Warmachine Vengeance Review: Menoth

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 Menoth models.
SERVATH REZNIK, WRATH OF AGES: Reznik got himself a chariot! He’s now a cavalry battle engine warcaster, with all the plusses and minuses that entails. As with any huge base model, survivability is important because they’re … well, they’re huge targets. Fortunately, Renzik has that covered. ARM 17 and 7 Focus can let him camp up to ARM 24. Those 20 hit boxes aren’t going away in a hurry. Oh, and if he has at least one Focus on him, non-magical ranged attacks automatically miss. Those rules will definitely help with his approach, because melee is one of his strengths.
Renzik can cast Creator’s Wrath on himself, granting an additional die to melee attack and damage rolls and makes those attacks ignore defensive buffs. Given Renzik’s already solid MAT 7 and P+S 13 and the fact that he can boost those rolls even further, it becomes clear what a monster in melee he is. Add in Flame Burst on his spear, and a feat that lowers enemy DEF by 2 and makes them explode into 4” POW 12 AOEs, and he can do a lot of damage before even considering his army.
He also comes with a lot of support options, Death March being the most exciting one in my opinion. There are plenty of units that can benefit from +2 MAT and Vengeance. Free 3” move and attack in the maintenance phase after losing a model? Yes, please! Iron Aggression is a carryover from Renzik’s prime version and grants a friendly warjack (doesn’t have to be in his battlegroup!) boosted melee attack rolls and a free run, charge, slam, or trample. Finally, he can put Lamentation up to double Focus or Fury costs within his control area.
Renzik looks like he has two basic modes of play, along with combinations of both styles. He can go straight in, spear-to-the-face style. Or he can hang back and provide a generous amount of support to his army. If your opponent doesn’t have much in the way of magical shooting, he can do both at the same time.
Pretty awesome. Should be interesting to see him in action on the table.
INDICTOR: This heavy warjack is a solid brick of Menoth-flavored nope. First, it’s got a generous damage grid, ARM 19 and a shield. It’ll take some effort to put down. With Sacred Ward, it can’t be targeted by enemy spells either.
But the big one is Consecration. Within 5” of this guy, enemy models can’t cast spells, channel spells, or upkeep spells. Yikes! Talk about disrupting your enemy’s plans! As an added bonus, its P+S 17 melee attack is magical and Blessed for ignoring enemy defensive buffs. Because it’s always nice to ignore even more of your foe’s efforts.
So yeah, like I said, this thing is a big can of Menoth nope. Very nice.
FLAME BRINGERS: These ladies on horseback are fast! I mean, really really fast! Not only do they come with SPD 9, but they also have Side Step for an additional 2” move after every initial attack that hits. Oh, and they have three attacks. They’re light cavalry, which gives them a 5” move after their actions are complete. All summed up during a round they charge, they can move an amazing 23”!
They come with Pathfinder, so terrain isn’t slowing them down, and when they’re hitting, it’s with P+S 9 Weapon Master swords. Not bad at all. They also come with Critical Grievous Wounds, a devastating ability against Hordes … when it actually triggers.
EXEMPLAR BASTION SENESCHAL: What are harder to kill than Exemplar Bastions? How about healing Exemplar Bastions! This model heals every Exemplar Bastion model in its command range 1 point at the beginning of their activation (including itself).
It also comes with an impressive suite of rules to keep it alive. It’s a Jack Marshal, and if it’s marshalling and in base to base contact with the warjack, it gets +2 ARM and can let the warjack take ranged and magic attack hits in its place. Defensive Strike gives it a free attack when someone walks up to it, once per round.
For 3 point, worth it if you’re fielding Bastions. Definitely worth it. Just imagine trying to shift this guy marshalling a Vigilant or Devout behind a full unit Bastions. Not going to be easy!
INITIATE TRISTAN DURANT: As a journeyman warcaster, he has a wide range of applications, but to me this guy’s rules scream “I want an arc node!”
First, he comes with a solid attack spell in Immolation. This POW 12 attack spell only has a range of 8”, but it causes the fire continuous effect on critical hits. Not bad.
However, it gets better. Durant has True Sight, so he ignores concealment, Camouflage, and Stealth. Now let’s think about how many powerful solos have those rules for protection, but wouldn’t like a POW 12 flame spell to the face? A lot, right? He also comes with Fortify to keep his arc node safe with +2 ARM, immunity to knock down, and a few other effects.
Durant lacks any special rules that help with his survivability, so it’s best to keep him back from the front lines. His DEF 14 and ARM 15 are decent, and he can pull off an impressive five attacks with P+S 11 and Blessed if he has to get into melee. But he’s just doesn’t feel like he’s meant for the front lines.
Alternately, instead of an arc node, he can keep a ranged warjack flush with focus and help it wail away at the enemies. Though honestly, any of the journeymen warcasters can do this.
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.