Battle Report #233: Caine2 vs Rahn

:: Prologue ::

A list I've wanted to try out is a variation of the Caine2 list I played vs Wurmwood some time ago. To properly test alternatives to Kara I need to match them up against what they're meant to play against. Granted Retribution is probably not a Caine2 drop but Rahn should be an interesting game none the less.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Caine 2) Captain Allister Caine [+27]
 - Stormwall [39]
 - Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Firefly [8]
Rangers [9]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Gobber Tinker [2]
Ragman [4]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [4]

Opponent:

(Rahn 1) Adeptis Rahn [+26]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Chimera [8]
 - Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker [4]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
House Shyeel Battle Mages [10]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]
House Shyeel Battle Mages [10]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was The Pit and I went first. I have no faith in Caine's ability to pressure scenario vs Rahn so I deployed him and the 'wall on the right flank, intending to force Rahn away from his own scenario angle. I had a hill up there as well for Caine. Lances went on either flank and the support + Rangers took the middle.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. I keep Caine within TK + charge range of the MHA. Between Dirge, hill and Heightened Reflexes (which I believe is a must vs Rahn) it is an extreme long-shot for Rahn to go for bottom of 1 assassination. It is crucial for me on the other hand to threaten the bord as much as possible so I think this is worth it.

Retribution do not go for Caine. Battle Mages on the left take care to stay outside of Lances' threat range. In the middle however the Battle Mages gave up on trying to get outside of all threat angles. My opponent felt he needed to claim some parts of the table at the very least. Discordia up on the right flank with imprint.

With the jacks nearby I needed to get Caine away from his hill, unfortunately. However I saw a decent angle: Shoot up Discordia with Caine and Stormwall and charge in with 2 Lances. The Lances would reposition to make a mess for the Hyperion while the third Lance would jam the MHA. Rahn would have to do some serious work to free this up. I placed the Stormwall toing the zone, outside of Lanyssa's threat range.

One thing I didn't take care to measure was to keep the Stormwall outside of 11" of Discordia. With TK he could double-whammy me. Furthermore I forgot how strong Elara is at clearing stuff up so she took out the Lance which jammed the MHA, enabling said MHA to take out another Lance, leaving only 1 for Rahn to deal with. He feated to let the mages do some work as well and this cost me the Firefly. Discordia didn't receive Power Booster because of range issues and without spikes the double whammy failed to bring down the Stormwall. I had 16 boxes left or so.

This is pretty much #TheDream: Have Caine2 in a position to fully utilize all 6 focus for shots -and- have Ragman's Death Field up -and- have 4 attacks from Stormwall. Suffice is to say I killed both the Hyperion and Discordia. The Lances + Rangers more or less eradicated the rest of the battle mages and I put stuff in position to deny the Chimera an angle to Caine2. Rhupert gave Caine Dirge, just in case.

Trying to find angles proved impossible and my opponent conceded the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Turn 1 was good. Turn 2 I should've looked for openings where Discordia would be over 11" away from the Stormwall. I also forgot to move a ranger within 5" of said Discordia so the Stormwall missed a big gun shot. I was hoping the Lances would get more work done but all they managed was to cripple a weapon system.

I think forcing an opponent to go for the 'wall is the best thing I can do with this list. It is the only way to truly utilize the power of Caine's feat and boy did that work well here! Death Field makes such a huge difference and the damage output on my third turn was just through the roof.

The list worked well. I must admit I miss Lanyssa but that can be played around I think. I look forward to trying it out against lists it's actually supposed to face!