Arena Rex- Gorgon Overview

Up next for Arena Rex I'll be continuing the Greek theme a bit by talking about the Gorgons! A cohort of 3 models only (the 3 Gorgons of myth) these are a trio of larger models that are all amazing sculpts, and they're pretty terrifying on the table too despite almost always being lower model count than your opponent.

The faction benefits are fairly standard and not really that game changing, just giving each Gorgon an additional tactic on top of the faction bonus. You can only get the Gorgon card by taking all 3 Gorgons and nothing else (but you would already expect that) and Poise is their passive ability that keeps them from exhausting when they change to their second card, instead keeping their current fatigue level. This is a huge way of keeping them going and staying efficient even by taking damage, and stops them going into Clear Turns as much as they would normally.
Petrify is Medusa's tactic and the most expensive of the lot at 2 Favour, but it gives a model engaged by Medusa a Fatigue which is a huge way of shutting down an enemy cohort where you need it and can be really useful
Slayer affects Stheno, and gives her wild for that clear turn. For a model that's almost entirely based around having as many attacks as possible this just plays into it and gives her the option for even more attacks.
Slither is for Euryale and lets her reposition, displacing other models when she does. It's good both offensively and defensively and in general is just useful to keep you in positions you want to be in.

Euryale is my personal favourite of the Gorgons with an amazing sculpt, and her rules are really interesting too. Both her forms have Swift, which stops enemies reacting to her first action each activation, and Constrict, so enemies in base contact take 1 damage when she activates (you can use Slither here to force it more as well which is a great way to chip out damage). She is immune to Taunt on her first card which helps a lot in clearing some of the more annoying enemies early if they are protected (bypassing Otho, Ur-Kek or Krios to take out the heavy hitters can go a long way) while her second card turns her into a really damaging attacker with Hot Blooded giving free Favour dice when she power attacks (and this is pretty valuable with attack 7 and the rerolls granted from power attack). Her first card is fairly standard stat-wise with nothing too fancy, but it is all around good for what she does. 0 armour on either card hurts, but Def3 or possible counterattacks with ATK6 or 7 means she isn’t necessarily fragile. She makes for an excellent combo with Medusa (as can be expected) as Medusa can keep her safe through Taunt while Euryale puts out the hurt. Her second card has a statline purely based around combat and as such has a great damage tree (albeit one without tricks, it’s almost entirely damage) on top of ATK and MOV 7 so she is throwing around some meaty stats in the offensive department.

Easily the most well-known of the mythic Gorgons, Medusa is somewhat of a lynchpin in a full Gorgon cohort. With a well-rounded statline and damage tree Medusa kind of does all roles fairly well, although her main use is in Taunt and Ichor. Taunt is there to keep the far more fragile other Gorgons safe while Medusa has her first card up, and Ichor can also potentially heal them if need be as Medusa takes damage (or to deal damage to attackers- really useful in addition to Constrict from Euryale to do a lot of passive damage). Ichor comes at the expense of generating Favour from her vitality track and she needs to take wounds for it, but it’s a tradeoff that is very much worth considering in almost every case because it can work spectacularly well when it all fires off. In her second stage she loses Taunt for Mirror, which is basically a guarantee that the opponent won’t be getting an advantage through Favour dice as you will add your own for free if they attempt it. All in all Medusa is a really great model, and even if she didn’t have to be taken in a Gorgon cohort the synergy she has with her sisters and the cohort benefits are more than enough to convince me to do it anyway.

The last of the 3 Gorgons, Stheno has a more Indian-type aesthetic than the rest which is unique and refreshing in terms of sculpts. She is even more than Euryale an attack piece and she shares a statline with Medusa with the exception of her 0 ARM which makes her pretty prone to damage should she get hit (yet another reason to keep them together, Medusa can cover her a bit with Taunt). Her tree is pretty good though with a mix of damage and pushes and 2 awesome bottom results (3 damage or a recover, both will help) and her special rules boost up her attacking as well. Dance of Death is a bit of a defensive ability, and it lets Stheno choose the direction of the first push of any attack or counterattack targeting her, but keep in mind being on a 50mm base there isn’t much that will be able to easily push her in the first place so it keeps her very safe from lethal hazards and can really mess up placement for pushing (something Stheno herself can make use of to put them into hazards). Her first stage always gets a single net success even if her attacks fail, which will be a push so she can control the board a bit better, although she can’t make counterattacks so you have to be careful when she is defending in stage 1. In her second stage she becomes a very different model to most, as she gains a free attack every turn but loses the free move that everyone else normally gets so if someone is already engaging her she can put out a lot of attacks but if there isn’t anyone engaging she will have to spend fatigue to walk in which is something to consider.