The last game of the day and lumberjack time again! Different opponent and different list this time, but hey: Wurmwood is Wurmwood!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
Opponent:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
I insist on going second since I need to understand how that shapes the dynamics of the matchup. Yet again we play Extraction. My plan here is to form a symmetric line and try and meet him head on to deny scenario angles and work the long game.
:: Game ::
Circle walks up cautiously and place sentries, cloud and Growth to LOS-block me. Perhaps overly cautious considering I can rarely afford to get a lot of work done top of 1 but then again those pieces are squishy so there's that.
In return I make a very long cloudwall and simply position to deny said scenario angles.
Cassius runs into clouds, Stranglehold on Ironclad and port out. Mannikins try and get work done. They don't.
Snapjaw is contesting the right flag and I have no way of getting to him so that's out of the question. However I have an interesting play here: By sending a couple of Lances into the left Sentry Stone I can take it out and reform onto the flag for a scenario lead while still contesting. I can also fairly safely shoot out the other stone with Future and removing them both is a big deal here for sure. I make the play and go to 1-0.
Wurmwood's feat is incoming and I know it. By having the Ironclad in cover I was hoping he wouldn't dare to make the Stranglehold play as it's a 50/50 to hit and a significant investment. He goes for it and makes the hit, sad face is sad. The heavies combine to kill the Lances on the left but no scenario points are scored. On the right, Snapjaw moves up to contest, as does the Blackclad.
This turn is crucial and unfortunately the house on our right flank is a complete mess. We end up removing it altogether but so many things have been nudged around. The idea is to have the Grenadiers both go in on full focus to kill Snapjaw with Ghost Walk and Death Field and Thorn in reserve in case they would not be enough. The Trenchers move up and cloud again, with the 2 on the right flank trying to CRA the Blackclad, which fails. I forget to move these 2 away and that is crucial because Thorn now cannot reach the Blackclad. This is so sad because the Grenadiers do indeed kill Snapjaw. This leaves Thorn doing next to nothing as he simply positions himself for the next turn instead. The Ironclad was meant to have cover here but didn't get it because of how we messed up the terrain piece play. In any case I should've shielded him differently with clouds.
I make a big mistake with Lances. They should have moved up aggressively here because at this point in time I can present too many targets for him to handle, but with the Lances not putting the pressure on he can instead focus on a few key pieces at a time.
The heavies clear out the Grenadiers. Stranglehold on Ironclad again. Point scored on the left flag, 1-0.
I have to try and kill both Ghetorix and Megalith. The Charger is able to move up and put his shots into Wrongeye, hopefully taking away Starcrossed. I fail to kill him though and this is just sadface. Ragman with Death Field, Past, a fully fueled Thorn and Trenchers should be enough to take out at least one heavy, right? Wrong. Megalith survives on like 1 box I think but it was my mistake because I didn't pre-measure to ensure Thorn could get into the thick of it. Having Megalith alive is a huge, huge setback because Undergrowth is such a big animus here. The Lances move up to do what they should've done last turn: Be a problem for the Pureblood.
Megalith kills the echoes alone, the Blackclad (which Prime failed to kill) takes out a ton of infantry and Ghetorix kills Thorn. I didn't ensure my middle Lance was within 4" of the left flag so my opponent moves to 3-1. Stranglehold this time fails to hurt the Ironclad.
I can try and play the clock but scenario is running away from me and without Future alive I can't get the Ironclad into Megalith with Strange Growth blocking me out. The Lances try and kill Ghetorix and damage the Pureblood but this fails.
My opponent ports Megalith up to my objective and it gets destroyed. The Pureblood kills a Lance with Ghetorix killing the other and my opponent wins with 68 seconds (!) left on his clock.
:: Evaluation ::
What a game! A very interesting game swinging back and forth. Easily the most interesting game I've played since my Haley3 vs Haley2 match last tournament.
My main take away here is that I need to consider either dropping clouds lower or having a second layer. Losing Ragman or having the Ironclad Strangleheld really needs to cost my opponent a lot. In this game he could control the Ironclad easily and that ultimately lost me the game. If the clad had been threatening Snapjaw on his feat turn I could likely have cleared out -and- scored on the right flag. That would have been disastrous since all the heavies were committed on the left flank.
Again, as in the Vayl2 game, I think my early game is solid, very few things I would've changed here. Getting out both Stones early is amazing and I even took a scenario lead while offering 0 openings on his feat turn CP-wise.
I think this game shows just how close this matchup is. This list is a lot better for fighting me though than the one I faced game 1 yesterday. Starcrossed is amazing with Circle heavies and my God, that Megalith was MVP for sure! A truly great game and tons of learning points.
Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper - WB: +27
- Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper (Cont.)
- Ghetorix - PC: 21 (Battlegroup Points Used: 21)
- Megalith - PC: 20 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
- Pureblood Warpwolf - PC: 17
Blackclad Wayfarer - PC: 4
Wrong Eye - Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: 17
- Snapjaw
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Wolves of Orboros - Leader & 5 Grunts: 7
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
I insist on going second since I need to understand how that shapes the dynamics of the matchup. Yet again we play Extraction. My plan here is to form a symmetric line and try and meet him head on to deny scenario angles and work the long game.
:: Game ::
Circle walks up cautiously and place sentries, cloud and Growth to LOS-block me. Perhaps overly cautious considering I can rarely afford to get a lot of work done top of 1 but then again those pieces are squishy so there's that.
In return I make a very long cloudwall and simply position to deny said scenario angles.
Cassius runs into clouds, Stranglehold on Ironclad and port out. Mannikins try and get work done. They don't.
Snapjaw is contesting the right flag and I have no way of getting to him so that's out of the question. However I have an interesting play here: By sending a couple of Lances into the left Sentry Stone I can take it out and reform onto the flag for a scenario lead while still contesting. I can also fairly safely shoot out the other stone with Future and removing them both is a big deal here for sure. I make the play and go to 1-0.
Wurmwood's feat is incoming and I know it. By having the Ironclad in cover I was hoping he wouldn't dare to make the Stranglehold play as it's a 50/50 to hit and a significant investment. He goes for it and makes the hit, sad face is sad. The heavies combine to kill the Lances on the left but no scenario points are scored. On the right, Snapjaw moves up to contest, as does the Blackclad.
This turn is crucial and unfortunately the house on our right flank is a complete mess. We end up removing it altogether but so many things have been nudged around. The idea is to have the Grenadiers both go in on full focus to kill Snapjaw with Ghost Walk and Death Field and Thorn in reserve in case they would not be enough. The Trenchers move up and cloud again, with the 2 on the right flank trying to CRA the Blackclad, which fails. I forget to move these 2 away and that is crucial because Thorn now cannot reach the Blackclad. This is so sad because the Grenadiers do indeed kill Snapjaw. This leaves Thorn doing next to nothing as he simply positions himself for the next turn instead. The Ironclad was meant to have cover here but didn't get it because of how we messed up the terrain piece play. In any case I should've shielded him differently with clouds.
I make a big mistake with Lances. They should have moved up aggressively here because at this point in time I can present too many targets for him to handle, but with the Lances not putting the pressure on he can instead focus on a few key pieces at a time.
The heavies clear out the Grenadiers. Stranglehold on Ironclad again. Point scored on the left flag, 1-0.
I have to try and kill both Ghetorix and Megalith. The Charger is able to move up and put his shots into Wrongeye, hopefully taking away Starcrossed. I fail to kill him though and this is just sadface. Ragman with Death Field, Past, a fully fueled Thorn and Trenchers should be enough to take out at least one heavy, right? Wrong. Megalith survives on like 1 box I think but it was my mistake because I didn't pre-measure to ensure Thorn could get into the thick of it. Having Megalith alive is a huge, huge setback because Undergrowth is such a big animus here. The Lances move up to do what they should've done last turn: Be a problem for the Pureblood.
Megalith kills the echoes alone, the Blackclad (which Prime failed to kill) takes out a ton of infantry and Ghetorix kills Thorn. I didn't ensure my middle Lance was within 4" of the left flag so my opponent moves to 3-1. Stranglehold this time fails to hurt the Ironclad.
I can try and play the clock but scenario is running away from me and without Future alive I can't get the Ironclad into Megalith with Strange Growth blocking me out. The Lances try and kill Ghetorix and damage the Pureblood but this fails.
My opponent ports Megalith up to my objective and it gets destroyed. The Pureblood kills a Lance with Ghetorix killing the other and my opponent wins with 68 seconds (!) left on his clock.
Sadly, a Loss to the Swans.
:: Evaluation ::
What a game! A very interesting game swinging back and forth. Easily the most interesting game I've played since my Haley3 vs Haley2 match last tournament.
My main take away here is that I need to consider either dropping clouds lower or having a second layer. Losing Ragman or having the Ironclad Strangleheld really needs to cost my opponent a lot. In this game he could control the Ironclad easily and that ultimately lost me the game. If the clad had been threatening Snapjaw on his feat turn I could likely have cleared out -and- scored on the right flag. That would have been disastrous since all the heavies were committed on the left flank.
Again, as in the Vayl2 game, I think my early game is solid, very few things I would've changed here. Getting out both Stones early is amazing and I even took a scenario lead while offering 0 openings on his feat turn CP-wise.
I think this game shows just how close this matchup is. This list is a lot better for fighting me though than the one I faced game 1 yesterday. Starcrossed is amazing with Circle heavies and my God, that Megalith was MVP for sure! A truly great game and tons of learning points.
I port megalith to the objective, not Ghetorix. in the last turn. Great game
SvarSlettCorrect indeed, report edited :)
Slett