SlickBastard wrote:Trenchers were my first unit introduction to warmachine. Gotta have the officer and a cyclone marshalled to it. Finn gets em up the field a little faster. Dug in smoke with covering fire (and Deceleration) drives people nuts. If a jack gets in the face of the trenchers, throw it.
I like running the Haley2 T4 list, the only list I actually can achieve scenario victories. Took a while to figure out but kinda fun. I can't grind with it unfortunately, but that's what other lists are for. I usually run min Trencher Infantry with UA, max commandos and Finn. For other lists I tend to use Precursors with UA or Boomhowlers.
No input on the gunners, as I wasn't impressed by the models.
G/L
I wouldn't ever recommend Trenchers as a starting unit: you pay a lot for versatility, but it doesn't add up. I've just never found them worth it.
Stormblades are a similar unit that requires a lot of support (ideally unit, officer& standard, gunners, rhupert, journeyman, and potentially other boosts), however, they're more worth it. Still expensive in small games, though.
Units I'd highly recommend in small games are Precursor Knights, Rangers, and the Black 13th or Gun Mages:
-Precursors are pretty durable, mostly autonomous (Rhupert helps them, not much else), and are a one-way wall for ranged attacks
-Rangers are fast, have an automatic boost to friendly range, and can actually hold their own decently in combat
-Gun Mages (with their attachment) and Black 13th are versatile (but, unlike trenchers, use that much more), can deal with stealth and immunity to mundane ranged attacks (2 typical counters to shooting), and are, short of lots of AOEs, pretty difficult to deal with. You probably only want one or the other until you figure out what you like playing, but they're solid, autonomous pieces.
-Sword knights get an honorable mention for being dirt cheap and occasionally strong.
Others:
-Longgunners are good with Snipe, overcosted without.
-Stormguard are a bit pricey, good, but again a niche choice
-trencher commandos are some of my favorite infantry ever, due to their offensive versatility. However, I usually find I need a boost from something (for instance, Rangers or the Deadeye spell) to hit accurately at range
Jacks:
-the battlebox is pretty good: the Ironclad is a solid jack for hitting accurately and cheaply; the charger is great for dumping extra focus; the Lancer helps a number of casters stay safer
-the hunter is a good skirmisher
-the stormclad and rowdy are our heaviest hitters
-the defender is a great well-rounded piece in my opinion: a great gun, and can hold its own in melee
-the hammersmith, centurion, thunderhead; grenadier; sentinel are all fine, but niche roles, I wouldn't suggest starting with them
-solos:
the squire and journeyman are good support pieces, as is strangewayes. None are, in my opinion, all that essential.
Mercs:
-Gorten is a favorite, for setting up the kill, and cheaper smoke
-both Eirysses are very competitive*
-Rhupert is one of the best support pieces around
-with so many good guns, Reinholdt is a fantastic way to spend a point*
-Steelheads are a cheap alternative to Sword Knights (same price, basic infantry), and are an easy way to expand in to mercs or other factions
-Nyss are a very nice, well-rounded, autonomous unit
-Boomhowler's provide some of the only resilient melee Cygnar has access to, and are pretty hard to move.*
*in Prime, so you don't need to get FOWM:Mercs to see their rules
A sample start of a list (based on the starter set):
Stryker
-Charger (sniped, take out lights, solos, heavy infantry)
-Lancer (cast spells through it, annoy heavies)
-Ironclad ((probably arcane shield this) deterrent, take on heavies)
Commandos (6) (can benefit from any of stryker's spells) melee or ranged, front liners or skirmishers)
-1+ scattergunner
Rangers (boost ranged attacks: a common trick is to run one in range of the target, since their rules don't require coherency)
Black 13th ((maybe snipe these instead) versatility, damage whatever you can, high accuracy, damage template)
Sword Knights (10)((probably blur these) decent melee, counterattack anything that charges a warjack for flank, etc.)
gets you 33 points, leaving you some room for a solo if going for 35 (rhupert or a squire are the likely candidates. This is a fairly solid ranged list with a melee element that can hold its own (note that the commandos can fill either role, as necessary), that has elements of most of Cygnar other than electric. Not a perfect list, and frankly Stryker is decent to learn on but not a great caster, but I would definitely be ready to throw down using a list like this.
