Trencher Master Gunner

Master gunners are survivors of countless battles and have earned expertise that makes them some of the most valued artillerists in all of Cygnar. These men and women are versed in all the skills of the artilleryman from barrage firing patterns to the use of defilades. They are experts in the complex commands used to coordinate a battery of field guns. Where other armies make use of artillery as support, the master gunners orchestrate their batteries into precision instruments of war.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Jack Marshal
• Template:Tough
• Template:Artillerist
• Template:Battery Fire
• Template:Foxhole Buddy
• Template:High Angle Fire

Weapons

• Scatter Gun - 8" spray, POW 12 ranged attack
• Trench Knife - 0.5" reach, P+S 9 melee attack

Theme Forces

• Cygnar
  • Template:Gravediggers. He gains Rise in this theme.

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Sloan is leading the army.

Thoughts on Trencher Master Gunner

Trencher Master Gunner in a nutshell

The Trencher Master Gunner is an odd mix of abilities. He's a jack marshal without a drive. He can use Battery Fire on a weapon crew for an extra shot - but costs as much as a cheap weapon crew by himself. He's a Trencher, but has no direct access to Dig In. Overall, he is a support piece for your gunlines - mainly those centered around your AoE lobbing pieces and/or weapon crews. He's also one of Cygnar's few wielders of spray weaponry.

Combos & Synergies

Using him as a jack Marshal

• Sentinel - All Jack Marshals love Sentinels, but bringing it for the Gunner alone is quite a waste of points. If there's an important target to be protected from getting shot, and you cannot trust the Sentinel under your warcaster's control, then go for the Gunner. Otherwise, choose something else instead.
• Avenger - Its RAT is pretty poor by Cygnaran standards, so getting it up to RAT7 with either Strike True or Artillerist can help compensate for generally having to move and shoot. Combine the two for Eiryss-level accuracy. The High Angle Fire can also be useful sometimes.
• Reliant - Your cheapest heavy with an AoE gun.
• Grenadier - First and foremost, you should consider this jack for marshalling. If it digs itself in, it can provide you shelter due to Foxhole Buddy, and the Gunner can reload it. Occasionally, you can bring a Patrol Dog to form a great deterrent against flanking solos and units with Stealth (and a second reload source too).

Using him for his abilities, which is more appealing anyway:

• Trencher Cannon Crew - Joint most expensive of Cygnar's field artillery and the one that can gain the most.
• Trench Buster - RAT 7 is better than RAT 5
• Trencher Express Team - The best trencher artillery piece and a core part of every Gravediggers list. He gives them 2 shots per turn.
• Hurricane - This colossal also has 2 AoE guns - and Arcing Fire on them can open up interesting threat vectors.
• Stormsmith Storm Tower - Two shots from your storm tower mean potentially twice as much fried infantry. They cannot be in the same theme force though.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's a jack marshal without drive, and no extra ability to tune up the jack under his care,apart from Artillerist, if the jack just so happens to have an AOE gun.
• Needs another model with Dig-In to get the benefits through Foxhole Buddy.

Tricks & Tips

• Use Battery Fire until the time for artillery is done - then use his spray

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Mk2 forces book Forces of Warmachine: Cygnar (February 2010)