Welcome back folks. In my last post I began my discussion of the 35pt "Storm Surge" list that I made. I tackled three parts of the list, pStryker, the Lancer and the Stormguard unit. This post will continue the discussion, we will discuss the Arcane Tempest Gun Mage unit, the Defender and lastly the Storm Lance unit. Now, let's jump right into part two of the discussion.
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage
These guys are my go to unit, they have a unique set of skills that can't be found in any other unit we have. They bring to the table above average accuracy, above average range thanks to Sinpe, and a push shot called Thunder Bolt. The unit can also crack high ARM and high DEF targets via the use of their special order Arcane Inferno. With the unit attachment, they can counter stealth. The innate Magical Weapon property of their guns counter Incorporeal models. With these abilities they form the major bulk of the list's ranged offensive. They can be placed behind the line of Stormguards taking shots at the enemy line before engagement. Once the lines engage however, be sure to use the Stormguards to clear the enemies at the front. This will allow the Gun Mage unit to fire past the initial lines and hit target in the back, usually support solos or units. One can also deploy them to the side of the Stormguards, they can protect your flank against stealth models trying to sneak past your lines. This can be risky however as once the Gun Mage unit is engaged, there is little that can free them and they become nothing more than a speed bump. pStryker can also support these guys via the Snipe buff. The extra range will allow them to use the Thunder Shots from furthure away, as well as the Arcane Inferno order. The ability to push around models can be invaluable to clear up charge lanes or even pushing a jack or beast closer to a warcaster or warlock so that when you earthquake the large based model you clip the warcaster or warlock. This can result in unexpected assassination vectors that can catch your enemies off guard.
The other major reason you bring this unit with the unit attachment is the Jack Marshal ability of the unit attachment. The unit attachment brings a unique ability to the jacks that he marshals, Rune Shot allows the jack under the unit to use the same shot type that the unit has. One of the best jacks to marshal in my experience is non other than our go to jack, the Defender.
Defender
On its own the Defender is a superb jack. The long range and high power of its gun makes it a solid threat to most solos and even undefended warcasters and warlocks. The stat that balances this jack is its RAT, its on the average side. This means that you will need to boost your attack roll to even stand a chance to hit above average DEF models. Marshaled to the Gun Mage Unit Attachment further improves this jacks already above par ability and in this list become more than just a threat to a utility jack. Being marshaled give this jack a near permanent snipe buff, furthering the reach of this monster. Because of this, it can now effectively forfeit its movement to aim and still be able to reach even the furthest model in your enemy's lines. Aiming brings its RAT to above average, boosting your hit will only be needed against high DEF targets. When targeting a model slightly closer, the Critical Brutal shot is a good choice. This give a chance to get an additional dice on the damage roll, boosting to hit obviously increases this chance. Another shot that can be used once things are closer would be Thunder Shot, pushing a target back while dealing significant damage. Being jack marshaled means that this jack can only boost either its hit or its damage. You'll need to learn when to boost hit and when to boost damage.
One of the combinations that work well with the Defender and pStryker is casting Earthquake to knock an enemy warcaster or warlock down. This leaves the Defender with a very good chance of hitting the enemy warcaster or warlock without having to boost its hit, allowing the Defender to boost the damage roll instead. Doing this from more than half the table away is a sure way to be remembered.
Strom Lance
The Cygnar cavalry is designed to do one thing and one thing alone. Destroy the enemy infantry ranks in a single assault. The stat line of the Storm Lance is almost the same as other cavalry in the game, except for 3 stats. MAT is above average, POW of the lance is lower and Reach is permanent. The higher MAT means that there is a higher chance to hit on Impact Attacks, this MAT get bumped higher on the charge attack because of cavalry rules. The POW of the lance weapon may be lower, but the Brutal Charge ability of the Storm Lance brings it up to par with the other cavalry. The permanent reach also allows these guys to engage more of the enemy who will take a free strike should they choose to disengage. I mentioned that they are designed to destroy enemy infantry, the way they do this is via the Assault order along with Electro Leap in both the range and melee attacks. The ranged component of their lance however is brought down by their low RAT, again a well placed Earthquake can mitigate this.
There is one weakness that these guys have, the lack of innate ways to increase their ARM means that they can be easily killed by a counter charge. pStryker once again shines in keeping these guys alive after their initial charge, Arcane Shield or his feat can give these guys a chance to charge a second time.
Support Solos
We only have three more models left to discuss, the Squire, the Stormsmith Stormcaller and Rhupert Carvolo. I won't talk about the Squire since, well its the Squire. Its uses should be well known to any Cygnar player out there.
The Stormsmith Stormcaller is actually just a filler for the 1 point, but after playing with the list for a while now I believe it is a perfect model for the 1 point. The ability to cause Disruption on a jack by simply doing a Skill Check is pure awesome, like wise it can take out low ARM high DEF solo with relative ease. Skill checks are not rolled against your target's DEF, this means that high DEF mean nothing to this guy. Elevation? Don't care, ZAP! Cover? Don't care, ZAP! In melee? Don't care, ZAP! Iron Flesh? Don't care, ZAP! Now the reason I only say its good against low ARM is the POW of the Stormcall is on the low end. Still, something you should keep in mind as situations will arise when you need a specific high DEF model taken out of the equation.
Rhupert Carvolo, the Pipper of Ord. This is the second reason the list can "surge". The ability to give the guards or any unit for that matter Pathfinder for a turn goes a long way. The ability to give your Stormguards and or Storm Lance tough and Fearless during the pStryker's feat round is golden. The ability to give the Gun Mages an additional point of DEF and gain Terror, making the enemy do a command check. If they fail the Gun Mages get to move away and shoot, if the don't the extra DEF can give them the chance to dodge free strikes from lower MAT models to shoot is useful. pStryker makes the army a tough nut to crack, Carvolo just make it a tougher nut to crack.
Summary
Well, there you guys go. The Storm Surge at 35 pts. Its a list designed to take on majority of the things out there, it has several weaknesses to be sure. Anti Knock Down, units with Anatomical Precision or Sniper and warbeast swarms. When facing these kinds of list you just need to remember the tools that you have and work with it to try and come out on the top. These kinds of games in my experience are the once that you will remember, victory may not come all the time but when it does its the sweetest kind.
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