Bokur or Manhunter and wardog?

[Gedaning]

This is the army I got to run at my gaming shop All things fun.

Army: Sorscha's Winter guard and Co. 35
Type: Duel (1 caster, 35pts)
Points: 35
Forward Kommander Sorscha (-6pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* Destroyer (9pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (3pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)

I think I'm going to at least try it out complete like this for the steamroller tournament at my local game shop All things Fun on the 30th just to see how it all plays together. Now I have only played twice with some of this army (minus destroyer and Great Bears which I think hurt it a lot I ended up wining one and loosing one, I hate stealth) and before that just a few demo(battle box) games; So I don't really know how it is going to play but I do think its a solid, if straightforward, list.

However, the only thing I'm not sure about is the Bokur, I like that he can block some ranged shots mostly that would have hit the warcaster(his client) and occasionally maybe another model, and it has similar stats to a cygnar light jack(-1 spd +1 armor and the rat does not matter though of course many less damage boxes). As well as a nice client bonus if you stay close to the warcaster and the charge attack is not bad. However, I don't know if that's enough, I have little doubt that It can come in handy some times mostly to block some ranged attacks and to offer some support when they try to assassinate my warcaster in melee. But if my opponent really wants to assassinate me at ranged then I fell they could just focus fire down the bokur so it would maby save me a round or 2 if i realty lucky which I guess is a long time in warmachine but I don't know.

On the other hand for those 3 points I could get something like a manhunter and a wardog and have a little more offensive power as well as some protection at closer ranges(I considered taking Yuri of the axe but I want to stay away from character models for now because I have a lot of characters in this list, which is also all I have, and I want to eventually be able to participate in an escalation event).

So I'm wandering what people think, should I keep the bokur or replace it for a manhunter and a wardog(or a possible third option). Of course this will depend on how this performs in the tournament and other games but I just wanted to get people's opinions.

[hoya4life3381]

The way I think about it is this way:

What are the three ways Sorscha can die? She can die to melee, spells, and ranged attacks.

With Sorscha having 19 inch threat range, she should be able to pick her melee battles at will. You should be only charging in during very favorable matchups. If you roll badly, that's the fault of the dice and not your decision. If it's a desperation charge with an unfavorable matchup and you charge in, well then there wasn't much choice since the game was at stake.

How does Sorscha die to spellslinging? I tend to group "killer" spells into two groups. There's the Scourge/Tempest kind that are super expensive often costing 6 focus (4 to cast, 1 boost to hit, 1 boost to damage) and knock you down for an easy death. Then there's the spam kind like Stygian Abyss or Razor Wind which cost 4-5 focus (2 to cast, 1 to hit, and 1 to wound). If you're opponent can do the first expensive type on your caster, you probably lost the game irregardless. The second type can be surived with Sorscha's actually good defense and pretty high wounds. It's also rare that the opponent will say use 4-5 focus to target your caster for an attack other then a full assasination run.

Sorscha IMO can die to ranged attacks much easier then the first two. The reason is that she is an aggresive caster and has an aggresive feat and spell list. She needs to be up close to get maximum coverage for her feat (12 inch control area) and also close to her jacks to cast Boundless Charge on them. In these scenarios, you will do your best to block LOS to Sorscha with WG.

However, without clouds (which seem pretty easily ignored nowadays) there's still a possibility that the opponent coudl kill a few DEF 17 and tough models to get a shot or two at Sorscha. These one or two shots particularly high POW ones are worth taking at her as opposed to the jacks. Even though they might not kill her, they can put her at a disadvantage and on the defensive. These types of shots can be stopped with the Bokur and is why I think he is valuable. Oh and taking an Eiryss bolt too....how could I forget that!

[studderingdave]

manhunter and dog for sure.

[zombie-a-go-go]

Bokur for sure.

The first time he stops a pEiryss Disruptor Bolt, you'll know why.

[lce]

war dog & WG field gun

[galonso]

I would keep the Bokur.