Battle Report #187: Sloan vs Exulon Thexus

:: Prologue ::

With 2 games against Retribution it was time to face Mercenaries. My opponent brought his Cephalyx. I have very little faith in Haley's ability to play against these now as all of the important models gained Stealth, which I have no counter against. Thus I think Sloan has to be the drop here. Too bad, I had hoped to get a Haley2 game today as well. Anyway let's get to the action.

:: 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
Gun Mage Captain Adept - PC: 5
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12

Opponent:

Exulon Thexus - WJ: +29
-    Wrecker - PC: 0
-    Wrecker - PC: 0
-    Wrecker - PC: 13
-    Subduer - PC: 11
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 3
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 3
Cephalyx Dominator - PC: 1
-    Alexia Ciannor & the Risen - Alexia & 9 Risen Grunts: 10
-    Thrall Warrior <! INVALID FOR THEME !>
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Mind Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 11
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Mind Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 11
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges - Slaver & 9 Drudge Grunts: 12
Cephalyx Overlords - Leader & 2 Grunts: 0

THEME: Operating Theater

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same map and scenario as the previous games. I was the first player now. The Hunters and Defenders went down centrally. The idea was to do what I had not done in the game before: Get up far in the center and keep backing off to neutralize the scenario as much as possible while shooting stuff dead. The Cephalyx had the Slaver + Drudges ambushing.

:: Game ::

True to the plan I ran all shooters up as centrally as possible while the Lances spread out to project their threats as per usual.

Cephalyx push up hard. Decel goes up. I hate that spell but that's obvious I suppose with this list.

Exulon has a very credible assassination potential which I need to beware at all times. In this game my opponent had a Wrecker in position to threaten Sloan if I were to advance with her. I wanted to advance however so I had to kill said Wrecker. More importantly though both of the Mind Bender leaders were targetable. I could get 1 with Sloan and 1 with the left Hunter. However doing so put the Hunter in a very precarious situation so I wanted Refuge on it so it could back off. I also needed Fire Group to pull it off so this didn't leave a whole lot left to kill the Wrecker with. Oh well, I'd have to have faith in the Lances again. The Leaders both went down and with that the out-of-activation-insane-threat potential which make Cephalyx so deadly. The army then started backing off as intended except for a Firefly which moved up to create an obstacle for my opponent to deal with. The Wrecker went down as well as ARM19 isn't all that much. The Storm Lances finished it off while trying to stay as safe as possible. When I clocked over to my opponent I was really happy with my position:

The Ambushers arrive and spread out. The Drudges all run up. I lose 2 Lances on the right flank (was really hoping the 2nd guy would make it) but the Firefly survives a wrecker coming in.

The plan this turn is simple: Kill both Wreckers and blast apart as many Drudges as possible while keeping Sloan safe. A problem was hyper aggressive however the linear obstacle really worked in my favor here as I could position models on my side of said obstacle to prevent him from moving over. The GMCA and a Hunter got these roles. The shooting with the feat took apart both of the Wreckers and I even had shots to spare so I started taking apart Drudges. Lances helped out vs Drudges as well and cut great swathes through them both right and left.

My opponent resigned himself to the fact that he had lost the attrition game so he went for one desperate assassination attempt at Sloan with his Feat + Drudges. Unfortunately for him it was not to be and as I survived he conceded the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The games this weekend with the ensuing evaluations and learning points have really helped me understand how to play this list. In this game it all came together and apart from long shot assassination runs (such as needing 2 Drudges to hit me on 11+ and then still roll decently for damage) I felt I was in complete control from deployment onwards.

Playing vs Cephalyx is tricky. Sloan however has a few really strong tools to take on their powerful pieces and still handle their push. The Bender leaders are by far the most important ones. When they died in this game the Cephalyx army struggled to threaten me fast enough. He simply didn't have the speed nor durability to close in.

Moving forward I hope to find out how best to spend the last 5 points which were filled by the GMCA today. I need to try Ashley at least but there are other interesting options as well.