Battle Report #310: Stryker3 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

A while back I wrote a piece about a little challenge I've entered into. You can read about it here. Because of that I have started picking up Stryker3 now and will play him now and then and in a fair few events for some time to come. I do have one event left this year which is very important to me, ClogCon, but I felt this was the right time to take a short pause from the all Haley all the time approach I've had for the last few dozen games.

Stryker3's first game would be no easy matchup: None other than Issyria was facing me! I was bracing myself for the shooty Elves with True Sight on The Pit...

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Stryker 3) Lord General Coleman Stryker [+28]
 - Squire [5]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Ironclad [12]
 - Ironclad [12]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Gobber Tinker [2]

Opponent:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Chimera [8]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution [6]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

My Stryker list is based around getting as many models on the table as possible that can get work done. The philosophy here is that Stryker does a lot for our choices and we basically just need -something- to survive. The cloud wall was a necessity I felt.

Deployment-wise I went for the jacks centrally and lances on either side. I forgot the Tinker.

:: Game ::

Issyria runs her stuff up, putting up Admonition on the Chimera and Inviolable Resolve on Hyperion.

Clouds go up and left lances move mostly centrally. I put up Iron Aggression on the clad flanking right and Escort.

Issyria annoyingly finds a spot where Hyperion can contest the zone yet be outside of 11" from my Ironclads. She feats and starts ripping into the Lances. A couple of shitty rolls sees a lot of them survive and not moving Elara properly leaves Disco without speed of death.

With the feat pre-maturely gone and my forces largely intact I decide to hold my feat, kill disco and advance up while moving ahead on scenario.

Issyria is ready to give up the middle. She blinding lights the Trenchers and the Nyss move up on the left flank to contest. The problem however is the Ironclad on the far right flank. He tries to shoot him to death with a fully loaded Hyperion, both HRTs and Eiryss but it is not enough. I survive on 4 boxes and it's literally L, M, C, R. Issyria camps only 2 focus.

I figure I have 3 openings here:
1. Continue to pressure scenario and bide my time yet again while clearing the zone.
2. Go for the Hyperion
3. Go for Issyria

Now 2 and 3 are mutually exclusive: If Issyria denies me Hunter's Mark on Hyperion with Arcane Vortex then I can't go for the colossal. However if she does this the Ironclad, despite being outside of my control area, can go in with iron aggression and possibly kill her as she can only reduce damage from one of my attacks.

So I start my turn with Lanyssa and Issyria uses vortex. The Ironclad thus goes for her and manages to kill her dead with a swing of his fist!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

An interesting first game. The list worked well and the tactics were sound. I lost a lot to Issyria's alpha but not so much that I couldn't retaliate. Losing the Lances obviously hurt but he didn't get that much else. With a full unit of Trenchers it is very hard to prevent perma-clouds, they're just too durable.

I think Retribution should've focused on trying to take down Trenchers here and not sent Nyss wide to try and deal with Lances as it's the clouds that are keeping me in the game. It's easy to get tunnel vision when it comes to Storm Lances because they are ridiculous but they aren't always the primary threat. With HRTs parked deep it's hard for them to advance if the Trenchers are dead.

If Issyria had lived I would've tried clearing my left flank and kept the clouds up.

A great start in a hard matchup. The game was over relatively quickly so we had time for a rematch!