Captain Jonas Murdoch

Jonas Murdoch is a tough-as-nails trencher captain who can take even the worst mercenary scum and whip them into soldiers any Cygnaran officer would be proud to lead. Under his command, a mercenary unit functions as part of the army of Cygnar

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Officer
• Template:Tough
• Template:Trencher - He's a Trencher model, but other models in his unit are not.
• Template:Go To Ground
• Template:Granted

Weapons

• Carbine - 10" range, POW 10 ranged attack
• Trench Knife - 0.5" reach, P+S 9 melee attack

Theme Forces

• Template:Gravediggers. Jonas (but not his unit) gains Rise in this theme.

Thoughts on Captain Jonas Murdoch

Captain Jonas Murdoch in a nutshell

Captain Jonas Murdoch is a ranking officer - a model who takes control of a unit of Mercenaries and makes them Cygnaran while he's alive. He also gives that unit Assault and can protect them from incoming fire.

There are three different reasons you'll include Murdoch:

1. You want to get a "friendly Faction" spell/buff from your Cygnar caster onto a Mercenary unit.
2. You want to get a "friendly Faction" spell/buff from a Mercenary unit onto your own forces.
3. You want to include a Mercenary unit, and they will get better if you give them Go to Ground and/or Assault.

Combos & Synergies

"Friendly Faction" buffs

• Aiyana (and Holt too, I guess) - She can hand out a +2 damage buff or magic weapons to Cygnar models, as long as Murdoch is with her. It's a 11 pts package all together, so you are probably better of with Gabriel Throne for 7 points.
  • Go to Ground also puts her DEF up to stellar levels, and eliminates her inherent weakness vs blast damage.

Mercs that want Murdoch

• Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - love Assault to shoot more stuff and Go To Ground to keep them alive.
  • They also love a lot of the sweet, sweet ranged buffs that Cygnar can offer such as Snipe and Mark Target.
• Captain Sam MacHorne & the Devil Dogs - Assault fixes their lousy threat range, while Go To Ground means that incoming fire doesn't simply annihilate them.
  • Sam can still control a merc warjack like a Freebooter or Talon in this case.
• Boomhowlers like him when they fight alongside Captain Allister Caine. If they have Heightened Reflexes on them, Boomhowler can use his more disruptive calls such as Cacophony. Assault with Shooting Gallery is pretty cute.
• Dannon Blythe & Bull not as strong as others on this list but the wording of Prey allows Murdock to get the benefit and assault on bull, as well as an effective way of keeping them alive is exactly what this unit want.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• If he goes so do his ability - and the unit is no longer Cygnaran.
• He's only allowed in the Gravediggers theme, and most merc units you'd want there are already Partisans so cannot take him anyway.
• The Mercenary unit can't take their normal CA, and some Merc units only get decent when they get that CA.
• The only order a Ranking Officer can issue is Press Forward (plus any on their own card, which is zero for the Murdoch). This means Merc units can't use speciliased orders such as Shield Wall, at least not until the Murdoch dies.

Tricks & Tips

• Go to Ground the turn before you charge in.
• Even after Murdoch's death you can spend focus to upkeep friendly spells that are already in play on the mercenary unit - you just cannot re-cast it on them, or change for another one, as they're now only friendly models instead of friendly faction.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Warmachine: Wrath expansion (2011)