DARK AGE: CORE THUMPER

Dark Age Games ha publicado a través de su facebook un adelanto del Core Thumper que saldrá en Diciembre. 

Well, the first master prototypes of the CORE's newest reinforcements are coming in from the designers ready for mass production and release in December. The CORE's premier artillery-bot, the Thumper is about to start blasting apart enemies all over Dark Age.

The CORE Thumper, the first miniature to join the robot ranks after those in the CORE Faction Starter, represents several important aspects of the robotic war engine that we unleashed in Dark Age: Devastation.

First and foremost, the Thumper is a robotic gun platform that can be fielded in singular units, or squads of up to three robots. This means that a CORE player can start fielding these metal beasts from the moment they first take one out of the blister.

To really understand the importance of the Thumper, we need to look at its Special Abilities and primary weapon array...

The Thumper's Special Abilities are key to its usefulness. Being a robot that bears the Gamma Program Special Ability, a Thumper helps to fill the ratio of Gamma to Non-Gamma units in a CORE army. It also means that a player must be very aware how close these long-ranged killers get to the enemy in order to utilize their weapon assets - otherwise they end up chasing people around trying to give them the boot! Not that an Assault 4, Power 5 Brutal kick that can knock a target Prone is anything to ignore...it just isn't what the Thumper is REALLY good at.

Being that the Thumper is also a Menial-classed robot, it has no worry about fear or panic and will likely get one last turn of actions with its added Fortitude. Additionally, having a potential point value cost of 85 to 255, a squad of Thumpers can serve as the 25% Menial prerequisite in armies up to 1020 points!

Using its powerful and techno-magnetic feet, the Strider Special Ability allows the Thumpers to gain access to advantageous firing positions. This is doubly important if there are higher altitudes for the Thumpers to reach; as being high in the air is a great way to avoid getting within Gamma Program range while still being in range of their greatest offensive asset...the Thumper Launcher.

The Thumper Launcher is an extremely long-ranged (16 inches!) weapon array that, once per round, can hurl one of four specialized ammunition types at a target. Each type of grenade round serves a very specific purpose, giving the Thumper squad a great deal of situational versatility and just the right tool for the job.

- The most powerful of the Thumpers' grenades, the Hi-Ex round, is a precision strike at only Blast (1). The small area of effect and high damage makes it truly effective against larger, often heavily armored, targets. Combined with its extremely high Knock Prone ability of 15 and a single Hi-Ex round can injure a tough opponent as well as knock it off its feet.
- The most frequently used grenade in the Thumper arsenal, the Fragmentation round uses the Blast (2) template to saturate a larger area with deadly shrapnel. This template is just the right size to make sure to hit two or three different man-sized targets and shred them to ribbons at the same time. Also having a half-half chance to throw them to the ground can hold up an entire squad from getting too close.
- A tactical advantage on the battlefield, the Thumpers’ Smoke grenade armament leaves huge Blast (3) pillars of concealing cloud cover for the close combat killers that often make up the CORE warhost so it may advance without fear. If placed properly, a squad of Thumpers can create a wall of smoke 18 inches across, making it easy for TB-13s, Pathfinders and other mechanical horrors run up unhindered.
- The most forgiving and possibly the most useful of the Thumpers’ grenades, the Concussion round uses the largest template currently in Dark Age… the massive Blast (4)! This titanic impact does no damage to the units it covers, but it does far more tactically-speaking. The weapon’s Stun ability slows down hard to injure targets by taking away AP, sometimes landing perfectly to hold up an entire squad. A well-placed opening Concussion grenade when combined with a pair of Fragmentation rounds to also knock targets off their feet can immediately be the winning gambit in any CORE advance.

In closing, the arrival of the Thumper for CORE armies around the globe will begin the evolution of the faction on the battlefield. So… if you are a CORE player get ready to start bombarding your foes and crippling them before your other robots start to slice, crush and grind them to pulp. If you are not a CORE player, come December get ready to start seeking cover and crossing that distance under the rain of shells these new robots are going to bring along with them.

Get ready… the Thumpers are marching off the assembly lines as we speak.