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I picked up a Cygnar Battle group box and was told that pStryker was a horrible caster. I was tild the same when I did the 15 to 50 league with Zerkova and had a blast. She is now my go to caster for most of Khador games. So when I was told this I jumped at the chance to see if he is really as bad as they said or they just don't know how to play him.

I always start with my 50 point list so I know what the max is I am going to buy before building my 15 to 50 lisrlts. So here is my 50 point list and I need some help tweaking it:

Updated List:

pStryker (+6 WJP)
--ol' Rowdy 9
--Storm Clad 10
--Lancer 6

ATGM + UA 7
-- Hunter 6

Storm Blades +UA 8

Boom Howler (Min) 6

Strangeways 2

Gobber Tinker or Stormcaller 1

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Original List ( Scrapped):

pStryker +6 WJP
-- Sylys Wyshnalyrr 2
-- Lancer 6
-- ol'Rowdy 9

Journeyman Warcaster 3
- Grenadier 5

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6
- Gun Mage Officer 2

Reinholdt 1
Rhupert Carvolo 2

Stormblade Infantry 5
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard 3

Sword Knights (MAX) 6

Trencher Infanty (Min) 6

Hi,

First, I played 10 years ago and am just getting back into the game, but have been doing well for the last month or so... anyway, take what i say with a grain of salt, but hopefully you can think.

1) pStryker isn't that bad, although he is not considered one of the top 4 casters available to Cygnar. He has some great spells, Earhtquake is unique and i think one of his best spells, although weaker than it was in the original Prime. He is generally seen as a generalist caster, which is why people seem to think he is not so hot...jack of all trades master of none basically. You can read more here https://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiStryker

3) if you take Sylys, you can't take a squire, which is pretty good as it provides focus for 3 turns, extends your control, and allows you to re-roll magic attacks (e.g., earthquake)

2) I think Ol Rowdy is a great choice as he is extremely focus efficient and i think much better than a normal iron clad and worth the 2 points

3) not sure about the lancer but i think useful as it will keep your caster safe

4) i don't think the journeyman is fitting in this list The journeyman is great for shield, but he is three points... I am liking Captain Strangeways as he can give focus and can repair jacks...even better, he can have your jacks avoid free strikes so you can set them up for assassination runs.

4a) I have not really used the grenadier much so not sure about it, you are running trenchers but...actually, i find myself running them not so much in Mkii. They were an auto include in Prime and the first 3 books.

5) Reinholdt does not really fit the list, Carvolo can be good for tough or pathfinder...there is also a sword knight solo which is similar.

6) Stormblads are great, but why not run a Storm Clad then to synergize? They provide it with one focus per turn and focus efficeincy is really important especailly as pStryker only has 3 focus after you cast earthquake...if you have upkeeps like snipe you have less.

A couple of other thoughts - if you can

Boomhowler is great as they are tough medium based infantry. therefore they cannot be trampled and will protect your back line. They can also shoot and have pretty decent attack. Them being 4+ tough makes them a great tarpit as well. I think these guys in place of the trenchers or sword knights is a good idea. Swordnights are good, but you must get the flank off for them to be really good. To me, this means they are too situational.

A hunter on the gun mage office is AWESOME. he has a great RAT, +aim (or not), use 1 focus from strangeways to boost to hit (so you can get critical brutal damage), and boost damage roll. that is P 6 damage +4d6 on half armor. That will cause some hurt on a heavy warjack regardless of armor.

I also trying to include eEryiss - mostly for her ability to get rid of upkeeps on opponents (or your own models if really needed). It seems like upkeeps have become quite nasty in the 'new' addition.

I guess a modified list would be something like:

pStryker
--Squire
--ol' Rowdy
--Storm Clad
--Lancer

ATGM + UA
-- Hunter

Storm Blades +UA
-- Gunner (had 1 extra point)

Boom Howler


This list has a good mix of shooting and melee. Boom Howler & co. are good screening units and tough. They are good in melee. The ATGM are great at shooting as is the hunter, the to heavy jacks are great melee support and the lancer allows stryker to cast safely.

other possibilities are the Black 13th gun mage unit. not sure if the storm blade unit attachment is worth the 3 points, you could get Eyriss for that much. I think the trenchers used to be better, but they are an expensive screen and there is a lot now that ignores cloud effects. Also, your list is agressive, not a sit and let the enemy come at you.

Anyway, give the above some thoughts and check out the other website.

Thank you for the list and the breakdown. It is great help.

If you're running a journeyman, the hunter is a great choice.

The ATGM Ua is certainly good on it's own, but consider a defender for him to marshal.

In general, I think pStryker is fine. He's a generalist, and you'll frequently be upkeeping all three spells and dishing out focus, then hiding. His feat is supririsingly offensive, because it allows you to take a charge (Rowdy + AS + Feat is Arm 28!)

My only problems are that you don't have a lot of shooting, more specifically, nothing too efficient to put snipe on. The grenadier will shoot a lot, but won't scratch most heavies.

As for squire vs. Sylys: as long as you are upkeeping a spell a turn, and the game goes four turns, Sylys gives more focus. And trust me, Stryker loves his upkeeps. The squires extra control range is really nice though. Ymmv, but for cheap solos, it's easy to buy both.

 Polonius wrote:
If you're running a journeyman, the hunter is a great choice.

The ATGM Ua is certainly good on it's own, but consider a defender for him to marshal.

In general, I think pStryker is fine. He's a generalist, and you'll frequently be upkeeping all three spells and dishing out focus, then hiding. His feat is supririsingly offensive, because it allows you to take a charge (Rowdy + AS + Feat is Arm 28!)

My only problems are that you don't have a lot of shooting, more specifically, nothing too efficient to put snipe on. The grenadier will shoot a lot, but won't scratch most heavies.

As for squire vs. Sylys: as long as you are upkeeping a spell a turn, and the game goes four turns, Sylys gives more focus. And trust me, Stryker loves his upkeeps. The squires extra control range is really nice though. Ymmv, but for cheap solos, it's easy to buy both.

Thanks for the help. This will be my final new Warmachine army for awhile as I am going to be shifting a majority of gaming budget to my wife so she can finish off all the rest of the bedrooms in our house. I am going to use the list mray01 with a small change:

pStryker
--Squire
--ol' Rowdy
--Storm Clad
--Lancer

ATGM + UA
-- Hunter

Storm Blades +UA

Boom Howler (Min)

Strangeways

Gobber Tinker



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I am taking time with this army and concentrating on the right minis, paint and basing since ia the last new army for the forseeable future for me. So, please point out anything that is a true weakness in the list so I can change it now while I still have the budget to buy what I want.

Taking Reinholdt in this list really doesn't do anything for you.

I would highly recommend dropping him for a Stormsmith Stormcaller. A Stormsmith can deal with those pesky stealth units or units that are hard to hit because he uses an ability to cause damage meaning no needing 12s to hit. Since this is also the case his ability is unaffected by stealth. He is great for taking out solos like Eiryss and Gorman which will be in a lot of lists.

Just posted my updated list up top on the first post. Please review, rip apart and give me your C&C. Thanks.

In my personal opinion and the way I like to run my Cygnar is putting a single heavy on my warcaster. While Rowdy is very focus efficient in that he can get a free charge he still likes to have focus for extra attacks. I would consider perhaps running a defender instead of Ol' Rowdy.

I would look at something like this at 50pts with keeping in line with your current set up.

System: Warmachine
Faction: Cygnar
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
Commander Coleman Stryker (*6pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Defender (9pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

Snipe on the defender gives him the longest range in the game. With a focus from Arlan and the marshall command you are looking at a fully boosted shot into the enemy on Turn 1 with snipe.

Rhupert can give tough to the stormblade squad making them much harder to deal with especially with arcane shield from Stryker.

Adding the gunners to that squad and placing them close to the Officer gives them 12" range. If you toss snipe on them your getting 16" and with the officers electrical arc you are effectively POW 14.

Gunmages hunt stealth units Stormclad powers forward with stormblades.

Jonas is added because it allows Greygore and co to benefit from Strykers feat. Greygore and Co. can be really really nasty with the Assault order from Jonas as well letting them shoot before they charge with their POW 12 guns. With Go to Ground he can give them DEF 16 for a turn perhaps setting up a charge or something of that sort. And he is also tough which makes him a good addition to Boomhowler