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I know what you're thinking; If I want a Warjack-heavy army I should be playing something other than Cygnar. But looking at the rules I think the Journeyman could be a useful when it comes to bringing more 'Jacks to the table. He's only three points, so I can't see him really going too wrong, but I still have yet to buy the model or actually play test his rules, so I'm asking you Cygnar players on Dakka if he's worth it. Is he suited to accompanying a 'Jack? (I'd think a longer ranged support 'Jack because the Journeyman looks quite squishy) Or is he more of a support magic user? (The more Arcane Shields the better, right?).

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated as always. Cheers lads.

The Cygnar Journeyman Warcaster is absolutely worth it for Cygnar, but thats because he brings Arcane Shield and as a tax you have to stick a jack on him. Typically a Charger since the junior can fully fuel him and upkeep arcane shield while hiding in the back.

But Junior warcaster in general are not worth it just to run a jack. You need some specific other benefits(like Arcane Shield on a stick). This is because the Power Up mechanic makes extra focus less valuable overall.

The Junior also is forcing you to spend a minimum of another 8 points on jacks(plus the Junior's cost). At which point you have spent almost 40 points on jacks, but a portion of those jacks are not in the battlegroup. yet you have a jack heavy list. Jack heavy lists want jack focused warcaster. But jack focused warcaster usually only give love to their battlegroup jacks, which leaves the Junior's warjacks out in the cold. At which point you probably want to take an actual warjack caster and not have your charger sitting on the junior.

Thats in general, so most factions leave their junior caster at home.

Cygnar is different though. If you're already bringing a charger(and at 8 points its a steal), you might as well pay a little extra to get an Arcane shield and free focus for the charger. Chargers are easily a 10 point light jack for cheaper. And cygnar kinda needs that Arcane Shield on a stick for their infantry to not die horribly.

Yeah, the Cygnar one works nicely with a Charger or Hunter. You don't want to attach a heavy or anything melee to him because he becomes a really obvious target to kill if he has a high-value jack. His relatively tiny control range means he wants to stay close to his jack and a melee jack means he will be up front and likely killed.

Ranged light jacks help him stay back and live while still being able to contribute. Just upkeep Arcane Shield on something, give focus as needed to his jack, and probably hide in some terrain.

He's also good for a Firefly, since there are a few lists where the boost to lightning damage is really handy.

As mentioned, arcane shield and good ranged jacks actually make the generic JM worthwhile.

In general though, bringing melee jacks is hard because of JM survival issues.

I run the Cygnar Journeyman caster with 2 chargers. He can feed both of them the one they need and upkeep arcane shield on something. I usually keep them on a flank. I cant tell you how many casters I have killed with this "unit".