This week’s Cygnaran Storm venture away from lightning and into bullets, lots of bullets, with the Cyclone.

The Cyclone is built off the Ironclad chassis, trading in the Quake Hammer for two Metal Storm guns. Now with the advantage of multiple ranged attacks, the Cyclone maintains two open fists for putting out melee damage or just throwing models out of the way.

Metal Storm

The Cyclone’s main feature is its two Metal Storm guns. Each gun has Rapid Fire, which gives d3 shots, meaning you can get up to 6 POW 12s per turn. At POW 12 the Cyclone will often be shooting at low and medium ARM infantry, but at RAT 6 you’ll need the aiming bonus to hit those with reasonable DEF. It’s important to note that Rapid Fire grants d3 initial attacks, meaning any spell or ability that works only on initial attacks or “normal ranged attacks” works for every one of these initial shots.
The Metal Storm guns also have a second ability: Dual Covering Fire. Place two 3″ AOEs within RNG and a model entering or exiting will take a POW 12. This is a Star-action, so doing this will forfeit the Cyclone’s initial attacks, but on early turns it can add a bit of board control by blocking off avenues of enemy advancement. At only RNG 10, you may consider Snipe to get these AOEs further up the board to place them in vital choke points on the field.

Rapid Fire Rune Shots

One of the most popular uses for the Cyclone involves ‘Jack Marshalling him to the Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer. Since the ATGM Officer has Rune Shot, he can give Critical Brutal, Snipe or Thunderbolt to every Rapid Fire shot. Six Thunderbolts could theoretically push an enemy a maximum of 18″ away (assuming they are still in RNG for all the shots), as well as 6 chances to get a critical knockdown. Or spread those 2-6 shots around to push multiple models out of control zones to gain an advantage in scenario play.

Weapons Metal Storm - The two guns that define this ‘Jack. His low RAT and middle of the road POW leave something to be desired for high DEF or high ARM targets, but Marshalled to the ATGM officer he becomes a remarkable board control piece. Open Fist - With the guns bolted to his forearms, the Cyclone keeps both open fists, perfect for throwing models or dishing out POW 14 melee attacks. Compatible Warcasters

It’s not often you see a Cyclone loaded up with Focus or getting much assistance from a Warcaster as he is most compatible with the ATGM Officer. Still there are a couple who have something to offer:

Captain Kara Sloan - Her feat will give boosted die rolls to every ranged attack the Cyclone makes that turn. Combine this with the ATGM’s crit brutal or Thunderbolt’s crit knockdown and your odds of getting one of those crits significantly increases. Major Markus “Siege” Brisbane - Use his feat to halve enemy armor, making those POW 12s do a lot more damage, so long as you spread the shots around. Captain Victoria Haley - Temporal Barrier drops enemy DEF by 2, so the Cyclone’s RAT 6 will be able to hit those high DEF infantry easier. Captain Jeremiah Kraye - Full Tilt will get the Cyclone 12″ down the field, then he can still lay down his Covering Fire another 10″ out.

While not one of Cygnar’s more popular ‘jacks, especially now that the Stormwall has his own Metal Storm guns, the Cyclone still has a place, especially with board control and scenario play while marshaled to the ATGM Officer.

-DieselDM

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