Understanding the current situation of Cygnar mirrors is difficult. Tons of casters stand out as interesting. Which ones are actually best? I really don't know. What I do know is that we need to test various matchups! Contrary to most, I enjoy mirror games as I find them challenging and I learn a lot from them.
Yesterday I had Stryker1 Immovable Object lined up against Stryker1 Storm Division. We played on Outlast because it's a scenario which can become relevant if either player makes a mistake.
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
"Immovable Object"
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Stryker 1) Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]
- Firefly[8]
- Stormwall [39]
- Stormwall [39]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [0]
- Charger [9]
Opponent:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Storm Division wins the roll-off! I deploy fairly symmetrically, with an eye to take control of the right flank early on and hopefully sweep around in the center.
:: Game ::
Storm Division spreads out. Arcane on left Lances, Blur on right ones. Careful positioning and use of terrain.
I decide to try and kill Lances and start pounding my opponent's 'wall a bit. It's outside of 19" of my 'walls so no quad-shots into it. Snipe on right wall, it takes off a few boxes from the red 'wall. Left 'wall fails to kill a Lance in cover. Stryker Blurs himself and puts up Arcane on the left 'wall. Right wall keeps Snipe. Junior Arcane's the Charger.
I was anticipating a hyper-aggro play here with a feat to back it up. Why? I have superior shooting by a mile, but the Lances are problematic for sure. Basically the longer the game goes on without the Lances making an impact, the better it is for me. My opponent plays his turn somewhat passively, taking pot-shots at the 'wall without Shield. It's np, I can haz Arlan.
With the passive play from my opponent I can save my feat. I can give him an alpha on a 'wall and not feat. Why? Cygnar struggles to alpha down a 'wall. I continue the attrition play, focusing as much as I can on the Lances on the left. No feat.
Storm Division tries to alpha the left 'wall. It comes close-ish, but ultimately fails. Feat comes out.
I counter-feat, repair the damaged 'wall, consolidate. Wipe out multiple Lances.
My opponent makes a mistake with his Firefly, who opts to move over to contest the right zone instead of blocking my right 'wall out...
...which means by 'walls both get to pummel the red 'wall at the same time.
:: Evaluation ::
This feels uphill for Storm Division. Even going first he struggles to get to a position from where he can get meaningful work out of the Lances in time. The thing is that the clock is working against him and when the Lances eventually commit I can feat and be good. In the meantime I have superior shooting and the nature of having 2 'walls which cannot be alpha'd means scenario will hardly ever be an issue.
I think that Storm Division needs to look for opportunities to use the Lances to control the movements on the table before they die. For example in this game I would love to see a more aggressive move from them top of 1 on the left flank, with Stryker taking a more central position. Top of 2 this allows an early feat where a few Lances block out the Heavy Metal 'walls and the rest set up to charge later on. I'm not sure if this works out, but at least it forces the issue somewhat and can, conceivably, create scenario openings.
An interesting game and it's good to confirm that Heavy Metal Stryker1 feels like the better version here. I also went as the second player and I imagine that if I'd have gone first the Storm Division problems would be even bigger.
Stryker1
- Stormwall
- Firefly
Junior
- Charger
Arlan
Laddermore
2x Max Lances
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Storm Division wins the roll-off! I deploy fairly symmetrically, with an eye to take control of the right flank early on and hopefully sweep around in the center.
:: Game ::
Storm Division spreads out. Arcane on left Lances, Blur on right ones. Careful positioning and use of terrain.
I decide to try and kill Lances and start pounding my opponent's 'wall a bit. It's outside of 19" of my 'walls so no quad-shots into it. Snipe on right wall, it takes off a few boxes from the red 'wall. Left 'wall fails to kill a Lance in cover. Stryker Blurs himself and puts up Arcane on the left 'wall. Right wall keeps Snipe. Junior Arcane's the Charger.
I was anticipating a hyper-aggro play here with a feat to back it up. Why? I have superior shooting by a mile, but the Lances are problematic for sure. Basically the longer the game goes on without the Lances making an impact, the better it is for me. My opponent plays his turn somewhat passively, taking pot-shots at the 'wall without Shield. It's np, I can haz Arlan.
With the passive play from my opponent I can save my feat. I can give him an alpha on a 'wall and not feat. Why? Cygnar struggles to alpha down a 'wall. I continue the attrition play, focusing as much as I can on the Lances on the left. No feat.
Storm Division tries to alpha the left 'wall. It comes close-ish, but ultimately fails. Feat comes out.
I counter-feat, repair the damaged 'wall, consolidate. Wipe out multiple Lances.
My opponent makes a mistake with his Firefly, who opts to move over to contest the right zone instead of blocking my right 'wall out...
...which means by 'walls both get to pummel the red 'wall at the same time.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
This feels uphill for Storm Division. Even going first he struggles to get to a position from where he can get meaningful work out of the Lances in time. The thing is that the clock is working against him and when the Lances eventually commit I can feat and be good. In the meantime I have superior shooting and the nature of having 2 'walls which cannot be alpha'd means scenario will hardly ever be an issue.
I think that Storm Division needs to look for opportunities to use the Lances to control the movements on the table before they die. For example in this game I would love to see a more aggressive move from them top of 1 on the left flank, with Stryker taking a more central position. Top of 2 this allows an early feat where a few Lances block out the Heavy Metal 'walls and the rest set up to charge later on. I'm not sure if this works out, but at least it forces the issue somewhat and can, conceivably, create scenario openings.
An interesting game and it's good to confirm that Heavy Metal Stryker1 feels like the better version here. I also went as the second player and I imagine that if I'd have gone first the Storm Division problems would be even bigger.
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