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So my GK are finally gone and sold and I got more than I paid for them. I have $350 to drop on a new faction and Mercs it is. So here is where I need your help.

I know I want Bart and Galleon.

Here are the ones I already own

pEyriss
eEyriss
Syliss the Wishelf
Saxon Orick

So lets spend my money!

 darefsky wrote:

I know I want Bart and Galleon.

I'm kidding. Sort of. I won't actually be much help, I'm considering stepping off into mercs with Ash and know next to nothing, so yeah.

Ask Cygnar players what its like to play mercs

half of Cygnar lists are just merc lists

 motyak wrote:

 darefsky wrote:

I know I want Bart and Galleon.

I'm kidding. Sort of. I won't actually be much help, I'm considering stepping off into mercs with Ash and know next to nothing, so yeah.

That's basically my problem. I love the Galleon model, I know it works really well with Bart, but as for Mercs, I really only know how well they work with my lists. No clue how they are supposed to work together....

Some of my favorites are:

galleon
nomad
nyss hunters
forge guard
gun mages w/ ua if playing highborn
kayazay assassins if playing fourstar
Sylys
Gorman
MacNaile the colossal attachment
Reinholt
Thor Steinhammer with a basher

Pirates are good but it is kind of spendy to get the full package.

Steelheads are good too, but likewise, the full package of two full units of halberdiers and a unit of cavalry is sort of expensive.

The new tactical arcanist corps seem rather good but I haven't played them.

General thinking with taking BArt and the galleon is that you want his bestie Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile to go along with him (he does wonderful things for AOE attacks). Those two characters will also work for any faction and as such can be included in any contract.. If you're looking to go straight pirate for 6 points the freebooter is a steal particularly when used with a couple of bucanneers (I marshall mine to Dirty Meg) as the 'booter gets an extra damage die against knocked down targets the bucaneers net when used with its assualt order is just plain wrong. The mariner is an interesting one, really handy with barts broadside spell and a thresher attack on top of that (not to mention that all the pirate heavies are immune to knockdown... Take that Kreoss!) the gun however lets it down big time. It must have a friendly warrior model in B2B to fire. It takes a bit of getting used to.

The problem with going pure pirate is that they do require their synergy. Sea dog units are, on their own, ok at best. With some of the solos the army can have they become a lot better (Tough on 4+, immune to knockdown, fearless, extra damage etc.) but if things start keeling over it goes downhill rapidly.

More traditional units such as steelheads are certainly viable options if you're going for something like four star or a highborn contract, they're strictly no thrills but a great hoice for bodies on the table (I had a min unit of halberdiers get Bloody Barnabus down to 2 boxes before). Again, look for the synergy when you can (Stannis Brocker, a unit of steelhead heavy cavalry and some riflemen can do some scary things but Bart does little to nothing for infantry in his list with his spells so that's all you're getting for instance).

For an example my normal pirate list looks a bit like

Shae
Freebooter
Freebooter
Mariner

Dirty Meg
Bucaneer
Bucaneer

Commadore Cannon (Only usable with Shae I'm afraid)

Sea Dog Unit
Hawk
Killingsworth
Grogspar
Rockbottom

I've only actually used the galleon with Magnus myself, that worked surprisingly well to be honest, but with a collosal like that it's a bit hard for it not to work well I guess.

 darefsky wrote:

 motyak wrote:

 darefsky wrote:

I know I want Bart and Galleon.

I'm kidding. Sort of. I won't actually be much help, I'm considering stepping off into mercs with Ash and know next to nothing, so yeah.

That's basically my problem. I love the Galleon model, I know it works really well with Bart, but as for Mercs, I really only know how well they work with my lists. No clue how they are supposed to work together....

The big synergy is Montador's spell Hot Shot, which gives a jack in his battlegroup boosted range damage rolls. Until the Colossals, that was pretty meh, since there were no merc jacks with more than one gun, so it was effectively no improvement over just giving it a focus point for the damage boost, unless it had an AOE shot like on the Mariner or Mule. With 2d3 cannons shots with 3" blasts, and the harpoon, the spell is vastly better on the Galleon. Another synergy is Batten Down The Hatches, as +3 ARM makes it much harder to kill a colossal, and it's not an upkeep, so can stack with Hot Shot.

 Ravanar wrote:
The mariner is an interesting one, really handy with barts broadside spell and a thresher attack on top of that (not to mention that all the pirate heavies are immune to knockdown... Take that Kreoss!) the gun however lets it down big time. It must have a friendly warrior model in B2B to fire. It takes a bit of getting used to.

That's the double pleasure of Macnaile. Sure, he helps the Galleon, but he also helps the Mariner AND gives it a loader that's not tied to a unit or keeping the block in range.

Sweet. Thanks everyone for the input.,

I ordered this today.

Bart -
Damiano
Gallion -
BoomHowler & Co (full unit)
Rhupert Carvolo
Gorman
Dougal McNail
RagMan
Nomad
Orin Midwinter
Harlen Versh
kell bailoch
Grundback Gunners
Thor
Raconati (or however you spell it)

I already own (i realized I messed this up in my OP)

Cylena and her Nyss
A+H
Kayazy Assassins w/ Under Boss
Kayazy eliminators
Sylis the wishelf
both Eyriss
Saxin Orik

Now the wait for stuff to come in.....(I should probably get to work finishing the paint jobs on my Khador.....)

You are picking up Damiano, but no steelheads or rocinate? Interesting choice. Unless I'm getting Damiano confused with another caster...

edit: wait, you are getting rocinate, I just didn't recognise it. He's (if a jack can be a he) really useful in most lists it seems, but especially damiano's

 motyak wrote:
You are picking up Damiano, but no steelheads or rocinate? Interesting choice. Unless I'm getting Damiano confused with another caster...

edit: wait, you are getting rocinate, I just didn't recognise it. He's (if a jack can be a he) really useful in most lists it seems, but especially damiano's

No, I didn't pick up the steel heads yet. That will be in the next wave. Probably sometime after July. i figured between Boomhowler, the Nyss, and Kayazy I had enough "troops" this lets me get all the one offs out and lets me start really playing with some options. Not to mention gives me enough to keep my painting occupied for about the next year or so.

/I seldom use Steelhead Cavalry or Halberdiers with Damiano, but a minimum unit of Riflemen can be very effective with his Paymaster ability. They're far from essential, mind you.

Incidentally, I've found that Death March is amazing on Kayazy Assassins, pushing their MAT up to ludicrous levels when they have their gang bonus running. They can also sometimes use their Vengeance move to get behind enemy models to backstab in their activations. With the Strength bonus on the feat turn, they're murder machines.