Getting started with Cygnar - the swans

[Danguinius]

Welcome any and all who want a quick guide to getting started with Cygnar. Remember our motto - "Boosted POW 12s Kill Casters" (except the Butcher)

I know it gets repeated a lot, but you can`t go wrong with the Cygnar started box. Why? Well, pStryker (sometimes referred to as Stryker1) is the best caster to learn with. He has a great spell list for supporting units and warjacks and his feat is pretty straightforward as well. Also, the battlebox comes with an Ironclad (gets fielded in a lot of lists of mine...it`s a no bells or whistles move forward and bash `em with a giant hammer kind of warjack), a Lancer - our main arc node warjack...and a lot of warcaster NEED this (like pStryker), and finally a Charger (a little shooty jack...it`s also surprisingly useful with certain warcasters).

If you don`t want the battlebox, I still recommend you start with pStryker. His spells help a lot and he runs a basic strategy of: cast earthquake on opponent to knock them down, then shoot and beat down prone victims until they`re dead. It`s a not-so-surprisingly effective strategy. Cygnar has other great support casters like pHaley and pCaine, but they are more difficult to set up that winning final stroke. After you get the hang of pStryker (I`d say 10-12 games), you might want to brach out to eStryker (beat you down man to man - even The Butcher can`t stand before him), Siege or Kara Sloan (shoot you to death from afar on my feat turn), or even some of our more challenging "warjack casters" like Darius or Kraye.

Warjacks. General consensus is that the Stormclad is our best heavy (and goes really well with either version of Stryker). Old Rowdy is also great (again, goes well with Stryker). But the Defender and Ironclad (two basic rulebook warjacks) are also great and effective. Our light warjacks can be a bit more situation, but you`ll definitely want a Lancer for it`s arc node. Chargers, Hunters, and the new Minuteman are also pretty good.

pStryker supports hitty and shooty infantry well. For something hitty, my first recommendation would be Stormblades (with Unit Attachment)...my second choice would be Precurser Knights and my third would be Sword Knights. For shooty, you can`t beat Arcane Tempest Gun Mages...maybe one of the best unit`s in the whole game. Honestly, it`s hard to make a list without them with certain warcasters. After that, the Black 13th are good but definitely overhyped. Rangers are great if you have at least two other shooty units/warjacks...and lastly Long Gunners are slightly overpriced, but still effective.

Solos. R2-D2 (a.k.a The Squire) is awesome when you play at 25 points or higher. Arlan Strangeways is also very useful, but somewhat trickier to use. A lot of people like Stormcallers to fill in the last leftover point. I think the Journeyman warcaster is overrated, but he makes a nice little team with the Charger or Hunter if you have one. Viktor Pendrake can be useful in most lists (more knock down fun) and Archduke Runewood is the man if you have Sword Knights.

If I was starting all over, I`d probably start with something like this:

pStryker (and eStryker for when I`m ready to tray a second caster)
Stormclad
Ironclad
Lancer
6 Stormblades
+Officer and Standard
The Squire
Arlan Strangeways

I`m not sure how many points this is exactly cause I don`t have my book right now, but it`s a great core of models to work with. You will discover all kinds of nice combos in there.

Traditionally, Cygnar`s alternative colors are Grey (as in the Blue and the Grey from the American Civil War). I`ve seen them painted this way and the look pretty cool. I still prefer them in blue though. The warjacks have a lot of blue surfaces, but the units and caster really have little blue on them (with possibly the exception of the Stormblades). I`ve also seen them painted grey with blue trim and they looked pretty cool. Mine are blue with white as the trim color and I think they look great.

I guess I`ll stop here. I may continue in this thread or another about Cygnar tactics at a later time. Good luck to all those interested in Cygnar. Despite what people will tell you, Cygnar wins and wins a lot (Madison Masters champion a few weeks ago was Cygnar). I hope this was helpful.

Danguinius

[ashmie]

Cool.