Get up close with Fane of Nyrro's warbeasts

... but not too close.

Today, we’re taking a look at the winged warbeasts that will be wreaking havoc for Fane of Nyrro from next Tuesday, June 23. Releasing alongside Executioner’s Toll, Vordak and Strygon are Fane's mainline warbeasts for a reason.

For a start, the Vordak and Strygon are unlike anything else in Warmachine. Although most warbeasts are finely-tuned killing machines, you’ll find these subterranean creatures far less refined.

“The warlock empowers their warbeasts” is a phrase one might use to describe a typical relationship. But in Fane of Nyrro, these roles are reversed.

Instead, eldritch warlocks mentally dominate their beasts, brutally condition them to suit their purposes, then send them into the fray without care to gather energy from their foes — all in service of the warlock’s own empowerment.

Furiouser and furiouser

In case it wasn’t already clear that eldritch warlocks have little regard for their beasts, consider the Vordak’s higher-than-usual fury stat of 5, plus the fact that Fane have no way to manage their beast's fury (i.e. remove excess).

Instead, Fane simply allow their warbeasts to run rampant, generate fury with abandon, then condition them to frenzy in ways that benefit their interests.

In a usual warbeast / warlock relationship, there’s some quid pro quo, where the warbeast’s animus benefits both. But in Fane of Nyrro, it overwhelmingly favours the warlock.

For example, let’s play a game of “who wore it better” with a Strygon animus and Hysene, the warlock featured in Executioner's Toll:

With Hysene's superior defensive stats, she'll get far more benefit from Excessive Healing than a Strygon. A clear winner, in our book.

For the feast

Fane of Nyrro warlocks fuel their uniquely powerful abilities by sating their eternal hunger, usually through their warbeasts. To this end, Fane leaders will often aggressively send beasts into the fray to feast.

Fane warbeasts may be able to escape retaliation using the army-wide Shadow Shift ability, but only if their controlling warlock deems it prudent.

Still, they aren’t always hung out to dry. Once a warbeast has generated enough hunger, their warlock can come in swinging, crushing anything the enemy has committed to killing them. Taking care of business, eldritch style.

Executing Hysene's will

With Executioner's Toll on the brink of release, it's only fitting we pay special attention to how these warbeasts best serve Hysene. But fear not, for we'll explore synergies with upcoming Fane warlocks in a future piece.

Hysene has some particularly potent synergies with Vordaks and Strygons. She may not need them to contribute to her damage output, but she definitely welcomes the indirect support they provide.

Starting with the most obvious, Hysene needs to spend significant hunger to fuel her signature ability, Brutal Strike. There’s a few ways these warbeasts can help with that.

First, there’s the “shield guard” Strygon, which uses the Muzzled head and Blind Obedience conditioning:

This Strygon will follow Hysene around, protecting her from pesky harpoons and generating hunger when it kills and takes damage. Double dip.

Beyond this, shield guard Strygon is much tougher to remove than typical infantry. And while you never want to be forced into Shadow Shifting onto a warbeast to let Hysene escape danger, removing a 5-point light warbeast from play isn’t the end of the world if your opponent’s taken out your preferred Shadow Shift target.

Next, we have “fan” Vordak, which uses the Screecher head and Razor Fan wings.

This 8-point heavy can not only pull the enemy out of position, setting Hysene up for the killing blow, but also torment foes turn-over-turn with its Razor Blades, slowly but surely ticking up hunger points.

This Vordak build has an added benefit, and synergy with Hysene, in that it’s not tied down to a conditioning option. This gives you free rein over which animus you’d like it to provide. (Hint: you probably want all three.)

There’s Reposition to increase Hysene’s safety. Overtake to combo with her Murderous Impulse ability and surf through enemy infinity. And Bloodthirst to launch her assault from an impressive 14” away against living or undead enemies. Any one of these can be game changing under the right circumstances.

Right tool for the job

Finally, let’s check out some other Vordak and Strygon builds to get your theorymachine minds whirring ahead of Tuesday's releases.

There's the infantry killer Vordak, able to massacre light infantry with ease:

And a Vordak build better suited to handling heavy infantry and cavalry, with more potent single target damage applied across a smaller area:

How about a ranged Strygon capable of pestering the enemy with dangerous venom from afar?

Or a back-up melee Strygon that provides the army-defining Provoke animus:

Both the Vordak and Strygon warbeast boxes come with the body and customisable options for the warbeast within. So, now’s the time to start choosing which loadout you'll go with ahead of their release next Tuesday.

Vordak Heavy Warbeast box

Also going up for pre-order next Tuesday are the two options boxes for Vordak and Strygon, each simply containing all the alternative heads and wings. These will go up for pre-order alongside Death's Whisper, Fane of Nyrro's upcoming army box.

Inside the Strygon options box, you'll find the Muzzled, Snapping Maw, and Venomous heads, and the Claws and Bladed Armor wings.

In the Vordak options box, you'll find the Alpha, Lamprey, and Screecher heads, plus the Razor Fan, Poisonous Barbs, and Bladed Armor wings.

So you've got two routes: build the fixed loadout from the army box, like the ones in Death's Whisper, or grab the relevant options box to customise your warbeast(s) instead.

And if you want a whole warbeast, the Vordak and Strygon warbeast boxes each include a complete model with every part, ideal for combining with the upcoming Executioner's Toll Command set releasing on Tuesday.

Will you be commanding Fane of Nyrro? Let us know in Discord!