal Terrors) that laugh at that.
• The key pieces in her list are living infantry - so not what you really want in current meta

Tricks & Tips

• Remember that any buff to STR means the thrown damage output of the Tharn Bloodtrackers increases; they go from good to phenomenal under her feat, threatening all but the toughest of targets. Thrown weaponmasters (especially with Prey) is just horrifiying.
• Her feat applies on free strikes, too.
• The interaction of Blood Boon and Overtake can be a bit funky, but basically if you cast an offensive spell before your Overtake move, you can't use Overtake. See the #Rules Clarifications section for a full breakdown.

List Building Advice

Strategy

As of her release, the most common build strategy for Iona has included Tharn models that can leverage her FEAT to the greatest extent, namely Tharn Ravagers, Tharn Bloodtrackers, Brighid & Caul. The additional 3 STR and ARM and rerolls on attacks directly improve weapons that can be boosted through STR buffs. Sure Foot can also improve the survivability of the Ravagers and free up points that might have been spent on the Tharn Ravager Shaman for other solos or support models.

As Iona lists will often bring either Brighid & Caul, the Lord of the Feast, or both, the Minion unit slot available through the Devourer’s Host theme is often used for the Boil Master & Spirit Cauldon to provide additional corpse tokens as well as Puppet Master and or the occasional drag through Spectral Lash.

Iona wants to support Tharn models more than she does a large battlegroup and will often only bring beasts whose animi directly support her or solve a problem faced by a particular meta.

Theme Thoughts

Gallows Grove proves a good solo as a means of channelling out Pursuit or Hunter's Mark from afar, entropic force proves useful in the current meta, as well as a solo to base flags for you.

Given she's a Tharn model that was released in the Devourer CID, that's probably where she'll want to spend most of her time. Obviously she benefits this theme most, male Tharn go up to Def 17 in a forest under Sure Foot with no knockdown, or against gunlines Phantasm is a fantastic way of keeping them safe as there's no real way to circumvent it outside of dispelling.

Although she can be taken in every other theme except for Secret Masters, Iona’s STR and ARM buff will not benefit wolds in The Bones of Orboros or Wolfsworn or Beasts in The Wild Hunt. The second half of her FEAT allowing for friendly faction warrior models to reroll missed attack rolls does allow for a single round of boosted accuracy for infantry models giving her the possibility of play in The Wild Hunt, however those models in The Wild Hunt have no issues with accuracy, and would much prefer a damage buff.

Although Iona herself does not utilize corpse tokens, both Brighid & Caul and the Lord of the Feast want to make use of corpses and make for the natural inclusion of the Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron, on top of that, it provides Puppet Master which really helps load out any of your core models.

Battlegroup

Lacking a toolkit that directly supports large battlegroups, since her release Iona has been generally played with a small warbeast package. Because she can mix it up in melee she often brings a Warpwolf Stalker for Sprint. As Sure Foot may be out on another model/unit, the remainder of her warbeast points are often used for a Gnarlhorn Satyr for the sake of Earth’s Blessing. These two beasts are 15 and 10 points respectively, leaving 3 points of Iona’s 28 warbeast points open. Iona does not offer a STR or MAT buff to her battlegroup but through Hunter’s Mark can increase their threat range and increase their fury efficiency, and Abbatoir allows her beasts to possibly become unjammed or make one last attack to finish an enemy model. Additionally, with a Gnarlhorn Satyr as a bodyguard, a shrewdly placed Pursuit can allow for a perfectly lined up Counterslam. Those interactions aside, however, because Iona’s kit is tailored to supporting Tharn infantry she wants to spend as many points on them as possible to maximize the theme benefits of Devourer’s Host and therefore it seems unlikely she would pay the cost above and beyond her warbeast points allowance for either a Gorax or Feral Warpwolf for Primal.

Another common beast to field with her is the Storm Raptor.

As Iona is likely to see play nearly exclusively in Devourer’s Host, it should be mentioned that DH allows for both Ghetorix and Loki and further testing with those two beasts may be warranted.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.12 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - The Devourer's Host

Iona the Unseen: [+28 WBP]

• Warpwolf Stalker: [15 pts]
• Feral Warpwolf: [14 pts]

Bloodweaver Night Witch: [4 pts]

Swamp Gobber River Raider: [1 pts]

Tharn Ravagers (Min size): [10 pts]

• Command Attachment: [free] Template:Grey

Death Wolves: [9 pts]

Other

Trivia

• Released 2018.12 ... ish

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.06 Lock & Load Iron Gauntlet Final, vs Ravyn1
• 2019.06 Lock & Load Iron Gauntlet Semi-Final, vs Makeda3
• 2019.04 Connor's Retribution Analysis, vs Garryth2
• Template:VBR