Rules Focus: Emberwrought Tyrant
Our look at the upcoming Kazyr army continues with another model included in the Kazyr Skirmish Pack: the Emberwrought Tyrant.
Where the Flareborn Skirmishers rely on speed and positioning, the Tyrant takes a somewhat more straightforward approach. It is a hulking fire elemental encased in armour, carrying an enormous Embersteel Sword and generally solving problems by hitting them very, very hard.
At 17 points, the Tyrant brings a lot of raw offensive potential to a Kazyr army. But there is more to this walking inferno than brute force. Cinders can dramatically increase its threat range, Essence makes its attacks frighteningly reliable, and even destroying it can leave something useful behind.
Blaze a trail
With MOV M, the Emberwrought Tyrant isn't particularly slow. But much like the other Kazyr units we've looked at, its movement characteristic doesn't tell the whole story. Trailblaze allows the Tyrant to remove a friendly Cinder marker within 2". If it does, it may immediately make a move action followed by an attack action. That gives the Tyrant a significant increase in both mobility and offensive output. A Cinder positioned ahead of it can suddenly become the fuel it needs to close the distance and bring that rather large sword to bear.
It also creates the familiar Kazyr question: keep the Cinder or burn it? A Cinder might be providing an important passive benefit from your Essence Weaver's Leadership. But sometimes an additional move and attack from an Emberwrought Tyrant is simply the better argument. Especially if your opponent thought they were standing safely outside its threat range.
Big sword. Lots of yellow.
Once the Tyrant reaches its target, things get considerably less subtle. Its Embersteel Sword has a 2" melee range and an impressive damage profile. On a critical hit, Critical: Devastating Strike increases the attack's damage by 1 if the attack damages its target.
That makes every critical hit potentially very painful.
But the Tyrant also has a way of making its attacks much more consistent. Arcane Infusion can be used before making the hit roll of an attack. For one yellow Essence, both the attack's hit and damage rolls become infused with an additional yellow die. On the Embersteel Sword, that means adding another die to an attack that is already rolling plenty of yellow. The result is exactly what you would expect from a giant elemental carrying a sword almost as large as some models: It hits hard. And when you really need it to hit, you can invest the Essence to make it much more reliable.
Kill it. Go ahead.
For all its offensive potential, the Tyrant isn't immortal. With DEF 5 and ARM 5 and 4 HP, opponents can bring it down if they dedicate enough resources to the task. The problem is that even a dead Tyrant can continue contributing to the Kazyr game plan.
Dying Ember triggers when the model is destroyed. Before removing it from the battlefield, you may place a friendly Cinder marker within 1" of it. That means the resources your opponent commits to removing the Tyrant can leave behind a resource for the rest of your army. And because the Tyrant generally wants to be close to the enemy, that Cinder is likely to appear somewhere useful: right in the middle of the fight.
Your Tyrant might be gone. The fire isn't.
Feed the fire
The Emberwrought Tyrant demonstrates another side of the Kazyr's relationship with Cinders. The Flareborn Skirmishers can consume them for speed. Essence Weavers can use them to establish powerful areas of influence. The Tyrant can turn one directly into tempo: another move, another attack, another opportunity to smash through the enemy line.
And when it eventually falls, it can put a Cinder straight back onto the battlefield. That makes the Tyrant surprisingly interconnected with the rest of the army for a model whose immediate game plan appears to be "walk towards enemy, apply sword."
Position your Cinders carefully and the Tyrant can threaten far more of the battlefield than its MOV suggests. Keep some Essence available and Arcane Infusion can make an important attack considerably more reliable. And if the opponent finally brings it down, use Dying Ember to make sure the rest of your army can continue the fight.
The Emberwrought Tyrant may not be subtle. But sometimes you don't need subtle. Sometimes you need a giant fire elemental with a massive sword.
