Warmachine: Bring on the Storm Troopers
The Crucible Guard brought Storm Troopers! No, not those kind of Stormtroopers, these ones are green and immune to fire. Let’s take a look!
The Storm Troopers are medium based infantry looking to get work done with their cannons. Historically, medium based shooting infantry in Warmachine has been lackluster. There are always a few exceptions, but for the most part these types of units haven’t really made their mark on the meta. Will these Storm Troopers break the mold? Check out their cards and let’s discuss.
The Pneumatic Concussion Cannon
This cannon packs a nice punch at POW 14, allowing them to damage medium armor targets nicely. Because you can’t boost the damage on the cannons, things like the Dragon’s Breath Rocket or Disintegration are going to be key if you want to take out ARM 18 or higher. The High Explosive rule on their AOEs means that they can kill low armor single wound infantry pretty easily as well.
Range 10 isn’t great, but luckily the Steam Pressure rule is here to fix that. Ideally on turn 1 you can run these guys into position and for the next turn or two they can aim to get that nice RNG 14 gun. Arcing fire will allow you to screen the Storm Troopers with the rest of your army to keep them shooting as long as possible. It’s also very easy for your opponent to forget about the arcing fire and it’s likely you’ll be able to kill a nice support model or solo behind enemy lines.
Survivability
Having 5 boxes At DEF 11 and ARM 16 isn’t going to save this unit from any sort of charge attack. Keeping Storm Troopers out of melee range as long as possible will be key. Forcing your opponent to try and shoot them down will let you take advantage of Carapace. ARM 20 and 5 boxes is enough to remain standing through some decent shots. Even boosted damage guns are likely to come up short against them.
Carapace is also handy if the Storm Troopers ever find themselves in melee, but would rather be shooting. It’s still risky depending on what is engaging you in melee, but being ARM 20 against the free strike means you are more likely to be able to survive and then shoot your target of choice.
Gearheart’s Gang
Warcaster Baldwin Gearheart can really make this unit shine. Snipe is an incredible spell on the Storm Troopers, bringing them up to a potential RNG 18! Gearheart’s feat lets them become RAT 8, 10 if aiming, POW 16 against the prey target. You can combo that with his Battle Plan, ‘Bloody Well Done’ to give them an additional die to hit! All of these abilities, especially when combined with arcing fire, are pretty scary. There aren’t many casters in the game that want to take boosted RAT 10, POW 16 shots.
Wrap Up
So, will this medium based shooting unit break the mold and see the table? It definitely seems possible. They bring a nice ranged attack to an army that overall supports ranged attacks well. With debuffs to crank up the damage output and a few nice supporting abilities from Warcasters it seems likely we’ll see some Storm Troopers in a few lists in the near future.
What do you think of the Storm Troopers? Will we be seeing them on the field regularly?
