Hammersmith

"Victory is all about power and momentum, and the Hammersmith brings both." - Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Follow Up

Weapons

Hammer (x2)
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				17
Template:Beat Back Template:Chain Attack Smite

Theme Forces

• Cygnar
  • Template:Flames in the Darkness
  • Template:Gravediggers
  • Template:Heavy Metal
  • Template:Sons of the Tempest
  • Template:Storm Division. This model gains Immunity: Electricity in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use it in Hearts of Darkness, but only if Sloan is leading the army. This model gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Mercenary and Khador players can use it Flame in the Darkness
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use it by putting it under the control of Nemo4 in various themes.

Thoughts on Hammersmith

File:Hammersmith classic.jpg

Classic sculpt

Hammersmith in a nutshell

A slow Warjack that goes into overdrive once it gets into melee if it activates its Chain Attack successfully. While it doesn't win any awards for its P+S, if you can successfully Smite a model and Follow Up, any further focus can be used to generally wreck your target.

Combine that with Beat Back and you have a high ARM model that can end up in a very inconvenient place for your opponent at a low cost.

Combos & Synergies

Speed buffs! If you can't make the Hammersmith faster, you really should be considering the faster light Warjacks or Ironclad chassis Warjacks instead.

• Darius - His crane gives +2" net movement, and there is hardly any other jack in the faction who profits more from Full Throttle.
• Escort 'casters such as Lord General Coleman Stryker or Captain Allison Jakes (who also improves its melee range on her feat turn).
• Lanyssa Ryssyl for Hunter's Mark.
  • The free charge also gives you more flexibility with boosting rolls or buying attacks.
• Captain Jeremiah Kraye for Reposition from Iron Horse and his Horsepower/Feat speed buff.
  • The free boosted attack roll for its charge attack gives you a better chance to activate Chain Attack: Smite, too.
• Major Beth Maddox for Assail.
• Commander Adept Nemo, General Adept Nemo or Lieutenant Allison Jakes for Energizer.
• Artificer Prime Nemo for Locomotion and situationally, Watcher.
• Major Victoria Haley for Temporal Acceleration and/or Telekinesis.

As a very cheap heavy and a warjack with Chain Attack it can also be worth giving it to a Jack Marshal.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• It has short range melee weapons and is about as slow as it gets for Warjacks leaving it with the (joint) lowest charging threat range of any warjack in the game.
• For a model that looks like a melee beatstick its hammers only hit as hard as ranged jacks like the Defender and Reliant
• Its low DEF leaves it open to all sorts of control effects such as Stranglehold.
• The Chain Attack may not be worthwhile if you want your target dead but can't Follow Up to continue the beatdown due to models in the way. It also isn't that reliable, with little more than a 50% (unboosted) chance to trigger against DEF 12.
• Follow up now requires moving directly toward the target, so it is much harder to get odd angles out of that. Also, if you kill the target, you cannot advance with follow up
• There are some significant rivals the Hammersmith has with a similar role and points bracket.
  • Ironclads cost the same, have a 1" longer threat range, and their main hammer hits harder. The Ironclad is therefore the default Cygnar "no frills" heavy melee jack.
  • Reliants cost only one point more, have a longer melee threat range, have a hammer that hits just as hard, carry an anti-infantry gun with some board control, and have an accumulator to make them focus efficient.
  • Defenders cost two points more and carry a very powerful main gun as well as a hammer that hits as hard as the hammersmith while taking out cortexes

Tricks & Tips

• If there is a model between the Hammersmith and a juicy target, try to use Chain Attack: Smite to get the initial model out of the way, the slam to knock down your intended target and Follow Up to engage your preferred target (assuming you slam it far enough).
• Be careful of where Follow Up will take you. The Hammersmith is vulnerable to free strikes during this, which can be an issue if you are slamming through the enemy frontlines.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Warmachine: Superiority (2006)