Theme - Sons of the Tempest
Theme - Sons of the Tempest Cygnar Theme Force |
Mobile and versatile, the Arcane Tempest are called upon to deal with situations beyond the capacity of standard military forces, particularly arcane threats that are warded against conventional firepower. Coordinated by experienced gun mages to fight in conjunction with traditional battlegroups, these strike teams can operate in any theater of war. As their ranked guns tear apart the enemy with fusillades of deadly firepower, lone marksmen pick off high-priority targets with speed and accuracy.
Contents
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made using the Sons of the Tempest theme force can include only the following Cygnar models:
- Cygnar warcasters
- Non-character warjacks
- Ace
- Arcane Tempest models/units
- Mechanik models/units
- Squire solos
- Journeyman Warcaster solos
- This army can also include one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit that will work for Cygnar.
- These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Cygnar] rule.
- Mercenary units can have attachments, but not a Ranking Officer.
Full model list
This list was last updated: 2021.10 (Edit)
Warcasters
- All Cygnar warcasters
Warjacks
- All non-character warjacks
- Ace
- Other character warjacks can be taken, but only if they have a bond and they're in their bonded model's battlegroup.
Units
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
- Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
- Field Mechaniks
- Rangers
- Tempest Blazers
- Trencher Combat Engineers
Solos
- Arcane Tempest Rifleman
- Caine0 -; ("Junior Warcaster")
- Captain Arlan Strangewayes - ('Jack Marshal)
- Gun Mage Captain Adept
- Journeyman Warcaster - ("Junior Warcaster")
- Lieutenant Bastian Falk
- Squire - (Warcaster Attachment)
Mercenaries
- Up to one unit
- Up to one solo
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Cygnar CA
- One small- or medium-based Cygnar solo
Theme Bonuses
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage & Black 13th Strike Force units in this army gain Pistoleer.
- Pistoleer - Ranged attack damage rolls made by this model targeting a model in melee with this model are boosted.
- Warcasters in this army can upkeep spells on Arcane Tempest model/units without spending focus.
- This used to apply to say "models in this army" so that Caine0 could benefit, but it no longer does. This may be a typo in the spoiler, though.
Recent Changes
No changes since 2019.07
Thoughts on Sons of the Tempest
Sons of the Tempest in a nutshell
Do you want Gun Mages? Because this is how you get Gun Mages.
This theme offers:
- some nice resource management benefits with free upkeeps on your models
- plus it mitigates the greatest weakness of the Gun Mages, namely that they could do next to nothing with high-ARM targets
Beside your in-faction opportunities, you can take dedicated ARM-breaking units, like the Horgenhold Forge Guard to deal with those pesky jacks. This list's main selling point that it fares well against infantry-heavy themes. Also, 99% of your non-battlegroup shots are magical, so Incorporeal models will have a hard time locking you out of scenarios, and you are also nearly unaffected by tricks which disallow non-magical shooting attacks (Wind Wall, hymns from the Choir, Vindictus' feat, etc).
Theme Weaknesses
Despite various changes, Sons of the Tempest is mostly likely the weakest of Cygnar's themes. Some of this is down to the choices available, some due to ranged-hate becoming increasingly common in meta-defining lists.
Strong counters
Not too much of a surprise, but a bunch of gun-toting warrior-mages are particularly sensitive to anti-shooting techs. Feats from Zerkova1, cheap Shield Guards, Sacrificial Pawn, or spells like Swamp Pit and Countermeasure can severely decrease your attack capabilities.
Upkeep dependence can leave you exposed to upkeep hate (Purgation, Purification, Dispel, etc).
POW 10s galore
No hard hitting infantry outside of the Merc options.
Victim stat troops
Overall, your units are pretty squishy. Anything that bypasses high DEF will hurt you a lot. AoE damage and AoEs that apply continuous effects are very effective against the low ARM Gun Mages.
Limited Pathfinder
Apart from the Black 13th and the Tempest Blazers your units may struggle with difficult terrain.
Balanced lists are hard
If you overload on jacks and/or solos you will find yourself struggling on scenario. If you don't utilize many solos, that goes against the main reason for using this theme. You have to find the exact right balance between solos, jack and units.
Low-value requisition
The most expensive models allowed as requisition points cost 5 points each - with some themes allowing up to 7 points per model from their requisition options.
List Building Tips
There are two main ways to look at this theme: all-in on Gun Mages, or cherry-pick the good bits (typically the solos and Black 13th) and then fill the rest with warjacks/mercenaries. With a lot of gun mages, you need to be mindful of the fact that they are not great at playing attrition or a strong scenario game because they die too quickly. You will need some resilient models such as melee warjacks or throwaway pieces such as Thralls offered by Alexia1 or Alexia2.
About the units
- Do not underestimate the power of Pistoleer shots when in melee, especially against Shield Walled / Wall of Steel units. If you can push away enemy unit members, use the Thunderbolt round. The push triggered on a hit, so then you'd roll 3D6 for damage and the target now won't receive the +4/+2 ARM. If you can't move them (whether due to immunity for pushes, or simply by placement), use the Critical Brutal shot for the extra damage die.
- The B13 are the hands down best unit in the theme and should be in any Sons list, even if they are the only unit you take. They are quite devastating with Brutal Damage shots, dealing an average of 24 points of damage during a gunfight.
- Tempest Blazers do not benefit from Pistoleer (not being an "Arcane Tempest Gun Mage" unit), but are extremely fast and can use use electro-leap shots to deal damage further into the back lines. Don't forget to reposition back out of harm's way! Furthermore, since they are going to be your fastest unit, they are the best candidates to capture or contest distant zones, which the theme otherwise struggles with.
- Field Mechaniks can be extremely vital for your lists as a cheap throw away unit to hold down zones with. They are SPD 6 and Def 14, so they have a reasonable chance of being annoying at least. Occasional repairs are nice too.
About the Solos
The average Sons of the Tempest list will be very solo heavy. This is because the available units are not bad, but they are not amazing either, while pretty much all the solos in the theme are outstanding. That being said, The Black 13 is easily the best unit out of the bunch and should be in every list. After that you should spice it up with either Blazers and/or normal Gun Mages and then take as many solos as possible.
- Falk brings a crucial damage buff into this theme. If you just go for a single free card, you probably want to consider him, or Caine0.
Warjacks in Sons
Speaking of jacks, it cannot be stressed enough how much this theme can do for them damage-wise. This is mainly due to the presence of Bastian Falk, the center-piece of any Sons list, who can buff magical damage output tremendously. "How?" You may ask, given that Rune Marked only works for magic weapons? Well there's a couple ways to make your jacks weapons magical, namely:
- Marshalling the 'jack with a Gun Mage Officer. The Rune Shot drive makes the damage magical and coupled with the order to take aim brings you to +4 damage.
- Empowering a 'jack with Strangewayes makes the 'jack's attacks magical.
- Explosivo from Siege1 makes the damage magical and applies a small magical AOE.
- Caine1's field marshal.
Falk's damage buff also stacks with all other damage buffs available to you, such as Kiss of Lyliss (note, no long available as Ranking Officers are theme limited now) and Death Shroud. Caine0 can also put Fire for effect on a jack, which further ups their damage potential.
Naturally, the theme favours ranged jacks (Just don't forget the proviso in the introduction) :
- The Cyclone is the ideal jack for the Officers to marshal. With Take Aim its two guns are already effectively POW 14 with ROF d3 on both of it's guns, and that doesn't even account for any other buff you might bring. They can also lay down Covering Fire, which brings a control aspect to the theme. Alternatively you can place the Covering Fire behind the enemy and use the Thunderbolt shots of your mages to push enemy models into it.
- The Charger is a great jack for Siege1 since he wants as many boosted damage rolls he can get during his feat.
- The Minuteman are also great for Siege, since they just evaporate infantry with Flack Field under his feat. They also bring two POW 14 guns (which can theoretically go up to POW 20 in his theme) and have two hands to use throw power attacks.
- The Hunter and their long arm cannon can be seriously threaten heavies with all the damage buffs. Under Take Aim and Falk, he sports a Pow 10 armour piercing gun.
- The Sentinel is a cheap shield guard that can protect your many solos.
- The Centurion is niche choice that only shines under Kraye. He grants them reposition so they can take control of scenario and hold the enemy off with Polarity Field. Ragman, Aiyana, Falk and Strangeways make sure they hit hard.
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
In 2020.09 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.
- Caine0: [Free] (5 pts)
- Ace: [10 pts]
- Lieutenant Bastian Falk: [5 pts]
- Black 13th Strike Force: [10 pts]
Total RRP: USD $154 (based on PP's online store prices 2021.05)
For more Brawlmachine list ideas, see Category: Brawl List
Casters - The Most Wanted
Captain Jeremiah Kraye
He actually forgoes most of the Gun Mage stuff in the theme and opts for a repositioning, countermeasure-d polarity field with Centurions. Strangeways then hands out magical damage, so you got yourself a 6 point damage swing among Falk, Ragman and Aiyana. He typically likes the solos and Black 13th for their ability to ignore stealth and easily apply his feat.
Siege1
Siege offers multiple tools that iron out their weaknesses. Foxhole is superb for your squishy infantry to hang out in, his feat really ups their damage and becomes outright frightening with Pistoleer shots and Tempest Blazer can really exploit the possibilities of the Breach feat with their Brutal Damage shots. If you add in Fire for Effect from Caine0 on his units or for his Ground pounder and you got a list with crazy damage potential. Additionally you can upkeep Explosivo on a jack so it gains the damage buff from Falk.
Haley1
Deadeye is the Crit Fishing spell for Gun Mages, whether for brutal damage, or Thunderbolt. Temporal Barrier is an universal RAT fixer, enabling crit shots to happen all the more reliably.
Haley2
Preventing AOE's from landing on gun mages solves the easiest way for them to die. And she works very well with a ATGM Bonded Jack, as two Sniped Defender rounds are better than one.
Casters - Also ran
Maddox
A free Snipe leaves you more room for other attack types, and Dauntless Resolve is, again, another way to have your Mages not die to stray blasts... hopefully.
Sturgis1
The same as with Maddox, save that his feat is a bit more useful to them, than Maddox's +3 STR.
Jakes2
Bullet Dodger rewards you with highly elusive mages, especially with her feat. Being mainly a battlegroup caster however, this will not be the first theme you'll be looking for.
Siege2
Siege2 brings some nice tools to the gun mage party.
- With a lower number of models, you can actually have space to trigger Hallowed Avenger effectively without getting jammed up.
- High Ground tips their DEF into the irritating category.
- His feat improves their DEF and gives them blast immunity which Gun Mages absolutely love. The 3" move also gives them a nice threat extension or reposition depending on what you have in mind.
But what about Caine?
Despite being a Arcane Tempest member in the fluff, none of Caine's iterations work particularly well with Sons (he also isn't an Arcane Tempest model for some reason, so he cannot upkeep for free on himself). Yes, free upkeeps are nice, but none of them really shore up the problems the theme has. Caine1 wants to kill lots of infantry on his feat turn, but killing infantry is not a problem Gun Mages have. Caine2 wants to go for an assassination run and while Shadow Fire (which he can also get from Ace in any theme) from the Captain Adepts and Falk's +2 damage from Rune Marked helps with that, the synergies end there. Generally speaking the first two Caines rely on their personal contribution to the battle and have little support to spare. As such they are looking for independent infantry that make the most out of their very limited support; something that describes the Gravediggers theme perfectly, but not Sons of the Tempest. Caine3 flat out just wants to maximize on his battlegroup to start a big synergy chain on feat turn, and for big battle groups there's Heavy Metal. Also he prevents you from taking the Black 13, which is the hands down best unit in the theme.
Other
Trivia
- Released 2017.02
- In Mk2 "Sons of the Tempest" was the name of Caine1's theme list.
Other Cygnar models
Rules Clarifications
Rules Clarification : Pistoleer (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: Theme Forces (Edit) Themes that change a model's Faction [Show/Hide]
Rerolling the starting roll [Show/Hide]
Warjacks/Warbeasts with bonds [Show/Hide]
Including Mercenaries [Show/Hide]
Number of Mercenaries
Mercenaries and Ranking Officers
Other
Including Partisan Mercenaries [Show/Hide]
Partisans & Theme Forces (Edit)
Requisition Points [Show/Hide]
Free models and Specialists (ADR) [Show/Hide]
Unit Attachments [Show/Hide]
When to apply theme benefits [Show/Hide]
See also these Theme-Specific Rulings [Show/Hide]
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