The first caster post I've got is about the first caster I ever played: Lord Commander Stryker. I started out in the final year of Mk2 Warmachine playing the Stryker / Ironclad / Lancer / Charger battlebox. I played nothing but Stryker1 for about four months before I moved on to Caine1, who was actually pretty good back in those InfantryMachine days.
Back then, and until recently, Stryker1 was considered a middle-tier warcaster. It's only been very recently that he's risen to any kind of relevance in the tournament scene. I've thrown together a Heavy Metal list I really like with him, but I haven't yet had a chance to play it.
I'm not going to pretend that I'm able to throw together a better writeup on the caster than someplace like Battle College, but I'd like to lay down my own thoughts on Stryker1. If you're someone in the first year of playing the game and you're eagerly scouring the internet for anything you can find on Stryker, maybe you'll find some value in this.
Spells
Stryker1's spell list is all about support. With Arcane Shield, Snipe, and Blur, you can safely refer to him as a "buffbot". He's got a couple crappy nuke spells (Arcane Bolt, Arcane Blast) but you'll likely never use them.
ARCANE SHIELD: Having this on your caster's spell list is a big deal because once you take a Journeyman Warcaster, you can have two arcane shields in play. Everyone's favorite tactic is to take double colossals and arcane shield them both, but personally I'm a fan of centurians, which have even higher armor than stormwalls or hurricaines, if not as many boxes. Under Stryker's feat, they truly are invulnerable. You have to keep in mind though - if your opponent decides that going after that ARM 29 centurian isn't worth it, he's going to look for softer targets, or else have a warpwolf throw your slow-moving centurian right out of Stryker's control area. Yes, I'm speaking from experience.
BLUR: One of the best targets for blur is Stryker himself. Having a 19 defense makes him nearly unshootable. Put him on a hill with blur and consider him safe from ranged attacks. Another great target for blur is a unit of sword knights, which works well since they're allowed in Stryker1's favorite theme force, Heavy Metal. Have Rhupert give them concealment and now you're looking at a unit of sword knights with 18 DEF against shooting. Just watch out for blast damage or electroleaps.
SNIPE: It seems like everyone always puts snipe on a colossal. I get that. Colossals have multiple high-value ranged attacks, and that maximizes the usefulness of snipe. But one of my favorite things to do is put snipe on Stryker1 himself, and bring Reinholdt along. This gives Stryker two range 14 disruption shots. If your opponent has jacks, you can relegate them to near-uselessness unless your opponent has a model with empower. I also like putting snipe on jacks with short-ranged attacks such as Thunderhead and the avenger.
EARTHQUAKE: Stryker's most valuable spell. It's really good. When I was new, I used to throw out earthquakes every round just because I could. But it's an expensive spell, and Stryker's focus can often be used elsewhere in more effective ways. Even if you know you can knock down the enemy caster, it's of no use unless you can then attack. Having two chargers on hand helps because you can potentially hotswap snipe and get four boosted POW 12s with a 22 inch threat on each.
Feat
One of the things I struggle most with about this feat is remembering to use it. I can't count the times I'd begin my turn by saying, "okay, I'm going to feat this turn", and then later I finish Stryker's activation and am halfway through activating the next model before saying "Aw, crap! Stryker wanted to feat." This never happens with feats like Caine's where there's an immediate offensive effect to resolve. But when the effect doesn't become important until your opponent's turn, it's easy to miss it. I've started writing FEAT in large letters across Stryker's card in dry erase marker in cases like this. Sometimes, that helps. Sometimes.
Other Tools and Tricks
Stryker1's role more than anything else is to support his army via his three buff spells and his feat. His tricks are few, but they can be effective.
Number one is his signature pop & drop. Knock down a caster by channeling earthquake through a lancer, then put as many shots into the downed caster as necessary to get the kill. This can be incredibly difficult to stop. Lancers are fast jacks, so the range of this is huge. And if you get the lancer to within five inches of the enemy warcaster, the big 5" AoE can only drift 2.5", which means it auto-hits. Then, it's simply a matter of putting enough damage into the now easy-to-hit enemy caster. The toughest part of all this might be keeping your arc node alive long enough to get an angle.
Another trick I really like with Stryker1, as mentioned above, is using snipe in combination with his disruption pistol. Especially when you've got a caster with built-in knockdown tech, disrupting a jack can be crippling. A knocked down enemy heavy that's disrupted has no focus to shake the knockdown and must give up movement to stand, and thus can only attack targets you leave within its reach, or else must give up its attack to stand and then it can walk, but can't attack at all. Even better is taking an avenger - a single hit from that stun sword on a disrupted jack means it loses an entire turn. You should be able to wreck it before it gets to activate again. Having Gorman along with a blind bomb is nearly as good. Just be sure to engage the model you intend to disrupt after you shoot and disrupt it. How much of a tool would you feel like if you missed the shot and disrupted your own jack?
Attachments
So many casters in Cygnar want the squire and only the squire. It's certainly a good choice with Stryker1 as well. That extra two inches of control area means more reach on his feat. Rerolls on earthquake spells is likewise very good. And the three rounds of extra focus is also welcome. Although I'd like to consider Sylys, the squire is generally superior.
Reinholdt could sometimes have a place here. If you can give up all the above benefits, having an extra disruption shot is nice, especially when you've got access to snipe. Being able to trivially remove stealth on a model every turn is also a big deal in certain situations.
Warjacks
So which Jacks does Stryker want? There are nearly no bad answers here. The first thing I think of is heavy armor. With the potential for two arcane shields, using something like two collosals or two centurians as an anchor is a good way to go. I also like to sometimes bring along an Avenger for heavy armor, additional knockdown, and to give it snipe and increase its less-than-stellar range. You can also swap arcane shield onto the avenger later in the game once it's waded into combat.
Ol'Rowdy is also a good choice. In addition to the good armor, he's focus efficient and he has a bond that helps to keep Stryker safe. He also has yet more knockdown.
I always bring an arc node with Stryker1. At times, I've brought two. This is mostly for the earthquake threat, but don't ever underestimate those shock shields. A lancer can disable even the biggest heavy warjack in a single activation by smacking it a few times with the shield.Lastly, a fun combination that I've taken but never really gotten to work as well as I might have wished: Rutger Shaw and a Freebooter. Knock a heavy down with an avenger, or earthquake, or an ironclad, then let that jackmarshalled freebooter do its thing and get two boosted POW16s followed by a free throw, and then an extra attack if there's another target in range. Plus, on Rutger, it's a cheap shield guard. The biggest issue I found with this combination is that these two tend to die on Stryker's feat turn because they're the only targets around not affected by his feat.
Themes
Heavy Metal
My personal Stryker1 list at the moment is Heavy Metal - I feel like that's a good place for him. I worry about being able to fuel all the jacks though, even with a squire and Arlan. That's why I removed Ol'Rowdy from this iteration and took the charger off of Stryker. The journeyman should be able to get by with upkeeping Arcane Shield and giving her Charger a single focus every turn and still camp one.Commander Coleman Stryker
Squire
Centurian
Centurian
Sentinel
Lancer
Lancer
Journeyman Warcaster
*Charger
*Hunter
Captain Arlan Strangewayes
Lieutenant Alison Jakes
*Thunderhead
Field Mechaniks - Crew Chief & 5 Grunts
I've heard a lot of good things about Jakes/Thunderhead, although I've not yet played the combo. I won't need to worry about fueling Thunderhead with her handling that. With two lancers, a charger / hunter / Thunderhead pop and drop is a possibility, and sacrificing a lancer to disable an enemy heavy and possibly occupy it for a round or two is an option.
Storm Division
Not my preference with Stryker1, but I can see it being strong. Let's try a test list...Commander Coleman Stryker
Squire
Hunter
Hunter
Lancer
Journeyman Warcaster
*Charger
Captain Arlan Strangewayes
Stormsmith Stormcallers x 3
Stormblade Captain
Stormblade Infantry + Command Attachment
Stormblade Infantry + Command Attachment
Savio Montero Acosta
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts
I hadn't thought much of it before putting this list together, but it looks good. It would play much differently than my Heavy Metal list. This one is a combination infantry swarm and gunline. Blur and two arcane shields help to deliver the stormblades and storm lances, and the three shooty jacks pick off what they can. Stormcallers pick off stealthed models, and they can now get snipe for extended threat range, which should help take out problem solos like Eiryss.
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