Battle Report #229: Sloan vs Makeda2

:: Prologue ::

Time to face off Skorne again! Last time I played vs Skorne I discussed how strong I think the Ferox are now. Today I played another opponent who fielded a list I helped develop based on my experiences against them thus far. Ferox all the way!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Captain Kara Sloan - WJ: +28
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Stormwall - PC: 11
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20

Opponent:

(Makeda 2) Supreme Archdomina Makeda [+24]
 - Cyclops Brute [8]
 - Titan Gladiator [14]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [21]
Praetorian Ferox (min) [13]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Tyrant Rhadeim [9]
Void Spirit [4]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Take and Hold and Skorne took the initiative. I took a side with a linear obstruction and a house. Deployment-wise I put the Stormwall opposite his big unit of Ferox, Lances centrally and Hunter AD on either side of the house.

:: Game ::

Ferox spread out, Makeda moves up with her battlegroup.

The leftmost Ferox is too far away for Stay Death. I decide to try and get him with the Hunter there. The other Hunter tries its luck on a Ferox on the hill. The leftmost Ferox dies, the hill one is missed. Stormwall runs up and cav spread out.

The remaining 2 Ferox on the left flank move into the Hunter and cripple its cortex + movement. The Ferox on the right all take care to stay within 10" of Makeda who camps all her fury. BG comes closer.

I clear out the Ferox near the Hunter on the left flank. Unfortunately the Tinker had gone too much towards the Stormwall in my first turn and was thus unable to help the Hunter for future turns. It is rather weak if it doesn't boost. Regardless I try and put some boxes on the Gladiator. It goes ok but Sloan should've prioritized Ferox as I feated this turn. With Shield Guards the Gladiator wasn't dying anyway, unfortunately. The Lances set up to counter an aggressive Ferox move.

Makeda makes her play! The Ferox run up: 3 jam my things behind the wall, 1 jams the hunter behind the house and the last runs in b2b with the Stormwall. Rhadeim moves up to the central piece of Rubble. Makeda runs to her flag, camping 6 fury and staying behind her BG. Beast Handlers heal up the Gladiator.

Well that's a bummer. I have to try and clear out the Ferox. The Lances charge in, clearing out stay death tokens (all of them I think). Stormwall charges the Brute and kills it. The Firefly takes out another Ferox but unfortunately 1 is left alive. I make a bit of a mistake as I forget to use my models to block the remaining 2 Ferox from moving around to get to Sloan...

Makeda goes for the game-winning play: BG runs up, she casts Dash and Feats and the Ferox move in-between Reinholdt and the Firefly (which got killed by the Gladiator), leap around Sloan and start hitting her in the back. I had a single focus left and that was just enough to save her: The Ferox left her on 2 boxes! That could very well have been game.

The Lances luckily managed to clear out the Ferox. This freed up Sloan to get around. She cast Refuge again, moved out, hit something and landed behind the house. The Stormwall moved up to kill Rhadeim.

With the Ferox finally cleared out Makeda is running out of options. Sloan is far away and the beasts have taken a bit of a beating. My opponent goes for a last ditch assassination attempt but his nuke fails to meet the 14+ to hit me in cover.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Ferox are strong and getting more of them on the table with Makeda dedicated to using Stay Death to keep them alive certainly helps, doubly so because my list lacks grievous wounds. Steady and Willbreaker make them resilient as well.

In this game I should have tried to get Sloan in an open position so that it would be easier to physically block her out. Furthermore I should've targeted the Ferox more earlier on. Taking them out is key to winning here.

I came really close to dying and I think that it's more likely for Sloan to die than survive here. I'm not sure I could've blocked Sloan out completely but I surely could've tried better. Lesson learned!