Garryth, The Blade of Retribution

Template:Retbox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Even among mage hunters Garryth is considered a fanatic. He sweeps across the battlefield like a storm, letting the death reaped by his pistols and their razor-sharp blades serve as prayers to the stricken goddess.

Basic Info

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

Feat : Vortex Lock

For one round, while in Garryth's Template:CTRL range enemy models cannot cast spells, channel spells, spend focus or fury points, or be moved by place effects.

Abilities

• Template:Parry
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Stealth
• Template:Acrobatics
• Template:Dual Attack
• Field Marshal [ [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]] ]

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

• Template:Reposition 3

Weapons

Pistol (x2)
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			Template:-			12
Template:Blessed Template:Magical Weapon
Blade (x2)
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				5				11
Template:Blessed Template:Magical Weapon Template:Weapon Master Template:Grievous Wounds

Spells

{{Category: Template:Crippling Grasp

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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	8	1	6	12	up	no
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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	8	1	6	12	up	no
No errata for {{{name}}} ([[:Category:Errata-{{{name}}}|Create]])

Theme Forces

• Template:Defenders of Ios
• Template:Forges of War
• Template:Legions of Dawn
• Template:Shadows of the Retribution. He gains "optional take down" in this theme.

Thoughts on Garryth1

Garryth1 in a nutshell

At first (and even second) sight Garryth bears a lot of similarity with the game's most dangerous assassin caster, and can be regarded as such. He has 2 decent guns, a feat that stops most of the FURY/FOCUS related defensive measures, and insanely high DEF, paired with a spell to potentially resist some methods of setting him up for an assassination. He also shares the dreaded Acrobatics, Pathfinder, and Parry combination of Rhyas, meaning, that whatever gets within his threat range (up to 17.5" with Apparition and a conveniently placed model to bounce off of with Gate Crasher) is pretty much dead.

However, he has great support spells too, and unlike his Cygnaran friend, he must use it actively, if you want to get the job done.

Spell thoughts

• Crippling Grasp - A fantastic debuff that means Garryth will want at least 1 arc node and possibly Sylys to mitigate his average focus stat.
• Gallows - It's cost means an extreme Focus burden upon you, so don't bank too hard on it for assassinations. Consider arcing it to remove screening models to get LOS for your shots, or pull pesky Shield Guards or Guard Dogs out of range. If you do go for it in an assassination, pulling models close to your primary target into Garryth's charge range can set up unexpected chances to jump onto casters with Gate Crasher, though the two spells will use up 5/6 of your Focus and make the assassination attempt quite risky.
• Gate Crasher - Gate Crasher is an incredibly powerful spell to have on a caster with such high assassination potential, the threat extension it grants makes Garryth a nightmare to deal with. Upkeeping Mirage (ideally for free with Sylys) for a 2" place, walking 7" (with Pathfinder, Parry, and Acrobatics letting you get just about anywhere), and then casting Gate Crasher gives you a 14.5" threat range and still leaves you with all your initials and 3 (4 if you have Sylys) focus to dump on the assassination. Garryth can charge a target and then cast Gate Crasher after finishing his movement, but before attacking, since warcasters can cast spells at any time, and teleport to a 'caster within 5" for a monstrous 17.5" assassination threat range with no external help. When playing with or against Garryth1 this spell should always be at the front of your mind as he can, and likely should, use it to secure an assassination at every possible opportunity.
• Mirage - A tough decision, whether you want it on yourself, or on your units. It can unjam your fast units, like Destors, and might even allow them a charge with their lances, but it is also a powerful threat-extension when cast on Garryth himself. Combined with Gate Crasher, Garryth can project a ludicrously large threat area. Whatever you cast Mirage on will generally appreciate the extra positioning advantage, so there is a lot of room for experimentation in its application.
• Perseverance - A solid defensive upkeep, putting it on your main frontline unit to help buy time for Garryth to find an opening is generally going to be the standard use. Sentinels appreciate the armor bonus, though paper-armored Mage Hunters will generally die too easily for it to make too much of a difference unless you are expecting a lot of very low POW blasts. If you are up against an opponent like Rahn, or anyone else that likes to slam models around, then having a Warjack that can't be pushed, slammed, or thrown as a bodyguard for Garryth goes a long way in making him safer to move up the field. Do note that this spell does nothing to stop place effects, so effects like Telekinesis ignore it and can still move affected models. Also, unlike Garryth's old spell, Heightened Reflexes, Perseverance doesn't prevent knockdowns from any source other than being slammed. If another target is slammed over a model affected by this spell, they are still potentially knocked over. For this reason, putting the spell on Garryth himself for knockdown-protection is of questionable worth, as most slam-based assassinations don't slam a caster directly since it's often easier to just slam something else over them and not have to deal with their caster-level DEF stat.

Feat thoughts

• His feat prevents the opponents from being able to avoid his damage through spending a focus to block damage, and it prevents them from spending fury to transfer the damage as well. This effectively gives your entire army the equivalent of mkII Arcane Assassin for the turn, which is very dangerous for the opposing warcaster/warlock. If you don't want to (or can't) get the caster with it, keep in mind the restriction about placement. It can pull out the fangs of placing tricks, like Apparition, Telekinesis, or the Slipstream animus. Spells like Respawn and Reconstruct also lose their placing part, so the reviewed model will still be placed in melee with you, if you killed them in melee. Most important, it also shuts down Jump and Bounding Leap.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Squishy - a knocked-down or stationary Garryth is usually a soon-to-be-very-dead Garryth.
• Even without KD or stationary, electro leaps and countinous fire, as well as AoEs are valid dangers.
• Anti magic tricks - especially when combined with charge denial - can potentially hurt you really bad.
• Anti upkeep tricks can remove Mirage or Perseverance, reducing your vitally important threat range or either leaving you more vulnerable or removing your most direct army support tool. Plus, 60% of your spells are upkeeps - be on the lookout for bad match-ups.
• If you need Gallows, you'll rarely have focus to pull off a proper assassination run. If you need both Gallows and Gate Crasher you should think hard about whether that one focus you'll have left once you get into melee will be enough.

Tricks & Tips

• Parry and Acrobatics allows Garryth to charge through models freely in order to assassinate an opposing caster without the risk of free strikes.
  • Factoring Pathfinder into the mix means that if there is a straight line between Garryth and his target and enough space for him to end next to them, he can generally get there the same as if it was an open field without any extra investment. Unless your opponent is hiding behind a solid piece of terrain or is sitting way out of range Garryth can generally get into melee with them, and the terrain can even be ignored with Gate Crasher so hiding isn't really a great option against him.
• While charge denial is potentially quite damaging to Garryth's main plan of putting his knives into the opposing 'caster, having a 14.5" threat range from Mirage, walking 7, and casting Gate Crasher means that a charge is quite possibly simply not necessary. Especially when you can do the 5" place through obstructions that you otherwise couldn't charge through anyways, or place yourself behind the target for easy backstrike bonuses.
• Don't underestimate Garryth's guns! Combined with his feat, Garryth can quite easily end the average warcaster or warlock by himself with a very long threat range.
• His Feat is weaker against Hordes as it still allows Forcing, meaning that warbeasts can still attack normally. Though, you probably used your feat for assassination; if there's a warbeast still standing, and can be forced, things are usually not going your way...
  • Additionally, his feat is MUCH less useful against Infernal Masters. Essence is neither Focus nor Fury, so it doesn't prevent them from spending it on anything that the feat doesn't otherwise limit. They still won't be able to cast spells with it, channel spells, or place themselves, but that's really it. They can still summon with it, have their big scary monsters spend it to boost attacks into Garryth, or Tithe their Horrors with it. Most importantly, and most frustratingly, they can still spend it to transfer damage to their Horrors. Grievous Wounds cannot stop transferring damage either, so attempting an assassination run against an Infernal Master with a stack of Essence is generally a terrible plan unless you think you can hit enough times to overwhelm their transfers or simply deal enough damage to their Horrors through transferred damage to be worth it. Garryth really does not like fighting Infernals.
• His Feat might not always work as intended - knowing that they won't be able to use FOC/FURY for defence when in feat range, enemies will likely just spend those resources anyway, instead of camping them However, it is often a win-win situation for you.
• Against spell-slinging opposing 'casters, prioritizing the removal of Arc Nodes is especially important. If you can disable their options to safely channel spells at you from outside Garryth's threat range, you can force them to move into range to cast spells themselves on what will likely be their last turn with a 'caster that isn't full of knives. Garryth can threat out to 14.5" without charging, and many spellcasters can't cast offensive spells with a range further than that.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Garryth demands an aggressive play-style to dictate the flow of the battle. 2 out of his 3 upkeeps are for offensive use (though only Crippling Grasp is an offensive spell in game terms), though the third is a decent enough defensive buff for either himself or a model/unit that expects to benefit from a bit more durability. The whole toolset he has available is largely focused towards picking on a single model and either killing it himself or setting it up for his army to pick it off. When possible this one model will hopefully be the opposing warcaster getting Garryth's knives in their back, but Gallows and Crippling Grasp can be used to set up unexpected and hard-hitting alpha-strikes against freshly softened up targets in order to open up your opponent's army for a future run at their caster. Garryth himself can pick off key solos/troops with his guns or execute hit and run attacks over his frontline to eliminate just about anything softer than a heavy 'jack.

Garryth is going to want to keep the assassination run as his primary plan, but it is important to remember that every model you remove from the table makes it that much harder for your opponent to protect their 'caster, and rushing in immediately is potentially not as wise as waiting until the perfect time once some key pieces have been removed from the equation. True, you will be losing your own models as well, but Garryth is more than capable of killing the opposing 'caster even if he is the last of your models on the table and trading away your army in order to get him closer to his goal is often a sound plan. Just do be careful not to wait too long, or you will quickly find yourself in serious risk of being assassinated yourself, or simply losing on scenario once you no longer have an army to contest with.

Theme Thoughts

• Stormfall Archers absolutely love the DEF and ARM debuff from Crippling Grasp. In fact most ranged models, like Scythe or Ghost Snipers love Crippling Grasp
• Elara1 to hand out Ghost Walk so Garry can charge through a house and thus still project his assassinations. Give her a Gorgon to double stack the SPD debuff of Crippling Grasp, or a Harpy for those Thunderbolt shots.
• Pretty much all stripes of infantry love Perseverance and Crippling Gasp, as it makes them surprisingly tanky and also makes them hit harder or more accurately. House Ellowuyr Wardens come to mind, but Ryssovass Defenders or House Ellowuyr Swordsmen love it just as much.
• Dawnguard Trident - That's a 19" assassination threat range thanks to slipstream (Apparition 2", Trident 2", charge 10", gate crasher 5") and everybody knows how good Tridents are baseline and Perseverance and Grasp push them to ludicrous levels.

• Garryth can take the Dawnguard Trident, mentioned above in this theme, too.
• Dawnguard Destors - yep, that's 15" of charge distance with Mirage. And Perseverance and Crippling Grasp are once again excellent.
• Imperatus - This and Moros make for a truly excellent battlegroup that this barely over his Battlegroup point total. Also an excellent Perserverance target.

• Narn - He's part of the "Mage Hunter Care Package" Garry gets to benefit from. Narn gives him Sprint, meaning you can jo-jo him around after he got some work done and project your threat at the same time with clever positioning.
• Elara1 is also here. You can even give her Moros if you want to for super-sprint.
• Mage Hunter Strike Force with Crippling Grasp they can just shoot most things straight off the board.
• Void Archons - Amazing debuffers and they do lots of work with their void slaps and sprays. They have similar mobility to Garyyth and can thus Dark Shroud a target an enemy caster easily if you want better odd of winning the game outright.
• It's a hard sell, but Nayl is potentially a semi-reasonable pick with Garryth1 due to Perseverance preventing your opponent from simply pushing, slamming, or throwing him back at you. Yeah, he will still most likely do nothing or be used as Fury management by your opponent, but he is at least far less likely to backfire as horrifically as he usually would. If you can get him past shooting and within 8" of the opposing 'caster he can at the very least force them to think carefully about their positioning and potentially be quite the amusing distraction.

• Either Fane Knight Guardian or Sylys. Choosing between them might be your biggest dilemma. An extra die on attack rolls with Crippling Grasp is very good, but so is DEF 19 in melee with an ARM 20 shield guard. Sadly, you can't have both.
• Eiryss4 - The other part of the care package, granting him Swift Hunter and thus extending his assassination threat range to 21" ((Apparition 2", charge 10", shoot twice, Swift Hunt twice for 4", gate crasher 5")

Battlegroup

File:Retribution Moros.jpg

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

• Banshee - A knocked down target is ripe for the taking.
• Manticore - lay down covering fire, back up with reposition. And they hit like trucks too. And you can gallows targets through covering fire templates.
• Chimera - A cheap arc node with capacity to hurt heavies.
• Moros is Garryth's pet warjack that he can take in any theme. It can lower your main target's DEF to near-stationary level (you still miss on snake-eyes), and his bond allows a really nice attack from behind your screening models.

Other

Trivia

File:MiniCrate9 3 GunslingerGarryth.jpg

Gunslinger Garryth; Minicrate Exclusive.

• Released in Forces of Warmachine: Retribution of Scyrah (Novermber 2009)
• Template:LES

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.04 Feat Fetish, vs Morghoul2
• 2018.10 Arcane Assist, vs Lord Carver
• Template:VBR