Are Cygnar Storm Lances too Stormy?
What makes the stormy cavalry so popular and will they see dynamic changes? Let’s find out.
A few big cons have recently seen Cygnar floating to the top. A common theme in these lists are multiple units of Storm Lances.
Is this unit too going to see dynamic erratta that PP did for Una2 and scarsfell? While storm lances are by far the best cav unit in the game they don’t feel as impossible to deal with as Una2 did. At least you can swing at them after they charge you.
Why are They So Good?
Storm Lances have a lot of things going for them:
SPD8 makes them extremely fast. They will most likely get the charge vs most targets and that alone is great value.
DEF13 is above average. Figuring MAT/RAT 6 is the norm in general you only have a 50/50 chance to hit that unboosted 7 vs them. That means they can shrug off 50% of the non boosted attacks against them in a very general sense. Throw in defensive buffs like BLUR or some kind of terrain cover bonus and they become extremely annoying to remove with range/magic attacks.
ARM17 in armor buff faction. ARM17 is not that imposing by itself. But, start throwing in Arcane shield and other buffs like Stryker1’s Invicibility or Stryker2’s Deflection it can be almost impossible to remove the storm lances at ranged.
Assault+ Impact+ Electro Leaps: A single Storm Lance can kill infinite infantry!!! Combined with impact attacks, assault, and melee attacks there is so much death involved. A Def 13/Arm 13 infantry unit around just a couple stormlances could easily be deleted with just a single activation.
Cygnar Unit Buffs: Kara Laddermore is a solo designed to make Storm Lances better…And she herself is a infantry melting machine at a very affordable point cost. Why wouldn’t you take something that makes your amazing unit better if it is cheap and good by itself. And it really doesn’t stop there. Cygnar has some great unit buffs like positive charge, Snipe, DeadEye , and even fury.
Reach All the Time: About 1/2 the cav models in the game do not have 2″ melee all the time. This means they don’t threaten charge lanes with big 6″ bubbles promoting free strikes.
All of that makes them the total package.
This unit has by far the most utility in the game. Infantry clearing from ranged or melee. Suitability with decent DEF and high ARM. Versatile that they can play the ranged or melee game. This brings it to the point of asking: is this unit too good to remain unchanged in the now DYNAMIC Errata era? Una2 lasted about 5 months before she took the axe. She went from the top of the mountain to bottom tier in a matter of seconds. I don’t know what PP has planned for Storm Lances if anything. Some people suggest hitting the DEF. Some say change the way Laddermore interacts with them. I personally could see removing the assault rule.
In the Meantime, What to Do?
All hope is not lost automatically when you see the double Storm Lances on the table. There are some reasonable tools out there to slow them down.
Rebuke: Cavalry that can’t charge are a lot less scary. This is a relatively cheap spell that can take the melee teeth out of Storm Lances.
Parasite: Parasite is an easy way to counteract arcane shield.
Snipers: While most of the snipers don’t want to be anywhere Storm Lances the can get around the high armor. If you can screen the snipers somehow keeping them safe from electric rebuttals you can whittle down the enemy.
Command: Not everyone is a masters player, be cognizant of where the Storm Lance leader is. If the unit is spread wide and the commander is in the middle consider killing him so 1/2 the unit loses their activation.
Electric Immunity: Things like the Archidon or Electromancers only have to fear the melee aspect of Storm Lances. Use this to force charges or keep models safe from electro leaps with positioning.
Will PP do it?
Storm Lances are the hot thing right now and they probably will not make it out of the year unscathed. I wouldn’t surprise to see them hit in June.
~What do you think BoLS? Do Storm Lances deserve the reputation they have? Please share in the comments below.
