søndag 26. mars 2017

Battle Report #464: Stryker2 vs Lucant

:: Prologue ::

Stryker2 is a very interesting caster. I have this idea about him that he wants to play with a ton of models. His playstyle reminds me of Stryker3 in a way: The skill-set screams jacks initially but in practice troops work best. Therefore I've played Stryker2 in a Storm Division variant thus far which leans heavily on units. I haven't gotten to play this that much yet, but I got an interesting opportunity against Lucant yesterday. Let's see how that went!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:
"Lightning Stryke"
Theme: Storm Division
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lord Commander Stryker - WJ: +28
- Squire - PC: 0
- Lancer - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
- Ol’ Rowdy - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 18)
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
Major Katherine Laddermore - PC: 8
Stormblade Captain - PC: 5
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
- Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner - PC: 2
- Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner - PC: 2
- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 0
Opponent:
Theme: Destruction Initiative
(Lucant 1) Father Lucant, Divinity Architect [+28]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Conservator [12]
 - Corollary [6]
 - Diffuser [6]
Optifex Directive [4]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
 - Permutation Servitors
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
 - Permutation Servitors
Lots of free bots

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Incursion and Lucant goes first. I pick the side with the best contesting terrain. I want to secure a flank here and have big, open spaces for my Lances. He weighs slightly left, I weigh slightly right.


:: Game ::

Stuff runs.


I am somewhat cautious of the TEPs. I figure he'll likely feat top of 2 regardless of what I do so it's pretty bad to give him a ton of free kills. Arcane Shield goes on the right-most Lances and Stryker casts Deceleration.


After contemplating various plays from an all-out jam to a tactical withdrawal with the feat intact my opponent decides to commit with the feat. I think it's the best play: I am too far away to charge him which begs the question: How do I deal with this situation without just flat out losing on scenario?


This is one of those situations I positively (no pun intended) hate with Stryker2. I have no clue how I play my way out of this spot. The issue is that the left flank is impossible for me to deal with so at best I can contest that flag every second turn by sacrificing a model. I can't reach anything unless I feat and even if I do I'm unlikely to do a ton of damage anyway. I'm at a loss, quite frankly, and I feel as though Stryker2 often ends up in situations like this.

When in doubt I tend to push and I decide to do that here. While my opponent can push me out on the left flank, I start scoring first so I'm hoping to accomplish the same on the other side of the table. Stryker's within 17" of the TEP so he man-modes up and feats. TEP goes down. I cast Positive Charger on the Lancer before I went in, hoping to kill a heavy. Every single model in my list commits and I come pretty close to taking down one of the heavies but it survives on a handful of boxes.


I think I lack the punch needed to win attrition from this point but the scenario play could have been interesting. Sadly Stryker was poorly placed with my feat move so my opponent was -just- able to get a heavy an angle to charge him. This required a lot of work from the rest of his army but TL;DR he managed this just fine and poor Stryker went down to an angry Conservator.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans.

:: Evaluation ::

Yeah, Stryker2 and I are still struggling. I'm beginning to question the list approach more and more. The caster certainly isn't a natural fit for me, but I've overcome that before (Haley3). I'll probably give him some more runs before I put him away.

My opponent was able to create a really hard situation for me top of 2. In hindsight I think a play might have been to send in Stryker without feating. That secures a flank and keeps my punch. I was afraid I'd be too exposed but some careful proxy-basing would've shown whether the play had been safe or not.

Convergence are strong now and I find them to be one of the harder matchups for Cygnar. 

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