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Swooping out of the darkness, the terrifying grotesques unleash misery on those who stand against Everblight. Grotesque raiders speed across the battlefield on powerful wings before descending en masse to tear apart their prey. Grotesque banshees let loose piercing cries that liquefy organs and drown out the thoughts of spellcasters, rendering their powers useless. Together these twisted creatures spread the horror of the dragon’s blight across the land.
Basic Info
| Grotesque Banshees |
| Missing Info |
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| COST |
{{{cacost}}} |
| UNIT SIZE |
{{{casize}}} |
| FA |
{{{cafa}}} |
| Warcaster 0 |
| BASE |
Small |
| SPD |
7 |
| STR |
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| MAT |
{{{mat}}} |
| RAT |
6 |
| M.A. |
N/A |
| DEF |
13 |
| ARM |
13 |
| CMD |
7 |
| ESSENCE |
{{{essence}}} |
| FOCUS |
N/A |
| FURY |
N/A |
| THRS |
N/A |
| HP |
1 |
| F. Field |
N/A |
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| WJP |
{{{wjp}}} |
| WBP |
{{{wbp}}} |
| IHP |
{{{ihp}}} |
| FA |
U |
| UNIT SIZE |
6 or 10 |
| COST |
7 or 12 |
| 1.2 pts each |
| N/A |
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| N/A |
| Warcaster 1 |
| COST |
N/A |
| N/A |
Understanding
the Statblock |
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Abilities
Weapons
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| Piercing Screech
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RNG
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ROF
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AOE
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POW
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SP6
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1
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-
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12
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- Brain Damage - A model damaged by an attack with this weapon cannot cast spells for one round.
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Theme Forces
Recent Changes
No changes since 2021.10
Thoughts on Grotesque Banshees
Grotesque Banshees in a nutshell
Banshees are the ranged versions of the Grotesque Raiders. They are fast skirmishing units, with Flight and a good basic SPD, while Force Barrier will help them to survive attentions from the enemy's guns and blasts. They sport an OK spray attack which can threat up to 13" on their own by simply moving and shooting (or 16" with charging and Gunfighter, if the enemy positioned their models carelessly). Among spray-wielding units they sport a respectable RAT6, which along with the Ravens of War's theme benefit on lesser beasts may result in extremely accurate sprays - and sprays also ignore a whole lot of defensive measures.
Banshees are by no means a must-have choice in a Legion army, but can contribute greatly to the aggressive, hit and run playstyle of the faction, tying up initial waves, freeing jammed models with sprays, and generally be just a nuisance, if the enemy lets them roam around freely. Brain Damage can also be crippling against warcasters, warlocks and their lesser kins, as well as utility beasts, or those who have powerful animi to cast around.
Combos & Synergies
- Seraph - The Flare on its gun is an ubiquitous RAT fixer, shoring up your chances against elusive targets from afar.
- Rotwings - Since you ignore the target in melee DEF penalty, feel free to fly up with a Rotwing near your target to further lower its DEF.
- For Banshees, the inclusion of a Grotesque Assassin is an excellent choice. Thanks to Force Barrier a missed AoE will have to deal with their effective ARM 17, while enemies without access to anti-Stealth techs will have to come dangerously close to cancel your Stealth protection - usually within your spray range.
- The Blightbringer's Withering Ash breath can lower DEF in it's AOE. He can also buff the Bashee's ARM on the way up the field.
- * Blighted Nyss Sorceress - Use her Blight Storm aura to trigger Brain Damage even on the toughest target.
Warlocks
- Vayl1 - Incite is excellent fixer for the entire army, and the Banshees are no exception. Adding Frost Field will make them effectively RAT 10 POW 14. Vayl2 also offers RAT improvement via Icy Grip, but not much beyond that.
- To little surprise, Lylyth likes Banshees in almost every incarnation:
- Lylyth1 - Parasite will often result in very dead targets with POW15 templates, and her feat will solve accuracy issues.
- Lylyth2 can give them 20 sprays on her feat, and Pin Cushion helps them hit a little harder and more reliably.
- Lylyth 3 - Banshees like Lylyth3 mostly due to her feat. If another gun can hit the Banshees' target before them, they can cause some considerable carnage against lighter armoured models. Vice versa, they can tag a lot of models to invoke stationary, before the more quality shots start falling in. As a bonus, they're fast enough to keep up with Lylyth and can reasonably fit inside her Wind Wall for extra shooting safety.
- Lylyth4 fixes just about everything with Mortality, and though her feat does not give extra range, fully re-rolled sprays are downright brutal. DEF17 Banshees with Deflection can also make lots of gunline lists run for their money.
- Marked for Death from The Twins can pair well with the Banshees, and an Assassin on top can be part of a stealth heavy army with them.
- Bethayne1 can put Blood Thorn on the Banshees, giving them POW14 sprays with Continuous Corrosion.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Die to trivial melee (counter) punch. They can get to the front line first but they won't last long.
- They're cheap, but are often "taxed" the cost of the Grotesque Assassin solo.
Tips & Tricks
- Since sprays ignore the "target in melee" penalty, don't be afraid of spraying into close combat. Look for angles where you can unjam your engaged troops without hurting them.
- Keep in mind the Brain Damage; it only gets triggered upon damaging the opponent, but the POW is high enough to reliably threaten even warcasters/warlocks.
- Power attacks can be another good way to knock enemies over and increase Banshee accuracy without relying on your warlock's resources.
- Transporting the physical models can be a challenging task. Just like Raiders, Banshee models are bag space hogs due to the large wings and their posing. They will also want extra weight in their bases as they are prone to tipping on softer play surfaces.
Other
Trivia
Released in Hordes: Devastation (2015)
Other Legion models
Rules Clarifications
Rules Clarification : Brain Damage - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Flight (Edit)
(Click Expand to read)
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- Flight doesn't ignore:
- Impassable terrain.
- Most hazards. The exception is they do ignore Acid Bath and Burning Earth as long as they don't land in them.
- Templates that stay in play and do damage to models moving through them (such as a Scather).
- Free strikes.
- Trampling with a flying model (Edit)
- Flight allows you to trample "over" medium- and larger-bases.
- Although you trample "over" them, you don't get to make a trample attack vs them and you don't ignore their free strikes. Refer the core rulebook.
- Unless, of course, you have an exception like Blade Rush.
- Flight on a Cavalry model (Edit)
- Although flyers can move over obstacles/models, and horses can pause to do impacts while charging, flying horses cannot make impact attacks while overlapping models/obstacles. You need to pause in a legal position.
- Charging through models (Edit)
- You can't charge all the way through your charge target, with the intention to turn around and face them once you're on the other side.
- Because you aren't able to satisfy the "must keep the charge target in melee range" clause at the point after you are through the model but before you turn to directly face. At that point the target is behind you, not in your front arc, and thus not in your melee range.
- Your melee range only extends to your front arc. Refer to the latest errata.
- You can still "skim" through the edge of their base, if you're careful and smart with your positioning.
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Rules Clarification: : Gunfighter (Edit)
(Click Expand to read)
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General
- You cannot Aim if you start your activation in melee. (Infernal Confirmation)
- A free strike with a ranged weapon still gets the +2 to hit and boosted damage (I'm pretty sure - I'd like to double check it though).
- If you have a Gunfighter stuck in melee and the Gunfighter wants to shoot a friendly model, then you can only do so if that friendly is within the Gunfighter's melee range. Also, if that friendly model is engaged by an enemy, that friendly model will always get the +4 DEF bonus (because the point of origin of the attack, the Gunfighter, is not "in melee" with the friendly model).
Targeting
- Outside of melee
- If the Gunfighter isn't in melee, and didn't charge this turn, then it shoots just the same as a normal model.
- In melee, but didn't charge
- If it didn't charge, it can target anyone it's "in melee" with.
- This can be any model in the Gunfighter's melee range, plus any models that have the Gunfighter in their melee range.
- If a Gunfighter kills all the enemies it is in melee with, and still has the ability to make more ranged attacks, then those attacks just follow the normal Ranged Attack rules. (Infernal Ruling)
- Charged into melee
- If it did charge, its initial attacks can only target models that are in the Gunfighter's melee range.
- If all models in the Gunfighter's melee range are killed before it makes its initial attacks, it loses any unspent initial attacks. (Infernal Ruling)
- However if it can purchase additional attacks (via Reload for instance) and/or get free attacks (via Black Spot for instance), then those non-initial attacks can target anyone it's "in melee" with, as per #2 above.
- Other targeting notes
- Remember, you can never be "in melee" with a friendly model, so a Gunfighter can pretty much never choose to target a friend while it's in melee.
- If the gunfighter is unengaged, it can still shoot a friendly model, which would just be a normal ranged attack.
- Gunfighter doesn't change the RNG of your gun, it just provides you an ability to use it while in melee and imposes some targeting restrictions.
- If you're affected by a debuff that reduces your RNG to 1", that will further limit who you can target.
- If you're affected by a debuff that reduces your RNG to 0", you cannot make attacks (refer 'Weapon Statistics', page 19 of rulebook).
Attack Roll
- You use the Gunfighter's RAT for the attack roll.
- Gunfighters do not ignore the Cover/Concealment bonus. (Infernal Ruling)
- How the +4 DEF bonus for "being in melee" works with Gunfighters is:
- they always ignore it vs enemies, because the "point of origin of the attack is in melee with the target".
- they never ignore it vs friendlies, because you cannot be in melee with a friendly target.
Incorporeal Gunfighters
- Note that enemy models without magic weapons can't hurt you in melee, but they can engage you.
- If they engage you then you're in melee and your target selection is limited to just models in melee (as explained above).
Gunfighter + an AOE weapon
- If you miss then the AOE will deviate as per the normal AOE rules. Not very far, though, considering the max distance you'll be apart is 2".
- If you use an AOE weapon to make a free strike, you get the +2 to hit and you get boosted damage against everything under the blast template.
Gunfighter + a spray weapon
- Who you can target with the spray is limited as described above, but you get to put the whole spray template down and potentially hit models well outside the melee.
- If you use a spray weapon to make a free strike, you get the +2 to hit and you get boosted damage against everything under the spray template.
Units of Gunfighters
- If a unit of Gunfighters successfully charge, but someone else in their unit kills their charge target before they get a turn to attack, then they may redirect their attack.
- Redirected attack:
- If they're still engaged, their initial attack (s) must be vs someone in their melee range.
- If they're still engaged, but no one is in their own melee range, they don't get any initial attacks.
- If they're unengaged, they are now free to shoot anyone within the gun's normal range.
Other interactions
- Gunfighter vs Point Blank (Edit)
- If a model has both Gunfighter and Point Blank, then you should declare whether you're using it as a ranged attack or melee attack whenever you shoot the gun. Because that can limit what other initial/additional attacks you can make. (Infernal Ruling)
- These two abilities are subtly different, but it's an important difference.
- Gunfighter allows you to make ranged attacks while in melee.
- Point blank allows you to make melee attacks with your ranged weapon.
- Since you can't make both ranged and melee attacks in the same turn, a Gunfighter model has a choice of either initial melee attack(s) or initial ranged attack(s). (unless it has Virtuoso or something).
- Whereas a Point Blank model chooses to make initial melee attacks, and then gets to make attacks with both weapons.
- Furthermore, the types of bonuses, penalties, and special effects you (or your opponent) can trigger will change dramatically:
- Any buffs/triggers on ranged attacks (such as Evasive, Shield Guard, Deadeye, etc) will affect Gunfighter attacks, but not Point Blank attacks.
- Any buffs/triggers on melee attacks (such as Battle Lust, Riposte etc) will affect Point Blank attacks, but not Gunfighter attacks.
- Gunfighter & Cavalry ( Edit )
- A cavalry model that charges then makes a Gunfighter attack will not gain a boosted charge attack roll, because a ranged attack is not a charge attack. (Infernal Ruling)
- You also won't gain a boosted charge damage roll, as per normal for a Gunfighter.
- Gunfighter vs RNG modifiers (Edit)
- Unlike what most people might tell you, Gunfighter doesn't have a "range", it just lets the model make ranged attacks while in melee. The gun's actual RNG is unaffected though, until you put something like Windstorm (-5 RNG) on it. Then what happens is:
- If the gun is RNG 7, Windstorm will reduce it to 2". Thus it won't affect any Gunfighter attacks.
- If the gun is RNG 6, Windstorm will reduce it to 1". Thus you can only make Gunfighter attacks vs models within 1" (if you can - charging Gunfighters may be more limited).
- If the gun is RNG 5, Windstorm will reduce it to 0". Thus you can't make any attacks as per 'Weapon Statistics' (page 19 of the core rulebook).
- (Infernal Ruling)
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Flight
Gunfighter