Trencher theme Cygnar list (which warcaster and list)

[yool1981]

Hi everybody,

I've started Warmahordes a few months ago.

I plan to collect a Cygnar army based on the trencher theme. I don't play tournaments so I don't want a killer list but something fun to play and fluff.

According to your experience, what would be the most suited warcaster for a trencher theme (warjacks, squire and rangers are the only non-trencher figs I could field)? For information, I plan to play at least T1 lists. My playstyle involves softening up the opponent before counter-attacking on the weak spots I've created (with a bit of denial if possible).

Do you have any example of list that I could field?

Best Regards

[Keravin]

Good casters for this that I've seen are Siege and now in the new No Quarter we have Epic Caine as well. Looking in Superiority at the Trencher information there there's no caster specifically connected to the Trenchers.

[wazatdingder]

eCaine got a theme list in the new NQ that is all Trenchers. I think one of the Haleys uses trenchers, and maybe Siege. You should pick up the book if your looking for tiers, plus its just nice to have.

[Darkangeldentist]

EHaley is actually one of the most Trencher orientated casters for her tiers. She works pretty well with them too, as much as any caster can.

I would have a very serious think about whether you really want to use the tiers though. Most of the Cygnar ones are very limiting and some positively bizarre. (The Cygnar book one for eCaine being a prime example. I don't know about his new one.)

Casters that I think work well with trenchers (irrespective of tiers) are both Haleys since messing with enemy movement gives the trenchers more time to do their jobs. pStyker thanks to his great spell list (everything with a gun loves snipe and trenchers become very dangerous with that much threat range) and pCaine can work nicely for similar reasons.

I would also think carefully about whether you plan on using regular trenchers or commandos. They fulfill different roles and work very differently on the table. The trencher weapon platforms can be quite fun but are rather narrow and niche in their usage.

Good luck with your endeavours.

[yool1981]

So the tier lists in the Cygnar book (which I own) are not very good... I'm a newbie on PP games but, although the armies seem quite balanced in terms of FB entries (which, coming from WHB, I think is a great asset), they don't seem equal in terms of Tier lists.

About the New Quarter, I've not seen anything allowing to receive it in France on the PP website so I've not seen the new eCaine list.

I think I'll take eHaley or Siege (I like both minis). I'll try to have a look to the eCaine's new TL also if I can because the mini is just awesome. About the use of comandos or basic trenchers, I've not seen much on Battle College but I plan to check PP's forum. If you've got more advice (or ideas of balanced lists for 35 points), please don't hesitate to post.

[yool1981]

I've made some research and I came up with the following list:
Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)
* Charger (4pts)
* Defender (9pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Trencher Chaingun Crew (2pts)
Trencher Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Trencher Infantry Grenadier (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
* Grenadier (5pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Trencher Master Gunner (2pts)

It is close to a tier list except that I added Reinholdt.

What's your opinion?

[Ironmonger]

I've made some research and I came up with the following list:
Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane (*5pts)
* Charger (4pts)
* Defender (9pts)
Rangers (5pts)
Trencher Chaingun Crew (2pts)
Trencher Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Trencher Infantry Grenadier (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
* Grenadier (5pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Trencher Master Gunner (2pts)

It is close to a tier list except that I added Reinholdt.

What's your opinion?

The only comment I'll make right now is about the size of the Trencher squad. Really, go full-sized + UA. 12 man is ALOT more durable then 6.

[yool1981]

Thank you for the comment.
What would you remove?
I could marshall the Grenadier 'Jack and remove Junior and some trencher WA.
However, I planned to increase the trenchers' durability with Arcane Shield and I thought maybe the AOE spam would be efficient.
The chain gun crew is here for terrain control with supressing fire.
Maybe I could remove the rangers.

I lack the experience to decide what's best.

[xeno106]

Then why not proxy and get the experience to know whats best

[yool1981]

You're right, that would be best for sure.

However, I don't get to play very often (4-5 times a year at best) because of our group of players being separated by quite a distance.

Thus, between the games, I usually paint the minis and try to play painted ones as much as possible.
I was able to build what I think is a solid list of Trollbloods (classic Madrak force). I was thinking about building a Cygnar force as a secundary army.

However,I'm not so sure about the trenchers. Although I love the concept, after some research on many forums, I hear about them being quite a weak unit. I'd thus like to see if it's still possible to build a fairly competitive list on this theme (not a killer list, just something correct).

It's just about avoiding to spend too much energy to build an army that will have such flaws that it won't even be fun to play.

[xeno106]

Got it, my usual approach to this is to "convince" either my gf or little brother that it would be great fun to play this new "board game"
Anyway, you should try to get some infos over at the PP forums, as there are more people to help you with a decent list.

[Siege2006]

this is a 35 point siege list i came up with that works pretty good.

Siege +5
Defender +4
trenchers (leader and 9 grunts) +9
Trencher UA +3
Trenchers (leader and 9 grunts) +9
Trencher master gunner- Free
trencher cannon crew +3
trencher cannon crew +3
trencher cannon crew +3

i have also found that the hunters are good when siege uses his feat. armor piercing with breach is a good way to put a hurting on the low defence high armor jacks.

[Tort]

armour piercing and breach do not stack. Both half base ARM. You still tend to see hunters with Seige because despite his feat he still has trouble cracking high armour.

If you have a shooting list the rangers go in it. They are more essential than pretty much everything else in the list. Siege is pretty good at foxhole assassinating casters and the Rangers are a huge help with that.

The Journeyman is pretty important too, arcane shield can make Siege pretty hard to kill. If you want to free up points drop the charger.

Trenchers are not terrible, they are just overcosted. They can be quite painful for some armies to deal with but in the end 6 trenchers cost as much as 6 gun mages and you're always going to get more use out of the gun mages, the long gunners cost the same amount of points and will deal out a lot more damage at greater range... Still you'll find that they do something and occasionallly have a really good game.

I'll add Kraye as a caster to try them with. He runs grenadiers really well. You can have the trenchers advance and drop smoke (they don't all have to drop smoke some can shoot) then the grendiers move up drop 3 boosted to hit arcing fire 3" AOEs each then use their light cav move to get back behind the smoke. The other ranged jacks can do the same thing.