Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Consummate professionals, the Iosan spell-caster Lady Aiyana and her gunslinging bodyguard Master Holt add an air of mystery to the Talion. All that is known about them is that she deftly manipulates powerful magic unknown beyond her native land and that he wields his pistols with skill and cool dispassion that unnerves even hardened soldiers.

Basic Info

Mercenary - This unit will work for Template:Cygnar Mercenary, Template:Khador Mercenary, Template:Menoth Mercenary, and Template:Retribution Mercenary.

Abilities

• Aiyana
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Magic Ability

• Holt
  • Template:Dual Attack
  • Template:Quick Draw

Weapons (Holt)

• Aiyana
  • Template:Unarmed

• Holt
  • Hand Cannon (x2) - 12" range, POW 12 ranged attacks
  • Gun Blades (x2) - 0.5" reach, P+S 8 melee attacks

Spells (Aiyana)

{{Category: Template:Ayisla's VeilTemplate:Kiss of LylissTemplate:Sigil of Power }}[[Category: Template:Ayisla's VeilTemplate:Kiss of LylissTemplate:Sigil of Power ]]

Theme Forces

• Mercenaries
  • Template:Operating Theatre Only if a Cephalyx Dominator is attached
  • Template:The Irregulars
  • Template:The Talion Charter

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Crosse2 is leading the army.
  • Furthermore, Mercenary models can be hired by other Factions. Normally those Factions' themes will have a limit on how many models they can hire. Refer to #Other Theme Forces, below.

Thoughts on Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt in a nutshell

Aiyana and Holt are brought for magic weapon on a stick and an ARM debuff (faction models only). Aiyana tends to die the turn after she uses Kiss of Lyliss so it's often a one-off ability, however Sigil of Power is often invaluable when faced with incorporeal models or Protectorate warjacks. Holt is essentially a solo with two accurate hand cannons and weak melee ability. He is hampered somewhat by Aiyana's low CMD, but he generally pulls his weight. They are a staple of almost any Mercenary Irregulars or Talion Charter list.

Combos & Synergies

• Anything Mercenary. Nobody will refuse a slight damage buff. She's one of the mercenary damage buffs alongside Hermit, Gabriel Throne, Ragman's Death Field and Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist and Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter's Rust Bomb.
  • The Cephalyx have access to some solid damage buffs already and adding another +2 damage from Kiss can really start to push things to crazy levels. With Cognifex Cyphon, it's possible to get a Wrecker swinging with 5 attacks at P+S 26 on Feat turn with a Cephalyx Agitator, a Void Archon, and Kiss on the target. Overkill? Probably. Worth the effort for the look on your opponent's face when you one-round their colossal with a 14 point model? Most definitely.
• Put Aiyana BTB with a Swabber and she just might survive the turn she uses Kiss of Lyliss.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• 8 points is not cheap for 2 squishy models. Essentially Aiyana is a 4 pt support solo with a 3 pt combat solo sidekick - being combined as a unit is a bonus for certain steamroller scenarios.
• Gabriel Thronw is at the same cost and brings much better combat ability and buffs to your list, though he cannot score zones.
• Although they can be hired by various factions, Kiss does not affect non-faction models, unless you put a Ranking Officer on them.
  • They are an expensive unit, and putting a Ranking Officer makes them more so. However, if you were going to add them to a non-Merc army then you may as well double-down on the points cost and add the Ranking Officer. You get access to Kiss, A+H get a better CMD bubble to play in, and A+H get access to whatever the RO brings (Go to Ground from Murdoch, Tough from Morley, Zephyr from Valachev, or Warding and Aegis from the Attendant Priest). All of which is honestly not that bad compared to what you get when you don't use a ranking officer
    • Of special note is the Cephalyx Dominator that they must be attached to if they are taking in the Operating Theater Theme, which gives them a nice 10" CMD range bubble and Tough, at the cost of being forced to run for a turn if the Dominator is killed. As the Dominator isn't any harder to kill then they are, only having Stealth and mediocre DEF to protect them, the enemy can kill it to negate both Aiyana and Holt for a crucial round while making them easier to kill next round since they can't run and apply stealth. Luckily you can simply kill the Dominator on turn 1 when they would likely be running forwards anyways and get to play them normally later, viewing the 1pt Dominator as the tax to take them in the Theme. You can't rely on tough to save them, but you can rely on your opponent killing the Dominator at the worst possible moment.
• Due to a hilarious set of circumstances, Retribution currently have no way of using Kiss despite her being from Ios. They have no ranking officers and, because the other Mercenary units that Retribution can take are mostly Partisans, there are near-zero other Mercenaries for Aiyana to buff. Apparently this is due to lore reasons. As a Seeker, Aiyana hates the retribution enough not be a partisan, but not enough to refuse their money, which is why she works for them as a merc.

Tricks & Tips

• Don't bother putting them base to base for stealth if the enemy has blasts that can reach them.
• Holt's Quick Draw works versus spray attacks but only if they are the target model. It also has some interesting interactions with Sac Pawn/Sucker/Shield guard stuffs - read the rules clarifications for the full run-down.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Forces of Warmachine: Pirates of the Broken Coast (2007)
• Despite the Talion crew having 2 books out, Aiyana and Holt get no development or screen time to speak of. Nobody knows what their goals are.
• Their lore is being collected here.