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Okay, so I've played about 30 games of Warmachine in Mk1 and Mk2, about 50/50 irl and vassal, and I think I'm ready to make the jump and actually buy an army.

I love Cygnar cuz 'Murica. I love Caine because there is only one prescription for the enemies of Freedom: Hot Lead Enema QD #1776 (I'm a pharmacy nerd)

Like a good patriot, I'm also quite fiscally conscious (grad student). I'd like to get up to Steam Roller status with minimum monetary investment.

I think I've come up with a list of models that would let me compete (I have power gamer tendencies, but am generally too freedom loving to straight copy netlists) in the local tournaments at 15 or 35 pts. I'd love some thoughts and criticism on the situation. Again, the biggest point is that I am very limited on the money I can conscious investing in this game: I'd like to reuse models as much as possible to maximize awesome per investment.

eCaine 15pts
eCaine
-Ironclad
-Squire
-Reinholdt
Rangers 6x
Black 13th

Standard eCaine fare, flexible and fun to play against a wide variety of opponents. Squire and das Gobbo for them bullets. Ironclad as a cheap, durable beatstick with tremor being useful to opportunistically clear the way on an assassin run. Rangers for that +2 on the feat turn. Black 13th because I'd hate to make Martha Washington cry by leaving them out of any Cygnar list (they are just flexible and tough at 15 pts). This list has 1 point left over. I'm thinking Storm Caller for some situational disruption and because nothing else costs 1 point (that I can think of). eEiryss would be nice, but I really don't know what I'd take out.

Now the Steam Roller Lists:
pCaine 35pts
-Ironclad
-Squire
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
-Officer
-Hunter
Rangers 6x
Black 13th
eEiryss
Aiyana and Holt
Gorman

pCaine, master of machine pistol, mower of infantry, a support caster with guns. In this list he'll be buffing the ATGMs with blur and sometimes Deadeye. Snipe will situationally be on himself or the Black 13th (mmm, 14'' brutal shots). Hunter with rune shots to help ping down high armor targets. eEiryss to knock down enchantments/set up assassinations/disrupt the undisruptable, A&H to pump up the damage on units that need it (very important in this list, there isn't a whole lot of high strength running around), Gorman to give the B13 or Rangers stealth/blind colossi/further weaken tough enemies. With Caine I have always felt the Ironclad shines: a cheap beat stick to load up focus on when something needs killing while tremor can make pistol assassinations possible.

Big weakness against armies heavy in high ARM, multi wound models and armies with a huge amount of stealth. Quite a bit of flexibility in the middle range of armies and those specialized in infantry spam. Also really, really fun to play.

eCaine 35pts
-Ironclad
-Squire
-Reinholdt
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
-Officer
-Hunter
Rangers 6x
Black 13th
eEiryss
Aiyana and Holt

eCaine is a master of the feat turn kill, this list runs very differently from pCaine's. I play him very actively, rushing out and picking off whoever strays close enough and gate crashing away, all while maneuvering for the feat turn. True Sight lets him mitigate a lot of the advantages of stealth and his feat make him a significant threat against high armor targets. Without snipe or pCaine's feat this list relies on its units to tackle infantry, and without Gorman there aren't a whole lot of threats to colossi. A&H and eEiryss are more for the assassination runs than with pCaine.

These 2 lists form a solid Steamroller combo: pCaine vs low arm/infantry spam, eCaine vs heavies and stealth. The armies are almost identical, saving me money, and fit nicely into rolls for both of them. Thanks for all your advice guys!

P.S. Senor Brisbane is a close second to Caine on the 'Murica scale, so if you think he can be incorporated with these models successfully I'd be willing to bring him along too.

Before I get to commenting on the rest of it...

Iron-Fist wrote:

I love Cygnar cuz 'Murica.

lolwut?

For actual comments;

I'd go Ol' Rowdy over a regular Ironclad, eCaine loves having him about.

And if you are playing steamrollers, are there character restrictions? Because if so, you'll need to rework your lists quite a bit.

eCaine 15pts
eCaine
-Ironclad
-Squire
-Reinholdt
Rangers 6x
Black 13th

For this list I would be tempted to drop the Rangers and then upgrade the Ironclad to Ol' Rowdy. Far more focus efficient. You could then add Eiryss to list and the Stormcaller is always a good filler for that final 1pt

I have to admit I am not a fan of the pCaine list there is just far too much shooting and the list is really relying on range attacks to get stuff done and in Scenario play where you need to get up the board and contest zones and objectives this list doesn't want to do that. Blur I feel is a wasted spell on the Gun Mages, if people are going to get them at range then AOE's are better bets due to their natural high def. I think you need some Melee troops in the list. The full Stormblade package works well with him as he has snipe and deadeye. Sylys is also worth a look with pCaine as well.

Again with eCaine. Ol' Rowdy works better. I also think you need a tarpit unit in there to slow the enemy down. So Boomhowlers would be a good bet.

Also if you playing Steamroller tournies, then chances are they will be Character restricted so the lists will need re-work.

@Motyak
I can see how Rowdy would be better, free charge would be nice on the feat turn and counter attack helps with a lot of melee stuff, and the extra MAT is nice in general, but is it worth a full 2 points more?

And you're right about the character restrictions, back to the drawing board there!

@gobbo76
Yeah I agree on second look, going to be hard once things start getting crowded with pCaine. I further thoughts have me leaning towards eCaine in general.

A tarpit would be cool, but outside of, say, forgeguard the units always seem so expensive! Boomhowler or OAC with Jonas does look pretty mean though.

I can see how Rowdy would be better, free charge would be nice on the feat turn and counter attack helps with a lot of melee stuff, and the extra MAT is nice in general, but is it worth a full 2 points more?

Yes, yes he is. He is no focus drain on Caine unless Caine needs to fuel him up. Can bodyguard Caine due to the Counter Charge ability, not only does he have a higher MAT, he also has a Higher base ARM compared to the Ironclad and has a Buckler as well :-)

Actually you probably don't need Murdoch with a Merc unit with eCaine as none of his spells are Friendly Faction models only.

Which frees up space for Taryn, who is helpful at stopping that annoying warjack from blocking LOS without having to kill it dead (and it then providing cover), or Gorman for his troll-oil/rust-tastic bombs. Unless you are set on him in your first list.

I have always felt that caine lists should be played similar to how Durgen madhammer plays. His concept makes you want to take a bunch of AOE attacks, Durgen's feat even wants you to have lots of AOE attacks, but Durgen can handle most of your AOE needs by himself so stacking even more on top of the four that he can already dish out just skews your list. Same with caine, he might want a few more shooty units, but he can handle alot of the shooting himself so you would be better off bringing more melee units instead. Now if you want a gun line, then by all means, bring every shooting unit cygnar has, it will stomp some lists, but it will also get run over by many others.

Taryn's shadowfire only benefits other faction models.

Taryn's Shadowfire has been erratad so the faction part has been taken out.

gobbo76 wrote:
Taryn's Shadowfire has been erratad so the faction part has been taken out.

Sweet! That's what I get for reading the books.