Storm Lances
From LOS Warmachine University
Fluff blurb
Contents
Basic Info
| Storm Lances | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| SPD | Fast | |
| MAT | High | |
| RAT | Average | |
| DEF | High | |
| ARM | High | |
| Relative HP | Average cavalry | |
| Relative Cost | Very High | |
Weapons and Attacks
- Electrical Bolt - Short ranged electricity weapon with Electro Leap.
- Electro Lance - Hard-hitting melee weapon with Brutal Charge and, you guessed it, Electro Leap.
- Mount - Because another POW12 never hurts.
Special Abilities
Thoughts on Storm Lances
Cygnar's elite cavalry and, arguably, the best heavy cavalry unit in the game currently.
Storm Lances in a nutshell
Do you have a target that you really want to die? Then Storm Lances are the unit for you. With a borderline ridiculous 3 attacks on the charge, plus electro-leaps, Storm Lances can devastate nearly any unit in the game and even jacks and beasts are wary of their presence. There are good reasons many consider them the best cavalry in WM/H and possibly the best unit in Cygnar.
Even before getting into melee, Storm Lances can remain relevant by using their ranged attack and then repositioning further back.
Combos & Synergies
- Anything with Arcane Shield or Dauntless Resolve. What's better than heavy cavalry? ARM20 heavy cavalry.
- Lord Commander Stryker can then take that to ARM22 against ranged and magic attacks with Deceleration. His feat also gives them an additional round of attacks with yet more Electro-Leaps.
- The Firefly dials up their electrical damage rolls to nasty levels...
- ...while Major Katherine Laddermore takes that damage to the next level alongside additional accuracy...
- ...and a Storm Strider basically turns them into snipers.
- The Stormblade Captain solves any issues with other models in the unit blocking each other in.
- Artificer General Nemo loves anything with electrical damage.
- Like most Cygnar melee units, having access to Pathfinder through Archduke Alain Runewood or Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord is a really good idea.
- Major Prime Victoria Haley can keep them in the game for a long time thanks to Revive and Temporal Flux.
- Lanyssa Ryssyl means that they can threat from a significant distance early on with Hunter's Mark.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- The cost is pretty high for five models.
- Given how many buffs work for them, it's really easy to build an army around a couple of Storm Lance units, Laddermore, a caster and some support solos. This is not always a bad thing - just be careful when deciding what to play it into.
- In a multiple list tournament setting, it is tempting to put them in every list given how good they are. This can give your opponent some easy points if they have an effective counter.
- They need a source of Pathfinder.
- Against models/units that are immune to electricity, they're not quite so impressive.
Tricks & Tips
It might sound like an anti-Cygnar tip collection, but you also better be aware of things, that can affect the performance of your Storm Lances.
- Spacing - They are on large bases, so it might prove difficult to position them so that they all could strike. They don't have Practiced Maneuvers, so don't ignore each other when drawing LOS, or moving.
- Blocking LOS - you can't charge and can't shoot, what you can't see. Trencher smoke from their Into the Breach minifeat, or combined with Haley's Tactical Supremacy can be really annoying.
- Blocking charge lanes - Enemies will likely place models with Tough to stop cavalry charge, and make you to fail your charge entirely.
- Target behind obstacle - without Pathfinder, you will have to evade obstacles, if you want to charge.
- Difficult terrain - It might come either from spells, abilities, or attacks - the result is all the same. Without Pathfinder, you will struggle charging through.
- Charge denial - An in-faction example, the Polarity Shield of the Centurion counters charges. Also, spells, like Rebuke disallow orders, so no charge, no assault shot, and no brutal charge for you.
- Upkeep Removal - you might want to defend such a huge point investment with upkeeps, like Arcane Shield, Blur, Snipe or Dauntless Resolve. Watch out for Purgation, Dispel and Purification, as well as Eiryss2's bow and blade.
Notable changes from Mk2
- They gained a point of defence. Clearly they've been training their horses a lot since Mk2...
- Their FA increased to 2.
Other
Trivia
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