Trencher Blockhouse

Blockhouses are often built to support Cygnaran trenchworks, providing girded fire bays and supporting fire in the event of an enemy overrun of the front. Able to withstand direct artillery fire from all but the heaviest enemy guns, these blockhouses return fire with salvos from their impressive cannons while acting as mustering points to reinforce embattled trencher platoons.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Forward Deployment
• Template:Girded
• Template:Reinforcements
• Template:Trench Network

Weapons

Heavy Cannon
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		15			1			4			15			-
Template:High-Explosive Template:Quake
Military Rifle (x2)
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW			LOCATION
		10			1			Template:-			11			Left + Right one each

Theme Forces

• Template:Gravediggers

Thoughts on Trencher Blockhouse

Trencher Blockhouse in a nutshell

It's a support piece. It shoots anything that gets near, provides cover for your troops, and returns fallen trenchers to play.

Combos & Synergies

• Your Warcaster.
  • Is there a spot where you want your Warcaster to stand? Would you like to have +4 DEF in that spot? Get a Trench from the network to that point.
• Caine2. The Blockhouse's gun is good, but not great. Fire For Effect makes it that little bit scarier.
  • Also dumping Caine in a Trench with Heightened Reflexes. DEF21 with no knockdown and no Stationary is useful.
    • Caine also values the 120mm base the Blockhouse provides for screening purposes until he’s ready to move out and attempt an assassination run.
• Snipe makes it a little harder to hide from.
• Anything that can buff its average RAT:
  • Rangers for Mark Target.
  • Haley3's Temporal Distortion bubbles.
  • Any of Cygnar's Knockdown or Slam tools.
• The Trencher Master Gunner for either the improved chance to hit or arcing fire.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Currently the only structure without access to boosting mechanism
• The model is a building and so it’s a bit plain & boring.
• A big, immobile piece on the board - poor placing can make it seem poor value for points.
  • That is especially true for the Trench templates - the last thing you want is giving away free cover for the enemy's fast and/or flanking units.
• Though models around are defended from blasts, it is still just DEF5. Other dangers, like continuous effects, electro leaps and spells like Ashes to Ashes or Spine Burst can decimate your models around.

Tricks & Tips

• You could field two of them slightly apart from one another. This would allow you to place 4 trenches in a line in front of them (other terrain permitting), to use as a battle line for your units. Trenchers in trenches!
• It is placed at the same time as your non-advance-deploying models, so use it to control the deployment of enemy advance deploying (or even distant deploying) models.
• Deploy the trenches forward instead of across to give your advancing models without Dig In some much needed cover.
• Blockhouses can reload the Grenadier - looks like the crews are really busy.
• In Steamroller games it can't score scenario points (at least not in the 2018 version of Steamroller), but it can contest them and prevent the enemy scoring.
  • Note that to contest a zone it needs to in the zone. A couple of scenarios have the zones laid out so that you could deploy it touching them, but this isn't sufficient.
  • Specifically it can contest zones or flags in Mirage and Spread the Net, and contest flags in Recon II.

Blockhouse Trenches & War Table

• To place the trenches on War Table, you need to use "Add Terrain" and then "Move Terrain". But when you do that, the Blockhouse disappears. To get around this, open a second browser window and invite yourself to the game. Have the two windows fill half your screen each and have one in "Normal" view and the other in "Move Terrain" view.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Gravediggers expansion (2017.06)
• It was the first Structure released in the entire gaming system. However rules that interact with Structures (such as Siege1's Combat Engineer rule) already existed.