Castigator

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Castigator Protectorate Heavy Warjack

Based on the same design as the Reckoner, the Castigator brings Menoth’s Fury to its enemies with its flaming fists and the ability to ignite the surrounding air with flesh-cremating heat.

Basic Info

Castigator
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 5 STR 11 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 10 ARM 19 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 32 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 12 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Immunity: Fire
• Ashen Veil - This model has concealment. Living enemy models without Immunity: Fire suffer -2 to attack rolls while within 2" of this model.

Weapons

• Flame Fist (x2) - 1" reach, POW 5, P+S 16 melee weapons.
  • Continuous Fire
  • Open Fist
  • Chain Attack: Combustion - If this model hits the same model with both its initial attacks with this weapon, after resolving the attacks it can immediately have all other models within 2” of this model suffer a POW 12 fire damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

Theme Forces

• Protectorate
  • Exemplar Interdiction. Castigators gain Blessed melee weapons in this theme.
  • Guardians of the Temple
  • The Creator's Might
  • The Faithful Masses. Castigators gain Hand of Vengeance in this theme.
  • Warriors of the Old Faith

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can take this warjack in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Feora is leading the army. It gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Khador players can take this warjack in the Warriors of the Old Faith theme.

Recent Changes

2021.10 Mega Update

• Combustion changes from a (★ Attack) to a Chain Attack

Thoughts on Castigator

Castigator in a nutshell

The Castigator is a good "beat-stick" type of 'jack, having high armor, enough movement to get it where you need it, and a few surprises for your opponent up its armored sleeves. With all of this, and being only a few points more than a stock Crusader, the Castigator is a heck of a bargain.

Combos & Synergies

• The combination of Ashen Veil & Combustion makes the Castigator a fantastic choice when confronting Hordes armies, given that you're more likely to be facing living models.
• The Castigator's fire immunity means that you can safely get the Castigator into the thick of the fight and still happily spray flaming death on your foes.
• Warcasters like Malekus and Feora work quite well with the Castigator as it is a fire-themed warjack. Spells such as Ignite, and fire based feats, work really well with the Castigator's continuous fire fists.
• Durst with Bulwark up or Harbinger with Awe makes this DEF 14 against living
• Choir's Battle Hymn works on Combustion and Combustion can be boosted.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Some players consider the P+S to be a bit "pillow-fisted". For a Protectorate jack that is, because it will hit at P+S 18 anyway due to the choir buff, which is in line with other melee jacks at a similar cost.
• As any model without a ranged attack, it is very liable to get shut down buy anti-melee control feats such as Rask's.
• Being a SPD 5 warjack with melee-only weapons, it is susceptible to opponents that can slow it down or otherwise keep it out of melee. Be wary of things that can push it around or knock it down (like Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and their Thunderbolt shots).

Tips & Tricks

• Combustion is best used after your opponent just swamped you with infantry, assuming you can target something that survives the first hit.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)
• The Castigator is sold as a plastic multi-set with options to assemble either it, a Reckoner, or a Sanctifier. It is also currently out of stock in the PP store (12.2021)

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Fire      (Edit) If you deploy in fire hazard terrain (Burning Earth), then you get set on fire before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. Moving into "Shallow water" standard terrain does not cause continuous fire to expire. It's magic fire. You can always use non-standard terrain if you agree with your opponent before the game starts, however. A weapon can inflict continuous fire without itself being a fire damage weapon (for example, the Helios's fists). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity:Fire it just won't apply the continuous effect. In terms of which player's clock is running down during the Maintenance Phase: The active player will roll for expiration of all the continuous effects. Then the inactive player will roll for all the damages of the continuous effects. (Judge Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Open Fist  (aka, Power Attack Throw)     (Edit) Throw ( Edit ) See also the Throw article for a recap of the core Throw rules. If a model is somehow thrown at itself (which can happen with Durst1's feat) it would not move, it would be knocked down, and it would take a standard power attack damage roll but it would not take an additional die for colliding with itself. (Infernal Ruling) Because you move the target model between the attack roll and the damage roll, you can get different buffs applied to the two rolls. For instance, if you throw the target in or out of a Flanking model's melee range. Incorporeal vs Slammed/Thrown models ( Edit ) Incorporeal models cannot be moved by someone trying to slam them. Slammed models can move through Incorporeal models. If they have enough movement to get past them, no dramas. If they land on them, you move the Incorporeal model out of the way as per the Rule of Least Disturbance. If the Incorporeal model cannot be moved (i.e. it's a flag) then you move the slammed model out of the way, also by the rule of Least Disturbance. For the purposes of Collateral Damage, only the model(s) you contacted before you applied the rule of Least Disturbance count as contacted. The same logic applies to Throws. Collateral Damage Collateral damage cannot be boosted and is not considered damage from an attack or model. Refer page 33 of the 2021.08 version of the rules pdf. As a result: It doesn't trigger stuff that relies on being hit by an enemy (such as Shock Field) or damaged by an enemy (such as Vengeance). It doesn't get bonus damage from stuff that adds to a model's damage roll (such as Signs & Portents or Prey). It doesn't matter if the attacker has crippled weapon systems or aspects. Throw - Power Attack When you make a Throw Power Attack, no other abilities of the Fist weapon (such as Chain Strike) are applied unless they specifically mention Throws. (Locked Thread) If you do a Power Attack Throw and you choose to throw the target directly away, no deviation is rolled to determine the final position of the model. (Locked thread) A model that cannot be targeted by melee attacks (such as Una2's feat) cannot have models thrown at them, either. (Infernal Ruling) Since throwing Model [A] at Model [B] involves making a melee attack roll vs Model [B] which is out of your melee range, it technically breaks a whole bunch of core rules. (Infernal Checking) Even though you make a "melee attack roll" vs Model [B] you don't actually make a melee attack vs it. Also, the damage it suffers is from Collateral damage, not from the original attack. So you can't trigger stuff like Snacking from damage you did to Model B.

Rules Clarification : Warjack      (Edit) The Cortex/Induction core rule means a warjack cannot have more than 3 focus at any time (maybe 4 if they're really special). Many abilities give out focus and don't state an upper limit (such as Convection and Empower). Despite not stating an upper limit, they are always "hard-limited" by the core rule. A warjack can have more than 3 focus during a turn, though. For instance, a knocked down warjack can Power Up and be Allocated 2 focus, then spend 1 to shake knockdown, then another model could Empower it back up to 3. Warjacks cannot spend focus outside of their activation. For instance, they can't boost free strikes or trigger Powerful Attack on Broadsides. (Infernal Ruling) Inert warjacks Abilities that say they cannot be used if the model is stationary (such as Shield Guard) cannot be used while a warjack is inert, either. Refer "Warcaster Destruction", page 59 of the core rulebook.

Rules Clarification : Ashen Veil and/or Swarm     (Edit) The concealment bonus and the attack roll penalty stack with each other. If a living model targets you with a gun/spell, and they're within 2" of you, they effectively suffer -4 to the attack. The attack roll penalty applies to all types of attacks. The attack roll penalty applies even if the enemy model is trying to target something completely different.

Rules Clarification : Chain Attack Combustion      (Edit) Rules Clarification : Chain Attack      (Edit) Some Chain Attacks generate a Power Attack (such as Chain Attack: Throw. These Chains can be used after charging, even though Power Attacks normally can't be used after a charge. (Infernal Ruling) Buying extra attacks with fury or focus cannot trigger a Chain Attack - only initial attacks can trigger it. If you have 3 weapons but only 2 of them are associated with the Chain Attack, then you can make that 3rd initial attack at any point without it preventing the Chain Attack from triggering. Also, interrupting your initials to resolve the Chain Attack will not prevent you taking the 3rd initial. For example, the Cryx Nightmare has two Claws with a Chain Attack, plus some Tusks. When he makes his initial attacks he can go: [Claw] - [Tusks] - [Claw] - [Chain Attack] ... even though the two Claw attacks weren't sequential. [Claw] - [Claw] - [Chain Attack] - [Tusks] ... even though he did the Chain Attack before getting to his initial Tusk. [Tusks] - [Claw] - [Claw] - [Chain Attack] He cannot go ... [Claw] - [Claw] - [Tusks] - [Chain Attack] ... because you must resolve the Chain Attack as soon as it's triggered, or not at all. Rules Clarification : Combustion      (Edit) You cannot use Combustion (★ Attack) after charging. Because when you charge you must make either A) initial melee attacks, B) a special melee attack, C) a non-melee special attack that explicitly says you can use it after charging (such as Rain of Death). Combustion is a non-melee special attack and it doesn't say it can be used on a charge. Chain Attack: Combustion works with charging just fine.