Cygnar Unit Talk: Stormblades

So, while I'm testing another list that I plan to talk about we'll discuss a specific unit that Cygnar has. We'll talk about the Stormblades today, what role I believe they fill, their shortcomings and some way I've found to overcome them.

Stormblades are what I consider our hardest hitting melee unit, being easily able to reach POW 15 on an above average MAT 7. These lightning infused knights can take down high ARM multi wound infantry on a charge. Light infantry that have less than DEF 15 have a decent chance of getting killed even on a non-charge attack. However, this is just half of the firepower that they can bring. Stormblades have a shot that can reach up to POW 14 without any additional models, they however have a low RAT of 5 and short RNG of 6. This means that you would rather fight in melee rather than at range, unless you have the Command Attachment.

The Command Attachment add two models to the unit, the first is a Standard Bearer who is basically another Stormblade with a flag. Unlike most of the Standard Barer in other unit this one can still fight. The Officer is the second model and adds so much more to the unit. He gives them "Iron Zeal", a once per game ability that grants the whole unit +3 ARM and immunity to knockdown and stationary effects for a turn. He also gives them "Assault", an ability that allows the Stormblades to shoot before they make their melee attack during a charge. "Assault" doubles the damage potential of the unit, dealing an average of 7 damage per model on a DEF 10 ARM 20 target.

The defensive capabilities of the Stormblades however leave much to be desired, they only have a DEF of 12. This ensures that they will get hit by almost anything, their base ARM is just 15 so even POW 10 have a decent chance of killing them. They are also on the slower side of things with a SPD of 5, meaning they will take time to get into melee which is where we want them. There are however ways help if not mitigate these shortcomings.

First is the to use ARM boosting spells, "Arcane Shield" is a Cygnar staple but there are others out there as well. This brings them to a decent ARM rating and combined with a well timed Iron Zeal if you have the Command Attachment bumps them to an insane amount of ARM for one turn. Coupled with "Heroic Call" from Carvolo should ensure that most of them can survive to get their damage in.

There is one way to help them with their low SPD, using the Storm Division theme mean that they get "Advanced Move". After deployment but before the start of the first player's first turn the Stormblade gets to make a full advance, may not seem much but the extra 5" help put them up to par with other faster models and allows them to close the gap faster.

There are a few more synergies that you can take advantage of to really take them to the next level. The Weapon Attachments allows them to have a bit more of a ranged element, since if the Storm Gunner hits the rest of the unit will auto-hit on their ranged attacks on the same target. I find that having the Storm Gunner, who have a longer RNG of 12 can forfeit their moment to help ensure a hit on higher DEF targets. The rest of the unit can then move forward to get in range works wonders.

Laddermore can help them hit even more, giving them +1 to hit provided they are within 9" of her. The last piece that would push their ranged component to the edge would be a Firefly, by having a target within 5" of the Firefly the target will take +2 damage against electrical type attacks. Yes, the Stromblade's ranged attack can hit for POW 16.

Well, that's my take on the Stormblades. Let me know your opinion about them, I don't mind having civil discussions about Warmachine related topics.

List Discussion: Maddox in Storm Division

I'm finally ready to talk about a list for this week! The last list I talked about was Maddox in my Stryker 1 list, in that post I talked about eventually using what I learned from that list to try and build Maddox a list fit for her. This is the list came out:

Raging Storm

Cygnar Army - 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Storm Division

[Maddox 1] Major Beth Maddox [+30]
 - Firefly [8]
 - Firefly [8]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Stormclad [18]
 - Squire [0(5)]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]
Stormblade Infantry [10]
 - Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard [0(5)]
 - Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3) [6]
Storm Strider [18]

https://conflictchamber.com/#c1201b_-0efN9c9c9G9G9Hakao7za5a6a9bz

Let start talking about this list then, we'll start with what the list answers. This list can answer infantry both high DEF or high ARM. High DEF infantry can be shot by the Storm Strider and Fireflies being able to boost your hit roll via focus and power tokens for the Strider. These models all have "Lightning Generator" meaning that for each hit on a model you can have D3 additional models suffer a POW 10. High ARM infantry can be dealt with by the Stormblades and the Strider which can use its power token to boost its damage roll instead of its hit roll. The lightning generator from these shot can't be boosted, however having a Firefly within 5" of the models hit by the lightning generator will will give your damage roll a +2. The list however excels at taking out jacks, especially on feat turn. The  Stormclad can take down almost any jack when fully loaded with focus under the upkeep "Assail", being able to land a total of 4 POW 19 (one being a charge) and a POW 14 melee attack. This is without acounting for the "Assault" shot which is also a POW 14, POW 16 if teh target is within 5" of a Firefly can break almost any jack on its own. The 2 Ironcalds can focus on a single target to achieve a similar effect when both are loaded with focus. On Maddox's feat however, this cranks up to just insane levels. POW 22 on the Stormclad's melee attack and POW 21 on the Ironclads, if you can manage to load these jacks with focus and very very little can stand up to the beating. It makes the POW 18 that the Stormblade can achieve almost not worth mentioning, almost.

Unlike in my past lists, this one asks your opponent not one big question but multiple smaller questions. How do you deal with a potential ranged assassination with a Strider with "Snipe"? How do you deal with the Stormblades that can move a total of 15" for the first turn? How do you deal with the beat stick jacks? How do you deal with Maddox's feat?

Overall the list plays very differently from not just Stryker but even from Maddox using Stryker's list. The list very aggressive in where Stryker 1 would surge his army forward because he knows that he can keep them alive. Maddox moves her army forward knowing full well that she will take casualties, but whoever will avenge their fallen comrades empowered by Maddox's feat. I like this list, it play so differently than what I normally play. I plan to keep playing this list until such time that I have the same level of competency on it as I do with my Stryker 1 (Storm Surge) list.

Hello again, I’ve been getting some games in with a few lists mainly using the Storm Division theme but not enough for me to give a competent analysis on. So we’ll have to talk about something else again, something big. Today I want to talk about Stormwall.

It was pointed out to me by someone that a good number of my lists use the Stormwall and he was wondering why I use him so often. Well I am hoping to be able to answer that question while giving new players an idea if picking up Stormwall worth it for them. I will breakdown what Stormwall can offer into 3, defense, offense and lastly miscellaneous.

Looking at Stromwall’s defensive stats he has a DEF 10, ARM 19 and 56 Boxes or life. The DEF 10 isn’t spectacular and is somewhat expected since he is a colossal, his ARM at first glance may also seem a bit on the lower side but this is because of what some call Cygnar’s “Arcane Shield” tax. Basically it’s the idea that Cygnar has enough sources of “Arcane Shield” that you would expect Stormwall to have that +3 ARM always. While I don’t fully agree with this since you may have other targets for Arcane Shield it is not entirely incorrect. You will more often than not if you see something that can give Stormwall “Arcane Shield” or some other form of ARM buff. This puts him up to par with the ARM rating of other colossals. Combined with his decent HP and you have a unit that will require your opponent to dedicate resources to take Stormwall out in a single turn. Based on my experience without a buff Stormwall can be taken out by around 1 to 2 heavies in melee, with an ARM buff and this goes up to around 2 to 3 heavies. What does this mean in a game? This means that you can have Stormwall toe a zone to contest and the enemy will have to send in heavy hitter to dislodge him, remember that colossals cannot be moved unless they are moving themselves. A zone that is contested be a Stormwall can only be reclaimed by killing the Stormwall. This ties in very well to the next part of my discussion, offensive capabilities.

Stormwall has 4 main weapons that are worth noting in terms of offense, his 2 fists and his 2 main guns. Looking at his MAT and RAT they both sit at an average 6, do note that he can still aim bumping his RAT to 8. The range of his main gun allows him the opportunity to aim a lot, being able to shoot 14” with a POW 15 gun with focus for boosting is credible threat. You may not be able to kill a heavy in a turn but solos and lights can easily be killed if not heavily damaged with both shots directed at them. When it comes to melee Stormwall can deliver enough damage to break a heavy in a single turn with his POW 20 fists. I know that by now you’re wondering how this ties in to what Stromwall offers in terms of defense, well listen up.

We’ve established that most of the time you opponent will attempt to break Stormwall in melee and that if its ARM is buffed he/she would need to send 2 to 3 to ensure he breaks in a single turn. While these heavies are moving in to try and break Stormwall they will be taking damage from the big guns. Placing a tarpit unit infront of Stormwall to delay the advance of these heavies would almost always be able to break at least 1 jack before they get into melee with Stormwall. You may noticed that I keep referencing breaking Stormwall in a single turn, the reason for that is that if your opponent can not afford to sends the jack piece meal. Each jack that goes in to damage Stormwall and fail to kill it will most likely get demolished by Stromwall’s POW 20 fists.

Last this I will be discussing would be the other things Stormwall can bring to the table. We’ll start with his chain guns, these have a short RNG of 10 and a low POW of 10. They can fire d3 shots each, these can be used to clear out low ARM infantry when the needs arises. These chain guns however have something of greater use, “Sustained Fire”. “Sustained Fire” is an ability that allows you to place a wall template for each gun, any models that enters template or ends it activation on the template will take a damage of 2d6 + POW 10. This can be a very effective zone control against most infantry, unit that rely on “Shield Wall” and “Wall of Steel” do not get their ARM buff since they have to enter template one at a time. Last item I will discuss is the Lightning Pod. Basically each turn, at any time after Stormwall’s movement phase he can place a pod completely within 10” of Stormwall. Any model that is intersected by a line from the center of Stormwall to the center of the pod takes a 2d6 + POW 10 electrical damage roll, warjacks that get damaged by this get disrupted. This is good for occasionally dealing with stealth as well as high DEF low ARM solos and even single wound grunts. There is a cool interaction with the pod and Stormsmith Stormcallers to keep in mind if you ever bring both in a list but for me the most useful quirk of the pod is that it’s counted as a friendly faction solo. Need to contest that zone/flag 10” away? Drop a pod. Need to score on a flag 10” away? Drop a pod. I’ve won games via objective because a pod contested a zone, I’ve also won a game because a pod scored on a flag.

That would be it for today, if you guys have questions or comments just post them down below. I’ll try to get more games in so we can go back to talking about lists instead of individual models/units. Thanks for reading.