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Hey friends.

So I'm in a pickle. I've recently picked up Warmachine - tonight marked the 7th game I've played. I'm in my LGS's journeyman league. Problem is, most of them (90%) are veterans just trying out different combinations. Not the best. C'est la vie! They have a lot of advice to give. I started playing Cygnar, and tonight we were up to 25 points. I've spent a decent amount of money, but not a crazy amount.

In a nutshell - I'm feeling slightly disillusioned. I'm not sure I like Cygnar. I picked them because I loved the look and lore, but part of me from the beginning truly had no idea which faction I liked and wanted to play the most. After playing 7 games with pStryker and the battlebox + now 25 points of other things, I haven't been having a ton of fun. I've been reading up on Khador, and specifically pButcher. A large part of me says "holy sh*t that sounds fun!". I mean, just running in and wrecking everything with my caster, not really worrying about having him blown to bits. I like the melee focus for sure. I'm slightly dissatisfied with shooting everything. It's good to have the versatility, but I seem to always get myself into melee and wanting to just crush my opponents that way.

SO THIS BRINGS ME TO MY QUESTION:
Should I stick with Cygnar and just start playing a very melee heavy army when I can, led by eStryker - he looks amazing! (part of the problem with journeyman league - I have to stick with pStryker and bbox contents for another 2 weeks) or do I give up Cygnar, go Khador, and start tearing gak apart with Butcher, Great Bears, and Doom Reavers?

Thanks friends!

Cpt Jello

What sounds more appealing

A) P+S 26 +3D6

or

B) P+S 16 + 5D6

That will give you your answer

Kidding, but seriously, the eStryker Stormblade/Horgenhold sort of list packs some vicious punch. So does the Butcher list though. I'd recommend sticking with Cygnar though, you can certainly do brutal combat lists with them (crazy long range jack missiles with Kraye and eStryker's infantry horde of doom spring to mind), they just aren't the norm for the faction.

Sure, sending in Butcher to slaughter stuff is fun.

But, and a big but it is, if you don't win the game with his suicidal charge into the enemy, well, there's a reason its called "suicidal"


Butcher is good, all 3 versions. but you need to temper his raw killing power with knowing when to use it and when to cower.

Anyway, if you picked Cygnar, melee is not going to be your main focus. Cygnar is a combined arms faction in a combined arms game. They don't do pure melee very well, because most of their in-faction melee units are very squishy and their jacks focus on shooting with melee as backup.


Ultimately, you should decide which faction you enjoy playing, painting, and the look of. Fortunately, play any army long enough and it will grow on you.

Also pStryker is a decent caster but he is probably our most boring caster to play as well.

If you like to smash things in the face, then give eStryker a spin. He is allot more fun that pStryker as well.

I'm looking at starting Cygnar myself, heavy on the shooting, so I'm jumping into your thread too to ask advice. Caine with Gunsmiths and Long-gunners? Plus a beefy CC jack to mop up the really hard stuff? At 25pts, that is.

And to add advice for the OP, I watched a game Sunday where the Butcher player get WRECKED by shooting. He took eButcher, Yuri, a mech (don't know which), Fenris, and Doom Reavers for the rest. Both players agreed it was a near impossible matchup for him, so when it fails...well, I watched it fail. The shooty player lost two models.

Gunsmiths being Gun Mages I guess?

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I'm looking at starting Cygnar myself, heavy on the shooting, so I'm jumping into your thread too to ask advice. Caine with Gunsmiths and Long-gunners? Plus a beefy CC jack to mop up the really hard stuff? At 25pts, that is.

What Caine?

If pCaine and assuming that Gunsmiths are Gun Mages, then yes, that is a pretty solid list. If eCaine, then consider using some other unit other than Long Gunners since he doesn't support them nearly as well as his Prime version.

I would further advise you to use Ol'Rowdy as your warjack. Both Caines like to spend focus on themselves so having a focus efficient warjack like Ol'Rowdy makes all the difference. If you are already playing scenarios, then you can also take a look at a Centurion instead of Ol'Rowdy, since he makes a pretty good scenario play piece and can serve as a pretty good anchor to base the rest of your army around.

Cpt Jello wrote:
Hey friends.

So I'm in a pickle. I've recently picked up Warmachine - tonight marked the 7th game I've played. I'm in my LGS's journeyman league. Problem is, most of them (90%) are veterans just trying out different combinations. Not the best. C'est la vie! They have a lot of advice to give. I started playing Cygnar, and tonight we were up to 25 points. I've spent a decent amount of money, but not a crazy amount.

In a nutshell - I'm feeling slightly disillusioned. I'm not sure I like Cygnar. I picked them because I loved the look and lore, but part of me from the beginning truly had no idea which faction I liked and wanted to play the most. After playing 7 games with pStryker and the battlebox + now 25 points of other things, I haven't been having a ton of fun. I've been reading up on Khador, and specifically pButcher. A large part of me says "holy sh*t that sounds fun!". I mean, just running in and wrecking everything with my caster, not really worrying about having him blown to bits. I like the melee focus for sure. I'm slightly dissatisfied with shooting everything. It's good to have the versatility, but I seem to always get myself into melee and wanting to just crush my opponents that way.

SO THIS BRINGS ME TO MY QUESTION:
Should I stick with Cygnar and just start playing a very melee heavy army when I can, led by eStryker - he looks amazing! (part of the problem with journeyman league - I have to stick with pStryker and bbox contents for another 2 weeks) or do I give up Cygnar, go Khador, and start tearing gak apart with Butcher, Great Bears, and Doom Reavers?

Thanks friends!

Cpt Jello

Yeah, this is why I'll often suggest gettin' in a few games before you buy, as sometimes it can be difficult to know what you really want. That being said...

25 points is small. Very small. I would strongly suggest holding out a bit longer so you can try larger games and more things. See if your friends will let you proxy models you don't have so you can get a feel for different types of lists. Finally, trust me when I say that Butcher can't quite do what you're suggesting, and indeed, nothing in the game really can.

Cpt Jello wrote:
Hey friends.

So I'm in a pickle. I've recently picked up Warmachine - tonight marked the 7th game I've played. I'm in my LGS's journeyman league. Problem is, most of them (90%) are veterans just trying out different combinations. Not the best. C'est la vie! They have a lot of advice to give. I started playing Cygnar, and tonight we were up to 25 points. I've spent a decent amount of money, but not a crazy amount.

In a nutshell - I'm feeling slightly disillusioned. I'm not sure I like Cygnar. I picked them because I loved the look and lore, but part of me from the beginning truly had no idea which faction I liked and wanted to play the most. After playing 7 games with pStryker and the battlebox + now 25 points of other things, I haven't been having a ton of fun. I've been reading up on Khador, and specifically pButcher. A large part of me says "holy sh*t that sounds fun!". I mean, just running in and wrecking everything with my caster, not really worrying about having him blown to bits. I like the melee focus for sure. I'm slightly dissatisfied with shooting everything. It's good to have the versatility, but I seem to always get myself into melee and wanting to just crush my opponents that way.

SO THIS BRINGS ME TO MY QUESTION:
Should I stick with Cygnar and just start playing a very melee heavy army when I can, led by eStryker - he looks amazing! (part of the problem with journeyman league - I have to stick with pStryker and bbox contents for another 2 weeks) or do I give up Cygnar, go Khador, and start tearing gak apart with Butcher, Great Bears, and Doom Reavers?

Thanks friends!

Cpt Jello

keep playing, I was the same way. Stick with Cygnar for now and see how others play, when I started every other day I found a different caster that seemed better than the last, Lucky for me I found my faction and all is good now.

Stick with cygnar for now, learn the game better and then once you get to the point of wanting something more proxy like a mad man.

Hold with it a bit longer.

Some folks find that even after awhile, they aren't in love with a faction. Switching to another one may be what you need, but sometimes it just takes trying a new caster.

You'll find your Zen. Be it Cygnar or another faction.

pStryker is a very much a support caster who want's him army to do the work for him.

The biggest question is what are you running and what are you facing as your issues might be just down to your caster but the lists you are facing.

For now, I would keep with what you got.

But if you are really interested in trying out other things fortunately it usually isn't too expensive to test the waters of other factions. Compared to a lot of things you can blow money on a 35 point list usually isn't too bad.

Also, playing other factions helps you get a better grasp of the game and realize the grass isn't always greener. I started with Cygnar myself and had a tough time. I switched to Cryx and things started to click. Now I play both fairly regularly and have 3 more factions that are smaller, but growing.

Thanks for all the help guys. I bought the Khador book, and I think reading everything with satiate me for now haha. I'm going to finish off the Journeyman league with Cygnar, and switch casters ASAP. Honestly I just can't handle the 3 battlebox jacks and pStryker with not very much room to breathe. I want to play eStryker I think and see where it goes. Sword Knights with AS next to a lancer (for flank) with AS and positive charge, followed by Stormblades with their UA for assault sounds fun haha.

Well, any good journyman league organizer should allow the option for custom battle boxes. You basically just make an 11 point list with battle group only as your "battle box"

Choice of casters and jacks.