The new season of Warcry launched with a box set in Ghur, the Realm of Beasts. The Horns of Hashut are the vanguard of Hashut’s armies and they are ready to reduce the Gnarlwood to ashes.
While initially they tried to have the best of Ghur the traditional way with burning and soiling, they soon realised they needed something more powerful if they wanted to succeed.
Background and Lore of the Horns of Hashut Warband
Hashut is a Chaos god, called the Father of Darkness, and a god of tyranny and fire, often depicted as a blazing raging bull. While his godhood is questioned, his power is not and his armies are extremely ingenious and able to create nightmarish weapons by binding daemonic entities to their war engines.
While most of his followers are duardin (dwarves) corrupted by the forces of Chaos, any race can be enrolled in Hashut quest to transform everything in ashen wasteland. In particular all those that choose survival instead of uttermost destruction as Hashut’s armies leave nothing standing on their trail.
The Horns of Hashut are the vanguard of those armies. They prepare the terrain for the forges to be built, using their blacksmith physique and tools not for creation but to scorch the land and destroy everything. The most prominent fighters are allowed to wear the bull-horned war mask called hashutaar, a ritual that provides increased strength if the wearer survives putting it on while the metal is still red-hot.
They have been tasked to destroy the Gnarlwood as a starting point for Hashut conquest of Thondia, an alpha continent in the Realm of Beasts. But this task proved too difficult for them as every tree they felt, every stratagem they adopted to wound the land, was rebuked by Ghur.
For the first time facing the prospect of failure, that in Hashut terms means a punishment worse than death, hope was rekindled by the discovery of the existence of the ruins of Talaxis in the core of the Gnarlwood that is rumoured to be able to change reality itself. And so the Horns march forward destroying everything in their path, in the search of these ruins.
But how can you fulfil Hashut’s design on a Warcry battlefield? Let’s find out.
Fighters in the Horns of Hashut Warband
Note : si vous n'avez pas lu les règles de base de Warcry avant de lire cet article, il peut être utile de savoir que les capacités du jeu sont activées en utilisant 6 dés que vous lancez au début de votre tour.
Si deux des dés indiquent la même valeur, ils peuvent être utilisés pour activer une capacité Double. Si trois dés ont la même valeur, ils peuvent être utilisés pour activer une capacité Triple, et ainsi de suite.
Ainsi, lorsque cet article mentionne qu'une capacité est un Double, un Triple ou un Quad, il fait référence à ce système. Ce système peut sembler un peu confus, mais il est très rapide de s'y habituer lorsque vous commencez à jouer
The Horns of Hashut warband is made of 7 different fighters, of which two are leaders.
Ruinator Alpha
- Ruinator Alpha with War Bident: 165 points
- Ruinator Alpha with Heavy Flail: 165 points
The Ruinator Alpha is the leader of the Horns of Hashut and comes with two profiles:
- Le War Bident provides less attacks (3) but higher damage on critical hits (2/5)
- Le Heavy Flail provides more attacks (4) but more consistent damage (2/4)
Both weapons have 2″ range and come on a profile of a leader quite survivable (20 wounds on Toughness 4). Normally we would recommend more attacks as more attacks increases the chances to land critical hits, hence more damage.
However, in the case of the Horns, for a Double you are able to score critical hits on a 5+ instead of a 6 (Merciless Cruelty, it requires the target fighter to have at least 5 Wounds). This changes a bit the statistics behind it and since they have the same point cost the right answer may lie in personal taste.
But Ruinator Alpha abilities don’t stop there, he basically has access to all warband abilities except one. As a leader he gets a bonus move or attack after taking down an enemy (Lay to Waste, Double).
The entire warband, except the Shatterers, have also access to 2 abilities and 1 reaction:
- Stampede of Iron is the usual damage after-charge, basically a chance to do some damage on an opponent after terminating a move next to them. It costs a Double, and while for the Ruinator could make sense, the Ruinator Alpha has 2″ range weapons, meaning that he may not be interested to engage an enemy sometimes.
- Ash Bomb is a Triple that can strategically debuff enemies around an objective. You can set a token within 6″ of the throwing fighter (choking points guarded by your units, objectives, and so on) and in a radius of 3″ from it, all enemies will suffer -1 Toughness and -1 Attacks (to a minimum of 1). It lasts only a turn and enemies can move away but guess what else has 3″ range? The radius to control an objective…
- The reaction Breath of Cinder and Smokes, allows to subtract 1 from Strength used in melee and allocate 3 damage on a fighter ending a move within 3″ of a fighter with this ability, if the roll of the dice is equal or grater than their Toughness. Considering it costs an action, it can be useful to further weaken an enemy that is engaging you, hoping to get to the 5 wounds that would enable Merciless Cruelty. However, since you can’t do more than 3 damage, your best chance is to reduce Strength taking advantage of the average Toughness 4 of the warband. Ruinator Alphas in general would to more damage on their action and rather not use this reaction.
Finally, as a Ruinator, he has access to the warband Quad, that provides a bonus attack with improved damage on critical hits. As all abilities of this type, unless it was previously combined with Merciless Cruelty, it competes with the universal ability Rampage that provides a bonus move AND a bonus action. Which one to use will depend on the current position of the fighter (if already engaged, there’s no need to use Rampage).
Ruinator: 125 points
The Ruinator is another powerful fighter, with a profile similar to the Ruinator Alpha with Heavy Flail but only 1″ Range and 15 wounds instead of 20.
He has also access to all same abilities except the Leader one, meaning he is a better target to use both the warband’s reaction and Stampede of Iron. The plan is always the same, trying to wound as many fighters as possible so that the big guys, like the Ruinators, can try their luck with improved critical hits.
Demolisher
- Demolisher with Flamehurler: 140 points
- Demolisher with Crushing Weapon and Shield: 105 points
- Demolisher with Crushing Weapons: 105 points
The Demolishers come in 3 different versions, but the one with Flamehurler distinguishes himself from the group. He is the only fighter of this warband, apart from the leaders, to have his own ability: Engulfing Flames of Dark Artifice. For a Triple you can select a fighter within 6″ and roll as many dice as the ability’s value, for each 4+ allocate 3 damage. Then select all enemy fighters within 2″ of your target and roll half of those dice for the same outcome.
He is also the only fighter of this warband (and of the entire Heart of Ghur starter set) to have a ranged attack up to 6″ Range. It is not extremely damaging with 1/5 damage on 3 attacks, but Strength 5 should guarantee few hits. Keep him away from the front line however, since his melee profile is quite weak.
The other two Demolishers are pretty similar to each other, trading Attacks for Toughness:
- Le Crushing Weapon and Shield brings the Toughness to 5 but loses 1 attack.
- Le Crushing Weapons express the full damaging potential with 4 attacks at Strength 4 for 2/4 damage, but Toughness is left at 4.
All 3 Demolishers have access to most warband abilities, including the Reaction, Stamped of Iron et Ash Bomb. The last one is probably the most significative use of these fighters as they would be cheap enough to be in the front line and in better position to protect the spot identified for the bomb token.
Shatterer: 60 points
The Shatterer is the basic infantry of the warband. A cheap profile with no special abilities, he doesn’t even have access to the Reaction… His profile is in line with his cost: 3 attacks at Strength 3 for 1/4 damage. And the possibility of improving your chances of critical using Merciless Cruelty, although it is most probable you are going to use the Shatterers to inflict the 5 damage required to activate that ability rather than using it with them.
Abilities for the Horns of Hashut Warband
- Merciless Cruelty (Double, Everyone): If the target is wounded, count critical hits on 5+ instead of 6 on the next attack.
- Stampede of Iron (Double, Everyone except Shatterer): Une chance d'infliger jusqu'à 6 dégâts à la fin d'une action de mouvement après avoir engagé un ennemi.
- Lay to Waste (Double, both Ruinator Alpha): After taking down an enemy perform a bonus move or attack action.
- Engulfing Flames of Dark Artifice (Triple, Demolisher with Flamehurler): A chance to do up to 18 damage to a near-by enemy and half of it to close-by fighters.
- Ash Bomb (Triple, Everyone except Shatterer): Determine a point on the battlefield, every enemy close to it have -1 Toughness and Attacks until the end of the round.
- Unleash the Raging Taurus (Quad, both Ruinator Alpha and Ruinator): A bonus attack action with +1 damage on critical hit.
Reaction for the Horns of Hashut Warband
Introduit dans la nouvelle saison de Warcry, Réactions sont des choses qui peuvent être faites dans certaines circonstances, mais toujours pendant le tour de l'ennemi. Elles coûtent une action et ne peuvent donc être utilisées que par les combattants qui n'ont pas encore été activés ou qui attendent. Il existe 3 réactions universelles et une réaction spécifique à chaque groupe de combat :
Breath of Cinder and Smoke (Everyone but Shatterers)
- Quand: Après qu'un ennemi ait terminé un mouvement à proximité.
- Quoi ? A chance, depending on the enemy Toughness, to do 3 damage and reduce Strength on melee by 1.
Battle Trait for the Horns of Hashut Warband
Le trait de bataille est un ajout introduit dans Briar and Bone qui ajoute une règle optionnelle supplémentaire qui affecte tous les personnages ayant la même marque de course, sans utiliser de dé de capacité. Chaque faction a le sien, mais celui de la Grande Alliance peut être utilisé à la place :
- Commande - Des défenseurs courageux: Lors de l'utilisation de Se mettre à l'abri réaction le coup critique devient un coup normal sur un 3+ au lieu d'un 4+.
- Chaos - Aspirer à la gloire: Une fois par round de combat, ajoutez 1 au premier coup critique d'une attaque de mêlée d'un combattant dont le coût est inférieur ou égal à 125 points.
- Mort - Sbires sans mort: Une fois par round de combat, un coup critique infligé à un minion par une attaque de tir est compté comme un coup normal.
- Destruction - Destructeurs implacables: Pendant les attaques de mêlée, la cible ne peut pas bénéficier du bonus de résistance de +1 à couvert.
A Realm of Fire and Ash: Any enemy fighter suffering impact damage subtract 2 from their roll [they don’t get damaged only on a 6+].
Strategy and Tactics for the Horns of Hashut Warband
The Horns of Hashut are an interesting warband. The first fact we should mention immediately is that they are a nice provocation to all Chaos Dwarves players who venerated Hashut during Warhammer Fantasy and that have been waiting for a relaunch of their favourite army since they were first mentioned in the many lore bits.
Now their vanguard is made of… human slaves. Interesting twist.
Setting this aside, this warband came out with the Warcry Starter Set and immediately draws comparison with the Rotmire Creed. They have a ranged unit, that can make the difference in some contexts, although not extremely damaging (1/5) and not that great of a range either (6″), but it is a flamethrower so you can’t expect much more.
The ingenuity of Hashut followers is indeed displayed in the flamehurler and the ability to throw ash bombs. This is probably the most interesting trait of this warband. Those bombs, in game terms, set a small 3″ radius around a token that you can place 6″ from the throwing fighter. In that circle, any enemy gets 1 attack less and their Toughness reduced by 1 as well. Imagine an Iron Golem Ogor Breacher or similar profiles reduced to a single attack per action…
The best thing of this ability is that almost everyone in the warband can use it. Meaning that you are likely to have someone in the right position to throw this bomb at the right moment. Provided you have at least a Triple.
The only “synergy” in the warband is the ability to show no mercy to wounded fighters. With wounds count increasing in the game overall (Shatterer, the cheapest unit, has 10 Wounds), having 5 or more wounds allocated may not be a significative loss, and ensuring a critical hit can finish off that fighter can be extremely rewarding. Statistically having the chance to score a critical hit on 33% of the rolls instead of 1/6th is a lot better. It lasts only one attack action, but there’s no maximum range (meaning even the Flamehurler could use it) and the damage on critical hit is consistently high in the warband (4 on average, including for the Shatterer). And it costs only a Double (Merciless Cruelty).
The other particularity of the warband is that two types of fighters (both Ruinator Alpha and the Ruinator) have access to all warband abilities except 1. Meaning you can adapt your play depending on the circumstances and it makes easier for new players to remember which fighters play which abilities.
The only ability Demolishers don’t have compared to Ruinators, is a Quad that can be easily replaced by the universal Rampage, denoting that there is no significative loss by not having access to this ability.
The warband reaction is also available to all except the Shatterer, and is an interesting one as it’s a trade-off. On one side you have a chance to do 3 damage and reduce the enemy’s Strength, on the other that action could be used to do much more damage. Also the chance depends on comparing a dice roll with the enemy Toughness. Toughness that could have been reduced with an Ash Bomb earlier but that can otherwise be quite high, risking to have a 50/50 chance to not do anything on a single die roll and lose the action.
It is surely an interesting bet, one that may pay off if the enemy’s Strength goes down reducing the number of successful hits, but also one that you would be more inclined to use with a Shatterer as he may not do as much damage. But you can’t. So the trade-off is definitely risky and worth assessing carefully. If a fighter is on the brink of death, could be giving him one last noteworthy action. Maybe even saving him if the god of dice smiles upon you.
Much more interesting is the Flamehurler area of effect attack with a chance to roll plenty of dice if the enemy positions itself carelessly. If you can block access to a part of the battlefield, maybe with a Demolisher with Crushing Weapon and Shield and his Toughness 5, and allow enemies to concentrate on a single spot, Ash Bomb et Engulfing Flames of Dark Artifice can make that day a terrible one for your opponent (requires 2 Triples, one of which with high value, and 2 activations).
Fighters in this warband have their own specialisation, but are still versatile enough to balance out. Shatterers are almost a different topic. They are cheap, decent fighters with no much utility apart being cannon fodder. But that is exactly what Hashut wants, as he would never waste good duardin for exploration missions. Use them to fill the gaps and sacrifice them at the first opportunity.
Pros and Cons of the Horns of Hashut Warband
Pour :
+ Bon mouvement
+ One ranged option
+ Abilities widely available to all fighters
Cons :
- Pas de gros dégâts chez les revendeurs
– No significative synergies
Some thematic warbands for the Horns of Hashut
Pour le plaisir, nous vous présentons ici quelques groupes de guerre thématiques, davantage destinés à l'amusement ou au contexte narratif qu'au jeu compétitif. Notez que dans le jeu narratif, vous devez accomplir une quête qui vous permet de recruter un Héros avant de pouvoir l'ajouter à votre liste.
Sorti de la boîte : Ruinator Alpha with War Bident, 1 Ruinator, 1 Demolisher with Flamehurler, 1 Demolisher with Crushing Weapon and Shield, 3 Demolisher with Crushing Weapons and 3 Shatterers all straight from a single box.
How to buy a Horns of Hashut Warband
The Horns of Hashut were previously available only in the Le cœur de Ghur launch set, but they now have their own stand-alone box that allows to build:
- 1 Ruinator Alpha with War Bident or with Heavy Flail
- 1 Ruinator
- 1 Demolisher with Flamehurler,
- 1 Demolisher with Crushing Weapon and Shield
- 3 Demolisher with Crushing Weapons
- 3 Shatterer
For a total of 10 miniatures. There’s no alternative profiles for the non-leader options, but if you want to try both leaders you need another box or magnetise the left arm.
Tips on painting a Horns of Hashut Warband for Warcry
Toutes les boîtes de démarrage d'un nouveau jeu font l'objet d'une attention particulière, c'est pourquoi de nombreux tutoriels sont disponibles en ligne. Si vous voulez opter pour une finition classique GW prête à la bataille, alors La communauté Warhammer vous couvre. Si vous souhaitez aller plus loin, il existe également le programme tutoriel de préparation au défilé.
Si vous préférez un speed painting plus professionnel, et que vous savez utiliser des couleurs à l'huile et un aérographe, nous vous recommandons Tutoriel de Marco Frisoni.
