Houseguard Riflemen, Officer and Standard Bearer: an in-depth discussion

[hausdorff space]

HOUSEGUARD RIFLEMEN
and
OFFICER AND STANDARD BEARER UNIT ATTACHMENT

Hailing from the Houseguard, Riflemen are the cheapest full ranged unit available to the Retribution. At 5/8 points they’re cheap no frills unit, offering a useful long ranged option to most lists; and, with the 2 point unit attachment, access to some interesting and unique tactics; they are probably most comparable to Cygnar Long Gunners.


Stats, Weapons and Attacks

With the usual SPD 6 and a common RoS DEF 13 to complement they’re basic armour of 13, before any other considerations, Riflemen are a unit that should live to see combat... especially considering their form of combat is ranged warfare. All up they are slightly faster, and slightly harder than Cygnar Long Gunners.

They only carry a passable RAT 5; but with RNG 14 weapons, this is deceptive and one should expect them to be firing at an effective RAT 7 (aiming) – enabling them to hit a more elite DEF 14, POW 10 popping up to ARM 16 targets.

When worst comes to worst though, they’re not helpless in melee – a MAT 5 P+S 7 sword will easily dispatch the unwary Winterguardsman, on a good charge roll they’ll even knock a cavalry rider off his mount.


Skills and Abilities

Riflemen are more than a group of single men with guns though. They’ve also learnt to fire these weapons in a co-ordinated manner, giving them Combined Ranged Attacks, allowing them to vary their shots from near a dozen simple POW 10s, or a single super-duper RAT 15 POW 20 attack of doom.

An important note about Combined Ranged Attacks, for those not used to them, is that the CRA attacks are made through one member of the CRA - allowing you to move participating models up while leaving that individual to gain the aiming bonus, or moving him into position to hit a models back arc (shields).

As both a Houseguard unit, and a unit of Riflemen, these guys also have Ranked Attack, allowing them to form up in any position without blocking LoS for one another. It also allows them to form a sturdy firebase for your Warcaster (or anything else small based) to hide behind.

In an army of reasonably fragile Warcasters, being able to hide them without limiting their effectiveness is pretty handy. But be careful as, being a pretty barebones ranged unit, they probably want to be far from the enemy and using them as such a shield might see your ‘caster stuck a bit further back than you would like.

So there you have it; on their own, the Rilfemen are a simple long RNG ranged unit, bearing common versatility in their attacks and basic abilities to see them battle through.


Officer and Standard Bearer Unit Attachment

Houseguard Riflemen can be an irritating unit to consider taking. They can’t pour out the threatening number of attacks some dedicated ranged units can, and don’t boast the base POW or effects some offer; but then given the options in this faction they don’t really need to. This can leave the unit seeming a bit wishy-washy and unspecialised – They’re cheap but not super cheap, they have range, but nothing extra or special.

This is where the UA comes in, helping give them a little extra direction.

At their most basic, as with most unit attachments, the Officer and Standard Bearer provide a single more accurate attack (Officer RAT 6), a slightly improvement on CMD (9 instead of the units basic 8), and a reroll on CMD tests. But who cares about that stuff, they also give a granted ability and a mini-feat, both well worth mentioning.

The easiest to use thing they give is Granted:War Tempered, giving this unit the rare ability to CRA into melee. This can sound pretty bland, but when one of the best ways to stall a ranged army is to get stuck in to melee (+4 DEF, blocking LoS, etc) not being safe is something that should give your opponent pause; and if it doesn’t then you should teach them why it should.

This also goes a way to preventing opponents engaging the front line of Riflemen to prevent the unit shooting – the back ranks can aim and CRA through engaged unit members into enemy models, the previously engaged then joining the barrage. This works even better with their mini-feat (next).

Possibly the most interesting ability carried by the full Riflemen unit is Mini-Feat: Whites Of Their Eyes. A once off ability, this gives the whole unit an additional dice on ranged attack rolls against models within 8 inches. On such a long ranged unit, this seems quite an odd ability, but it opens up some interesting tactical options to the unit.

Firstly it must be considered when CRAing, you can use this mini-feat to gain a ‘boosted’ hit roll against a enemy model nearby to just one of them, a Basic CRA ‘gives you’ RAT 7, but that’s still going to miss a lot of things. The improved accuracy in a boost is great.
With only needing one model near the target you can spread your Riflemen out along the back line and pull off a CRA all shooting over to one flank, even in to melee if you want.

In fact the mini-feat is good insurance when shooting into melee, as you don’t want to hit your own guys with big CRAs. As only one member needs to be close you can also use it to increase accuracy as the unit moves, perhaps the allowing the Primary attacker to move behind the model (ignoring shields) while the rest disperse.

Hell, with the War Tempered, you could actually move members of the unit into melee with the targets (preferably ones you know you won’t kill outright) to prevent them attacking the rest or moving away (on a good free strike roll Riflemen will hurt things).

Outside of CRA shots, the mini-feat allows you to fire a hailstorm of 11 boosted to hit RNG 8 RAT 7 (aiming), POW 10 shots – that should kill DEF 17, ARM 16 models. Making them quite a powerful unit to counter attack with; and don’t forget they can move before hand (to get within 8 inches) and still hit pretty high DEF, giving the ‘attack’ an effective 14” range.

In fact, I think this is where the unit’s strength really lies. Early in the game they can shoot across the field, taking big tolls on medium to high ARM or high DEF targets; but when the enemy makes their attack you follow up from the backlines with a storm of accurate POW 10s, CRAing into melee if you have to.

This goes great with Halberdiers+UA, who are perfect for taking a charge, reaping a bloody toll, then reforming into a better offensive/defensive position for the Riflemen to pour bloody murder through.


Synergies and Sample Tactics

As a basic unit Houseguard Riflemen are a simple ranged unit. Long ranged, hardy, and capable of a large volume of attacks or high accuracy and pow. They are perhaps the simplest unit in our arsenal.

With their Officer and Standard Bearer Unit Attachment, the Riflemen are an interesting and seemingly defensively supportive unit. Their distinct talents/strengths really only showing themselves once the enemy engages your forces.

Some synergies, etc:

• Soulless Escort – As a strong ranged unit, it is fair to expect they will receive some pretty direct enemy attention. The Soulless Escort can be of considerable help here, severely hampering enemy abilities to cast spells at the unit – which is a way some armies deal with back rank units; and (with flank) giving the force a bit of a guard against melee, along with a way to get a model or two out of melee.
• Kaelyssa – Kaelyssa’s feat works well along side a ranged centric army, holding back enemy attacks and potentially allowing another round of shooting. With their long range, the multitude of attacks they can make and CRA, this unit is ideal for use in such a strategy.
  
  With Ranked Attacks Riflemen also make a good screen for the non-stealth ranged based Kaelyssa.
• Rahn – With his old man nature, Riflemen with their Ranked Attacks provide a solid screen for Rahn from which he can Arc his spells, Repositioning threats while the Riflemen shoot selectively. He also provides them some extra protection with Force Field helping redirect AOEs away form them and Polarity Shield is also a great way to protect the unit from melee threats.
• Ravyn – Riflemen benefit greatly from the spells and feat of Ravyn. Snipe giving them a RNG 18 attack (22inch threat range); and her feat giving them a turn of boosted ranged attack rolls, so they get two turns of ‘boosted’ attacks with the UA. It is important to note the Feat and mini-feat can also be stacked allowing you a turn of RAT 5 +4D6 to hit (+2 if aiming), that’ll hit a huge DEF 19 (21) on average, and then the Riflemen can move back under Swift Hunter.
• Houseguard Halberdiers – The two Houseguard units are great when run together; both are cheap and very very effective for their points. They provide a great defensive screen for the Riflemen to stand behind, and the Riflemen act as a strong deterrent in attacking the Halberdiers.
  
  Their mini-feats also complement each other well, with the Halberdiers able to strike a counter attack, reform back into a line and the Riflemen CRA (into melee) on anything else; or the Riflemen can mini-feat, clear out the engaging models so the Halberdiers can then strike deep into the enemy army.

Well, that’s that, let me know if there’s anything I missed.
DISCUSS

[AJB2K3]

Very good, As a full time HG commander I agree with alot of that.

[hausdorff space]

I agree with alot of that.

Feel free to mention anything you disagree with, or point out anything that should be added.

[blackseven]

Great article! Just a couple questions:

They only carry a passable RAT 5; but with RNG 14 weapons, this is deceptive and one should expect them to be firing at an effective RAT 7 (aiming) ? enabling them to hit an elite DEF 15, POW 10 popping up to ARM 16 targets.

Did you mean DEF 14 here? RAT 7 can hit 15 of course, but 14 is the "stat + 7" threshold (58%?) that I usually see.

Houseguard Riflemen ? The two Houseguard units are great when run together; both are cheap and very very effective for their points. They provide a great defensive screen for the Riflemen to stand behind, and the Riflemen act as a strong deterrent in attacking the Halberdiers.

I think you meant to list them as Halberdiers? That's how they are in your explanatory text.

[hausdorff space]

...

Good catches; copy&paste errors I claim!

[AJB2K3]

Feel free to mention anything you disagree with, or point out anything that should be added.

Teaches me to post while asleep, There was something but 8 1/2 hrs later I can't remember (omg I forgot after five mins)

I have a HG stormfall fight vs Menoth tomorrow (30pts) It it might come to me.


Ouu when used with stormfall archers they can be devastating against jacks.

[Nick7356]

[*]Ravyn – Riflemen benefit greatly from the spells and feat of Ravyn. Snipe giving them a RNG 18 attack (22inch threat range);

They have a threat range of 24". SPD 6 + 14 RNG + 4 Snipe

[FranzGrenstein]

Great write up.

I have tried to use them as a front line force with Ravyn. They have always performed in a lack luster fashion. At 35pt I don't think I would include them, maybe in a three unit force.

The Long Gunners double tap is what makes them, well that and access to deadeye, then again Long Gunners are the gold standard.

[NaZ]

I think the Rifleman are a solid component, Even without their UA. I use them in my 35 pt Rahn force:

Rahn
Phoenix
Discordia
2x Battle Mages
Sml Rifleman unit
3x magistar

In this list, the rifleman are IN TIER which lets me take the tier 3 bonus of advance move for the battlemages and the magistars. The rifleman provide a fantastic screen for rahn, and are often protected by discordia's imprint making them immune to blast dmg and +2 arm vs ranged.

In terms of capabilities:

I frequently use them for anti warjack or warbeasts coming up the flank. Light arc nodes are always a priority target and the rifleman will almost always be able to aim and shoot if they're close enough to be a threat. 6 rat 7 (aim) pow 10 shots is nothing to sneeze at. two CRA's at rat 9 pow 13 will put a real hurt on a jack.

On the assassination run, they are fantastic. If you have not played a rahn force, you may not see the dramatic potential of the push pull mechanic on feat turn. Yes the boosted dmg will probably kill stuff... but if you have two squads of 3 able to hit from different angles, then you can move 6 models that were a screen for their warcaster. if the other squad gets to strike (or the magistars) then that is another 6-9 shots that can pull the warcaster through the now opened path. Ultimately though this attack can run out of steam and is very focus intensive (I try to do either two chain blasts for 4 3" plates of boosted dmg rolls, or two force hammers for boosted hit and damage) And because it is tier, we don't get eiryss to remove their potential armor buff :/ so it CAN run out of steam.

but if you have a rat 13 pow 16 shot, that may slay the warcaster outright by that point. This strategy also works past damage transfers, it will either eat you up a few pts at a time as you get dragged in or you'll be forced to transfer before the CRA goes off.

The rifleman perform admirably every game I take them. I haven't found a need for the UA yet, but I could swap discordia for a manticore to make that happen.

NaZ

[PG_TotalGee]

Let not forget the Synergy of Rayvn, moving into melee with an opponent, with Vortex of Destruction going.

The riflemen can CRA into combat, looking at a max P21 boosted damage roll, I prefer 1 P15 and 1 P16 boosted damage roll normally.

Obviosly the feat/mini feat and snipe(aiming) help in order to split your CRA's into smaller groups.

[Pinegulf]

Good write up.

However, I'm not convinced if they are worth their points when comparing to other units. Tiers aside.
Min unit is as expensive as min MHSF 2" less range 1" less threat. Equal POW. CRA vs not. Stealt vs no. Meeehh... I'd go with MHSF.
Max unit without UA: As expensive as max MHSF. Well CRA gains effect with numbers, but still...
UA: I've never got the minifeat working. Usually they get a lot of hate and odd blasts kill enough to render their danger down. War tempered seems best ability they have. Worth their poits?
Sure, but compared other troops they just don't seem to cut it.

[G.a.d.d.]

Looking at them in a vacuum they seem lacklustre, but in combination with halberdiers they start to really shine.

[Pinegulf]

Looking at them in a vacuum they seem lacklustre, but in combination with halberdiers they start to really shine.

Well.. Lets consider CRAing into melee. Begin on -4. Aim +2 two men CRA +2 =0 ->rat 5. Sounds a little shaky idea. (Considering that you shoot your own model from behind.) Adding more to CRA reduces amount of shots considerably. Minifeat helps considerably, but it's only once a game.

[Kuwanger23]

In their threat range with rayvn you mention they have a threat of 22" with snipe. Would it not be 24"? move 6" range 14" 4" snipe. 6+14+4= 24.

nm this has been brought to the boards attention already. sorry lol

thanks for the write up btw and all the others.

[JustNCREDIBLE]

being relatively new to WM i am kinda confused by War Tempered.. is that the same as Gunfighter in anyway (since Gunfighters can shoot in melee)?

[hausdorff space]

being relatively new to WM i am kinda confused by War Tempered.. is that the same as Gunfighter in anyway (since Gunfighters can shoot in melee)?

It's different. War tempered just allows you to make CRA attacks into melee. IF they're engaged they cannot shoot.

Gunfighters can use their guns 'instead' of melee attack.

[JustNCREDIBLE]

So if one of them is in melee the others can CRA onto it??? I'm so confused..

[Pinegulf]

So if one of them is in melee the others can CRA onto it??? I'm so confused..

CRA is only for shooting outside combat range. (>0.5" generally)
Gunfighter allows you to use your ranged weapon in combat (<0.5").
If you have both CRA and Gunfighter you still can not use CRA in melee range.
You can't target models that are engaged in melee with CRA. Unless you are affected by skill 'War tempered'.

[FifthColumn]

So if one of them is in melee the others can CRA onto it??? I'm so confused..

I think what you're looking for is this: If someone they're trying to shoot at is in melee, they normally can't CRA. Because of War-Tempered, they can. This is to shoot a model that's in melee with another friendly model, not one of the Riflemen.

Ex.: Ravyn is in melee with Thagrosh. Because of War-Tempered, the Riflemen can still perform CRAs against Thagrosh. Without the UA, they could not CRA.

[VoodooJ]

Well.. Lets consider CRAing into melee. Begin on -4. Aim +2 two men CRA +2 =0 ->rat 5. Sounds a little shaky idea. (Considering that you shoot your own model from behind.) Adding more to CRA reduces amount of shots considerably. Minifeat helps considerably, but it's only once a game.

All very good points. However, the Halberdiers should be doing the majority of the killing already so getting in 5-6 shots isn't usually necessary. Usually when I CRA into melee over halberdiers, I fire 3 aimed (thus giving a reasonable RAT 7) Str. 14 shots (and one strength 13.) The Riflemen aren't doing all the killing on their own, remember, they're primarily assisting the Halberdiers when it comes down to CC. And your riflemen should have been whittling down that unit as they got closer too. Most of their value comes because they are shielded from incoming fire by the halberdiers, who can take a fair beating themselves (which would prevent the over-abundance of ranged targeting on them.)

[JustNCREDIBLE]

Thanx Pinegulf and 5thcolumn... That clears things up..

[ForceFields!!!]

I might start using these guys with my halberdiers. My halberdiers are great at weaking the hell out of heavy jacks, but tend to leave them alive by just a bit. With a bonus CRA to finish off a jack or hit it on the way in, makes Halberdiers full on Jack killers.

[Lord Xalys]

The Halberdiers/Riflemen combo works very well indeed. Not only does the ranged fire complement the melee whacks, but Riflemen with UA actually don't mind moving up with the Halberdiers due to their minifeat: they get extra dice to hit when enganging targets up close, which makes them excellent support for the Halberdiers and quite decent killers of higher DEF models (which the opponent wouldn't expect).

LX

[ForceFields!!!]

How to use them in the discordia bubble though (cause that seems the best place for em to be). Should i bring a min unit with UA or a full? looks like a min unit will still get the job done of a full one

[Mr Sadface]

Why is it so good to fire into melee with these guys, won't my melee fighters get hit aswell?

[Murkhadh]

Why is it so good to fire into melee with these guys, won't my melee fighters get hit aswell?

Typically the rules say that you can not used combined ranged attacks when firing into melee.

These guys are special that they are allowed to do that, yes you risk hitting your own guys, the cool thing is they have the option where others do not, if 4 people participate in the CRA, you have eliminated the -4 penalty for firing into melee.

[Marshal Torrick]

Expanding on Murkhadh: Put some Halbardiers about 6" in front of them, then when the enemy engages the halbs, pop the mini-feat, aim and commence pouring reasonably accurate(Aiming RAT 7, CRA RAT 9 and boosted from minifeat) POW 12 CRAs into the opposition. This can be taken a step further with Ossyan's feat or Ravyn's Vortex of Destruction, which works well as she has reach.

[Murkhadh]

Another firing into melee trick is to shoot at things engaged to mage hunter strike force from > 5 inches away, if you hit, great, if you miss, you auto miss your mage hunters due to stealth.

[Magni]

With Quicken from Ossy, you can get Def 15 - stand next to an Artificer and your 17 no Blast dmg, range 14 giving you a threatning amount of board control. I dont use them as much as i should but they will be in more of my 50 point lists with Invictors as my 2nd wave inf.

Magni

[frozenwastes]

A tactic with Ossyan I'm planning on trying once mine are painted:

Ossyan casts quicken on them when they start their turn within 16" of a good target. He pops his feat.

They advance 8" and the UA pops his mini-feat.

3d6 for attack and damage striking from 16" away.

Not game breaking or anything, but if you can manage to pull off the 11 shots, you might be able to clear a control zone or a flag or take down screening models for something else to get at something important. POW 10+3d6 isn't amazing when it comes to damage, but it will reliably kill most other infantry and you can still CRA if you need to.

How to use them in the discordia bubble though (cause that seems the best place for em to be). Should i bring a min unit with UA or a full? looks like a min unit will still get the job done of a full one

Discordia's bubble is 3 inches from his base to any part of the houseguard's base. So you don't have to have the unit completely crammed together within 3" of the Jack. It's within rather than completely within. You can fit the full unit with the UA inside the bubble. They'll be immune to blast damage, but watch out for sprays, chain lightning and other effects that do well against models that clump.

If you have anything on a large base (or even a large base) and 12 models with small bases (or just the bases) arrange them on the table and measure and see how you have to arrange them to be able to measure from discordia to any houseguard and be 3" from base to base. Also remember that either discordia needs to advance to his central location or the houseguard have to move in after the fact, so try to arrange them appropriately. Also remember that the houseguard have ranked attack and thus can attack through one another as if they're not there, but not Discordia. They can't see through the jack.

If you take Discordia and an Artificer (on a medium base) you'll find out you can actually get a full unit with a UA, a souless and maybe your caster an another model all within both Discordia's 3" and the Artificer's 3" area. So there's loads of room for just the riflemen.

Another thing to watch out for are spells and AOEs that don't do blast damage rolls. Like Gorman di Wolfe's corrosion bomb. Everything under the template takes a corrosion damage roll, not a blast damage roll, so you're not immune.

[raekwon2112]

All i have to say is epic Makeda on a hill engaged in melee. if I couldn't kill her that turn based on the board i was dead. 1 CRA with war-tempered from these guys later and makeda was dead yeah Rifleman and UA.
I like the MHSF, but I have found the Rifleman more than worth their pts every time I have taken them. MHSF have actually failed me more often than the Riflemen, and riflemen are better against hordes imo. But both units are very good and have their uses.

[Vinsklortho]

The mini-feat seems like it could be useful for offsetting the inaccuracy of 2man CRAs into melee. I've used the mini-feat twice so far. Once against a gunmage unit that had to close the distance against my Sniped Riflemen unit. The other time was against Nyss Hunters who charged and killed eEiryss to claim an objective.