New Cygnar player- need advice

[Cadian Guard]

hey i recently picked up Warmachine and decided to pick up a journeyman warcaster, the box with stryker and the 3 warjacks, and some trenchers. Now im wondering if it would be wise to field more trenchers (like the machine gunner, lieutenent and marksmen, grenade porter) or maybe move towards long-gunners.
take note that I am just beginning and not really familiar with alot of the stuff in Warmachine

[Intrepid]

I think the chain gun is a standalone unit? It isn't accurate enough to be worth it to me; I'd rather use the 'jack chaingunner for anti-infantry. The boosting ability alone is worth the extra points. (The Charger is also good!) The grenade porters are excellent if you face a lot of high-DEF infantry since a scattering shot hits everything in the AOE. And the unit attachment (officer and sharpshooter) is fun to play but not a necessity.

I would recommend long gunners for a second squad; Trenchers are too expensive to take more than 1 of. Think of the Long Gunners as the basic infantry and the Trenchers as special forces. Add warjacks, 'Casters and mercs to taste and you'll have a solid list.

[Solain]

It all depends on your playstyle and what models you want to field/interest you. If you go with a trencher army you will be mostly dug in not wanting to move too terribly much, their more of a defense type unit because they do not excel at close combat.

Cygnar can definitly be played in with trenchers and longgunners in the methodical take your enemy apart one unit at a time or it can be played as a more aggressive army using longgunners and defenders as support as you charger forwards with stormblade and swordnight units.

It really all depends on what type of army you want to field.

[Nechriah]

Yay, another new Warmachine player! Welcome to the hobby Cadian Guard, and congratulations on picking the most awesome faction of them all: Cygnar! (I'm totally not biased by the fact I play Cygner)

To answer your question: I'd recomend at least trying out Long Gunners with some proxy models before actually buying anything; that is if you have the rulebook or know somebody who does. Proxying is a good way to find what works for you without spending vast sums of money on something you may not use more than once. I never buy anything myself until I'm sure I'll like using it, but that's just me.

Anyway, Long Gunners are a good unit to use if you're just starting out with the Blues, as they're very versatile and work exceptionally well with all of the Cygnar warcasters from the core rulebook - try using them with Stryker's snipe spell, it's a whole lot of fun. I'd still try out the Trencher unit attachments and the chaingun too if they interest you; too many Warmachine players just play "what everyone else says is good", so it's always a breath of fresh air to see somebody using a more "unconventional" list. A lot of people will tell you that the chaingun sucks, but I say if you like it, then use it! I find if you really want to use a particular unit and you keep using it, you'll eventually figure out how to get the best out of it - and who knows, you could find an awesome combo that no-one would ever expect.

I should mention, a big part of Warmachine is the odd combos and synergies between units in an army. It's VERY important to find stuff that synergises well together. Like I said, I'd recomend getting the battlebox (which you've already done), a squad of infantry, and then just proxy until you've figured out what you like using.

Oh, and I lose a lot so take everything I say with a grain of salt

[Cadian Guard]

Well after lloking through one of the books and seeing all the trecnher stuff i was like "DAMN! this is cool." i may do pretty much a trencher based army since i am more of a defensive player.
are the melee units any good like the cavalry or the stormblades?
Hail Cygnar!....well at least until i start Khador down the road lol