New player. List and unpacking advice

Seems like a solid list. What has been the issue with unpacking it?

I would suggest trying out swapping Jakes' Defender for the Ironclad. It will benefit more from Sidekick, and Jakes' focus is a bit wasted on the Defender, who will usually need a maximum of 1 focus a turn.

Maddox is a support caster in the most extreme sense. She wants to cast her upkeeps, and then keep them up for the rest of the game.

For most games, I would start with Dauntless Resolve on Lances, Snipe on Trenchers, and Onslaught on Maddox herself. Put Assail on a Defender turn 2. Always keep a focus on Maddox, and keep her in a safe position (behind a wall, in a trench, behind a forest or house) at a good distance from the opponent's army.

Jakes should slap Sidekick on the Ironclad turn 1, and let him block stuff from getting to her. You can use this pair to control flanks and control a flag on a far side.

Trenchers should be the furthest models up, and it should be their job to keep the Storm Lances alive. Use Snipe to kill infantry, or do a CRA into something bigger.

Lances are your heavy hitters. They can do the most work in your list, and losing them hurts the most. Use them with your feat to wreck heavies, and use e-leaps to kill tons of infantry.

The Defenders should be in a position by turn 1 where they can shoot for a couple of turns while aiming. Only give them focus if they REALLY need to hit. On Feat turn, send them in to hammer heavies into the ground.

Don't forget the Beat Back part of her feat. It is very useful for scenario as you can push heavies out of zones with a couple of trenchers if needed.

Welcome to Cygnar!

I always put my caster out front with jacks on either side, usually. You want your caster to get their upkeeps out then prolly charge forward top of 1. The Ironclad on Jakes is interesting, personally the Defender is probably the wiser choice. But if this is a module you want to run I'd recommend picking up Arlan Strangeways. Jakes can upkeep Sidekick, allocate 1, and cast energizer for 2 (leaving her on nothing) and Arlan can give Jakes' jack a focus which gives it a full load. Then you get another 2" of threat. If you want to be real janky, throw assail on that jack and get a +4" threat. An Ironclad or Defender will threaten 13" this way. Also, don't forget that the defender's cortex damage happens before your roll .

All in all unpacking is a learned skill. I dig Maddox, she's a solid all around caster that will win you games if you know what's what. Spend time practicing the fundamentals of the game with her.

General deployment tips:

-Unless you have a specific spot you want your caster to be, put them in the center pf deployment. That way you can move them to either side if you need.

-make sure that you pay attention to terrain. If your Trenchers don't have pathfinder, don't deploy them behind a forest.

-If you deploy a jack on a far flank, check to see where it and your caster will need to be for it tp get focus as you go down field.

-Squire: one mistake I made fairly often as a new player was putting my Squire too far forward. Just keep it 5" behind your caster, not 2" in front of it.

As well for the Squire, if you need one of its abilities (you're about to cast a spell and need the reroll, or you need the control area bonus during your caster's activation), remember to move it into position first.

-Journeyman: Junior is an important piece to learn balance with. Keep his jack in control, feed it focus, upkeep AS, and stay alive. He likes terrain bonuses. Keep him difficult enough to kill that they won't bother.

And always remember that he has a boostable hand cannon. Junior can kill something when needed, or be that last bit of damage for an assassination.

Thanks all. Really solid advice. The unpacking stuff is something I want to run through on my own a couple of times. Definitely agree sticking caster at the front and centre is crucial. Especially as Maddox is casting three upkeep turn one so needs to be close to all models/units

I lost on this occasion(again!) But given its only my fourth 75pt game ever and second with the ponies(who are tricky to use) I'm not too unhappy.

The Jakes/Ironclad combo was pretty good. Almost smoked a Diretroll Mauler in on turn, but got boxed by the counter punch. Energiser was great for extending the threat. I actually put assail on a defender and very nearly slammed one of the krielstone into Ragnor on T2, which upset his plans somehat, but then seem to get dragged into melee with trolls. I'm going to open an additional thread about keeping a force mobile beyond T3 etc