Know Your Enemy #1:
Cygnar
"Technology, I has it"
"Technology, I has it"
I know I have dedicated a lot of time to anti-cryx articles, and all of them are good to know, but what of the other factions? Well, here is the first of a multi-part series that will briefly go into the other factions, their strengths and weaknesses, and what we could do to make victory against them easier.
This is in no way an extensive list. I am not going to go into specific casters unless I have a specific request to do so. This will be more of an overall look at what core concepts we can apply to winning games against these factions.
So first of, Cygnar!
Cygnar Strengths:
What Cygnar excels at, more so then any other faction, is ranged threat. The majority of their strength comes from their ability to pick models off the table from a distance. Most of their strongest units can do this while also ignoring most of the ranged defensive abilities of the game. They can lay down templates that ignore stealth, they can field units that ignore concealment and cover.
They also can be very good at extending the time it takes you to get across the table. Between pushing from gun mages, and certain abilities, feats, and spells, they can maximize amount of time they can have to shoot you down.
They are no slouches when it come to melee either. They have access to elite melee units and pretty decent melee warjacks to finish you off once you get there.
They are also the masters of anti-infantry and the anti-support solos/units. They can absolutely punish melee infantry with straight up denial or making sure they just die before they get across the table. Cyclones can block off sections of the board with covering fire. They can chain lightning across multiple models to avoid high defense and line of sight. They have multi firing weapons, melee weapons with chain lighting, and certain models that will just clear infantry off the board with a single action.
Cygnar Weaknesses:
Armor. Especially at range. Most of their weapons are usually in the POW 10-12 range, which, if you present them with ARM 17+ models makes it very hard to put down. Gun Mages are awesome, but the best thing they can do is Critical Brutal Damage which is not reliable, and really only adds another die to an already low POW. Long Gunners are usually their best answer for high ARM with dual shot high pow CRAs, but most Cygnar players rarely field them. If they do, they quickly become your first target. They have some other answers in the form of feats, so just spamming armor isn't an auto win, but it does help.
They also have no incredibly strong melee threat. None of their elite units are weapon masters save Precursor Knights who only get it for a turn. A few of their jacks can be fairly impressive, especially under certain casters, but they will not match the damage output of a lot of other factions jacks/beasts. To be fair, they are a faction designed around getting damage out during an enemy advance, and finishing them off with the melee threat that they have. They would be broken if they had crazy good melee on top of the ranged threat that they have.
Skorne Versus Cygnar:
For new players, Cygnar can be a very rough opponent for you to face. The "skorne trap" of new players it to rely on melee infantry, and Cygnar just punishes you for it. A focused melee infantry Skorne army will always struggle to take Cygnar down. Especially casters like pCain, both Haleys, and others. pHaley is extremely annoying to play if you go melee heavy because she will prevent you from charging or running all game and just shoot all your infantry down, while putting damage to your beasts enough to make an assassination on your caster a probability.
However, there are a few things that we can do that can turn the tables.
First is armor, outside of trolls and Khador, we have some of the crazier armor options availible. We have mostly ARM 19 beasts with a few ARM 21s in there. We have access to the Krea that can make that an effective +2 ARM (with a DEF bonus as well) against ranged attacks. We have spells like Defender's Ward and Iron Flesh to provide protection going in. Beast heavy Naaresh can be a big deal to Cygnar players, especially on the feat turn. Xerxis with Sheild Wall Cetrati, and careful use of defenders ward can be annoying. Tiberion sitting with an ARM buff contesting a zone is very difficult for Cygnar to dislodge.
Cygnar also has very few units with access to protective abilities like stealth or spell immunity. So it actually opens up our own range and spell options. Reivers are a pretty decent choice against Cygnar, with CRAing stuff dead. Spell slingers like both Hexeris can have fun times against Cygnar. A well placed ashes to ashes can put a real hurt on a Gun Mage unit, and you can avoid that high defense by hitting one of your own guys, in some games you can do it by hitting a DEF 5 objective, which is hilarious. If the cygnar player didn't spread out, you can drop an arced Obliteration through an eyeless sight arc node and catch a few models.
Models like a Cannoner, the Raider, the Shaman, anything with a ranged attack of it's own has the potential to shine. eHexeris offers black spot to up the effectiveness of those units. pHexeris offers spell slinging of his own, and a feat that doesn't need you to close the distance to get your damage in. Raseth can arc spells of his own to get damage in. Even the good Void Seer can channel a couple of sprays in key places off infantry models to cause some damage, especially if the Cygnar player was kind to feed you souls.
eHaley's feat still sucks a little. Just remember to contest the zone early, and make it hard for Cygnar to push you out of it. A Bronzeback with the Safeguard Animus is rather fun for those times they want to Thunderstrike your heavy. They can never knock it down, and if they ever cause any damage, it can simply walk back into the zone. A simple thing like another heavy blocking the Gun Mages ability to push a model out of a zone can save you heavily in games.
The nice thing about playing Cygnar with Skorne is that it forces you as a player to not rely so heavily on all melee all the time. We have a surprisingly decent ranged game of our own, and our protective abilities help us survive the war or attrition. The lists I love to take against Cygnar are beast heavy lists, because I know I can survive through the firepower, and start putting things down when I get there.
Good Cygnar players are still scary opponents, so don't expect any easy matches. I don't want to hear "Mahu told me high ARM just wins, why doesn't it", because as with anything in this game, there are no concrete answers. Just experiment with other casters, try some beast heavy lists with some defensive buffs, or Xerxis with Cetrati and a Krea, and see how you do. As always, try and recognize those things that threaten the strategy of your army the most and make sure you have a way to take that out in your list.
If you have any specific questions, or if there is something specific in Cygnar that you are struggling with, please post a comment, and I will try and answer it to the best of my knowledge.
This is in no way an extensive list. I am not going to go into specific casters unless I have a specific request to do so. This will be more of an overall look at what core concepts we can apply to winning games against these factions.
So first of, Cygnar!
Cygnar Strengths:
What Cygnar excels at, more so then any other faction, is ranged threat. The majority of their strength comes from their ability to pick models off the table from a distance. Most of their strongest units can do this while also ignoring most of the ranged defensive abilities of the game. They can lay down templates that ignore stealth, they can field units that ignore concealment and cover.
They also can be very good at extending the time it takes you to get across the table. Between pushing from gun mages, and certain abilities, feats, and spells, they can maximize amount of time they can have to shoot you down.
They are no slouches when it come to melee either. They have access to elite melee units and pretty decent melee warjacks to finish you off once you get there.
They are also the masters of anti-infantry and the anti-support solos/units. They can absolutely punish melee infantry with straight up denial or making sure they just die before they get across the table. Cyclones can block off sections of the board with covering fire. They can chain lightning across multiple models to avoid high defense and line of sight. They have multi firing weapons, melee weapons with chain lighting, and certain models that will just clear infantry off the board with a single action.
Cygnar Weaknesses:
Armor. Especially at range. Most of their weapons are usually in the POW 10-12 range, which, if you present them with ARM 17+ models makes it very hard to put down. Gun Mages are awesome, but the best thing they can do is Critical Brutal Damage which is not reliable, and really only adds another die to an already low POW. Long Gunners are usually their best answer for high ARM with dual shot high pow CRAs, but most Cygnar players rarely field them. If they do, they quickly become your first target. They have some other answers in the form of feats, so just spamming armor isn't an auto win, but it does help.
They also have no incredibly strong melee threat. None of their elite units are weapon masters save Precursor Knights who only get it for a turn. A few of their jacks can be fairly impressive, especially under certain casters, but they will not match the damage output of a lot of other factions jacks/beasts. To be fair, they are a faction designed around getting damage out during an enemy advance, and finishing them off with the melee threat that they have. They would be broken if they had crazy good melee on top of the ranged threat that they have.
Skorne Versus Cygnar:
For new players, Cygnar can be a very rough opponent for you to face. The "skorne trap" of new players it to rely on melee infantry, and Cygnar just punishes you for it. A focused melee infantry Skorne army will always struggle to take Cygnar down. Especially casters like pCain, both Haleys, and others. pHaley is extremely annoying to play if you go melee heavy because she will prevent you from charging or running all game and just shoot all your infantry down, while putting damage to your beasts enough to make an assassination on your caster a probability.
However, there are a few things that we can do that can turn the tables.
First is armor, outside of trolls and Khador, we have some of the crazier armor options availible. We have mostly ARM 19 beasts with a few ARM 21s in there. We have access to the Krea that can make that an effective +2 ARM (with a DEF bonus as well) against ranged attacks. We have spells like Defender's Ward and Iron Flesh to provide protection going in. Beast heavy Naaresh can be a big deal to Cygnar players, especially on the feat turn. Xerxis with Sheild Wall Cetrati, and careful use of defenders ward can be annoying. Tiberion sitting with an ARM buff contesting a zone is very difficult for Cygnar to dislodge.
Cygnar also has very few units with access to protective abilities like stealth or spell immunity. So it actually opens up our own range and spell options. Reivers are a pretty decent choice against Cygnar, with CRAing stuff dead. Spell slingers like both Hexeris can have fun times against Cygnar. A well placed ashes to ashes can put a real hurt on a Gun Mage unit, and you can avoid that high defense by hitting one of your own guys, in some games you can do it by hitting a DEF 5 objective, which is hilarious. If the cygnar player didn't spread out, you can drop an arced Obliteration through an eyeless sight arc node and catch a few models.
Models like a Cannoner, the Raider, the Shaman, anything with a ranged attack of it's own has the potential to shine. eHexeris offers black spot to up the effectiveness of those units. pHexeris offers spell slinging of his own, and a feat that doesn't need you to close the distance to get your damage in. Raseth can arc spells of his own to get damage in. Even the good Void Seer can channel a couple of sprays in key places off infantry models to cause some damage, especially if the Cygnar player was kind to feed you souls.
eHaley's feat still sucks a little. Just remember to contest the zone early, and make it hard for Cygnar to push you out of it. A Bronzeback with the Safeguard Animus is rather fun for those times they want to Thunderstrike your heavy. They can never knock it down, and if they ever cause any damage, it can simply walk back into the zone. A simple thing like another heavy blocking the Gun Mages ability to push a model out of a zone can save you heavily in games.
The nice thing about playing Cygnar with Skorne is that it forces you as a player to not rely so heavily on all melee all the time. We have a surprisingly decent ranged game of our own, and our protective abilities help us survive the war or attrition. The lists I love to take against Cygnar are beast heavy lists, because I know I can survive through the firepower, and start putting things down when I get there.
Good Cygnar players are still scary opponents, so don't expect any easy matches. I don't want to hear "Mahu told me high ARM just wins, why doesn't it", because as with anything in this game, there are no concrete answers. Just experiment with other casters, try some beast heavy lists with some defensive buffs, or Xerxis with Cetrati and a Krea, and see how you do. As always, try and recognize those things that threaten the strategy of your army the most and make sure you have a way to take that out in your list.
If you have any specific questions, or if there is something specific in Cygnar that you are struggling with, please post a comment, and I will try and answer it to the best of my knowledge.
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