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A year or so ago I bought me a Cygnar Battlebox to start out playing, because I like the models reasonably well and because I like "good guy" factions, but now, on the verge of coming back to the game with some new friends to play with, I am beginning to think that I might have chosen the wrong faction.

See, I'm usually fond of factions who play aggresively and with a bit of brute force to it, while not being completely no-brainy. Orks would be a good example of a force I love playing as, as they play to smash in heads, but does so with a good amount of clever tactics and special tricks. However, it has slowly dawned to me that Cygnar isn't a faction that plays like this, at all... And now, I'm legitimatly wondering if I should switch it up. I only have the Battlebox and some Mage Hunters anyway, so you got it.

I don't mind what sort of models I got to play with, really: Warnouns and/or Infantry is just fine with me.

What would you advice me to pick up instead?

You like the "Good guys"... and Orks! I've been an Ork player so I'll go with that!

Cygnar can get their brutal on but it sounds to me that you'd like Trollbloods! Hard hitting and still plenty of tactics, plus they kind of have that Orky vibe!

Definitely Trollbloods.

Aggressive + brute force? Sounds like khador to me.

They're a pretty balanced faction in that they can bring speed, armour/attrition, control and are no slouches at a the ranged game, but really excel with brawn, and damage output. That said, they have access to some tricks and shenanigans too. They're an infantry faction more than a jack faction. I always view factions in terms of 'questions' and 'answers' and Khador are an 'answer' faction in that they have an 'answer' for every question. In terms of 'questions', thryre no hugely subtle. They're a brick that gets thrown. You'll see it coming. The question is can you stop it in time before it crushes you.

Other options are trollbloods or skorne ( I'm thinking of starting trollbloods up too!), and to a lesser extent, cryx, and the other hordes factions.

There are no good guys.

When People mention Orks I usually think of a infantry hordes. Also aggressive and smashing face tend to lend itself to fast melee models in my mind.

If this is what you are thinking I'd recommend Cryx or Khador. Both do infantry well and hit hard. And frankly, to play Warmachine you must be aggressive. But if you want fast, in your face immediately both can do that as well.

For Khador I'd look at the iron fang and black dragon pikemen. They can make it up the board fast while also hitting hard and staying tough. And they have other units like the wintergaurd infantry that are really good.

For Cryx, you have a plethora of infantry that is fast, hits hard or some combination of the two. Satyxis raiders to me are the epitome of an aggressive unit. Fast, Advance Deploy, high defense, very high threat range and can leave a mark on the offensive. And Banes are kind of the standard that all other hard hitting infantry are measured against.

Khador casters remind me of the Ork style of play in that they are expected to be relatively close to the frontlines. No leading from the rear for most of them.

OTOH, Cryx are the opposite. They like to hang back and let their armies do the heavy lifting. Lots of bebuffs and arcnodes.

Of course you have casters like Old Witch and Terminus which don't fit the normal mode for each faction.

Thanks for your replies!

I think it's some great advices you've been giving me, and the factions given are some I've looked at before. I've looked at Khador (Winterguard w/ Iron Wolf would be a nice themed force) but I'm not much for the general look of the army, and, for as awesome the Trollkin fluff is, I don't really like the models too much... And so, I've noticed that looks apparently are pretty important to me.

I just like the look of most Cygnar models, because they aren't very over the top for the most part. Their main colour isn't all that prominent like it is on, say, the Khadorian models, and I really like that. It seems less "fantasy", and more "steampunk", which, at least to me, is the coolest part of the setting. I've always loved the rugged Trenchers, veteran Commandos, even some Mercenary units like Halberdiers, simply because of their industrial and modern design. What I've always lamented, though, is that those units tend to be the weaker ones in the Cygnar faction, and for some reason I just aren't able to play them like a charging gunline with a few tricks... Or at least that's what I've been told. Sorry for the confusion - I obviously don't know what I want myself, so I'm also trying to figure it out

If I were to use, say, Trenchers, Commandos, Gunmages, Mercs like Riflemen and Halberdiers, Boomhowlers or even the Devil Dogs, and then put them in a list that is meant to be an all around head-beater, what would you advice me to do, besides maybe giving up prematurely?

 The Wise Dane wrote:
If I were to use, say, Trenchers, Commandos, Gunmages, Mercs like Riflemen and Halberdiers, Boomhowlers or even the Devil Dogs, and then put them in a list that is meant to be an all around head-beater, what would you advice me to do, besides maybe giving up prematurely?

I think you are on the right track dipping into mercenaries to fill your need for brute force but trenchers are a tough sell regardless of who you are and what else you take. Stellhead halbs are solid. Commandos are expensive but very interesting and probably underestimated by the community. Steelhead riflemen are out-shined by gun mages so you may not get much use from those. Boomhowlers have tremendous staying power. Devil dogs are very frail but if they get delivered they can deal some damage and their leader is a very good jack marshal.

How do you like the Horgenhold forge guard? Heavily armored dwarves with large hammers tend to polarize people who get into a faction for the looks but they deliver brutal damage. Other mercenaries that can amplify your damage output are Lady Aiyana and Ragman.

With a Deadeye caster, min Commandos with 3 WAs can clear serious numbers if infantry with their sprays/grenades/anatomical precision.

Or you could do what I do and go whole hog with Trenchers and go with tier lists for all the trencher love (not advised in a super serious meta)

 Dais wrote:

 The Wise Dane wrote:
If I were to use, say, Trenchers, Commandos, Gunmages, Mercs like Riflemen and Halberdiers, Boomhowlers or even the Devil Dogs, and then put them in a list that is meant to be an all around head-beater, what would you advice me to do, besides maybe giving up prematurely?

I think you are on the right track dipping into mercenaries to fill your need for brute force but trenchers are a tough sell regardless of who you are and what else you take. Stellhead halbs are solid. Commandos are expensive but very interesting and probably underestimated by the community. Steelhead riflemen are out-shined by gun mages so you may not get much use from those. Boomhowlers have tremendous staying power. Devil dogs are very frail but if they get delivered they can deal some damage and their leader is a very good jack marshal.

How do you like the Horgenhold forge guard? Heavily armored dwarves with large hammers tend to polarize people who get into a faction for the looks but they deliver brutal damage. Other mercenaries that can amplify your damage output are Lady Aiyana and Ragman.

I love the models, and the Dorfs in general, but are they really that much better or worse than the Boomhowlers? What's the big difference?

No matter what, I'm gonna pick up Commandos - I just like the models that much, and Scattergunners are awesome. I love the Trenchers too, but I don't want to fight to get them to work, so I'll probably jump them for now. The Devil Dogs just look and feel cool, and have a designated job, so that's cool, too. Also, the UA for Merc units is a given - He's both really cool as a character and really useful ingame I've heard.

What 'Caster would you recommend? I'm thinking Sloan right now, both for the fluff with the Commandos, but also because I like the idea of free boosts to Scattergunners and Slug Guns xD

Use mercs with your Cygnar to give them more offensive punch.

 The Wise Dane wrote:

 Dais wrote:

 The Wise Dane wrote:
If I were to use, say, Trenchers, Commandos, Gunmages, Mercs like Riflemen and Halberdiers, Boomhowlers or even the Devil Dogs, and then put them in a list that is meant to be an all around head-beater, what would you advice me to do, besides maybe giving up prematurely?

I think you are on the right track dipping into mercenaries to fill your need for brute force but trenchers are a tough sell regardless of who you are and what else you take. Stellhead halbs are solid. Commandos are expensive but very interesting and probably underestimated by the community. Steelhead riflemen are out-shined by gun mages so you may not get much use from those. Boomhowlers have tremendous staying power. Devil dogs are very frail but if they get delivered they can deal some damage and their leader is a very good jack marshal.

How do you like the Horgenhold forge guard? Heavily armored dwarves with large hammers tend to polarize people who get into a faction for the looks but they deliver brutal damage. Other mercenaries that can amplify your damage output are Lady Aiyana and Ragman.

I love the models, and the Dorfs in general, but are they really that much better or worse than the Boomhowlers? What's the big difference?

No matter what, I'm gonna pick up Commandos - I just like the models that much, and Scattergunners are awesome. I love the Trenchers too, but I don't want to fight to get them to work, so I'll probably jump them for now. The Devil Dogs just look and feel cool, and have a designated job, so that's cool, too. Also, the UA for Merc units is a given - He's both really cool as a character and really useful ingame I've heard.

What 'Caster would you recommend? I'm thinking Sloan right now, both for the fluff with the Commandos, but also because I like the idea of free boosts to Scattergunners and Slug Guns xD

Murdoch is gold.

The forge guard are not better or worse than boomhowlers but the two units do drastically different jobs. Boomhowler's boys are meant to have staying power. They can get 4+ tough and hang on to a scenario zone despite heavy incoming attacks. Boomhowler's unit also carry guns and tend to hit a few things when they have deadeye cast on them. Forge guard can get a respectable armor level that prevents them from dying to blast damage but wild dice on power 10s can still kill em dead. Their big advantage, however, is powerful, reach, weaponmaster attacks. With any kind of damage buff they melt high armor on the charge.

 The Wise Dane wrote:
If I were to use, say, Trenchers, Commandos, Gunmages, Mercs like Riflemen and Halberdiers, Boomhowlers or even the Devil Dogs, and then put them in a list that is meant to be an all around head-beater, what would you advice me to do, besides maybe giving up prematurely?

My Cygnar game became dramatically better as soon as I started using Boomhowlers. I often use Jr and/or eHaley with them so they get some nice buffs as well. But they are already pretty good just on their own.

I believe Cygnar works best as a combined arms army. I think you really need ranged and melee, You also need a tarpit unit to hold ground and protect your DPS units.

With a Deadeye caster, min Commandos with 3 WAs can clear serious numbers if infantry with their sprays/grenades/anatomical precision.

Note that Deadeye only adds a dice to one attack made by each spray. For every spray attack to be 3+ dice, (with up to 15 per unit), you need to go with Khador...


Gaz

Oops. Good thing I've never actually used that then haha. Probably why I haven't been corrected yet. Thanks mate.

Gazzor wrote:

With a Deadeye caster, min Commandos with 3 WAs can clear serious numbers if infantry with their sprays/grenades/anatomical precision.

Note that Deadeye only adds a dice to one attack made by each spray. For every spray attack to be 3+ dice, (with up to 15 per unit), you need to go with Khador...


Gaz

But it would be interely boosted by Sloans Firing Squad, right?...

 The Wise Dane wrote:

Gazzor wrote:

With a Deadeye caster, min Commandos with 3 WAs can clear serious numbers if infantry with their sprays/grenades/anatomical precision.

Note that Deadeye only adds a dice to one attack made by each spray. For every spray attack to be 3+ dice, (with up to 15 per unit), you need to go with Khador...


Gaz

But it would be interely boosted by Sloans Firing Squad, right?...

Correct.

 Blood Hawk wrote:

 The Wise Dane wrote:

Gazzor wrote:

With a Deadeye caster, min Commandos with 3 WAs can clear serious numbers if infantry with their sprays/grenades/anatomical precision.

Note that Deadeye only adds a dice to one attack made by each spray. For every spray attack to be 3+ dice, (with up to 15 per unit), you need to go with Khador...


Gaz

But it would be interely boosted by Sloans Firing Squad, right?...

Correct.

Aww yiss... Would also mean that I can use Deadeye on another unit who can use them better, and Fire Group for my 'Jacks. Also, Sniper Rifle from Hell.

Yeah, I think I'll go Sloan.