I was thinking about building a Facture Pure Stormhammer army (450/3), but I have only a few pieces. I was wondering what would go better as a 'Mech with the pieces I have:

1 x Behemoth II
1 x J37
2 x Anat
1 x DI Towed
3 x ATV
4 x SRM Launchers
2 x Combat engineers
1 x Crimson Hawk

I have a Merc MHI I would be willing to use with this.

What sorts of other pieces and the strategy to go with them would you suggest?

-Andy_in_Indy,

Ken Roos is such a hard unit to use effectively. Either plant him in water or use him sparingly, which could be a waste of 200 or so points. I'd go with the Zeus any day.

Roos on a good day is bloody unbelievable, he is super good value for his points. Only problem is that he doesn't often have good days with possibly one of the worst heat dials in existence, so like malagigi said, either plunk him in water or just go with Viktor Hannan.

Viktor is a better bet anyday of the week.

Here's an army based on Viktor, with the units you named, plus a Salamander BA.

Viktor- 230
ATVx3 - 24
J37- 28
DI Towed- 43 < assuming you meant Field Arty, not AA Arty
SRM Launcerx4- 52
Anat- 26
Combat Engineers- 22
Salamander BA- 25
450 pts. on the nose.

It's up to you what you want to ride in the Anat. You could have the J37 and 4 SRM Launchers shield the Arty and the CEs in the Anat, or switch it up. CEs have AnP which is nice for breaking up enemy formations.

Stormhammers, in my experience, are hard to play faction pure. But it's fun to try!

Malagigi's amry is nice for the units you have. Take the J-37 and move you DI Towed to a coner and then bomb away.

I'd play the following

Roos 207
C-Hawk 137
J-37 28
DI Towed 43
ATV x3 24
Combat Engineers 11

450

This could be a tricky army to play since Roos heat dial is very ify even in water.

The C-hawk can do lots of things but hit high defense things. (Freaking 8 att on a SH mech. Hell our Indy mechs start with a 10 attack....) Still he can rip apart support units and if they try and take him down have Roos and the DI towed make them pay.

I'd go with Pulstar's army, but you might want to consider trying to pick up an SH Phoenix Hawk or Raider MKII... they are fairly easy to find in CA boosters or in trade, and either one of them is far better than the Crimson Hawk, and for less points, so you could upgrade the infantry or maybe add another infantry...

That, or swap out the combat engineers and Roos for Victor Hannan... but that only works pointwise if you also swapped the mechs like I mentioned above

btw, Victor Hannan and a Phoenix Hawk supported by artillery is an army that is a favorite of mine lately...

Now, just my opinions as always... But I've found Ken Roos' Warhammer to be surprisingly effective. It uses something of a loophole when it pushes in water to hope for the shutdown and auto-restart, clearing the action tokens, and the 14" range/5 damage PPC's backed in close by the AP balistic shot at a 10IT is just brutal.... The 22 Heavy armor is a bit of a surprise for people used to the Storm Hammer's usual policy of replacing tons of armor with bigger guns and more ammo :)

Working with what you've got, the Wolf Dragoon Crane or an Anat loaded out with a pair of Combat Engineers can be absolutely BRUTAL to someone's nice base screen, move formation or even a flanking light mech... Good fast attacker, just don't count on them coming back... As most of the others have mentioned, the J-37, DI Towed and ATV's are all excellent pieces...

For what to get, I'd suggest strongly the Uller and Wasp (nons... The LE Uller is "neat" and I like it matched with the Warhammer for Regimental pure forces, but...), Cavaliers, Purifiers, Salamanders, Galleons... The Aesir is AWESOME, and commanding quite a high price/trade value at the moment, but it is really quite good... The VTOLs? Well, the Shun is an excellent if slow gunship/transport... The Cavalry and Balac are both accurate and heavy hitting, but REALLY fragile, and with so much AA out there, I can't see spending the 43 points for either...

Good, solid faction, good luck out there :)

What about the rifleman. That thing stats are just unthinkable in a non unique or Le piece.

Definantly "I" would go with Roos. Not only do I like his mech (Warhammers rule!) But I'm the kind of guy who risks alot. Heck, I DFA with Katsu Almost every game I use him, and I haven't missed yet. Also, as was mentioned earlier, Roos is waaaaaay powerful, able to bring any mech 250 pts. and under to it's knees in only 1 or 2 turns. However, if you do use him, put him on water and/or bring a smaller, more heat efficient mech to distract smaller foes, and the big ones, too, when Roos invariably shuts down.

The Rifleman is not bad if you support it right.... Like a lot of our pieces :) But the 12" range, low speed, and 20 defense make it a support piece for me.... Though to be honest I haven't fielded mine yet because this is the Warhammer (or Thunderbolt) + an extra Infantry or two, or about the same as the Zeus... So, while a good piece it doesn't bring anything different than what is already there doing it (arguably) better... Of course, just my opinions :)

I played in a sealed event last night and pulled a SH rifleman. I played him because even if I used all my other units added up to about 374 points.

First game..ran away form a SC shockwave to avoid the 16" 6 damage pulse attack and took a 6 point ammo explosion.

Second game. Not sure what happened here. Played against I guy I always lose to and lost.

Third game. Puddled jumped the RM to the other DZ and took out the other guys BR Suncobra and did massive damage to his DF Raider before going down.

So I went 1-2 and got smeared in the two games I lost. Pulled the FM and two ForestryMech MOB's.

I appreciate the input yo guy s have been giving. I went and got some Purifiers and Cavalier BA (And traded most of the SRM's and some other stuff)

I had considered the Rifleman, but it seems to be almost as hard to get as the Uniques. I like to look of the Uniques, too (I've played CBT since 1984). Uniques seem to strike fear into the heart of some opponents (They keep expecting Caden Senn or something), so I was looking along those lines primarily. I do consider it a viable option, though.

I have two of the Merc Riflemans, but didn't want to put that many points out of an army into that when for a few points more, these other Mechs were available.

-Andy in Indy,

Yes you have to run some other pieces to help support the rifleman and get him into range but with the new 16 range mechs you have to do that anyway.

I would use the rifleman with some scout atv for ty down and maybe the Raider for stormhammersfor support. Base and advance then break and attack and rebase.

Although it may be straying from the topic a bit I'd prefer taking the P. Navas Thunderbolt if you can afford it. It's got more damaga, more defense and armor to boot. Just watch that vent of 1 and you can be a lot more flexible than the Viktor Hannan or Ken Roos.

In any case if you dont manage your heat well, take Viktor. Just hold him in the rear until your enemy had been 'softened up'

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback so far. I have put together these two armies out of what I have:

Army #1

137 Crimson Hawk
43 Cavalry Attack Helicopter
44 Danai Support Vehicle
35 DI Towed AAA
26 2 x SRM Teams
11 Combat Engineer
24 3 x ATV's
38 2 x Purifiers
40 2 x Longinus
52 2 x Anat APC
========================
450 Points

Army #2

222 Rifleman
52 2 x Anat APC
26 2 x SRM Team
38 2 x Purifiers
43 Cavalry Attack Helicopter
44 Danai Support Vehicle
24 3 x ATV
========================
449 Points

I will rebuild around Viktor Hannan when/if I get him. What are your opinions about these armies and how would you use/counter them?

-Andy_in_Indy,