Unplayable Trash: Stormsmith Stormcallers

I'm writing the "unplayable trash" series as a counter to the "in every list" series to discuss models that are respectively the worst and best in Cygnar. This week: stormsmith stormcallers.

I'll admit, since we went to Mk3 and they lost disruption on every shot, I don't think I've put stormcallers on the table once. Well, maybe once, but not much at all.

They have some very cool tools, but it's a pity how seldom those tools become relevant, especially in the current meta.




The stormcallers are solos, but you get three of them when you pay five points. This is both a benefit and a hindrance: since they're not a unit, you can't cast an upkeep like blur or deadeye on more than one of them, but they can activate independently, which is sometimes very helpful when trying to get a tricky triangulation.

Stormcallers can be difficult to keep alive. Their vanilla shots are only range 10, and their defensive statlines are very weak.

In terms of offense, stormcallers can be surprisingly accurate in the right circumstance. While they no longer auto-hit like they did in mk2, they ignore concealment, cover, and elevation. This means that while a caster in smoke behind a wall on a hill might be DEF23, to the stormcaller that's still only DEF15. The stormcaller will still need a 9 to hit, but that's better than anyone else would do in that situation.

The stormcallers can also be a good anti-stealth piece, threatening stealth models from 16" away. And they're the only anti-stealth you're likely to get if you're running a storm division army. If you can get within 16" of Eiryss, it's probably worth sacrificing a stormcaller to get in a POW10 on her and possibly take her out.

Triangulation is very hard to accomplish. In all the times I've played Stormcallers, I think I only ever got a triangulation once, and in that instance it didn't even matter. But taking a unit of stormblade infantry with the attachment always makes me want to take stormcallers because just maybe you can use that standard as a triangulation point.

Triangulation can increase your possible threat with a stormcaller by quite a lot, but it's weird and situational. If you've got another stormcaller in just the right spot, you could in theory threaten with triangulation from 26" away. In reality, that's not likely to happen. It might just be easier to sacrifice one stormcaller by running with it so that the other two can triangulate.

My tactic with stormcallers is sound in theory, but has never really worked out on the table. I'd like to bring two stormcallers up each extreme flank, just out of range of enemy shots. They can in theory be 44" apart and still help to enable triangulation by a third stormcaller by each running 12" inward to end at 20" apart. With luck, you can get within 20" by running only a single stormcaller, and maybe have the two others triangulate. With a stormblade standard or a second trio of stormcallers, this gets a bit easier. I wonder if taking 9 stormcallers with two units of stormblades would be good due to the possible amount of triangulation.

Stormcallers' critical disruption is a downgrade from what they had in mk2, but it's not something you can disregard entirely. It's likely not worth investing a deadeye spell just for the increased chance of disruption, although if they were a unit it probably would be worthwhile. But if a stormcaller has nothing better to do, there are worse things than to zap a jack in the hopes of an unlikely crit.

My personal verdict on stormcallers? Situational. Maybe take them if you need anti-stealth in a Storm Division army, or if you've got Nemo2 or Nemo3, who help them a lot.