Judicator Trial Run

[SnakeEyes]

I had a second outing of the Judicator on Wednesday and I was unimpressed. Some of the same reasons as spelljammer mentioned. SPD 4 does suck. Also being on a Huge base makes it very unversatile (inversatile?). There was an obstruction in the middle of the board that he had to play around and it took him a bit out of the game.

But most of all, the AOE's kinda' blow. I'd rather have a Redeemer and Vanq. First, calculating deviations off of deviations is annoying. Second, if that first deviation goes wide, the second one is essentially worthless. At least with the Redeemer, if one goes wide, the next one can at least start its deviation from the intended point of impact. And also has a small chance to directly hit, unlike the secondary deviations of the Judicator.

In retrospect, I did forget about its flamethrowers which could have helped it contribute to the game a little bit.

Anyways, still continuing my playtesting. Right now, I'm one game pro Judicator and one game against. I made some mistakes in that second game so could have been more me but a Jud shot did have a deviation of a deviation send the blast so far back that it killed two of my Choir. That pissed me off.

[Spyde]

I will only use the Judicator with a warcaster that can buff his speed and bring alot to the table.
efeora, Keross3(Warpath), harbinger

[maddermax]

From the last few posts, I might say that the randomness of the judicator might throw out peoples perception of it. Some people might have a game with it, get good deviations, and they'll think it's awesome. Others might have a few bad deviations, or go up against an army with a lot of blast damage resistance, and they'll think it sucks. However, I have to say that though it can be awesome with the right rolls, the randomness and time to work out the deviations will probably make it a difficult piece to take to tournaments. Tournament goers (and I'm not one myself but I know a few) tend to shy away from randomness, and deathclock makes lots of deviations a hard sell.

[Vinsklortho]

I will only use the Judicator with a warcaster that can buff his speed and bring alot to the table.
efeora, Keross3(Warpath), harbinger

Warpath doesn't affect the Judicator.

[Gavriel]

Warpath doesn't work on it. EFeora, harby, and amon are the only ones that can buff speed.

[Masanori]

can we have more reports where Psevy is not the caster? I mean he's gravy with anything/everything. B nice to see if 'judge judy' works with other casters

[Gavriel]

Seems like he can be hit or miss. I've had some good luck with deviations with my two games so he was phenomenal, at the same time it seems that bad luck with deviations makes him fall flat. At 18 points he may not prove reliable enough to be worth being considered a must buy.

[PG_Steampunk Jim]

* Base RAT 1 on the rockets (3 if choir chants battle) sucks. Aiming + battle + eye of menoth only gets it to a 6. The Judicator was struggling to reliably hit anything.
* Armies that can ignore blast damage nerf a lot of the potential of the Judicactor
* 3" AOE just don't cover that much area
* Because the Judicator is so inaccurate you are relying on scatters. I found this to be extremely unreliable (first 2 rounds (total of 12 AOEs) killed nothing)
* Rolling deviations really eat up time

Never played a Redeemer before, huh? Trust me, it works out just fine.

[Sniddy]

Never played a Redeemer before, huh? Trust me, it works out just fine.

Ah yes - anytime an AOE scatters - somehow there's a reference to Menoth in our group

Why, turn one AoE's drifting into nicely clumped up and 'safe' models

Most of a unit of digmies dead - I loved my little jack that day

[paradox]

Think about it this way though: Turn 1 run 8" (assume you went 1st with 7" deploy). Vassal ancillary attack shoots a rocket 14". Scatter to the 1 6", 2nd scatters to 1 6".

That's catching a models ~44" from your own table edge?

It's pretty out there, but it's possible. Now factor in possible speed boosts and ADing models.

It's a lot of POTENTIAL blast damage from turn 1.

[dicegod]

Is it correct that you can get the additional blast from a vassal attack?

[jandrese]

I don't see any reason why you wouldn't.

[PG_Steampunk Jim]

Is it correct that you can get the additional blast from a vassal attack?

Absolutely. The rule has no stipulation about initial attacks or anything of the sort. With ancillary attack you'll be dropping 6 AOE's. Not too shabby.

[SteakAndSpirits]

With ancillary attack you'll be dropping 6 AOE's. Not too shabby.

Which was definitely a balancing consideration when they built this thing. Honestly, I'm pretty amazed at the combination of being able to drop 6 long range AoEs, receiving free focus, and it's very compelling point cost. I think that's one of the reasons the FA limit is 1. Twelve POW: 7(+2) AoEs would be ridiculous!

-s&s

[jandrese]

Um, all colossals are FA2, just like the Battle Engines. You could have 4 huge bases on the board at once if you wanted, with a pretty respectable amount of ranged firepower.

Besides, if you want masses of AoE 3s in the Protectorate you always had the option (since Prime!) of a full unit of Deliverers, three full units of Zealots, and as many Redeemers are you could handle.

[SteakAndSpirits]

Um, all colossals are FA2, just like the Battle Engines. You could have 4 huge bases on the board at once if you wanted, with a pretty respectable amount of ranged firepower.

I thought the Judicator had been spoiled as FA: 1?

Re: AoE 3 Spam -- All of that is true, with only the Reedmers offering the option of boosting blast damage. And if they're firing on full bore, 3 shots a round, they're only boosting one of their damage rolls. Meanwhile the Judicator doesn't sacrifice rate of fire for boosted damage rolls. I don't think that's an insignificant quality.

-s&s

[jandrese]

Nope, they're all FA: 2, which to me is basically FA: U on 18-20 point models. By the time the game is big enough to take more than 2, you're running multiple casters anyway. FA: 1 might have mattered in some edge cases, but FA: 2 is a non factor.

In some ways I'm surprised that they are FA: 2. I would have though PP learned their lesson with the Warjacks of Renown (which are all FA: U now), but apparently they didn't.

Amusingly, if they were FA: U, we could have taken three and a minimum choir at 50 points with any of our +6 WJP casters. Cygnar would have been out of luck though, so FA: 2 it is.

[SteakAndSpirits]

Nope, they're all FA: 2, which to me is basically FA: U on 18-20 point models. By the time the game is big enough to take more than 2, you're running multiple casters anyway. FA: 1 might have mattered in some edge cases, but FA: 2 is a non factor.

Ha! That's interesting. I'm going to have to proxy a dual Judicator list one of these days, then.

-s&s

[Pugnus]

I'm thinking about running this guy with 2 vigilant and a reckoner. Talking about tying some fools up. I was also thinking about bringing a small squad of deliverers as well. through some template goodness around. Maybe also adding a 2 repenters instead of the vigilants.

[Fish76]

In some ways I'm surprised that they are FA: 2. I would have though PP learned their lesson with the Warjacks of Renown (which are all FA: U now), but apparently they didn't.

Can you elaborate? I've only been playing the last couple of years.

[jandrese]

The second Warmachine book (Escalation) introduced an early version of Jack Upgrades or maybe Character Jacks. They were called the Warjacks of Renown, and were supposed to represent warjacks that were rare in the fluff. They were built on the base chassis, but had extras that made them cool. To represent this rareness, they reduced them from FA: U to FA: 2 and increased their price. Unfortunately, the kind of marginal nature of the jacks combined with the high price insured that the FA never mattered.

The Warjacks of Renown were the Guardian, Kodiak, Stormclad, and Seether IIRC. In Mk II they just became normal warjacks, losing any renown they had.

If you are curious, the Mk I Guardian was otherwise fairly similar to the current Guardian except that it cost as much as the Reckoner (which wasn't nearly as good in Mk I) and the banners on the back made nearby infantry fearless and if it had leftover focus it could spend them 1 at a time to reflect melee damage rolls back on attackers. It also had Set Defense instead of Powerful Charge, which was mostly useless on a DEF 10 heavy jack, because it was supposed to mesh with the Flameguard. It was basically Feora's first attempt at a character warjack. If she gets a real character jack at some point, I would be surprised if it isn't based on the Guardian. The biggest problem is how to make an upgrade kit for a model that already has filigree everywhere and stuff sticking out of every nook and cranny.

[Matthaeus]

If you are curious,

I am :P

Sounds like things were much more flavourful back then, seeing as now it's just "our heavy arc node".

[jandrese]

Yeah, the Guardian IMHO lost too much in the transition from Mk I to Mk II, and took the arc node tax straight to the balls. It's really a 7 point jack with a wildly expensive arc node bolted on top.

[Outbreak]

I'm trying to think of any ways we might be able to take advantage of knock down effects. If you can use kreoss' feat, or maybe use jacks to make slam attacks, the judicator can have a field day utilizing the full POW of the rockets versus the targets reduced DEF 5.
Figured it was worth the thought after how many posts on how to boost it (pSevvy EoM + aiming + choir), making RAT 1 good enough to hit works just as well ^_^. I'm highly considering a vigilant or two for their 2 open fists (STR 9 i think?), low point cost (4), 21 arm after their shields(17+2+2), and girded.
high arm lets them get there, decent STR lets them slam, then girded means they're still immune if the secondary blast deviates their direction. Even without knockdown girded means they'll now make great escorts for your forward infantry while they advance, both to protect from enemy blasts, and your own poorly deviated ones

[lastspartacus]

If you don't like the randomness of the Judicator, be glad you don't have Galleon. Sure I love our colossal more simply because of quasi-virtuoso, but I'll take 4 guaranteed blasts a turn over 2d3 on my 18 point model any day. And getting the extra aoe on your additional attack over losing the d3 part on ours (ancillary and broadsides) is gravy in the aoe clearing business. Just some food for thought, i was jealous when my galleon went toe to toe with the judicator over its infantry clearing ability.

[Bishop84]

I haven't seen the full stats on the Galleon, but I always imagined the Broadsides attack would be best spent on the giant trident hook cannon. I have Bart, and if I ever get around to purchasing a third colossal/gargantuan, I look forward to that.

[spelljammer]

Never played a Redeemer before, huh? Trust me, it works out just fine.

Hi Jim,

I think I should clarify why effective RAT 1 on the Judicator really hurts.

The Redeemer and the Judicator weapon systems share some similarities but they are very different weapon systems. I'm going to define inaccurate not just by the RAT but also by the distance of deviation. On a Redeemer a shot can deviate a maximum of 6 inches. So, from your target point, you have a 7.5 radius that you can potentially threaten. The 7.5 inches is the maximum of a 6 inch scatter plus the 1.5 inch radius on the 3" blast template.

The Judicator's second blast on a shot automatically scatters. This puts the potential placement for this second template anywhere up to 12 inches from the original target point. Add in the 1.5" radius on the blast template and you could potentially hit something with in 13.5" of your original target.

This means that if you are trying to screen your Judicator with troops, the rocket shots from your Judicator are almost as dangerous to your troops as they are to the enemy. Anytime you fire the Judicator you have to think about just how far these templates can scatter and catch your own troops.

So an effective RAT of 1, means you are probably going to miss with your initial shot, which means the scatter on the secondary effect, on average, is going to be even further out.

Worse yet, if you shoot at angle, you could actually have secondary blasts that erupt behind where you shot. For example, a 14" shot at a 45 degree angle is actually 11.9" up from the Judicator. So on an unlucky set of rolls you could easily land the template on your own troops.

Also, the Judicator and the Redeemer actually have 2 very different effects. The Judicator has two weapon systems that each have a 90 degree arc. That means unless my target point is directly in from of me, I can put up to two shots (1 from the vassal) into a target point + two secondary blasts that will scatter from the target point. A Redeemer could put 4 (1 Vassal shot) into the same target point.

I'm not saying that the Judicator is bad. I honestly don't know yet. I will say that I am concerned, and I think that giving it an effective RAT of 1, especially considering the wide variance in deviations you get from the secondary blasts makes it extremely unreliable at hitting anything. But paradoxically makes it a large threat to your own army.

Anyway I hope this was clearly enough written and didn't meander too much :-)

[spelljammer]

Think about it this way though: Turn 1 run 8" (assume you went 1st with 7" deploy). Vassal ancillary attack shoots a rocket 14". Scatter to the 1 6", 2nd scatters to 1 6".

That's catching a models ~44" from your own table edge?

It's pretty out there, but it's possible. Now factor in possible speed boosts and ADing models.

It's a lot of POTENTIAL blast damage from turn 1.

That is cool.

I think this is a bit less than 44":
7" deploy + 8" run + 14" shot + 12" scatter (on second) + 1.5" radius on template: 42.5"

I can also do this with a Redeemer:
7" deploy + 10" run + 16" shot + 6" scatter + 1.5" radius on template: 40.5"

The chance on the redeemer scatter for 40.5" is 1 in 36

The chance on the Judicator scatter for 42.5" is 1 in 1296

Of course the Judicator does get two blast effects so you have twice the chance of getting something :-) That's a bit harder to quantify :-)

[Pugnus]

Hi Jim,

I think I should clarify why effective RAT 1 on the Judicator really hurts.

The Redeemer and the Judicator weapon systems share some similarities but they are very different weapon systems. I'm going to define inaccurate not just by the RAT but also by the distance of deviation. On a Redeemer a shot can deviate a maximum of 6 inches. So, from your target point, you have a 7.5 radius that you can potentially threaten. The 7.5 inches is the maximum of a 6 inch scatter plus the 1.5 inch radius on the 3" blast template.

The Judicator's second blast on a shot automatically scatters. This puts the potential placement for this second template anywhere up to 12 inches from the original target point. Add in the 1.5" radius on the blast template and you could potentially hit something with in 13.5" of your original target.

This means that if you are trying to screen your Judicator with troops, the rocket shots from your Judicator are almost as dangerous to your troops as they are to the enemy. Anytime you fire the Judicator you have to think about just how far these templates can scatter and catch your own troops.

So an effective RAT of 1, means you are probably going to miss with your initial shot, which means the scatter on the secondary effect, on average, is going to be even further out.

Worse yet, if you shoot at angle, you could actually have secondary blasts that erupt behind where you shot. For example, a 14" shot at a 45 degree angle is actually 11.9" up from the Judicator. So on an unlucky set of rolls you could easily land the template on your own troops.

Also, the Judicator and the Redeemer actually have 2 very different effects. The Judicator has two weapon systems that each have a 90 degree arc. That means unless my target point is directly in from of me, I can put up to two shots (1 from the vassal) into a target point + two secondary blasts that will scatter from the target point. A Redeemer could put 4 (1 Vassal shot) into the same target point.

I'm not saying that the Judicator is bad. I honestly don't know yet. I will say that I am concerned, and I think that giving it an effective RAT of 1, especially considering the wide variance in deviations you get from the secondary blasts makes it extremely unreliable at hitting anything. But paradoxically makes it a large threat to your own army.

Anyway I hope this was clearly enough written and didn't meander too much :-)

Man...y ou know what this shows.... math m akes everything look bad.
With Menoths ability I think this thing is going to wreck face....

[PG_Steampunk Jim]

Hi Jim,

I think I should clarify why effective RAT 1 on the Judicator really hurts.

The Redeemer and the Judicator weapon systems share some similarities but they are very different weapon systems. I'm going to define inaccurate not just by the RAT but also by the distance of deviation. On a Redeemer a shot can deviate a maximum of 6 inches. So, from your target point, you have a 7.5 radius that you can potentially threaten. The 7.5 inches is the maximum of a 6 inch scatter plus the 1.5 inch radius on the 3" blast template.

The Judicator's second blast on a shot automatically scatters. This puts the potential placement for this second template anywhere up to 12 inches from the original target point. Add in the 1.5" radius on the blast template and you could potentially hit something with in 13.5" of your original target.

This means that if you are trying to screen your Judicator with troops, the rocket shots from your Judicator are almost as dangerous to your troops as they are to the enemy. Anytime you fire the Judicator you have to think about just how far these templates can scatter and catch your own troops.

So an effective RAT of 1, means you are probably going to miss with your initial shot, which means the scatter on the secondary effect, on average, is going to be even further out.

Worse yet, if you shoot at angle, you could actually have secondary blasts that erupt behind where you shot. For example, a 14" shot at a 45 degree angle is actually 11.9" up from the Judicator. So on an unlucky set of rolls you could easily land the template on your own troops.

Also, the Judicator and the Redeemer actually have 2 very different effects. The Judicator has two weapon systems that each have a 90 degree arc. That means unless my target point is directly in from of me, I can put up to two shots (1 from the vassal) into a target point + two secondary blasts that will scatter from the target point. A Redeemer could put 4 (1 Vassal shot) into the same target point.

I'm not saying that the Judicator is bad. I honestly don't know yet. I will say that I am concerned, and I think that giving it an effective RAT of 1, especially considering the wide variance in deviations you get from the secondary blasts makes it extremely unreliable at hitting anything. But paradoxically makes it a large threat to your own army.

Anyway I hope this was clearly enough written and didn't meander too much :-)

Trust in the Creator, son. He'll never lead you (or your AOE's) astray.

[Raff]

The Judicator isn't meant to be run by its self. If you're running a Menoth jack without support, you're running it wrong.

We'll presume that you have a CoM in your army, as that's common sense to do so. Our Judicators effective RAT is now 3, which isn't as terrible as it could be, but still isn't amazing. On an average DEF 12 trooper, you're needing 9's on 2 dice with a 27.78% chance of hitting. Let's add the focus we get from our SS to buff that up to 3 dice and we're looking at 74.07% chance.
Sure, you're still likely to miss, but with the Hand of Menoth guiding you're pretty safe.
Want even more help? Run it with pSevy, as everyone is saying. Eye of Menoth on the Judicator and we're now RAT 5 and hitting on 7's. Even with 2D6 we're back to average rolls. Run it with pKreoss and enjoy knocking everything down, then hit them with assured confidence. Anything but snake eyes will hit.

Probably the only caster I can't immediately see it giving help is Reznik. But I guess Iron Aggression on a jack that creates a focus for its self each turn doesn't need to run, charge and get boosted MAT rolls, does it?

[Stinkmeaner]

The Judicator is a horrible model. It really bothers me why they adjust our abilities for the choir and for defenders ward, and I feel both happened with this model's creation. There is literally zero reason why this model should be innacurate. We pay points for this support, STOP dropping our base stats to silly numbers because of the Choir. If you think RAT 7 is too high, look at the defenses of what we are typically shooting at. RAT 6 jacks shooting at us, need 4s, most armies heavies have def 12, so even with that "too high" rat of 7 after choir, we still need 5s... Playtesters, learn how to do the numbers, do NOT just drop our stats for no reason. That being said, I honestly think that It is easily 3-4 points OVERcosted for what it does. It's a shame (sham) that it's so good looking, because if it wasn't so sexy, it would get hardly any play except for a fw Efeora players and "collectors" grabbing one just because.

[Bollster]

By all means Stinkmeaner, do ignore the practice games people have played with the Judicator already, a mixed bag of it sometimes doing really well and sometimes underwhelming. Sounds as though it could be *gasp* pretty well balanced if that's the case. Reminds me of basically every other pretty decent jack we have, generally does ok, sometimes does great, sometimes poorly. Sure, maybe in 6 months it will turn out that it is rather lacklustre and corner case for big games with only one or two casters maybe. But so far the evidence, which is far from conclusive, is suggesting that it isn't too bad. 3-4 points overcosted? Then it would be 14 points, that's 3 more than the Avatar, less than twice the points cost of a Vanquisher, and it is putting out at least the same amount of firepower as two Vanquishers, sans cont fire, has two flamethrowers if you get it close and hits as hard as, if not harder than, the Avatar with more damage boxes. 14-15 points that you are suggesting would be way undercosted even without the free focus it gets.

I know, inaccurate is a pain and it's frustrating to have another AOE spammer given to the faction that probably needs more crowd control less than any other, but it's an option that now exists. Getting the same ranged output as the Judicator in just jacks would cost 20-24 points depending on whether you prefer Redeemers or Vanquishers. Maybe you prefer not having all your eggs in one giant basket, and that's fine, don't take it. But don't go around calling it "a horrible model" without providing solid evidence especially as the evidence so far does not support your claim. Just relax and see how it pans out, proxy it before deciding to buy it or not and save the vitriol.

[LordGrimlok]

Also, don't forget that the Reckoner can use flare to bump up the effectiv RAT as well. Thanks PhatAsian for that ”protip”! It helped give my redeemers more play time, and I'm thinking this module with the Judicator will work well as well.

[Matthaeus]

Stinkmeaner has a point in that if a model's stats are adjusted with potential support in mind, it's frustrating and defeats the point of having support in the first place. Feels like "overbalancing", if that means anything.
Not sure they designed colossals with that kind of things in mind though... The Stormwall was obviously not adjusted for Arcane Shield.

[Bollster]

I disagree Matthaeus, it is the theme of the Protectorate to have all our jacks be slightly worse than everyone else and yet we make them the best with our support. Our jacks are priced according to what they are, we have some of the cheapest jacks both heavy and light going because they aren't crash hot on their own but I think a Crusader would be worth roughly 6 points in every faction for example. It's just that we have the support to make our stuff great. Why would you ever expect any of our new jacks to be as good in a vacuum as any of the others and cost less?

[Raff]

This is true, however I wouldn't expect a Redeemer shot to be accurate, they never have been. It's all well and good to say that this is how we would like them to perform, but it's not how it ever has before. Redeemer rockets, from what I understand from the fluff, are basically pointed in a general direction of the other guy and fired. They then spiral around writing hymns and litanies in the sky with their trails before exploding roughly where they should. Or not. Either way, fire.

Also I did my math wrong before, EoM only buffs up RAT by 1 haha. But no matter what we have plenty of ways to overcome this weakness. If we let it keep it's RAT 5, then we get to insanely high chances after layering everything on. Choir + Reckoner cannon debuff alone brings it to effective RAT 9, pull the focus it generates to boost hit roll and you're going to be hitting everything with no problems. We don't need this. We have enough to compensate for a low RAT instead of having the boosts to use, but not needing to use them.

Never mind how high the armor on another Colossal is, we can be boosted to deal with it. ARM 22 isn't that hard to break down. Bring in the Reckoner that we just shot with (Assault for the win) and have it choir buffed with ignite on it to get a P+S 21 hit. Have a focus or two on it to buy an extra attack for us to do roughly 20 points of damage minimum to it. That's not including any damage done by the assault attack. With one jack we have the potential to remove 30+ boxes in a single attack.
Also I didn't include using an extra dice for charge attacks, as I believe pHayley can stop us charging. Then throw the Judicator at it and scrap the thing to itty bitty pieces =D

Please call me out if I'm wrong, but I think we've got more than enough tricks up lots of sleeves to counter such a tiny problem as RAT 1.

[spelljammer]

The Judicator isn't meant to be run by its self. If you're running a Menoth jack without support, you're running it wrong.

We'll presume that you have a CoM in your army, as that's common sense to do so. Our Judicators effective RAT is now 3, which isn't as terrible as it could be, but still isn't amazing. On an average DEF 12 trooper, you're needing 9's on 2 dice with a 27.78% chance of hitting. Let's add the focus we get from our SS to buff that up to 3 dice and we're looking at 74.07% chance.
Sure, you're still likely to miss, but with the Hand of Menoth guiding you're pretty safe.
Want even more help? Run it with pSevy, as everyone is saying. Eye of Menoth on the Judicator and we're now RAT 5 and hitting on 7's. Even with 2D6 we're back to average rolls. Run it with pKreoss and enjoy knocking everything down, then hit them with assured confidence. Anything but snake eyes will hit.

Probably the only caster I can't immediately see it giving help is Reznik. But I guess Iron Aggression on a jack that creates a focus for its self each turn doesn't need to run, charge and get boosted MAT rolls, does it?

Hi Raff,

Battle does make it a bit more accurate. However you cannot always use the Battle song. There are a lot of reasons I end up using the other songs, which drops me to an effective RAT of 1. RAT 1 means you are hitting a DEF 12 trooper about 8.3% of the time on 2 dice, and only 12.5% on 3 dice.

Regardless of whether you hit or not your secondary template will scatter. Depending on the circumstance this can be good or bad, but it is something you must always plan for.

I don't think I can emphasize this enough: If you are screening your Judicator and your troops are only about 6 inches in front of the Judicator then when you miss your chances of catching your own troops in the secondary blast are around 10% (50% chance of first blast deviating towards your troops * 50% chance of secondary blast deviating towards your own troops is a 25% chance. At 14" inches of range - 1.5" radius on blast template, your template needs to move 7.5 inches which is about a 50% chance, which leaves you with a 12.5% chance of the template being in the area of your troops - adjust % given other angles, layout of troops etc...).

The Reckoner also helps, but only against hard targets. Against a trooper model if I hit with the Reckoner that model is probably dead which means the Judicator isn't going to get the Reckoner bonus.

Eye Of Menoth is a great spell. I don't want to only play with pSevvy - there are lots of other casters I would like to take with the Judicator. They don't have EoM.

[Del Fuego]

Hey guys! Quick question: it is early and I don't brain well before coffee, but how are you getting the Judicator to RAT 5 on the rockets? It was my understanding that Colossals could not benefit from the Aiming bonus?

[spelljammer]

Choir + Reckoner cannon debuff alone brings it to effective RAT 9, pull the focus it generates to boost hit roll and you're going to be hitting everything with no problems.

Hi Raff,

You cannot get to RAT 9. Here is the math:

Effective RAT 1
+ Battle (2) = 3
+ Aiming (2) = 5
+ Reckoner (2) = 7
+ Eye (1) = 8

If you aren't playing pSevy, then your max RAT is 7. If you are aiming at troopers (where a Reckoner shot will kill what it hits), your max RAT is 5. If you can't stand still to aim then your RAT is 3, and if you can't have Battle up its a RAT 1.

Realistically, your RAT is going to vary between 1 and 5. I've found that because the range is only 14", and the Judicator only moves 4" that I am almost always moving, which means I only get the aiming bonus for usually 1 round (sometimes 2 when I can just sit back and let the enemy continue to come to me).

You are going to end up with RAT 1 quite often (no Battle, no aiming, trying to shoot troops so no reckoner bonus). At least that is my experience.