Scavenger

The scavenger bonejack haunts the skies above Lord Toruk’s nightmare empire searching for the weak and injured. Swift and merciless, the scavenger descends upon its prey in a flurry of tattered wings and snapping jaws, bringing the final release of death to the enemies of Cryx.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Flight
• Template:Finisher
• Template:Sprint

Weapons

Snapping Jaws
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				4				11
Template:Assimilation

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Template:Black Industries
  • Template:Dark Host
  • Template:The Ghost Fleet
  • Template:Scourge of the Broken Coast. Scavenger gains Gang Fighter in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army. It gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use it by either:
    • putting it under the control of Asphyxious4 in various themes,
    • putting it under the control of Mortenebra in Strange Bedfellows.

Thoughts on the Scavenger

Scavenger in a nutshell

It's an assassination piece that relies on other model's starting its Finisher bonus. It's kind of fragile so you might as well think of it as a kamikaze, but if you do manage to trigger Sprint it can become quite a useful little boomerang harassment tool.

Its wings provide great mobility, not only over terrain but over friendly units as well. Even though the Snapping Jaws are not powerful, they can deliver a massive blow on the charge to anything not at full health. Unlike most bonejacks, the Scavenger is best held back for a little while. The idea is to allow something in your army to get some damage going (best targets would be light warjacks or multi-wound models like Man-o-War Shocktroopers) then have the Scavenger charge in for a P+S 11 hit with four damage dice.

Combos & Synergies

• Anything that can grant it Parry/Ghostly, so it can ignore free strikes.
• Pairing it up with Aiakos1 is not bad, as Escort speeds it up and it can use Sprint to return to his control area.
• Anything that can give it bonus speed and/or out-of-activation moves, so it can position itself for the assassination run. That is:
  • Aurora2 - Her feat gives it everything it could ask for. A damage buff, and speed increase. Her directives can also give it either dodge and repo, which is nifty at DEF 15, or flying high and and blast resistance, which is also good for delivery.

    • Note that Aurora2 can't have this warjack in her battlegroup. You'll need to put it on Asphyxious4 in the Strange Bedfellows theme force. On the plus side, as part of Gaspy's Battlegroup it gains Dark Shroud.

  • Venethrax - Terminal Velocity is spectacular for the Scavengers. Counter Charge with Flight is also great so they can charge from behind your scirmish screen.
• In Scourge of the Broken Coast and warrior model that can damage a target in melee will also be able to proc Gang Fighter for a Scavenger at the same time. That's a MAT 9 POW 13 Weapon Master were talking about before you factor in the usual Cryxian debuffs.
• Mortenebra2 - On feat turn a flock of them can go to town with Flank and Finsher up. Energizer make them faster and Spell Piercer means they do not mind upkeeps like Arcane Shield.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• A little bit of skornegy for it's target selection - to trigger Sprint you want to go after low ARM/low HP models, but to get the most out of Finisher you want to go after high ARM/high HP.
  • On the other hand, you can consider that versatility rather than skornergy.
• Unfortunately this guy is a bit focus-hungry; one to charge and one to boost the hit (to ensure you get the damage output you want).
• It relies on its high DEF to survive - anything that auto-hits or can boost to hit will ruin its day. Watch out for Long Gunners; a volley from them will probably scrap this little construct.
• Remember to avoid using Flight to bypass enemy models, as the Scavenger will suffer badly from free strikes.

Tricks & Tips

• If your target is damaged:
  • If you have two focus on the Scavenger, and you can slam the target into an obstacle or model, you'll get a damage roll of STR + 5d6. This averages at 24.5 but could vary from 12 to 37.
  • But if you only have one focus on the Scavenger, you're much better just to charge. You'll get a damage roll of STR + POW + 4d6. This averages 25 but could vary from 15 to 35.
  • Really, the "slam for 5d6" option is more funny rather than useful.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Wrath (2011).
• The gallery image on the PP website accidentally says it comes on a small base (30mm)