Straitforward Steelhead Merc Force (Domiano)

[WarHammerman]

Well, for the moment I'll be abandoning my Ashlynn 50pt list in favor of a simpler, 'stronger' list.


Now, I know its a lot of spam - but there are somewhat limited choices.


Here is what I am thinking:
Daminao Theme List: 4 Tier

Captain Damiano
+ Nomad
+ Rocinante
x3 Steelhead Halberdiers (6)
x2 Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (3)
x3 Steelhead Riflemen (6)
Stannis Brocker


I decided to go with more groups, for more maneuverability over large numbers of a group.

Daminao's list is very quick, and helps with the charge. His coins menchanic can help the whole army - but Money Shot is brutal for the Nomad, and really helps he Calvelry (as much of him does)

Brocker is needed for this list, with his command and other features.

The Cav and Halberdiers are meant to fight together - and the Riflemen are not terrible, but can fire safely through the whole army.

[Jerrus]

I like the list, I'm considering a simular one if/when I start Mercs.

I would field 2 max units of Halberdiers instead of 3 min units, as you get more bodies for the same price.

Money shot doesn't do anything for the Nomad, as it is Steelhead Ranged Attack and Damage only.

[WarHammerman]

Money shot doesn't do anything for the Nomad, as it is Steelhead Ranged Attack and Damage only.

Yes, I meant Deadeye.
And thank you!

[laestli]

Bleh, Damiano's theme force is garbage, spamming Steelheads without any but one of the Support solos, that core of solo's and character units are the core of Merc power level. Leaving them behind is like intentionally crippling your army. The bonuses for the theme force do not even pretend to try and make up for the loss, it takes a dynamic toolbox of a warcaster then breaks his thumbs, caps his knees, and squirts lemon in his eyes.

That's my opionion on it at least.

[Tort]

Deadeye is still only ranged attacks. The Nomad is good under the feat and Warpath helps it. It's not necessarily better than any other jack though.

When it comes to a spell (or paymaster ability) that says target unit or target model/unit you have to have one model in range and the spell effects the entire unit. It means that you get more value for his spells and abilities with max units rather than min units. Death march in particular (a fantastic spell) gives you benefits if you lose models in a unit, if you only have a min unit you'll never get that much out of the spell or at least never really force your opponent to think carefully about the vengeance part. It's also worth thinking about point efficiency, two max units of halberdies cost the same as 3 min units but have 2 extra models. You should generally be looking at max units over min units when you have the points. The only unit that doesn't quite work that way is the riflemen as the last 4 riflemen are worth slightly more than the first 6 but with combined arms and combined ranged attack as well as the excellent buffs Damiano has for shooting they get a lot out of having a full unit. You could reasonably go either way with the riflemen though.

It's not that simple when it comes to manoeuvrability in warmachine. The paymaster abilities (which are excellent) only work when you have 1 model in 9" of Damiano, deadeye is 6" and the other spells are upkeeps but if you want to recast them you need to have 1 model within 6". Every model in the unit has to be within command of the unit leader, steelheads are all command 8 so your unit can spread out quite a bit (you get about a 17" diameter circle around your unit leader and the rest of the models can be anywhere in that cirlce). With upkeep spells in particular you can cast the spell and then the model or unit can be anywhere on the table and you can still upkeep the spell. When you have a small amount of big units you can put out your upkeep spells and then leave them where they are for most of the game. If you have a lot of small units you will have to juggle those spells in order to get the most out of them. With Damiano you're going to be juggling a bit anyway but at least you don't lose much manoeuvrability when you take max units. The min units are going to have to be in the same place as the max units so you gain no manoeuvrability.

Damiano is also another caster who has a great theme force but good reasons to go outside of his theme force too. Deadeye really shines on gun mages and precursor knights or forge guard do really well under his feat. In theme force too he can't use the fantastic solos the Merc army has. I definetely would not agree with laestli, those solos are very useful but if you are really looking to be competitive then you are talking about character restrictions and Damiano can function fine without those characters making him a great list to take in any tournament.