And he has the best mustache in the Iron Kingdoms (no offense to Nemo or Kara Sloan).
To start with, let's just go ahead and say what everyone is thinking: The best thing about playing MacBain is yelling "MacBain" and quoting lines from the Simpsons.
Let's demonstrate:
"McBain to base. Under attack by Commie Nazis. They won't stop me from delivering these UNICEF pennies. Go pennies, help the puny children who need you."
"Ah! My eyes! The goggles, they do nothing!"
"Come with me if you want to live."
Despite the fluff text stating "he'll work for any of the warring nations of the Iron Kingdoms", MacBain will only work for Cryx, Cygnar, Khador, and the Protectorate. Sorry Retribution. I guess you guys don't count as a "nation". Or maybe you're not really at war. Either way, Drake can work for either the Four Star Syndicate or Highborn Covenant if you're playing pure mercs.
Let's take a look at his stats. SPD is good at 6, MAT is a 6 as well, where his RAT falls a little short at a 5. His DEF and ARM are both 15s. His ARM gets bumped up to a 17 while he's engaging an enemy model because of Unyielding. He has a FOCUS of 6, which might make it hard for him to power a larger number of 'jacks (despite his spell list supporting 'jacks, at first glance) while also casting some of his outstanding spells. Sylys Wyshnalyrr is going to be close to an auto-include, unless you're playing a tournament where Sylys is required for another caster.
There is nothing that stands out here. In addition to the bonuses from Unyielding, he can also gain +2 to melee attack and melee damage rolls with Gang Fighter. All he needs is to be attacking an enemy model that is within melee range of another friendly Faction warrior model. MacBain loves him some high quality infantry, and it shouldn't be hard to get the bonus and bring his MAT up to 8.
One thing you definitely don't want to forget with MacBain (especially given his average DEF/ARM stats) is Tough.
As for weapons, Drake carries a standard RNG 12, POW 12 Hand Cannon and Undertaker, a P+S 13 (15 if he can take advantage of Gang Fighter) sword that has Grievous Wounds. So while Drake has Tough, he's not going to let his kills take advantage of it. Also, against Horde's casters, they won't be able to transfer damage so if he's got the shot at the assassination, take it.
Spell List
As for his spell list, he's got some good ones:Countermeasure: COST 2, RNG 6, Upkeep. While within 5" of target friendly model/unit, enemy models cannot make ranged attacks.
This is fantastic stuff right here. Enemy Stormwall got you down? Throw this on either a really tough unit (like Kayazy Assassins or Boomhowler's boys) and jam the enemy. That Stormwall, for example, can still spit out his electric pods, but hopefully you'll be shutting down his other guns.
Energizer: COST *, Control Area. Spend up to three focus points to allow models in the battlegroup current in MacBain's control area to advance up to 1" for each focus point spent.
This provides some out-of-turn movement to his 'jacks and he benefits from the movement as well. It doesn't make MacBain immune to free strikes, however, so don't expect it to bail him out of trouble. It won't work on the Galleon since Colossals can't benefit from any out-of-turn movement.
Fail Safe: COST 3, RNG 6, Upkeep. Target friendly warjack gains +2 ARM and does not suffer the effects of crippled systems.
The Galleon can benefit from this, however (as can most other 'jacks). I would try to cast this on the Galleon early, making him that much tougher, and then bouncing it to another warjack only when necessary.
Fortune: COST 2, RNG 6, Upkeep. Target friendly Faction model/unit can reroll its missed attack rolls. Each attack roll can be rerolled only once as a result of Fortune.
Straight-forward re-roll. The effectiveness of this is going to depend on your opponent, but there are many times when an infantry unit could use that extra reroll. If you use this on the Galleon, it will allow you to reroll that critical Harpoon Gun attack that you absolutely need to hit.
Jackhammer: COST 1, RNG 6. Target model in this model's battlegroup immediately makes one normal melee attack.
There are a number of uses for this. You can cast it on a 'jack before it activates, allowing it to free itself from any melee opponent's engaging him. You can use it after a 'jack activates, giving it another attack (essentially increasing it's maximum amount of focus). If you're careful, you can use this in situations where you're not exactly sure what you need in terms of focus allocated to a 'jack and want to conserve it as much as possible.
Rift: COST 3, RNG 8, AOE 4, POW 13. The AOE is rough terrain and remains in play for one round.
Probably too expensive to cast often. Not terrible, but he doesn't have enough FOC to cast this often.
You have three good upkeeps on MacBain's spell list, which again points to the need for Sylys Wyshnalyrr (he upkeeps one for free). His Arcane Secrets ability would let MacBain gain an extra die on attack and damage rolls, but he could only take advantage of it with Rift (although if you're going to invest half your focus, you should probably make sure it hits).
Also important is his Spiritual Conduit ability which increases the RNG of his spells by 2". You can see many of his best spells are RNG 6" and increasing that to 8" is nice.
Feat
Ah, MacBain's feat: True Grit.True Grit: Choose a number of friendly non-warcaster Faction warrior models currently in MacBain's control area up to the number of focus points on him +5. When a chosen model is disabled, it heals 1 damage point and is knocked down. True Grit lasts for one round.
MacBain makes your warrior models super Tough. They'll get knocked down, but they'll auto-pass the Tough roll and still be around. Later on, I'll talk about some of the Solos that love this. Obviously you need to pop this feat early in MacBain's turn, before he spends any of his focus. You can have up to 11 of these unkillable infantry on the board and this can be frustrating for any opponent.
Use this to maintain control over an objective, block charge lanes, and keep your specialists alive during a critical game turn.
Synergies
I'm not going to go into a model-by-model analysis of everything the mercs have to offer. Instead, I'll pick out some of the good combinations you can utilize.Let's start with the Galleon. Everyone knows how good the Galleon is. I pointed out in the spell list which spells work great on the Big G (Failsafe, Fortune). Heck, you could even put Countermeasure on him because of that huge base. MacBain doesn't necessarily want to take a lot of 'jacks and it may be that the Galleon is the only one he needs.
I personally like Rocinante with MacBain, but I like Rocinante with all my merc casters that can take it. Guard Dog puts MacBain up to a more respectable DEF 17 against melee when he's close enough, and prevents free strikes (which means Energizer could take him out of melee). Rocinante doesn't necessarily need a lot of focus to keep him happy at range (RAT 8 while aiming) and Defensive Strike can also be put to good use.
Looking at Solos, there's one that I feel stands out: Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor. Orin has Stealth to keep him alive, but some times that's just not enough. You need something more to make sure that he can shut down enemy casters with Null Magic. That something else is MacBain's feat. Pop the feat, target Orin as one of the models, and then run Orin up the field, immune to your enemies. Get him in a good spot where he can use Null Magic to stop casters, druids, battle mages, etc.
Anastasia Di Bray is another great target for the feat. Available when you play Highborn, Anastasia has Espionage. It's sometimes hard to get her within 5" of a target enemy warcaster or warlock to use this ability, but when it happens, friendly models/units in her 8" CMD range can immediately make a full advance and a normal attack.
You could also use this on the new Epic Alexia, allowing her to risk getting closer in order to collect enemy souls, which she'll then turn around and use in her next turn to either toss out Thrall Warriors, cast Hellfire, or buy/boost attacks.
Colossals got you down? Gorman Di Wulfe can benefit from the feat, keeping him alive for another turn and allowing him to toss out yet another Black Oil.
Other than his feat, MacBain doesn't do a lot for Units, but he still loves them. Boomhowlers under the feat no longer need to use the Call of Defiance Fell Howl, so instead they can Rage Howler to gain warjacks and warbeasts within 9" of Boomie -2 to attack rolls. Kayazy Assassins or Kayazy Eliminators are great targets for Countermeasure because of their high DEF values.
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw are always worth considering since they're pretty self-contained. MacBain doesn't need to help them and they can hold a flank by themselves. Of course, if you have the extra points, you could also take the Bull Snapper and use Wrong Eye to give the Galleon Spiny Growth, which can be combined with Fail Safe. ARM 23 is crazy on something with that many hit boxes and the ability to ignore disabled systems.
Overall, MacBain is a great toolbox with many options. He can really run any infantry well and you have to get a feel for when to use his feat to screw with your opponent's plans. He's honestly a little wimpy so be careful with him. Play him too close to the front and you're going to get him killed. Play him too far back and you won't be able to catch your critical models in his feat radius.
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