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So I have just recently started playing and I took a fancy to Retribution for reasons unknown...
I currently have Ravyn, 10 Mage Hunter Strike Force models, and a Phoenix that I am currently trying to magnetize as to have all three varients.
Can anyone give me some ideas on how I should continue with this army?

Well your start is similiar to mine!

I have ravyn, though I think kalyssa is a better caster.

either way, get the UA for the strike force

pick up a 2nd myrmidon. I couldnt figure out how to magnetize one as all 3, but having one phoenix and one that can be either a hydra or a manticore is nice

I use a 2nd unit of mage hunters with UA, or stormfall archers depending (ravyn takes the stormfall, kalyssa takes the mage hunters for tier bonus)

for solos I use arcanists, mage hunter solos, eiriss, and narn. they've all proved very useful

so here are my 35pt lists:
Ravyn (no tier)

Ravyn, Eternal Light
Manticore
Phoenix
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Mage Hunter Commander
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Arcanist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin

and Kalyssa (tier 3)

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper7
Hydra
Phoenix
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mage Hunter Commander
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Mage Hunter Commander
Arcanist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Hope that helps

NaZ

I'd generally agree with NaZ's suggestions. I run some fairly similar lists (although I tend to run more lights and some invictors, as opposed to the Heavies), but all of what he lists are a wonderful starting place for Retribution, especially if you enjoy a light-infantry approach (which, by the way, both Ravyn and Kaelyssa excel at, for different reasons). What it really comes down to, is what do you want to use? Almost any list can be tossed together, and if you have a good idea on how you want to use it, can work marvelously.

NaZ wrote:

mage hunter solos... they've all proved very useful

NaZ

You think?

I never leave home without two MHA.

The term "glass cannon" comes to mind, but even more effective then their deadly "cruise missile" like killing ability imho is the psychological effect two of these guys running around has on your opponent's play. They force him to avoid/consider/keep away from and evaluate their position constantly, because if one gets in on a caster said caster is usually dead or about to be, and this distraction often causes opponents to alter their play style or become overly worried about eliminating them which is a win win really...

yes I have used MHA's to corner an opponent. you'd be surprised how quickly they'll move away from them running up the flank. It can be worth it to assassinate a UA if its a really good one

Narn has proved really useful. Won me a game from a position of certain death (kalyssa had 3 hit boxes left) against cryx by being able to charge through a mob of banethralls to hit his warcaster twice.

I like eiriss a lot too but for stunning warjacks or stripping the focus off a warcaster before the assassination run.

having 4 of them as a tier requirement for kalyssa is golden. being able to move a MHSF or one of the assassins after all deployment is finished is really cool

NaZ

Things that will work well in a Ravyn list:

Units:

Mage Hunter Strike Force- The unit attachment may as well be mandatory. First and foremost, this unit is one of the army "win conditions". Adding snipe and Ravyn's Feat to this unit can bring down a lot of casters. This should always be the first unit you find points for in a Ravyn list.

Dawnguard Invictors- The unit attachment migh as well be mandatory here too. Combined Arms and Extended Fire are both good abilities and having another body to add to CRAs is always useful. If you want invictors to fight in melee, I'd strongly reccomend having jack with reach, otherwise it's going to be rough getting the flank bonus. They don't need the flank to handle infantry, but POW 10's aren't going to impress heavier targets.

Stormfall Archers- A suprisingly flexible unit. Brutal Shots excel against heavier targets, Star Strikes will burn down a shieldwall in a hurry and in many cases it's nice to be able to have a 16" range without needing caster assitance. The tradeoff is that theses guys are one of the worst melee units in the Ret and won't stand up to any concerted effort to kill them. On the other hand, most opponents will just disregard them as a non-threat especially if Invictors are also in the list. They can usually slip under the radar.

Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt- This is more of a meta-game choice. If you're going for a ranged heavy list, the ability to get Magic Weapons on the fly can be worth it's weight in gold. Typically the only Magic weapons in a Ret army are your caster and the ranged attacks of a jack or two. Incorporeal, Wind Wall and Safe Passage can all be severe problems that Lady A can solve in a hurry. Even without lending magic weapons, Lady A can still buff damage against a model/unit and Holt has a handy pair of hand cannons with high RAT. In a competitive setting, this merc unit deserves serious consideration.


Solos:

Mage Hunter Assassin- They can hit hard and have a high threat range, ideal for mopping up problem solos and making enemy casters nervous. They're also tailor-made for a ranged force as the MHA's 4" reach goes away as soon as they're done activating. This means you can use them earlier in the turn to see how successful they were and what the rest of your army needs to do without being worried about the target in melee penalty.

Ghost Snipers- Not amazing, but worth their points. The situations where you get the real mileage out of these guys are against damaged jacks where they can use the Deadly Shots to cripple key systems.

Epic Eiryss- Another choice largely based on the meta. Removing upkeeps and Animi is what Eiryss excels at. She can also disrupt jacks. You can use her to drop focus from a caster for assassination, but most opponents have learned a long time ago that letting anything named Eiryss near your caster is a bad idea, so it's unlikely you'll be using that feature with any degree of regularity.


Jacks:

I'd be lying if I said a 6 focus caster with nothing to increase efficiency with jacks wants jacks in her list. 1 is about the most you'd ever want and even then it has more to do with jack points than caster preference. You'll generally get more use out of equal points infantry than jacks in a Ravyn list and the units can usually do enough damage that you'll never be missing the jacks capabilities. None of the light jacks go well in the list.

Manticore- It's cheap, it fights and it shoots. It has a RoF 3 cannon that goes pretty well with the feat and it can hit like a freight train if it needs to.

Hydra- It has the most powerful ranged attack of any Ret jack, but you have to keep feeding it focus for it work and if it ever gets disrupted it becomes a slighly crappier Manticore. It also has the weakest melee abilities of any reat heavy by a pretty wide margin.

Phoenix- It has an arc node that Ravyn really doesn't need and it's ranged attack is decent, but not great. The real reason why you'd use a phoenix in a Ravyn list is because it has Reach enabling an easier flank bonus with Invictors. Combustion is pretty cute and can come in handy, but in a Ravyn list dealing with things that die easily to fire usually isn't a problem that warrants a heavy jack's attention.

Mastershake: My personal take on jacks (especially with Ravyn) is to go with some Griffons. They're perfect for setting up Flank with the Invictors, and are insanely fast on the table. They also happen to be dirt cheap, hit surprisingly hard, take a massive amount of punishment, and don't require much in the way of support. I tend to take two of 'em in my Ravyn list, as opposed to spending the same amount of points (or more) on a heavy.

They also happen to be dirt cheap, hit surprisingly hard, take a massive amount of punishment, and don't require much in the way of support.

That's a bit of a stretch. It's about what you'd expect for a 4pt melee jack. It doesn't hit terribly hard (actually on average a single Invictor with a flank hits harder) and while the shield adds some durability, it still won't hold up well to concentrated attacks. The big problem I have with it in a Ravyn list is that the caster rarely has the focus to get mileage out of any jack. Usually if Ravyn is giving a jack 3 focus, that's all she can give out that turn between upkeeping and juggling Snipe, so having 2 lights vs. 1 heavy doesn't make much sense. You can still only truly operate 1 at a time unless you're literally doing nothing else with the caster. I limit myself to 1 heavy and I still have to think long and hard before it gets some focus mostly because giving it all out to jacks will also leave your caster exposed to nuisance assassinations especially when you're only rocking a base ARM 16.

I'm sure you can have success with more jacks in a Ravyn list, but the caster favors infantry and ranged attacks, so you're just not getting the most out of what she can offer. Something like a Manticore that can pump out 3 shots on the feat turn and make opponents think long and hard before running a heavy up to engage your army brings more to the table.

Mastershake is definitely a big proponent of the Manticore, especially with Ravyn. I think its a good bet, but very focus dependant. I get by some turns on just 1 focus from an arcanist with my Phoenix and that is enough to move and fire boosted halo cannon or charge.

I've had a lot of success running 2 heavy myrmidon, but I could see some advantages to running 1 heavy and 2 small. I don't like to play infantryhammer, I got into this game to use the warjacks.

I find the hydra good because of its kinetic capacitor. However for ravyn the manticore is better. 3 boosted shots on feat turn is just mean!

and the stormfall archers really are as good as they look on paper. I've wiped out pikemen etc that are shield walled by setting them on fire, or lighter infantry with sniped shots from 16" out

NaZ