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Hi I am starting warmachine due to some boredom with 40k and the price rise helped clinch the deal and it is my birthday today so some funds have re filled the old wallet. I have been looking through the cygnar book and decided to do them and have been thinking about lists, however this is where the problem arose, I can't find any points costs for commanders eg stryker and coming from 40k, do characters even have points in warmachine? also if they do what can you recommend for a cygnar force?

many thanks

Salamandermarine

Warcasters (warmachine) and warlocks (hordes) don't cost anything. Instead they actually give you bonus points to spend on warjacks or warbeasts. Say you are building a 25 point list and you pick a warcaster that gives 7 jack points, you then can spend 7 points on warjacks and 25 points on anything else (including more warjacks).

Sorry, I can't be any help specifically for cygnar questions.

SalamanderMarine wrote:Hi I am starting warmachine due to some boredom with 40k and the price rise helped clinch the deal and it is my birthday today so some funds have re filled the old wallet. I have been looking through the cygnar book and decided to do them and have been thinking about lists, however this is where the problem arose, I can't find any points costs for commanders eg stryker and coming from 40k, do characters even have points in warmachine? also if they do what can you recommend for a cygnar force?

many thanks

Salamandermarine

as mentioned, they're free. they come with bonus "warjack points" that can be spent towards a warjack in the warcasters battlegroup. Stryker has 6WJ points. So, if he was to take an ironclad and a defender, they'd cost a total of 10pts (7+9=16 - 6 = 10).

regarding what to take, cut your teeth with the battlebox. do your first dozen games just at that level. learn the basics. focus. spells. feats. the order of activation. power attacks. boosts. etcetera. when you're comfortable, expand to 15. repeat. then go to 25 with a unit or two. this is very much a game where you start small. if you jump straight into 35pt games you will be overwhelmed.

as i always say, dont worry about *what* you take. this is not 40k. there is no "how-to". there is no "guide". there is no "take this and win" buttion. being a good player will win you games, rather than taking unit X and Y. but that comes later. for now, stick with the battlebox.

I second the battle box. I bought into it to learn and it has helped me out the most. I picked up the basics of the game easily on the first try.

The summer sale army on the Privateer site is pretty good.

Only downside with the army sale is it is from the US and i don't know wheather I would need to pay any VAT or duty when it is shipped in, any English buyers ever bought direct from privateer press?

Also I would like to do a shooting cygnar list, any recommendations on units ( I know none are good/bad like in 40k but surely some must benefit shooting lists more?)

Thanks

Salamandermarine

You need to pay the import taxes to the customs when ordering from US.

Shooty cygnar lists can be done in several different ways. One thing to keep in mind is that you need to have combined arms as shooting alone is not enough to get you consistent wins. Good warcasters for shooty lists are Siege, Caines and Kraye (and Sloan). For a more combined arms approach pStryker and Haleys can work.

Once you have settled on a caster it is easier to give tips on what to get, otherwise we have to rely on giving basic tips like get gun mages with UA for a good basic shooty module.

Just to clarify the points cost/warcaster thing, since it can be a little confusing:

Each warcaster gives you a set number of points.

Those points add to the total of your army. So if you agreed to play a 15 point game, and your warcaster gives you 7 points, you can take a 22 point list in that 15 point game.

However, those points must be spent on warjacks.

So again, a 15 point list with a 7 point warcaster gives you a 22 point total for your list, but 7 points of that total can ONLY be spent on 'jacks.

Look here: http://www.forwardkommander.com/

Its a list builder for Warmahordes and has all the points for the different units, it might help you.

Download ibodger if you have a smartphone.

Next month PP release their official app that will help you too.

Please note that ibodger is no longer available for download. I have been trying to get it from the app store as it really is a great program but it is no longer available. PP asked the creator to pull it so it would not compete with the War Room app they are building. As War Room was estimated to release in March/April the creator pulled it back then.

In the meantime Forward Kommander is a good program to use. I am not sure how useful it is on a smart phone however.

If you are playing cygnar, go with the battlebox and expand from that

Look into Gunmages + UA and the Black 13th Gunmage Strike team. They're both pure shooty units that perform well in a variety of Cygnar lists. The Gunmages Marshaling ability pairs well with a ranged 'Jack that is happy running on low focus, such as the defender.

To follow on from the rest of the advice here get a few games under your belt with the starter set then work on how you'd like to play.

Without a specific caster in mind there's only so much advice we can give you at the present time, but some general hints to get you started are look at a journeyman warcaster, most of the time it's a no brainer for the 3 extra focus. Most jacks & units have a place and it's up to yourself which elements you want to have in your force (same as any other game but it's a bit more noticeable that models have different flavours in this). A sentinel will help if you’re finding your caster is getting mobbed by shooting a bit much, ironclads are handy for mass knockdown. A squire is worth looking into for the warcaster buffs (hard to find these days without hitting ebay though), Trenchers are a good staple unit as they can do most things reasonably well, they are a bit pricey however, longunners are nice for the two shots but if you do focus on shooty stuff, make sure you have some melee ability to back it up otherwise you will get flattened quickly.

If you want to have a look at all the units for your faction and some thoughts/opinions on them go have a look at "Battle College", should come up first time if you stick it in Google. Just take some of the comments with a pinch of salt, it is a wiki after all.

Edited for spelling/grammer