A rookies Harkevich list

[Monkeys Blood]

I'm very new to Warmachine but I happen to have come into possession of an odd combo of models that neatly make a 35pt force. Now I'm not much of a min/maxer and only really play friendly games but I'd rather not use an army that was suicidally useless so I'd appreciate any comments

Kommander Harkevich
Black Ivan
Spriggan
5 Man o War Shocktroopera
Widow maker marksman

I do believe thats 35pts and tier 2. So am I on to loser here or could this list get me by?

[Monkeys Blood]

Doh! Forgot to inckude the Destroyer!

[PG_screamindaemon]

Well, you certainly have a lot of armour.

I'd like to see a manhunter in there instead of the marksmen. He can go solo hunting, be a bodyguard to Hark, or help the shocktroopers finish off a jack/beast.

[Monkeys Blood]

Well your first response wasn't 'you're doomed' so thats a good sign in my book! I do like the manhunter, he may come along later. Is he worth losing the tier 2 bonus though?

[John of Arc]

The Marksman is a good solo/UA hunter as well, so I wouldn't break your tier benefits just to fit in a Manhunter. That being said, I'd rather have Sylys Wyshnylyr and a Koldun Lord over the tier 1 and 2 benefits. Hark really likes to hand out his focus, but he only has 4 of it after upkeeps. Black Ivan can get by on the Koldun Lord's single focus thanks to the affinity, and Sylys saves you another focus. The Lord also allows you to cast both upkeeps and still run three jacks on your first turn, so he makes up for losing your tier 2 benefit. To fit them in you'd have to drop something though, which is a hard decision- probably either the Destroyer or Shocktroopers, which would leave you with a 5 point gap to fill, and I don't know how you'd fill it. Maybe full mech + UA, or Great Bears.

I'd say keep the Spriggan and Black Ivan, especially Black Ivan. Shocktroopers give you even more staying power, but you've got that in spades already. Keep them in if you like, but just be aware that if you feel like your list needs more hitting power then Demo Corps could be a good replacement. If you stay with Shocktroopers, I feel like Mechaniks with their UA might be really good for your list. They greatly increase the longevity of our already tough warjacks, and Shocktroopers go from being a roadblock to a wall. They're FAR tougher to remove when you have to deal all 8 damage in one turn- they basically require a Warjack with boosted damage or multiple attacks.

I don't have much experience with Hark, so take what I said with a grain of salt as its all just general advice. I'm sure you could run your list as it is and it would do just fine, I'm just telling you what I would do to make it feel like you're not focus starved. Happy gaming!

[The Buoyancy of Water]

I've found demo corps fit better with Harkevich than shock troopers. To get the most out of STs they need to be shield walling, which means they won't keep up with the faster jacks. Demo corps can at least run each turn and make a very good second wave. And they're a good Fortune target as well due to backswing

Otherwise, pretty solid list by the looks of things!

Cheers,
Dave

[Monkeys Blood]

Thanks for the help everyone. TBH the shocktroopers are there purely because I own 'em... nothing clever or tactical. I think I'd rather have demo corps too. I'll give the list a run out and see how it handles.