:: Prologue ::
For the last game of this series vs Cryx, I took out Caine2 to face Deneghra1. Perhaps a risky matchup for Caine with the debuffs, I do believe in his ability to face Cryx in general and would at least like to try it out. Enough talk, let's jump right in!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
Captain Allister Caine - WJ: +27
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 4
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 27)
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 4
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2
Ragman - PC: 4
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Rangers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
Opponent:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Line Breaker again and Cryx seize the initiative. I would love to go first here with Caine as I know I'll have to be cautious but it's good for practice so I don't mind. Cryx deploy quite symmetrically with the Kraken a little skewed. I reply with the Stormwall skewed diagonally and otherwise symmetrically.
:: Game ::
Cryx run up.
The Cutthroats on the right are a little too close for comfort. In this matchup he can well afford to parasite Lances at which point they will just murder them. I decide to go for a bit of a gambit: Arcane on the right Lances, run one up and Trick Shot off of it to thin them out. I also get a Ranger up so the rightmost Lance might land an assault shot. This all works out very well and I leave but 2 models remaining. Caine takes care to be outside of Deneghra's feat range.
The downside of my gambit is that the Stormwall has no Shield. A crippling grasp and some shooting later and it's -20 boxes or so.
I figure this is as good a situation as any: I can take out the Arc Node and Kraken with a little luck as I can box Caine in with the cloud and the Charger B2B and there are lots of other damage sources as well. I go for it and kill 3 Nyss on the left by pods before the Stormwall and Charger opens up on the Kraken. I move a Ranger within melee range of the Arc Node and place Ragman 3" away with Death Field. On the right I get a Lance into the Kraken as well and when it's Caine's turn to activate I manage to just blast the Kraken apart with feat: Trick shots combined with Death Field take out the Arc Node.
There are no angles for neither Caine nor scenario so Cryx concede the game.
:: Evaluation ::
The Kraken is terrifying in Deneghra's hands but this game shows the weakness of taking an ARM19 colossal without defensive boosts. Between 2 boosted Stormwall shots, the Charger, an assaulting Lance and Caine2, it's quite likely to go down. That dynamic is pretty big and worth knowing about.
Caine2 into Cryx was actually more in my favour than I originally thought. In previous games I've struggled getting Caine close enough to make his threat actually be relevant but I didn't find that to be a problem in this game. I kind of doubt many Cryx lists will manage to produce better threat ranges than Deneghra so that's a good test.
More Cryx testing needed for sure but this series of games was a good start for my pair I think. I wish I could play them more often but they simply are not common in my meta. If anything though Cygnar's probably innately better in this matchup so I'll have to hope for that to carry the day if I meet something I don't know too well.
(Deneghra 1) Warwitch Deneghra [+28]
- Kraken [36]
- Deathripper [6]
Croe's Cutthroats (max) [16]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
Soul Trapper [1]
Wrong Eye [17]
- Snapjaw0]
Necrotech [2]
Necrotech [2]
Warwitch Siren [4]
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Line Breaker again and Cryx seize the initiative. I would love to go first here with Caine as I know I'll have to be cautious but it's good for practice so I don't mind. Cryx deploy quite symmetrically with the Kraken a little skewed. I reply with the Stormwall skewed diagonally and otherwise symmetrically.
:: Game ::
Cryx run up.
The Cutthroats on the right are a little too close for comfort. In this matchup he can well afford to parasite Lances at which point they will just murder them. I decide to go for a bit of a gambit: Arcane on the right Lances, run one up and Trick Shot off of it to thin them out. I also get a Ranger up so the rightmost Lance might land an assault shot. This all works out very well and I leave but 2 models remaining. Caine takes care to be outside of Deneghra's feat range.
The downside of my gambit is that the Stormwall has no Shield. A crippling grasp and some shooting later and it's -20 boxes or so.
I figure this is as good a situation as any: I can take out the Arc Node and Kraken with a little luck as I can box Caine in with the cloud and the Charger B2B and there are lots of other damage sources as well. I go for it and kill 3 Nyss on the left by pods before the Stormwall and Charger opens up on the Kraken. I move a Ranger within melee range of the Arc Node and place Ragman 3" away with Death Field. On the right I get a Lance into the Kraken as well and when it's Caine's turn to activate I manage to just blast the Kraken apart with feat: Trick shots combined with Death Field take out the Arc Node.
There are no angles for neither Caine nor scenario so Cryx concede the game.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
The Kraken is terrifying in Deneghra's hands but this game shows the weakness of taking an ARM19 colossal without defensive boosts. Between 2 boosted Stormwall shots, the Charger, an assaulting Lance and Caine2, it's quite likely to go down. That dynamic is pretty big and worth knowing about.
Caine2 into Cryx was actually more in my favour than I originally thought. In previous games I've struggled getting Caine close enough to make his threat actually be relevant but I didn't find that to be a problem in this game. I kind of doubt many Cryx lists will manage to produce better threat ranges than Deneghra so that's a good test.
More Cryx testing needed for sure but this series of games was a good start for my pair I think. I wish I could play them more often but they simply are not common in my meta. If anything though Cygnar's probably innately better in this matchup so I'll have to hope for that to carry the day if I meet something I don't know too well.
Hej Jarle,
SvarSlettjust wanted to say thanks for all the reports; just starting out with Cygnar (and WMH) myself and your detailed battle reports are tremendously useful to get an insight into the game. (I had your blog recommended to me by several of my friends playing WMH!) The only drawback with reading your reports is that it's really hard to restrain myself from buying a Stormwall.
I've noticed you mostly seem to play Haley2 and Caine2 in MKIII and I'm impressed you can make both of these work with similar entourages (which is appealing to me without an existing model collection). Do you have any experiences from running Beth? I presumed she is a bit of a newbie caster but reading a recent thread[1] on the pp-forums may have changed my mind.
1) http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?259020-Maddox-is-great-right-now-BECAUSE-of-her-faults
Ser fram emot nästa rapport!
Seto
Tjena Seto :)
SlettThank you for the kind words, I am glad you enjoy the reports! On the issue of the Stormwall I would save up and just by it as soon as possible. I don't think you should try and avoid it, I find it to be a centerpiece of many of my lists. I'll try and get out a dojo piece soon where I'll discuss lists again and you'll see how much of a staple the 'wall + Lances are.
I have not played Maddox and I do not have a lot of faith in her. My Cygnar philosophy boils down to "get the alpha". I don't see Maddox securing the alpha in any way and her feat is frankly basically a spell from Stryker3's spell list. True it applies to all models so that's a bonus but +3S isn't that much in practice when you can't determine when and where to fight.