Warmachine: Dusk House Kallyss Preview

Die Elfennation von Ios in den Eisernen Königreichen wurde von grausamen Ereignissen erschüttert, die nicht nur im Tod von Göttern der Elfen endete, sondern auch die Einwohner für immer verändert hat, aber mit dem Haus Kallyss marschieren die ersten in den Krieg.

Introducing The Empire of the Eternal Dusk

WARMACHINE debuted in 2003 with four iconic Factions. HORDES followed in 2006, adding four more Factions to the pantheon of Iron Kingdoms warfare, but then it wouldn’t be until 2009 as we announced the second edition of WARMACHINE that we would debut the next Faction for the game: the Retribution of Scyrah, which would bridge the first edition of WARMACHINE with its successor. But as our most recent storyline concludes, so does the Retribution, making way for the next evolution of the Iosan people…

As we embark on the fourth edition of WARMACHINE, all eyes are on the “new” group that will enter the game, regardless of which side of the battlefield you expect them to be on. Thus, the next Faction to become part of the WARMACHINE pantheon is the Empire of the Eternal Dusk, what we just call “Dusk” for short. And within that Faction, the first army to represent them is House Kallyss, a prominent group that has eschewed the insular and reclusive ways of their predecessors in an effort to stand by the neighboring Iron Kingdoms against the Orgoth. But the trust of the human nations is hard won after centuries of enmity and when one’s existence requires the continual sacrifice of others.

What the future holds for House Kallyss and the Empire of the Eternal Dusk remains to be written, but for now, we have a glimpse of what is to come.

Hazaroth, Narcissar of Ruin
Warcaster

Hazaroth is amongst those ancient eldritch who have long existed in the shadows of Iosan society. An immense creature of death and filled with selfish pride, Hazaroth ventured from the darkness not to seek redemption or the betterment of his people but instead to find power in the opportunities arising in the wake of the fall of the gods. He is mockingly called the Narcissar of Ruin by his compatriots, who see his nature as well as his enormous stature for what they are and who are willing to utilize the undying necromancer as another weapon in their grim arsenal.

• When a friendly undead non-Leader Faction warrior model within 10˝ of Hazaroth is disabled, he can spend 1 focus point to remove 1 damage point from the disabled model to keep it in play.
• Possesses the Escort and Shadowmancer spells.
• His Restorations of Shadow feat says, “Remove all damage from extra-large and smaller based models in Hazaroth’s battlegroup currently in his control area. Additionally, each warjack currently in Hazaroth’s control range gains 1 focus point.”

Ghast
Light Warjack

The Ghast is amongst the first myrmidons developed by House Kallyss utilizing the technologies of both House Vyre and House Shyeel. Drawing ambient energy from its surroundings, like all Iosan warjacks, the Ghast’s cortex was specifically designed to suit the undead minds and instincts of the eldritch warcasters. A masterwork of arcantrik arts, the machines draw even more power in the presence of their undying masters.

• When a Ghast begins its activation within 3˝ of one or more undead warrior models, it gains 1 focus point.
• Its head options can grant it the Arc Node, Fleet, Power Field, or Stealth special rules.

Eidolon
Heavy Warjack

While drawn from a fusion of Iosan technologies, the Eidolon is configured more like the House Vyre myrmidons of old. In addition to a wide range of arcantrik devices and powerful handheld or arm-mounted weaponry, these warjacks are also equipped with a range of experimental shoulder-mounted cannons. While the Eidolon draws significantly more power in the presence of the eldritch like the Ghast myrmidons, this extra power is channeled into maintaining its advanced weapon systems and is otherwise unavailable to aid the myrmidon in battle.

• Friendly models can upkeep spells on the Eidolon without spending focus points.
• Its head options can grant it the Flight, Force Barrier, or Future Sight special rules.

Hellyth, Scyir of Nightfall
Warcaster

Even through the unfathomable shroud of death, Hellyth yet recalls the distant echoes of her life as a promising scion of House Rhyslyrr. A trained gun mage and warcaster since birth, Hellyth once longed to join the Retribution of Scyrah and become a mage hunter devoted to the plight of her people. Yet the demands of house and duty drew her in an entirely different direction. And while the passing of the gods claimed many in their wake, Hellyth found some terrible strength within herself to go on. Her flesh now dead and immortal, and her house lost to the ravages of time, she sought a new purpose for her continued existence. Hearing the mission of House Kallyss to serve as a bridge between the living and the dead and to defend the remnants of their people who yet lived, Hellyth eagerly devoted herself to its ranks. With the gathering darkness engulfing western Immoren, it seems like an affiliation that will give cause to her iron will—and to her pistols—for the days and years to come.

• Armed with a pair of Magelock Pistols with a menu of attack types.
• Possesses True Sight and grants the special rule to her battlegroup.
• Her Blessings of the Void feat says, “While in Hellyth’s control range, enemy models suffer –2 DEF and ARM and friendly warrior models gain +2 DEF and ARM. Blessings of the Void lasts for one round.”

Tyrus, Nis-Arsyr of Spiders
Warcaster

A founding member of House Kallyss, Tyrus has long devoted himself to the arcane arts of war. Formerly reclusive in nature, he secretly served to further Lord Ghyrrshyld’s most diabolical experiments. Following the War of the Houses, Tyrus withdrew even more from Iosan society as he sought to unlock the mysteries of the Void. He found his voice only in death. Emerging from the shadows in the wake of the doom of Ios, Tyrus sought redemption and met with other likeminded eldritch who had heard a greater calling. He became one of the great war chiefs of House Kallyss, a fearsome arcanist beyond compare.

• Possesses the Arcane Vortex special rule.
• Can cast any of his spells after destroying a warrior model with his necromantic blade.
• His Invocation of Shadows feat says, “Immediately place Tyrus and friendly models currently in his control range anywhere completely within 2˝ of their current locations. Additionally, Tyrus and models/units activating in his control range gain Ghostly. Invocation of Shadow lasts for one turn.”

Soulless

All Iosans living in Ios were either struck dead or rose as eldritch following the destruction of the last remaining elven gods. All, that is, save the lone exception of the soulless. Both dispassionate and lacking true direction, the soulless were shepherded into the new eldritch houses, where they continue to serve the wills of their more rational brethren. While the soulless were pressed to join most of the new house armies that rose across Ios in the wake of the fall of the gods, they are most prevalent amongst the forces of House Kallyss, where they serve as devoted foot soldiers, often guided by the living Seekers who have chosen to join the new house. House Kallyss offers the soulless shelter, food, training, and a reason to exist.

Dreadguard Slayers
Heavy Infantry Unit

Made up exclusively of newly undead eldritch spawned in the aftermath of the fall of Ios, the dreadguards are the dark knights of the House Kallyss forces, and the dreadguard slayers are the elite heavy infantry of this force. Each Slayer is armed with a huge and deadly Executioner’s Axe, forged from sorcerous metals alloyed to never lose their edge. These nigh-unstoppable immortal killers replenish their vitality by drinking the life forces of those they fell in battle.

• Each trooper has 5 damage boxes.
• Possess the Undead and Tough advantages.
• When a Dreadguard Slayer destroys a living or undead model with a melee or ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved it can remove d3 damage points.
• Their magical axes have the Critical Decapitation special rule.

Dreadguard Archers
Heavy Infantry Unit

The dreadguard archers are deadly marksmen and arcanists skilled in weaving fell magics into their rune-bound arrows. Many of these unliving warriors were formerly trained as arcane archers by House Rhyslyrr. They now support the eldritch host as swift-moving mobile artillery, directing their deadly and explosive firepower wherever it is most needed on the battlefield.

• Each trooper has 5 damage boxes.
• Possess the Undead and Tough advantages.
• When a Dreadguard Archer destroys a living or undead model with a melee or ranged attack, immediately after the attack is resolved it can remove d3 damage points.
• Armed with a powerful magical bow with a menu of attack types.

Seeker Warden
Light Infantry Command Attachment

The seekers were among the first living Iosans to offer their support to the eldritch of House Kallyss in battle. Not all amongst the living approved of their openness, however, and such seekers were deemed collaborators and threatened for their beliefs. As a result, the seekers serving House Kallyss donned masks to conceal their identities. The wardens among them are arcanists skilled at guiding the soulless forces in battle. They lead the dispassionate soulless in battle, working their magic and substituting their instincts for those who lack them.

• Battle Wizards with a menu of spells.
• Possess the Granted: Inspiration special rule, which gives the models in their unit +1 to their attacks.

Dusk House Kallyss remains a work in progress, due to release in April 2023. We’re excited to share more of their army in the months ahead, but if you’re as eager to get your hands on them as we are to get them to you, you’ll be able to do that a whole lot sooner with the preview battlegroups available at Warfaire Weekend in just a few days as well as the online preorders at the same time.

WARMACHINE MKIV Lore Overview: Dusk House Kallyss

The fate of Ios was written long before the infernal war that laid waste the Iron Kingdoms—it was the land of elves, not men, that would forever be scarred by those apocalyptic events. Long languishing in the slow deaths of their remaining gods, each new generation was increasingly lost to soullessness and bitter conflict, and the inevitable doom of Ios seemed all but assured. Then came a tenuous alliance between the elven people and the Skorne in response to the dire threat posed by the infernals, and this alliance set some on another path.

Delving into the darkest arcane aspects of the immortal soul coupled with necromantic Skorne mortitheurgy using advanced Iosan arcantrik technologies, this alliance sought to create new weapons that could combat this unnatural threat. These efforts were spearheaded by the Skorne warlock Hexeris and Lord Ghyrrshyld, an Iosan possessing the foremost knowledge of the soul. Their experiments led to the domination of the void archons to deprive the infernals of their soul energy; this, in turn, led to new discoveries and even more dangerous theories. Ghyrrshyld personally mastered these new technologies, and they filled him with the energies of the void.

As the alliance began to fight back against the infernals, it was joined by the ancient eldritch who had served as an advisory council for Lord Ghyrrshyld during his exile from Ios. These undead horrors were potent combatants, distrusted by both the living Iosans and the Skorne they fought beside. More troubling, when an Iosan lord fell, Ghyrrshyld would call upon his powers to return their soul to their body, forcing them to rise again as an eldritch. Such a close connection to the energies of the void began to further corrupt Ghyrrshyld’s mind and turn it back toward old blasphemies.

Ultimately, at the hour of the alliance’s victory over the infernals, Lord Ghyrrshyld, his mind warped by its connection to those entropic energies, turned on the Skorne and led his forces in their ruthless extermination. Broken and battered, the Skorne fled back across the Stormlands and vowed vengeance against their betrayers even as the Dawnguard stormed the Abyssal Fortress, claiming it for Ios.

Despite the sheer pragmatism of his actions, Ghyrrshyld’s only sentence was death—he was now unfathomably powerful, dangerously dispassionate to the point of near soullessness, and mistrusted by the whole of the Consulate Court. Falcir, the assassin of House Ellowuyr, was tasked with Ghyrrshyld’s destruction. While a seemingly necessary action for the stability of Ios, Ghyrrshyld’s death would remake the nation in a most tragic turn of events.

With Ghyrrshyld dead, his most fanatical followers—led by Elara, known as the Death’s Shadow—conspired to execute his most desperate plan: the final destruction of the Iosan gods. It was the hope of Ghyrrshyld and those who followed him that the death of the gods would set the elven people free of their soulless malaise and let them claim forever their own fates. Elara was amongst the first of the new eldritch who rose in the wake of Ghyrrshyld’s experiments, and she fearlessly foresaw the promise of his theories.

Turning on the Fane of Scyrah, Elara led her forces to cut down the defending Fane Knights and strode directly into the presence of the gods. With Nyssor’s blade in hand, she struck down both Scyrah and the Lord of Winter.

The death of the two gods unleashed a psychic storm across the whole of Ios, creating a spiritual upheaval that warped the very fabric of Caen. For the Iosans, it was a cataclysm; for the vast majority of them, the separation from their gods was too much to bear, and they died en masse in the depths of their pain and sorrow.

Others, born with the capacity to persist despite any tribulation, were unwilling to give up or surrender. These were transformed into eldritch. The final passing of the elven gods and its immediate effects would become known as the Sundering, for it marked the loss of the gods, the separation between the living and the undead, and the divorce between those Iosans who dwelled within the forests of Ios and those beyond its borders. Those eldritch who survived the transformation also had to endure watching their friends and loved ones die the Sundering. They also witnessed their own flesh wither and desiccate. In the end, only the soulless were spared.

These new eldritch were left to fashion a society from the remnants of Ios that remained. They were joined by the ancient eldritch who had fought against both the Skorne and the infernals and those who were born to undeath fighting alongside Ghyrrshyld during the Claiming. The soulless provided both dark sustenance for their appetites and grist for their factories and standing armies. And so, from the ashes of the fallen civilization rose new houses of Eldritch Lords, who now reign over their Kingdom of Eternal Dusk.

Despite their “vampiric” existence, for the most part, the eldritch are not fundamentally evil. They are a tragic lot, shaped by the scars of remorse, regret, and ancient sorrow. And they are pragmatic survivors. House Kallyss has risen as one of the strongest of the new Iosan Court. The enlightened eldritch who lead the house have dedicated their existences to the defense of the Iron Kingdoms as they seek to redeem their doomed people, even while accepting their unliving fate. House Kallyss has taken in the most forward thinking of the ancient eldritch to their ranks while at the same time retaining contact with elements of the living Iosans beyond the nation’s borders. They are served, in turn, by both the soulless who have joined their banner and the living Seekers who support utterly their visions and dictates.

Determined to prove its worthiness, House Kallyss has positioned itself as a ready ally to any nation of western Immoren that would give them fair consideration. But the human nations are not so quick to accept a kingdom of undead, life-leaching elves whose predecessors sought human extermination; this has forced the eldritch house into undesired conflicts with their Immorese neighbors.

As Immoren is once again imperiled by an outside aggressor, House Kallyss will learn whether or not their eternal souls can survive the tarnished legacy of their origin.

Dusk House Kallyss Preview Battlegroups

If you’ve been saving your soul to give to the Eldritch masters of Dusk House Kallyss, you may not have to wait as long as you thought. While the newest army for WARMACHINE remains a work-in-progress, we have managed to produce a limited supply of preview battlegroups through our UK manufacturing partner! The first batch is currently being packed up by our away team at Warfaire Weekend this week and will be available for purchase at the show.

If you’re not attending Warfaire Weekend, you can preorder the battlegroup now. The remainder of this initial run will be arriving at Privateer, along with Sea Raiders and Storm Legion battlegroups, later in November, and we expect to be shipping the House Kallyss preview battlegroups in early December.

Because they are being produced externally, they are not impacting our own production bandwidth, nor will they have to be made-to-order, so we do not anticipate any delays in their delivery at this time. However, if you are ordering anything else with a House Kallyss preview battlegroup, please know that your order will not ship until early December when the preview battlegroups are ready to be sent out.

The Dusk House Kallyss preview battlegroup ($75) will include warcaster Hazaroth, Narcissar of Ruin; the Eidolon heavy warjack with three head options, six arm/weapon options, and two back weapon options; and the Ghast light warjack with four head options and eight arm/weapon options. A magnet pack will be provided in separate packaging with each order of a preview battlegroup.

The Dusk House Kallyss preview battlegroups will be available for preorder in the Privateer Press online store beginning 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, November 3rd, when our annual Black Friday sale launches. All orders over $100 will ship free to North America, Australia, EU, and UK.