There’s something fishy going on in the world of Vanguard
this week, with the upcoming release of the Trident Realm. This amphibious
faction is a mix of different aquatic races – bounding frogs, to living waves
and heavily armoured crabs. They’re also one of the fastest factions in
Vanguard, thanks to their naturally quick movement and the opportunity to boost
their speed with the Rising Tides warband ability.

Across the course of this week, we’ll be highlighting the
Trident Realm with a quick overview today, before diving into some of the key
units and tactics to consider when playing with a Trident Realm warband.

RISING TIDES

Let’s kick things off with their warband special ability.
Eagle-eyed readers may notice this rule has changed compared to the version in
the standard rulebook. As mentioned in our previous Vanguard blogs, the regular
warband releases give us an opportunity to review each faction and see where
they need a buff or a slight tweak.

In the case of Rising Tides, the ability to give all Neriticans an extra couple of inches
for just two power seemed a little overpowered. Instead, you’ve now got to
spend 1 power for each model you want to give some extra speed to. On the plus
side, you can now use this ability on any model in the warband, so otters and
Water Elementals can benefit from that extra speed!

Rising Tides is still particularly powerful when used in
combination with the Riverguard’s Bound ability, which temporarily grants them
Fly. Now you’ve got a Flying model that can move 8” and leap over buildings in
a single bound – perfect for grabbing objectives and running from the enemy.

FACTION SPECIFIC SPELLS

Not only are the Trident Realm fast, but they also excel in
shifting the opposition around the tabletop, or simply locking them in one place.
This is perfectly represented by their two faction specific spells: Crushing
Pressure and Riptide.

We’ll deal with Crushing Pressure first. Not only does this
damage the target with 3D8 and Piercing (1) but they’re also pinned in place.
This is very useful for stopping potentially powerful enemy units in their
tracks before they engage or capture an objective.

Secondly, you also have access to Riptide. Once again, our
eagle-eyed readers may spot that Riptide has been tweaked. After further
testing since launch, it was felt the original spell (which targeted two models
and automatically knocked them down) was a little too good. However, it’s still very useful when it comes to shifting
the opposition off key objectives or for making them break away from your big
hitters.

FACTION LEADERS

When it comes to your faction leaders, you’ve got a few
choices to make. Top of the pile is, arguably, the Naiad Centurion. She brings
a lot to the table, including a blue Power Die and a pretty lethal harpoon-gun.
She’s no slouch in melee either and is even able to follow-up with extra
attacks, thanks to her Battle Rage ability. Then again, she’s not cheap,
clocking in at 45 points.

Alongside the Centurion, you’ve also got the choice of the
Riverguard Sentinel. After much reflection, we felt the Sentinel was getting
benched in favour of the Centurion. As a result, he’s had a little boost with
an extra D8 in Melee and the ability to use Combined Fire when involved in a
Group Shoot action with other Riverguard. Perhaps the biggest change though is
that the Riverguard Sentinel has dropped from 44 points to 37 points. Every little
helps.

There are also two brand-new command options for the Trident
Realm in the form of the Dambuster Sentinel and Mythican Aquamage, but we’ll
come to those in another blog…

THE TRIDENT REALM WARBAND WILL BE GOING UP FOR ORDER LATER THIS WEEK. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE MANTIC WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS.

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