Raluk Moorclaw, the Iron Monger

So apparently Blindwater gets a new model in Vengeance. By golly gosh. Here he is, lifted off the endgame website:

Here is what he brings:

• Troll with ok physical stats: DEF 13 ARM 15 with 8 boxes and Tough. Just a little less survivable than the average Gatorman.
• Decent combat capabilities: MAT 6 with a POW 13 non-reach melee weapon, but has assault and a RAT 6 RNG 4 POW 14 slug gun. Again, probably a little less damage output than the average Posse grunt, and the short-ass range on that gun doesn't really make or break anything.

So all up he is probably worse than Pendrake as a solo, given that Pendrake has better weapons, a reroll on a longer ranged attack and their survivability is about the same, give or take.

• Repair! He can repair the Battle Engine we will probably get never get. Winnah.
• Jack Marshall seems to be the big thing. Let's focus on that part for a bit:

Jack Marshall of the swamps

He has a Drive, which already puts him in the upper half of jack marshalls. His CMD is 9, which means the Drive has a good chance of succeeding. The Hog Wild Drive allows the warjack to take a free shot before moving/charging/running/crying himself to sleep. I guess that is not terrible - it is probably the best ability on Brigands.

Jack marshalls are generally bad because jacks require an assload of focus to do anything relative to their points cost. 1 focus a turn + one gun shot usually doesn't justify the cost of a warjack. But let's entertain the possibility. He will definitely want a ranged warjack, because melee warjacks  are very underwhelming with only one potential focus, and because his drive is a pretty big buff to ranged jacks, in that they can get off a boosted shot and then walk backwards. Boostable guns are a pretty big deal for Blindwater.

• Vanguard - It brings a Shield Guard option to the faction with possibly the best anti-shooting tech in the game, so no big gain in Gators. But for Pigs, it can be a big deal for most of their casters. Hog Wild is also mutually exclusive with Assault, so that is also lost. What you are left with is a sturdy, reliable light. Overall, not a bad choice but not a great choice either.
• Mule - Hog Wild is mutually exclusive with the extra range from Steam Pressure, but still adds a little flexibility. The Mule usually boosts hit rolls fishing for crits, so is not the worst jack in the world to marshall. At 8pts though, you might as well just bring a unit of Bog Trogs or almost an another Posse.
• Bucaneer - cheap and knocks things down. I love knocking things down. With Hog Wild, you can boost the hit, knock your DEF ~15 target down, then walk backwards 6" to contest a zone or be generally annoying. Or don't boost the hit roll and then run away. Also brings a lot of damage boxes for 3 pts at DEF 13 ARM 15 and it has reach (with a crappy POW but still)!. Probably the best choice at 5pts all up.
• Mariner - Has a long range gun, which is really nice for Blindwater. However that gun would be a hell of a lot nicer with two focus on it. It is amphibious so benefits from Swamp Pits and all that. Lash isn't that big a benefit since getting knocked down and shot is not something I am ever worried about.
• Rover - Raluk's favourite warjack according to his little fluff blurb, and not altogether bad. If the gun was ROF:2, it'd have some cool interactions with Hog Wild but alas it is not. It is a tanky heavy that dies easier than unit of Gators and hits as hard as a Wrastler but doesn't have fury or a sweet animus.

All up - maybe a Bucaneer to help me deal with heavies I can't effectively kill and to help with scenarios. I would have really liked this combo before Colossals came out, when dealing with ARM required tactics and power attacks and not just cycling Fury.
I would probably rather bring an Ironback Spitter than a marshalled Mule or a Mariner all things considered, and I think a Vanguard would go great in Pigmans but not really Gatormans.