It turns out I did get to play a couple more games in 2016. Yesterday I played 2 games against Circle. First up was a matchup which is turning out to be a classic: Haley3 vs Una2!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
(Haley3) 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 ::
We are playing Entrenched and I'm moving first. The idea here is to get up the table, crush the right flank to establish a safe haven for Prime and slowly attrition from there.
:: Game ::
I run stuff up. I take care to be outside of crucial threat ranges.
Una creates a fort with her Fuel Cache and by casting Twister on Mannikins. Bloodtrackers send up a few behind the central wall and leave the rest far behind.
Time to bide our time and set up for the next turn! What I want to accomplish this turn is to ensure Una has no good alpha targets so that if she moves in it is purely to jam. I also take care to have a lot of key models outside of jam range. Lastly I want to pressure his objective so that I can fight back if he wants to play a slow game.
Past throws away a Chain Blast towards the Bloodtrackers. The second scatter gets lucky and kills 2 in the back. The Grenadiers and Storm Lances clear the ones behind the wall.
Fort Una keeps holding up, but Una herself is too afraid to move into the zone. Possibly a mistake, but with double Bokurs and the current distances being what they are it might be ok.
It is time for me to make my move. Sadly, a couple of key issues prevent me from getting the most out of this turn. If I want to land Past's Chain Blast on the objective I need to feat because otherwise Thorn will not be in range of her. Secondly I have the Charger just a little bit too far away to shoot said objective. This leaves a single Grenadier. Oh well, it's enough to force out a piece-trade because when I am this far up the table Circle cannot let me keep pushing.
The Bokurs save the objective but it still takes significant damage. The Lances clear out the Bloodtrakers near my zone and Prime moves into the zone for a 1-0 lead.
Interesting move by Una! Only 3 birds are sent in. A problem with moving up this close is that Griffons are suddenly in range to sprint when they kill stuff. Granted Una plays very aggressively to ensure this so assassination is on the table, but it's interesting to note anyway that when she elects to cloudwall up in return this can definitely happen.
One bird rolls crap on a Grenadier so a second bird is needed to kill it. This ensures that 2 Griffons end up standing a little closer than my opponent had hoped for... The last 3 birds are spread out.
I don't want to feat here because there are only 3 Birds I can realistically kill. Of those 3, only 1 needs my feat. The other 2 can be Tremored by the Ironclad. Anyways I make the play and use the left-over focus to revive 2 Trenchers. The three birds are killed. Thorn and the Storm Lances run to engage 2 more birds to force free strikes if they want to get any work done. The Trenchers are a little too tight so Mannikins will have a field day, but whatever.
Circle's running out of time and both scenario and assassination is off the table. One last effort for attrition is made. Indeed the Ironclad goes down as do 6 Trenchers and 2 Storm Lances, but when my opponent clocks over he has but a minute left and I'm up 3-1 with the objective still alive for me to kill. We call the game.
:: Evaluation ::
This matchup is really interesting with tons of angles, headaches and opportunities for both sides. The Ironclad really shines here as he's such a big deterrent. The key for Cygnar is to have enough Trenchers and/or Storm Lances around when the birds enter the fray to shoot them dead. Between my feat and the Ironclad knocking them down isn't that big of a problem, besides with Ghost Walk, Temporal Distortion and CRAs their high defense isn't problematic anyway.
In this game the Bloodtrackers ended up trying to harass my flank. That failed miserably and I think they are the wrong unit for such a task. They simply can't do anything about the cloudwall. Perhaps with Mirage they can make bit more of an impact but with the Lances sweeping wide I struggle to see them getting meaningful work done. On the other hand, if they had moved on Circle's strong flank I can see them making my life a lot harder.
The deciding factor in this game was Una opting to go for a defensive approach. Without the Pureblood far up the field it's a lot easier for me to spread out and claim table space. He really is -the- key piece in this matchup and controlling him is very important for Cygnar.
Una2
- Pureblood
- 6x Scarsfell Griffon
2x Ogrun Bokur
Bloodtrackers
2x Sentry Stone
1x Shifting Stones
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
We are playing Entrenched and I'm moving first. The idea here is to get up the table, crush the right flank to establish a safe haven for Prime and slowly attrition from there.
:: Game ::
I run stuff up. I take care to be outside of crucial threat ranges.
Una creates a fort with her Fuel Cache and by casting Twister on Mannikins. Bloodtrackers send up a few behind the central wall and leave the rest far behind.
Time to bide our time and set up for the next turn! What I want to accomplish this turn is to ensure Una has no good alpha targets so that if she moves in it is purely to jam. I also take care to have a lot of key models outside of jam range. Lastly I want to pressure his objective so that I can fight back if he wants to play a slow game.
Past throws away a Chain Blast towards the Bloodtrackers. The second scatter gets lucky and kills 2 in the back. The Grenadiers and Storm Lances clear the ones behind the wall.
Fort Una keeps holding up, but Una herself is too afraid to move into the zone. Possibly a mistake, but with double Bokurs and the current distances being what they are it might be ok.
It is time for me to make my move. Sadly, a couple of key issues prevent me from getting the most out of this turn. If I want to land Past's Chain Blast on the objective I need to feat because otherwise Thorn will not be in range of her. Secondly I have the Charger just a little bit too far away to shoot said objective. This leaves a single Grenadier. Oh well, it's enough to force out a piece-trade because when I am this far up the table Circle cannot let me keep pushing.
The Bokurs save the objective but it still takes significant damage. The Lances clear out the Bloodtrakers near my zone and Prime moves into the zone for a 1-0 lead.
Interesting move by Una! Only 3 birds are sent in. A problem with moving up this close is that Griffons are suddenly in range to sprint when they kill stuff. Granted Una plays very aggressively to ensure this so assassination is on the table, but it's interesting to note anyway that when she elects to cloudwall up in return this can definitely happen.
One bird rolls crap on a Grenadier so a second bird is needed to kill it. This ensures that 2 Griffons end up standing a little closer than my opponent had hoped for... The last 3 birds are spread out.
I don't want to feat here because there are only 3 Birds I can realistically kill. Of those 3, only 1 needs my feat. The other 2 can be Tremored by the Ironclad. Anyways I make the play and use the left-over focus to revive 2 Trenchers. The three birds are killed. Thorn and the Storm Lances run to engage 2 more birds to force free strikes if they want to get any work done. The Trenchers are a little too tight so Mannikins will have a field day, but whatever.
Circle's running out of time and both scenario and assassination is off the table. One last effort for attrition is made. Indeed the Ironclad goes down as do 6 Trenchers and 2 Storm Lances, but when my opponent clocks over he has but a minute left and I'm up 3-1 with the objective still alive for me to kill. We call the game.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
This matchup is really interesting with tons of angles, headaches and opportunities for both sides. The Ironclad really shines here as he's such a big deterrent. The key for Cygnar is to have enough Trenchers and/or Storm Lances around when the birds enter the fray to shoot them dead. Between my feat and the Ironclad knocking them down isn't that big of a problem, besides with Ghost Walk, Temporal Distortion and CRAs their high defense isn't problematic anyway.
In this game the Bloodtrackers ended up trying to harass my flank. That failed miserably and I think they are the wrong unit for such a task. They simply can't do anything about the cloudwall. Perhaps with Mirage they can make bit more of an impact but with the Lances sweeping wide I struggle to see them getting meaningful work done. On the other hand, if they had moved on Circle's strong flank I can see them making my life a lot harder.
The deciding factor in this game was Una opting to go for a defensive approach. Without the Pureblood far up the field it's a lot easier for me to spread out and claim table space. He really is -the- key piece in this matchup and controlling him is very important for Cygnar.
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