A Change of Pace

A couple of weeks have passed since NM. In that time, I've tried out a group of casters I have played fairly little before, gone for some crazy builds and just had fun exploring the other options available to Cygnar. I've looked at Kraye, Haley1, Stryker2 and Haley3. I even had a very short game with Nemo2! 

I would love to explore all of these casters, and more (Siege, Stryker3 and even Caine1!) in detail but as always, time is of the essence. There are upcoming tournaments to prepare for and I feel I need to make a decision. While it's not final, I've come to the conclusion that the casters I want to play in my next couple of tournaments are Haley3 and Stryker2. 

Haley3 because she's just so different to anything I've seen in Warmachine. I love how she plays and she's super-intense on the clock so I'm hoping that learning to play her well will also affect my decision-making and time-prioritization skills. 

Stryker2 because I just don't get him and I'm convinced he is powerful. He lacks so many of the aspects I love about Cygnar, but at the same thing he brings so many things to the table that no-one else can: Positive Charge is a spell that basically any other caster would totally love to have. Imagine Haley2 with it for example (I wouldn't trade Time Bomb for it though, in my opinion the best spell in our entire faction)! 

Time for some lists! My initial thoughts are that Haley3 will be the generalist and Stryker will handle ARM-skew that I don't think Haley has enough punch to handle. She's great, but Trenchers, Blazers, Eiryss and Storm Lances are not super-effective points vs serious arm skew lists. I anticipate that both lists will be revised over time but at least this is a starting point:

:: Haley3 ::

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 10

:: Stryker2 ::

Lord Commander Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Ol' Rowdy - PC: 9
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 3
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 2
- Charger - PC: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
- Sword Knight Officer & Standard - PC: 2
- Stormclad - PC: 10
- Stormclad - PC: 10

A couple of words on the lists: I've tried to get as many bodies as I can with Haley3 to abuse the cloud wall, temporal flux and revive. Whereas Haley2 and Caine2 thrive with tons of utility models in my experience, I believe that Haley3 is better off with just having more meat for the grind. Eiryss2 might seem like overkill given repudiate. I've considered Eiryss1 instead as one of my main worries with the list is certain casters camping focus like crazy to become a huge problem (Butcher3, first and foremost) and she solves this as well as Eiryss2, but Eiryss2 actually shooting off upkeeps allows Haley3 to spend her focus on "useful stuff" instead. Lastly, Eiryss2 can be a really powerful cop-out against jack-skew lists for example by simply running up and denying my opponent focus allocation for a turn. Sweet!

Stryker2 is largely influenced by his intended roll vs arm-skew. I also imagine he'll be my Legion-drop and that is asking quite a bit of him, hence the jacks. Charger is my go-to for cover when that is needed, Ol' Rowdy is invaluable vs melee-dangers and hits like a truck with bond + positive charge whereas the Stormclads are the ones to reach out deep behind enemy lines. I've tried getting as many bodies as I can into this list and reversed my initial decision to include Corbeau as I believe even the lowly Sword Knight models will quickly find themselves become invaluable with flank and positive charge, which combine to give them an outrageous damage output. My main worry with this list is whether Charger + Corbeau + Reinholdt is better than Ol' Rowdy or perhaps a Stormclad, but as always, playtesting is needed.

Lots of painting to be done as well but that's a good thing as it expands my collection. I only lack a few models before I don't need to prox anymore. I'm really looking forward to giving these 2 new (for me) casters a go and hope I'll find it rewarding.

If all else fails, I'm confident in my NM pairing of Haley2/Caine2 to handle most usual suspects out there ;)