Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

so, this is what i am looking at for ashlyn at 35. This is with advice i have taken from the internet. there are 3, which one looks best?

1)

Ashlyn
-vanguard
-nomad
10x forge guard
gun mages+ UA
-mule
first mate hawk
di'bray
gormen di wulf

2)

Ashlyn
-vanguard
-nomad
10x forge guard
10x steel heads
gun mages+ UA
-mule

3)

Ashlyn
-vanguard
-nomad
first mate hawk
gormen di wulf
di'bray
10x forge gaurd
10x steel heads
rutger
-mule


any thoughts? I like the steel heads because they seem the perfect target for quicken, but i know that people always exclaim over how amazing a mule with gun mages, and i can imagine why, with snipe, it would be brutal. so, any thoughts?

I'd say #1. You've got quality troops, a good setup with the mule and The Dude, and a perfect unit to put quicken on (the short, little guys in tons of armor that hit like a ton of bricks).

I can understand why di Bray and Wulfe are in the list, but I think you could do better then Hawk, since you don't have a Sea Dogs unit.

Agreed. I would go with The Piper over Hawk. Tough, DEf bonus, Pathfinder...all good tool kit stuff to have for the forgeguard.

Other thoughts.

Gallant gives alot of the same package that Nomad/Vanguard brings and can be more focus efficient, especially if you use the left over points for the morrowan solo that is pretty effective (can't remember his name for the life of me.)

Harlan Versh, I think.

A great 2 point solo in-and-of himself, by the way. His gun may not look like much, but i you can find a solo/officer/warcaster with an upkeep spell on him, he gets boosted attack/damage rolls, ignores DEF/ARM buffs, and it's magical.

so you guys dont agree with the steel heads? I buy that, the reason they were there were because with quicken, they became really hard to hit, and they had a very nice charge range, but also, with di'bray getting sabotage, they could run 16 inches, then move 8, and attack 2, for a total threat range in one turn of 26. But dropping them would open up quicken for the dwarves, and alternately, i could throw it on the gun mages and have DEF 17 troops to frustrate armies with out blasts. I like hawk for her assassination capabilities. With acrobatics and her immunity to free strike, i love running her over intervening models to strike at hidden caster. With Phinneus Shae i always ran her under storm rager and she killed tonnes. Ill think about swapping her out, but right now she works because this list runs partially as a Ashlyn delivery system and it would be great to have a double assassination threat, plus her high def works well with the feat.


Thanks for the help!

Unless you're running SH Cav, the infantry is really kinda meh. I think you'd be ahead to go with Sam and her DD's with a Nomad over them .

Only time I have ever really liked steelhead halberdiers is when I needed cheap risen fodder, and then Pressgangers were more synergystic (press gang an opponents model, gain a press ganger, press ganger dies, gain a risen...wash, rinse, repeat).

As far as assassination weapons, for me, Hawk was been pretty lackluster. Yes, she has weapon master. But only a only at a 9. That extra die is only really bringing her attack up to respectable. Versh's pistol gets twice as many attacks as Hawk higher P+S, and blessed plus purgation. Throw in stealth and sacred ward and he's pretty darn surviveable, and can have an effect on opposing turns with witch hunter. I'm amazed he actually doesn't cost more.

I also -really- like Alexia and her thralls. The ability to raise Risen within 9 inches of her, and then turn it into a Thrall that can activate and charge into back arcs with weapon master can be devastating. Even if it doesn't kill, it still has to be dealt with, taking resources away from your opponent.

1

Steelheads are unnecessary if you have forge guard.

shotgun. careful with press gangers. i am pretty sure it says you gain an additional sea dog CREWMAN, not a press ganger. They can't add to their own squad. I like alexia, but i can't think of what i would get rid of. any thoughts? and ill try a game or two with Harlan, though i hate his personality >: (

Doh, you are correct, I brain farted there. Played it right, just remembered it wrong. Without the seadogs, the pressgangers are a bit less lustery.

Out of your first list, I would look at something like this.

Ashlyn
-mule
-nomad
bokur
Alexia
6x forge guard
10x forge guard
piper
di'bray
gormen di wulf

don't have my book handy, but I think that points out in the 35 point list.

gun mages always seem to do "meh" for me, or I run up against immunity to blasts and knockdown. Actually going to try the mariner with the Dude next time out and see if it is any better. Bokur is obviously for the shield guard, though his slam can be useful as well. Practically like a vanguard without the focus requirement.

you could also try to work the new merc charcter jack roxy into the list - fights like a nomad shoots like an avalancher seems all good to me and looks real nice next to some gun mages (Ill be running this in my own ashlynn 35 list soon)

I second Rocinante, hes pretty much an auto-include for any non-rhulic merc list as the first heavy jack if you are not doing character restrictions.