I started out trying to write a post about the general archetypes I build lists around but it became way too long so I'm breaking it up. I'll start with the Gunline.
What does it do?
The idea behind a gunline army is to outshoot your opponent, to do massive damage from range with minimum engagement.
What do I want to put in the list?
Firstly generic stuff. My list needs to be able to deal with:
- Heavies
- Infantry
- High ARM
- High DEF
- Guns. Lots of guns. Boostable guns prefered.
- Something to contest/control zones. It should be particularly survivable and also fulfil another role
- A way to prevent engagement, or a way to unengage my guns. Most gunlines fall apart once you get them into melee so I need to stop my opponent from doing that.
- Magical guns or a way to get them. A lot of the things that stop shooting stop non-magical shooting
- A way to deal with stealth
- An assassination. Gunlines tend to give up points rather than get them, especially in a timed turn situation you need to be able to assassinate in order to win.
- I want a way to maximise my range to my opponent, that could be long range guns, snipe or tricks that allow you to move after you have shot (moving backwards to get more distance).
- I want a way to minimise the amount my opponent shoots me
My Caine1 50 point list.
- Caine1 - He has snipe for a bigger distance between you and your opponent, deadeye to kill high DEF infantry, blur to dampen your opponents shooting, thunderstrike to assassinate and a feat that kills infantry. He doesn't help you contest or kill heavies though so lets start with that.
- Stormwall - Has guns, puts down covering fire to prevent engagement, kills heavies, kills infantry, can contest zones. A unit that helps it prevent engagement is
- Black 13th. They have magic guns, kill infantry, can shoot a pod (from the stormwall) with mage storm to help prevent engagement and can put down an AOE to allow other to ignore stealth. They also have stealth so are hard to shoot.
- Journeyman - gives Stormwall Arcane shield so it can get forward and be very difficult to kill
- Gun Mages - great with deadeye and snipe, two things Caine1 has. They have magical guns and they ignore stealth, they also kill infantry.
- Wyshnalyr - I want to open up the thunderstrike assassination. Wyshnalyr gives me two extra inches and an additional dice drop lowest. He also gives me a free upkeep for snipe or blur.
- Two units of Long Gunners - with deadeye and snipe they kill everything. the two units can put out 4 POW 20 shots as well if I need to destroy a heavy or a thunderstruck caster. They round out my need for more guns. They are very long range, especially with snipe.
The finished list is:
Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
34 models
[00] Lieutenant Allister Caine (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02] >> Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
[19] >> Stormwall
[03] Journeyman Warcaster
[06] Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
[02] >> Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
[04] Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
[10] Long Gunner Infantry (9 grunts)
[10] Long Gunner Infantry (9 grunts)
Variant - Counter punch
This is a combined arms approach rather than a pure ranged approach. The idea is to shoot your opponent so that they move into your charge range and then finish them in melee. It is more versatile than a pure gunline but generally doesn't shoot as well. I want pretty much what I have above but with a few changes
- Remove the need for a model to contest, as you are going to get into melee.
- Instead of just shooting you need models that can shoot and fight in melee.
This is how I chose to build Stryker2's list. He has a whole lot of melee abilities and previously I had run him as an alpha strike caster but since Cygnar is a ranged faction I wanted to try him with a counterpunch list, using his melee abilities to make the counterpunch that much more dangerous.
My thinking here was that Defenders with Positive Charge actually become quite good in melee, MAT 9 P+S 18. I could take two, and then two hunters so I can remove a heavy a turn at range. In order to do that though that heavy can't have an ARM buff so Eiryss comes into the list. That should be enough to scare my opponent to come towards me.
Next I wanted a long range shooting unit that could fight well in melee. Cygnar don't really have one in faction but the Nyss can do it and I can take Murdoch to make them Cygnar. Since everything is going to be bunched up around the defenders Ragman should be able to give a lot of stuff Dark Shroud. That also takes the Defenders to POW 20 and the Nyss to MAT 8 POW 13 weaponmasters if in 3" of a defender and 3" of Ragman (just POW 11 weaponmasters if not within 3" of Ragman).
Next I want to put the assassination on the table. Stryker is an excellent melee assassin. In order to get to his target though he probably needs pathfinder. Runewood can give him that. He can also give the Nyss another +2 to hit. If MAT 10 P+S 13 weaponmasters are overkill I can spread the three out to cover a larger area and settle for MAT 8 P+S 11 weaponmasters. Remember the Nyss have 3 attacks on feat turn (though one is ranged and will only benefit from dark shroud from Ragman). The other thing when assassinating with your caster is that you have to get them further forward than you would like so I want to be able to protect him. That means Arcane shield so in comes a journeyman. He can marshal one of the hunters with his last two focus.
And that's 49 points. Put in Reinholdt and I have a 50 point list.
Cygnar
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
22 models
[00] Lord Commander Stryker (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[02] >> Squire
[09] >> Defender
[09] >> Defender
[06] >> Hunter
[03] Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin
[03] Journeyman Warcaster
[06] >> Hunter
[03] Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
[02] Ragman
[01] Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)
[02] >> Captain Jonas Murdoch
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