Warmachine Vengeance Review: Khador

IN SHORT: Warmachine Vengeance has arrived. Let’s dig in. As with previous releases, every Warmachine army gets a healthy heaping of awesome, this time with an emphasis on speed with exciting cavalry units and mobile warcasters. It also ushers in an interesting cast of journeymen warcasters. The book is printed in stellar full color with plenty of gorgeous new artwork.
Let’s take a look at the new Khador models.
KOMMANDER ZOKTAVIR, THE BUTCHER UNLEASHED: This guy will wreck your face. First, just in terms of raw hitting power, the Butcher has a MAT 9 P+S 16 Weapon Master axe with Reach. He can cast Flashing Blade to hit every model he’s engaging at the same time, and he has Silence of Death for negating Tough rolls and damage transfers. Absolutely sick!
But it gets worse. His feat lets him refill his focus. Perfect for assassination runs. He also comes with two War Anguses, which are fairly dangerous on their own, but are even more dangerous when they die because that triggers the Butcher’s Vengeance ability (free 3” move and attack in the maintenance phase). They also grant the Butcher Relentless Charge, so he has Pathfinder when he charges in.
But it gets worse! The Butcher also comes with Energizer for up to 3” of additional movement and Impending Doom for drawing enemies within 5” in to be carved up with Flashing Blade. Let’s just recap all those movement shenanigans. SPD 5 base + 3” charge + 2” Reach + 3” Vengeance + 3” Energizer + 5” Impending Doom. That’s 21” of non-linear threat range. Very, very nasty!
The Butcher Unleashed is a pure assassination caster. As pure as they come. His army is nothing but a means to an end, and that end is the Butcher’s axe in the enemy warcaster/warlock’s face.
GROLAR: Here’s an impressive and versatile Khador heavy warjack. First, its piston hammer is P+S 18 and inflicts Ram (knock down plus a 1” push and 1” move follow up). Very nice. It’s auto cannon is POW 12 RNG 8. Nothing too exciting until you see it gets 5 shots! Make the initial attack, spend 2 focus, and fire 4 more shots thanks to Double Strike. That’s a lot of cannon fire!
With Virtuoso and Gunfighter, the Grolar can use its melee and ranged abilities in any combination the situation calls for. It’s also surprisingly mobile. Between +1” for Rams and +2” for Fleet, it can clear a good amount of ground (for a Khador warjack, anyway), all while using both melee and ranged attacks in the same turn.
All this for the fair price of 9 points. Like I said, impressive and versatile.
GREYLORD OUTRIDERS: Greylords on horseback. These guys bring two abilities to the table. First, they can move in, spray down enemies with Frostbite, then move back 5” thanks to being their light cavalry rules. Or they can use Winter’s Wind on a friendly Khador model. Any enemy that ends their activation within 2” of that model becomes stationary. Ouch!
Just think about putting this effect on the Conquest or heavily armored warjacks like the Devastator or any big and tough Khador model for that matter. Since each Outrider can place this on a model, you can in theory have five of these Winter’s Wind areas up, heavily disrupting your opponent’s plans. And disruption is good.
Beyond that, the Outriders also have Snow-Wreathed which gives them permanent concealment, bumping their DEF 13 up to DEF 15 against most shooting. This will help keep them safe while they do their work.
IRON FANG KOVNIK: For 2 points, this guy makes Iron Fangs better. Not too much to say beyond that. He makes them immune to knock down with No Sleeping on the Job [Iron Fangs], and he gives them +2” movement when their shields are up with Shield March. He can also Jack Marshal and is comes equipped with a P+S 12 Weapon Master Reach attack. ARM 15 and Unyielding make him effective ARM 17 when in combat, so he’s not a pushover to get rid of.
A solid support solo for those who use Iron Fangs, though Shield March can apply to any unit that uses the Shield Wall order.
KOVNIK ANDREI MALAKOV: This journeyman warcaster is defined by his Redline spell. With this, a warjack gets +2 SPD and +2 STR, but at the cost of d3 damage at the end of each activation. Just about any Khador warjack can make good use of those bonuses. Perhaps not surprisingly, he goes very well with the new Grolar, being able to keep it flush with Focus while giving it an additional +2 SPD, letting the Grolar charge enemies up to 11” away. For Khador, that’s very fast indeed.
Finally, he comes with Sucker! to keep him safe. Ranged attacks that hit him must be pawned off to a nearby warrior model, so he definitely wants to stick around some infantry. Of course, he can still get nuked with magic attacks. Base ARM 13 and DEF 14 will only do so much, so watch out.
SUMMARY: Privateer Press continues to release new and exciting models for each of its factions, ensuring that whichever army you play, you keep getting new options to bring to the tabletop. All in all, Vengeance is great release for a game that keeps getting better.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.