Durgen Madhammer

Durgen Madhammer feeds on the ferocity of explosive violence and has a compulsion for obliteration that borders upon sadistic. He has combined his impressive arcane skill and mastery of steam craft with demolitions, elemental magic, and mechanikal know-how to become a legendary mercenary respected and feared by both friends and foes.

Basic Info

Mercenary - In a 2+ caster game, this model will work for Template:Crucible Guard mercenary, Template:Cygnar mercenary, Template:Khador mercenary, or Template:Menoth mercenary.

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

• Template:Rhulic Warcaster

Feat : Bombs Away

While in Madhammer’s control range, friendly Faction models gain Dual Attack and +2 to attack and damage rolls with AOE ranged weapons. Bombs Away lasts for one turn.

Template:Dual Attack-alt

Abilities

• Template:Immunity: Fire
• Field Marshal [ [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]] ]

[[Category:{{{ability}}}]]

Weapons

Buster
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			4			14
Template:Arcing Fire Template:Attack Type Template:Carpet Bomb Template:Case Cracker Template:Incendiary
Leveler
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				6				13
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Warhead

Spells

{{Category: Template:Force FieldTemplate:Ground ZeroTemplate:Powder KegTemplate:PrimedTemplate:Redline }}[[Category: Template:Force FieldTemplate:Ground ZeroTemplate:Powder KegTemplate:PrimedTemplate:Redline ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Hammer Strike. Durgen gains Tough in this theme.
• Template:Steelies
• Template:The Irregulars

Thoughts on Durgen Madhammer

Durgen Madhammer in a nutshell

Durgen is all offense. Offence, offense, offence.

Durgen wants to walk his army forward and sock the other army as hard as he can. What he doesn't do is provide any credible protection to his army. Some more ranged threat extension would be nice, too.

His Field Marshall ability is a fine way to get around blast immunity as anything that can't be hurt by blast damage can probably be set on fire, and combined with Redline and his feat, makes him arguably the best of the three Rhulic casters with the Earthbreaker.

Thanks to his gun, he is one of the more personally impactful merc casters alongside Crosse2 and Caine3.

His best trick is Primed, which is one of the better jamming spells in the game.

Feat thoughts

Bomb's Away is an alpha strike feat that only affects AOE blast attacks and encourages you to bring models that have them. The Earthbreaker or Siege Crawler, for example. It has the added benefit of giving Dual Attack to your army, which lets your heavies trample and shoot. Because most competitive armies are blast-resistant, it's not something you can rely on to demolish the other force, so make sure the ranged models you bring are good at combined arms.

Spell thoughts

• Force Field - It keeps Durgen on his feet and keeps your squishy Primed troopers safer from blasts, which matters a lot.
• Ground Zero - A somewhat expensive spell that damages and pushes back enemies. It's one of the worst spells in the game that you will cast once in a blue moon.
• Powder Keg - Another expensive spell, though with the potential to shut down attacks on a model. Though as a critical effect, it's not something you should gamble upon. Still the only targeted ranged offensive spell that Durgen has.
• Primed - Durgen's bread-and-butter spell. You should always have something to put it on. Best targets are models with good melee attacks, high DEF, and low enough ARM that the debuff doesn't matter. One of the best uses is to put it on Steelhead Halberdiers so they cause POW 14's when the opponent attempts to unjam their army. It is his best control spell.
• Redline - A great spell to cast on your warjack before it goes charging in. Drillers, Bashers, Rockrams, and Earthbreakers all become nightmares in melee with a Redline buff. A Redlined Earthbreaker is dangerous at range and in melee.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Durgen is durable but will die a lot quicker than you might expect. Especially as his playstyle tends to put him 12" or closer to the enemy. Even with Power Up, you'll find yourself struggling for focus quite often. Finally, beware the trap of the feat. The more AOEs you put out, the less effective each one becomes. Eventually, you are shooting blasts at lone targets.
• He is badly outclassed by Ossrum, whose Fire for Effect spell replicates Durgen's feat turn over the course of the game and has a lot more tricks. The only thing Durgen does better than Ossrum is set blast-resistant things on fire with the Earthbreaker's blasts.
• Improper positioning of models in your Primed unit can lead to self-inflicted casualties as they blow each other up. (Note: models must be disabled by enemy attacks for Primed to trigger.)

Tricks & Tips

• Dual Attack lets Blasters charge and spray, though it requires an extra focus for the boost.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Durgen is easily the most aggressive of the Rhulic warcasters. He is designed in the same mold as Ossyan, Caine3, and Kara Sloan - they're all about a crippling alpha strike that flows into an attrition advantage, since he offers his army very little protection to survive an enemy alpha nor drawn-out piece-trade attrition. (His alpha strike is not as good as the others, however.)

Also critical to his strategy is using Primed to jam the opposing army with models that then force them to pay a huge price for clearing the jam. Certain opponents will be totally unable to deal with it. Primed is a huge portion of his game plan and it is important to make good use of the spell - you should bring at least two units that will make worthwhile Primed targets in his army.

Durgen wants two things: One, a good unit or two to cast Primed on. Two, either a largish battlegroup or an Earthbreaker. With his Field Marshal ability, you can set your opponent's entire army on fire Also, ofc a smattering of models with AOEs. Since you get diminishing returns the more AOEs you bring s few artillery pices and a unit of battle engine are usually enough. Don't over do it.

Theme thoughts

Strongly recommended. This theme has good targets for Primed, and many models with AOEs. It also has focus support and threat extenders. Solos gain Mark the Target making his jacks very accurate.

• Reinholdt - He lets Durgen reload his gun, or brings some anti-stealth tech.
• Boomhowler2 - Giving Reposition to either Durgen himself or to the artillery pieces can be very valuable. Covering Fire and Craters from an Earthbreaker also let you dictate where your enemy can go.
• Steelhead Gunner - Your go-to support for your artillery. Siege Weapon will make for an absolutely devastating feat turn and Desperate Pace helps them get there.
• Steelhead Arcanist - Your main source of focus support. He also grants magical damage to the weapons of steelhead troops negating incorporeal, wind wall, or hymn of shielding buffs your opponent might have, meaning you can use artillery to shoot down Wraith Engines or Judicators if you apply the feta and Siege Weapon.
• Steelhead Ironhead - Your threat extenders thanks to the crane rule. They also repair and are surprisingly good in melee.
• Steelhead Halberdiers - The best targets for Primed you can find! Send them screaming across the table and whack stuff, you don't really care if they blow up.
• Alexia1 - She collects the corpses of dead Halberdiers and turns them into risen. Just note that exploding halberdiers do NOT generate corpse tokens, those that die because their buddy exploded next to them, do.
• Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye - He returns to play fallen halberdiers. As above, keep in mind that Halberdiers who exploded are RFP'd, so cannot be returned to play, those that died in the blast radius can be returned.
• Steelhead Cannon Crew - Your main source of AOEs on feat turn. With Brutal Damage, they really leave a dent in anything they hit and Quake sets up other parts of your list for easy kills.
• Steelhead Mortar Crew - On feat turn, they absolutely mince infantry with boosted high explosive shots. Craters are also a neat control effect.
• Herne & Jonne - Another source of AOE's, but they also bring the Artillerist buff for some extra RAT.

This theme has many models with AOEs for his feat, but no good targets for Primed and no Reinholdt.

• Horgenhold Forge Guard - They're expensive, but you don't have any other good primed targets, so you have to take what you can get and primed weapon master are scary.
• Horgenhold Artillery Corps are your classic long-range AOE mortar.
• Ogrun Assault Corps - They bring AOE Assault shots, so they make the best use of his feat giving them +2/+2 and Dual Attack. With Primed they also hit decently hard on the charge.
• Hammerfall Siege Crawlers - Siege Crawlers grant him cover or better yet completely block LOS. He can arc fire over the top of them, and they can push whole units together to make for great targets for the blasts and sprays that haunt his lists.
• Balthazar Bamfist - Force Barrier protects Forge Guard from blasts, including those caused by their exploding buddies. He also hands out a single focus per turn to a jack with Empower.
• Harlowe Holdemhigh - Anti-incorporeal tech, solo hunting, great shooting. He's one of the best solos in the faction, there's no reason not to take him.
• The Steelhead Gunner is also here and fulfills the same duties as in SoF.
• Thor Steinhammer - Tune Up one of your jacks and let 'er rip.

Not much reason to play this as it has neither a good Primed target nor that many AOEs beyond Siege Crawlers and whatever BG models you put on the Juniors, and Jack Marshals.

• Crosse1 and the jack marshals in the theme can bring Mules or Mariners and have their jacks set the world on fire on feat turn.
• Croe's Cutthroats are perfect for Primed and Dual Attack, being able to lay down the hurt, then Repositioning deeper to threaten free strikes and Primed explosions. There is also synergy with Crosse1.
• Boss MacHorne can bring a Merc heavy with an AOE gun and give it Dismantle
• Widget1 allows you to squeeze some extra AOE attacks out of your jacks.
• Eilish1 will drastically improve the odds of landing a critical for a Mule or Siege Crawler if the attack roll is boosted via the feat.
• Nemo4 can bring Cygnar or CoC jacks with AOEs. An Avenger, Assimilator or Cipher can do some damage during feat. And Nemo himself benefits from the Dual Attack part of the feat.
• Asphyxious4 is a pretty good Primed target and a good quality piece that functions basically like an extra heavy. If you want to be cute, give him a Nightwretch, Desecrator or Harrower or even a Galleon for AOE funsies on feat turn.
• Flubbin2 and Gubbin2 are here too, for all your AOE needs.

Battlegroup

• An Earthbreaker is a nice simple choice to use up all your WJP and a bit. His goes real fast, hits real hard, and lights stuff on fire.
• Grundback Blasters, already good vs infantry, become excellent with Continuous Fire. Any troops that survived the initial attack are likely to die to fire.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006).
• Killed in action(?) at the Battle of Henge Hold by Zaateroth's army.