Command attachments in Cygnar mk3

(My Command attachments as of now)

One of the changes in mk3 is that Unit attachments (now called Command attachments - CA) now have the same field allowance as their units.

I already owned two of some CA for certain tier lists which are all now usable in any list.

Trencher Infantry

The upgrades to Trencher infantry made me decide to buy a second CA.

Not only did they get the same buffs as their base unit (as you would expect) they also kept the "Cautious advance" order but they gained a once per game ability (often called a minifeat) called "Into the breach" which allows models in the unit to drop smoke clouds before charging,

This is a great way to protect the rest of your army, do some damage and jam up the enemy lines with Trenchers.

The sniper also now stops a model making a tough roll, which is a welcome buff, although it has lost the ability to take part in any combined ranged attacks the unit makes.

If you plan on just using Trenchers for smoke skip the CA, if you want to use them more offensively then you want the CA

Stormblade Infantry

The CA for Stormblades have changed a lot compared to mk2.

The CA has kept the assault order, which is one of the main reasons you would want to take them in, but the Officer has also picked up a minifeat called "Ironzeal" which grants the unit +3 armour and immunity to knockdown & stationary for one round. This is an amazing buff and when combined with the many armour buffs in Cygnar they become very hardy.

The immunity to knockdown means that giving the unit tough via Rhupert or Maddox's spell "Dauntless resolve" (which grants +3 armour and tough).

The standard barer changed as well. Like all Standards in the game now it grants +2 command to the unit commander if its within 5" of them. 

It lost the rule "storms eye" which gave the units ranged attacks aoe3 on a direct hit, and now the standard counts as a "conductor" for Stormsmith stormcallers when they make a surge or triangulation.

This is a strange rule for the standard to get and I'm not sure how often it will ever come up, but its worth remembering just in case. 

If you are taking a unit you will nearly always want the CA

Gunmages

Oh gunmages... how the mighty have fallen. Or changed.

Like all Gunmages the CA has lost a point of defence, but that's not all he lost. The CA no longer grants the unit "True sight" (which used to ignore concealment, camouflage and stealth) he now grants them "Swift hunter" which allows models in the unit to move 2" if they destroy an enemy model with a ranged attack. This will be great for either moving them into positions beneficial to scenario or to move back to stay out of range of the enemy.

He also gives them "Tactics: practiced maneuvers" which allows them to move and see through each other. Nice rule which will speed up their placement and shooting as getting line of sight will be easier now they don't block each other.

The CA kept the ability to give a Warjack under its control Runeshots but is now limited to controlling only one Jack which is a shame. Though the Jack marshal rules have improved so the trade off is worth it.

Unless you plan on marshaling a Jack to them I wouldn't add the CA. (No where near the auto include it used to be)

Sword Knights

The sword knight CA changed a bit but not too much. They traded "Tactics: Precision strike" (choose the column damaged with jack/beasts) for "Combined melee attack". CMA is pretty useful for the unit especially now they have a 1" melee range.

They lost the Drive "Pronto" for a jack it controls.

This is a bit of a blow to be honest, they used to be able to extend the treat range of their jack, or move it during their units atticvation to enable flank for other members of the unit.

The unit also lost "Practiced maneuvers" which is a shame.
They gained "Reposition (3")" for the unit themselves (They used to be able to get this from Runewood)

If you have the spare points the CA is worth adding for CMA and the drive should you want to marshal a jack. But in all honesty their are better jack marshals and if you are able to use flank CMA isn't as useful. They will often be left behind.

Precursor Knights

They stayed almost the same, trading "Ranked attacks" for "Practiced maneuvers" (this happened across the whole game). They kept the minifeat "Morrow's name" which give the unit an additional die damage on melee attacks for one turn. They also lost the heal action on the Officer which is a slight shame. 

Being able to move through each other is nice but losing the ability for other models to shoot through them is a little disappointing.

If you are bringing the unit you will want the CA for the minifeat.

Long gunners

In line with the base unit they lost a point of defence and gain a point of speed. This is a good thing in my book as their defence wasn't high enough to protect them anyway but being more mobile is always useful. 

Like Precursors they traded "Ranked attacks" for "Practiced maneuvers" which is a buff on a shooting unit compared to the melee units. 

The CA lost the "Suppressing fire" order and gained "Granted: Trained fire" in its place. This gives the unit an additional die on ranged attacks against models with 8". This is a bit of a sideways swap. Though the suppressing fire wasn't often used its sad to see it go, but now they can get insanely accurate against close models. Combining with aiming or maybe the spell "Deadeye" they can shoot into combat to free up other members of the unit or army with decent success. 

They also now have a minifeat which grants them preposition 5" which is a nice way to keep the unit relevant in a scenario or back up to stay out of harms way to shoot again the next turn.

The Long gunner CA is now the only one I don't own two of (Its worth noting that all the CA's are FA:2 except the Trenchers which is FA:U) I don't really see myself picking up a second the likelihood of me ever wanting to use two Long gunner CA's is very slim.

If you are bringing a full unit and don't want the problems of line of sight and getting jammed then the CA is worth using.

Cards

One of the changes PP has made to their cards is the extra damage tracks on solos with a FA above one. They did not however do this with CA's.

So I cut the damage tracks from old mk2 cards and stuck them onto my new mk3 cards. I also did the same with the card for the Storm strider.

Now I have a second Trencher CA I now only need the new Trencher character solo (currently unreleased) and I will have every trencher model. This will be my last big painting project as I plan to paint all my remaining unpainted Trenchers at once! This will likely take me a very long time...

(My Trencher collection!)

As always I welcome your thoughts on anything I discussed. What did you think I missed or overlooked? What changes did you not notice?