Battle Report #418: Nemo3 vs Ossrum

:: Prologue ::

Rematch time! My opponent wanted to test out heavies instead of Forge Guard because the latter intend to die too easily against Cygnar. A small change and we were all but ready again! Last game was over quickly. This one was an epic struggle which is longer than most games I've had for a long, long while.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Ossrum 1) General Ossrum [+28]
 - Grundback Blaster [6]
 - Grundback Blaster [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [4]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios [7]
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same scenario, slightly more terrain as the map in the first game felt a little too open. This time I win the roll-off and go first. The idea is to set up as well as I can defensively, discourage Ossrum from going hyper-aggro and slowly find an angle. 

:: Game ::

I hide Dynamo behind Lances on a hill with Shield. The Lancer is largely tucked away also. Probably a mistake not to look for better positions with him. He can be blocked off from Eiryss easily enough with double Fireflies.

Ossrum advances cautiously. Eiryss runs off to the top right corner.

I try to get as much DEF-bonuses as possible to force out a bad feat.

The feat does come out and I lose a minimal amount of models. One Driller runs to be a pain on the left flank. Luckily for me he's out of control so he's not -that- dangerous.

With Forge Guard running into me all aggro-mode the decision's easy: Kill them all and deal with the Bunnies later. ARM22 heavies with lots of boxes though are not dealt with as easily at all. I'm sort of left wondering what I should do and indeed my resulting actions here spread out the damage too much. I'm not really focusing on the heavies enough but I'm not killing Bunnies either.

After 2 somewhat lack-lustre feat turns we're set up for a grind. I lose some Lances and Dynamo, as well as a Firefly. The two heavies on the right flank are seriously hurt though so I can take them out.

This turn I'm not respecting the artillery enough. I figure leaving one alive isn't that big of a deal. My problem is that the attrition game is winding down and it's kind of dicey. I can't reliably kill the heavy on my left flank without the Lancer. I probably should've ran the numbers on this. My goal this turn should have been to take out all heavies and both artillery pieces. Somehow I commit the Lancer on full focus and Lightning Shroud to the right-side heavies. Had I focused enough on the heavy on the left he would've died. Bad mistake. I also fail to kill the Artillery Corps on the right flank and a Storm Lance assaulting fails to kill Eiryss.

FFE on the Mortar ensures that the Firefly in the right zone goes down. This means Ossrum starts scoring.

I am short on time so I make a mistake: Instead of casting Arcane Shield on the remaining Lances and have Nemo cast Electrify on the Lancer I simply run Junior. The Lancer charges in to contest and I move to 1-1.

Ossrum charges in and with decapitation and shooting help the Lancer goes down. So much for not having Electrify up on him. 1-3.

Seriously low on time so no chance to think everything through 100%. Nemo tries to get work done personally and spends his entire stack. The Lances charge in as well and both remaining Fireflies run to contest. 3-3.

Ossrum decides it's better to go for Nemo than to kill both Fireflies. The Bunnies survive the free strikes with their necessary systems intact and find the 10s needed to hit. With solid damage rolls Nemo goes down.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans

:: Evaluation ::

Wow, what a game! This was super-long and intense with tons of things to think about from the onset and throughout. Lots of mistakes, clutch plays, crazy dice and exciting openings. Warmachine at its best!

What bugged me about this game, literally for hours, was that I couldn't understand why I lost. Following my feat turn I thought I was good. I thought I had the scenario covered and that I was up on attrition. Perhaps I was, but it must have been very, very marginal. My perception of the game state certainly was off.

Where did I go wrong? I think the answer lies in an old report, a very important game I played in August, last year. A hard grind vs Karchev's Mad Dogs is eventually won. The game-breaking turn here is my post-feat turn. On my feat turn I don't really kill a lot of Mad Dogs. What I do instead is set up to kill a lot. I leave a number of jacks on a handful of boxes and then move on to the next ones. Why? Spending a PS22 attack to kill an ARM18 jack on 5 boxes simply isn't efficient. If I know said jack can't retaliate I can take it out the next turn instead, for example with electro leaps or weaker attacks. In that game the commentators and audience were stunned by how much I killed in the post-feat turn, but indeed I set up for it.

How does this apply to the game above? There are two effects in play here: First of all I have to ensure that I apply my strengths where they are the most effective. As I've noted before, dealing with heavy ARM outside of my feat turn is hard. It boils down to Lances and Dynamo. On my feat turn I spend Dynamo to kill a single bunny. On top of that I leave him in the open to die. This isn't even a questionable move, it's a terrible move. I should have looked for ways to apply Dynamo to heavies, or at least get Ionization on his targets and ensure at least 2 Bunnies for him to justify his activation. The heavies in the middle were both left on fairly few boxes. It is conceivable that Dynamo could've killed off the both of them, I dare-say probable even. Considering both how much they did the next turn and how much work I had to put in to kill them in my subsequent turn this would definitely have been the better play for me.

The second part is that in a war of attrition like this turned out to be, I have to be better at identifying the most lethal threats. With the Lancer and the Fireflies positioned far up on the table I can reach basically everything. My inability to take out Aiyana and the Artillery post-feat turn when I had the option was probably the last strategical nail in my coffin. Way too much damage output.

On top of all of this there were a number of technical mistakes throughout. I blame inexperience with the matchup. This game sure was an eye-opener though in many ways. The best game I've had this year.