List advice for a Noob!

[CaptainCake]

Hi, I am very new to Warmachine and have only just ordered my first few models. I have decided to start a Retribution of Scyrah Army and consequently bought; Ravyn, a Chimera, a Gorgon and a Griffon. As these are all light jacks I realise that at a later date I will need to get a couple of heavy jacks to bulk out my army, as well as another Warcaster to accompany them. My last comment is what I would like advice on, when I buy them, what heavy jacks should I purchase and with what Warcaster.
(Note- I am open to troop suggestions rather than jacks, and also I am NOT looking to buy more than 3-4 things, so no huge shopping lists please!)

(Note2- This is reposted in this thread at the advice of another Forum member as they said it would be more relevant)

[seraphius]

with ravyn you want to get

Jack: discordia
Unit: mage hunter strike force with ua

Reason. ravyn caters to shoory units, and the mhsf is as good as it gets and can win you the game in your turn one (if you go second) if the opponent is not aware of what they can do.
discordia is very good due to the spray and the imprint .

If you want another caster that uses much of the same units so you don`t have to spend so much cash, i`d suggest Lord arcanist ozzyan.
with him you`d want to get
Jack: hypnos
Unit: the same mhsf you already bought

Reason.

Keeping with the shooty theme, he makes hard shooting even more brutal and he`s jack hypnos can shut down another warjack / beast.

and if you want to expand further (to keep it to 3-4 items) The stormfall archers work really well with both casters and both jacks.

[CaptainCake]

Awesome. Don't both the Hypnos and the Discordia have to be used with a specific Caster (namely, the ones you mentioned) So to use them I would have to get the Warcaster associated with them.

[Kurami]

Nothing forces you to use a character jack with a specific caster.. They can be used by all, casters.. You can however get bonuses if the warcaster has a bond with the warjack in question..

[CaptainCake]

Oh, ok that's my bad, but I guess it makes sense. So discordia would work equally aswell with Ravyn (with her feats) as the named Caster (dont have name on top of head)

[NEoJoe]

I answered this in the new player section. Go look at what I said

[Lord Sessadore]

Yeah, Discordia doesn't have any rules that depend on being with Rahn (whose jack she technically is). Ironically, Rahn has less use for Discordia than everyone else, and everyone loves her.

The suggestions that have been made are good ones. You could run Discordia with Ossyan as well if you don't want to buy Hypnos. Discordia is awesome. An alternate unit to the MHSF if you want to tread a different path would be the Dawnguard Invictors. Whichever unit you get, make sure you get the unit attachment!

[ucfan34]

The aforementioned suggestions are good. Unless your budget is SUPER tight, go ahead and assume if you're buying a unit you're also buying the UA at the same time.

Since you've got Ravyn already start with the MHSF+UA & Discordia. Ossyan is probably the most natural progression to another warcaster from Ravyn, but really pick up whatever you think looks cool.

If its Ossyan get Hypnos & Invictors or Halberdiers.

If it's Rahn get a Phoenix & Battle Mages.

If it's Vyros get a Phoenix / Banshee & Sentinels.

If it's Kaelyssa get a Banshee & Halberdiers or Sentinels.

If you want to throw solos in there...

Destor Thane - Really good solo. Works well with just about all of our casters in some way. Great way to learn the cav rules.
Magister - Versitle solo that lots of people love. I like him, but my mileage doesn't seem to get as far as others. Probably a playstyle thing.
Mage Hunter Assassin - Probably the the most recognized Ret solo. Run them in pairs.

Epic Eyriss should probably also be at the top of your buy list, but I'd recommend starting without her. Play a bunch of games, and then add her later. It gets really easy to want to put her in every list once you start using her.

Lastly, remember I'm just some dude on the internet. Do whatever makes you happy!

[Fateweaver]

As a new Retribution player, and not having any prior experience against them either, the replies to this post have been very helpful. So far I've only purchased the summer sale bundle, Ravyn and Wishnailer, and have been contemplating what units I want to try to bring things up to 35 and 50, as well as getting some extra options. I'm very active in my forum lurking, reading up on what works with what, so threads like this are a great resource to me, even if ultimately I make the decision to buy what looks coolest (which is how I collected a ton of Legion, Menoth, and Mercs). Think I may pick up Sentinels+UA next. They look cool, and they're just slightly less of a dent on my wallet than Halberdiers, which is the other unit I was eyeballing.

[PG_Emberwild]

Sentinels and Halberdier are similar but perform very different rolls for a melee unit. The sentinels are the get up in your face and kill thing unit while the Halberdiers are a more defensive unit biding time and protecting your ranged units until they pounce and kill stuff.

[Lord Sessadore]

Another fantastic solo no one has mentioned: Arcanists. I usually try to out one per heavy in my lists. They are one of our two focus efficiency models, and really about our only jack support outside of jack marshals.

[CaptainCake]

Thanks for all this advice, it really helps! Now I just need my stuff to arrive so I can paint it, Im thinking of doing a white scheme with green 'energy' instead of the commonly accepted blue.

[CaptainCake]

If its Ossyan get Hypnos & Invictors or Halberdiers.

If it's Rahn get a Phoenix & Battle Mages.

If it's Vyros get a Phoenix / Banshee & Sentinels.

If it's Kaelyssa get a Banshee & Halberdiers or Sentinels.

Would the Daemon work with any of these, as from the description an Battle Collage the Vortex cannon (namely its effect) seems very good, especially around units.

[CaptainCake]

Thanks NEoJoe, I read your response on my original post, the link was very useful

[PG_Dawnlord Ed]

The Daemon is a solid jack, but it suffers from good-but-not-as-good-as syndrome. Basically, our other heavy lifters fill the generic roles better.

Now, bakaryu has been playing a pVyros tier that uses Daemons marshalled to Sentinels. It seems quite good. However, unless you know you'll be up against easy to hit infantry models, the Daemon probably won't do for you what a Phoenix or Banshee or Manticore will.

[Lord Sessadore]

I think the Daemon's strength is that it is our most marshal-able heavy - single shot that generally doesn't need more than a single boost, and its melee potential is not great so you're not really losing out there by marshaling. Put it on the Sentinel officer and you can have some pretty good success with it.

[CaptainCake]

That's good, so basically getting a phoenix or other may be more versatile than a Daemon, but when against large units it can be an indispensable tool. For those who are interested, I have started a more detailed discussion on the Ret board about the Daemon, please leave any advice you may have if you can spare the time

[ucfan34]

Another fantastic solo no one has mentioned: Arcanists.

I feel great shame calling myself a Ret player and not mentioning the Arcanist. Playing at anything above battle box you should have at least 1 Arcanist.

[Lord Sessadore]

I feel great shame calling myself a Ret player and not mentioning the Arcanist. Playing at anything above battle box you should have at least 1 Arcanist.

It's kind of interesting, a lot of people forget to mention them when recommending things to new players. I think maybe it's because a lot of us are so used to just having them all the time that it feels like they're not a "choice" that needs to be mentioned, per se.

[ucfan34]

Yeah, that is definately the case. I add 2 Arcanists to all of my lists before anything else, and then if I do wind up needing a point I'll look into dropping one.