Ravyn: 15pts & 25pts. A beginner's list.

[Eleven]

Hi,

I have just put in an order for a bunch of RoS units, some of which I have already painted. Here's the list:

Ravyn, Eternal Light
Manticore
Hydra
10 Houseguard Riflemen
Riflemen Officer and maybe Standard Bearer (not clear if it's included)
6 House Shyeel Battle Mages
Arcanist
Ghost Sniper
House Shyeel Magister
Nayl
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios
Soulless Escort
10 Mage Hunter Strikeforce
Mage Hunter Commander

This adds up to roughly 47 points which is quite alot relative to my friends. I have convinced about 5-6 friends of mine to have a go at Warmachine with me (moving from WH40k) and most of them will have 15pts armies up by may. We just ordered some MKII rule books and we're going to have a go at playing some games... which leaves me with two things to do, first make a list or two and second paint the units in that list.

I want to systematically paint up a few units bit by bit as I move towards 25, 35, and 50 pts games. Basically I want to create 2-3 15pts lists and one 25pts list with which I can get a feel for Warmachine while keeping me interested.

Here are my lists, please take them apart and criticize them.

Ravyn
Manticore
Houseguard Riflemen (10/10)
Riflemen Officer and Standard Bearer
Arcanist
Ghost Sniper

The Idea is to keep things simple in this list and maximize ranged damage while trying to keep the enemies at bay with the Manticore backed up by the Arcanist.

Ravyn
Manticore
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (10/10)
Mage Hunter Commander
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

With this second list I was thinking of trying out the assasination aspect of Warmachine by maximising on assassin units.

Ravyn
Hydra
Arcanist
House Shyeel Battle Mages (6)
Houseguard Riflemen (6/10)
Soulless Escort

The last 15pts list is to try out the Hydra and the Battle Mages.

Ravyn
Manticore
Hydra
Arcanist
Houseguard Riflemen (10/10)
Riflemen Officer and Standard Bearer
Soulless Escort
Ghost Sniper

What do you think of the 25pts list?

I'm thinking of getting Eyriss and a Mage Hunter Assassin in the future. Are there any other units I should be looking at?

[Eleven]

Um... yeah so... after all the feedback I've decided to go with the first list. I have to paint up the Ghost Sniper, Riflemen + UA and the Arcanist unless I hear any objections. Are the Riflemen better than the MHSF with UA at small points? How about the Battle Mages? I don't want to paint up everything at once since I'm doing my best to paint at a high standard which is time consuming. Around which unit should I build my army: MHSF, Battle Mages or HGRM?

[Intelligence3]

The MHSF are likely going to be more flexible than the Riflemen, and they are Tier foundations if you eventually go that direction.