The Convergence of Cyriss, is the latest faction to be released for Warmachine from Privateer Press, and trying to understand how this faction is meant to be played on the table top has been fairly challenging for me. This rogue faction is Privateer’s attempt to introduce a primarily battlegroup (warjacks) focussed faction into the game. Although infantry and other goodies exist in the book, it is obvious that the warjacks are the main workhorses of the army. Through army mechanics like induction and interface nodes, each warjack can share the Mat/Rat values (Or Weapon/Ballistic skills ) of their controlling warcaster ; they can also transfer one point of focus (which allows you to buy extra attacks or add another dice to roll) to another warjack if they are within 6 inches of each other.
This will be the first of many articles looking at the warjacks and their roles in the army list. Today I will also be taking a look at my experiences building some of the kits and the overall opinion so far.
Cipher
This warjack (or vector as the book calls it) in my opinion is one of the most crucial vectors in the entire army! Bold words to be sure, but it makes perfect sense. This vector can fire its main cannon twice (with a focus point) and can change which ammo it uses for every shot. The first shot allows the Cipher to damage models under the template, while the other two can reduce the defence of models hit by 2 (Models trying to hit the enemy require a roll of Mat/Rat +2D6 >=Def) or create an area of rough terrain. Since the shot is a 4 inch Blast, it covers a lot of ground and can potentially debuff your opponent. To add icing to the cake, it also has 2 Pow 18 melee attacks which is above average for unbuffed heavy warjacks. It is the most expensive of the standard heavy warjacks in this army, but for good reason. I am finding it really hard not to take at least 2 of these bad boys in any given list.
Monitor
This warjack is basically a buzz saw catapult that snipes invisible miniatures off the table…think about that for a moment…The Monitor boasts one of the strongest individual solid shot weapons in Convergence. Being able to ignore enemy stealth models makes this a really attractive addition to any list. The down side to this model is that it relies heavily on the warcaster having a high rat value. Stealth miniatures usually range around the Def 15-17 value, so if you are trying to hit them with rat values of 4 or less (even using 3 dice) can be a daunting prospect. In melee, this vector is average, but it has the nice ability to auto hit with its additional attacks if the first one hits, therefore symbolising the claw hand clamping down onto the enemy. A solid vector that is only 8pts, so it can fit into most Iron Mother and Forge Father army lists (Warcasters that have rat 5), but it is debatable with Aurora, Lucant and Axis (Rat values of 4/3/2 respectively) army lists.
Inverter
The first vector so far, that actually has no guns to speak of. So you know what that means? IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!!!
The Inverter has an interesting load out that makes it truly unique within the Convergence. The Meteor Hammer, is a chain weapon that ignores shields, bucklers and shield walls, which is awesome for smashing tougher targets or warjacks. An added bonus is having the special ability of Reach, which allows you to target enemies within 2 inches of this weapon (Normally only ½ inch). The second weapon is the Macro Pummeler, which essentially knocks enemies on the ground and can only be used once per 2 player turns/one round. Having no ranged weapons, means that this vector needs to rely on having a decent mat value to smack targets and hopefully set up other friendly models by knocking down tougher models for additional abuse. While not necessarily a required vector in every list, I feel that this model is fairly effective in an Axis list (For Mat 7 and the counter charge ability), allowing you to make undesirable situations for your opponent. Theoretically, this vector can be a solid addition to any list that needs a warjack that has 2 strong melee attacks. If your focus is to be primarily a ranged battlegroup of vectors, you might want to look elsewhere.
Was it fun to build? All three of these heavy vectors can be built from the same model kit, which has been a solid feature of all the current heavy warjack kits that Privateer Press has provided up to this point. Where the trouble lies is in the design of the moulds and the finished product. Although the kit was brilliant to look at and has many interesting aspects to it, there are a million mould lines and not the kind that is easy to remove. Multiple times I found a mould line that would fly over nearly impossible to remove surfaces like the gears or detailed arms. However, I powered on and tried my best to hide the ones that are obvious, but a smart modeller could probably locate them with no problem. I also went through the trouble of magnetizing the kit, so that I could use all 3 vectors and change them out to my liking. But even that proved to be a challenge, because there are many points of contact and needed to be planned out beforehand.
The positive side of the kit is that it can build 3 of the most important warjacks/vectors that will be in nearly every Convergence list. The bad, is that you will have to plan ahead of time and use a large amount of skill to remove painful mould lines. I was told by Privateer Press, that most of these model problems are a result of them being the first wave of that miniatures line. So perhaps my opinion of the kit might change in the future. However, for myself and others we will have to power on, until the next time we need to purchase the kit. Regardless, I finished the miniatures (multiple boxes) and I felt that I had overcome a massive hobbyist milestone.
Stay tuned for more first impressions of the other Convergence vectors and models (which may or may not have model reviews included) to come in the following months!
The Convergence of Cyriss Battlegroup is available from Firestorm Games priced £33.07
