Theory Thursday: Captain Edward Dominic Darius

Now mk3 has been out for a while I wanted to restart my Theory posts so I asked on the Cygnar Facebook group what I should write about and they chose Darius

Stats & Weapons

Speed 5: Slow for a cygnar caster but fast enough to keep up with heavy jacks

Mat 6: Not the best but there are ways around this

Rat 5: Low rat for a Cygnar caster but this is offset by his gun having aoe 4

Def 13: The lowest def in the faction 

Arm 18: Highest arm in the faction
22 Health boxes!!!
Focus 6: Standard focus stat...

Spells

Arcantrik bolt: Pretty standard attack spell that makes warjacks stationary if it damages them.

I always like to bring an arc node with Darius to make better use of his Jackhammer spell, so it can be useful to cast on a Warjack using Arcane secrets from Sylys for an additional die on the attack and damage roll (drop the lowest die). This should mean you don't have to boost to hit, and that a boosted damage roll will likely do damage to most Warjacks in the game.

Fortify: Gives a warjack in his battle group +2 arm and can't be knocked down, pushed or moved with a slam and friendly models b2b gain these benefits too (except the +2 arm)
This allows his battlegroup to avoid all the drag effects like Legions Hell mouth unit, Wormwoods Hellmouth spell and Merc's Galleon ranged attack.

Full Throttle: Warjacks in his battlegroup can run, charge, or make slam or trample power attacks for free and gain boosted melee attack rolls.
Not a spell to use every turn but it can be very handy

Jackhammer: Warjack in his battlegroup immediately makes a melee attack
This spell has so many applications its amazing. From clearing out a Jack thats engaged so it can charge something else, to extending threat by having a Jack run and then make attacks using Jackhammer.

Refuge: FF model that hits with an attack gets to move at the end of its activation

Great to either back up or move up further after a model attacks. It can be used in combination with Jackhammer to good effect, for example a Stormclad with Refuge charges something moving 8" hits it then Refuge allows it to move another 5". This lets the Stormclad attack something 15" away from where it started including its 2" melee range.

Feat

Fully repair FF warjacks b2b with darius and his half jacks. To get good use out of this feat you need to keep a halfjack or two alive. Best way is to premeasure and put one 12" back from a Warjack you expect to want to repair.
The feat is completely shut down by grievous wounds (which stops damage from being removed from a model) its important to know what in the other players army has this ability and either keep your heavies out of its threat or kill it first. Alten Ashley is enemy number one...

Half jacks

Darius starts the game with 3 halfjacks they have mediocre stats and no weapons but thats not their game plan!
During a normal turn they can either repair a single damage point, turn into a mine marker or run to position for the next turn.
A great use for the mines (which can be detonated in your maintenance phase for aoe 4" pow 14 blast damage) is to put them near flags or in zones.
Being speed 6 they are fast enough to run up and be in range to turn into a mine near a central flag on the second turn. Although they don't contest as a mine they can be a great deterrent just be aware of models that are immune to blast damage...

They are also great for running to contest flags and zones!
Don't forget Darius can make a new one each turn if he has less than three in play, I keep the ones that aren't near his spent focus pile I keep on his card to remind me to use them.

Battlegroup

Darius tends to like Jacks that can survive long enough to be repaired. 

Centurions are great as is a Stormwall

Gallants Purgation ability (additional die on attack & damage rolls if the target has an upkeep on them) is great in combination with Jackhammer.

Sentinel the cheap little shield guard jack is ideal for catching gun shots that would ruin someone elses day. Be it Eiryss's disruption shot, Alten Ashleys grievous wounds or Gormans Rust or Black oil.
Stormclads are great for the 2" melee range combined with eleap on the blade meaning Jackhammer can be used to great effect to clear infantry that ran to engage.

Arc node! Darius loves to have an arc node to be able to cast Jackhammer without being very close to the front lines. Without a doubt take Thorn with Darius. Just do it. I have yet to try Hurricane (I'm not so keen on proxies) but it might see play with Darius in the future.

Support

A Journeyman warcaster is a great addition to his army to make it much more likely a Warjack will survive to be fixed with the feat. I like the Jr to run the lists Sentinel now they have to bring a Jack along.

For Warcaster attachment I personally prefer Sylys for both the free upkeep (Fortify normally), the arcane secrets buff for Arcntrik bolt and Spiritual conduit to increase the range of Jackhammers that arne't cast through an arc node. (Thorn can't be everywhere!) 

If you aren't using Gallant then Ragman should be tagging along he works so well with the 2" melee range heavies that Darius likes so much. Major Gibbs can increase the range in which Ragman can apply his abilities, I have yet to use him so I'm not sure if he is strictly worth it in a slower moving army Darius normally plays.

Strangewayes is a good addition, both in helping fuel warjacks or doing spot repairs that don't warrant using Darius's feat. Magic weapons is nice to have too.

Lanyssa both increases your warjacks threat range by 2" and lets them charge for free. Just having her around puts the other player in a tough spot if you are running Centurions as they can't charge you but struggle to stay out of your threat.

Gunmage Captain Adept he does a lot for Darius's army, whether its killing solos like Eiryss and Alten Ashley or using his Flare shot type to make it easier for the armies warjacks to hit their targets both in their activations or with Jackhammer

Jackhammer assassination

This will catch a few people off guard due to the many ways it can be applied. You can have the jack you wish to use charge, run or trample into position spend all its focus on attacks then have Thorn get within 6" of the Warjack and have Darius Jackhammer away!
It can be worth casting Full throttle if the Caster you are trying to kill has high defence the boosted attack rolls part of the spell applies to these out of activation attacks.

Here is an example for you from a recent game

This is a Asphyxious1 list that uses elements of its army to make a cloud wall.

My Centurions can't charge his heavies (Malice, DeathJack and Snapjaw) but he can't charge me either.

After a turn or so of dancing around each others threat ranges he puts Malice on the flag on the left allowing me to charge in a Centurion (for free using Lanyssa) it pays for Polarity field to keep it safe from DeathJack.

Cryx get sick of my shit and move forward out but still using the clouds to stop my right hand Centurion from charging or walking in to attack. (The left Centurion is Shadow bound and Blinded to make it cost far to much to use it in any meaningful way)

I measure it out and can get Ragman in a spot behind the Centurion if it runs into the cloud. Thorn can move up behind and allow Darius to Jackhammer.

After I put it altogether with the help of my opponent to make sure it is all legit the Centurion needs 7's to hit under Starcrossed so Darius casts Full throttle (I'm now rolling 4 dice drop the highest one) at pow 20 it only takes a couple of swings to give Gaspy another dirt nap.

I hope you found this informative, if you have any corrections on any mistakes I made or suggestions for things I missed drop a comment below.