Theme - The Kingmaker's Army

File:Captain Damiano.jpg

Captain Damiano

File:Mk4 icon.png Template:Red This mk3 Theme Force has no equivalent in mk4. You can build a similar army in Unlimited Mercenaries (if/when the models in this theme get ported to mk4 rules)

This was the army Magnus used to put Julius Raelthorne on the throne at the start of Mk3

Theme Rules

For the core rules on how Theme Forces work, see this article.

Theme Restrictions

An army made use the The Kingmaker's Army theme force can include only the following Mercenary models:

• Captain Bartolo Montador
• Captain Damiano
• Drake MacBain
• Magnus warcasters
• Non-character Mercenary warjacks
• Steelhead models/units
• Croe's Cutthroats
• Boomhowler model/units
• Dirty Meg
• Kell Bailoch
• Madelyn Corbeau
• Orin Midwinter
• Raluk Moorclaw

• This army can also include Cygnar Long Gunner, Ranger, and Trencher Infantry units. These are considered to be Mercenary rather than Cygnar units and can include attachments.

Full Model List

File:Stannis Brocker.jpeg

Stannis Brocker

Requisition points

• One command attachment
• Two Steelhead Gunner solos
• One other Small- or medium-based Mercenary solo with a point cost of 5 or less

Theme Bonuses

1. Warrior model/units in this army gain Feign Death.

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2. Greygore Boomhowler & Co. gain Ambush.

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Thoughts on the Kingmaker's Army

The Kingmaker's Army in a nutshell

File:Trenchers.jpg

Trencher Infantry

This theme force is used to field the forces hired by Magnus to overthrow the king of Cygnar.

The Kingmaker's Army was the second theme force ever released and its age shows. It lacks damage-boosting solos and options for Pathfinder but attempts to make up for it with the ability to bring 4 different Cygnar units with their attachments and army-wide Feign Death. The only real reason to bring it is to have the option of advancing a Steelhead or Jack-Heavy force behind a Trencher cloud wall.

Theme's strengths & Playing to them

File:Steelhead Heavy Cavalry.jpeg

Steelhead Cavalry

Trencher Infantry are solid front-line infantry - and mercenary warjacks are great value with smoke walls protecting them as they go in. Damiano is the popular pick in Kingmaker's because Surefoot makes Trenchers DEF 15 and immune to knock down, and when paired with Cautious Advance, makes them blast resistant and DEF 19 against ranged and magic. Once upon a time, a full 15 Trenchers under Surefoot could anchor the center of almost any table like few other units. However, after many CID cycles, it is fairly tame at this point.

Boomhowlers are a passable ambushing unit, but Boomhowler2 or 3 give you a rolling cloud wall with Trencher Infantry, which is decent.

Among ambushing Boomhowlers, advance deploying Rangers and Ironheads giving important solos or jacks 2" of movement, your list an be decently fast and contest scenario elements.

Boomhowler3 and Rangers can make your army pretty accurate.

Magnus2 is well-known for having no defense against guns. If you bring him in Kingmakers, he can move his army up behind a cloud wall and thwart many gun lines.

Theme's weaknesses and Mitigating them

File:MadelynCorbeauOrdicCourtesan.jpg

Madelyn Corbeau

This list overlaps a lot with Soldiers of Fortune; Mark Target on solos in a theme where Alexia2 is in is better than paying 7 points for rangers for the same rule. The Heavy Cavalry is objectively better in Soldiers due to gaining Line Breaker and the larger model selection makes up for the loss of Trenchers, which you can get in Llaelese Resistance anyhow.

Also, the Artillery pieces cannot be requisitioned like they can be in Soldiers of Fortune and they are expensive.

The Trencher could wall is a neat trick, but models that ignore clouds, such as the ubiquitous Thamarite Archon will still eat them for brunch, supper and 5 o'clock tea.

List Building

Start with Trenchers for Damiano or either Magnus. Bring Rangers for Bart. Steelhead Arcanists and Ironheads provide the warjack support. Orin provides some useful anti-magic and anti-infantry attacks. Kell is not a bad requisition choice if you have the points to spend on solos.

Trencher Long Gunners are part of the typical Damiano army, though the Steelhead Artillery lends itself to Money Shot.

Aside from the Cygnar options, 2 units of Steelhead Halberdiers backed by Verendrye are always solid. Croe's are not at their best in this theme and Boomhowlers provide scenario presence via ambush, but little else. Boomhowler2 on the other hand is essential with Trencher Infantry, as he lets them repo behind their clouds.

Caster Thoughts

• Magnus1 might see some use out of Snipe on Trencher Long Gunners and Blur on Trenchers.
• Magnus2 has a weakness against gunlines, so a could wall from trenchers can be used to protect the rest of his list and he loves Ironheads and Arcanists anyway.
• Bartolo might be better in Talion and Irregulars, but he likes Rangers with his Galleon just fine. Rangers actually make this theme a better pick for him than Soldiers since all he really wants is Ironheads and Arcanists plus Mark the Target anyway. Also, Orin keeps his Galleon safe from spells.
• MacBain can take it or leave it, but he doesn't have stellar synergies with anything in the theme, and in Llaelese Resistance and Soldiers of Fortune he has access to Archons, which are possibly the best targets for his feat. However, casting Countermeasure on Rangers and running them forward is usually a bit of a hoot, especially since the make his Galleon RAT 7, and Fortune is as good on Croes or Trenchers as it is on any unit.

Requisition Options

• Two Steelhead Gunners are six points
• Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor is an excellent anti-caster tech that costs five points, so he's the most expensive solo you can get for free.
• Steelhead Ironhead - The next most expensive solo and it's amazing for Power Lifter alone. You should probably bring two, there is nothing better to Requisition anyway.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.03 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Magnus1: [+30 WJP]

• Mangler: [14 pts]
• Freebooter: [9 pts]
• Renegade: [8 pts]

Kell Bailoch: [3 pts]

Steelhead Ironhead: [4 pts]

Trencher Infantry (Min unit): [9 pts]

• Command Attachment: [Free] Template:Grey

Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Min unit): [8 pts]

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Other

Trivia

The second theme force was released for Mk3, in 2017.08.

Other Mercenary models

• Category: The Kingmaker's Army