User Request: "The" Ravyn List Rundown

Preface: So I started Warmachine with Ravyn shortly after the release of MKII and the Retribution faction. The current incarnation of the list holds only a passing resemblence to it's original form. Every model and unit here has had to audition i.e. run through a number of games before earning a permanent slot and at this point I'm happy enough with the list at 35pts that I don't see a pressing need to change anything. The list responds suprisingly well to a variety of situaitons from the fairly common, to the ridiculously corner case. A good bit of that is owed to the caster, but everyone in the list pulls their weight. With no further adeiu...

The List:
Ravyn
-Discordia
Mage Hunter Strike Force Full + UA
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Lady Aiyana and Holt
eEiryss
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin

Discordia- Cutting Ravyn's battlegroup to a single heavy was probably the strongest change. Without having to babysit multiple heavies Ravyn started using her spell list more and it became almost like using a different caster. It's easy to miss how solid the combination of Locomotion, Veil of Mist, Vortex and Snipe are when Ravyn is constantly bleeding focus to jacks, but it really is a great toolbox that includes LoS control, Damage Buffing, out of activation movement, threat range buffing and generally all around usefulness. Most importantly, it let her upkeep Vortex at all times with no impact on her ability to run jacks. Vortex is an okay spell if you cast it when you need it, but just having it on at all times expands what not just Ravyn, but the army can do to suprising degrees. More on that later. With the ready damage buffing available, whether it be Vortex or Aiyana's curse, hitting power becomes less important than accuracy and with MAT 7 Discordia fits the bill. Throw on free boosted damage rolls or +2 to damage and she's more than a match for most heavies. On top of that she's got two open fists. I can't count the number of games that have been won by a double handed throw. Then she's got the spray, and a hell of a spray it is. SP10 POW 14 with no damage type and magical on RAT 6 is easily one of the best sprays in the game. Combined with the feat and it basically bores a hole through the enemy army and even better Discordia gets to Swift Hunter afterwards. Then there's the imprint. There's a million and one ways to use immunity to blast damage, but when the MHSF is in the list, the most common way is to say "screw your AoEs". On top of that, the buffed ARM combined with shields makes Discordia herself pretty resilient and able to cross most fields of fire in tact.

Mage Hunter Strike Force Full + UA- If this were MTG, I'd be using the term "win condition" right about now and it's appropriate in spades with this unit. Those pathetic Cygnarans need POW 12s to kill casters, real men (or women in this case) do it with POW 10s. The unit wins games by themselves and not even neccesarily by assassinating casters. There are more than a few lists out there that simply can't respond effectively to this unit. Jack Hunter, gives them a diverse array of targets to hit and the classic Arcane Assassin and Phatom Hunter gets them around more than a few "hard counters" to ranged lists. Combine this with Aiyana for some magical weapons and this unit can get around pretty much anything but stealth. Then again, most of you knew this already. The MHSF being in general good, but with Ravyn awesome is like saying the sun will rise. You might not mention it just because it's so obvious.

Stormfall Archers- This is the single biggest quesiton I get asked about in reference to this list. More accurately, "Why Stormfalls instead of Invictors?" The reason is actually pretty simple when you look at the Stormfalls. You see the Invictors for all they do are still very much in the same vein as the MHSF for what types of targets they like to shoot at. Neither really want to waste the volume of shots against high ARM or can hit stealth. Since the MHSF are a non-negotiable part of the list, it's more important to look for complimentary units rather than units that often fill a similar role. The MHSF has issues with Stealth, high ARM non-jacks, and Shieldwalls. The Stormfalls have AoEs to respond to light ARM infantry with stealth, Brutals for high ARM targets and Star Strikes for shieldwalls. It's like for every box where the MHSF has a problem, the Stormfalls have a solution and vice versa. The Stormfalls don't want to waste shots at a unit with anti-range buffs to high heaven, but the MHSF can deal with them almost trivially. For this the second unit became almost mandatory as 4 shots simply didn't have the impact they needed. 8 AoEs, on the other hand, can take a serious toll on stealthed units (even higher ARM ones start feeling it) and gives you a large number of shots rocking 3D6 for damage against pesky targets that have high ARM and aren't jacks.

Lady Aiyana and Master Holt- Why aren't these two everywhere? Aiyana brings a solid damage buff to the table with the only prerequisite being the ability to hit at Magic Ability 8. +2 may not seem like much, but you'd be suprised what will shrug off the MHSF at POW 10 that quickly becomes concerned when they're shooting POW 12s. Also, MHAs throwing POW 11 damage rolls are just plain mean. Then she can hand out magic weapons, a feature that is mandatory for every serious ranged list if for no other reason than to deal with Menoth. Holt, while certainly not the focus of the unit or reason you take them, is still useful. A pair of gun fighter, RAT 8 hand cannons that can activate outside of other units to get them unegaged or clear out key models, or just throw a pair of shots on whatever Aiyana is cursing is always useful.

Epic Eiryss- So basically the same as she is with everyone else, but she gets faction buffs in Ret including Ravyn's feat and the only thing that might possibly be a disadvantage doesn't affect you. Basically you're paying 3pts for a solo that should be closer to 4. At this point even pretending she isn't the best solo in the game is a joke, and as much as I like to amuse, I'm here to educate today.

Mage Hunter Assassins- Insert second most common question: "Why MHAs instead of Ghost Snipers?". MHAs are almost tailor made for a ranged list. They have better reach than anything in the game, but only during their own activation and at all other times they're courteous enough to not engage anyone with their .5" melee range. This is pretty key because it allows you as the player to see what a melee model is going to do damage wise early and allocate an appropriate number of ranged attacks without also incurring the target in melee penalty. Having an MHA charge that Cryx arc node first and one-shot the little blighter will dramatically change the way you run your turn for the better, now instead of wasting shots and guessing what the melee unit will do, you can just send them in first to see if they do stupid damage or whiff and either way are things you need to know early in a turn sequence.

Major List Features

Synergy- Syngergy gets thrown around a lot, and more often than not it's simply being subtituted for buffs or layered buffs and not neccesarily the more generally accepted definition of things working together to become better than they could be individually. This list does have a great deal of Synergy, more than may be immediately apparent. When Discordia walks up behind the MHSF who's engaged in melee and puts up her imprint, then stormfalls start throwing AoEs into the blast damage immune MHSF to get them unengaged and the MHSF aims and puts down the enemy unit with layered buffs the Stormfalls couldn't get past, that is Synergy. The list tends to be heavily interlocked and no one unit can do it on their own, then again they're rarely alone and when the army is "on" it functions like a well oiled machine. The myriad of situations that you can not simply respond to, but put up a efficient response to is pretty suprising.

Vortex of Doom- Nothing survives a round in the Vortex and everything that's ended its actiavation there has been removed from the table. To put it simply, buffing all damage against a model is really good, but it gets better when combined with other things the list does. As an example, I faced off against a Darius list with two Centurions and the Thunderhead. He feated to repair the damage I had done and ran his jacks to within a very short distance of my army. I had Ravyn feat and walk up to the enemy jacks with Vortex up and Threasher across them,then ended her activation. My opponent was a tad puzzled, then the Stormfalls aimed and started dumping boosted Brutal shots into the trio and the MHSF unloaded boosted jack hunter shots. All three jacks went from full to dead in a single turn. Even then though, Vortex is a solid damage buff and just having it up means that anyone that tries to engage Ravyn is going to die exceptionally quickly. Throwing AoEs at things engaging Ravyn is the most common tactic since POW 6 won't hurt her if Discordia's humming or Ravyn has 2 focus, but POW 6 boosted will kill most infantry with very average dice. I actually had an assassination go from failed to successful because it suddenly dawned on me that pGaspy had been cursed by Aiyana and was in the vortex, so the Stormfalls would be hitting him with POW 8 boosted blast damage and they effortlessly took the last few boxes off of gaspy.

Economy of Force- A term left over from my intel days, it means simply doing more with less. It's one thing to take down a shieldwall, but to have 3 stormfalls set the entire affair on fire is such a trivial usage of army resources that kills most of the unit freeing up the rest of the army to engage other targets. Aiyana and eEiryss play critical roles here as well. Knocking off buffs or buffing your own damage severely reduce the amount of shots needed to kill a target. Discordia also does her part with the feated spray. The army is more built around efficiency than anything because being able to deal with a target by dumping your entire army at it won't get a ragned list very far, but only allocating a handful of models to tear down a unit or locking down heavies with eEiryss until you can spare the shots to deal with them properly makes a big difference.

An Interesting Challenge- This isn't exactly a list anyone could pick up and do well with. Everything you need is there, but I've also games where minor mistakes cost me the game. Even then, very few of the list's losses have been attributed to not having what it needed so much as dice rolls or player error. This is the big reason why I don't reccomend this list to everyone, since it tends to be more nuanced and requires a good knowledge of threat ranges and what you can reasonably expect performance-wise out of all of the units to really get it to the point where it can win consistantly, but anyone who's up for a challenge, by all means.

No Real Easy Mode- Players experiencing this list for the first time have a hard time getting their heads around it. All they see is picking up models without getting a chance to do much as opposed to the juggling act I'm usually doing on the other side of table to single out key threats, getting the right units into positon and making the best of buffs and debuffs. In this regard, the list tends to frustrate opposing players, but it doesn't have a softball approach, the list is either "on" or it isn't. With this in mind, I usually run other casters or break out Ravyn and give them a chance to look at the list before giving her another shot and walk them through the games afterwards to explain all the mental gymnastics I have to do on the other side of the table for it to work.