Not all battle plans need elaborate schemes. Sometimes, you’ll face an enemy that doesn’t care about the element of surprise, and isn’t concerned about angry trollkin bursting out of trapdoors.
When that happens, Kithguard warlocks turn to the Journeyman and Ramhead.
Coming to pre-order next Tuesday, the Journeyman solo and Ramhead super heavy bring a stern backbone and raw power to any Kithguard army.
Not only are Ramheads tough to destroy, they hit like anvils wrapped in frying pans. Meanwhile, Journeymen are of the “lesser warcaster” variety. They may not be able to lead an army, but they can generate focus to allocate to the Ramhead and cast spells to help it hit even harder.
A new breed of warcaster never seen before, trollkin warcasters are a recent phenomenon and a strange novelty in the Southern Kriels. Had the Kriels remained part of the Iron Kingdoms, these lesser ‘casters might eventually have earned the rank of journeyman warcaster with nations like Cygnar, Llael, or Ord. Fate had other plans.
As it turns out, the Kithguard propensity for scavenging extends beyond mere materials to skills as well. To recycle and make use of the Journeymens’ warcaster-like abilities, the Kithguard constructed their own warjacks, aka the Ramhead. But, more on those later.
Typical for a trollkin, the Journeyman is tough. Ten health boxes with ARM 17 is nothing to sniff at, but when you add Unyielding and a warcaster’s innate ability to spend focus points to reduce incoming damage, this Journeyman can take a hit and stay standing.
With CTRL 8, these defensive abilities will be relevant because the Journeyman can’t let the Ramhead get too far away if they want to keep it supplied with focus.
Close Control doubles down on this. While the Journeyman still has a functional Ramhead on the field, it can’t make use of trapdoor markers to escape enemy attention.
The Journeyman can hold their own in a fight, too.
Handcannons are excellent sidearms and a POW 13 melee weapon can put a dent in most things. When you add in the Journeyman’s ability to make additional melee attacks or boost rolls by spending focus, it all adds up to a destructive little package.
On the spell front, Open Fire can only be cast on the Ramhead, so that’ll make more sense when we take a look at the warjack’s weaponry.
Redline is what makes the Ramhead hit so hard. Charging without spending focus means the Ramhead has that extra focus point to make an additional attack or boost a roll. Giving all its damage rolls a +2 bonus makes it go from denting big enemies to cleaving bits right off them. The bonus extra movement speed is the icing on the cake.
Cobbled together through a mixture of trollkin ingenuity, improvisation, and repurposed weaponry, the Ramhead is a brute force to be reckoned with. As a super heavy warjack, there are few that match it for size and fewer still capable of withstanding its assault.
34 health at ARM 20 is a beefy chassis to build on. On paper, that bulk comes at a cost of being just speed 4. However, given the Ramhead spends most of its time covered by the Kithguard Journeyman’s Redline spell, in reality it’s typically a much more respectable speed 6.
Bulldoze is helpful to avoid smaller enemies impeding the Ramhead’s movement, knocking them aside as it charges past to reach its true target.
The Ramhead’s Main Guns are repurposed from the wreckage of an old Khadoran Conquest colossal, and they still hit with incredible force. When the Journeyman uses Open Fire, this is likely the gun you’ll use to take a bonus shot.
The far shorter ranged Metal Storm, taken from the wreckage of a Cygnar Cyclone, is death to infantry caught in the crossfire…if you can manage to hit them. That said, Volume Fire lets these guns put plenty of little holes in bigger targets, too.
Now, these babies are why we deploy the Ramhead. Native POW 19, effectively increasing to POW 21 under Redline, with a 2” melee zone, the Electrified Blade and Ice Axe will annihilate almost anything they connect with.
Electro Leap on the Electrified Blade will help the Ramhead clear out densely-packed enemy infantry, and achieving a critical hit with the Ice Axe will freeze an enemy in place, making it vulnerable to auto-hitting subsequent attacks.
When it comes to which warlocks will be chomping at the bit to get a Ramhead under their command, Sergeant Hulder Craghorn is first on the list.
Craghorn’s typical battle plan is instant strikes from unexpected angles using trapdoors. The Ramhead gives his guerrilla-fighting army a powerful back-up plan, providing a more conventional, sturdy presence in scenario zones for when trapdoor tactics aren’t cutting the mustard.
Plus, Craghorn’s Boundless Charge spell increases the Ramhead’s charge threat range to 13” including Redline and the range of its melee weapons. His aptly-named Carnage spell increases the Ramhead’s respectable MAT 6 up to an incredibly accurate MAT 8.
And of course, General Gunnbjorn loves nothing more than big guns and thick armour.
The Ramhead not only brings both, but backs that up with incredibly hard-hitting melee attacks to mop up anything that manages to survive Gunnbjorn’s withering firepower.
Will you be adding the Journeyman and Ramhead to your Kithguard line-up? Follow or sign up for Warmachine news on your favourite platforms to get notified when they drop!
