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.

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...