Furythrow2

Maybe you could shuffle the big monsters around/ try some others and see what gives the most punch. I think the hurricanum is probably a big force multiplier so I'd be wary of dropping it. Maybe you could run the version without the character wizard? I'm not sure if the penumbral engine is the answer to lacking punch though.

@Sethiris Honestly if it was a really stompy battle I'd give it some time before you make any dramatic changes to the list. If you get the chance to try it a few more times you might spot units that are consistently weak or whether they just had a bad match up

Honestly if you have the extra points then yeah why not use a better unit, unless you're missing other synergies. You're right though, play test and tell us how it goes!

Out of curiosity, what would you arm screening corsairs with, the handbows or 2 swords?

@Sethiris if you're planning to use the freeguild guard just for board control I don't know if upgrading them to bleakswords would be worth it. As for taking the crossbow on the dreadlord, I think the only way it's better than the shield is if you're using it with the command ability to get the easy charge from outflanking.

@NatBrannigan My feeling on screens is that you just want them cheap and cheerful. Irondrakes are a killing unit that actually win a battle. For me, some good screens would be freeguild guard with shields ( cheap and potentially resilient) or freeguild handgunners (who can shoot whoever charges them)

Ok so I've been having a think about other builds that we could do, specifically making use of our battalion. So if we start with the fire base I would go for: Cogsmith Lord-Ordinator 4 Helstorm rocket batteries Greywater artillery company This comes in at 840pts and provides a real load of hurt from a distance. For the battleline choices and screen I would go for something fairly cheap like: 2 10 freeguild handgunners 20 freeguild guard This is a cheap chunk at 360pts and I think makes a reasonable screen, especially with the handgunners' stand and shoot. At this point I think the list needs a solid hammer, something that can go in and clean up whatever survives the hail of rockets. We have 800pts left at this point so some options could be: Sorceress and 30 Blackguard 510 points 2 6 Demigryph Kights 720 points 3 10 pistoliers 600points 30 Phoenix guard and an anointed on flame phoenix 720 points or whatever else you fancy. The idea in my head is that you would use the artillery battalion to really lay on the hurt at range, forcing your opponent to come to you. As the weakened enemy comes forward your hammer of choice counter punches while your cheap screen keeps the artillery safe. As always I'd love to hear peoples' thoughts.

Ok so I've been thinking a bit more about what some of our strengths might be and I've arrived at the following. I think we can do a fair amount of work with command points. We can start with an extra one from our artifact which means that you could start with 3 on the first turn for not much investment. Going on from that we can generate an extra each turn with a roll from our command trait. If you combine that with the roll from city adjutant you have reasonable odds to get a second CP. Again I don't think this is too much of an investment as there are plenty of small heros in the book we can use. Putting this together I think a reasonable greywater list could look to use the city command ability along with some of the warscroll ones (warden king, freeguild general and steam tank spring to mind) to form a solid block of fighting and shooting. What do other people think?

Yeah I'm quite excited to see what kind of wacky builds people come up with.

Also the designer's commentary says that when those steamtanks become battle line, they're not also behemoths

If people have decided that gunline armies are no fun then maybe the ranger command trait offers a bit of fun with run and shoot? At that point you have steam tanks moving 3d6 per turn and still shooting. Alternatively pretend those volley guns little gun wagons, try and rush up the board and double tap with the battalion. If you're really scraping the barrel use it with the general on griffon ( with +1 save) and give those pistoliers run and shoot.

@Gwendar I hadn't done the maths but yeah ideal circumstances against 4+ they're nearly identical. When you say screen with pistoliers is that with all 40 darkshards in range? Do you then rely on the retreat and shoot from the battalion in the following turn? I'm fairly new to AoS so I'm interested to learn a bit more.

@Gwendar a couple of things that jump out at me: As other people have pointed out, executioners are the weakest of the great weapon troops as their MWs stop their attack sequence. Maybe black guard would be better? People speak quite highly of them. That big unit of darkshards only has 16" range iirc. Do you think the back ranks will be able to get in range while the unit keeps out of effective charge range? Obviously making smaller units helps but then you need more CPs to get everyone running. Just my thoughts.

Hey all, I quite like the idea of an army built around a core steam tanks and their hero but I'm not sure what to compliment them with. Outriders for a mobile gunline? Iron breakers for a solid screen? I'd love to here people's thoughts.