The faithful men and women of Menoth: Protectorate Part 3

Good day to you war gamers of all ages!  I hope you all have been doing well these past few days and you've had a chance to get some gamery in of some sorts!  In our continued series I am going to be looking at some of the changes the Protectorate of Menoth had from Mk2 to Mk3.  In particular I am looking at the changes to units today!  I thought about combining solos in here too, but since PoM have a lot of focus on powerhouse solos it seemed better to give them their own section.  Anyways let's begin!

Going down the list in War Room, first off the Choir.  They got some nerfs a little bit in their command range meaning that they are going to be a bit closer than they were before.  Subsequently this means less 'jack coverage, unless you also clump them up.  Also the most talked about change to the unit: the hymn of battle no longer provides a bonus to attack rolls.  The other hymns were left alone it seems.  Daughters of the Flame received some nice buffs in the form of Parry and Stealth!  These ladies should be able to get into combat a little easier now and not have to worry about being only useful for a single charge (as my experience has taught me).

I like the paint job this fellow Menite did for the Choir (source: http://gdaybloke.deviantart.com/art/Choir-of-Menoth-199926670)

Deliverers, the unit that got me into PoM, finally got some nice love.  Still Inaccurate but now they lost their weird order and just gained CRA.  The artillery version, the Sunburst, lost the ability to get a aiming bonus but now are treated as a small-sized model despite being on a large base.  Exemplar Cinerators gained Immunity: Fire, and now have Vengeance with the caveat that they will get their attack even if you just hurt them a little.  I'm not sure if that's standard but that's a nice tradeoff in my books.

Ok so Exemplar Bastions need their own little section.  I'm sure most opponents of the PoM knows how annoying these guys can be with their moving health around.  Well that's still there but it's changed up a little.  Now the models taking the damage has to be within 3" of the injured model.  So that means a tighter bond for the Sanguine bond he he he...anyways.  The Exemplar Vengers gained Reposition and some changes, which might be to all cavalry, to how their lances and swords work in combat.  Flame Bringers gained Parry and Reposition while keeping everything else.

The cloaks look fantastic!

Another staple PoM unit that got some rework: the Exemplar Errants.  Almost an auto-include in most lists and for good reason in Mk2.  Most of their changes though are in the Officer and Standard Bearer.  Now instead of being immune to enemy spells all game it's a once-per-game ability with the added bonus of expiring current upkeep spells and animi.  Also the unit gains Assault in place of Quick Work (which that rule never really happened for me since the bros were in melee anyways).  Now they should function as being less of a tarpit and more of a vanguard in my opinion.

The Errants from the Warmachine Tactics game

Flameguard Cleansers lost the Incinerate order but gained Ashen Veil for more DEF.  Their UA also changed up a bit.  It lost the Bushwhack order and the ability to create a flame wall but now gives the unit Assault.  It kept Scouring Flames, so I am a little excited to see if this unit can go out and cause some havoc now!  Holy Zealots changed a bit in their prayers as well.  Fervor lost the bonus to attack rolls, they gained a new prayer to gain Immunity: Fire, and warding stayed the same.  Their UA changed up as well (what a surprise!).  For one it gained Sacrificial Pawn to help stay alive a bit longer, it kept the rules for Holy Monolith, but Greater Destiny has changed up.  Now instead of being immune to almost everything except for a feat it will bring back the Zealots who died in the last turn.

Another Tactics render, looks pretty badass!

Idrian Skirmishers are now a partisan merc unit.  The base unit kept most of their rules except they lost Camouflage in favor of Brutal Charge with their melee attacks.  The UA kept Go to Ground, gained Reposition, lost Assault and Battery and CMA, and instead of Huntsmen they replaced it with Prey.  Knights Exemplar changed a bit with the loss of Bond of Brotherhood and gaining Battle Driven, which helps keep the book-keeping down a bit.  They gained a UA which definitely beefs up the unit and I'm excited for it!  With the UA the unit gains: Divine Retribution (an additional die on melee attack/damage rolls) once per game, Cleave (to kill more heretics!), and Overtake! Not a bad trade-off if I say so myself.

Temple Flameguard didn't seem to change much with the addition to Critical Fire to the Flame Spear.  Iron Zeal was nerfed slightly to provide 1 less ARM, they gained Practiced Maneuvers to help with the unit get into it better position but losing Ranked Attacks so they now block LoS.  Now for our character unit Visgoth Rhoven.  His guards gained the Shield Guard ability to better protect Visgoth.  Visgoth himself gained Battle Wizard and his spells were changed a bit.  He gained a pretty nice AoE fire spell, can give one model Eyeless Sight, and kept Cleanse but renamed it Purifying Prayer.  One thing I did note was that the names on the card added a 1 next to it, maybe signifying a second unit in the future?

I am a fan of the cooler colors yes

Overall, how do I think the units turned out?  Well for one a lot of their obnoxious denial tricks were toned down and in return we gained a lot of new tricks and hidden power.  I'm excited to see some new lists in this edition with some of the underused units, like the Flameguard Cleansers, now that their rules aren't so weird assembled.  I still say PoM have a good denial game going on but it's not impossible to deal with and it's not so powerful that units become auto-includes.  So as the general trend goes I am pleased with these changes.  That about sums up the units for PoM and next time we will look at the solos and end up our discussion with PoM.  Until then happy gaming folks!