Theme - Storm Division
This mk3 Theme Force will get a similar Legacy Army in mk4, but it hasn't been released yet (as of 2023.03). |
Cygnar’s Storm Division is an autonomous military force that delivers the flash of lightning and the roll of thunder to the battlefields of Immoren. The division couples the latest voltaic weaponry and hardware produced by the Cygnaran Armory with the service of skilled soldiers. More Storm Knights fight with the Storm Division than with any other force in Cygnar, and with the aid of accomplished stormsmiths these elite warriors make up a highly mobile army capable of bringing the fury of the storm to Cygnar’s enemies.
Theme Rules
- For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.
Theme Restrictions
An army made using the Storm Division theme force can include only the following Cygnar models:
- Cygnar warcasters
- Non-character warjacks
- Brickhouse
- Dynamo
- Thunderhead
- Artificer Prime Nemo
- Template:Mechanik models/units
- Template:Storm Knight models/units
- Template:Stormsmith models/units
- Journeyman Warcaster solos
- Lieutenant Allison Jakes
- Savio Montero Acosta
- Squire solos
- This army can also include one Mercenary solo and one Mercenary unit that will work for Cygnar.
- These models/units can be included even if they have the Partisan [Cygnar] rule.
- Mercenary units can have attachments, but not a Ranking Officer.
Full model list
Requisition Points
You can spend each Requisition Point on either:
- One Stormsmith weapon crew unit
- One Cygnar CA
- Three Stormsmith Stormcaller solos
- One small- or medium-based Cygnar solo with a cost of 5 or less
Theme Bonuses
- Cygnar models/units in this army gain Immunity: Electricity.
- Storm Knight models in this army gain Unyielding.
Thoughts on Storm Division
Storm Division in a nutshell
Do you like Storm Knights or Stormsmiths? Well, good news! This is the theme for you. If you intend to maximise the benefits from the theme, you are likely to have quite a strong melee force.
The main selling points are:
- Every friendly Cygnar model is safe from your electro leaps and lightnings - worry not of shooting near your repair crews.
- Most of your troops sport decently high accuracy and damage.
- Cygnar's low ARM casters are protected from Electro-Leap lightning shenanigans.
- This can alleviate problems when facing other Cygnar armies which rely on lightning weapons
- It also offers protection from certain models in Retribution of Scyrah, Trollbloods and Circle Orboros.
Theme Weaknesses
Terrain Mitigation
Pathfinder is quite limited. For an army that can skew towards melee quite easily, this can become a big issue. Your main way to get Pathfinder in this theme is to take the Stormblade Infantry CA or utilise your Warcaster or your single Mercenary solo:
- Onslaught on Major Beth Maddox
- Captain Jeremiah Kraye's Iron Horse ability - which includes only his battlegroup
- Ghost Walk on Major Prime Victoria Haley
Low to medium model count
Being an army of elite soldiers typically means you might have a lowish model count. Also, they have average DEF and ARM scores - the latter is somewhat alleviated in melee thanks to the theme benefit. To alleviate this issue you may want to...
1) Protect your investment of expensive elite soldiers with abilities that improve their armour. Of which lots of Cygnar casters do.
2) add in a few Stormsmith Stormcallers into your list. At 1 point each they offset this issue and for what they are they score flags well.
List Building Advice
- Maximising your Requisition Cards:
- Lieutenant Gwen Keller is the most expensive free card you can get and she is the corner stone of any Storm Division list for Force Aura and she has great personal output as well, always begin list building by taking her.
- Sir Dreyfus the Storm Knight - The other most expensive free card. He is a hard hitting, resilient and surprisingly mobile combat solo, who also happens to have Roadblock for extra support. Not taking him usually means you are playing a weird gunline or want to maximise Storm Knight Captains.
- Stormblade Captain - Tactician is always a great rule and Desperate Pace lets you infantry keep up with your cavalry.
- Stormblade Infantry - Their main selling points are being cheap, having relatively good stats, two attacks, and hitting hard. They also have the crucial Pathfinder, albeit only in the conditional form of Relentless Charge.
- Silver Line Stormguard - They are mainly seen as a screening unit due to their Polarity Wall rule. For this purpose a min unit is usually enough.
- Stormguard Infantry - These guys come with a damage buff to lightning based attacks, however, their reliance of being B2B with each other for wall of Steel means they have difficulties getting into a position to apply it. Note also that Storm knight melee attacks do not have Damage Type: Electricity, so this buff mainly works on the ranged weapons of the theme, which are usually secondary.
- Storm Lances - They used to be the bread and butter of this theme and for the most part they still are. They are among the best units in the faction and the best cavalry in the game, being fast, durable and hard-hitting. Unyielding matters a lot on them as they have multiple wounds, but does not protect them from shooting, so they love a caster with Deceleration of the like.
- Taking a Journeyman Warcaster can be worth it. Both Stormblade Infantry and Storm Lances have decent armor that can be made pretty great by the inclusion of Arcane Shield.
- Stormsmith Storm Tower - An excellent artillery piece thanks to its long range and ignoring most defensive rules. Straight Disruption on the gun makes it even better.
- Stormsmith Stormcaller - If the part of you that loves order and completion is ever dismayed at having to play a 74/75 point list, these guys are her to help you! The isn't much to say about them, otherwise, they are a point filler solo.
- The Firefly, Reliant and Stormclad were practically made for this theme. The former buffing electrical damage rolls, while the latter two accumulate focus from the presence of Storm Knights. The are all fine Battlegroup pieces and even marshalling them with a Storm Knight Captain can yield favourable results.
- As for mercs, the whole litany of cygnar merc are open to you, just remember that non-partisans will not be electro immune.
- Gabriel Throne - All of his battle plans are relevant in this theme, but Pathfinder on a stick is especially valuable.
- Thamarite Archon - 9 points for this gun platform solo is an absolute steal! Especially because it clears chaff like no tomorrow, making way for a thundering charge of your Knights.
- Dreyfus & Flubbin, Storm Patrol - They are an excellent model, especially if you regularly face archons. The main strike against them is sharing a name with Dreyfus1 above and not being a viable requisition choice. Size does matter after all...
- Savio Montero Acosta - Savio is a an absolute monster of a combat solo, so definitely worth an inclusion if you have 6 spare points and a way to deliver him, which is not always the case, but worth it if you do.
- Alexia1 - She is a very viable scenario and attrition piece, turning fallen infantry into risen and thralls. Running a risen next to a high DEF enemy model and shooting it in the back with a Storm Strider means the e-leap will go into the enemy model. No attack roll needed!
Starting a 25 point Brawl list
Written by Phillip Melvin, the accompanying strategy article can be found on the main LOS site. This list has the correct points cost as of 2022.01.
- Lieutenant Gwen Keller: [Free] Template:Grey
- Sir Dreyfus the Storm Knight: [5 pts]
- Stormblade Captain: [4 pts]
- Silver Line Stormguard (Min unit): [9 pts]
- Stormsmith Storm Tower: [4 pts]
Caster Thoughts
Maddox is a Storm Knight herself and was designed to work well with the theme, and she does! Onslaught is a nice way to hand out the much needed Pathfinder to non vanilla Stormblades, Dauntless Resolve goes well on any unit sans the Artillery and Snipe on a battle engine of warjack, or even on Stormblades is a good use of the spell. She even has an upkeep to make jack marshalling more appealing in Assail.
Armor skew list with ability to remove single heavy targets and annihilate infantry.
- Playing the Storm Strider in a pair plus a Hurricane can be incredibly durable with invincibility with two of them being ARM 27. Add some Fireflies and the electrical guns are accurate and can crack armor rather effectively. Earthquake and Disruption from the tower can be a mean combo against enemy heavies.
He favors melee oriented gameplay making him perfect for Storm Division. He very much favours Storm Lances and a unit of Blades, who attain a ludicrous threat range under his feat and the damage they can crank out while buffed by Positive Charge is insane. Deceleration keeps the Lances from being shot of the table, so you have a near perfect package here.
- Haley loves low model count lists, and low model count list loves Silver Line Stormguard to screen them.
- Nemo4 - He's an excellent target for Temporal Acceleration and Telekinesis, but an even better target for it is his jack; a humble Freebooter reaches a total threat range of 18"!
- The self fueling Stormclads an Reliants in this theme are also great targets for TA and TK. As are most of the solos (Savio, Dreyfus, Keller, Laddermore, and Captains) with their strong combat profiles.
Haley is all about the DEF skew with Temporal Distortion:
- Stormguard Infantry - Set Defense, Temporal Distortion and Force Barrier make them DEF 17 against charges or at range. Tactical Supremacy lets them move into Wall of Steel after moving and they offer a way of damage fixing that Haley lacks.
- Storm Lances are probably the single best recipients for Revive and Ghost Walk.
- Storm Blades hit the hardest out of the infantry options, so they don't mind Haley's lack of a damage buff.
' Haley Past can Force Hammer a warjack, then a Storm Tower can disrupt it, rendering it useless.
Other
Trivia
- Released near the start of Mk3 (2016)
- This is Lord Commander Stryker's personal division.
Other Cygnar themes
Rules Clarifications
Template:RC Unyielding Template:RC Electricity Template:RC Theme