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| I stab faces for my righteous deity. |
Stats: Blaize has generally unremarkable stats. She's average speed, decent melee attack, meh ranged attack, alright defense and armor for a warcaster (though for the ginormous shield the model has, you'd think it would be even better, armor-wise), and a good command. She's got 6 focus. Not great but not terrible.
She does have the flank ability, which improves her ability to stab fools if there is another friendly Morrowan model within melee range of her target. She also inspires Morrowan friendlies nearby to be fearless. That's about it. Nothing to write home about.
Spells: Blaize's spell list is totally different from other Cygnar 'casters'. She supports melee troops well, with Crusader's Call, a 3-cost spell that gives all friendly models +2 inches on charge attacks. That's awesome, but expensive. She also has Transference, an upkeepable spell that allows her faction warrior pals (this is why whether she's counted as merc or Cygnar is significant) to spend her focus to boost attack or damage rolls. So all of her troops are potentially dangerous, even to enemy warcasters, who normally have such high defense and armor they can ignore average mooks.
Her other spells include Banishing Ward, an upkeep that keeps a unit safe from spell attacks (and removes any on the unit when cast, incidentally), Flashing Blade, which allows her to stab every enemy in melee range for the dirt-cheap price of one focus, and Sunburst, which is her attack spell. Sunburst is a 3" AOE spell, but it's cool in that the blast damage doesn't harm friendly models, so it's intended to help clear her troops out of melee. However, with the -4 penalty for casting spells into melee and her mediocre focus, she's gonna have to boost to try and stick it, and even then she'll need to roll better than average to hit the average defense of 13 while engaged. Meh. This spell does not generally impress me. I'm actually always disappointed when a 'caster's only attack spell costs 3 focus. That's expensive, and even moreso on 6 focus 'casters. It also removes models when boxed, circumventing some of the after-death shenanigans that can happen in-game, but these situations are cornercase.
Weapons: Constance has a single weapon, the Sun Spear. It's not a great name for a weapon. However, it's good at stabbing things. In fact, Constance ends a lot of my games with the Sun Spear. The Spear is Blessed, so it ignores defensive buffs from enemy spells, and with Constance's flank ability and Flashing Blade, I've actually wrecked enemy heavies with it before. That's substantial. It is, of course, a magical weapon, and it also has reach, so she, herself, under Crusader's Call, can charge 11" and engage 2" more with reach. That's pretty good.
Feat: Constance is very much a feat-intensive 'caster, and hers is a little wonky. For each faction warrior model that dies during her feat round in her control range(her turn and the enemy's next), she gains a soul token. For each token on her, all faction warrior models in her control range gain +1 armor. During her next turn, Constance gains extra focus equal to the number of soul tokens on her.
So she wants lots of troops. Warrior models are expensive in Cygnar, so playing her in mercs is a better option at low-points levels, and even at higher levels mercs choices can be better than Cygnar. Which is odd, because she can only take merc units and models that would work for Cygnar anyway, but with the feat and Transference working only for faction models, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
I've gotten up to a 13-focus turn once with her feat. That's 7 souls. I've only played her in small points games with a few exceptions, but at 15 points, losing 7 models is crushing. She's a better large-game 'caster because of this. Playing her at 15 points is just painful, and her feat does absolutely nothing in a Mangled Metal ('jacks only) game.
That being said, while her feat isn't totally awesome (and a plethora of game mechanics ruin it, such as remove-from-play effects, or closer soul-taking models, who get the delicious souls before Constance can) she generally gets two turns of hyper armor from the feat and camping focus. I play her midfield because of the feat. My opponent will have to kill a bunch of dudes to get at her, and then she's sitting at 20+ armor (much more if you can squeeze a Journeyman Warcaster into your list; he's a must at 35 in my opinion) due to feat, and then has 10+ focus to work with the next turn. That enables her to retaliate and still camp 5+ focus, making her tough to deal with. So at least she can be survivable.
I generally wait until my troops are up in my opponent's grill before I pop the feat. Savvy opponents will ignore the army entirely if they can on feat turn, and deny Constance her one trick. So make sure to Crusader's Call and charge a bunch of long-threat fodder into the enemy force on the feat turn. I like Nyss Hunters in both mercs and Cygnar, though in Cygnar they require the Jonas Murdoch unit attachment to make them faction. Keep him safe. Other long-threat units are Precursor Knights, Stormguard, and Sword Knights.
Overall: Constance is a lot of fun to play, but she plays in a different style than most Cygnar 'casters. I love the Nyss Hunters with her, if only because they have a ranged attack and a nice melee assault (literally they have the Assault order with Murdoch) as well. I've found that if she only takes melee troops they can get chopped up easily.
I tend to play Constance in the midfield, camping a bit of focus and/or souls, and using Sugar Ray's Arcane Shield to shore up her defenses. And when my opponent is within 12" of her (something I can check with my control range), I try to get Constance and another Morrowan over there to seal the deal. It works well, since I've won several games with her, and she tends to be the one ending them.
Melee Power: B, she's not able to take down heavies easily like the Butcher or eStryker, but with a flanker and a few focus she makes a good go of it. That's pretty awesome. As this is her strength, she needs to be played more forward, which can be dangerous. Bring lots of troops and watch out for Soul Takers.
Ranged Power: F, She has no gun (which is weird in Cygnar) at all. Nothing to see here.
Magic Power: D, Sunburst is underwhelming. I have managed to use it to clear a charge lane so she could skate across a board and stab someone, but it's not even terribly efficient for that (cost 3 focus plus 1 to boost the attack).
Melee Support: B again, maybe B+. Transference and the feat help offense and defense, respectively. However, the feat only does this by letting some troops die. Constance very much needs a 6-point, 10-man unit of mooks to shove out into the enemy and die. It sucks to spend 6 points on troops whose role is simply to feed her feat. Still, with Crusader's Call helping get the threat out, she's good.
Ranged Support: D. Largely none. It should be noted that any models with assault can increase the threat of their ranged attacks by charging an additional two inches. So Stormblades, normally charging 8 inches and can Assault to shoot during the charge another 6", gain another 2" with CC. So there's some support there. . .but it's not optimal use of either CC or Assault. The Nyss threat is outlandish with Assault, as they have Hunter to ignore forests and can move 12" under CC, and they have 12" range bows. The shot is only power 10, so I guess that mitigates the 24" threat they have . . .
Magic Support: B-. Blaize herself doesn't Synergize with magic-users, but Banishing Ward is huge against magic-loving foes, and can rip enemy debuff spells off of crippled units. Also, several of her best Morrowan pals have spell ward or sacred ward inherently, and so some of her preferred troops are already protected.
Tricksiness: B-. Blaize, for the most part, does what she says on the tin. However, opponents who don't give her Blessed flanking spear enough respect will probably end up dead. Also, while she doesn't buff ranged troops at all she has answers to spell- and magic-heavy lists with Banishing Ward, Harlan, and Precusor Knights.
Overall Rating: 2.5 She's not awesome, but she isn't terrible either.
List Elements: Constance wants some hard-hitting melee troops to benefit from Transference. Reach is a plus. I don't own Horgehold Forgeguard (Or "Hyurgendurg Fyurgnerg" since all things about warmachine dwarves sound like the Swedish chef is speaking, imo), but as a mercenary they rock it out for her. For Cygnar Stormguard are the only reach troops, and while they are good they are a bit expensive. I like Precursor Knights with her, since they require little support to be delivered, and with their UA they get a one-turn wrecking ball feat. I also like Stormblades with her, since they hit like trains, but Stormblades die like gnats to gunlines, so be advised.
Constance also likes Morrowans around to enable flank, so take either her warjack Gallant, Harlan Versh, the merc solo, or her Precusor Knights. Any of the three will do, though Harlan is the least survivable, and he only benefits from her goodness if she's mercenary instead of Cygnar.
I like a ranged element with Constance, despite the fact that her feat and spells say "melee troop jam lolz!". The Stormblades bring a devastating if inaccurate ranged attack and the Black 13th are always good for Cygnar. However, my favorite troops with her thus far are Cylena Ryfell and the Nyss Hunters. They work for mercs or for Cygnar, but can only benefit from Constance's feat and Transference if she's a merc or if they also have the Cygnar mercenary attachment to make the faction. That's Murdoch. If you take Murdoch you have to protect the hell out of him or the Nyss suddenly are mercs again and not benefiting from Blaize's faction-only buffs. Nyss are great because with Banishing Ward they are tough to get rid of, and they also have a nice bow for a combined arms approach. And pathfinder. And hunter. And 7 speed. Nyss are awesome.
She also likes a heavy for countering enemy heavies. The PKs and SBs can pull some of this duty, but having a nice heavy to pound shit into the dirt is welcome. I may purchase Rorsche and Brine to run them with her in mercenaries, but that's down the road.
Most times I want a target for Banishing Ward. The Nyss Hunters and Stormblades are my favs, but it depends on what the other warcaster's spells are and what support they have available to them.
Lists I've either played or seen played that I like:
At 15 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKS and UA (7), Black 13th (4), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Cygnar, with Stormclad (10), Stormblades with UA and 1 WA (9), and Harlan Versh (2)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant(9), Nyss Hunters(10), and Harlan Versh (or Gorman di Wulfe) (2)
At 25 points,
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Min PKs and UA (7), Nyss Hunters w Murdoch (12), Journeyman Warcaster (3)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Nyss Hunters (10), Harlan Versh (2), Max PKs + UA (10) [or Aiyanna and Holt (4) + Ogrun Bokur (3) + Epic Eiryss (3)]
At 35:
Constance Cygnar, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Archduke Runewood (3), max Stormguard (9), Black 13th (4), Journeyman Warcaster (3) , Squire (2), Stormcaller (1)
Constance Highborn, with Gallant (9), Max PKs + UA (10), Piper (2), Nyss Hunters (10), Aiyana and Holt (4), Epic Eiryss (3), Harlan or Gorman (2), Reinholdt (1)
At 50 I'd add in some combination of melee infantry and 'jacks, like max Sword Knights marshalling a Centurion or a min of Stormblades with a Stormclad nearby. For mercs at 50 I'd probably try to shoehorn in a bunch of steelheads. Max halbardiers and min Cav could go a long way.
I've been told by the wise PP forums that Constance needs a kajillion cheap reach infantry for her feat, but I think she actually needs good infantry (which tends to be more expensive), with some cheap infantry in front for the feat turn, or just be prepared to lose a bunch of guys. When it's my Stormblades or PKS the 3 or 4 that live counterstrike like wrecking balls. So it's all good. Steelhead halbardiers don't look terribly accurate to me, and I don't actually like spending all her focus so that her infantry can counterattack after feat turn and just level the playing field. I prefer to charge her into the enemy with some flanking going on and take out a 'caster or at least a heavy.
I haven't gotten the chance to play her with with kitted out Trenchers or Trencher Commandoes. Hell, even Rangers look interesting with her, as they make Stormblades into a serious ranged threat with Crusader's Call and Assault. I'm of the opinion that she actually helps a lot of Cygnar out, but she does it in such a way that she's difficult to use.
-Merlin out
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