Expansion

[Stuh42l]

I wanted to get the pulse on some other Merc players opinions about expanding my new army. I noticed there isn't a 'buyer's guide' like on many other factions, which is very understandable given the fragmented and granular nature of playing Mercs as a faction, but now I need a bit of advice.

So I am getting into Mercs after purchasing the online Summer bundle as well as adding Kell, Gorman, and Saxon to keep my options open while remaining in tier at 25 pts with pMagnus. I will eventually like to play eMagnus, McBain, and Damiano as my first caster expansions. These decisions are totally based on the fact that I like the fluff and idea of these casters, and xMagnus will work with my extensive Skorne army.

Of course, I am immediately thinking of what to buy next to expand to 35pts. Ideally, keeping in the pMagnus tier would be fun, but that might be a bit shortsighted as I would need a larger stable to build lists for all 4 of those casters. My current 25pt list is pMag, max riflemen, mangler, renegade x 2, and 2 tier solos for flavor.

Anyway, my current ideas are as follows:

Adding max Steelhead Halbs for 6 points and either 1) adding Orin Midwinter with a 3rd solo for 35 pts, or 2) adding Stannis with the 2 previous solo's.

I could also go a 3rd route, which would see me getting Croe's or Boomhowlers etc. instead of the Steelheads, but I really don't know enough yet about the faction to see if that is a good idea or a mistake at this model count.

Stannis seems really useful for allowing my Halbs to charge though each other and the riflemen to shoot through them. He is also a commander, which coming from Skorne and using Magnus, I can see quite a bit of use for. However, he is 4 points, which seems steep for a single model.

Getting Midwinter now is certainly the cheaper option, and I am sure I will eventually get as much use out of both solos. This allows me to play in tier with all 4 solos for some serious solo action. Though I am worried that my steelheads may get tripped up by each other.

Thanks in advance to any thoughts you can give me, I am really liking the massive change in playstyle that Mercs are offering so far.

[The Buoyancy of Water]

I'm trying to start off by buying a 35pt list for each of the four contracts, keeping character restrictions in mind. This way I think I'll have a good range of models to choose from to start making lists. Just looking in the Merc book and deciding which units would be best felt a bit overwhelming, so I think making some lists you like and buying towards them might be better

Cheers,
Dave

[magnus the traitor]

Steelheads are cool, work with both Magnus and damiano well and help fulfill tier reqs. All while making you rifeman work harder for you. But steelhead bricks are a slippery slope, it usually takes a full accompaniment for max utility cav Stannis the whole shebang.
Boomie works for both Magnus lists, but are more importantly one of the best speed bumps in the game.
My vote: solos first. Cheap and leave your options open. Then maybe think how far down steelhead road you wanna go. But boom should be high on your list.

I literally bought the pmagnus box set one week, then boomie two weeks later. I wouldn't change a thing if I could go back. Ha

[MagnustheJust]

You really can not go wrong at this point, so long as you make choices that will give you options for both theme forces and both the Four-Star and Highborne contracts.

Having said that, I would not get Croe's Cutthroats just yet - save them for later. Boomhowler & Co., Stannis, and Orin Midwinter would give you a nice amount of options. Also, Rhupert Carvolo - the Piper of Ord... He is a must have!! Most Mercenary players would agree that the Piper is both our biggest go to/crutch option currently available!! Oh... Harlan Versh is also a really good option as far as solos go.

[MagnustheJust]

Oh yeah... a bit of a tip to save yourself some headache when assembling the Halbies.

Lay out all the pieces for each figure, and go the assembly line route when putting them together. If you look closely at the pic, you will see that a few of the Halberdiers have a wider grip on their halberd than the other do...

[Stuh42l]

Thanks for the responses.

I went ahead and picked up Orin and full Halbies. That will give me 35 t4 pMag until Stannis comes in to solo swap a bit and expand to Daimiano and EMags from there.

After that it will most likely be full Cav, Boomhowlers, and Alexia.

I did get to play a game where pMags backstabbed with his shotgun. Always a good day when cool stuff like that happens.

[MagnustheJust]

I did get to play a game where pMags backstabbed with his shotgun. Always a good day when cool stuff like that happens.

It's thing of beauty, ain't it?!?

[HeadHunter]

Lay out all the pieces for each figure, and go the assembly line route when putting them together. If you look closely at the pic, you will see that a few of the Halberdiers have a wider grip on their halberd than the other do...

I noticed the same thing with Forge Guard - not all arms are interchangeable with all bodies. It's helpful to get them all matched up and then assemble - otherwise one might find a body with arms that don't fit right.

[Nuriochi_sol]

Glad to see you've made your decision and went with it. Thought I'd share my approach.

I divided the Mercs into my own categories, based in large part on the contracts. We have pirate Mercs, Rhulic Mercs, character-fluffy Mercs (Nyss, Boomhowlers, etc), and standard nameless sellsword Mercs (mostly Steelheads). I opted to go with the character-fluffy Mercs and build out a few choice units/models that were must-haves for my play style (Forge Guard, for example).

This may have only worked for me, since I play Cygnar and already owned the units that can do double-duty (Precursors, Gun Mages, Trenchers, Long Gunners, Sword Knights). I guess I'm seconding some of the advice here - remember what works with what contracts and see where you can get the most bang for your buck.

Sounds like Steelheads are your best option for moving forward and you've got the idea down pat. Welcome aboard and may many victories for coin be yours!

[MagnustheJust]

I noticed the same thing with Forge Guard - not all arms are interchangeable with all bodies. It's helpful to get them all matched up and then assemble - otherwise one might find a body with arms that don't fit right.

Yup!! But the Halbies are a little harder to tell at first.