Jack Marshaling is OP

Alright, well, maybe only the Stormclad/SBC/Arlan combo is actually overpowered, but there are certainly some good uses for the ability in Cygnar. Let's take a closer look at the options for good jack marshals, and what jacks benefit the most from the jack marshal ability.

The first thing I should state is that I just now realized that the word marshal in jack marshal is only spelled with one 'L', which feels really weird to me. I'm going to do my best to spell the word correctly here, but it's going to be difficult. Bear with me.

Jack Marshal Benefits

So first off, let's take a look at the four benefits a marshal will give its jack, and refrain from pondering why they all have an exclamation point at the end. I suppose this is the thing that the marshal needs to scream at the warjack in order to make the ability work.

• Crush! – The warjack can make one additional melee attack during its activation this turn. Additionally, it gains +2 on all melee damage rolls during its activation this turn.
• Hurry! – The warjack can run, charge, or make a power attack without spending focus during its activation this turn. Additionally, it gains +2 on charge attack rolls and slam attack rolls during its activation this turn.
• Strike True! – The warjack gains +2 on all attack rolls during its activation this turn.
• Take Aim! – The warjack must forfeit its Normal Movement to aim during its activation this turn. Additionally, it gains +2 on all ranged damage rolls during its activation this turn.

Hurry! is basically there for when you've got no other option, and Strike True! is there to give you a boost-like benefit when you've got to shoot or smack hard-to-hit models, but the other two are the benefits I like best. Take Aim! is limited by its requirement that you aim, which can limit the threat range of the attack, but getting a +2 to damage as well as the +2 to hit from aiming can be very nice, especially when you've got a jack that has multiple ranged attacks. For this reason, marshaling a cyclone, sentinel, or charger can be a good call. Lastly, my favorite, Crush!! This ability can make pretty much any melee jack a beast. If it's got multiple initials, all the better. The thing with crush is that it's effectively boosting damage on every melee attack for one low price. And if you act now, you also get that sweet sweet additional attack.

Cygnaran Jack Marshals

Interestingly, when you look at the jack marshals in Cygnar with good "drive" abilities, you've got one in each theme. Let's hit these first.

• Gun Mage Officer - Drive: Rune Shot is a powerful ability with the right jack. Snipe is the most obvious pick, giving your cyclone the range of a defender or allowing your defender to threaten pretty much anything on the table. Thunderbolt is also a very nice ability, especially with a cyclone or sentinel, which can push the same model multiple times. Critical brutal can be nice if nothing else applies, especially if you've got a way to boost the to-hit roll.
• Stormblade Captain - Drive: Reposition 5 is insane on a warjack. It lets a speed 5 heavy move faster than it could running by trampling forward 8" and then repositioning another 5" for a total of 13", which is a lot better than that 10" run. And with a stormclad, you're giving it a free focus every turn.
• Alain Runewood - Runewood has the same Drive: Reposition 5 as the stormblade captain, plus he can give his jack +4 to hit by combining Path To Victory with Strike True!

There are a number of other Cygnar solos that can marshal, but don't have a drive ability. They're not nearly as tempting to bring a jack with, but they can sometimes come in handy as a replacement if you lose a marshal or have a jack go inert due to its journeyman dying.

• Arlan Strangewayes: While not an exceptional jack marshal himself, he can amplify the abilities of any other jack marshal by giving a marshaled warjack a focus point.
• Field Mechanic Leader: A good replacement if you need. I recently had him restart an inert sentinel.
• Sword Knight Officer: He doesn't have the awesome Drive: Pronto that he had in mk2, but he'll do in a pinch. Not sure he's worth taking overall though. This guy belongs in an unplayable trash article.
• Stormblade Infantry Officer: You're taking him to give assault and iron zeal to the unit, but if there's a nearby jack inert, he can help out with that too.

There are also a number of Mercenary Jack Marshals that are very good, but I'll save that one for another article. Yes, I'm looking at you, Rutger Shaw.

Cygnaran Warjacks

• Firefly: The firefly is a passable candidate for marshaling, as you're primarily taking him for the lightning generator shot and the +2 lightning damage, and marshaling won't inhibit either of those abilities. He can't benefit from the trample/reposition trick since light warjacks can't trample, but he can take a shot and move nearly as far as if he'd run. Also, putting him on a gun mage officer will get you a 14" lightning generator shot, or allow for some shenanigans by thunderbolting a model back and then having the electroleaps begin from a further-back spot than your opponent had anticipated.
• Sentinel: The sentinel is a great jack to marshal because you're probably taking it mostly for the shield guard ability, and it doesn't lose that when jack marshaled. It's also got multiple shots, which can maximize use of the Take Aim! ability. On a gun mage captain, you can have up to three POW12 attacks at range 14.
• Charger: Typically, I'd always lean away from putting a charger on a jack marshal because its best ability is the Powerful Shot double-boost, which it can't use without focus. However, it's worth considering when you think that you can get two POW14 shots. They're not boosted unless you get Arlan involved, but they can get up to range 16 with the gun mage officer, which could make it worth it.
• Minuteman: With its leap ability relying on focus and its habit of travelling far and fast, the minuteman isn't a great fit for a jack marshal.
• Lancer: Why would you jack marshal an arc node? Nope.
• Hunter: Debatable. Having a POW 8 armor piercing shot every turn is nice, but you're throwing away its extended control area. The gun mage officer can make it range 18, which is something, but I still don't think I like it.
• Ace: Not worth the points unless Caine is running him.
• Hammersmith: The first of the heavies. He's got two hard-hitting initials, which makes Crush! a tempting proposition, as he'd then have three initials plus the Chain Attack: Smite, meaning four POW19 attacks with no focus required. Additionally, with reposition 5, he could move 12" in a turn with the trample/repo trick. That's the same as a running light warjack. Not bad when you're speed 4. And on top of all that, if he gets his smite off, he could slam an enemy back and then reposition away right out of threat range. For a warjack with as many movement shenanigans as the hammersmith, having reposition 5 could be a game-changer. Hmm. I think I just talked myself into trying a marshaled hammersmith. Good luck keeping your marshal within command range though.
• Ironclad: For marshaling a 12-point jack, the hammersmith is likely better.
• Cyclone: A great choice on the gun mage officer. 2d3 POW 14 shots at range 16? That's one POW short of having 2d3 defenders, which is just bananas. At closer range, critical brutal becomes viable because when you're shooting up to six shots, the chances of having one of them come up as a crit is pretty good. Thunderbolt is also good simply because of how many you get at range 12. You really can't go wrong with this combo.
• Thorn: Same answer as the lancer, only more so. Double nope.
• Reliant: I guess so. The +2 from Take Aim! is on damage ROLLS, so you get POW 9 blast damage on the POW 15 stormbringer shot. Is the reliant ever worth taking though?
• Defender: Probably not worth it, although if you did, then the gun mage officer is probably the way to go.
• Avenger: Marshalling the avenger is good primarily because of the AoE. However, when you take a Fire For Effect caster like Caine and combine FFE with Take Aim!, you're making the POW14 seismic cannon into a boosted POW16 knockdown shot with boosted POW9 blast damage. He's underwhelming in melee for all those points, but on the gun mage officer with FFE he becomes insane. The three to-hit dice from Fire For Effect make him very likely to hit those crits, which isn't hugely meaningful on the thunderbolt AoE since they're already knocked down. But the critical brutal in this case gives a good likelihood to score a boosted brutal AoE that will average direct damage of 30 (POW16 + four dice) and blast damage of 23 (POW9 + four dice). When's the last time you hurt a colossal with blast damage?
• Centurian: Not a great bet since he won't be able to use his signature ability without focus.
• Gallant: Has potential, since he can get focus from his accumulator even when marshaled. If they ever introduced a Morrowan jack marshal, you could easily have the same crazy combo that exists with the Stormclad and Stormblade Captain. For now, you'll have to have Harlan Versh following Alain Runewood and Gallant around.
• Brickhouse: I'm not seeing it.
• Dynamo: Take Aim! would make his shots POW14/15/16/17, but I don't think it's worth it. I don't like taking him on anyone other than Nemo.
• Ol' Rowdy: Free charges and his other abilities are nice, but I'm not seeing any great synergies here.
• Stormclad: I won't go back into it in this article, but the stormclad is the best jack to marshal. Click here to read all the details.
• Thunderhead: With this big a point investment, I can't see taking him with someone that can't give him focus.
• Triumph: Ha!

So that's my personal assessment. Hammersmith, Cyclone, Avenger, Stormclad, or one of a handful of light jacks. I marshal jacks often, and I'm surprised that more people don't. If you see a marshaling possibility that I've missed, let me know in the comments!