Battle Report #196: Sloan vs MacBain

:: Prologue ::

One of my main theorymachine headaches with Sloan was MacBain. A bit of a catch22 situation with Counter Measures swapping between Kayazy and Alexia1. However Alexia1 cannot be targeted by spells now so that makes it a lot more playable. Time to put it to the test!

:: 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:

Drake MacBain - WJ: +30
-    Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker - PC: 4
-    Galleon - PC: 9
-    Rover - PC: 15
-    Nomad - PC: 11
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One - PC: 4
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 8
Kayazy Assassins - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
-    Kayazy Assassin Underboss - PC: 4
Kayazy Eliminators - Leader & Grunt: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Entrenched and I went first. The idea was to get up my jacks in the center and flank with Lances on both sides.

:: Game ::

I put up Refuge on Sloan just because she has nothing better to do top of 1.

The Kayazy spread out and receive Counter Measures but MacBain elects not to feat.

I however do not intend to save my feat. The Galleon is aiming for Sloan so I have to move her a bit. I want to keep her in the trench but I reckon that's perfectly possible. The Fireflies rip apart the Kayazy and I take out roughly half the Rover and half the Galleon. Harlan dies as well.

With the situation turning desperate really quickly my opponent decides to go for Sloan, hoping for lucky scatters and/or direct hits. He aims and thus needs 13+. He puts 3 focus on it and lets loose with his AOE cannons. On Sloan's side he gets 2 attacks, they both hit with boosts (feels strangely familiar) and one boosted damage roll + one normal is enough to take her down.

:: Evaluation ::

I did everything right here I felt but I made one unnecessary mistake: If I had put the Defender next to the Firefly he couldn't have dragged said Defender in (as it's basically impossible for him to kill the Firefly) and he would not have been able to draw LOS to Sloan. Sure it's a long shot with 2 boosted 13s needing to hit and then the damage rolls at -1 have to meet or exceed 16, but as I've written about before there's just no reason to risk it.

The matchup without Counter Measures on Alexia1 or anything insanely fast feels very much in Sloan's favor. That said I don't think my opponent got that much work out of his heavies so presumably those points are better spent elsewhere.

It was a good game anyway and I'd much rather be reminded that I have to check these angles in a normal club game than in a tournament.