Sniping Hexa
Some small city in nowhere, Illinois,United States
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Alright, so I have been playing a journeyman league with Mercs, since I got them from a person who raffled off a whole Merc army, and the person who won only wanted the pirates. Saying that Mercs might fit my style a bit, I might as well give my Menoth a little break to give it a try in this Journeyman league. Luckily this came with the 'Battlebox' (as in it is not really official anymore since they did not update it from Mki), so I had a good basis of what to work off of, and give my thoughts one it. I am going to try and break it down, piece by piece and analyse it to give my thoughts on it as a whole.
First, let us start off with the Warcaster of the battlebox:
Mangus the Traitor (pMagnus):
His Stats break down like this: His STR and MAT is pretty respectable being at Slightly above average to average, with his ARM is pretty high with a good amount of damage boxes (17 for both). His Def is meh at best, so be expected to be hit at lot at range most of the time(?) and he is a bit slow. Rat is kind of low, so you should not be using his ranged weapon a whole lot. Backstab is a nice ability for him, but it is hard to pull off so do not bank on it, although it is nice when it does happen. The two main abilities you want to take advantage of for him is Resourceful ( He upkeeps his spells in his battlegroup for free) and Feign Death (Cannot be targeted by ranged or Magic attacks, although you can be with Melee so be careful when using this to your advantage by slamming or trampling him to get that effect). Works for Cryx, Menoth and Khador. For weapons:
*Scattergun: Decent Spray 8 gun at POW 12 with ROF 1. Although you do not want to use this a lot this his RAT Is somewhat poor and anything in range to it means you want to charge since he is a combat monster of sorts.Although it is useful for when he cannot charge something due to spells or terrain.
*Foecleaver: At the surface, it does not look like an impressive weapon, but looks can be deceiving as the old saying goes. This weapon has Powerful Attack, so for the investment of one focus, you get BOTH boosted attack AND damage rolls. Although you have to do this with every attack, so make sure you have enough focus when you go for the kill.
*Mechanikal Arm: Not that impressive, but if you hit it with something, it becomes Knockdowned. This is helpful when trying to go for the Caster assassination, but not much else.
Feat: Hit and Run: Allows Magnus, his warjacks and anyone else in his battlegroup to make a full advance or Run for no focus after completing their activations and are immune to free strikes. Fun and easy feat to use, and has multiple ways to use it. Best and the most popular way to use his feat is charge in with your jacks, activate pMagnus, pop feat, and run away from said carnage (They do not call it Hit and Run for nothing...).
Spell list:
+Arcantrik Bolt: Cheap 2-focus spell with a nice secondary effect of stalling your opponents Jacks if they take damage from the spell, although it may go up to 3 focus if you want to make sure if goes off.
+Blur: Upkeep spell that gives a bonus def against ranged and magic attacks. Remember earlier when Magnus is going to get hit a lot? Well, with this, that helps solve that problem somewhat! More likely most of the time you want to make sure he gets the spell to himself.
+Iron Aggression: Medium cost upkeep spell that makes a Warjack, charge, or make slam or trample power attacks for free. Also you get boosted melee attack rolls as well, so you want to put this spell on your heavy-hitting Warjack early in the game.
+Obliteration: High-cost spell that is a AOE 4, POW 15. Can be helpful for assassinations if Mangus cannot reach the target, but you are more than likely not going to use this spell a whole lot because this will take up 2/3's of his focus.
+Temper Metal: Upkeep that gives +2 arm and immune to continue to friendly Warjacks.
+Snipe: Friendly unit / Model . gains +4 range to range attacks. This is upkeepable, and also could help to change the tide of the game if done correctly.
Overall, pMangus is a relatively fun Warcaster to play, and rather easy for beginners to pick up if they want to start with Mercenaries. A downside to him is that he is going to be a bit slow, so you have to make sure you keep your Warjacks in his control area (12", due to his focus being 6, but it is pretty average). With that, I go the the Warjacks.
Talon: Not much to talk about this one. Average statline with a meh weapons so at 4 pts the Talon is kind of underwhelming. WIth that being said, I think it is kind of a under-appreciated jack if used in the right combination and hands. He is pretty focus efficient, and his Powerful charge ability boost his melee attack for the charge. Stall also works for putting those pesky Cyrx bone/hell jacks to a grinding halt and make them easier to hit, and thus, most likely be destroyed in one turn with a help with another jack. Also, this works as a Tarpit jack once you put Temper Metal on it, bring it to a ARM 20 with its shield.
Renegade: Looking at Magnus' custom warjack, you may at first wave it off due to its kind of average to low stats, with it having the lowest Def on a light jack and being kind of slow. Although, its ranged weapon, The Obliterator, and his Arc node, is what you take this jack for. Although the Obliterator is a one-shot, one-use weapon for the whole game, it can be game-changing, It has a High POW and a 4" AOE with Arcing fire and knocks everyone down under the AOE and not just being Directly hit, so it almost works like a second feat for Magnus. (pKreoss: You are (Not) alone in the pop-n-drop, and now I stop making Evangelion references in this post). His melee is pretty good too, with Sustained attack and Critical Shred to help take care of this pesky High DEF jacks , beast, and casters as well!
Mangler: Someone once told me that sometimes the most simplistic way to take care of your problems is a fist-to-face, heavy bag, ect. In some twisted way, the Mangler is a great epitomization of that quote (Although highly, highly, HIGHLY do not recommend punching someone in the face IRL. Unless you are a MMA fighter as well, then you are free to do that in the ring as you see fit). It's a mix of a Cygnarian/ Khadorian jack, with being as fast as a Cygnarian heavy, with its DEF and ARM being the mix of the two (Although a bit better than Menoth, but it is still kind of low on the DEF side, so be prepared to be hit a lot.). It is a bit expensive for 8 points, but it is all so worth it due to its weapons. The Wrecker is a decently High POW weapon with thresher special attack and Chain Weapon, so it is very good for taking out those jacks with Shield bonuses and units with Shield wall. Its punching spike is nice for a secondary attack on the target. Best thing to do is to put Iron Aggression on it so it becomes more focus efficient once it is on, but be care, since it is going to be a center of attention and is most likely going to be hit a good majority of the time (as in almost always bank on your opponent hitting it), so keep it a good distance away from the fray until you are ready to wreck havoc with it.
In my overall thought about it is that it is a pretty good Battlebox for anyone to use and try to get into Mercs, more notably Four-star of Magnus' theme list, with some very good synergy between pieces and easy for the beginners to pick up on and a nice beginning caster to the game. The major downside is that it is kind of slow, with the Talon being the fastest at speed 6, so it is going to be hard to pull of the first strike, and is kind of Glass-cannon-y since they do have low DEF across the board. Still, if you are thinking about starting the Game with Mercs, or want to give Mercs a go, then I recommend that you give this Battlebox a good go if you can find it still sold together, or even by it separately.
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