Battle Report #181: Sloan vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

Sloan is a caster I've struggled to write lists for. There are so many things she wants to yet so many harsh truths she hates: Jam is a thing, scenario is often live etc. If Sloan could, she would much prefer to stand back and shoot until nothing is left. Sadly for her, but luckily for the game, that is not the case. Today was the time to try out something new: Storm Lances. Let's see how they performed!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Captain Kara Sloan - WJ: +28
-    Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 4
-    Firefly - PC: 0
-    Firefly - PC: 0
-    Hunter - PC: 0
-    Hunter - PC: 10
-    Defender - PC: 16
-    Defender - PC: 16
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
Field Mechaniks - Crew Chief & 3 Grunts: 3

Opponent:

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper - WB: +27
-    Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper (Cont.)
-    Feral Warpwolf - PC: 0
-    Pureblood Warpwolf - PC: 8
-    Warpwolf Stalker - PC: 19
-    Woldwatcher - PC: 9
Gallows Grove - PC: 2
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Swamp Gobber Chef - PC: 1
Tharn Bloodtrackers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
-    Nuala the Huntress - PC: 4
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Farrow Bone Grinders - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew - Leader & 1 Grunt: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Wurmwood is not a caster I am expecting to face much. His feat looks absolutely brutal, often times flat out better than Haley2's in terms of denial, but I fail to see how he does much else. Regardless I am more than happy to face him as I never have before. Going into this game I was expecting a very early feat so my idea was to put as much damage as possible on him as early as possible. I got first turn and deployed symmetrically.

:: Game ::

I did contemplate feating for a bit but decided against it. The shots I did get went mainly into Wurmwood to start softening him up as I fully expected him to have to play super-cautiously later on. Refuge on Sloan went up as well.

Wurmwood advances up and feats.

I spent such a long time trying to figure out how to deal with this. The problem was largely killbox coupled with hellmouth: If I killboxed myself he could easily go to 5-0. If I didn't Hellmouth would be a huge issue. I decided to try and make it hard for him by parking models around Sloan and having her sit on all 6 focus. My forces all backed out, unfortunately my right flank a little too much so. I got a couple of Bloodtrackers with electro leaps and sent 1 Storm Lance and 1 Firefly to their dooms to force him to spend some time contemplating how to deal with them and not just shove things down my throat.

The vanguard elements are dealt with easily enough. Wurmwood casts his upkeep and the Woldwatcher kills 2 friendlies so a line of trees blocks him out on the left flank. Feral takes my objective and both flags are secured for a 3-0.

This was the turn where I had to do a lot of work. The idea was to feat out the Feral + Warpwolf (who had lightning struck back after killing the Firefly but was unable to get completely behind the woods) and ensure Storm Lances + Defenders would be in a position to contest as much as possible in my next turn to prevent that crucial 5-0. The TL;DR is that the feat does a lot of work and the Wolves both die after the Lances charge in to finish the Feral. I also clean out the Bloodtrackers on the left between the remaining Firefly and Storm Lances.

My opponent manages very little in his ensuing turn and concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The feat was a lot more crippling than I thought because I believed Cassius and Wurmwood were a single unit. When Cassius could run and Wurmwood could then port he got a lot further up than I had thought. However I suppose he could've achieved the same with a normal port and stone double-port as well.

When Wurmwood feated the main problem was the pressure he put on Sloan, of course combined with the 3-0 ability scenario-wise. Sloan might've died to some Hellmouth-shenanigans despite my best efforts. Not sure how I can protect against this barring different terrain or something.

The turns when the feats weren't up were devastating. My first turn was mostly just setting things up but even the few shots I got off then did significant damage to the weakish Circle models. Their primary defense is decent DEF-levels which are often boosted, however Guided Fire completely bypasses that as long as there's no Krueger1 or similar around. All in all I think Sloan struggles a bit with Wurmwood but is fine vs Circle in general.

Lastly I would like to note that the Storm Lances were amazing here. Compared to my earlier choices their threat ranges and ability to help Sloan do what she needs - get up the table and counter-attack when things get too close. They cleaned up the Bloodtrackers on the right, helped take out the Feral in the center and contested + put damage on the Pureblood. Amazing.