Hey team, Ive just had the pleasure of reading the fantastic article (Wild Card Rankings) by the awesome guys & girls at Arcane Synthesis and wanted to make sure I understood one of the rules and discussion points correctly.
Specifically: 'Her unique typing as a squad attachment means she is in every list by default, without taking a slot. If you have the model she’s in the list.’
Does this mean that The Quartermaster is essentially ‘free’ in every game and doesn’t take up a Hero or Unit slot in your list? (You obviously still need to pay the deployment cost to deploy).
Is this actually true, am I understanding this correctly?
If so, why isn’t she in everyone’s list in every game? (Assuming you have the model) There doesn’t seem any downside to playing her at all!
So, by virtue of being an attachment, yes, the Quartermaster is effectively free in the list, just like all other attachments and mantlets. She does not count toward the 15 unit limit.
Well, I can’t speak for other players, but I can give suggestions as to why she doesn’t always appear:
She adds +1 to the DC of the unit. Maybe that becomes too costly for some players?
She is a hero. As such, when she’s destroyed, she’s out of the game and cannot be redeployed. Maybe not everybody wants to risk her.
Not every model gets deployed in every game. My last game of Warcaster featured 3 hero models that never once made it onto the table at all.
She’s heavily geared toward ranged attacks. Not every squad focuses on ranged attacks. She would make little sense in (for example) a Saber Vanguard squad, or Ranger Infiltrators squad, or palling around with Regulators.
Maybe they don’t own the model or simply don’t want to use it.
Maybe the player doesn’t realize that a hero attachment does not count toward the 15 units in the list.
Yeah. There’s no reason not to include her in every army list. But when to deploy her is a matter of some consideration if you want the most bang for your buck.
She is amazing, giving a good shot on her own if nothing else, and occasionally giving her squad corrosion or null is phenomenal. There’s sometimes benefits to having an extra squad member too
Yes, put her in every list, deploy her in every game
As for why not: well you might be strapped for arc on your gate, you might not need her. But also people might not have realised she is available all the time and awesome.
It was a great article, you have a fan here. I’ve been playing Warcaster awhile and never realised. Im also taking another look at the other mercs. Great work!
Certain factions get more use out of her than others, I think she’s fairly marginal in AC for example because of their already very strong attachments (relikon and rakers), reliance on melee and plentiful corrosion. Even there she’s the only source of non-spell null weapons, which can be great in certain matchups (Empyreans especially). Still good to have but less strong than in say MW which get a lot of use out of her.
IMO Marcher worlds already has fantastic ranged options so she is just one more. Whereas AC (my faction) has poor ranged options, so she adds a lot to the faction.
I also love the option of giving my melee options (I.e. synturions) attack options in turns where they don’t get to attack in melee.
My understanding is that a unit can take multiple attachments, just not duplications. So my vassal raiders can have both the raker and The Quartermaster.
This is my understanding as well. That said, being able to pay +2 is probably situational. Then again, activating 6 models a turn is pretty intriguing.
The main benefit isn’t their output, the more models in a unit substantially increases its movement speed. It’s crazy what a difference one additional model makes.
Yes all four other models have a star formation around the fifth, but it means the unit can move effectively and efficiently in almost any direction. Add in any other additional movement abilities and the unit is absolutely hauling.
Marcher Worlds has no source of Corrosion other than the Quartermaster. She brings a literally unique function to the whole faction, and a very important one too, if I do say so myself! Shooting down those base ARM 4-5 models is a real pain if you don’t have a Railgun and the arc for a spike handy…
Meanwhile, by comparison, AC has corrosion left, right, and center. I would call it a wasted activation to activate a loaded Vassal Reaver + Raker + Quartermaster squad just to advance and make one ranged Corrosion attack with the Quartermaster. (I mean, obviously, clutch plays or last-ditch efforts are a thing, but that’s an edge case.)
I feel like she’s superfluous as an attachment on the Vassal Raiders, because the squad can already spike for Corrosion (and only one model can do it anyway), and she’s an un-Stealthed vector for killing the whole squad with a blast weapon.
The same goes for the Witch Hunters, who seem really want to not spike so they can remain charged for Stealth.
So…different viewpoint, I suppose.
Oh, one thing to note, because I’ve seen confusion elsewhere: the Quartermaster does not have Weapon Expert, so she only gets to make one attack per activation by default. She’s not single-handedly wielding the firepower of an entire squad by herself.
I also play AC as my second
My point about AC having great attachments was an opportunity cost one, if I can take a raker, I’m probably not also spending another arc on the quartermaster, likewise with the relikon, and if I’m summoning talons and I can afford it, I’m definitely taking the relikon first. 4 arc is a lot to commit to a squad, and 3 arc isn’t cheap either, if I can summon synturions with a quartermaster, I can also summon synturions with a nekosphynx/grafter/vassal boss, or synturions with axel if I wanted a good long range gun.
That’s a fair point on the corrosion, but with all the snipers and great guns I never saw damage output as much of a problem as it evidently is.
I find there are entire turns when AC units are trying to get from a-b and not doing anything. It’s nice to be able to contribute something during that turn, especially with a high value weapon. It’s not a waste of an activation if I’m moving and activating that unit anyway
Huge Quartermaster fan here, but I think her strength is she offers something to all factions.
On the range / melee issue: she’s not stopping a melee unit from doing there thing: just offering another shot while they do it.
In ACS case, she is also the only source of null (outside 1 cypher and lucants attack) : so using that on a melee unit to clear a sentinel or gate is pretty good. AC is also spoiled for goot 1 cost solos, so there is opportunity cost. However if you have enough solos to activate, attaching her to a unit might be a more efficient use of activations.
I’d also challenge whether using her spikes hurts vassals that much: vassals with stealth aren’t that good a use of arc, as they usually aren’t much of a target anyway and enough can get around it (or walk close enough). On the flipside: she offers 2 easy to use spikes on squads that might otherwise be ‘stuck’ with arc.
In other factions she is (almost) the only corrosion available, which is pretty huge.
She offers different things to all, although her own spiker rifle is huge regardless.
And to support Michael further: the “three Hero limit” refers to Hero solos, specifically. Which also means that Hero vehicles are not free, they take up slots from the 15-unit allocation.
