Getting Started With Cygnar

[the_puritan]

I've seen this term before,but I'm having trouble finding it in game terms.I won't have a proper rulebook until the 2 player starter box ships.What does putting the journeymen & charger in a battlegroup mean in game terms?

I don't have my rulebook in front of me to tell you the page numbers, but here's the basic gist of it:
Each model with the Battlegroup Commander ability (all warcasters, warlocks and Journeyman Warcaster) can start the game with faction jacks/beasts in their battlegroup. Only the battlegroup commander may allocate focus to the jacks in their battlegroup and they may not allocate jacks that are not in their battlegroup.

In other words, Stryker (in your list) will be able to allocate focus to Ol' Rowdy and the Lancer, but not the Charger.
The Journeyman Warcaster can allocate focus to the Charger, but not to Ol' Rowdy or the Lancer.

Also, if you decide to use a Jack Marshall (such as Strangewayes), neither Stryker nor the Journeyman Warcaster will be able to allocate focus to the marshalled jack.

Also, some spells and abilities specify members of a battlegroup to be affected. Again, I dont have my stuff in front of me, but you'll know them because they will use the word "battlegroup".
...and, yes, the battlegroup commander is in their own battlegroup.

[CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO]

I see,thanks for the info puritan.Your info left me w/one more question,what happens if the journeymen is killed,could the charger receive focus from Stryker then.Or is that the price you pay for battlegrouping?

[the_puritan]

If the Jouneyman is killed (or any Warcaster, for that matter), the jacks in the battlegroup go inert. That means they're considered stationary and can't do anything.
Another battlegroup commander (like Stryker) can reactivate a jack by going base-to-base and using an action. The jack then becomes part of Strykers battlegroup and he can start allocating it focus.

[CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO]

In the beginning,I plan to play alot of games with as much variety as possible,but since I won't be able to start playing until the 2 Player Starter Box ships I have some time.
With the army I'm building (Stryker,Ol'Rowdy,Charger,Lancer,Black 13th, & Journeymen Warcaster @ 20pts.) & your own personal experiences how would you run them?
1)All as one large group w/no battle grouping
2)Journeymen & Charger in 1 & everything else in the other (my way of thinking right now,but is based on no experience)
3)Journeymen & Lancer in 1 & everything else in the other.

[mazgier]

In the beginning,I plan to play alot of games with as much variety as possible,but since I won't be able to start playing until the 2 Player Starter Box ships I have some time.
With the army I'm building (Stryker,Ol'Rowdy,Charger,Lancer,Black 13th, & Journeymen Warcaster @ 20pts.) & your own personal experiences how would you run them?
1)All as one large group w/no battle grouping
2)Journeymen & Charger in 1 & everything else in the other (my way of thinking right now,but is based on no experience)
3)Journeymen & Lancer in 1 & everything else in the other.

I assume that by "no battle grouping" you mean "all warjacks in Stryker's Battlegroup"? If you decide to take Journeyman I'd advise to assign him the Charger. Journeyman is rather squishy so it's better for him to stick as far from melee as possible. Thus shooting warjack is better option.
Never ever consider using Lancer other than in (proper) warcaster's BG. The whole point of taking Lancer in your army is the fact that this warjack has an arcnode ie. a relay for warcaster's spells.

[CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO]

I have some thought & questions from my previous post that I was hoping you all can clear up for me.So lets dive right in,first off does taking a Journeymen in my army mean I have to assign him a jack?Looking @ the option of battlegrouping the Journeymen & the Charger has generated a few more questions.The journeymen will have 3 focus to allocate,one will undoubtedly go to Powerful Attack,w/only 2 left to make the difficult decision whether to fire more shots or cast Arcane Shied on the Charger.Choosing the wrong option could be catastrophic for both the Journeymen & Charger,leaving me with spells arced through the Lancer or not & pistol as my only ranged options.Mazgier Squire suggestion is looking more & more viable as a fundamental building block for my army.I've started considering holding off my Jouneymen purchase for my second wave,a Journeymen & Hunter,or Grenadier,or Sentinel (each being able to fire 2 shots & receive Arcane Shied from the Journeymen)seem to be more effective battlegroups.

[CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO]

My thought on putting the Lancer & Journeymen together were based on the battle reports I viewed.It often seems whether the players are using one large battlegroup or 2 smaller ones,they never seem to be to far away from each other.By putting Ol'Rowdy & Charger in Strykers' group (knowing Ol'Rowdy can run for free & spending 2 to cast Arcane Shied or Blur on him)will leave me 4 focus & give me more options for the Charger.If my Journeymen (who's 3 focus would keep the Lancer moving & shielded) was to perish,it would be a short jog over to the Lancer for Stryker to reactivate & it would be likely that the Arc Node would be in range of something then or after its next movement.I'm not saying its a sound strategy (there is a lot of ifs & buts in there)but it was my train of thought when I asked about the Journeymen,Lancer grouping.I doubt I'll ever try it.

[mazgier]

First: Arcane Shield and Blur are "upkeep" type spells meaning that you pay the full cost to cast them and in following turns you can keep them in play just by spending 1 focus on the controlling model (ie. the one that casted the spell) in Control Phase.
Second: Hunter's ROF is 1 so it can only fire once a turn. Grenadier requires Trencher models in BtB to fire more than once (max is 3 shots). Sentinel's Strafe (Special Attack) gives it d6 shots per turn (it's base ROF is still 1 though).
Third: "Reactivation" of a warjack my look nice on paper but as it requires that the re-activating model forfeits its action in that turn it is really hard to execute.
Fourth: Even if you can't see it now, please take my word that putting Lancer under JWC's control is simply a waste. The usual "tactics" of using JWC is to cast Arcane Shield on something valuable in the first turn and then simply keeping JWC away from any danger, just spending 1 focus a turn to upkeep AS. That's why JWC likes Hunter so much - Hunter's Extended Control Range means that JWC may park in a safe distance from enemy and after upkeeping AS he has just those 2 FOC needed to boost Hunter's to hit and dmg rolls.

[CAPTAIN SPAGNOULO]

I didn't know upkeep was only one,I thought the casting cost was what you had to pay each turn.That makes a huge difference.Even though I read it, it didn't register.
"Second: Hunter's ROF is 1 so it can only fire once a turn"-I thought spending a pt. of focus would allow me to make an additional attack or buff the to hit roll or buff the damage roll.
"Fourth: Even if you can't see it now, please take my word that putting Lancer under JWC's control is simply a waste."-I do see it & doubt if I'll ever try it,but by explaining the thought process behind my original question,I found out about-ROF being the limit that the unit can fire in a round & focus doesn't buff that.Spells w/yes in the up column only costs 1 focus to maintain (almost cutting in half the amount of focus I thought I'd be spending from round 2 on).JWC 3 Focus seems much better now & there is no doubt I'll be getting a Squire on saturday.I get what you are saying & agree,I'm just not very good at making it clear.

[mazgier]

Talking about upkeeps, be aware that you can't have in play more than one instance of any upkeep type spell at the same time (from a single caster that is) and any model/unit can have max 1 friendly upkeep on it at the same time.