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.

Hey Dakka,

So im a brand new bright eyed warmachine noobie, and i have some steelehead halberdiers + a cygnar battlebox + a Journeyman Warcaster.

Like alot of new players im basically planning my army based around what i like the look of just as much as what im told actually works. Recipe for distaster perhaps...

What i would like to know is if anyone has tried combining a Cygnar army with Steelehead Halby spam? The idea of a Cygnaran gunline supported by row upon row of steelhead fodder appeals to me!

Models/Units i like the look of/am thinking of trying to combine:

One of The Haleys or Siege
Piper of Ord
Defender
Hunter
Longgunners
Steelhead Halberdiers
Precursor Knights
Journeyman Warcaster
Squire

Any thoughts or input would be much appreciated, i dont want to pursue a doomed plan. Im not too bothered if the idea isnt 'optimal' but if its completely dumb someone please tell me, haha!

Steelhead are cheap and plentiful. They are good to give any list numbers.

Siege has no faction specific spells and doesn't do a whole lot of buffing out side himself and his warjack. So mercs are a good way to go with him. A big unit of steelhead will tie up a lot of stuff while he blows up the baddies.

I suggest pick one warcaster to start and then build up to a 35 point list based on them.

If you want to make steelheads the main attraction then you might have trouble. If you simply want them to have a place and get used then they will perform well.

Steelheads bring a cheap front line to cygnar that the swans can't get in-faction. You can buff a unit and have them tank for you or take two units and just jam them in the opponent's lines. Johnas Murdoch is recommended as an attachment for one unit so they can benefit from faction-only spells and feats.

If you want to make steelheads the main fighting force you might be better shifting into the highborn covenant. Constance works for them as an ally and she can do very good things for steelhead halberdiers and cavalry once they are in-faction.

Sounds like you need Rhupert

I run a Steelhead army at 35 pts and a beefed up army for 50 pts. So please do run those money hungry sods as they won't let you down!

long gunners could work better if you have a 'caster who can put snipe on them (full unit of 10 that doesn't move+ snipe= 20 shots at 18" range)

Thanks alot for the replies guys, its good to know im not way off course.

I like the idea of pure steely halberdier flakk being ahead of a main Cygnar shooty force, maybe send a heavy close combat jack up field with them and a hunter down a flank. I was absolutely going to include the piper, him being able to make stuff Tough is amazing.

Once my collection is large im thinking of 2 units of steelhead halberdiers on either flank of a squad of Precursor Knights for epic tarpitting action!


I looked up Murdoch and i see that he grants an assault ability.... this might be a dumb question but how does he help Steelhead Halberdiers? They dont have ranged weapons...

p.s - why do you call Cygnar 'swans' ? Lol :p

1: assault does nothing at all for steelheads. Murdoch also allows the unit to count as a cygnar unit as long as he's alive and has a once per game ability that let's his unit go to ground and have much better defense vs. shooting.

2: Cygnar are called swans because the faction symbol is a golden swan. There is actually a story in the iron kingdoms about the country being founded based on a prophecy involving a swan.

Ah i understand, so once per game he will give the steeleys better defence vs shooting.

What are the benefits of the mercs 'counting as' a cygnar unit?

Also cant find Murdoch in my rulebook, is he in one of the expansion books such as Wrath?

Murdoch is from Wrath. The benefit of mercs-as-cygnar is that some spells/feats/rules/etc. only affect "Friendly Faction" models- this means that, under normal circumstances, they will not affect mercs.

Excellent, i understand now. For all intents and purposes they are Cygnar models while he is alive, nice!

Murdoch and Piper of Ord look like auto includes if i pursue this steeleheads+cygnar idea... thanks for all your help guys

There was a recent post dealing with something along these lines in the Merc section of the PP forums. It started off with a Cryx theme, and how relatively cheap it was to build a competitive Cryx alternative ($116 at retail) using Mercenary models that many players had already invested in. It went on to talk about other factions, and how to best take advantage of their casters and Merc units/solos. Cygnar and Mercs seem to line up well, with many of the Cygnar casters having spells that are "Friendly" and not "Friendly Faction" plus a wide range of units that are compatible between armies.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?162978-Cryx-for-116

 derek wrote:
There was a recent post dealing with something along these lines in the Merc section of the PP forums. It started off with a Cryx theme, and how relatively cheap it was to build a competitive Cryx alternative ($116 at retail) using Mercenary models that many players had already invested in. It went on to talk about other factions, and how to best take advantage of their casters and Merc units/solos. Cygnar and Mercs seem to line up well, with many of the Cygnar casters having spells that are "Friendly" and not "Friendly Faction" plus a wide range of units that are compatible between armies.

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?162978-Cryx-for-116

Not to mention that many of the Cygnar units that can be taken in merc theme forces say that they become mercenary models.

With Steelheads as allies, the biggest thing you want is a warcaster that can buff them, Any Non Faction Only buffs is what you want.

Also with steelhead Halbs, look at adding Heavy Cav. to help them.