Battle Report #468: Sloan vs Morvahna2

:: Prologue ::

The vacuum left behind by Una2 when she received her nerf recently has seen the Circle players in my area try and find various creative solutions. One of my regular opponents has gone all old school with a couple of highly original lists, one of which is Morvahna2 in theme! Interesting. On paper my Sloan list looks like it'll struggle with dude spam, in practice though I know that applying the support models can make a big difference so this was a matchup I was eager to play for sure!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

"Firing Solution"
Theme: Heavy Metal
Captain Kara Sloan - WJ: +28 Armory
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 0

Opponent:

Theme: The Devourer's Host
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Morvahna the Dawnshadow - WB: +27
- Gorax Rager - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Warpwolf Stalker - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 19)
Bloodweaver Night Witch - PC: 0
Tharn Ravager Shaman - PC: 0
Death Wolves - Skoll, Tala & Caleb: 9
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Tharn Bloodtrackers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
Tharn Wolf Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
Tharn Wolf Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
Tharn Ravagers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 11
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain - PC: 0

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Entrenched and I lose the roll-off. My opponent has learned the "Sloan lesson" and forces me to go first. I set up rather defensively for my own zone. The idea is to clear out that part first because it's the most open.

:: Game ::

I start picking off Tharn and position myself.

The push comes.

I withdraw and clear out the front lines. I'm getting so much value here from so many models, literally every shot counts and I'm making sure I can apply as much as possible.

Stalker into 'wall, rest follow up behind.

I -have- to hold my feat until Morvahna's feated. I'm going to need a huge amount of shots then to clear stuff out. My goal now is to clear all HORSIHORSI nearby. Dice totally betray me as all the things in the world I apply to the last Wolf Rider on the left (including fully loaded jacks) don't ensure its demise. Ugh. The 'wall has to pod to contest. The Stalker lives, the 'wall failing to kill it. Primal means it's less of an issue though.

Morvahna feat + jam moment.

I fear in return, a lot of my things are able to aim and thus clear out various jams. Attrition is looking decent but Morvahna is on 3 CP.

My opponent throws everything he has at the Stormwall. It sits on 16 boxes when the dust clears and Morvahna is ported in by the stones with a full fury stack. Her ability to take one box of damage to basically become a weapon master in combination with sacking D3 boxes for re-rolls combine to ensure she can kill it. She repositions into my zone and wins the game 5-0 on CP.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

Interesting matchup! I keep shooting, he keeps coming. I think the main mistake I make here is to not pressure Morvahna more on her zone. Sure, there are defensive terrain pieces there but if I set up properly I don't think it matters -that- much because Morvahna can't go that aggressive. In a way this is like the Haley2 vs Lylyth3 game, I have to take control of a flank and in this particular situation the left flank is the one I need to take.

Sloan can be reliant on dice. The Stormwall does alleviate this somewhat but this game had a couple of crucial moments where the dice failed me and it just hurts so much. Sloan can be taxing to play technically, so many positions you have to consider and have the pieces mutually support each other while they keep safe etc.

A very interesting game though and I certainly think this is playable for Sloan, possibly even favourable! The picture after my feat turn speaks volumes about this list's attrition capabilities.