Pirates (and zombies)

So I love pirates so I tend to keep a look out for pirate lists. There was one mentioned on Muse on Minis which I liked. I made a few little changes to it but the base of the list is the same:

Mercenaries
Highborn Covenant
PCs: 50 / 50
50 models

[00] Captain Damiano (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[09]  >> Gallant
[02] Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Bosun Grogspar
[02] First Mate Hawk
[02] Doc Killingsworth
[02] Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile
[02] Lord Rockbottom, Expedition Financier
[06] Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
[02]  >> Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
[05] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (9)
[08] Sea Dog Crew (9 grunts)
[02]  >> Mr. Walls, the Quartermaster
[03]  >> Sea Dog Crew Rifleman (3 Riflemen)
[06] Press Gangers (9 grunts)

I don't think I've mentioned it before but I like Gallant with Damiano (for sure foot) and Rocinante with Constance (she needs her jacks to stay back and Rocinante is the best of the shooting jacks, Guard dog helps keep her alive too). Feels a bit weird not taking the steelhead heavy cav with Damiano and means giving up money shot (great name for an ability) but I can see how the list is supposed to work and it looks fun. The original list had a Nomad instead of Gallant and Gorman and Reinholdt. I like Gallant better and I have the jack so it needs to go in someone's list. The fact that this list combines pirates with a zombie horde also appeals to me.

So what does it do?

Well for four focus you can deadeye 7 shots from the gun mages with a great critical effect (either an extra dice damage or knockdown) and 14 of the 15 shots from the sea dogs. The list is mostly immune from knockdown, 4+ tough and any guys that die come back as zombies. You also have the abilities of Hawk and Longbottom which mean that in melee you are rolling 3 dice to hit as well and against warrior models an additional dice damage (from the hand weapons but not from the pistols) and your shooting is at POW 12 RAT 6 (Dougal gives you an extra 2" range too). One unit will have +2 MAT and vengeance (hilarious on the zombies late game). This list will rip apart any infantry on the table.

What doesn't it do?

Armour. The only damage buff is the feat. As you have pirates the +3 ARM isn't going to help you (they go up to a spectacular 15) so you can focus on using the feat for a strength buff. It still gives you only POW 13s and 14s, so your sea dog crew, press gangers and zombies (at a mighty POW 10 under the feat), lacking reach or multiple attacks that can benefit (point blank is a melee attack but does not use strength) still face an uphill battle to kill heavies even with the feat. Gallant too is only POW 17 which is where the Merc Heavy Jacks top out (excepting the dwarf Rockram). But you do have the gun mages, as long as you aren't facing a Colossal or Tiberion you can jam the zones with pirates and push any enemy models out to win on scenario.

Good Match Ups 

Khador (Sorscha, Irusk, Old Witch...): Gun mages will shoot stealth Kayazy apart at RAT 7 + boost (or even RAT 9 if they aim). DEF 17 is irrelevent when you are Mat 9 boosted. Everything but the conquest can be pushed out of the zones, you have a lot of shooting to threaten khador's casters and plenty of living models to be recycled into zombies.

Ret - Everything is advance deployed, fast and you can outshoot and outfight Ret. Ret does not have a lot of great Jacks so more living infantry for you to kill. Watch out for Ravyn and her Mage Hunter Strike Force. If Damiano is within 22" of that unit they will kill him but you can snipe you gun mages with deadeye and kill enough of that unit to allow you to have a game.

Trolls (Madrak1&2, Doomshaper1 (but not 2), Borka, Grissel1, Jarl)  - Lots of medium based multi wound warrior models. This list excels at taking them down. It can't deal with lots of troll heavies but trolls have some really excellent infantry and the casters I've listed love their infantry. Madrak2 in particular is a great match up for this list.

Bad Match Ups

Menoth - The jack faction. Menoth will out shoot, out melee you, be immune to your shooting, be to high ARM for your melee attacks, enliven away from any charge and will have no trouble getting through an infantry swarm. Menoth is a nightmare for this list. Only thing worse than Menoth has to be

Everblight - Not only will you be facing an army of heavies but Scytheans have take down. No tough rolls and no corpse tokens for Alexia. There is a trick you can do with Scytheans against tough troops, you make your first attack, if they make their tough roll then you use their animus to get take down, auto kill the guy and then get a free thresher against everything else in 2". They also have typhons sprays which will shred an infantry swarm and Ravagores can easily kill with blast damage, leave templates that you can't walk through, and set your guys on fire if they make their tough rolls. You can also shoot your own heavies with a Ravagore shot, if you don't have reach you have to take a point of damage if you want to get in melee range and nothing in this list has reach except Gallant. To make matters worse it would take a while for the everblight player to destroy your swarm so the game would be a long one too.

Conclusion

It's a skew list, designed to tear up infantry but terrible against a lot of heavies. This is not unusual for pirates. It's looks like a good list in a friendly game when you know your opponent isn't taking Menoth or Everblight but I probably would not take it to a tournament. The problem is that what this list does well Mercs in general do well. All the top tier Merc casters can shred infantry. You can create a less skew list by taking the Steelhead Heavy Cav and some Halberdiers. The Cav shoot at POW 14 with money shot and with flank either get 2 weaponmaster attacks one at POW 13 or a weaponmaster attack at POW 13, a POW 14 gunshot and a pow 10 mount attack. It gives you more versatility but you lose the strength of this list against infantry. I have to admit I like the skew list more but I tend to like skew lists. Also I like pirates and zombies.