Warmachine: Cygnar Warjacks & the Metagame
The advent of colossals and gargantuans has had a strong impact on the state of the metagame and Cygnar’s role in it, but how does the faction adjust to the current shape of things?
The Current Meta
Over the past few years, the metagame for Warmachine, particularly in the United States, has evolved into one that seems to slightly favor ARM stacking and durability. Examples here include Haley2 with two Stormwalls, Baldur2 with Wold Guardians and Skinwalkers, Mammoths, Bronzebacks, or Cetrati under Defenders Ward and Paralytic Aura, Mulg with Elemental Communion and Defensive Aura, or Broadsides Bart with a pair of Galleons, Wrongeye, and a Bull Snapper. Running into one of these lists without the proper tools to deal with their durability is likely to throw any tournament player on tilt, so consequently the metagame has begun to counter these examples by bringing the instruments necessary to make such lists an easier pill to swallow. Warcasters with Purification and Eiryss2’s Arcane Interference are to be expected, in addition to Lady Aiyana’s/Rhylyss’s Kiss of Lyliss, Gorman’s Rust Bomb, and Ragman’s Death Field all being commonplace. Warcasters with damage buffs like Ignite, Fury, or Last Stand have been seeing more and more table time.
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| The only option? |
Cygnar at the Crossroads
In lieu of builds that concentrate on playing in accordance to the new metagame, by which I mean running multiple Stormwalls or building lists that can deal with similar threats, Cygnar is somewhat in an odd position. Since so many are now concentrating on being able to deal with hyper-ARM threats, anything falling in the heavy category that isn’t presenting hyper-ARM values can feel like a liability, especially more expensive options like 10-point Stormclads or the 12-point Thunderhead. Even with Arcane Shield, the state of play is such that an ARM 22 heavy won’t be able to survive the beating that it once could since it is becoming more and more difficult to count on Arcane Shield being on your high-priority pieces when you need it thanks to the proliferation of upkeep hate. The only real defense against this is to take a Sentinel for Shield Guard and hope you don’t run into a warcaster or warlock like the Harbinger, Vayl2, or Morvahna2. Even with Arcane Shield, it’s not terribly likely that either of those heavies is going to survive a charge from a typically-buffed Bronzeback, Mulg with Flaming Fists or Rage, the Avatar of Menoth under Hymn of Battle and Ignite or Eye of Menoth, or any combination of Cryx ARM debuffs followed by a charge of cheap and plentiful infantry. All you can really hope for with a Stormclad or Thunderhead under Arcane Shield is for them to survive ranged exchanges long enough to earn their keep.
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| Ironclad |
Cygnar Heavy Warjacks
So, what is left for Cygnar warjacks? If you want to run melee-centric heavies, it seems like there are really only a few options. First, you can look to cheap and reliable Ironclads. They’re fairly accurate at MAT 7, have fair damage output at P+S 18, have utility with their Quake Hammers, and they’re only 7 points. It is honestly not a bad package, you just have to take them with the understanding that they are not at all likely going to survive alpha strikes from hard-hitting threats like Molik Karn, Warpwolf Stalkers, or Reckoners.
Consequently, taking one Ironclad really implies that you should be taking multiples. Also, since their damage values aren’t the most amazing, looking to warcasters or support models with damage buffs isn’t a bad option. Warcasters that are capable of buffing damage and running multiple heavies, like any variant on Nemo, is going to make a good pairing here, particularly when two of those variants also have ways to increase their melee threat range as well thanks to Energizer and Locomotion.
The other thing about Ironclads is that you can get a trio of them for 21 points, one point less that the cost of a Stormwall and a Journeyman Warcaster. While I’m hesitant to say that, in a vacuum, three Ironclads is better than a Stormwall and Journeyman, there are certainly some warcasters that can make them do work, like the aforementioned collection of Nemos, as well as Kraye, who also brings several stackable movement buffs. While three Ironclads will lack the denial and ranged strength of a Stormwall, they do have the advantage of being able to piece trade more effectively in the face of overwhelmingly-strong melee threats like Ghetorix under Primal/Wraithbane and Forced Evolution, or a Bronzeback with Enrage and Abuse. Just be careful not to leave your Ironclads too close to each other lest you risk losing multiples of them to a single charging super monster. However, as tempting as the idea might be, I’m not particularly excited about the concept. Sure, piece trading becomes more economical, but Ironclads aren’t the most durable of warjacks, and multiples of them will become a meal for ranged-heavy armies or lists with heavy hitters that can cross the table at ridiculous speeds.
The second option is to continue to pursue the idea of the current meta zeitgeist by ARM stacking our heaviest warjacks, specifically ‘Ol Rowdy and the Centurion. Doing so will absolutely require a Journeyman Warcaster in addition to a Sentinel for Shield Guard duties to prevent Eiryss2’s upkeep stripping abilities. Haley2 is arguably the most solid option for this with a Centurion thanks to her warjack bond for 2″ of extra movement, Telekinesis for the 2″ place that it offers, and Temporal Deceleration to make the Centurion all but immune to ranged fire. This effectively allows a Centurion to get 8″ upfield while still maintaining Polarity Field. You can get similar results with Kraye and his Full Tilt spell, or either Nemo1/2 and Locomotion/Energizer respectively.
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| Defender |
The last option that stirs me is just running a single ranged heavy like a Defender or Avenger. The former has a ridiculous RNG value allowing it to avoid getting into melee most often, and the latter has both a strong ranged weapon with a great utility ability and a respectable melee weapon that isn’t anything to sneeze at. However, running multiples of these warjacks broaches the problem that, due to their relatively high cost at 9 points a-head, a Stormwall for 19 points is almost always a better investment.
The Light Warjacks
This leaves us with Cygnar’s collection of light warjacks. I’ve already mentioned the cheap and durable Sentinel for its utility, but it also has a fair ranged weapon that becomes pretty darned accurate with any kind of help, most often from the ubiquitous Rangers that every Cygnar player should own at this point if they don’t already.
Hunters have always been a favorite and for good reason. They have similar damage output as Defenders, provided that they are shooting at medium- or larger-based targets, a high RNG value, and higher mobility thanks to Parry, Pathfinder, and a SPD 6. Also, at RAT 7, they’re super-accurate, especially when shooting at high-ARM targets which typically don’t have the highest of DEF values. Running multiple Hunters using non-warcaster options like Journeyman, the Gun Mage Captain, or Allison Jakes continues to be viable.
The Minuteman is an interesting prospect. They have tremendous damage potential for their 5 points, but are focus hogs. Running them effectively is often going to require support in some form, whether it be fully-loading it with focus or increasing their accuracy or damage via other means. At RAT 6, POW 14 on their short-reaching RNG 4 guns, getting mileage out of a Minuteman will almost always require at least one focus be spent so that it can take advantage of its Bounding Leap ability for mobility needed to bring its guns and Flak Field to bear. It is rather fragile, however, and often has trouble surviving retribution after the turn that it has delivered a point-blank volley of Slug Gun attacks. This makes the future release of Allison Jakes quite a boon for the Minuteman thanks to both her FOC 4 and her spell Sidekick for increased DEF, putting the Minuteman at an impressive DEF 16.
Running multiple Minutemen is an option, but just make sure that when you’re building your list that you are accounting for either the required focus expenditure or the outside buffs necessary to make them sing. Very few warcasters can afford to fuel two Minutemen, especially on a crucial turn. Some interesting examples would be running a pair with Siege, where on his feat turn the light warjacks will annihilate huge swathes of half-ARM infantry with Flak Field.
Chargers are cheap at 4 points, but, like the Minuteman, they are quite focus hungry. The Grenadier is an interesting warjack and one that I have experimented some with, but it requires a high investment to get to sing, at the least a pair of Trencher Master Gunners to let it fire three times in a turn, something you can tune further by bringing a damage buff from Aiyanna and Holt and marshal it to a Gun Mage Captain for it to benefit from Rune Shots, most often increased RNG via Snipe. Fireflies strike me as being super-niche and really require an army built around them for them to be valuable, like running Sword Knights that can benefit from its Reach with their Flank ability and multiple Stormsmiths to use the Fireflies as vectors for storm calling, but the cost/benefit just isn’t high enough for my tastes.
Overall, it’s a strange new world for Cygnar players. The Stormwall is, and will continue to be, a solid option in most any list, but running Cygnar’s other warjack options is proving more and more of a quandary.
