Today I plan to talk about a list that I enjoy using at 35pts. I've named it "Storm Surge", I got the name after I played it against several opponents and noticed that the list just moves forward regardless of the army type I'm facing. Much like a real life storm surge in where a wall of water just keeps moving forward regardless of what's in its path. Here's the list:
Note: Yes, I failed to finish the white primer model so this will have to do for now...
Commander Coleman Stryker (*6pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Defender (9pts)
Storm Lances (Leader and 2 Grunts) (7pts)
Stormguard (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)
Warcaster
I'll start by discussing the center of any list, the warcaster.Many would call pStryker a luck luster warcaster. His feat seems so passive, his offensive capacity seems mild and his spell list is said to be dull. In order to play this caster in this list you need to think of him less as a man in the front. You need to see him as a man in the back.
His lists of buffs are there for his army, the trick is knowing what buff to use at what time. It may be tempting to start casting all his buffs so you can just upkeep them later on, this is not a wise move as you'll starve him of focus later in the game. Other than his buffs there is one other spell you'll need to look at, Earthquake. Earthquake is pStyker's trademark spell, its a spell that like his buff you will need to learn when and where to place it. Most would consider the Earthquake spell just as a pop and drop spell, it can be used in such a way but experience has taught me that there is more to this spell. Earthquake when it hits non warcasters and non warjacks models, leaves the model no way to shake it off. This means that units need to sacrifice movment or action to stand, in the bigger picture this means that they can not run or charge. This becomes useful when slowing down parts of the enemy army, allowing you take them out in engage them in manageable chunks.
Lets get on with the man's feat then, he give +5 ARM to friendly faction models within his control range. Passive? Maybe, but use it right and it can be devastating to the enemy. A wall of blue that will charge next turn if they're not dealt with will force your opponent to strike first, now the catch is this wall now has +5 ARM outside of his buffs. When your turn comes, a good chunk of your army is still intact and within striking distance. If the enemy decides to not touch your army and back away, you can then play the objective. His feat is one of the main reasons this list can "surge".
Lancer
The next thing I'm going to talk about is the only warjack in pStryker's battle group, the Lancer. The most glaring thing about the lancer is its arc node, its also the main reason I placed it in the list. This jack allows pStryker to BE the man in the back, with the Squire in the list pStryker can hang back 14" from the Lancer and just toss out Earthquakes. The arc node however isn't the only feature of this jack, it can take quite a beating when supported. Set defense on a charge turns its DEF from so-so to awesome, the shield give its ARM equal most of our heavies. Speaking of the shield, it has two abilities that you'll need to keep in mind. The ability to deal cortex damage on a hit, and the ability to deal cortex damage when he is hit in melee. This really isn't anything against a warbeast, but against warjacks it can be game changer. I generally play the Lancer upfront, running it early to extend the range of pStryker's Earthquake. Depending on the situation, when it gets engaged I either let it be and act as a speed bump or load it up to kill a few things. When a warjack engages it, you can be sure it will get some focus to take a shot at the jack's cortex.
Stormguard
Let's move on to the main component of the blue wall, the Stormguards. I've read many people say that these guys dies too fast unsupported. Lucky for them pStryker is one of the best casters when it comes to support. These guys can be the target of either Arcane Shield to bump them to Shield Wall level of ARM, or Blur to get them to ATGM level DEF against shooting. I mentioned above that you need to know what buff to give who and when, this is where this skill become key. More ARM won't help you against Widow Makers, more DEF against shooting won't help you if your about to be charged. Keep mind as well that pStryker's feat will affect what buff to place. Another ability to keep always remember is they have Set Defense as well, not a game breaker but it adds another layer to help them survive. I would also like to bring up the ability that made me choose them over the Stormblades, Ranked Attack. This allows your army to shoot and cast though them.
These guys are not just your screen, they are your main melee wave. Their MAT is above average, CMA will allow them to hit high DEF targets or crack high ARM infantry. They have two abilities that help clear out infantry they face, Electro Leap and the post activation AOE shot. Electro Leap kicks in after each hit, its POW may not be spectacular but its a free damage roll so you may as well take it. It shines when your dealing with low ARM high DEF infantry since these things bypass the attack roll and go straight for damage. You should also track how many of them hit on their attack, after the activation of the unit the leader get to fire off a single AOE ranged attack that gets stronger with each model in the unit that hits. Again this not a high POW shot, but its free and you may as well take it.
That will be it for this post, on the next post I'll move to discussing the ranged elements of the list as well as the use of the Storm Lance. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll catch part two of this discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment