Captain Damiano

Captain Amador Damiano fights for glory, fame, honor, and the certainty that he will in time become a living legend. His Steelheads march in perfect lines and display a unity and responsiveness on the battlefield equal to or surpassing the infantry of any army in western Immoren. Damiano sees himself as much more than a mercenary captain; each contract he takes is not simply a paycheck, it is another conquest, another chance to show the world he is a battle commander without equal.

Basic Info

Mercenary - In a game with multiple warcasters, this model will work for Template:Crucible Guard mercenary, Template:Cryx Mercenary, Template:Cygnar Mercenary, Template:Khador Mercenary, and Template:Menoth Mercenary.

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

Feat: Conquest

While in Damiano's Template:CTRL range, friendly Faction models gain +3 STR and ARM and can move or be moved only during your turn. Conquest lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Paymaster
  • Template:Battle Maneuvers
  • Template:Money Shot

Weapons

Judgement
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			Template:-			12
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Blaster
Glory
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				6				12
Template:Magical Weapon

Spells

{{Category:

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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	2	10	12	-	-	Yes
When Convection destroys a living enemy model, you can give 1 focus point to a warjack in the spellcaster's battlegroup that is in its control range.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])
[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	2	10	12	-	-	Yes
When Convection destroys a living enemy model, you can give 1 focus point to a warjack in the spellcaster's battlegroup that is in its control range.
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])

Theme Forces

• Template:Steelies
• Template:The Irregulars
• Template:The Kingmakers Army. Damiano gains Feign Death in this theme.

Thoughts on Captain Damiano

Captain Damiano in a nutshell

Damiano is an upkeep-heavy infantry support caster and the best at that job the Mercenaries have to offer. He is unusual among warcasters as he has tools to improve accuracy, damage, threat range, defense and armor. His melee ability is unremarkable but his magic hand cannon is useful when needed, so he should hang as far back as possible to avoid incoming fire. Few warcasters support an army as well as Damiano.

Feat thoughts

Most of the time you want to use the feat when it's time for the big charge. On rare occasions, it may be used to counter an opposing feat like Exulon Thexus or Krueger2 as it prevents his army from being moved (they can still be placed).

Spell thoughts

• Convection - This is almost never cast. Damiano has a magical hand cannon which is better and can be AOE 3 so you'd only cast this spell if you needed to kill quite a few incorporeal models in one turn.
• Deadeye - You will probably be casting this every turn as it negates a lot of defensive bonuses out there.
• Death March - Good to put on any larger unit that's likely to be taking losses frequently - usually Steelhead Halberdiers although people have found it very useful on a 15 person unit of Trencher Infantry.
• Road to War - Always a helpful spell to have up right away on Damiano before your 'jacks have closed to engage, especially if his battlegroup is following closely behind other units and can benefit from their kills.
• Sure Foot - An outstanding infantry support spell, best used on high DEF models with Tough. Most famously, Trencher Infantry. Idrian Skirmishers with help from Rhupert also fit the bill.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Damiano is pretty dependent on upkeeps to do much for his army, especially if he didn't bring Steelheads. This means any army that brings upkeep removal makes his life more difficult. He does not want to see Purification.
• He doesn't have a strong assassination game and tends to bring a lot of infantry, which means long games that will test your clock management skills.
• His end game ability to pull out the win by himself is well below average.
• If you have all 3 of his upkeeps active that's half of his focus stack gone per turn. Use Sylys and/or Arcanists to remedy this.

Tricks & Tips

• Combining Money Shot and Deadeye on a Steelhead unit with a ranged attack makes them surprisingly powerful.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Damiano hangs well back and upkeeps 2 of 3 spells. One is usually Surefoot and the other is either Road to War or Death March depending on the matchup. Once things get going, it's up to you to decide what most needs to happen during the turn, whether it is casting Deadeye, using his Blaster gun, or allocating focus to warjacks.

Surefoot works best on a unit that is tough, has good DEF, and can shrug off blasts. Trencher Infantry fit the bill, so he's often seen in Kingmaker's with a full 15 Trenchers anchoring the middle of the board. He's not very tricky so he mostly relies on having more bodies than the other army which he can turn into high quality bodies thanks to his spells and abilities.

Damiano is the Steelhead leader, and his Paymaster ability means Damiano likes Steelheads of all types; everyone loves both Sure Foot for and Battle Maneuvers for tactical flexibility.

• Steelhead Halberdiers are almost essential with him; they will be dying and Death March is likely to trigger Vengeance - and as cheap models they get excellent use out of his feat
• Money Shot is excellent on any Steelheads
  • Steelhead Riflemen, giving them +2 ranged attack and damage fron Money Shot to go with their combined attacks; a pair of Steelhead Riflemen making a CRA are effectively RAT 9, POW 15 even without aiming but return fire will melt them.
  • Steelhead Calvary hit harder at range, especially with Deadeye on them. These probably gain less with him than any other choice though they hit like truck on feat turn.
  • For the artillery units, a Volley Gun under Money Shot can reliably put a large dent into medium armour heavies with d3+1 RAT 7 POW 16 attacks. Or it can move up, drop a covering fire template and back up 5".
  • The Cannon with Money Shot and Deadeye can provide a very accurate knockdown to open up assassinations.
  • The Mortar with Money Shot both gets POW 12 blast damage and might actually be able to hit a heavy occasionally.
• Stannis Brocker is free in Soldiers of Fortune and useful for Steelheads.
• Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye brings the reinforcements - and can even bring enough armour with Damiano's feat to shrug off blast and light melee damage on the halberds. Beat used to reinforce a Surefooted Halberdier unit.
• The Steelhead Arcanist brings magic weapons to this whole mess, plus both Empower and a way to get rid of opposing cloud walls
• The Steelhead Ironhead does nice things for threat ranges - and for tying up enemies.
• The Steelhead Gunner is useful if you're bringing the artillery - either extra movement or a touch of extra damage. Though it is much less needed with Damiano.

Theme Thoughts

Steelheads are available in 2 themes: Kingmaker's, and Soldiers of Fortune.

This is probably the best theme to take him in, as it can run Trencher Infantry which, under Sure Foot, become an almost immovable cloud wall with DEF 15, no knockdown, and tough (and Brutal Charge) - while with their extra range Trencher Long Gunners are better at staying safe than Steelhead Riflemen. And you can and should bring Steelhead Halberdiers, especially ones powered up by Death March.

• Trencher Infantry are amazing under Sure Foot; a max unit of 15 models with DEF 15, Tough, no Knockdown, and Dig In are as difficult to remove as infantry gets. Toss in Deadeye and the Trenchers do lots of work - with a startlingly powerful charge on feat turn.
• Trencher Long Gunners don't melt the way Riflemen do. And you can put Money Shot onto a Volley Gun, which at least survives better than the rifles.

This is a solid second choice. You get Alexia2 instead of Trenchers, and Mark the Target is better than Feign Death. However, without a Trencher cloud wall, you are far more vulnerable to just getting shot off the board.

While there are no Steelheads in this theme, he can still put together a pretty convincing list in this theme. Crosse's Cutthroats and wide variety of powerful melle solos make for a dangerous list.

• Asphyxious the Sanctified - Probably the best case for this theme, as Gaspy4 is an excellent target for both the feat and his two unit wide upkeeps, making him a terrifying combatant or harder to take down. The feat and Dark Shroud make everything hit super hard.
• Gastone Crosse - A ranged power solo, so he does a great job triggering RtW. The real money here is Discombobulate, though, which acts not only as an accuracy buff, but also becomes super dangerous with units that have Backstab, and is a great control spell, too.
• Croe's Cutthroats - Speaking of units with Backstab; Croes got it and they are great at ranged and in melee, so the take very well to Sure Foot, Death March, Deadeye and the feat.
• Kayazy Assassins - Backstab, too, but with Shadow Dance they can get into back arcs on their own very well.
• Precursor Knights are your resident pseudo weapon masters hitting like a ton of bricks under the Captain's feat and all the damage fixers in the theme. You can also engineer a Tough/Rise/Vengeance combo with Death March, Battle Priests, and Heroic Call from either Gabriel Throne or Rhupert. Death March also make it so that they hit actually more accurately than PKs in Flames with an Archon nearby.
  • Speaking of Throne, he becomes a stellar combatant under Conquest himself, and stacking Stir the Blood and said Conquest on a unit of PKs is a thing of bloody beauty.
• Idrian Skirmishers are a very good target for Deadeye and Sure Foot due to their ranged prowess and native blast immunity respectively. With their guns they also proc RtW easily.
• Nyss Hunters - The love Sure Foot and as weapon masters they hit like a ton of bricks in melee too under feat.
• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - The usual damage fixers. More importantly for him, though, they provide magic weapons, something he can't do on his own. Holt is also a nice trigger for Road to War.
• Harlowe Holdemhigh - He becomes terrifyingly accurate with Deadeye, making him do his job of sniping out high value targets with even more ease. As a ranged combat solo he also triggers RtW very well.
• Kayazy Eliminators - The operate well on their own but also massively benefit from his feat thanks to their two melee attacks and Gang.
• J.A.I.M.s is basically another Eliminator, but with Grievous Wounds and Weapon Master on top. If you bring Gaspy (and you should) he also gives her Blood Thirst for more speed.
• Eilish Garrity - If you want to reliably crit fish with a Dead-Eye'd Mule, Puppet Master is a very good tool for that.
• Gudrun the Wasted - Sure Foot and Kinetic Distortion can stack and make the affected unit not worry getting shot. His big maul also hits really hard on feat turn.

• Sylys - With so many upkeeps and so little focus it's always appreciated if one upkeep is free.
• Gorman1 - No particular synergies here, he is just a very good solo thanks to his bombs and a good answer to battle engines which cannot shake blind.

Battlegroup

File:Rocinante.JPG

Rocinante is his pet warjack that he can take in any theme.

Damiano is not a warjack caster - but Road to War for 3" extra movement, and an awesomely hard hitting melee feat, means that his few heavies make for a powerful wrecking crew.

• Rocinante is his pet warjack that he can take in any theme. Historically Rocinante was kinda of bad, but he got better and now Rocinante is very focus efficient when shooting (needed on early turns) and hits like a MAT 7 heavy warjack should, and if Rocinante wrecks what it charges it gets a free shot. Excellent all round.
• Toro - ARM 18 + Shield becomes ARM 23 on feat turn for impressive durability. Counter-charge + Road to War is some seriously nice mobility. Since the increase in price of the Nomad the Toro has become his favourite non-character jack. Note that Damiano's feat prevents it from using counter-charge on your opponent's turn.
• The Mule likes to be able to aim, which is helped by Road to War. Also Deadeye is great for crit fishing but only if you have the spare Focus - and Eilish Garrity can boost the attack roll still further. This is more for fun than tournaments - but Critical Devastation is amazing.
• A Buccaneer is useful to knock Damiano down in the Kingmaker's theme force, just so you can protect him via Feign Death.
• Nomads, Talons and Mariners provide cheap options that Damiano can make great use of as he doesn't particularly excel at running warjacks

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about its playstyle and expanded it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - Soldiers of Fortune

Damiano1 [+28 WJP]

• Rocinante [15 pts]
• Mangler [14 pts]

Alexia2 [6 pts]

Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4 pts]

Steelhead Arcanist [3 pts]

Steelhead Halberdiers (Max unit) [11 pts]

Steelhead Cannon Crew [Free] Template:Grey

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

• Originally released in the Warmachine: Wrath expansion (2011).
• Captain Damiano appears to be based off of Don Quixote, a fictional Spanish 'knight' made infamous for charging windmills in the play "Man of La Mancha" (Wikipedia: Tilting at Windmills).
• The name of Don Quixote's old decrepit horse and Damiano's bonded family warjack, "Rocinante", is a Spanish pun meaning either "Foremost Steed" or "Old Workhorse." (Wikipedia: Rocinante)
• Ironically, in Portuguese "amador" has the meaning of amateur, dilletante or nonprofessional, contradictory to Amador Damiano's personal entitlement to not only fight for gold and coin (as some other mercenary warcasters), but also for fame, honor and glory.
• Killed in action at the Battle of Henge Hold by Zaateroth's army

Video Battle Reports

• 2018.08 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Sorscha2
• 2018.07 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Hexeris2
• 2018.06 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Jakes2
• Template:VBR