Battle Report #212: Caine2 vs Lylyth1

:: Prologue ::

With Caine taking down Lylyth bottom of 2 rather quickly we had time for a quick rematch. Re-rack and go again!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Caine2
- Stormwall
- Reinholdt
Junior
- Firefly
Arlan Strangeways
Lanyssa Ryssyl
Rhupert Carvolo
Rangers
Storm Lances (min)
Storm Lances (min)
Mechaniks (min)

Opponent:

(Lylyth 1) Lylyth, Herald of Everblight [+30]
- Naga Nightlurker [8]
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
- Ravagore [19]
- Seraph [14]
Blackfrost Shard [9]
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max) [18]
Strider Deathstalker [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]
Wrong Eye [17]
- Snapjaw

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

This time I wasn't intending to commit Caine as heavily to the right flank. I placed him in the middle instead. I also made a mental note to have more room for Lanyssa closer to the woods now. Apart from that the deployment was very similar to the first game from both sides.

:: Game ::

Legion runs up and the Raptors on the left are a little more aggressive this time around. The Deathstalker on the opposite flank was cautious this time.

Lessons learned from the first game: I don't think Legion can prioritize shooting anything but the Stormwall because he loses so much board space if he starts swinging right, for the Lances for example. I thus move up Rangers and Lances and put Lanyssa B2B with the Stormwall, this time being in range of important stuff T2. The left Lances give up their flank and run full speed to the right. Caine moves behind the forest again and the Firefly remains with Cover to keep the Raptors somewhat at bay.

Legion learned a lesson or two of their own. Kiss was not committed and Lylyth stayed significantly further left to ensure bouncy tricks would be hard. The Stormwall, as a result, lost significantly less boxes. The Deathstalker tried for Reinholdt as I forgot about Swift Hunter + Snap Fire but luckily for me this failed. Raptors swung far left.

Meks made a miserable string of repair rolls for the Stormwall but even getting 5 boxes back helps. The idea this turn was to simply consolidate my position and move to 3-0. Arlan boosted the Stormwall which took out the objective. The Firefly ran to the left flag, Rangers took the right flag and Caine took out the Kiss guy with Trick shot and crippled the Bolt Thrower's Spirit with Grievous Wounds before crashing back behind the woods with a single focus left. I kept Lanyssa in reserve and the Lances combined to make a right flank more or less resembling the Riders of Rohan from The Return of the King, ensuring that anything even remotely making a move towards the right flag would face some serious counter charges. I took care to keep them out of Snapjaw + Wrongeye charge ranges.

My opponent spent half a turn trying to look for angles and set up to kill the Rangers. When he failed to do even that he simply conceded the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Most casters that "play for scenario" don't necessarily force scenario wins. Rather they force favourable attrition situations in which their opponent is forced to make decisions that don't help them kill things. For example I had to ditch a Hunter and send a Defender into melee with a single focus yesterday vs Vyros2 when playing Sloan on Outlast. Likewise, in this game the sheer presence of the Stormwall + Caine constantly shooting down stuff and being incredibly hard to take out forces Legion to do something. While the left flag could easily have been protected, doing so would inevitably expose a model and I would still move to a 2-0 lead with a very solid position.

I find that the list is working well, more or less as intended. More games needed to determine if this is a viable approach. A lot hinges on a few elements. It tends to be that way with a Stormwall but I believe that the sheer grinding presence of this model + Caine2 alone should suffice.

I have a few other more exotic Caine2 variants as well. I might get around to playtesting them some time in the not too distant future.