Editing Warmachine/Tactics/Cygnar (section)

==General Strategy==

Shoot them and make sure they don't shoot back. Cygnar's soldiers are more accurate and have a variety of tricks, but don't hit as hard as other factions. Cygnar is very good at shooting, but don't rely on it; if you have no way of mitigating the enemy from advancing up the field and getting into combat, you're hosed. Popular 'tarpit' units are the mercenary unit Boomhowler and Co and more rarely Sword Knights with armor buffs (the closest thing Cygnar has to a cheap "chaff" unit).

Cygnaran infantry are good at hitting their enemy and can hit very hard if set up right, but are relativly fragile compared to other factions like Khador and Skorne (Through high ARM and many damage boxes) and Cryx (Through numbers and revival), so you need to make sure they hit the enemy with as little resistance as possible. This is next to impossible as the big guns are set up and the heavy hitters of the enemies break your lines, people will die - so make sure your enemy has hell of a time doing so. Units like Trenchers can deny the enemy charges and shooting, and Sword Knights are so cheap you can throw them into the fray without loosing out too much, but those are your options for keeping the enemy at bay - Cygnar likes to get the first strike. If you are out of luck, though, you can just use the Arcane Shield, a very common spell in Cygnar, which you will like to use on your jacks and infantry to let them take those hits. Units like Storm Blades can stand up to blast damage and little else though, but can conversally kill almost anyone on a good charge, meaning you have to make sure they get to go first - Luckily, we have the stuff that can let us do just that, with many of our casters being very good at buffing infantry (eHaley and Siege) and a lot of movement shenigans (Kraye and Sloan). Another thing to mind with our infantry is that they are expensive - a maxed Trencher-unit is a full 9 points, and a full unit of Storm Knights with UA and WA is an eye-watering 11 points!

Their warjacks are on the fragile side, but conversely are more mobile, better and dodging shots and more accurate at hitting things. Like the troops they're loaded up with tricks and special effects, most commonly 'Disruption' which can prevent a warjack being allocated focus for one round; this is an effective way of shutting down focus-reliant warjacks - in particular Khador, who need to boost hits a lot.  Unfortunately, Disruption is ''useless'' against Hordes. 

Cygnar light jacks are masters of tricks - Minutemen jump into the enemy ranks, blow up someinfatry to make way for their slug guns, while the Hunter stalks big targets with its Long Arm - They are generally not for melee combat (or combat at all) and are better off supporting the rest of the army with arc nodes, triangulations, distraction or bolstering lines. THat is not to say that they aren't useful in combat - most can hold their own in one-on-one combat against other lights and their speed and DEF can make them annoying for the enemy to hit. Just be careful with them, know what they need to do when on the table and then let them do their thing - like all of Cygnar, placing a model on the table without a plan won't get you anything.

The heavy warjacks are, like their smaller cousins, lighter and nimbler compared to other heavy jacks, but are still though enough to stand up to most attacks. While they don't have the raw power of Khador jacks or the speed of a Cryxian jack, they have more tricks up their sleeve and hit better than most warjacks - the Ironclad, a main of Cygnar, has a MAT of 7, which is elite level for warjacks. Therefor, when choosing your heavy jack(s), be sure to look into their tricks as well - The Centurion is hard as nails and can take many attacks before going down, but also have the Polarity Field, which allows to to negate charges against it, while the hard-hitting Hammersmith can deal awesome amounts of damage while also throwing the enemy backwards. In general, Cygnar Heavies are like the rest of the faction - Play them with skill and planning, and they will smash some serious face - otherwise, they will seem very subpar

Cygnar is not the most challenging army to play in Warmahordes, but are certainly not simple. We have a lot of tricks up our sleeves and we need to remember them to stay in the game. We don't do attrition as well as Khador and are not as mobile as the Circle Oroboros, but that is no problem - we might not own the skills or the raw power, but we answer that weakness with abilities and technology that can outsmart any enemy. A soldier of the Cygnus is not meant to fight with strength or with resillience, but with their knowledge and wisdom. Do that, and the enemy won't be able to hold you back.

We strike like lightning - Never missing our target, impossible to block and leaving the enemy blinded.