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I'm going to my first tournament next month and I need to decide what 'jacks to buy. I know I need a defender or hunter especially because of the large amount of Khador in my meta, but which one should I get? The hunter's cheaper so if I got it I could also buy a stormclad, but I could magnetize the heavy 'jack kit for more options later on.

I'm also unsure of my second caster. ehaley is a given but I'm between stryker2 and siege for my second caster. Either one sounds good but I'm thinking siege because he's more versatile.

The tournament is also just in time for Alison Jakes to be released so if she's any good I'll try her as well. I'm interested in using her with a sentinel so that might also be something I try.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

We need a lot more information. How many points? What models do you have now? What kind of lists do you like to play?

It's a 50 pt. divide and conquer, so I have to play each list once. I want to have two different lists so I have variety.


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I only have the battle box jacks so I definitely need some new jacks. I have all the staple solos and for warcasters I'd have to buy siege but I have the others I mentioned. I have most of the staple cygnar units as well except for rangers. I still have to buy the UA for the stormblades but I have the atgm UA.

The Hunter is better at killing ARM20 or higher, whilst the defender is better at killing ARM18 and below,

Of you're going for one or the other I'd go with the defender, as most models you'll be facing are ARM19 or below.

If you're picking up Siege buy Rienholdt. Rienholdt is one of those models that will always go in your siege lists unless he's in your eCaine list. He's 1 point and $6. There is no reason not to have him.

 jeratoll wrote:
The Hunter is better at killing ARM20 or higher, whilst the defender is better at killing ARM18 and below,

It's not quite that simple. Spells, shields and the like will skew this. An ARM 19 with a +2 ARM shield (so 21 all up) is actually the same for each of the jacks. Arm 19 with a +3 spell and a +2 shield (so 24 all up) is also the same (POW 6 vs ARM 15 compared to POW 15 vs ARM 24). There aren't many models that actually have a flat out ARM higher than 19/20, beyond that it is usually shields and buffs and what not, things that come in after the armour is halved for the Armour Piercing attack.

The Defender is also better against small based solos that you need to murder for whatever reason, as if they have a decent armour the Hunter will struggle to kill them in 1 round with effective POW 8.

Also, you'll almost never actually kill a heavy with shooting.

The best you'll be hoping for is a disabled system so your melee heavy can take it out, or your Defender can finish the job.

The only way killing heavies with shooting is viable is if you were to spam hunters(as in have 4-5 of them). And even then some lists, Menoth in general along with any stealth opponents or dudespam, can make you very very sad. They'll be immune to your shooting till they close with your very squishy light jacks.


Besides, with Khador its not the jacks you need to be concerned with. Its the sea of dudes surrounding them. Anti-infantry is more important when facing Khador, and neither a Hunter nor a Defender will help you there.

Gun mages with the UA will be a good choice, along with the B13th. That can get your anti-infantry covered to at least the bare minimum. The UA also does a great job of Marshalling a single-shot shooty jack like the Hunter.

Having a better idea of the rest of the list would really help. Can you post the lists you are planning on using?

Anyways, generic help...

With eHaley I'd go with a Stormclad or Stormwall. And maybe an arcnode if you like to play that way. If you don't want to get more jacks for her you can probably run the lancer and ironclad just fine.

With Siege I'd go with a defender or Stormwall. Nothing more.

Also for Siege you really want the squire and Reinholdt.

I agree with the others that generally for Khador you want troop clearing. I love eHaley and deceleration against their shooting and deadeye for your gunmages.

Siege can also be a lot of fun, especially on feat turn. Even IFP under shield wall tend to die to a hail of POW10s under the feat. But also for Siege you definitely want some sort of infantry jamming unit. I prefer Boomhowlers (perhaps with a JR) or Precursors (Rhupert helps them). In fact, Boomhowlers work well with most of our casters. If you don't have them I'd suggest getting them.

I bought Siege yesterday so I can start practicing with him, and I decided on getting the stormclad, a hunter, and the stormblade UA. I know the defender is good but it's not in the finances right now unless I don't buy the Stormblade UA which I kinda need to make my stormblades worthwhile.

I'm 100% sure on the lists I'll be using, but they'll both have ATGM+UA and stormblades fully loaded with 3xWA and UA. Both lists will also have the squire and a junior (possibly giving it the hunter in one or both lists). I'll give Boomhowlers to siege and let Haley use Alexia and Rhupert to increase survivability and have a cheap meat shield.

Thanks for your help everyone! I'll post about the tournament after it's over.

Siege won't do well without the defender.

If you can I'd avoid the hunter and see if you can scrape up a few more bucks for the plastic jack kit.

Also, you didn't mention Rienholdt. Don't skip this guy! Really he is that good with Siege.

I own Reinholdt since I always use him in my ecaine list. Forgot to mention him.


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I can only get the defender if I don't get the Stormblade UA, which I kind of need if I'm going use stormblade unit, which is the only non-character melee unit I own.

inferno445 wrote:
I own Reinholdt since I always use him in my ecaine list. Forgot to mention him.


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I can only get the defender if I don't get the Stormblade UA, which I kind of need if I'm going use stormblade unit, which is the only non-character melee unit I own.

I am not sure I'd run Siege with no defender or stormwall. You might want to consider one of your other casters for your second list.

I just double checked and if I do all my chores I can just afford a defender, a stormclad, and the stormblade UA, which I'll definitely need in these lists. Stormwall is out of the question though, until my birthday. So instead of a car on my 16th birthday I'll ask for a stormwall, it's quite a bit cheaper.

inferno445 wrote:
I just double checked and if I do all my chores I can just afford a defender, a stormclad, and the stormblade UA, which I'll definitely need in these lists. Stormwall is out of the question though, until my birthday. So instead of a car on my 16th birthday I'll ask for a stormwall, it's quite a bit cheaper.

Nope, car. Definitely car. Car gives you more job opportunities, gives you multiple Stormwalls instead of just the one. Long term thinking

I'll be lucky to get a stormwall, a car is definitely out of the question sadly. If I actually could get a car I would, and then I could go to the LGS on my own.