Gravediggers has trencher infantry, which since the stormlance nerf are arguably the best unit in the faction. Trencher Long Gunners are also pretty amazing for what they do. But gravediggers is fresh off a CID that has (in my opinion) made it the best theme in Cygnar.
On the contrary, Sons of the Tempest remains (once again, my opinion) the worst theme in Cygnar. The once-great gun mages now seldom see the table, and the Black 13th have lost Lynch's true sight and Ryan's mage storm. They all die to a stiff breeze.
Being a jack theme, Heavy Metal is an odd dumping ground for units. The sword knights make sense, as their fluff indicates that they're trained to operate alongside warjacks. But original recipe long gunners are an odd inclusion.
This brings me to The Storm Division, the theme I'd like to touch on with this 3-part series. Storm Division has six units, excluding mechanics, more than any theme besides gravediggers. Today, we'll be looking at the top of the heap: stormlances. Call them lances for short if you must, but dear lord please never call them lancers. A lancer is a warjack, people.
Stormlances
Before the nerf, when stormlances got e-leaps on both shots and melee attacks, and when Laddermore's buff was a massive +2/+2, stormlances were easily the best unit in the faction. Even after the nerf, they're still pretty good, if expensive.A stormlance's ideal target would be a heavy jack or beast surrounded by infantry. Each lance could in theory charge through (ideally low-defense) infantry, taking it out with impact attacks, then get a boosted POW16 charge attack against the heavy, generating e-leaps which can take out nearby low-armor infantry. Against an average ARM18 heavy with 30 boxes, three charging lances with assault shots should be enough. If they don't kill it, and assuming the heavy has only one inch reach, they can reposition back and spread out, leaving that jack severely crippled and likely unable to mount much of a counterattack. A word of warning: when you're charging through infantry, watch out for models with tough. All it takes is one model to make a tough check, and your entire cavalry charge can be ruined.
Stormlances always want that charge. Playing stormlances usually involves taking shots here and there, and repositioning to stay out of the enemy's threat until such time as you can commit them for maximum benefit. Once they're engaged, there's far less that they can do, as they're not only giving up the assault shot, they're also giving up that cavalry charge, which includes boosted hit, boosted damage, and impact attacks.
Taking the assault just to make shots and intentionally fail the charge attack can give you a 16" threat with that POW12 shot, but should be used cautiously, as you're then losing the reposition and might be leaving yourself open to a charge, thus losing the stormlances' greatest advantage: the cavalry charge.
Stormlances can handle high armor or infantry swarms pretty easily, but they do have weaknesses, such as debuff spells which are then affecting 20 points of models, or powerful shots such as those from a charger, gun bunny, or behemoth. When losing each model in the unit means four points, it becomes important to protect that investment. Therefore, upkeeps and other defensive buffs are key to getting work out of stormlances and keeping them alive to get that work done.
Rhupert is a key model, and is often the mercenary solo you'll end up selecting if you're playing in Storm Division. Pathfinder on lances is often very valuable, and having one or two of your four-point models succeed in a tough check can be a big deal. Lastly, Veil of Mists can bring those lances up to defense 15, and that's hard for any unboosted shot to hit.
Casters
So let's say you've dropped $140, you've purchased two units of stormlances, and you've just spent a few weeks assembling them and then a few months painting them. Which casters are your best bet to run them?
Stryker 2
My favorite Stormlance caster is Stryker 2. The primary reason is deceleration, which makes the stormlances ARM19 versus shooting. This lets them tank shots from pretty much anything less than a boosted POW12, and Deceleration will work on both units. Back them up with some ARM18 heavies, which then become ARM20, and the enemy has no good ranged targets.Additionally, Stryker 2 lets you throw positive charge on a firefly, then run it into position for your stormlances to get POW14 assault shots and POW14 impact attacks, followed by boosted MAT9 charges with boosted POW18 damage rolls, and then POW12 e-leaps. Then they reposition and Stryker feats, and the lances get to attack something else up to 6 inches away, potentially re-using the firefly and positive charge bonuses.
Stryker 1
The Stryker 1 double lance build is a popular armor skew in Cygnar. With a journeyman, you can throw an arcane shield on two units, and then they're ARM20, and ARM25 on feat turn. Against certain lists, it might even be feasable to run the lances forward to jam, since if you go first they can be as far the enemy deployment zone by the bottom of round two. Sure, this is throwing a bunch of stormlances to the wolves and condemning them to death, but if it means winning on scenario, maybe it's worth it.Stryker 3
Stryker 3 is made for cavalry, as his feat grants auto-hits not only on charge attacks, but also on impact attacks. With Stryker 3's Fury spell and his feat, you have the certainty of hitting any model no matter its defense with a boosted POW15 impact attack. That's an impact attack which will average 8 boxes of damage on an ARM17 Man-O-War. And the charge target is getting hit even harder - each lance will average 12 damage on an ARM18 heavy.Outside of his feat turn, Stryker3 is somewhat less impressive, but fury does stay around as long as you need it.
Maddox
Dauntless Resolve can make the stormlances armor 20 plus tough, and onslaught can give them pathfinder. Also, her feat makes them hit pretty hard.Haley 1
Haley 1 can pull the same double arcane shield shenanigans that Stryker 1 can, and her feat can do some of what Stryker 2's feat can with the stormlances and their electroleaps. But another fun interaction is temporal barrier along with the stormlances' reposition 3. If you shoot a model from 8" away, then reposition 3" back, you're now 11" away, and any model inside the temporal barrier likely can't reach you with a charge.Haley 2
I've stayed far away from Haley 2 since getting into warmachine. Years of people telling me about what a negative play experience it was playing against a Haley 2 army just soured me. That said, temporal acceleration is a great spell for stormlances, giving them an extra shot before repoisitioning back, or an extra melee attack along with a second e-leap, and making that melee threat a whopping 15 inches.Haley 3
It feels unlikely that anyone would play Haley 3 outside of Gravediggers, but Temporal Distortion can increase Stormlance defense to 15, and Grandma Haley can bring back a dead stormlance every round.Closing Thoughts
One of the questions that comes up a lot is whether to take min or max units of stormlances. There are a lot of factors to this aspect of list-building. How many points do you have available? Are you building the list around the stormlances, or adding them to fill space? Smaller units make it easier to score zones, as you've got fewer models to move into place. Smaller units also minimize the risk posed by offensive upkeep spells. But if you're looking to throw arcane shield or blur on your stormlances, you get more bang for the buck with a larger unit. And since you're limited to two units, if you want more than since lances, you need to go large.There are a lot of other models that help out stormlances. Laddermore no longer turns them up to eleven, but the +1 is nothing to sneeze at. The storm strider can give an additional +1 to hit with their shot, and of course there's the firefly ionization damage bonus to consider.
I'm not going to say that the noble stormlance is the sole model propping up the entire Storm Division theme, but it is pretty close.
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