Orsus the Betrayed is a massive new leader model for miniature wargame Warmachine, bringing back a classic villain to the world of Immoren. Once the infamous Butcher of Khardov, Orsus is now bound to the service of the daemon worshipping Orgoth. Wargamer got an early look at his new rules and miniature, and he’s an absolute beast.
The new Orsus model, sculpted by Warmachine veteran Doug Hamilton , is set to release late in August.
If you’re not familiar with Warmachine, it’s a miniature wargame focused on powerful Warcasters, each one a mighty spellcaster with the ability to control magically-infused robots called Warjacks. Every Warcaster is unique, with their own suite of spells, abilities, and a game-altering ‘Feat’ they can activate just once for a massive effect.
Warcasters are simultaneously the most important figure in your force, and also its biggest weak point: if your Warcaster is ever assassinated, you lose on the spot. The Butcher was always hard to kill and able to dish out a terrifying amount of damage all on his own. Orsus the Betrayed is no different.
Here’s the new rules for Orsus the Betrayed:
Defensive stats
With 20 Health boxes, Defense (DEF) 13, Armor (ARM) 18, and the ability Tough (a 5+ save against dying), Orsus has defensive stats to rival other faction’s Heavy Warjacks. Orsus also has Spell Ward, meaning he cannot be targeted by spells. While this stops you buffing him with your own spells, this shuts off a lot of enemy debuffs.
All Warcasters have the ability to overcharge their Armor by spending Focus points (the fuel for their magic), but Orsus can push this to extremes using his Blood-Quenched ability. For every enemy he destroys in melee during his activation, he gains a cumulative +1 ARM and +1 to melee damage.
Offensive stats
Between his Speed (SPD) 7, the 2” range on his Fell Axe, and the Relentless Charge ability (which lets him ignore difficult terrain when charging), he can reach out and hurt enemies from a great distance.
If he can connect with an enemy model, he’s very likely to delete it. As a Cavalry model he rolls an extra dice to hit on his charge attacks, which on top of his already incredible Melee Attack (MAT) 9 means he’s very, very unlikely to miss.
With a starting Power (POW) 16, anything less substantial than a Warjack will fall beneath his blade in one swing – and on a critical hit, Critical Decapitation doubles the damage he inflicts.
Then once the slaughter starts, it won’t stop. Orsus is Berserk, which means every time he kills an enemy model in melee, he must make an additional melee attack if there is another model within range. He has the unique ability ‘Homicidal Maniac’, which allows him to advance 1” every time he destroys an enemy in melee.
Infantry models your opponent might use to control a zone or screen their leader from charges suddenly become stepping stones for Orsus to hop through, getting more dangerous and hard to kill as he goes. If your progress is slowed down by a model too big to kill in one swing, you can buy extra attacks by spending focus, or use his mount’s Gore attack, which is “only” POW 14 but always lets him push back the target he hits by 1” and then follow up, thanks to Beat Back.
Spells and Warjack control
Balancing out this massive stack of melee damage, he has limited magical potential and will struggle to control a large battlegroup of Warjacks. With Arcane (ARC) 6 he has very little focus to split between spells and ‘jacks. His field marshal ability grants Homicidal Maniac to his Warjacks, allowing them to mimic his melee rampages.
Orsus can only freely pick one spell from the Khadoran spell list for his spell rack, but his locked spells are powerful. Eruption is a fiery area of effect blast that creates a lasting fire hazard on the board, useful for controlling enemy infantry movement before you’re ready to start blending. Hand of Destruction tunes up Orsus and his Warjacks melee potential even more by letting them roll an extra die and discard the lowest whenever they make melee attack or damage rolls, for one turn.
Hunter’s Mark is the cherry on top. If this spell hits its target, all friendly models get +2 SPD when charging it, and Warjacks can charge or slam it without spending focus. The Butcher has a respectable Arcane Attack (AAT) 7, so this is pretty accurate.
Projecting this spell through an Arc Node gives Orsus a massive 14” threat range when he charges, creating a huge zone of death around him your opponent must be incredibly wary of – and every other model in your army benefits, too.
Feat
Orsus’ feat, Horn of Woe, has two main parts. Offensively, it strips the Tough ability from all enemies in Orsus’ 12” control range, ensuring his rampage can’t be halted by a lucky Tough save. It also shuts down all healing for enemy models in control range for one turn, and destroyed enemies are removed from play rather than dying normally, stopping any support models from collecting soul or corpse tokens from them..
The second part of his feat allows you to immediately return to play D3+2 destroyed small or medium based models to friendly units within Orsus’ control range, and within 2” of a model in their unit. Returning some of the Orgoth’s terrifying melee infantry to play is great, and will grant you some extra flexibility and reach when making a charge with that unit.
This is absolutely the Butcher that Warmachine players of old will remember, a one-man wrecking ball who slices, dices, and leaves nothing but gibs in his wake. Opponents facing this kind of ‘caster will have a very hard time assassinating him and should always be in fear of their leader’s life.
However, he’ll be vulnerable to losing the game on victory points if the rest of his army is destroyed or held up, and he can be delayed with a stream of sacrificial chaffe.
If you want to learn more about the Butcher’s backstory, I can honestly recommend the novella The Butcher of Khardov by Dan Wells; it’s very well written and surprisingly moving.
If you’d like to learn more about Warmachine, check out my retrospective on earlier editions of the game and how they influenced Warhammer 40k. New owner Steamforged Games is set to launch a new hard plastic two-player starter set in October, which should be a great way to get on board with the latest edition.
Source: Wargamer
