Getting back to Cygnar/Stormblades and you.

[Traceofvoich in Linden]

Well all of my gaming buddies have always told me that the best faction I run is the Golden swans. After reading Mk II it just to tempting not to get back to the blue guys as they have such awesome weapons..


So Here is a question,

2 units of Stormblades, the UA and a stormclad heavy. This seems these units could provide a solid core to just about any caster you wan't to put on the board. Put Arcane Shield on both the units for ARM 18 and send them in...

I like P-Caine and P-Stryker but maybe that is cause I am old school..

Great melee option and build the rest of your army oh say... 35 points with other shooty goodness...

Your thoughts??

[knight_actual]

bring the piper - stormblades really hate inhospitable ground.

[CeltKhan]

And, obviously, you'll need jr and be restricted to two 'casters if the twin ArcShield is an integral part of the build.

[fildrigar]

I'd aim to put the Arc shield on the unit with UA only, that's what most opponents will focus on. Keep the second unit off to one side or the other, and keep the SClad between them. Then if you need to send it off after something, you always have a unit of SBlades there to comfort it.

[Mutton]

Well, my rule of thumb is that if you're running the UA, you better either have Rangers, TB, or Deadeye.

[MoonFever]

in Mk I, I found Stormblades really only worked with Caine, Haley, or eHaley (temporal acceleration and Deadeye)

Now in mk II, they are cheaper, and in turn, fieldable. BUT, their melee threat range is still short, and their ranged attack is unreliable because of low RAT. They still need support. They aren't durable to run as a roadblock, and their damage output is enough to cause opponents to focus on them early.

I've tried them in mk II in a couple of lists, and the free focus to the Stormclad is very nice. Arcing lightning is nice. But, honestly, I've been eyeing Boomhowler for my melee component lately, since they're more durable, and can dish out just as much damage with CMA's. AND they can't be trampled.

Beyond that, I tend to play shooty, so the Precursors tend to be my choice for in faction melee unit since with the UA, my gunners can shoot through them.

Not saying they can't be useful, but like stated above, they need that bit of support.

[GunMageinTraining]

Stryker's great, EQ their shooting targets, Snipe em for greater range (combined with EQ), feat, extra AS in form of JR, it plays very well.

pCaine can snipe and deadeye, which are both good, and covers most of their weaknesses by himself, anti-incorp high yield attacks with his feat.

Haley's obviously work too as does Darth.

[Mar]

Beyond that, I tend to play shooty, so the Precursors tend to be my choice for in faction melee unit since with the UA, my gunners can shoot through them.



Do most gunlines run Precursors to slow the enemy down?

[Traceofvoich in Linden]

Good stuff....

Thanks for the tip about the piper...Did not think of that one...
Yes will run a jwc always and like these guys with pstryker. what else would you want to cast arcane shield on with these units as your front line fighters?

I need to study the P.Knights..I liked them in Mk1.....

I agree with the placement of them with the stormclad in the center..

[iksander]

Good stuff....

Thanks for the tip about the piper...Did not think of that one...
Yes will run a jwc always and like these guys with pstryker. what else would you want to cast arcane shield on with these units as your front line fighters?

I need to study the P.Knights..I liked them in Mk1.....

I agree with the placement of them with the stormclad in the center..

As a voice of dissension, except when facing an enemy with a ton of AoEs or troops with low pow ranged weapons that don't ignore defensive buffs, I don't cast arc shield on one hit box troops.

Its wasted focus and ARM. Anything that can charge will kill your Stormblades anyway. I'd rather burn the focus on upping the Stormblades pathetic threat range by casting Snipe on the unit with Stryker. RAT 5 is pretty balls, but they are Pow 14s with a 15 inch threat range when sniped. Coupled with the fact that its dog simple to up the Stormblades to a respectable RAT 7 with Rangers, it's pretty simple to learn to love the gun.

[Keltheos]

Widowmakers.

Anything that can output like a Widowmaker makes Stormblades essentially minis case ballast for me. I'd rather run Stormguard for the same cost (similar melee damage output, reach vs. the unreliable ranged attack).

One thing the Stormblades lost that put them up there for me was Fearless. Without it...

[Ysthrall]

sorry Keltheos I disagree.

If you're going to use Widowmakers as an argument against stormblades, then they apply vs Stormguard as well. Or to put it another way:

All single wound def<16 infantry without stealth are complete rubbish, cos widowmakers can kil them all easily.

I don't run into the snipers very often, and when I do, I avoid them or deal with them.

Anyway, to the OP:

Long gunners. With Stryker or Caine, these guys are still as nasty as they ever were. I can't comment on other melee units, as I run very few, but Ol' Rowdy is a characterful and effective accompaniement to Stryker.

[Traceofvoich in Linden]

Well as a Khador player widows are not all that.. Yes they are RAT 7 (9) if they don't move but Pow 10 guns hitting My SBs with Arcane shield on them makes them ARM 18. and they are only 4 to a unit. Remember I spoke earlier about bringing it big with two units of SBs and the UA with a StormClad. My philosphy is if you are primarly a melee jack or troop you are either running or fighting which means the Widows might get two turns before I am enganged and I haven't even talked about using terrain to block LOS..

I do like the point about the the P knights. I have always liked those guys! Reading the new card on them last night got me thinking about using these guys as a melee option with PCaine. I am big on Balance in my armies so a little Melee option with the shootyness of a Caine list might work very well..

[phreaker187]

Widowmakers.

Anything that can output like a Widowmaker makes Stormblades essentially minis case ballast for me. I'd rather run Stormguard for the same cost (similar melee damage output, reach vs. the unreliable ranged attack).

One thing the Stormblades lost that put them up there for me was Fearless. Without it...


Without it... they only have Command 10 and they get to reroll it with the UA.

Seriously though, if there are widowmakers/other snipe units on the table and you wander your Arcane Shielded Blades right in front of them you are a bad player and will probably lose anyway. You move your lancer or AOE's over to the widowmakers and crush them. Then feel free to get the SB up in front again and crush some skulls.

[vintersbastard]

Or use the Rangers to hunt those Widowmakers out of the wood.

Or you could try Blur + Dirge of Mists on the Blades, and giggle while they try to hit Def 16.
(Admittedly, this is probably more fun on the Rangers, which get to Def 18, and can run 14" to engage something while causing Terror.)

[Higgen]

Blades are Def 12 now. Widowmakers standing still will still slaughter them. However, unless the DEF is abnormally high or the unit has stealth, all one wound infantry are slaughtered by Widowmakers. It's their thing.

[vintersbastard]

Blades are Def 12 now. Widowmakers standing still will still slaughter them. However, unless the DEF is abnormally high or the unit has stealth, all one wound infantry are slaughtered by Widowmakers. It's their thing.

If you do the math, you'll notice that I took that into account. (Base Def 12 + 3 from Blur + 1 from Dirge of Mists = 16)
It's not to great against effective Rat 9 shooter's, but it's better than leaving them completely defenseless. Addmittedly, Heroic Call probably will help more.

I just ran the math, the probability for a Stormblade to die is ca. 58% with Dirge of Mists, ca. 48% with Heroic Call. But it will be KD in the latter case.

[Arkady]

Well as a Khador player widows are not all that.. Yes they are RAT 7 (9) if they don't move but Pow 10 guns hitting My SBs with Arcane shield on them makes them ARM 18.
Um, what are you talking about? "As a Khador player", you should probably re-read your cards and note the Sniper rule.

[Garath]

I had some merry time with Stormblades...and they out perform Stormguard in almost any case,nowadays. I hate stormguard....

Blades aren't the point sink they used to be.On the other hand they aren't a front line unit either.
Blades should be used as a counter-attack force.UA gives them assault, Stryker and Haley give them the best protection out there.

Here's a wild tought: with Caine and Stryker give the blades Blur-it makes them DEF 16.


As form widow makers,a different story altogether. That 4 models are probably the single unit in the game you can field with any caster,require no support-and will kill something 90% of the time.

This last phrase is also defined as cheese.


However,my community is small(4 of us) so I do face widow makers quite often.Some of my solutions to those sniper wielding apes;

- Black 13th
-Run up a storm lance and hit it with chain lightning so it bounces of onto a widow maker(and position the rest of the unit for a charge next turn)
-Deploy your infantry away from enemy cover if you can help it
-storm smiths
-assault trenchers

[Traceofvoich in Linden]

My bad on the Widows forgot about the 1 auto...

Still can deal with them. I like the idea of stromblades being a sort of counter assault team..

[MadJack]

As a voice of dissension, except when facing an enemy with a ton of AoEs or troops with low pow ranged weapons that don't ignore defensive buffs, I don't cast arc shield on one hit box troops.

Its wasted focus and ARM. Anything that can charge will kill your Stormblades anyway. I'd rather burn the focus on upping the Stormblades pathetic threat range by casting Snipe on the unit with Stryker. RAT 5 is pretty balls, but they are Pow 14s with a 15 inch threat range when sniped. Coupled with the fact that its dog simple to up the Stormblades to a respectable RAT 7 with Rangers, it's pretty simple to learn to love the gun.
Well, now that depends. I agree with most casters, but if you're running pStryker, then I'd give them AS even if you're not facing AoEs and low POW ranged weapons. The turn before you expect them to get charged, you pop his feat. ARM 23 means that, even though they're single wound infantry, they're going to be hard to kill unless the unit charging them has anatomical precision. That means enough of them will generally still be alive after the charge to cut their enemy to pieces.

[PBear]

I'm becoming a big SB fan. They are not a panacea though. Their relatively slow and squishy. But they make for it by being excellent at killing things in melee--even heavies--and being pretty cheap.

Well, my rule of thumb is that if you're running the UA, you better either have Rangers, TB, or Deadeye.
That's a good rule of thumb. Without a RAT booster you aren't getting too much from assault and the aoe. For +2 points you can just get 6 more SBs instead.

[Jiub]

I like Stormblades with Haleys and Strykers. I don't bother with them otherwise.