Nechriah's "Fun and Exciting!" Cygnar Blog

[tarzen]

Yeah, the hunter is useful in my particular playstyle with my JR. Others have varying degrees of success with him. Just don't commit him too far up front, as full AD is a bad thing usually.

The long arm is the thing. With snipe it's obscene, same with deadeye. The main thing to remember though is that it is the definition of a glass cannon. Super super low arm and not enough boxes to take a hit. Keep it out of melee and he'll do you well, or plop him into it if you need to, but with his aiming bonus, and boosted AP shot, he can hit most anything and will kill most non casters, while wrecking many lights on a good roll.

For me, I'd stick with the haley list for a bit. Shes's the queen of mean. Great range, fantastic spell list, and is all about the denial.

TB stops charges, and wrecks banes. Plus it's a great boost to your melee and ranged attacks. Oddly enough, I use it offensively more than 90% of my castings, rather than turtle with it, but that could just be my playstyle.

Chainlightning is just so wonderful. Can't see something you want dead? hiding with stealth? High def? Auto hit it by shooting your own low def models in the backa nd watching it bounce to where you need it. Classic example would be my disrupted lancer looking at eyriss (who had disrupted me the turn before) and keil bollock hiding in some woods. I couldn't hit them with melee, nor could I reach them with straight spells so I advanced my lancer to just outside 2 inches away and chain lightninged him in the back. 4's to hit, 2 bounces later and 2 dead solos=) Oh, and I didn't scratch the paint on my lancer.

I'VE STARTED TO REALLY LOVE SCRAMBLE, BUT i MUST ADMIT i OFTEN OVERLOOK ITS USEFULNESS IN MY ATTEMPTS TO PLAY HARD AND FAST. Gah, caps, sorry, too lazy to retype.

Deadeye makes haley a wonderul addition to trenchers, long gunners, gun mages, hunters, sentinals, chargers, heck, anything with a gun, including stormblades if the need arises.

And her feat allows for a first turn win with trenchers. 2 pow 24's turn one from trenchers with a total threat range of 40" in from your board edge.

Anyways, add that to the fact that she has good def, set defense, and can counter spells cast near her, as well as TB means she plays incredibly defensive too.

[Nechriah]

Oh yeah, Haley is quite simply fantastic. Stryker was the caster I learnt to play with, and still remains one of my favourite characters in the story, but Haley can do so many wonderful things that he can't. Like Temporal Barrier - one of the best uses I've found for it is to cast it, pop her feat, then team up with a Journeyman to shoot something - usually the enemy warcaster - with FOUR hand cannon shots.

Scramble's a tricky spell to find a use for, but if the right situation arises it can be great fun. I particularly like the fact that Karchev is vulnerable to it - one of my friends who plays Khador likes using the man in the machine with two Kodiaks...Scramble (and Nemo's Voltaic Snare, come to think of it) play havoc with that sort of army.

Chain Lightning is always good - my standard tactic for dealing with annoying enemy infantry is to get a Centurion or Ironclad (works best with a Centy though) right into their midst, then blast it in the back with chain lightning. As you said, Centurions and other warjacks can survive being hit with lightning, most infantry can't...except for those damned Man-O-Wars and Trollkin Champions *shakes fist*. Still, that's what Long Gunners are for I guess.

Put simply, Haley is one of the most solid, versatile, and easy to use warcasters Cygnar has - and she's in the very first book (proof that newer isn't always better). We could probably go on for days about how wonderful she is!

[Da Mighty Camel]

Scramble does not work on Karchev. Karchev is not a Warjack.

I, one the other hand, dislikes Haley. A lot. Guess that's because I am the recieving end...

[Nechriah]

Whee, update time! I don't have any new pictures to show people today, but I'm getting there. Instead, you get something like a battle report in the form of my vague recollections about my latest beatdown(s). Also, I did buy some new models during the mid-semester break, and I've almost got my 500 point Nemo list finished. Oddly enough, the one thing I'm missing is still Nemo. My FLGS says that orders will take anywhere between 2-6 weeks to come in, yet I ordered the old man EIGHT weeks ago and he's still not here. Oh well, he's old. He probably got on the wrong boat by mistake...

Anyway, the latest shiny additions to my army are:
- Hunter Light Warjack
- Long Gunner UA
- Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

I put the Hunter and Aiyana & Holt to work last week, and was quite impressed - largely because they were the ONLY THINGS IN MY ARMY THAT ACTUALLY DID ANYTHING. I suffered not only one, but TWO crushing defeats by the Khadorans.

The first one was against Yoshi, the resident Khador player in our gaming club. I took:
- Commander-Adept Sebastian Nemo (using Coleman Stryker as a proxy)
- Lancer Light Warjack
- Ironclad Heavy Warjack
- Long Gunners: Sergeant and 7 Gunners
- Journeyman Warcaster
- Hunter Light Warjack
- Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Total: 494 points

Against:
- Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff
- Destroyer Heavy Warjack
- Greylord Ternion: Koldun and 2 Magzievi
- Greylord Ternion: Koldun and 2 Magzievi
- Winter Guard: Sergeant and 9 Guardsmen
- Winter Guard Rocketeer
- Winter Guard Mortar Crew
- Winter Guard Mortar Crew
- Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
- Manhunter
Total: 488 points

Suffice to say that what happened next wasn't pretty. There was a lot of ice magic being cast by the Khadorans, as well as some nasty cloud effects and other things which meant that my Long Gunners - usually the trusty workhorse of my army - were reduced to sitting around twiddling their thumbs while mortar shells and Destroyer cannonfire rained down on them. Nemo tried his darndest to take out the big unit of Winter Guard by arcing a Chain Lightning spell through the Lancer, onto the advancing Ironclad. All that did was hurt the Ironclad due to a SPECTACULAR damage roll on my part (double sixes! Against my own model!). The Winter Guard were not fried by the arcing lightning on account of Kovnik Joe making them tough, and Yoshi making all of his tough rolls. Aiyana and Holt managed to pick off a few Winter Guard, and even hurt Kovnik Joe a little, before being frozen by Sorscha's feat and having an unneringly accurate mortar shell dropped on them. The Hunter and Journeyman team were the only models who came close to earning their points back, taking out the Manhunter, a Mortar Crew and making a big dent in the Destroyer. In the end it wasn't enough and soon all of army lay in ruins, apart from Nemo. Probably something to do with the insane amounts of focus he was accumulating from the Journeyman, Aiyana & Holt, and all the Greylords. However, the old man found himself in close combat with Sorscha and...well, that sort of thing doesn't work out well for Nemo.

Second game was against Louise, who normally plays Proctectorate of Menoth, or Legion of Everblight if the mood takes him. However, he decided he'd like to try his hand at Khador, and perhaps give me a chance for a win since this was the first time he'd used the reds. I took the same list as last time against:
- Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince
- Destroyer Heavy Warjack
- Greylord Ternion: Koldun and 2 Magzievi
- Man-O-War Shocktroopers: Kapitan and 4 Shocktroopers
- Man-O-War Demo Corps: Kapitan and 2 Demolishers
- Man-O-War Drakhun (with dismount option)
- Manhunter
Total: 498 points

Alright, so I could look forward to more ice magic cloud effects, more hard to kill infantry, and all of Vlad's lovely sorceries like Boundless Charge, Signs and Portents, and Blood of Kings (like Nemo didn't have enough trouble hitting Sorscha with all her defence buffs! Yikes!). Louise didn't disappoint, he started sending his cloud-concealed troops steamrolling thorugh my army with great aplomb. The Journeyman and Hunter netted themselves another Manhunter, this time in melee; and the Ironclad managed to kill a few Man-O-War Shocktroopers before being torn apart by their Demo Corp brethren. Aiyana and Holt helped against the Man-O-Wars too - with Harm, even power 12 hand cannons will do something to those tin men - but the Drukhn got the better of them in the end. Nemo's Chain Lightning continued to be disastrous, missing the Man-O-Wars in combat with my Long Gunners and arcing through SIX proud Cygnarans. Ouch. Once again the battle came down to Nemo facing the enemy caster in combat - only this time it was Vladimir Tzepesci, backed up by a Man-O-War Drakhun! Louise decided to rub things in by killing Nemo with the Drakhun, rather than Vladimir, but Nemo did get a posthumous chuckle this time when his Electrify upkeep knocked the Drakhun off his horse. Score!

So, I've learnt that Electrify is a great upkeep spell when I actually remember I've cast it on something; and that Khadoran 'casters, working in concert with Greylords, can dish out some awesome defence buffs. I have come away from my most recent crushing defeats with an even healthier respect for the reds. Next time, Khador. Next time :ninja:

[tarzen]

Well, glad you got to put a few dents in before getting bonked.
- Commander-Adept Sebastian Nemo (using Coleman Stryker as a proxy)
- Lancer Light Warjack
- Ironclad Heavy Warjack
- Long Gunners: Sergeant and 7 Gunners
- Journeyman Warcaster
- Hunter Light Warjack
- Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
looks like a fun list. Using holt and aiyana to harm a jack, shoot it a bunch, then pop nemos feat and boost is just a mean way to hurt a jack=)

Not sure why, but I had a similar problem killing kovnick jo last night myself.

Sorcha vs anything without trenchers is gonna hurt, just no way to get around that=(

Curious to how you fried your own guys with your chainlightning, were you targeting into melee and randomized into a chain of your guys? and even double 6's still only does 3 damage to the IC IIRC, not bad.

Also, remember that nemo has a decent shooting attack vs stuff where he doesn't have to move, can be helpful.

And best of all, electrify is great=) Used defensively or offensively it is fun. Had a game come down to nemo and mortenebra. almost got the kill off a electrified backstrike. I kept moving while camping focus, forcing him to either let me get into his back arc so I could move away and shoot him, or take the electify pow 14 and risk me killing with all the other attacks.

Anyways, hope the blues are working out alright for ya, and that you are enjoying them.

[Nechriah]

Oh, it's a fun list alright. The best part is the amount of focus Nemo will be sitting on - eight or nine reliably each turn, and that's just from his own people. Factor in enemy spellcasters, and he can quite feasibly end up on ten focus a turn. Mind you, I'm not so keen on my opponent bringing spellcasters, especially those Greylords. Nasty gentlemen they are...in hindsight, I should have used Aiyana's "mini-mage blight" spell a bit more - I can't remember what it's called (Glyph of Nyssor or somesuch), but it basically denies feat-popping and spell-casting within 10" of her.

As for that shocking (literally! aha, pun!) chain lightning attack against my own troops, that was just an example of how bad my dice rolls can be sometimes. It's something of a running joke in our gaming club that all dice hate me. D6s, D10s, D20s, you name it - whatever the game, and whatever polygonal shape is rolling, it generally won't roll well for me. I once went for a whole two weeks without rolling anything higher than a two. Honest.

Overall though, I'm enjoying my Cygnarans. I have a lot of fun with Nemo, even though he's often maligned as being a bad caster by himself in smaller games. I'm determined to score a few more wins with the old man and prove the naysayers wrong! That said, I'm thinking I might try some HORDES this week, just for a change. I've had a few games with Circle Orboros and Skorne before, and I'm leaning heavily towards Circle, what with their blackclad druid types and guardian monsters. Painting some green would be a pleasant change from deep blue as well...but I shall not betray King Leto so quickly! You will need more than awesome stone constructs and beastmen to temp me, Circle!

Y'know, sometimes people suggest I get to involved with my hobbies. I'm starting to think there's a kernel of truth in that...I think I'll go and ponder this some more.

[Nechriah]

Well, given that Librarium Online has been down for a bit, and the fact that Father Nurgle saw fit to give me maxillary sinusitus this week, I've sort of been neglecting this little corner of the interwebz. I've also been neglecting my Cygnarans at recent games days - I've been trying out the Circle Orboros. I don't know if it's entirely appropriate to talk about HORDES in here, but what the hey - this is my "fun and exciting Cygnar blog", and I can do what I like with it. Well, within reason. I probably shouldn't, I don't know, launch into a lengthy discourse on the evolution of fruitbats. I'm not going to do that.

So, I had a think, and decided that I would use Kaya the Wildborne, a Warpwolf, a Gorax, some Druids of Orboros and the very awesome Lord of the Feast. I've run this list for the last couple of weeks and I am really liking it. I've also managed to rack up three victories, two of them against my most hated foe Legion of Everblight (who are tied with the Proctectorate for most hated foe). The Lord of the Feast is so much fun - the first time I used him he killed a Teraph. By himself. My only problem with him is that he moves to damn slowly - although Advance Deployment does negate this somewhat. Oh, and I've discovered the joys of two-handed throwing with a Warpwolf. I'm going to start keeping a record:

THINGS THROWN BY NECHRIAH'S WARPWOLF
1. Titan Gladiator
2. Earthborn Dire Troll
3. Fenris
4. 2 Doomreavers

In short, I like Circle a lot and once I've finished painting all my Cygnar miniatures I may look into getting the battlebox.

Now, back to WARMACHINE: the latest issue of No Quarter seems to have everyone very excited, and for good reason. Even though Katherine Laddermore is a splendid new additon to Cygnar's forces fluffwise, modelwise, ruleswise and finally-we-have-more-spunky-women-in-our-army-it's-about-blurdy-time-wise; I was way more excited about the new Mercenary stuff. So now I'm finding myself wanting to realise my goal of starting a Merc army too. I've been wanting to do this since I started playing Warmachine, but the sheer arry of options, the prevailing opinion that Mercenaries aren't competitive, andthe amount of things I'd have to buy put me off.

I've been trying to decide between Four-Star Syndicate and Highborn Covenant, and I think I've finally settled on the latter - which I guess makes sense as I actually have the Ashlynn d'Elyse model. Here's the list I have in mind:

HIGHBORN COVENANT
- Ashlynn d'Elyse
- Ogrun Bokur (client: Ashlynn d'Elyse)
- Mariner Heavy Warjack
- Forge Guard: Captain and 7 Hammerers
- Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
- Dirty Meg OR Anastasia di Bray
Total: 350 points

No idea how this plays yet, I was planning on trying it out with some proxies this week, but I was still sick yesterday. I'm still sick now, come to mention it. So if this update reads like the rantings of a madman in the midst of some fever dream, it's because it more or less is. I think I should have stayed home in bed playing Fire Emblem like I did the last three days.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't play Fire Emblem. It has the most disappointing and lacklustre ending I can remember a videogame ever having. So speaks Father Nurgle through his newest vessel!

Well, that's the latest from me. Peace out, internet.
*Nechriah out*

[Montford981]

Team up Aishlynn with Captain Haley in a 1,000 point army and pop both Feats on the same turn.

All friendly attacks roll two extra dice, discard the lowest two; and all friendly Cygnar models will get an additional attack.

-981

[Nechriah]

Originally Posted by Montford981

Team up Aishlynn with Captain Haley in a 1,000 point army and pop both Feats on the same turn.

All friendly attacks roll two extra dice, discard the lowest two; and all friendly Cygnar models will get an additional attack.

-981

Ashlynn's feat, from what I understand, can be devastating when combined with a number of other casters. My favourite combo that I've heard of is Ash and Fiona the Black feating on the same turn, which I think works something like this:
- All friendly models roll two extra attack dice and discard the lowest, all enemy models roll two extra dice and discard two chosen by Ashlynn's controller
- All enemy models roll one less dice on attack and damage rolls
:party2:

I imagine that would be QUITE annoying to deal with. I can't wait for our group to start playing 1,000 point games now. That won't happen for a while though - we've only just moved up to 500 points as it is

[Da Mighty Camel]

Originally Posted by Nechriah

IMPORTANT NOTE: Don't play Fire Emblem. It has the most disappointing and lacklustre ending I can remember a videogame ever having. So speaks Father Nurgle through his newest vessel!

What? You played FE (assuming it is Radiant Dawn) for the story? I gave up the story after an hour since I realised it was teh crap then. I play it for the battles!