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I'm planning on picking up a unit and maybe a 'jack or solo (or two) to fill out my Cygnar army when I stop by the Origins Gamefair in June. I've decided that I want to try to add some melee (or at least semi-close range) units to my army, but I find myself torn between all the different options. I know Cygnar doesn't exactly have the greatest melee or short range game, so I'm willing to dip into Mercenaries, but I still find myself unsure of where to go.

Anyone have any advice, play experiences, etc.?

There is no unit in the army tough enough to take the charge or fast enough to guarantee the alpha strike.
Stormblades are good for dishing out some solid assaults with their UA or ranged support with WAs, but they really appreciate help getting there intact.
stormguard are ok generalist melee troops, but are points intensive for their frailty.
trencher commandos are very good anti-infantry models. Thy come with a high price tag in points, but they can offer some short ranged support fire to back up other units.
nyss hunters are very fast , highly evasive and the only real weaponmaster unit we have access to.
Boomhowler's trolls are very tough, but your still living and dying by 4+.
Sword knights are a good tarpit.
precursors are what I'd call average melee infantry, but they have a single-turn damage buff and strong anti-magic defenses.
Steelheads are very cheap and rather effective, but they die fast.

Dais' info is pretty thorough, just adding a few things, there--

SBs do require a lot of support-- they're good, but you kind of need to plan your army around them. I'd say Precursors are the exact opposite, in terms of our heavy hitters. They neither require nor have access to virtually any support, which is why I prefer them in small games.

Commandos, I agree, are expensive but very solid. I often have Commandos supported by rangers (to get their RAT up to a decent level) as the core infantry of my army.

Steelheads, if you give them anything to buff defense, go from frail to frustrating. However, I basically never take them without their cavalry, which quickly gets expensive.

Stormblade are downright scary with their UA, but Cygnar is by and large a shooting force. If you want some tough melee, you can always look into Ogrun or Rhul mercs.

Sword Knights often get overlooked too. But theyre as cheap as steel heads, a bit more durable, and most opponents will always underestimate them. And if you manage to get a couple of them engaged with a warjack for a flanking bonus thats almost a moral victory by itself.

Going for mercs in order of cost:
Forgeguard- slow but fairly stout, weaponmasters/reach. They tend to get shot to pieces or avoided.

Boomhowlers- Big fat medium bases, tough, decent MAT, hit hard enough to be viable.

Nyss Hunters- High def, fast, high mat/rat, shoot at anything, and weaponmaster with thier swords.

Boomhowlers and the Nyss are both excellent when paired up with Jonas Murdoch as they make use of all his abilities without losing anything(neither Greygore or Cylena give orders- so Murdoch replacing them is ok!). And when counting as faction models- theres a few more options with them when it comes to feats and the few faction only buff spells. With Murdoch either unit will cost about the same as a Thunderhead- but they'll be just as effective in different ways(maybe moreso with some support). They are effective without Murdoch also-but for 2 points he's like a UA that makes the units more adaptable.

I've been doing some looking around and thinking on my own, and that coupled with what everyone has said here has led me to the decision to go with some sword knights. They're not flashy, but they seem the most likely to be able to tie down my opponents' threats, or at least slow them down a bit.

Is the UA for the sword knights worth taking?

The sword knight UA would be almost an auto-include as a solo. He doesn't offer the unit anything astounding as a UA, but he is a terrific jack marshal.

Whoa, hold the phone a minute. Did I miss something? Can you select a UA as a solo option?

grayshadow87 wrote:Whoa, hold the phone a minute. Did I miss something? Can you select a UA as a solo option?

No.

grayshadow87 wrote:Whoa, hold the phone a minute. Did I miss something? Can you select a UA as a solo option?

His words were "would be."

Models are sweet as hell, though.

The Sword Knight UA lets you pick which column to damage on a jack/beast. This means you can choose to do your auro 1 pt of dmg where it will help the most- or if you get a flanking jack in place(easy to do with the UA marshaling) those 3d6 rolls on the column/spiral you want can knock out systems pretty quick.

Its worth noting, one of the best jacks for Sword knight UA to Marshal is a Firefly. Its Cygnars cheapest reach warjack. To really get the most mileage out of the combo- a couple of Stormcallers. The UA's Pronto drive gives more options for positioning for both the SK's flanking bonus attacks, and Triangulations for the Stormcallers.

Alot of people will tell you thats only viable against Jacks for the disruptions- but thats not entirely true. The Stormcallers ability hits on a skillcheck- so its actually rather useful for hitting those pesky hi DEF models. And I believe even Stealthed models as long as their bases are lined up or in the triangle between the callers/firefly.

malfred wrote:

grayshadow87 wrote:Whoa, hold the phone a minute. Did I miss something? Can you select a UA as a solo option?

His words were "would be."

Models are sweet as hell, though.

Ah, gotcha. I figured I should've just taken what he said at face value, but I couldn't help but check to make sure.

I find that, unless you're taking the marshal for jack marshal and its abilities for your unit, working together, what you're doing is making a cheap unit (6 points) the same cost as a medium unit (8 points) without enough to justify not just taking a medium one (precursors, for instance). This is even worse if not going for the full unit.