Indian Summer Game 3 (#240): Caine2 vs Absylonia2

:: Prologue ::

For my third game I drew Legion. I usually say that in every tournament, you run into Legion sooner or later. Despite the nerfs I still think Legion is a naturally strong faction vs Cygnar and although Sloan can shoot most Legion armies to death like it ain't no thing, I didn't have Sloan. On the bright side it was time for Caine2 to step up and thus ensure I wouldn't be stressed out about being list-locked!

:: 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:

Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight - WB: +28
-    Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
-    Seraph - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 11)
-    Proteus - PC: 19
-    Raek - PC: 8
-    Raek - PC: 8
-    Blight Wasps - PC: 8
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 4
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 4
The Forsaken - PC: 4
The Forsaken - PC: 4
Spell Martyr - PC: 1
Spell Martyr - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blackfrost Shard - Sevryn, Rhylyss & Vysarr: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario is Take and Hold and the terrain is pretty flat. Little to hide behind. I have a forest on my left side where I can stay to the right of without killboxing myself. The idea is to move the Stormwall there and form "fort Caine". Unfortunately I lose the roll-off and Legion moves first. However, like my last opponent, the guy I'm playing against has not played vs Cygnar before. I take care to go through everything I have, emphasizing just how hard Caine shoots. Anyway, I deploy so that my "fort Caine" plan is hopefully not revealed.

:: Game ::

Legion runs up but he is very cautious. I have no-where near the threat ranges he is respecting (Rangers' threat of 17" being what he's worried about). Bracer up on Proteus.

I have too little experience with Caine2 vs Legion and have never played vs Absylonia2 before. I am possibly a little too conservative here but I think that time is on my side because he doesn't have a whole lot of shooting and the next turn I will get a lot of angles. I decide to keep Caine in the open but outside of melee threat ranges. With Bullet Dodger I really should be fine. Also I need to ensure that "fort Caine" isn't compromised too early.

Absylonia makes a very aggressive move: She sends up Proteus and parks herself behind him in b2b. However she is within 10" of the Stormwall.

The idea is simple enough: Charge Absylonia with Stormwall, boost attack roll on charge attack with Arlan's focus. Move Ragman, Death Field, Feat, kill. She had but 3 transfers and I could get a Ranger in.

With that much power, the blighted warlock went down.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

My opponent's inexperience with Cygnar in general and Caine2 in particular ended this game abruptly. I might have had an issue on my hands if he had instead decided to get some decent threat ranges on the Stormwall and camped more on Absylonia. On the other hand it's an extremely open map and hard to get much work done and it's unnerving being shot apart without being able to do much in return.

I really missed Lanyssa here as my theoretical threat ranges were so significantly much smaller than his. Being able to pump Lances to 15" and Stormwall to 12" probably would've given me more respect here. The matchup looks really interesting though and I think it's an exciting game if both players know it better.