We covered Storm Lances previously and Blazers with them, now lets see if the Europeans just really like horses.
Bane Riders 21
Soulhunters 12
Exemplar Vengers 12 - no double Vengers. Someone is running the theme force but only using one unit.
Flame Bringers 0 (and in a meta that seems to love cavalry too this looks bad).
Destors 0 (there are at least a lot less Ret players and there are 3 Destor Thanes)
Iron Fang Uhlans 6
Greylord Outriders
Raptors 7
Tharn Wolf Riders 1
Long Riders 4
Ferox 1 (in a Mordikaar list paired with Fist of Halaak)
This is to be compared with
Tempest Blazers 24
Storm Lances 16
Shockingly ranged light cav seem to be the most popular choices whereas heavy cav are at least at the moment is a good place in the meta.
To put the numbers in context for Cryx there are 41 units of Bane Thralls and 63 units of Bane Knights. The higher number though is at least partially accounted for by the higher FA, even the Bane Thralls are often taken in multiples. OK fair enough it's just 3 lists and two of them are Goreshade theme forces but there are 13 min units of Bane Thralls and 6 minimum units without UA which are there mostly to bring dark shroud to lists that need the extra hitting power. There may be less units of Bane Riders but the numbers are in the ball park. Bane Riders are also spread among casters. 8 in Skarre1, 4 in Goreshade3, 2 in Deneghra2, Witch Coven, and Deneghra1, and 1 in Asphyxious3, Skarre2 and Goreshade2. This is a good sign that the unit is playable in general and not reliant on specific synergies (such as Skarre1's feat which is obviously quite a strong synergy).
Vengers appear most often in Kreoss3 lists, 6 to be exact (this does mean that there are two Kreoss3 lists without Vengers, one from the defending champions). Also 3 times in High Reclaimer lists (the feat is quite good for them because you can place them, they activate fully and they still get battle driven. They also appear once in Vindictus, Harbinger (Brian White) and Kreoss2. In Kreoss2 lists it gets some ghetto pathfinder into the list as they get pathfinder for a round when damaged (you can trigger it on free strikes as well, something to remember when your opponent with half his venger unit behind a wall asks if you want to take the free strike). In comparison there are 19 Zealot units, 10 Temple Flameguard units (less than Vengers) and 32 Exemplar Errant units.
In Khador land there are only 14 units of Kayazy Assassins (all 14 have an Underboss) and 31 units of Iron Fangs 25 of which are Black Dragons. It's less positive for the Uhlans. They do appear 3 times in Vlad2 so the feat synergy obviously goes some way to helping them.
I think that adds up to cavalry being a significant part of the meta. At least for Warmachine armies, hordes cavalry is still on the outs.
Press Gangers - 8 of the 12 units of press gang in the entire WTC are being brought by Australians. I think that's definitely an achievement of some sort. Every Australian list with Press Gangers went with doubles however of the 3 overseas lists with press gang only one (a Deneghra1 list from Poland Cautious i.e. not the defending champions) had double press gang. The other two lists were Durgan lists.
Idrian Skirmishers - there are 9 units of Idrians at the WTC 6 are in High Reclaimer lists, 2 in Severius2 lists for some reason and one in a Harbinger list. In High Reclaimer lists they provide an excellent assassination threat. In Severius2 there is one list where they look like likely holy ward targets, the other list has temple flamguard though which also benefit greatly from that spell. Assault and Battery is a really good ability and I do like the damage output of Idrians but ... The Harbinger list is one I don't like. It seems like a worse version of more mainstream harbinger lists. Idrians instead of Errants, The book but no Rhupert, jacks without Vassals. I am not a fan.
Speaking of Harbinger there are 20 Harbinger lists. 16 have a Devout, 4 do not. 14 lists have Exemplar Errants 6 do not. 12 lists have Rhupert Carvolo (8 don't). 4 Harbinger lists have Vilmon and at least one other Paladin. The big winner though is the book, 19 Harbinger lists have the covenant of Menoth. The one that does not also does not have Rhupert Carvolo. It's this list from the Ukraine
Harbinger -5
Devout +5
Reckoner +8
Reckoner +8
Hierophant +2
Choir of Menoth (min) +2
Exemplar Errants (max) +8
Exemplar Errant UA +2
Vassal of Menoth +2
Vassal of Menoth +2
Vessel of Judgement +9
Visgoth Rhoven & Honor Guard +4
Exemplar Errant Seneschal +2
The Wrack +1
I used to run a very similar Harbinger list but with the wrack being a mechanik to repair the vessel of Judgement and Rhoven being Rhupert and the Book.
Dominic E Darius - There are 3 Darius lists. Two lists are double Stormwall lists but neither is the NQ theme force Field Tests; there are two models that are not in that theme force common to both lists - Sylys (who I believe could be replaced by a squire without a great deal of hardship) and the journeyman warcaster. The list needs a journeyman which is a near fatal omission for the theme force. The other Darius list (other than the double Stormwall lists) is interesting and I like it (it's Irish, I'm finding I like a lot of their lists):
Darius -5
Squire +2
Centurion +9
Centurion +9
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) +6
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) +6
Horgenhold Forge Guard (max) +8
Alexia 1 +5
Eiryss 2 +3
Ragman +2
Rhupert Carvolo +2
Journeyman Warcaster +3
How important is the journeyman warcaster to Cygnar? There are 50 of them in 64 Cygnar lists. Josh Bates is responsible for 2 of the lists without a journeyman. There is only one other player at the WTC going sans journeyman and it is Jeppa Resmark of Sweden Prime (I'm glad I'm writing this and not trying to say it). He also contributes to this stat - of the 14 lists without a journeyman 7 are Haley1 lists. That's quite a surprise to me as I tend to view Temporal Barrier as an ARM buff in addition to board control and a hit buff. I generally try to stack ARM in her lists. She has 13 lists total so only 6 of them have a journeyman.
Only one Haley1 list does not have a Stormwall and it is Josef Skladanka of the Czech Republic. It does however have a Storm Strider and two Storm Tower light artillery pieces as well as Silverline and Stormblades, it has no journeyman.
Of the Haley1 lists that do have a journeyman 3 are taking Gastone with a Galleon, as well as both USA lists the other player taking this horrid abomination is Carlo Piccinini of Italy Blue. The other 3 players with Haley1 and a journeyman are taking Storm Lances as the obvious target of a second arcane shield (should one be cast). No one took Haley1 without a squire.
There are 4 Severius1 lists, 3 have the Blessing of Vengeance. The fourth list is running him with a Revenger. I do wonder if it might have been worth finding the extra point to upgrade to his character jack. Of the four lists two have Tristan Durant in them, one with a Redeemer and one running a Judicator which I want to highlight for a second.
Severius 1
Severius 1 -6
Blessing of Vengence +7
Reckoner +8
Hierophant +2
Choir of Menoth (min) +2
Holy Zealots (max) +6
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer +2
Tristan Durant +3
Judicator +18
The Wrack +1
Vassal Mechanik +1
Vassal of Menoth +2
Visgoth Rhoven & Honor Guard +4
It's Marco Elitropi's list from Italy Blue and I like it. With the help of the Reckoner and Eye of Menoth the Judicator actually becomes pretty accurate or it can just lob AOEs all over infantry with POW 10 blast damage. Add in the POW 13 Ashes to Ashes and I like the threat it poses even to higher ARM infantry.
Anastasia di Bray - Of the 16 Stacies in the field 11 are in Haley2 lists. This is no great surprise. Telekinesis plus the feat makes it much easier to get off espionage. There are also 3 in High Reclaimer lists. She plays a little differently in High Reclaimer, whereas with Haley you are likely to get an espionage off just because of the difficulty of preventing one with HR you are able to put her in an aggressive position and protect her with clouds but you aren't able to add to her threat range or stop your opponent from walking up to punch her as you can with Haley2's feat. It does however let you dictate where your opponent can put their caster. The other two are in Haley1 and in Harbinger. It's the aforementioned Haley1 list with the light artillery from the Czech Republic. The Harbinger list is this one:
Harbinger 1
Harbinger -5
Devout +5
Hierophant +2
Exemplar Errants (max) +8
Exemplar Errant UA +2
Holy Zealots (max) +6
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer +2
Knights Exemplar +5
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt +4
Attendant Priest +2
Visgoth Rhoven & Honor Guard +4
Anastasia di Bray +2
Exemplar Errant Seneschal +2
Exemplar Seneschal +3
Exemplar Seneschal +3
Rhupert Carvolo +2
The Covenant of Menoth +2
The Wrack +1
To me this list looks like it wants to play against infantry. With the feat up you can probably get her into a good position. Also there are some scenarios especially against infantry hordes where going second against the Harbinger is a huge disadvantage so the plus one to go first becomes quite important.
Next up Farrow Slaughterhousers. There are 8 units, always taken in pairs. I have some experience with these guys both in pigs and in Circle where they are amongst the chief ARM cracking infantry. They appear twice in Cassius lists where they have been picked ahead of Tharn Ravagers (there are 9 units of Tharn Ravager but none in Cassius lists) and once in a Baldur1 list and a Zaal list which does not contain Shamblers. This Zaal list to be exact:
Zaal 1
Zaal -5
Basilisk Drake +4
Cyclops Raider +5
Cyclops Raider +5
Farrow Slaughterhousers +6
Farrow Slaughterhousers +6
Nihilators (max) +8
Ancestral Guardian +3
Ancestral Guardian +3
Ancestral Guardian +3
Hakaar the Destroyer +4
Mortitheurge Willbreaker +2
Orin Midwinter +2
Paingiver Task Master +2
Saxon Orrik +2
From Máté Túri of Hungary Red, it's one of the few Skorne lists not paired with Fist.
Going back to Cassius for a second there are 3 Cassius lists, that means that there is only one without double slaughterhousers and it's this one:
Cassius -6
Gorax +4
Warpwolf Stalker +10
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) +10
Druids of Orboros +7
Druids of Orboros Overseer +2
Bone Grinders (max) +3
Shifting Stones +2
Stone Keeper +1
Shifting Stones +2
Stoneward & Woldstalkers +5
Stoneward & Woldstalkers +5
Gallows Grove +1
Gallows Grove +1
Gatorman Witch Doctor +3
From the Captain of Finland White. It looks to me like a Cassius list decked out to play against Cryx.
Now to the things everyone want to know about. Light Artillery. There are only two Storm Towers and they are both in that Haley1 list. There are also 4 Mortars. 3 are in Irusk2 lists and one in Vlad2 (Golitsyn Oleksandr). There are no double Mortar lists.
Quick aside - there is only one unit of venator reivers in the whole WTC. I know that we can't look at Skorne without taking into account the way Skorne lists are being used to set match ups (with fist of Halaak) but this still came as a surprise to me.
There is a Thumper Crew in a Grim 2 list from France1 and that's it for light artillery. There are no real shocks here. Storm Towers with Nemo3 are a fair choice but there is only one Nemo in the WTC and it's Nemo1 on the UN team. You can also play a Thumper Crew with Madrak1 for some jank with the feat (running and then shooting) but in general light artillery remains largely irrelevant.
The last thing I want to write about is Kromac. There are 12 Kromac lists, 8 of them have Ghettorix in them. Every Kromac list has a Stalker and 7 of them have double stalkers, every list also includes a single Gorax. I'll put the beasts in order:
Stalker 19
Gorax 12
Ghettorix 8
Pureblood 3
Riphorn 2
Feral 2
Megalith 1
Woldwarden 1
So I know what you are all thinking. Who took the Woldwarden? It was the Captain of Norway Red.
Units with Kromac - 8 have double Woldstalkers, 3 have no Woldstalkers and one has a single unit. All 12 lists have 2 units of Shifting Stones. 2 lists have Una in them with a Rotterhorn, One list has Blood Trackers and one list has double Mannikins.
I know I said Kromac was last but now I'm interested in Una. Shes in 4 lists. She is always running at least one rotterhorn and never any other Griffon. In addition to the two Kromac lists she appears in she's also in two Krugar2 lists (one of which has her running two Rotterhorn Griffons). No lists also contain bone grinders and Rorsh and Brine. As for her targets for Accelerate two lists contain a single unit of Woldstalkers and the other two lists contain double Blackclads.
I think that's it for today. I do actually have to do something constructive. Peace out.
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