Hey, I can field pMags T4! (35pts)

[pattison]

I recently bought a pMags battlebox mainly for the Mangler (had a 30% discount on the box).
Then I thought - even if I've never taken a look at pMags, why not check it now that I got him for free?
I realized that I'm good for T4 without any probs.
So what do you think about this here?

Magnus the Traitor (*6pts)
* Renegade (5pts)
* Renegade (5pts)
* Mangler (8pts)
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (Leader and 2 Grunts) (6pts)
Steelhead Riflemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Kell Bailoch (2pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)

Thinking about a very aggro playstyle with it, being around 28" from my own table edge at the end of turn1.
Of course only if the situation allows me to do so, but playing it offensively is the basic idea.
Because of this, the part that I'm not really sure about is the Riflemen.
I dig them with Damiano, Money Shot and Deadeye makes a huge difference.
All that pMags can offer them is Snipe. RNG14 is cool and all, but I'm not sure they fit into this meelee-oriented list, given that I cannot really improve their accuracy. With Damiano I shoot into meelee with them regularly, as they still do it with a possible RAT9 +3d6 and POW13 (15 with Ragman). Here they'd be more like Long Gunners. Probably I could shoot stuff effectively if I had Stannis, but I don't want to drop 2 of my solos to support a small firebase... any ideas on that manner?
Thanks!

[CareyBear]

Do they need you to improve their accuracy? Snipe them and they're shooting three 2 man CRAs with rerolls and a 20" threat. It's like three decent handcannons with rerolls for five points. That's decent for picking off enemy support. A six-man CRA is enough to put some damage on something big from range - and probably can shoot into melee against something big that your cav just didn't quite kill.

Whether that's better than six more halberds or two more cav is debatable, of course. I'd use the rifles, just because it adds to the versatility and gives you something other than an oblit or three cav shots against movement denial feats and spells.

[pattison]

Well CRAs from the Riflemen is really great but you can't shoot combined into meelee. That is my problem.
With Damiano I'm used to it that I can even pick stuff out from meelee with them, and their twin CRA starts from POW15.
I think I'll have to try and see how they work with snipe... and with pMags of course.

[sleet01]

It's sure better than 6 points of Trenchers, I can tell you that >_>

[MagnustheJust]

Looks good Pattison...

Although, I am personally a bit squiffy about the lack of Stannis in there. I would drop Gorman and Kell for Stannis if I were running that list, but that's me.

[brotherscott]

That looks like a fun list- I dabbled with the Traitor when Privateer announced his theme list and found it at times to be almost over-powered in some cases. Starting with being able to pre-cast spells on his battlegroup as well as Resourceful just gives him more utility.

Also- and this is just me- I would try to go full on the cavalry and add Stannis, but that is because the whole Steelhead block is pretty effective and utilitarian. In larger point games I would add another minimum unit of Riflemen and fill out the solos, possibly a second unit of Halberdiers.

Another option is to throw in Boomhowler & Co to keep from getting trampled, if you have the models and can spare the points.

Enjoy!

[pattison]

Thank you for the advice lads.

I was also thinking about Stannis, but Gorman's Black Oil is just so good (not to mention that he can help against high ARM - which is kind of difficult for this list as I see it) and Kell pairs up pretty well with Sniped Riflemen.
Saxon is a must, no question about it.

So I think Stannis will be included at 50pts even if Tactician is great. I'm still kind of disappointed though that a plain SHC grunt can Assault and Flank, and Stannis cannot do any of these. Kind of strange if you ask me... But he's helping a lot during about 70% of the matches he's being fielded. But that's with Damiano...

I'll keep the Riflemen now as I really like fluffy idea of the small Rifleman corp becoming 'snipers' with the assistance of Magnus and the leadership of Kell.
Kell Bailoch: "Just watch me and repeat..."
Rifleman grunt: "...duude, what happened to our guns??"


I'm still kind of hesitant to put Blur in turn0 on the Halberdiers or on pMags... I'm used to the Halbies having DEF15 and Tough, so without any buffs they might turn out to be disappointingly fragile. Probably I should start with Blur on them as they're going to be my frontline and keep Mags screened, then put it over to himself around turn3.