By Wild

Wild here, and I’ll be going over the initial release offerings coming out next week in July from Warmachine’s newest faction: the Convergence of Cyriss. Releasing on July 10th, we have the Battlebox with Forge Master Syntherion, a Heavy Warjack Cipher, and the Light Warjacks Mitigator and Galvanizer. Releasing at the same time is the Heavy Warjack kit, capable of making the Cipher and/or the other two jacks based off of the Cipher, the Inverter and Monitor. Convergence itself is unlike the rest of Warmachine, and a few rules and spells that effect other Warjacks, do not affect theirs, or Vectors as they’re called in-game. Also their stats adjust greatly depending on the MAT and RAT of the Warcaster, this is very critical for all future reviews of the Warcasters. Finally, the Warjacks are much more focus-efficient, though the Induction node will be covered in another article, as it deserves its own mention.

Disclamer: If you’re unfamiliar with how reviews work for Warmachine and Hordes, understand that a lot of direct numbers can’t be posted in respect to Privateer Press’ policy in regards to statlines. That said, I’ll do my best to reference models that are commonly available in the Prime rulebooks and War Room under the free cards.

Forge Master Syntherion lives up to his namesake for Synthesis and Synergy. He is on a medium base as is the majority of the Warcasters in Convergence, and is a Focus 6 Warcaster. His stats are overall average, with a lower than average DEF but a higher than average ARM. His MAT and RAT are average as well, placing his Vectors in same range as other standard Warjacks with both a melee weapon and a gun, Cygnar notwithstanding. He has two melee weapons and a single electric-based gun which is alright. Not something you want to use unless in an emergency. His spell list consist of 4 upkeeps and 1 offensive spell. Normally, this would leave any other caster starved after upkeeping, but like Absylonia he has Resourceful, upkeeping for free on his battlegroup. His spell list is pretty impressive too, with a new spell called Reconstruct. Exactly what it sounds like, it functions the same way as the Hordes’ equivalent Respawn, but on a Heavy brings back four hitboxes instead of three. Magnetic Hold is an offensive upkeep, capable of slowing down a unit, lowering their DEF, and giving a bit of a boost to the charge range for a friendly model. Synergy is his defining spell, borrowed from Amon Ad-Raza as it allows cumulative bonuses to melee attack and damage rolls. Since it affects everyone in the battlegroup, it’s a very good spell for an assassination run with another Vector or Syntheon himself making him almost never miss and always putting damage on the target. Combined with the feat, its nasty. Hot Shot is excellent for blast damage-based Warjacks, and Convection should never be cast almost ever.

Being resourceful is one of his bonuses, but Convergence casters also have a Field Marshal ability, an extra bonus applied to all Vectors. His is Auto-repair, a D3 at the start of every turn during the control phase. Having Pathfinder is a nice bonus, and he is a construct with a soul. The final rule is Repairable, as it means a model with Repair can fix him like a Vector. Finally, you have his feat which makes full use of Synergy. All Vectors and himself can charge for free and become weapon platforms. It basically allows them to shoot and perform melee attacks, but they are not virtuoso. They also must shoot before buying any attacks or risk losing the shot as well. This is very huge as every Vector, including their Colossal, will benefit to great effect everything here.

Syntherion does a lot to cover the early steps and bases for Convergence players as they get used to the unique playstyle. He isn’t the best they have, but he certainly is the most forgiving, and a great starting point for everyone.

The Galvanizer is the first warjack or warbeast in the game capable of repairing, and it does its job well. The first in a line of very cheap lights at 3 points, all lights of this chassis have 360 degree vision, able to charge in any direction and cannot be backstriked. This not only allows it full movement in any direction without care of facing, it can help take care of sudden surprises with its metal saw. Equally capable of defensive operations and offensive operations, the Galvanizer can fix up Vectors and 90% of the army as well. Great in bunches and is most likely one of the most popular Vector for its repair.

The other light warjack, the Mitigator, is all about offense. Not designed at all for melee, it instead has a single short-range Razor Bola that has two properties. With an AOE 3 and no damage value, it instead has one of two purposes via its special rules: Quake and Puncture. Quake requires a direct hit, but if it connects, all models in the AOE are knocked down. This type of attack is extremely effective against warjacks and higher DEF Warbeasts. The other special rule, puncture, is designed to maul infantry of all kinds. Puncture simply forces an immediate damage point to the models hit in the AOE. No blast damage, no roll, just an automatic point. Infantry are afraid and rightly so. The Mitigator, true to its name, mitigates the presence of infantry. A very impressive light, and just as much as the Galvanizer.

The first heavy in the battlebox, the Cipher shares its design with the Inverter and the Monitor. All 3 Vectors have the same statline as a Protectorate Crusader with the added benefit of being Steady, incapable of being knockdown. They’re also expensive Vectors, having point costs in line with Retribution as opposed to the main four factions in regards to their first set of Warjacks. The Vector damage grids are also unusual, especially for the heavies, where Movement is split up with an extra box, while the Induction node, their version of the Cortex, has a box less and is buried underneath the left and right arms. Columns 1 and 6 also only have a Movement box instead of a left or right like other Warjacks.

Now, the Cipher is both a ranged and a melee Vector, much like the Carnivean and Ravagore of Legion of Everblight. Its main cannon however is a shorter range, with an AOE of 4. It also has 3 attack modes, Bombardment, Crater, and Flare. The first one is simply POW 6 Blast damage, no direct hit damage of any kind. Crater creates rough terrain for a round, and finally Flare reduces DEF by 2. Of the three, Flare is more likely to be used, as the other ammo types are more situational or can be flat out ignored. It does have arcing fire, so models in the way for the most part are ignored. Its short range though does negate how useful this is like on the Khador Mortar Crew. The melee capabilities though are very impressive for a warjack with two arms. It is capable of attacking a total of 5 melee attacks, all at a very high POW, like a Carnivean’s bite. For a Warjack with a gun, this is impressive. Of the three warjacks, it is the most well balanced.

The second heavy is, in the fluff, the first Heavy Vector made, the Inverter. This thing is designed to be a murderous machine, but with an odd mechanic. The main weapon, the Macropummeler, on this jack is one use per round, but if it connects, automatically knocks down the target. The POW is also nasty, and should be used on the charge when possible. The other weapon, the Meteor Hammer, is a chain weapon with reach, and a POW of a Scythean. A good followup weapon, it ignores the shields of most warjacks and has a better POW than other Heavies with a chain weapon available. The Inverter is overall an excellent front-line Vector, and should be one of the first to go in on the charge.

Finally, we have the Monitor. As its’ namesake implies, it watches the battlefield for targets with a ranged weapon, and is the best of the 3 at range, with the longest range in Convergence, though this is pitifully sad since every faction in the game has a longer range gun somewhere. What redeems the Montior though is that it stole a few tricks from Legion and Retribution with True Sight, ignoring 3 major rules: concealment, Camouflage, and Stealth. While not carrying an AOE in the gun, it has critical brutal damage. Combined with Syntheon’s Hot Shot, and you’ll always have 3 dice for damage, and a crit adds a fourth one. And it’ll need it, since the POW is the same as its range. That said, it is no slouch in melee, with the same strength as the Inverter’s Meteor Hammer, but lacking reach and adding in sustained-attack and an open fist. This Vector is very close with Khador’s own Decimator, who has both a gun and a similar melee weapon. Capable of both roles, the Monitor is a good Vector to support the other two in larger battles, troubleshooting annoyances like Eiryss.

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Overall, for starting off Convergence comes strong right out of the gate. Syntherion unites all of these models quite nicely, and Convergence is all about synergy. More models were released during Lock and Load, and will be coming out over the next three months in addition to just these. The Forces book also confirmed a strong selection of infantry and solos, along with a returning Iron Kingdoms RPG character who will also be transitioning to the front-lines. May the Great Work commence.