Battle Report #222: Caine2 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

One of the ideas behind trying out Caine2 a little more is that his tricks might give him more game into certain shenanigans-based casters such as Wurmwood. Because of this I was eager to see how he'd perform in practice today.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Caine 2) Captain Allister Caine [+27]
 - Stormwall [39]
 - Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Rangers [9]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Firefly [8]
Ragman [4]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Field Mechaniks (min) [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
-    Argus Moonhound - PC: 6
Gallows Grove - PC: 2
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Reeves of Orboros - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Farrow Bone Grinders - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Recon and Circle moved first. I think I have only started a single game vs Wurmwood. On the bright side this shows me how bad the matchup can really get, which is valuable to learn for sure. What I wanted to try in this game was to secure a flank for Caine and hopefully score T2. Upon seeing his deployment I decided to go for the left flag where I could hide behind the woods with Caine2 before going for the scenario play.

:: Game ::

Wurmie moves up, taking care not to give Caine a single thing to shoot at. Woods get placed. 3 soul tokens go up.

I am left with having to spend my first turn solely setting up. In an attempt to draw him out I move all the Rangers up the left flank. I don't think he can kill them all. Caine casts Bullet Dodger on himself.

All Rangers are killed to a combination of Wurmwood's spells and Mannikins. I hate Sentry Stones. Wurmwood feats from behind the building.

I have to get work done. The idea is to throw a Storm Lance on the Feral so as to displace it further left, which allows Caine to draw LoS to it (from its original position this was impossible). Rhupert provides the Storm Lances with March so 2 run to jam the Stalker on the right flank alongside the Firefly, 2 jam the Pureblood in the center and the last runs up to be thrown by the Stormwall. I throw it and displace the Feral to the left. Caine moves up and starts shooting it but despite its ARM16 I can't kill it. I miss Mk. 2 Aiyana with Caine2 so badly. Body + Spirit are both crippled however and with Grievous he's not dangerous. Trick Shots took out the Gallow's Grove there.

My opponent decides DEF19 is too much and tries to clear a path to the Stormwall instead. That fails and he is down to single digits minutes on the clock, his feat is over, Caine's feat is intact and we call the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I don't think this list has game into Wurmwood. My opponent was busy making a mess for himself more so than anything I believe. He basically just has to set up so that he can get to the Stormwall post-feat, alternatively move way ahead on scenario. With the Feral going for the bait-out-of-forest move on the left and the Stalker being way too aggressive on the right I was able to find an angle. Once Circle understand that this is all about the Stormwall, I think it's more or less over for Caine2.

With that said, I think the caster himself is ok. Not great, nor as good as I had hoped, but he has potential. I might go back to the drawing board as far as his list is concerned, we'll see. As of now though I feel yet again underwhelmed by Caine2 in Mk. 3. He looks great on paper but I can't make a list I like with him because of his complete inability to effectively run just about any kind of jack(s).

EDIT: It was pointed out to me by a reader that throwing a large model does not displace another large model because it stops when it hits it. My bad and lesson learned!