Okie, this took longer than I expected... Mostly due to real life work events, but I finally got another chance to test out the Stryker 1 Storm Division list again. This time I fought against a Circle player using Una 2 in the Call of the Wild theme. It was Griffon spam list.
I did manage to see what Snipe juggling would bring to the list. This list hits harder at range. The dual threat from Stormwall's POW 15 and a potential POW 17 both bostable makes for a serious threat. One that when combined with Stryker 1's Earthquake can ensure an assassination victory against someone who is unprepared. That didn't happen against Una 2 due to her Windwall spell however, but I did manage to kill a Warpwolf in a single turn.
I lost mainly due to me allowing a Griffon close enough to Stryker to live. My opponent pop feat got a Griffon next to Stryker and used that one Griffon that was close to assassinate.
So far I can see who I would most likely tweak the list, maybe drop one of the gunners and use the points to add in Arlan. Should be able to add some utility in the form of magic guns on Stormwall, free focus and repair.
Things are moving slowly due to real life but I will keep updating when I can. Thanks for reading and again if you have questions, ask away...
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
Cygnar List Experiments: Stryker 1 in Storm Division - Part 2
So, I managed to get one game in against Trollbloods last Saturday. The opponent was using Borka 2 in the theme "Power of Dhunia" using mostly light warbeasts. I lost that game but I did get a feel for the list.
The list actually feels very similar to my "Storm Surge" list. It does the exact same thing more or less, it just moves forward regardless of the opponent. The Sword Knight's speed in the Surge list is replaced by the advanced moving Storm Blades. The blades may not have the high DEF in melee that the Sword Knight do, but the stacking of all the ARM buff they can have in a turn make them just as annoying to deal with.
There are also noticeable differences, this list looses it's fast flanking ranged attacks. Instead the list relies on the electrical bounces to try and take out support solos/units.
I actually failed to test my initial plan with the list of juggling "Snipe" between the Stormwall and the Storm Strider. It was entirely my fault as I moved my lancer too far forward, without it I can't juggle the buff.
That's it, I know this is a very short post and that is expected since I only got one game in and its too early to tell if the list is viable. I'll try to get another game or two in this week to give you more insight into the list.
As usual, if you guys have questions or comments just let me know. Thanks for reading, until next week.
The list actually feels very similar to my "Storm Surge" list. It does the exact same thing more or less, it just moves forward regardless of the opponent. The Sword Knight's speed in the Surge list is replaced by the advanced moving Storm Blades. The blades may not have the high DEF in melee that the Sword Knight do, but the stacking of all the ARM buff they can have in a turn make them just as annoying to deal with.
There are also noticeable differences, this list looses it's fast flanking ranged attacks. Instead the list relies on the electrical bounces to try and take out support solos/units.
I actually failed to test my initial plan with the list of juggling "Snipe" between the Stormwall and the Storm Strider. It was entirely my fault as I moved my lancer too far forward, without it I can't juggle the buff.
That's it, I know this is a very short post and that is expected since I only got one game in and its too early to tell if the list is viable. I'll try to get another game or two in this week to give you more insight into the list.
As usual, if you guys have questions or comments just let me know. Thanks for reading, until next week.
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Cygnar List Experiments: Stryker 1 in Storm Division - Part 1
Hi guys, today I want to try something new. You may notice
that I only post list breakdowns on lists that I have played enough to be
confident in discussing its strengths and weaknesses. The reason for that is
that in my experience, what should work in theory does not always translate properly
into practice. The game has a lot of variables that are outside of the control
of the players. Who your opponent is, the layout of the table, the objectives
and mostly the dice rolls. These are all variables that can change how a list
performs. These are the reasons I choose to play multiple games with a list in
as many of different combinations of these variables as I can before rendering
my assessment of a list. That is until today.
Today I will share with you a list that I have not played in
a single game. I will share with you my “theories” on what the list is supposed
to answer and ask. I will then play the list in as many games in as many
combinations of variables as I can, with me writing about each set of games I
played. This will continue until I feel that I have a firm grasp of what the
list is truly like. I will then write my concluding thoughts on the list. So,
let’s dive right in then.
https://conflictchamber.com/#c1201b_-0e7C9c9yc0akao7za5a6a9bz
Cygnar Army - 73 / 75 points
[Theme] Storm Division
[Stryker 1] Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]
- Firefly [8]
- Lancer [10]
- Stormwall [39]
- 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]
This list was born out of the results of my games using my Maddox in Storm Division list which I have named "Raging Storm". That list gave me a good grasp of the synergy and the offensive capabilities of the Storm Division theme. Mainly the flexibility of being able to attack from range or at melee. I wanted to capture that flexibility but shift the focus of the list from offense to defense. Stryker 1 raises the defensive capabilities of the list by a huge margin. I replaced most of the jacks with Stormwall since in my "Storm Surge" list Stormwall plays a major part in the list's objective game and under the support of Stryker 1 is very difficult to take out. I placed the Lancer instead of a second Firefly because unlike Maddox, Stryker 1 has a spell worth arcing and with 2 very good tragets for "Snipe" I plan on juggling it between the Stormwall and the Storm Strider. The loss of the Swordknights's speed is something I see that can be compensated for by the theme benefit for the Stormblades. Overall I'm thinking the list will be able to answer most of what the things my previous lists can answer. It will still have a weakness to stealth and incorporeal, it won't have the breaking power of Maddox list. Combined with Stryker 1's deffensive buffs I am hoping that the list will have a good attrition game.
That will be it for this list for now. I will be playing this list when I can, so I hope to update you on the results and my first field impressions of the list when I can. What are your opinions of this untested list? Let me know, I do welcome discussions about Cygnar related stuff.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
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.
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.
Sunday, June 17, 2018
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]
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.
Monday, June 4, 2018
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.
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.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Hey guys, I again don’t have a list that I feel comfortable talking about. I am currently playing and testing my new Maddox list but I don’t feel that I have had enough games with it to for an informed analysis. Fear not however as I do have something that I feel comfortable to talk about that is Cygnar related!
The Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and their unit attachment, including what jacks to bring with them! I figured that I would share my thoughts on these guys to help new Cygnars understand what roles the unit fills. Let’s get started.
The Arcane Tempest Gun Mages(ATGM) cost 11 points, the Officer cost 4 points. Their noteworthy stats are their high RAT 7 and high DEF 14, they have average SPD 6 and a respectable threat range. They however leave a lot to be desired for their ARM and amount of damage they can dish out on their own. The UA gives them a bit more mobility with “Swift Hunter” and a mini-feat giving them “True Sight”, the biggest thing about the Officer however is his ability to “Jack Marshal” and his “Drive: Rune Shot” which I will talk about more later. They have the ability “Attack Type” which allows them to choose one of the following three effects when making a ranged attack : “Snipe: RNG +4”, “Critical Brutal: On a crit add 1D6 to the damage role” and “Thunderbolt: Push hit target D3 inches directly away from the shooter”. Their guns are also “Magical”
The unit typically fills the role of anti-light infantry, their high RAT combined with a RNG of 14” (Base 10” + 4” from Snipe Attack Type”) means that they can often aim to bump up to RAT 9. Meaning that they have a decent chance of hitting anything with a DEF lower than 16. They can also deal with “Incorporeal” infantry since their guns are “Magical”. The mini-feat also allows them to counter “Stealth” infantry and solos. The POW 10 of their guns means that anything that will require you to roll 7 and above to kill is going to be dicey.
Now we get to the fun part, the “Jack Marshal” ability and its interaction with “Drive: Rune Shot”. Having a jack under the control of a “Jack Marshal” instead of a warcaster is typically ill advised, after all these marshaled jacks don’t get the benefit of focus. They do however get a few interesting benefits, they can run or charge without using focus, they can gain +2 to hit on top of aiming and they get +2 to their range attack damage if they aim. Marshaled jacks can choose one of the benefits each turn, this is also on top of the “Drive” ability of their marshal if any.
“Drive: Rune Shot” is where things get really interesting, this makes the jack that is marshaled by the ATGM Officer have their ranged weapons become “Magical” and they can use any of the three “Attack Types” that the Officer has, Snipe, Thunderbolt and Critical Brutal. The means that you would want to marshal ranged jacks on them, here are some of my recommendations.
Defender or Hunter, allows you to deal a single high damage shot from a good distance away using the “Snipe Attack Type”. The damage can then be upped as needed via the “Jack Marshal” benefit of +2 to ranged attack damage if you aim. You can also use the “Thunderbolt Attack Type” to push a model toeing an objective zone for a surprise scoring. Which of them to use will depend on how many points you have, Defenders have more survivability but the Hunter is more accurate. I also recommend brining Arlan Strangeways if you have points to spare or a free solo slot as being able to boost on top of the “Jack Marshal” benefits is just golden.
Avenger, biggest issue I have with the Avenger is that its slow, has a short RNG and has low RAT. When controlled by the ATGM Officer “Jack Marshal” it solves 2 of the 3 problems. “Snipe Attack Type” gives is a good RNG allowing it to aim, the “Jack Marshall” benefit also bumps up this RAT. An interesting trick is that the +2 to ranged attack damage if you aim also applies to blast damage. So if you can pair him up with a caster that has “Fire for Effect” or Cain 0 when he comes out will see you shred infantry even with high ARM.
Cyclone, this by far is my favorite. Using the “Snipe Attack Type” you can reach far, giving more opportunity to aim and allowing you to take the +2 to ranged attack damage “Jack Marshal” benefit. Unlike the Hunter or Defender however, Cyclones can get 2 to 6 shots out that all get the +2. This setup is also very self sufficient in that you won’t need Arlan or Cain 0 to maximize it.
That’s it for the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and their Officer and the jacks that they marshal. As usual if you guys have comments or questions just let me know down in the comments section and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities. Thanks for reading…
The Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and their unit attachment, including what jacks to bring with them! I figured that I would share my thoughts on these guys to help new Cygnars understand what roles the unit fills. Let’s get started.
The Arcane Tempest Gun Mages(ATGM) cost 11 points, the Officer cost 4 points. Their noteworthy stats are their high RAT 7 and high DEF 14, they have average SPD 6 and a respectable threat range. They however leave a lot to be desired for their ARM and amount of damage they can dish out on their own. The UA gives them a bit more mobility with “Swift Hunter” and a mini-feat giving them “True Sight”, the biggest thing about the Officer however is his ability to “Jack Marshal” and his “Drive: Rune Shot” which I will talk about more later. They have the ability “Attack Type” which allows them to choose one of the following three effects when making a ranged attack : “Snipe: RNG +4”, “Critical Brutal: On a crit add 1D6 to the damage role” and “Thunderbolt: Push hit target D3 inches directly away from the shooter”. Their guns are also “Magical”
The unit typically fills the role of anti-light infantry, their high RAT combined with a RNG of 14” (Base 10” + 4” from Snipe Attack Type”) means that they can often aim to bump up to RAT 9. Meaning that they have a decent chance of hitting anything with a DEF lower than 16. They can also deal with “Incorporeal” infantry since their guns are “Magical”. The mini-feat also allows them to counter “Stealth” infantry and solos. The POW 10 of their guns means that anything that will require you to roll 7 and above to kill is going to be dicey.
Now we get to the fun part, the “Jack Marshal” ability and its interaction with “Drive: Rune Shot”. Having a jack under the control of a “Jack Marshal” instead of a warcaster is typically ill advised, after all these marshaled jacks don’t get the benefit of focus. They do however get a few interesting benefits, they can run or charge without using focus, they can gain +2 to hit on top of aiming and they get +2 to their range attack damage if they aim. Marshaled jacks can choose one of the benefits each turn, this is also on top of the “Drive” ability of their marshal if any.
“Drive: Rune Shot” is where things get really interesting, this makes the jack that is marshaled by the ATGM Officer have their ranged weapons become “Magical” and they can use any of the three “Attack Types” that the Officer has, Snipe, Thunderbolt and Critical Brutal. The means that you would want to marshal ranged jacks on them, here are some of my recommendations.
Defender or Hunter, allows you to deal a single high damage shot from a good distance away using the “Snipe Attack Type”. The damage can then be upped as needed via the “Jack Marshal” benefit of +2 to ranged attack damage if you aim. You can also use the “Thunderbolt Attack Type” to push a model toeing an objective zone for a surprise scoring. Which of them to use will depend on how many points you have, Defenders have more survivability but the Hunter is more accurate. I also recommend brining Arlan Strangeways if you have points to spare or a free solo slot as being able to boost on top of the “Jack Marshal” benefits is just golden.
Avenger, biggest issue I have with the Avenger is that its slow, has a short RNG and has low RAT. When controlled by the ATGM Officer “Jack Marshal” it solves 2 of the 3 problems. “Snipe Attack Type” gives is a good RNG allowing it to aim, the “Jack Marshall” benefit also bumps up this RAT. An interesting trick is that the +2 to ranged attack damage if you aim also applies to blast damage. So if you can pair him up with a caster that has “Fire for Effect” or Cain 0 when he comes out will see you shred infantry even with high ARM.
Cyclone, this by far is my favorite. Using the “Snipe Attack Type” you can reach far, giving more opportunity to aim and allowing you to take the +2 to ranged attack damage “Jack Marshal” benefit. Unlike the Hunter or Defender however, Cyclones can get 2 to 6 shots out that all get the +2. This setup is also very self sufficient in that you won’t need Arlan or Cain 0 to maximize it.
That’s it for the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and their Officer and the jacks that they marshal. As usual if you guys have comments or questions just let me know down in the comments section and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities. Thanks for reading…
Monday, May 21, 2018
One of the most commonly said things by veterans about Warmachine is that you can use the same list with a different caster and it will function differently. Well, this week I have a list that proves this point.
War Room Army
Cygnar - Surging Anger
Theme: No Theme Selected
74 / 75 Army
Major Beth Maddox - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Lightning Pod
- Lancer - PC: 10
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 4
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 13
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
---
GENERATED : 05/15/2018 11:06:32
BUILD ID : 2066.18-05-11
Basically the list above is my Storm Surge list except I used Maddox instead of Stryker1 and swap out Carvolo for Runewood. The difference of what the list answers and asks however is huge. We’ll start with that the list answers, this list answers medium to high ARM. Maddox’s feat makes Sword Knights with “Flank” on a charge crazy good with a MAT 8 POW 13 4D6. Stormblade become POW 18, Even the Lancer can get some serious damage making his spear hit for POW 16. Infantry spams cans still be answered by the Tempest Blazers, Stormwall, the Stormblades and maybe by the Sword Knights. The Sword Knights are still your main tar pit units with Maddox’s upkeep of “Dauntless Resolve” that combines “Arcane Shield” and “Tough”. The lists still suffers from few magic attack sources and still has no direct answer for stealth, it also has a harder time with high DEF models more so than my Stryker1 list. This list’s attrition game is also weaker due to not having access to the +5 ARM from Stryker1’s feat and loss of Arcane Shield. Dauntless Resolve can only be applied to warrior models/units, leaving your Jacks vulnerable compared to Stryker1.
Reading the above you may start to wonder are the trade offs worth what you gain? Well, you see that’s exactly what the list asks your opponent. This list asks a simple but important question of your opponent, “Can you survive my alpha strike?”. This list can devastate your opponent’s army leaving him/her with little to mount a counter if you manage to get the alpha in on the bulk of your opponent’s army. The challenge is knowing when to go ham and when to wait since a common counter to alpha strike lists would be to bait the alpha strike out while holding enough back to counter attack.
Overall I’ve played this list just 5 times, I only won once and mainly because of my opponent using up his death clock. I’ve yet to master the timing of my “alpha strike”, as mostly I wait too long and loss too much of my army already. It’s a tricky list to play and although I already have a different list in mind for Maddox I intend to still play this list some more just so I can practice the correct timing of an “alpha strike”. I can see using this list on jack/beast heavy lists, provided I can master its timing.
War Room Army
Cygnar - Surging Anger
Theme: No Theme Selected
74 / 75 Army
Major Beth Maddox - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Lightning Pod
- Lancer - PC: 10
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 4
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 13
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
---
GENERATED : 05/15/2018 11:06:32
BUILD ID : 2066.18-05-11
Basically the list above is my Storm Surge list except I used Maddox instead of Stryker1 and swap out Carvolo for Runewood. The difference of what the list answers and asks however is huge. We’ll start with that the list answers, this list answers medium to high ARM. Maddox’s feat makes Sword Knights with “Flank” on a charge crazy good with a MAT 8 POW 13 4D6. Stormblade become POW 18, Even the Lancer can get some serious damage making his spear hit for POW 16. Infantry spams cans still be answered by the Tempest Blazers, Stormwall, the Stormblades and maybe by the Sword Knights. The Sword Knights are still your main tar pit units with Maddox’s upkeep of “Dauntless Resolve” that combines “Arcane Shield” and “Tough”. The lists still suffers from few magic attack sources and still has no direct answer for stealth, it also has a harder time with high DEF models more so than my Stryker1 list. This list’s attrition game is also weaker due to not having access to the +5 ARM from Stryker1’s feat and loss of Arcane Shield. Dauntless Resolve can only be applied to warrior models/units, leaving your Jacks vulnerable compared to Stryker1.
Reading the above you may start to wonder are the trade offs worth what you gain? Well, you see that’s exactly what the list asks your opponent. This list asks a simple but important question of your opponent, “Can you survive my alpha strike?”. This list can devastate your opponent’s army leaving him/her with little to mount a counter if you manage to get the alpha in on the bulk of your opponent’s army. The challenge is knowing when to go ham and when to wait since a common counter to alpha strike lists would be to bait the alpha strike out while holding enough back to counter attack.
Overall I’ve played this list just 5 times, I only won once and mainly because of my opponent using up his death clock. I’ve yet to master the timing of my “alpha strike”, as mostly I wait too long and loss too much of my army already. It’s a tricky list to play and although I already have a different list in mind for Maddox I intend to still play this list some more just so I can practice the correct timing of an “alpha strike”. I can see using this list on jack/beast heavy lists, provided I can master its timing.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Last week I wasn’t able to make a post discussing a list that I have, in fact I failed to make a post at all. There were two reasons for that, first is that my real life simply got in the way and second is that I did not have a list I was confident enough to talk about. This brought about an important concept when it comes to building a list for yourself which I missed or failed to understand when I first started playing Warmachine. The concept of “grinding games”, so I won’t be discussing a list again this week but I will next week. This week I would like to talk about the concept of “grinding games” with a list.
When I first started out playing Warmachine I had a Mk2 battlebox that had Stryker1, a Lancer, an Ironclad and a Charger. I then escalated rather quickly to buying a minimum unit of Long Gunners second hand. Then I bought a unit of ATGMs with the UA, then Defenders, then Hunters and so on and so forth. Escalation to increase your types of models is never bad provided that you have the proper finances to do so. However this is the point where I felt that the concept of “grinding games” would have aided me.
Having a decent array of models at my disposal to build different lists with and multiple casters to play around with as well, I found myself jumping from one list to another. One caster to another only playing one or two games with each list before moving on a new list. I found myself doing this because I was becoming frustrated with my lists not performing the way I wanted to. Being frustrated with a list for not performing well is not uncommon, however my approach to dealing with the frustration in hindsight was not optimal. The optimal way I think for one to address the frustration of lists not performing as expected is to keep playing a single list, even if it is not performing the way you expect. When you play games with the same list over and over even when you lose over and over you still learn things. This is what “grinding games” is all about, playing games not just to win but to learn why you lose.
How many games one should grind before one makes changes typically depends on the player, but what I personally do is play around 5 games with a list before I make changes to the list. The 5 games gives me enough experience with the models in the list as well as the caster to make informed decisions of what needs to be changed in the list, what are the inherent weakness to the lists and what are its strengths. I then make changes and play another 5 games without changing the list and repeat the process. I do this until I am satisfied with how the list performs.
Grinding games may not be for everyone. I just wanted to share my personal experience when I was starting out in the hopes that it can help other new players who may be having the same frustrations as I once did.
When I first started out playing Warmachine I had a Mk2 battlebox that had Stryker1, a Lancer, an Ironclad and a Charger. I then escalated rather quickly to buying a minimum unit of Long Gunners second hand. Then I bought a unit of ATGMs with the UA, then Defenders, then Hunters and so on and so forth. Escalation to increase your types of models is never bad provided that you have the proper finances to do so. However this is the point where I felt that the concept of “grinding games” would have aided me.
Having a decent array of models at my disposal to build different lists with and multiple casters to play around with as well, I found myself jumping from one list to another. One caster to another only playing one or two games with each list before moving on a new list. I found myself doing this because I was becoming frustrated with my lists not performing the way I wanted to. Being frustrated with a list for not performing well is not uncommon, however my approach to dealing with the frustration in hindsight was not optimal. The optimal way I think for one to address the frustration of lists not performing as expected is to keep playing a single list, even if it is not performing the way you expect. When you play games with the same list over and over even when you lose over and over you still learn things. This is what “grinding games” is all about, playing games not just to win but to learn why you lose.
How many games one should grind before one makes changes typically depends on the player, but what I personally do is play around 5 games with a list before I make changes to the list. The 5 games gives me enough experience with the models in the list as well as the caster to make informed decisions of what needs to be changed in the list, what are the inherent weakness to the lists and what are its strengths. I then make changes and play another 5 games without changing the list and repeat the process. I do this until I am satisfied with how the list performs.
Grinding games may not be for everyone. I just wanted to share my personal experience when I was starting out in the hopes that it can help other new players who may be having the same frustrations as I once did.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Last Wednesday, May 2. I discussed my match against Dehnegra3 in the 8 man tournament that I won last April 28. Now it’s time to breakdown my finals match. This match was between my Stryker1 “Storm Surge” list and another “Black Industries” list with Gaspy3 as the warcaster. If you want to see what my exact list is there is a post in this page that talks about it in detail, including my philosophies to building that list.
As before I want to talk about why I decided to use the “Storm Surge” list over the other list. Since this is the final I already knew who my opponent was and what list his brought, note I said list meaning he only has 1. Knowing the list composition and the theme “Black Industries” made using the “Storm Surge” list a given. My opponent was running basically a Slayer spam list. “Black Industries” theme would give these heavy jacks “Carapace” meaning +4 ARM against shooting and free strikes. So much like in my first match using a list that is pure ranged attacks would have been stupid for my part.
I again won the roll off (lucky) and opted to go first. I Deploy pretty much the exact same way as I did in round 1. Tempest Blazers were Deployed to the right, Stormwall center Stryker behind it and on the left the Swordknights with the Stormblades behind them.
My opponent deployed his caster in the middle and had his slayers spread apart in a line. There would be no easy scoring in this game. Any points I wanted to score I had to fight over it tooth and nail.
Turn 1, standard fare. I buff my Tempest Blazers with “Snipe”, the Sword Knights with “Arcane Shield” and everything ran forward.
My opponent ran one of his arcnode bone chickens forward to be able to cast “Hex Blast” on the Blazers, two of which almost dies and survived with just 1 life each, they also lost Snipe. He then casted his buffs which raised the ARM of the Slayers to 19, dropped his feat and everything ran forward. He was careful enough to make sure that none of my melee units could get a charge into his jack, this included Stormwall.
Turn 2, I realize my first mistake as the Lancer was out of Stryker’s control and could not power up. This heavily influenced my plan for turn 2 which I will discuss in detail later. With a wall of jacks that I cannot damage this turn and the Lancer unable to run due to not having focus I did the one thing that gave my list its name sake. I surged forward. Stryker moved forward, dropped his feat and re-cast “Snipe” on the Blazers and “Blur” on himself. The Sword Knights still had “Arcane Shield” on them, they got “Heroic Call” from Rhupert and ran forward practically base to base with the Slayers in front of them. The Blazers now with “Snipe” again shot at the bone chicken that arced the Hex Blast and took out its arcnode. They then reposition back to the farther end of the right zone. Stormwall ran forward and engaged another bone chicken and one to two Slayers.
My opponent then loads up his slayers with focus and begins to take Stormwall apart. With the 6 Slayers charging Stormwall and using “Combo Strike” he was eventually reduced to a scrap heap. A few more Slayers kill the first line of Sword Knights and he then moves his caster back and runs a Slayer and a few other units to screen him.
Turn 3, it was an all or nothing move for me now. I had an assassination vector and had to take it as I already knew that I would eventually lose an attrition game without Stormwall. The destruction of Stormwall left an open space on the table in front of Stryker. An open line of sight to the Slayer that was screening Gaspy. The position was close enough that the 5” AoE of Earthquake would clip Gaspy as well the other screening units. This would mean that the Tempest Blazer can shoot the knocked down caster with “Brutal Shot” and the hit were all but guaranteed. There was two issues with this vector, one was that Gaspy was ARM 17. Even with “Brutal Shot” I would need high damage rolls to kill him off with 5 shots, second issue was that Gaspy was sitting on 4 focus. I needed more shots to kill Gaspy. Lucky for me there is some truth to the old notion that Cygnar never lacks for ranged attacks. My Stormblades could reach Gaspy with their range attacks with Snipe. That was the plan and the execution went better than expected. The game and the tournament ended with me pulling off an assassination run.
This was another lucky game for me, lucky in a sense that an assassination vector became available. Without Stormwall it would have been an uphill battle for me to win the attrition game against that many Slayers. However I think that my win was also due to my opponent being unfamiliar with my list and my particular playstyle with that list.
I did make one major mistake in the game, the Lancer being out of control in turn 2 was a very big deal. If I had not made that mistake I could have ended the match sooner and with a higher chance of success. Since my opponent's caster was in reach of an earthquake if my Lancer could have ran. His caster has I belive just 1 focus on him and was in range of Stormwall's guns. The Blazers were also in range.
Overall however as one of the more veteran players pointed out, winning in this game is a mix of proper determination, games grinding and luck. I’m just glad I got the mix just right this time.
Again, if you guys have question or reaction feel free to let me know
As before I want to talk about why I decided to use the “Storm Surge” list over the other list. Since this is the final I already knew who my opponent was and what list his brought, note I said list meaning he only has 1. Knowing the list composition and the theme “Black Industries” made using the “Storm Surge” list a given. My opponent was running basically a Slayer spam list. “Black Industries” theme would give these heavy jacks “Carapace” meaning +4 ARM against shooting and free strikes. So much like in my first match using a list that is pure ranged attacks would have been stupid for my part.
I again won the roll off (lucky) and opted to go first. I Deploy pretty much the exact same way as I did in round 1. Tempest Blazers were Deployed to the right, Stormwall center Stryker behind it and on the left the Swordknights with the Stormblades behind them.
My opponent deployed his caster in the middle and had his slayers spread apart in a line. There would be no easy scoring in this game. Any points I wanted to score I had to fight over it tooth and nail.
Turn 1, standard fare. I buff my Tempest Blazers with “Snipe”, the Sword Knights with “Arcane Shield” and everything ran forward.
My opponent ran one of his arcnode bone chickens forward to be able to cast “Hex Blast” on the Blazers, two of which almost dies and survived with just 1 life each, they also lost Snipe. He then casted his buffs which raised the ARM of the Slayers to 19, dropped his feat and everything ran forward. He was careful enough to make sure that none of my melee units could get a charge into his jack, this included Stormwall.
Turn 2, I realize my first mistake as the Lancer was out of Stryker’s control and could not power up. This heavily influenced my plan for turn 2 which I will discuss in detail later. With a wall of jacks that I cannot damage this turn and the Lancer unable to run due to not having focus I did the one thing that gave my list its name sake. I surged forward. Stryker moved forward, dropped his feat and re-cast “Snipe” on the Blazers and “Blur” on himself. The Sword Knights still had “Arcane Shield” on them, they got “Heroic Call” from Rhupert and ran forward practically base to base with the Slayers in front of them. The Blazers now with “Snipe” again shot at the bone chicken that arced the Hex Blast and took out its arcnode. They then reposition back to the farther end of the right zone. Stormwall ran forward and engaged another bone chicken and one to two Slayers.
My opponent then loads up his slayers with focus and begins to take Stormwall apart. With the 6 Slayers charging Stormwall and using “Combo Strike” he was eventually reduced to a scrap heap. A few more Slayers kill the first line of Sword Knights and he then moves his caster back and runs a Slayer and a few other units to screen him.
Turn 3, it was an all or nothing move for me now. I had an assassination vector and had to take it as I already knew that I would eventually lose an attrition game without Stormwall. The destruction of Stormwall left an open space on the table in front of Stryker. An open line of sight to the Slayer that was screening Gaspy. The position was close enough that the 5” AoE of Earthquake would clip Gaspy as well the other screening units. This would mean that the Tempest Blazer can shoot the knocked down caster with “Brutal Shot” and the hit were all but guaranteed. There was two issues with this vector, one was that Gaspy was ARM 17. Even with “Brutal Shot” I would need high damage rolls to kill him off with 5 shots, second issue was that Gaspy was sitting on 4 focus. I needed more shots to kill Gaspy. Lucky for me there is some truth to the old notion that Cygnar never lacks for ranged attacks. My Stormblades could reach Gaspy with their range attacks with Snipe. That was the plan and the execution went better than expected. The game and the tournament ended with me pulling off an assassination run.
This was another lucky game for me, lucky in a sense that an assassination vector became available. Without Stormwall it would have been an uphill battle for me to win the attrition game against that many Slayers. However I think that my win was also due to my opponent being unfamiliar with my list and my particular playstyle with that list.
I did make one major mistake in the game, the Lancer being out of control in turn 2 was a very big deal. If I had not made that mistake I could have ended the match sooner and with a higher chance of success. Since my opponent's caster was in reach of an earthquake if my Lancer could have ran. His caster has I belive just 1 focus on him and was in range of Stormwall's guns. The Blazers were also in range.
Overall however as one of the more veteran players pointed out, winning in this game is a mix of proper determination, games grinding and luck. I’m just glad I got the mix just right this time.
Again, if you guys have question or reaction feel free to let me know
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
In my post last Monday April 30 I broke down my game against Bloody Barnabas which was round 1 of the 8 man tournament I won last Saturday April 28. This time I will break down round 2 which was a match between my Hayley1 “Temporal Tempest” list and Dengerha3 “Black Industries” theme list. If you want to see exactly what my list looks like I have a post discussing my rational behind the list.
My idea for using Hayley1 in this list was that I was expecting my opponent to use a Ghost Fleet theme and that I needed to bring as many magical attacks as I can to stand a chance. So I was surprised (again) when he brought out a different list. His list was basically a spam of Shrikes with 2 Scavengers that were marshaled by Iron Lich Overseers, 2 Stalkers and Nightmare.
I won the roll off and decided to go first, I deployed in a similar fashion as my first game. Tempest Blazers to the far right for zone contest and scoring. The Lancer beside the Tempest Blazers so it could follow them in case I need to arc Deadeye on the Blazers. Stromwall was in the middle, the rest of my army was to the far left, that was the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (ATGM) the Cyclone that was being marshaled and the Gun Mage Captain Adept (GMCA). Hayley sat between the Stormwall and the Gun Mages.
My opponent then deployed his entire force to match my Gun Mage forces. During the advance Deploy phase I deployed Eyriss1 to the left as well where she can take advantage of the trenches that were part of the table terrain. The 2 Stalkers were then also deployed to the left.
Turn 1 was standard fair, I gave Stormwall Arcane Shield and ran him forward. The rest of my army also ran forward. The Blazers making a bee line for the zone on my right with the Lancer following as best it can. Hayley after casting Arcane Shield moved forwards. The Cyclone ran forward as well, the Gun Mages all ran forward but not the full distance. I wanted to make sure the Stalkers could not reach them with their bounding leap. Eyriss1 however ran forward, far enough for a stalker to reach her but close enough for the Gun Mages to walk to her position. Eyriss was bait (a very expensive bait as other may say).
My opponent’s turn saw him buff his army as well as take the Eyriss bait. He sent a Stalker to deal with Eyriss and to my surprise sent the second Stalker towards the Gun Mages. The rest of his army ran straight towards my Gun Mages.
Turn 2 for me was the turn to try and break as many of the jacks as I could. I gave 2 focus on Stormwall and activated Hayley first. She moved to ensure that as many of the Gun Mages would be affected by her feat while catching as many of the enemy jacks in her Temporal Barrier and to not give points away via killbox. Needless to say she dropped her feat and casted Temporal Barrier.
Next to move was the GMCA, he was not affected by Hayley’s feat however so he forfeited movement to aim. He shot the Stalker that killed Eyriss using "Flare" and "Brutal Shot". Hitting the jack hard and ensureing the other ATMGs can secure hits as well. The ATGMs then activated, 3 walked towards the damaged Stalker. 2 walked towards the fresh Stalker and 3 forfeited movement to aim. Each Gun Mage had 2 shots thanks to the feat and the Gun Mages that went within melee of the Stalkers would gain boosted damage dice thanks to the theme benefit of "Pistoler". Once all their shots had been spent the 2 Stalkers were dead and a Shrike was heavily damaged.
The Cyclone did not perform as well as expected since it only rolled 1 shot per gun, I also forgot to make a 3rd shot from the feat. It managed to destroy the wounded Shriek.
Stormwall Fired 3 main gun shots thanks to feat as well as a few chain gun shots destroying 2 more Shrieks. He then placed a pod on the zone to the left simply to create an annoyance as the opponent will have to break it to score on that zone at the end of his turn.
The Lancer ran again to sit on the center zone, the Blazers position as far right as possible while still staying within the zone to score.
My opponent’s turn saw him focus his attention to taking out as many of the Gun Mages as possible, wiping out the entire unit along with the GMCA. He also sent 1 Shriek to run and engage Hayley. Having focused on the left side of the table he left the center zone and the right zones uncontested.
End of my opponent’s turn gave me 2 points and gave him none.
Turn 3 for me was just a matter of buying time, Stormwall killed the Shriek that was sent to engage Hayley. Hayley ran for the right side of the board Cyclone moved to the left zone to contest. The rest of my forces on the right side of the board stayed where they were.
End of my turn gave me another 2 points brining me to a total of 4 and my opponent scored none.
My opponent now focused on clearing the left zone to score and sent models to contest the center zone.
End of my opponent’s turn I scored 1 point bringing me to 5 and my opponent scored 1 point.
Turn 4 was just a matter of Stormwall launching a pod to contest the left zone to prevent him from scoring since the lancer was still contesting the center zone and right zone was uncontested.
I ended my turn and scored 1 point, my opponent scored none bring the final score to 6 to 1. Being 5 over my opponent I won by objective.
This game for me was smoother than my first game. I could not see any point in where I made major mistakes that could have costed me the game. I will admit now that I did play into “meta” knowledge in this match. I knew my opponent and knew that he favored assassination over objective wins. This was why when I saw him deploy his entire army to the left I knew that if I kept Hayley on that side while keeping her safe would allow me play the objective game provided she lived. It was not a zero risk plan mind you, the sheer number of Shrieks and the Stalkers meant that I needed to get rid of the Shrieks closest to Hayley as well the Stalkers to ensure that I did not lose via assassination. Had I failed to kill both Stalkers or enough Shrieks the game would have ended differently.
On Friday I will breakdown my final match in the tournament which was between Stryker1 and Gaspy3. Again if you have comments or question please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below.
My idea for using Hayley1 in this list was that I was expecting my opponent to use a Ghost Fleet theme and that I needed to bring as many magical attacks as I can to stand a chance. So I was surprised (again) when he brought out a different list. His list was basically a spam of Shrikes with 2 Scavengers that were marshaled by Iron Lich Overseers, 2 Stalkers and Nightmare.
I won the roll off and decided to go first, I deployed in a similar fashion as my first game. Tempest Blazers to the far right for zone contest and scoring. The Lancer beside the Tempest Blazers so it could follow them in case I need to arc Deadeye on the Blazers. Stromwall was in the middle, the rest of my army was to the far left, that was the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (ATGM) the Cyclone that was being marshaled and the Gun Mage Captain Adept (GMCA). Hayley sat between the Stormwall and the Gun Mages.
My opponent then deployed his entire force to match my Gun Mage forces. During the advance Deploy phase I deployed Eyriss1 to the left as well where she can take advantage of the trenches that were part of the table terrain. The 2 Stalkers were then also deployed to the left.
Turn 1 was standard fair, I gave Stormwall Arcane Shield and ran him forward. The rest of my army also ran forward. The Blazers making a bee line for the zone on my right with the Lancer following as best it can. Hayley after casting Arcane Shield moved forwards. The Cyclone ran forward as well, the Gun Mages all ran forward but not the full distance. I wanted to make sure the Stalkers could not reach them with their bounding leap. Eyriss1 however ran forward, far enough for a stalker to reach her but close enough for the Gun Mages to walk to her position. Eyriss was bait (a very expensive bait as other may say).
My opponent’s turn saw him buff his army as well as take the Eyriss bait. He sent a Stalker to deal with Eyriss and to my surprise sent the second Stalker towards the Gun Mages. The rest of his army ran straight towards my Gun Mages.
Turn 2 for me was the turn to try and break as many of the jacks as I could. I gave 2 focus on Stormwall and activated Hayley first. She moved to ensure that as many of the Gun Mages would be affected by her feat while catching as many of the enemy jacks in her Temporal Barrier and to not give points away via killbox. Needless to say she dropped her feat and casted Temporal Barrier.
Next to move was the GMCA, he was not affected by Hayley’s feat however so he forfeited movement to aim. He shot the Stalker that killed Eyriss using "Flare" and "Brutal Shot". Hitting the jack hard and ensureing the other ATMGs can secure hits as well. The ATGMs then activated, 3 walked towards the damaged Stalker. 2 walked towards the fresh Stalker and 3 forfeited movement to aim. Each Gun Mage had 2 shots thanks to the feat and the Gun Mages that went within melee of the Stalkers would gain boosted damage dice thanks to the theme benefit of "Pistoler". Once all their shots had been spent the 2 Stalkers were dead and a Shrike was heavily damaged.
The Cyclone did not perform as well as expected since it only rolled 1 shot per gun, I also forgot to make a 3rd shot from the feat. It managed to destroy the wounded Shriek.
Stormwall Fired 3 main gun shots thanks to feat as well as a few chain gun shots destroying 2 more Shrieks. He then placed a pod on the zone to the left simply to create an annoyance as the opponent will have to break it to score on that zone at the end of his turn.
The Lancer ran again to sit on the center zone, the Blazers position as far right as possible while still staying within the zone to score.
My opponent’s turn saw him focus his attention to taking out as many of the Gun Mages as possible, wiping out the entire unit along with the GMCA. He also sent 1 Shriek to run and engage Hayley. Having focused on the left side of the table he left the center zone and the right zones uncontested.
End of my opponent’s turn gave me 2 points and gave him none.
Turn 3 for me was just a matter of buying time, Stormwall killed the Shriek that was sent to engage Hayley. Hayley ran for the right side of the board Cyclone moved to the left zone to contest. The rest of my forces on the right side of the board stayed where they were.
End of my turn gave me another 2 points brining me to a total of 4 and my opponent scored none.
My opponent now focused on clearing the left zone to score and sent models to contest the center zone.
End of my opponent’s turn I scored 1 point bringing me to 5 and my opponent scored 1 point.
Turn 4 was just a matter of Stormwall launching a pod to contest the left zone to prevent him from scoring since the lancer was still contesting the center zone and right zone was uncontested.
I ended my turn and scored 1 point, my opponent scored none bring the final score to 6 to 1. Being 5 over my opponent I won by objective.
This game for me was smoother than my first game. I could not see any point in where I made major mistakes that could have costed me the game. I will admit now that I did play into “meta” knowledge in this match. I knew my opponent and knew that he favored assassination over objective wins. This was why when I saw him deploy his entire army to the left I knew that if I kept Hayley on that side while keeping her safe would allow me play the objective game provided she lived. It was not a zero risk plan mind you, the sheer number of Shrieks and the Stalkers meant that I needed to get rid of the Shrieks closest to Hayley as well the Stalkers to ensure that I did not lose via assassination. Had I failed to kill both Stalkers or enough Shrieks the game would have ended differently.
On Friday I will breakdown my final match in the tournament which was between Stryker1 and Gaspy3. Again if you have comments or question please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below.
Monday, April 30, 2018
I was suppose to talk about another list today, but unexpected things happened over the weekend. Specifically I won the 8 player 75 pts. tournament over at Gear n' Games. So, I've decided to talk about my experience in the tournament and why I think I won with a lot of luck.
If your interested in what 2 lists I brought to the tournament you should be able to find my list discussion posts in this page. I brought my Stryker1 "Storm Surge" and my Hayley1 "Temporal Tempest" lists. Scenario for the whole tournament was "Breakdown"
I will try to breakdown each of the rounds I played, and what my general plan was.
Round 1: Stryker1 vs Bloody Barnabas
I opted to use Stryker1 in this match up mainly because of Barnabas' ability to make models in his army technically immune to ranged attacks via a spell. So bringing a list that relies solely on guns would obviously be a bad idea. I managed to win the roll off and decided to go first.
I was however surprised when the opponent used the theme force "Will Work for Food" as I was expecting "The Blindwater Congregation" theme. This however didn't affect my overall plan, I would use my Tempest Blazers to contest or score points on zone to my right. Stormwall was deployed near the center to contest or score from the center zone. The Lancer, Sword Knights and Stormblades were deployed to my left side also to contest or score from the zone to my left.
My opponent deployed his Dracodile and Wrastlers matching Stormwall's position. His Ironback and Swamp Horror were deployed to deal with teh Sword Knights and the Storm Blades. His two Croak Hunters were also deployed to face the Sword Knights.
Turn 1 was pretty much what you would expect, buffed up my army with Arcane Shield on the Sword Knights and Snipe on the Blazers then I ran everything forward.
My opponent did the same, buff and run.
Turn 2 saw me move the Stormwall just outside the charge range of the Dracodile, it the fired 1 shot at the Swamp Horror and one shot at one of the Wrastlers. Once done it placed a pod in front of the Dracodile. The Blazers then moved and shot at the Wrastler shot by Stormwall using Brutal Shot, they then repositioned back. My intention was for them to start scoring by the end of my opponent’s turn but I made a mistake and one failed to make it to the zone. 4 of the Sword Knights then ran forward to engage the Croak Hunters, the rest stopped about 3 inches behind the 4. The Stormblades ran behind the Sword Knights but a bit to the right, bringing them closer to Stormwall they also used Iron Zeal to protect them from Barnabas’ feat which will knockdown anything that is not amphibious. Stryker just moved forward slightly to avoid giving points to my opponent via killbox.
My opponent then moved the Dracodile and sprayed at my Stormblades killing 1 grunt and the UA, it then cast “Flood Waters”. The Swamp Horror, Ironback and Croak Hunters attack the Sword Knight reducing their number to just 6. The Wrastlers then position beside the Dracodile, one of them begins attacking the Lancer.
Turn 3, Stormwall charges the Dracodile and deals significant damage. The Stormblades then attempted to charge the Dracodile as well, but I forgot about “Flood Waters” and none of the made the charge. Stryker then moved forward, dropped his feat, casted Arcane Shield on Stormwall and cast earthquake on the Wrastler that was damaged which is now being engaged by Stormwall. The Tempest blazers then shot at the knocked down Wrastler using “Brutal Shot”, with lucky rolls on the damage they managed to finish off the Wrastler. They then re positioned into the zone. The remaining Sword Knights deal with the Croak Hunters.
End of my the turn and I score 1 point, my opponent scores none.
My opponent moves the Dracodile to attack the Stormblade and begins to heal via “Snacking”. Luckly for me he rolled low on the D3 for heals. Only 4 Stormblades remain by this time. The Swamp Horror and Ironback reduce the Sword Knight to just 2 models. The remaining Wrastler finishes off the Lancer.
My opponent ends his turn and I score another point bringing me up to a total of 2 points. He scored no points.
Turn 4, Stromwall and the remaining Stormblades finish off the Dracodile, leaving no enemy models left to contest and with Stormwall controlling the zone. The Blazers stay where they are, the Sword Knights attack what they can but deal insignificant damage.
End of my turn I score 2 points, giving me a total of 4 points.
My opponent then concedes. Giving me the win by objective.
Overall I was lucky in terms of the matchup, the low model count of my opponent meant that he had a difficulty contesting the zone where the Blazers were. I was also lucky with the Tempest Blazers’ damage roll allowing me to take out one of the Wrastlers. I managed to time my feat turn perfectly as well, getting the alpha strike on the Dracodile and then being able to protect it from the counter attack with feat and Arcane Shield ensured that the Stromwall could take out the Dracodile so I could score from the center objective.
I made two major mistakes in this round, first was my bad positioning for the Blazers. They could have started scoring at the end of my opponent’s turn 2. Second was the forgetting about “Flood Waters”, Carvolo could have easily giving them Pathfinder for the charge and perhaps taking out the Dracodile on my turn 3.
On Wednesday I will discuss my second round which was a match between my Hayley1 and Dengerha 3. Please do let me know what you think of my assessment and if you have questions just ask away at the comments section below.
If your interested in what 2 lists I brought to the tournament you should be able to find my list discussion posts in this page. I brought my Stryker1 "Storm Surge" and my Hayley1 "Temporal Tempest" lists. Scenario for the whole tournament was "Breakdown"
I will try to breakdown each of the rounds I played, and what my general plan was.
Round 1: Stryker1 vs Bloody Barnabas
I opted to use Stryker1 in this match up mainly because of Barnabas' ability to make models in his army technically immune to ranged attacks via a spell. So bringing a list that relies solely on guns would obviously be a bad idea. I managed to win the roll off and decided to go first.
I was however surprised when the opponent used the theme force "Will Work for Food" as I was expecting "The Blindwater Congregation" theme. This however didn't affect my overall plan, I would use my Tempest Blazers to contest or score points on zone to my right. Stormwall was deployed near the center to contest or score from the center zone. The Lancer, Sword Knights and Stormblades were deployed to my left side also to contest or score from the zone to my left.
My opponent deployed his Dracodile and Wrastlers matching Stormwall's position. His Ironback and Swamp Horror were deployed to deal with teh Sword Knights and the Storm Blades. His two Croak Hunters were also deployed to face the Sword Knights.
Turn 1 was pretty much what you would expect, buffed up my army with Arcane Shield on the Sword Knights and Snipe on the Blazers then I ran everything forward.
My opponent did the same, buff and run.
Turn 2 saw me move the Stormwall just outside the charge range of the Dracodile, it the fired 1 shot at the Swamp Horror and one shot at one of the Wrastlers. Once done it placed a pod in front of the Dracodile. The Blazers then moved and shot at the Wrastler shot by Stormwall using Brutal Shot, they then repositioned back. My intention was for them to start scoring by the end of my opponent’s turn but I made a mistake and one failed to make it to the zone. 4 of the Sword Knights then ran forward to engage the Croak Hunters, the rest stopped about 3 inches behind the 4. The Stormblades ran behind the Sword Knights but a bit to the right, bringing them closer to Stormwall they also used Iron Zeal to protect them from Barnabas’ feat which will knockdown anything that is not amphibious. Stryker just moved forward slightly to avoid giving points to my opponent via killbox.
My opponent then moved the Dracodile and sprayed at my Stormblades killing 1 grunt and the UA, it then cast “Flood Waters”. The Swamp Horror, Ironback and Croak Hunters attack the Sword Knight reducing their number to just 6. The Wrastlers then position beside the Dracodile, one of them begins attacking the Lancer.
Turn 3, Stormwall charges the Dracodile and deals significant damage. The Stormblades then attempted to charge the Dracodile as well, but I forgot about “Flood Waters” and none of the made the charge. Stryker then moved forward, dropped his feat, casted Arcane Shield on Stormwall and cast earthquake on the Wrastler that was damaged which is now being engaged by Stormwall. The Tempest blazers then shot at the knocked down Wrastler using “Brutal Shot”, with lucky rolls on the damage they managed to finish off the Wrastler. They then re positioned into the zone. The remaining Sword Knights deal with the Croak Hunters.
End of my the turn and I score 1 point, my opponent scores none.
My opponent moves the Dracodile to attack the Stormblade and begins to heal via “Snacking”. Luckly for me he rolled low on the D3 for heals. Only 4 Stormblades remain by this time. The Swamp Horror and Ironback reduce the Sword Knight to just 2 models. The remaining Wrastler finishes off the Lancer.
My opponent ends his turn and I score another point bringing me up to a total of 2 points. He scored no points.
Turn 4, Stromwall and the remaining Stormblades finish off the Dracodile, leaving no enemy models left to contest and with Stormwall controlling the zone. The Blazers stay where they are, the Sword Knights attack what they can but deal insignificant damage.
End of my turn I score 2 points, giving me a total of 4 points.
My opponent then concedes. Giving me the win by objective.
Overall I was lucky in terms of the matchup, the low model count of my opponent meant that he had a difficulty contesting the zone where the Blazers were. I was also lucky with the Tempest Blazers’ damage roll allowing me to take out one of the Wrastlers. I managed to time my feat turn perfectly as well, getting the alpha strike on the Dracodile and then being able to protect it from the counter attack with feat and Arcane Shield ensured that the Stromwall could take out the Dracodile so I could score from the center objective.
I made two major mistakes in this round, first was my bad positioning for the Blazers. They could have started scoring at the end of my opponent’s turn 2. Second was the forgetting about “Flood Waters”, Carvolo could have easily giving them Pathfinder for the charge and perhaps taking out the Dracodile on my turn 3.
On Wednesday I will discuss my second round which was a match between my Hayley1 and Dengerha 3. Please do let me know what you think of my assessment and if you have questions just ask away at the comments section below.
Monday, April 23, 2018
With the number of new Cygnar players in the local meta starting to increase I figured I would start talking about the gameplay aspects of the hobby... So today I want to share the list that many in the local meta are already familiar with... My Storm Surge list...
Cygnar - Storm Surge
Theme: No Theme Selected
74 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Lightning Pod
- Lancer - PC: 10
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 13
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
This is the latest variation of this list, the models used may have changed based on what is available and changes to the rules but what it answers and what it asks has always stayed the same...
What the list answers is almost anything, but not in a particularly ovewhelming way. Infantry spam can be dealt with by the Blazers, the Stormwall, the Stormblades and to some extent the Swordknights. High armor targets can be dealt with by the Stormwall, the Stormblades and to a lesser extent the Blazers. The Swordknight with upkeeps from Stryker1 act as a decent tarpit unit. The list does suffer from lacking magical attacks, having only the Blazers and Stryker1 as the only sources. It has no direct answer to stealth either.
What this list asks however is the primary focus of the list. It asks your opponent to deal with infantry that have armor as high as a heavy jack with a high defense against melee attacks and a colossal with an insane amount of armor. Stacking the upkeep of Stryker1 with his feat is key to this and when timed properly can leave you opponent in a tight spot. The list also has the potential to assassinate a caster that is of position, arcing an Earthquake and casting Snipe to the Stormwall has the potential to kill casters that have no focus on them.
Overall this list is designed to be a jack of all trades but master of none. I find it a great list to use if you are unfamiliar with your opponent as it will most likely have a means to give you a chance against what ever they throw at you...
Cygnar - Storm Surge
Theme: No Theme Selected
74 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Lightning Pod
- Lancer - PC: 10
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 13
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
This is the latest variation of this list, the models used may have changed based on what is available and changes to the rules but what it answers and what it asks has always stayed the same...
What the list answers is almost anything, but not in a particularly ovewhelming way. Infantry spam can be dealt with by the Blazers, the Stormwall, the Stormblades and to some extent the Swordknights. High armor targets can be dealt with by the Stormwall, the Stormblades and to a lesser extent the Blazers. The Swordknight with upkeeps from Stryker1 act as a decent tarpit unit. The list does suffer from lacking magical attacks, having only the Blazers and Stryker1 as the only sources. It has no direct answer to stealth either.
What this list asks however is the primary focus of the list. It asks your opponent to deal with infantry that have armor as high as a heavy jack with a high defense against melee attacks and a colossal with an insane amount of armor. Stacking the upkeep of Stryker1 with his feat is key to this and when timed properly can leave you opponent in a tight spot. The list also has the potential to assassinate a caster that is of position, arcing an Earthquake and casting Snipe to the Stormwall has the potential to kill casters that have no focus on them.
Overall this list is designed to be a jack of all trades but master of none. I find it a great list to use if you are unfamiliar with your opponent as it will most likely have a means to give you a chance against what ever they throw at you...
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