Playing Constance & Gallant in different armies
Constance Blaize and Gallant will soon be riding into service for the entire Iron Kingdoms. As true mercenaries, they can fight for not one, not two, not three armies, but every army in Warmachine.
So, to help you figure out how to fit them into your armies, we asked Jamie Perkins and Fraser McFetridge of the Warmachine gameplay team to share some insight into how these Morrowan mercs can work within a variety of forces.
Southern Kriels Kithguard
Often, true mercenaries like Constance are included in army lists to give them more capacity to play on the flanks. But Kithguard, with their plethora of ambushing and table-wide abilities, have no trouble spreading their forces wide.
So, how do this pair fit in with the jungle defenders? Front and centre!
Wroughtmourn in particular can make excellent use of Constance and Gallant in this capacity. By using her feat as setup (reducing enemy line of sight to 8”), then applying Hunter’s Mark as a delivery mechanism, Wroughtmourn can really help the pair reach their targets and cause problems, without needing to worry about pesky things like guns on the way in.
And I hear giving Gallant free charges is pretty good, as a lovely little bonus.
- Fraser
Cygnar Gravediggers
Notably short of high-resilience models outside their warjacks, the Gravediggers often make use of true mercenaries like Magnus & Invictus. This helps the army spread what armour they have across wider scenarios to play a more tactical game than, “shoot first and ask questions later”.
As well as the above, Constance Blaize & Gallant help by offering heavy armour with a strong melee component, something else the Gravediggers can struggle with.
Gallant hits like a truck in melee, particularly against enemies trying to increase their armour value. Constance herself is capable of destroying large numbers of enemies in melee thanks to Flashing Blade, all while under the protection of Gallant.
- Jamie
Dark Operations
Anyone familiar with my Warmachine record will know when it comes to Dark Operations, one Exulon takes the crown: Thexus. So, when considering how to use Constance & Gallant within Dark Ops, it will come as little surprise where I’m looking.
When playing Thexus, there’s one particular grumble I have: I can’t Crippling Grasp everything. Fortunately, Gallant’s Atonement rules help me neatly side-stip this particular hurdle. Now, I can grasp one thing and apply Gallant to the other; a meaningful bump in Thexus’ capacity to deal with more than one high ARM threat at the same time.
On top of that, because Gallant is friendly faction, he gets the benefit of Deceleration, staking his ARM to 24 against guns.
Now, we get to the really fun bit: Constance. For those unfamiliar, Thexus’ feat pushes all enemy models in his control range 2”. Constance has the spell Flashing Blade, letting her attack each model in her melee range for the low, low cost of one focus point.
By combining these, Constance can output a truly frightening amount of damage.
- Fraser
Khador Winter Korps
While Winter Korps is well furnished with both heavy armour and hard-hitting melee warjacks of their own, it’s the spellcasting and mobility component of Constance & Gallant this army values. Aegis enabling magic defence anywhere in the army is something Winter Korps only really have with Kapitan Ekaterina Baranova.
Thanks to its rear-mounted boosters, Gallant is capable of short distance flight and can reposition after attacking. Winter Korps find this immensely useful, since their own heavy armour can struggle to traverse difficult terrain or obstructions that Gallant can simply fly over to deliver pain where it needs to go.
- Jamie
Khymaera Shadowflame Shard
While Khymaera don’t really understand the concept of “friends”, much less “allies”, they have been known to fight alongside true mercenaries.
One wonders whether their true intentions were always to disassemble those mercs for study afterward and they just never got the chance. Either way, on the battlefield, Constance Blaize & Gallant offer powerful benefits to the Shadowflame army.
Like Gravediggers, Constance’s capacity to personally destroy multiple enemies at once is extremely valuable to Shadowflame Shard, who can sometimes struggle with massed enemy forces.
Additionally, Shadowflame’s plentiful access to Hunter’s Mark can also help Constance and Gallant charge deeper into melee, since the spell benefits all friendly models, not just friendly faction ones.
Gallant’s specialist capacity to handle enemies with improved armour values is also very helpful to Shadowflame, who can often destroy one heavily armoured target at a time, but can be overwhelmed when facing multiple armoured enemies simultaneously.
- Jamie
Will you be recruiting Constance Blaize & Gallant for your armies? Available to pre-order now, you can also claim these models for free with an annual Warmachine app subscription. We’ll be releasing the codes to claim Constance & Gallant to all eligible annual subscribers soon, so keep an eye on Warmachine channels for news.
