Battle Report #370: Sloan vs Lucant

:: Prologue ::

Rematch! We re-racked and agreed to let Lucant go first this time around. I chose the same side because I didn't want the linear obstacle for Lucant as a staging point for a scenario play.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Sloan
- 5x Hunter
- Reinholdt
GMCA
Arlan
Max. Trenchers
Rangers
Alexia1

Opponent:

(Lucant 1) Father Lucant, Divinity Architect [+28]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Corollary [6]
 - Inverter [15]
Clockwork Angels [5]
Clockwork Angels [5]
Clockwork Angels [5]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
 - Permutation Servitors

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I deploy according to what Convergence do this time around. The plan is clear: Buy time and be patient. Lucant seemingly goes for a play in his own zone.

:: Game ::

The TEP creates a lot of momentum towards my zone but it also means that my left flank is rather interesting. If I can clear out any Angels there I can probably start wrapping around.

I run up centrally but take care to leave a lot of space this time around. One Hunter charges an Angel on each flank and I concentrate my firepower on the remaining. Despite boosted attack rolls they both fail, much to my dismay. Alexia makes a Thrall which gets the job done on the left flank. You go, girl!

Lucant gets his push on and feats.

The Angel positioning on the right flank is excellent: I can't afford to go for them with my Hunters because if I do I get destroyed. Instead the plan is to pull back, delay, jam. I cloud up and run Risen into just about every jack. This time Alexia stays way back. Risen are useless but they are still models and you can't simply walk through them so there's a ton of things Convergence have to deal with.

Lucant has a bit of a dilemma. He has spent his feat and mine's intact. This is highly problematic for him because he cannot jam my shooters effectively. As such he needs his jacks nearby for Shield Guard duty. He also doesn't have the momentum or the ability to safely grind me down given the positions on the board.

As such he decides to go for the scenario play instead. This involves killing off my objective and clearing out his own zone. The TEP goes for a super baller play vs the Hunter and GMCA in the bottom right corner of my zone. While it does work out there's nowhere near enough models to wipe out all my other models in the zone as well. As such he moves to 2-0, not 3-0.

It's feat time! I remove the TEP and a Conservator and put a ton of damage on remaining jacks. I move Trenchers up to be a real pain for him and the Hunter on the left flank contests. Note that Sloan throughout the game has to be wary of double/triple throws of the Inverter so she is way back.

Conservators double-throw Lucant which kills the Hunter. 3-0.

The jacks are fairly damaged so they fall rather quickly now. I also jam the zone with about everything I have.

Lucant tries to clear the zone but fails and concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This was way, way better. I got the overall strategy down, found the angles I needed, made the right priorities and eventually won on attrition. From the start my deployment was better suited to help my strategy. I got a lot more out of Alexia1 and I created multiple enought strategic depth to make it impossible for Lucant to break through. 

The thing about my turn 2 move is that Lucant is basically out of good options. I don't know how he's supposed to manage to stay alive, not lose on attrition -and- get a decent scenario angle. As the game showed the Convergence jacks do start falling pretty quickly once the feat is out. Remember also that if they had trampled in deep Alexia would've been able to get a ton of work done (she'd have gotten a lot of souls as well). 

At first glance this matchup seems hard but with these lists and my experience now I must admit it feels surprisingly playable.