Friend getting into cygnar brand new players a few questions

[jkendle88]

My girlfriend and I are just getting into warmachine and are going protectorate and cryx, my roommate wants to join us too and he likes cygnar. Each of us has purchased a 25 pt. army to start with after we are done with some battlebox games.

I believe he purchased the cygnar battlebox, commander nemo, a journeyman warcaster, a unit of stormblades with no attachments, and a unit of gunmages with no attachments.

My question is would those be good units to start out with and learn the game with?

[A8mew]

I would add a Squire to that for him, and a gun mage UA (to learn marshal rules), but it looks solid enough to me for learning the game.

[tankrandall]

Not a fan of the battle box but stormblades and gun mages see a lot of action. make sure he at least gets the gun mage UA.

[Doctor Lucky]

I'm fairly new myself so don't consider this expert advice, but I'd say yes and no. Indeed, very helpful.

I think the units themselves are good choices with Nemo1, but the attachments will make a big difference. The battlebox is not bad, but other than the Lancer (arcnode ahoy) the Charger and Ironclad wouldn't be the first choices for me at 25 points. Both are still jacks that will be useful though so it's not money down the drain. Just looking at the short term I think one of the more expensive heavies (plastic kit, so if magnetized there's a bit of variety to be had there) and the UAs would be a better choice. And a squire. Always a squire.

[Hint of Insanity]

Pstryker (the battlebox caster) gets a lot of good use from the gun mages and the stormblades, Nemo not so much since he wants jacks. Next purchases are definitely squire, the Gunmage UA, and Rupert carvolo piper of ord (rhupert is great for Menoth too if you start running infantry). From there if he wants to get more Jacks go for Ol' Rowdy and a Stormclad. Yes they are more expensive points wise, but Cygnar usually only wants to run no more than 2 heavy jacks and they want those jacks to be the best they can be.

If he wants more infantry tell him to look at the merc units Boom Howler & Co, Cylena and the Nyss Hunters, and aiyana and holt are all good options. If he decides to go for a more shooty army then Aiyana and Holt will turn into a must against you and any menoth opponent so that he can make his guns magical so that he can shoot your jacks.

If he must stay in faction then the Black 13th and the Stormblade UA and Weapon attachment are really the only units I would suggest for him at this point. Other than the gun mages, Most of the Cygnar infantry units only work well with specific casters so I would hold off on buying more faction infantry until he has a better grasp on what casters he wants to play. STAY AWAY from anything trencher related

If he wants solos Arlen Strangeways, Gorman de Wolf, Eiryss (either verson), and the Stormcallers are all solid. If he ever picks up the War Casters Kara Sloan, Seige Brisbank, or Allistar Caine then he will also want to grab the goblin Reinholt. Solos are nice because they can add some new and fun elements to your army and do not cost much $$ wise.

Finally, every Cygnar caster is very playable and fun and most all are inexpensive and with what he has so far, i would suggest Epic Stryker if he wants another caster.

[Zakmahr]

As a new player myself, I can say that the battlebox is awesome for teaching new players the basic rules of the game.
My advice pretty much mirrors what has already been posted - pick up a Squire and the Gun Mage UA.
The Squire is just an awesome attachment to Stryker. The Gun Mage UA will definately help the unit overall (in addition he is a Jack Marshall).

The only thing I would add is get as much experience playing with the pieces he has already purchased before going out and adding a whole bunch more to his army. The models you have listed pretty much cover the spectrum (melee, jacks and ranged) and are a great basis for an army.