Battle Report #237: Caine2 vs Exulon Thexus

:: Prologue ::

Finally a matchup where I expect Caine to have to pull his weight! Mercenaries have multiple builds where I am not comfortable dropping Haley2 at all, first and foremost the Cephalyx. A perfcct test for Caine2!

:: 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:

Exulon Thexus - WJ: +29
- Warden - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
- Warden - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
- Wrecker - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Wrecker - PC: 14
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 3
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 3
Cephalyx Dominator - PC: 1
- Alexia Ciannor & the Risen - Alexia & 9 Risen Grunts: 10
- Thrall Warrior
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Mind Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 11
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Mind Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 11
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges - Slaver & 5 Drudge Grunts: 8
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges - Slaver & 5 Drudge Grunts: 8
Cephalyx Overlords - Leader & 2 Grunts: 0

THEME: Operating Theater

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Recon for this game and for the first time today, I got to move first! The plan was simple: Run up the middle, flank with Lances, apply pressure to the max!

:: Game ::

Well, the plan speaks for itself.

My opponent has had multiple encounters with shooty Cygnar and Caine2 in particular. His experience tells him that he has to claim the table as best as he can and simply hope for the best, accepting that there will be losses. As such it's basically full speed ahead on all fronts!

One thing I've learned to capitalize on when presented with is charging with the Lances. I could get all 6 (!) Lances onto heavy targets here. Furthermore, I could get Ragman far enough up to Death Field on both the Wreckers. Too good to pass up, I made ready for a Turn 1 feat from Caine. The Stormwall moved up and started shooting first though to soften them up and the Rangers picked out a couple of things here and there. However the Lances, rolling at dice damage with their charge attacks and dice minus 5 for their shots, rolled blazingly hot and there was no need to feat with Caine2. Instead I opted to boost damage and shoot trick shots to start thinning things out instead.

Exulon feated to group my things together and create lanes and angles. All Lances died, as predicted, and the Rangers suffered some losses. Ragman survived. The Firefly on the right survived on 2 boxes following the usual Cephalyx uber-grunt tricks. Cortex + melee weapon intact. Perfect!

At this point in time I was massively ahead, however one thing I've learned about Cephalyx is that they just keep coming. I wanted to translate my impressive lead into a scenario lead to force my opponent's hand. Caine feated to bring down the monstrosity on the right and trick shots cleared things out. A lot of Alexia's Risen were cleared this way and the objective was also killed by Mr. Caine. The Stormwall then went up to clear the rest with shooting + pods before covering fires were placed to prevent uber-grunts from killing it. 3-0.

PS14 doesn't sound like much against a Stormwall and indeed I probably underestimated the remaining Warden. Add in Instigate, Hex Blast and Alexia1 sitting on 14 Risen or so and I had one dead Stormwall. Huge mistake to move it up within 11" of the Warden (or charge range from Alexia1 for that matter), that was just not necessary at all.

The game where I was so far ahead was now looking kind of sketchy. I had to keep playing the scenario angle I had opened for myself and as such I started clearing stuff on the right. Junior's Arcane Bolt even came to good use: I rarely ever cast it but with KD targets it's basically another model dead. Trick shots and Rangers helped out but unfortunately Caine rolled a little poor both on hits (one snake eyes) and damage so I didn't have enough focus left to finish off with Bullet Dodger before I Gatecrashed to the right flank. I had Dirge of Mists at least. 4-0.

My opponent looks for assassination angles but finds none. Possibly Alexia1 could've tried to get multiple Thralls onto me or something. Anyway the Cephalyx decide to jam me as best as they can instead.

Trick shots, Rangers and Junior again getting work done with Arcane Bolt cleared out the rest and I got my 5th CP.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A huge fuckup with the Stormwall and I glad I did that in the club instead of at an event. I probably (hopefully?) won't be making that mistake again.

My biggest take away from this game despite that obvious blunder was that I need to keep the Lances converging their threats in front of the Stormwall. In other words they should have ran even more towards the middle in my first turn. In doing this I ensure that an opponent has to either respect their charges or face an even stronger alpha than I got here. The problem from my point of view was that if the Lances hadn't done this the Wreckers would both have been in range of the Stormwall if I wanted to contest the zone. I pretty much have to do this, so.

I also learned that when I go first, Ragman needs to be placed as far up as possible with as straight a line as possible. When in a good spot, which he was here, I can utilize Death Field from my second turn already. That is pretty big!

I'm very glad to see Caine2 handle this matchup well. It might not be quite the steamroll that Sloan felt like vs Cephalyx, but all I'm asking is that Caine makes the matchups playable. His potential lies in handling matchups which Sloan cannot.