Lucius

include page="inc_1.5rules" **Lucius, Governors’ Secretary, Guild Henchman** //The power behind the throne. Lucius makes sure the right person is in the right place at the right time. He leads the Guild's Elite Division, their special forces unit.// == toc

== = = Overview Lucius is tricky. His crew generally consists of lower cost models such as the Guild Guards. Even his "heavy hitters" do not pump out a lot of damage on their own, but rely on a combined arms approach. He, of everyone in the Guild, supports his crew the most and loses well over half of his capability when not running his own crew. His limited crew of Guardsmen and Elite Division can pull off some cool "alpha strike" tactics, but it's pretty tricky to make them work. Focusing on any single part of his crew can take it apart quickly and make it tougher to play.

Overall, Lucius crew is all about the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts. For the most part your crew will be made of very "average" models (average movement, average attack, average resilience), but can be made to work very well by using a combined arms approach.

=__Mobility__= Lucius comes with an above average Walk for a Guild model, but the greatest part of his mobility is actually how he moves his crew.

The //Reinforcements// spell will straight-up push a friendly model in your deployment zone to within 4" of Lucius. This doesn't target the friendly model, so line of sight isn’t needed and it can be used on Ryle.

Lucius also has a great little Obey-type spell called //Issue Command.// The spell essentially makes a friendly Guardsman or Elite Division model make a Walk or Strike action. So much like Reinforcements you can use this to help get your crew into position. Alternatively, Lucius could cast it on himself to take a Walk action of his own, essentially giving Lucius 15" of movement per turn if he really wants it. Usually however, that Casting Expert is better used for other things that specifically supports his crew.

=__Offense__= Lucius has a good Cb with his Sword-Cane, and a nice trigger, //Governor's Authority//, to prevent Lucius's target from attacking him until the end of turn. This can be handy for neutralising whatever nasty model your opponent has thrown at Lucius, so long as it hasn't already activated. As a general rule, however, you shouldn’t be using Lucius to attack anyone directly. Most of the time he's better off using //Issue Command// on his minions and getting them to do the dirty work.

Lucius has one damaging spell, //Hidden Sniper//, which can draw line of sight from any Elite Division model. This isn’t a ranged attack so it can be used against models in melee. It requires a high Ram to cast, and only does low damage. This is not a spell you'll use often, but it's range and flexibility in what you can target with it make it useful if you want to finish off certain models and don't have an easier way to do it. If you want to do more than minimum damage however, definitely consider using a (2) Channel action to cast it, so that you get the :+fate to your damage flip.

Lucius's primary offense comes from his //Issue Command// spell which as stated above, allows one of his minions to take a Strike or Walk action.

He also has a (0) action, //Advanced Training//, that increases the Cb of his minions, but only works during his activation.

=__Resilience__= Lucius' opponents suffer an automatic negative twist on all attacks against him. This is great for defense, as it prevents most opponents from cheating.

On his own, Lucius has a very average defense of 4. However this increases to a far more respectable 6 when one of his minions is within 2". If anything, this emphasises the importance of keeping Lucius's crew together. The Boost to Df is well worth it, especially when combined with //Highest Authority// so always ensure you've got at least a few minions close by.

=__Soulstones__= Lucius comes with //Slow To Die//. Often the best use of his Soulstones is to make a Healing Flip to prevent himself from dying. This can make him very hard to kill outright, although it's not something you want to rely upon to keep Lucius safe.

Lucius has a relatively low Henchman Reserve of 4. Fortunately however, he doesn't need them all that badly. As a support-type henchman he rarely needs them to boost his own attack/damage flips and //Highest Authority// combined with Df 6 should protect him from most enemy models that may try to kill him. That said, Lucius may go down quickly against paired attacks and keeping Lucius alive with a soulstoned healing flip from Slow to Die will boost his survivability very nicely. So having around 2 soulstones in your cache probably won't go astray.

=__Tricks and Tips While Joining a Crew__= The ability to deploy your Master 14" further up the field before they activate by using //Reinforcements// is a good one. It can lead to Lady Justice getting right into melee, or Sonnia having her choice of targets for her spells.

He can target himself with //Issue Command//, giving himself an extra Walk or Strike by casting the spell with //Casting Expert//.

The Drill Sergeant Totem is also a Guardsman. This allows you to sacrifice the totem with //Ruthless Leadership// late game (when he may not be as useful) to grant Lucius //Reactivate//.

=__Tricks and Tips While Leading a Crew__= Lucius' best trick is his first turn //Reinforcements//. It can be used to get a model 14" nearer to the foe before they activate. Using this on someone like Ryle will give him enough range to be able to shoot any point on the board on the first turn. Take care not to leave the model unsupported and exposed to counter attack when you do this.

Lucius can be great at out activating opponents. For example in a 35 SS scrap he could easily have 10 activations vs 6 or 7 for your opponent. If you can save Lucius and Ryle or an Austringer, or depending on the distance, the Captain, you can then activate both after your opponent has gone, potentially (depending if you use reactivate) 8 attacks (but at least 4). With that much fire power, you likely will be killing at least one major model within range. If you then win initiative, you are in an even better situation.

This has a huge effect when your opponent is deciding where to move, and realizes the huge threat range of Lucius. Even if you never do use reactivate, just the threat should keep you opponent guessing and sweating.

Strategies and Schemes
Lucius is capable of most strategies. He does particularly well in positional ones such as Treasure Hunt or Stake a Claim by getting to the right area and then using //Reinforcements// to bring up the rest of his crew. Placing an unactivated model on a Treasure counter in the first turn makes for a good start.

He will struggle in strategies like Slaughter as he works best with his forces together, and isn’t good at chasing down opponents. An Austringer or two, brought up to the midfield via //Reinforcements//, will be able to shoot most things.

He has the tools available but you often need the right tool.

Building a Crew
When working as a Master, Lucius can only hire Totems, Guardsmen and Elite Division models.
 * Guild Guard** – The workhorse of Lucius’ crew. Cheap, with a reasonable melee and ranged threat, and Armor.
 * Guild Austringer** – A good ranged attacker that does not need line of sight. Inflicts lower damage than many Guild models, but is more likely to hit, especially when using //Issue Command// with //Advanced Training// up.
 * Guild Guard Captain** – A great model. Tough and scary. He is slow, but you can speed him up by casting //Menace//, for which he gets bonuses to Ca and range, or by using //Reinforcements//. His Axe is dangerous. His Mauser 9 pistol is not the strongest, but it's an option.
 * Lawyer, Secretary's Aide** – Spellcasting support. If you use a static battle line he will do well just behind it, but is slow himself. //Reinforcements// can get him to where he is needed when required. Not recommended in low-Soulstone games as he needs to be supporting other models.
 * Ryle** – A ranged monster, and surprisingly fast. He can certainly dish out the damage, and he’s not bad in melee either. A strong inclusion in the force. For some control over his free movement, Link a Drill Sergeant to him.
 * Guild Hounds** – Cheap and fast. Buying them in pairs increases your Soulstone Pool, effectively making them cheaper, and having more than one makes them lose Insignificant and gain an additional Walk action. Very good at objective collecting.


 * Totems**:
 * Drill Sergeant** – Several different uses. Supports a Guardsmen shooting line, is a cheap Guardsman for Lucius to sacrifice for //Ruthless Leadership//, and makes the model he is Linked to more dangerous in melee. Spells are situational, but removal of and protection against //Slow// and //Paralyzed// can be very handy in some situations. //Link// means that you don’t need to use his action points for walking.
 * Governor's Proxy** – A Wp boost is never a bad thing, but does bring the risk of failed Morale duels killing your models.
 * Student of Conflict** – Gives //Fast//, and combined with either long-ranged support by Austringers, or the use of Lucius’ //Reinforcements//, he can give //Fast// every turn to something useful.

Starting Lucius
The Elite Division box comes with 1 Guild Guard (4 SS), Ryle (8 SS), the Guild Guard Captain (7 SS) and a Lawyer (7 SS), for a total of 26 Soulstones (plus Lucius' cost of 10 SS if not leading the crew). The starter box thus gives you a very top-heavy crew, with a trio of high-cost minions. Lucius tends to work best when he has a good number of minions around him however, so your first purchases should definitely be cheaper models with which to replace one of the 7-8SS minions in small games.

Your first purchase after the starter box should definitely be a pack of Guild Guard, who are cheap, resiliant and decent in both melee and ranged combat. Adding at least one Austringer is recommended to begin with. Good early buys are a blister of Guild Guard, a second Austringer and one of the Totems. Which one you choose depends on your play style, but if in doubt the Drill Sergeant has several different uses.

Lucius is trickier than a normal Guild Master due to his reduced list options, but can do well if you use the right pieces at the right time.

=__Playing Against Lucius__= As a support-style Henchman, Lucius tends to only be a threat for as long as he has a crew to lead. Ideally, you should therefore target his crew over Lucius himself, paying special attention to those models Lucius would prefer to //Issue Command//.

If your opponent has taken it, the Drill Sergeant in particular should be a priority target. The :+fate to ranged attacks from his Shooting Range aura will make the minions around it much more effective, especially if you were planning to hide in cover. Fortunately it's not a difficult model to kill, so do your best to draw a bead on him and 1-2 attacks should finish him off in short order.

When attacking models around Lucius, be aware of his //Ruthless Leadership// talent. If you fail to finish off a minion that has already activated, then there's a very good chance that Lucius will take the opportunity to sacrifice that model to gain reactivate. This will deny you any points you may gain from a Slaughter Strategy, as well as give Lucius another chance to kill off your own models with his Issue Command.

As for attacking Lucius himself, you will need either focussed attacks or paired weapons to get around his //Highest Authority// talent. His decent Df of 6 is also tied to having a Guardsman or Elite Division model nearby, so if you can either draw him away or kill his friends first, Lucius becomes much easier to hit. Also don't foreget that Lucius has Terrifying 11. It's not likely to cause major problems, but if your crew is living then it pays to have a few cards spare in case your models fail that duel.

Early in the game, a Lucius crew will likely have a minion ready to bring straight into the fray with his //Reinforcements// spell, which effectively boosts that models threat range to anywhere up to 19" plus it's own movement from Lucius. When leading the crew the array of models he can use this on is fairly limited - at worst you might get a Guild Guard Captain or Ryle to the face. Both can be fearsome opponents, but if you're aware of their imminent arrival they shouldn't catch your own crew off-guard.

When Lucius is included as part of another crew however, his //Reinforcements// spell becomes much scarier. He can now Teleport the likes of Lady Justice, Papa Loco or an Executioner straight into combat, all of whom can seriously mess up your plans and your crew. The bright side of this is that without Companion, you'll probably have an activation of your own before the Reinforced model can activate and do it's thing. This should hopefully give you the time to either neutralise/eliminate the target or simply get out of the way.

One cool anti-//Reinforcements// trick - the model in question needs to be in Lucius's deployment zone for him to Reinforce it. If your opponent has been careless with that model's placement, you could actually use //Lure// to pull that model out of it's deployment zone, thus preventing Lucius from bringing it forward.

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