Time to bring out Sloan again! I figure I might try and expand my horizons a bit and I haven't played Sloan in ages. Sure, going for another new caster (e.g. Nemo3) would probably be better in that sense but there are variants of Sloan I haven't even considered. This should be interesting!
Facing me was Rahn. We discussed the matchup a bit and both agreed that Sloan was probably up. To help compensate for this fact we made a fairly Rahn-favourable board with tons of terrain in central positions, allowing him to get up the field without having his entire army wiped off of the table. Anyway, let's get to it!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
(Sloan 1) Captain Kara Sloan [+28]Opponent:
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Hunter [11]
- Grenadier [9]
- Grenadier [9]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Gun Mage Captain Adept [5]
Trencher Infantry (max) [16]
(Rahn 1) Adeptis Rahn [+26]
- Sylys (4)
- Chimera [8]
- Chimera [8]
- Sphinx [13]
- Discordia [18]
House Shyeel Battle Mages [10]
House Shyeel Battle Mages [10]
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (max) [13]
- Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander [6]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
House Shyeel Magister [4]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
This is a Sloan variant I was inspired to try seeing Ben Thomas and Ben Füzi in action at ClogCon. I simply had to put it down on the table! The idea is that the army can play in one of three ways, depending on what I face: The extended control on the Hunters allows me to wrap around drastically and create a ton of angles. The clouds combined with true sight means I can play very compact and thus use the Trenchers to great effect. Lastly I believe the list can spread out and fight a skirmish war. As ever, scenario can be a big problem.
For the first game I didn't really know what to do so I deployed symmetrically. I would normally have committed heavier to my right flank here but the terrain would have let him get some pretty sick angles if I had done so.
:: Game ::
Infiltrators don't respect my 22" so I shoot with all Hunters. 2 miss, 3 dead elves. Good start.
The infiltrators run to jam me.
Ok, Rahn in a Trench but he has but a single focus. If I can light up the Sphinx I can see him and reach him with all Hunters and Sloan. I figure this is a very good shot. Ideally I would have wanted to look for attrition options here, but. This is the first game with a new list. I need to find out how it plays. Besides I have time for one more game if the first game is over quickly so I go for it. Long story short I get all 13 shots but only 2 of them hit and Rahn survives on a handful of boxes. I concede the game as Sloan is in the open on 0 focus. We re-rack and this time Retribution goes first.
The idea now is largely the same. Since I don't start I spread out the Hunters a little more to discourage flanking moves.
Infiltrators move up very high and receive Polarity Shield.
My plan is fairly straight-forward: Aim and shoot as many Infiltrators as possible. Play the slow game and let my shooting do the work. Gather the army behind clouds and just wait.
Dice do -not- cooperate with me. At all. The Grenadiers and Sloan, all aiming with Guided Fire, kill a combined total of 3 Infiltrators. That's 8 shots needing, at worst, 8+ to hit on 3d6. I have to spend the rest of my list to kill the Infiltrators and even then Eiryss survives. This is pretty horrible. At least the Trenchers get the clouds up.
Rahn decides to feat for attrititon and a ton of Trencher sgo down. Luckily for me no serious damage is done to either of the jacks.
Discordia moved up to a threatening position and I could not let her have her way. I had to feat and remove her as a threat. However I also had 2 (!) arc nodes to beware of. I put as much focus as possible into boosting damage rolls, allowing Sloan to camp 0. It worked out in the end as I got both arc nodes, Discordia and a bit of collateral damage. However the lack of Trenchers meant that the Battle Mages would be getting some retaliation.
Rahn takes out the Grenadier on the right flank with a combination of his support elements and Sphinx. Without a functioning arc node though his presence just isn't the same. Battle Mages try and get work done but I am lucky with the damage allocation as it all spreads out fairly nice.
The dice from T1 are back and I struggle to do a whole lot. Granted I do get the Sphinx fairly low but with the amount of firepower I have that is to be expected. I was getting really anxious about the Battle Mages still at large though.
Luckily for me said Battle Mages still struggle to get a lot of work done. Outside of Rahn's feat they aren't that scary I suppose.
Rahn has been unable to find a position where he can score from and that is a godsend for me now. Scenario issues here would've been disastrous. I clear out a few mages more but still my attack rolls aren't really complying.
The grind goes on...
Finally the Retribution forces are starting to thin out. I manage to take out the rest. As I finish my turn with just taking potshots at Rahn the Hunters decide to show me that they love me and take him down.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
A great couple of games! It might be the terrain, but I think this matchup was a lot closer than we had thought originally. We both had tons of fun and taking one game each means nobody walks away with the sour 0-2.
I think that this list requires you to be great at visualizing how the game will develop. The output potential is through the roof, but you have a lot of structural weaknesses and scenario angles which are hard to defend against.
The list performed well. I love the amount of shots I get. Pew pew! I look forward to playing this more in the near future.
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