Battle Report #32 - Stryker1 vs Kreoss3 (50)

:: Prologue ::

It's been too little time to play lately but finally I found a game again! I ran Stryker1 into Menoth twice today: While I believe he is a poor choice here compared to Haley I simply need to practice with the list. I'm also trying to extrapolate how Haley would work with 2 colossals based on what I'm seeing in these games. Anyway, moving on: First up was Kreoss3 with a jack-heavy variant!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11

Opponent:

Intercessor Kreoss - WJ: +5
- Hierophant
- Templar - PC: 8
- Fire of Salvation - PC: 9
- Reckoner - PC: 8
Vassal of Menoth - PC: 2
Wrack - PC: 1
The Covenant of Menoth - PC: 2
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2
Exemplar Vengers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Temple Flameguard - Leader and 9 Grunts: 6
- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard - Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I have played against Kreoss3 once before I believe. Going into this game my goal was to start putting some hurt on the Vengers as soon as possible and feat to weather off his jacks when needed. Since I went first I placed the Storm Lances defensively. No need to have them roll wide and go for an aggressive play T2 for scenario here. 

:: Game ::

I waste no time in moving up max. Arcane Shield goes up on both Stormwalls though in hindsight I should probably have put Snipe on the left one.

Temple Flameguard receive +2 DEF spell from Kreoss and Dirge from Rhupert. DEF16 base, yummy! They also mini-feat for ARM17 so electro leaps are unreliable to say the least. 

The left Stormwall, given its lack of Snipe, was unable to help put the hurt on the Vengers (and hence my realization for this need). I'd love to kill off half the unit. Regardless however I had a wonderful opportunity: Take out the Covenant, which was way too exposed, and pod on either side of the jacks to distrupt with Triangulation. This worked splendidly and the second Stormwall took out a couple of Vengers. Storm Lances backed off from Flameguard, with their mini-feat up and running I saw little value in taking the fight when I need 9s to hit (set defense means it's also 9s if I charge).

With all jacks disrupted I wasn't fearing a huge assault on my Stormwalls but Menoth committed regardless. The right jack was down to ~16 boxes with its left side and pod system crippled. The left one took next to no damage.

3 focus to each Stormwall, Fire of Salvation is killed and the Templar loses its Cortex and right weapon system. I feat with Stryker but my Storm Lances forget ride by attacks: After Stryker and Junior kill off one Flameguard each with shots I could've simply targeted one exposed Storm Lance and have leaps bound off from him to take out a couple. Instead I am left trying to make 9s and I only get 1. The Stormsmith remaining disrupts the Reckoner.

Flameguard roll poorly vs Storm Lances but I'm tied up regardless. The rest, barring Kreoss himself, commits to the right Stormwall. It goes down with a bit of spike despite feat, which is to be honest quite a big loss.

So, Menoth is up to 1-0. The remaining Stormwall has suffered 5 boxes thus far. I give it focus to annihilate the Reckoner, at this point in time by far the most dangerous model, while Stryker makes a tricky Earthquake on the remaining Stormcaller to allow my Lances to actually hit and e-leap. This time I also remember ride by so their positions are pretty good, with the exception of the leader who is stuck.  1-1.

Menoth commits to taking out the Stormwall. I might have been able to hold it off a little more so that at least Kreoss wouldn't be able to engage it and still toe his own zone. It's a bit of a risk to take out 50 boxes but the extra dice for attack and damage on Kreoss + Venger helps a lot. Kreoss ends up with 4 "excess" focus even. 2-2.

I have a tricky problem because my Storm Lances are too far away to contest without tanking free strikes. I lose 2 and 1 to flaming continuous and the rest fail their command check. With next to nothing left it's trivial for him to take the game home as my Stormcaller, Squire and Junior (only solos remaining).

:: Evaluation ::

It was a tight and close game that could've gone both ways. My main mistake was not dealing with the Vengers early on. I should've had Snipe up on the left Stormwall I believe because Menoth can't realistically deal significant damage to it anyway. With Snipe I might be able to take out 3-4 Vengers T2, which then ripples down and probably allows both Stormwalls to survive.

Furthermore I should've realized the threat posed by DEF16 Temple Flameguard. The issue is that while Stryker keeps the Stormwalls fully focused he can't help out with Earthquake. I'm thus left with pods (which I need to contest and set up disruption) and e-leaps. The latter should definitely have seen some more setups.

Overall though I very much doubt I'll play this kind of list into Menoth. Stryker relies heavily on upkeeps and Menoth have a plethora of ways to deal with them. I'm quite comfortable playing Haley into Menoth but it was interesting to see that this matchup, despite being inferior in my opinion, is still absolutely playable. Taking away lessons on the importance of Snipe and dealing with high-def is very helpful to understand my own list. I have rarely seen opposing cavalry do so much while my own does so little barring situations where I'm downright slaughtered.