Blighted Nyss Raptors

Nyss Raptors hunted from atop their swift and sure-footed ulk long before the rise of Everblight. Now these killers ride ahead of their approaching Legion comrades to tear apart enemy flanks with flashing swords, wreck formations with precision bow-fire, and let their blighted steeds enthusiastically slash and impale with their massive antlers.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Cavalry
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Reposition 5

Weapons

Nyss Longbow
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			Template:-			10
Template:Poison
Nyss Claymore
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				4				10
Template:Weapon Master
Mount
File:Mount icon.jpg		RNG						POW
		0.5						12

Theme Forces

• Template:Children of the Dragon
• Template:Ravens of War

Thoughts on Blighted Nyss Raptors

Blighted Nyss Raptors in a nutshell

The Raptors are the Legion's light cavalry, and exemplify the faction's main traits: they are fast, nimble, fragile, and excel in hit-and-run warfare. With built-in Pathfinder a nearly unmatched SPD stat and a 5" Reposition, they can outmanoeuvre most other units on the table. Clever use of use cover and terrain is necessary for their success on the table, as their large base makes it extremely difficult to screen them.

Their card may not have a lot of special rules and text on it, but don't discount Raptors. They are among some of the best cavalry models in the game.

Combos & Synergies

Raptors are being featured in the Children of the Dragon and the Ravens of War theme. The former gives their warlock Tactician, giving them much more freedom of movement in regards to friendly troops.

• Hellmouth - Their presence in Ravens, a couple of Grotesques and Blightblades, and the extreme mobility of the Raptors will enable you to mount pressure on the battlefield from many directions at once.
• Occultation turns up the threat and survivability of the Raptors to 11. Consider Vayl2, Rhyas and The Twins for this spell.
• With Rhyas and Dash, they will be up in the enemy's zone in no time, and can rain their arrows up to 22" away in the first turn. Her feat also provides them with some crazy movement shenanigans on top of another P+S10 Weapon Master attack.
• Bethayne1 - Blood Thorn ups the POW on all of their weapons, even their mount and impact attacks and against a Disintegrated target that's a +4 damage swing. Deceleration makes them harder to shoot at.
• All incarnations of Lylyth have a place for raptors - though only Lylyth 3 keeps the safe from shooting (and even so, only when they are close to her), the other incarnations' spells/feats make them a worthy choice as they both can benefit their accuracy and damage output.
• Thagrosh1 can both offer them protection with Fog of War, and extra hitting power with Draconic Blessing if you commit them to melee.
• Annyssa costs the price of 2.3 Raptors, but can give crucial bonus for to hit rolls with her veteran leadership, and is a competent solo in her own right.
• Blight Archons also provide veteran leader and are actually worth the points you spend on them, so they function perfectly well without Annyssa.
• Turn Raptors into excellent jamming models under Fyanna2's feat turn. With Iron Flesh and her feat they'll take a lot of extra effort to remove. When they charge in melee with Fury on them, they can be P+S13 Weapon Masters with an effective POW 15 impact attacks.
• Kryssa1 - can give them extra protection with Ashen Veil and significantly up their melee damage output. On a Feat turn with Ignite on the unit they can hit with POW 14 impacts followed by P+S 15 weapon master charge attack!

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Expensive light-cavalry with typical resilience of its class - boosted POW10 shots can reliably kill them. Stealth makes them so much better.
• Against non-living enemies their ranged game is strictly average.
• Even with Weapon Master, they do not really threat heavy targets on their own.
• They lack Assault, thus half of their damage potential is wasted when in charge range.

Tricks & Tips

• Mind their 1" melee range, especially if you want to make impact attacks. With careless positioning and some unlucky rolls they might even end up killing each other before they could deliver their charge attack.

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Evolution (2007)