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Hi all.

I have Esorcha(I think) and some widowmakers and a plan to buy the 2 player battle box. I'm a fan of gunline and overwelming firepower. What warcasters, solos, units, mercenaries or jacks would you recommend to start building towards that? I'd like to start at around 25 but maybe work my way up.

Help me dakka, your my only hope.

Vlad1 does good job with a Khador gunline because of Signs and Portents.

That's Vlad the dark prince not Vlad the champion right

Umm....it has 'Khador Warcaster' rather than 'Khador Epic Warcaster' on his card, and he's not on a horse. I'm sorry, I've only run Irusk and peeked at Strakhov/Forward Kommander Sorscha so far, so I don't actually know which one he is. I know he has 2 blades, his feat speeds up jacks, stuff like that. That should help narrow him down.

Vlad1 aka pVlad aka Vlad the Dark Prince is the one with Signs and Portents - which is an incredible buff for your entire army every turn http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiVladimir

Vlad2 aka eVlad aka Vlad the Dark Champion has Hand of Fate (which does the same thing, but only effects a single unit) but his feat and other abilities tend to favour a more melee focused army.

Generally if you grab the battle/starter box + a normal unit of infantry (one of the 10 man unit ones i.e normal guys not an elite unit) and maybe a couple of solos you should be good to go.

Alright so Vlad the dark prince is the way to go. cool

WG infantry or WG rifle squad....what is better?

If you want shooty gunline style armies play Cygnar if you are dead set on Khador then I am of no use to you. Sorry :(

 rayphoton wrote:
Hi all.

I have Esorcha(I think) and some widowmakers and a plan to buy the 2 player battle box. I'm a fan of gunline and overwelming firepower. What warcasters, solos, units, mercenaries or jacks would you recommend to start building towards that? I'd like to start at around 25 but maybe work my way up.

Help me dakka, your my only hope.

you should be warned. "gunlines" and "overwhelming firepower" aren't really a thing in warmachine. there is no tau army camping in its deployment zone and shooting 72" across the board, obliterating everything. In this game, with killbox, and securing objective zones, pushing forward, and contesting/tarpitting is vital and necessary - you simply cannot hang back. secondly, the range band of even "long ranged" weapons is about 14" - within the "run to engage" range of most melee infantry.

Now dont get me wrong - ranged units are viable, and extremely useful, but often, as part of a greater strategy. As a general rule, id also argue the overwhelming damage is melee based.

you also ask for winter guard infantry, or rifle korps.

they're both good, but different. WGI are a toolbox. they've got rockets. they've got sprays. with the officer you can bump them up to def17 (bob and weave, plus iron flesh) which is scary. they make an excellent tarpit/toolbox. but they're short ranged. winter guard riflemen are a specialist application. 14" range is great. they're fantastic at shredding light infantry, (especially the alphastriking kind) but with pow10s, will struggle to do anything reliable against decent armour. but they trade great range and control for far less versatility.

both are good, especially with Kovnik Joe. personally, i love the rifle korps, but both have very valid applications. really, its your call...

Cygnar eh.....Ive been eying them. They do have a great look.


Ive heard of these "tau" and there "cheesy gunline tactics" but dismiss it as internet shenanigans.

I prefer to drop ranged Armageddon just cause its how i always tend to play, but I'll take your advice and try to mix it up a bit. I don't actually play Warmachine yet, but i spent hours looking at miniatures and realized that if i just bought everything that looked cool I would have a hodge podge army and no direction(or money). so I'm trying to come up with a good idea of what to actually buy before leaping in head first.

this gives me a good starting list to work out

Any more suggestions for a new person?

Such as ...if i bought the 2 player battle box...whats a good addition for Menoth. I think the flying angel thing looks gorgeous but looks aren't everything



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So My opening list looks like this

Esorcha
Wardog
Behemoth
Kovink Joe
WG rifleman (8)
Widomakers (4)
Mortar team OR Kayazy Eliminators

With plans to buy the butcher or vlad later.

Good, bad....ugly?

Well, eSorscha prefers people who can deal large spikes of damage when needed, so that they do the most damage with her feat. which the Riflemen and Widowmakers certainly are not. She also doesn't really buff your ranged game at all beyond freezing enemies with freezing grip.

Personally, I think you would be better off running the regular Winterguard infantry with all the weapon attachments, officer etc, instead of the riflemen. The widowmakers overlap with the riflemen unit as they are basically made to accomplish the same thing which is accurately pinging infantry models at long range or taking down key models. The difference is that widowmakers are lethal against anything with 1 wound regardless of it's stats, and they are more irritating to take out at range with their high DEF and high ranged skill. The riflemen can instead zone out infantry movements. The winterguard infantry with the rockets give you a 14" threat with a more powerful weapon, much more durable models, the ability to spray which ignores stealth models (ranged attacks auto miss stealth targets unless you are very close to them), and better melee options over the riflemen. In addition, winterguard infantry can combine their short range gun as a CRA and make massively powerful attacks. Every model in the unit that has a blunderbuss (which is all of them) can participate and that equates to one of the highest power attacks in the game (base: 12, add 15 for the full unit, gives +15 dmg and atk.) their CRA can obliterate targets, you just have to keep them alive to get within range.

IMHO, either Irusk would run this army better than eSorscha. Irusk is the definition of infantry support. He buffs damage, buffs defenses, movement, etc. He has an amazing warjack buff. His feat is excellent for warrior models. He can also slow down your enemies by creating rough terrain in his control area which is extremely helpful if you are running a ranged heavy list. Finally, he can crank your winterguard's melee damage to respectable levels so when they do eventually get tied up in melee, they will actually be able to fight back effectively.

As some have said... if you are considering a "shooty" base, know that there are no pure gun-lines, as Warmahordes is a game where engagement will happen, and early on.

That said, any shooty list, in my mind, begins and ends with E-Irusk. Anyone saying otherwise isn't thinking about the big picture. "Fire for Effect" turns Mortar Crews into a serious threat, and his ability to let essentially his whole army move and draw LOS through itself the entire game, makes him the go-to shooty Warcaster.

A unit of Widowmakers with their semi-attachment solo will be a must have and will almost always earn their points back and then some.

Likewise, EIrusk LOVES some Winterguard Death-Star who will be both a ranged threat at medium distance, but also a melee toolbox with Kovnik Joe and EIrusk ensuring their maximum versatility.

Plant everything behind Shocktroopers which synergize very, very well with Eirusk and you have a very potent list which will be as shooty as this game gets.


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Also: As KingKodo wisely says, Irusk + Joe buffing Infantry damage, turns those little tar-pit expendables into damn near Warjack cracking models, and as I said... this is NOT a game where ranged units can survive purely on their ranged attacks, by turn 3.