Battle at Lund: Swedish Masters #2 (#491): Sloan vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

For my second game I drew Cryx, with Deneghra1 Ghost Fleet and Skarre1 with Stalker-spam. I figured Sloan would be a decent drop into both so I went with her. I got Ghost Fleet in return and it turns out that Henrik, my opponent, almost exclusively plays into Cygnar. Luckily for me his opponents rarely field Sloan though so the inexperience went both ways here.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Firing Solution v4
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Armory - Steamroller Objective
Captain Kara Sloan - WJ: +28
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
- Lightning Pod
- Firefly - PC: 8
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Hunter - PC: 11
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Hammersmith - PC: 12

Opponent:

Theme: The Ghost Fleet
3 / 3 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army
Warwitch Deneghra - WJ: +28
-    Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
-    Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
-    Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
-    Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Captain Rengrave - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Blackbane & 9 Grunts: 17
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
-    Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Extraction and I won the roll-off. I decided to go second and choose the side. None of the sides were optimal for me but the side I chose let me put my entire army in a corner where there was very little terrain to advance towards me with benefits from.

:: Game ::

Stuff spreads out and runs up.

I feat bot of 1 because my opponent has not respected multiple, crucial ranges: Sloan can target the Wraith Engine and I can reach all members of one of the Revenant units. The feat works out well and I kill off an entire unit and the Wraith Engine. Good start!

Deneghra feats on me and send various respawned dudes into my lights. Note to self: Careful exactly what you kill in this list. Often times it's like killing a single mannikin vs Circle: It helps your opponent and it's better simply not to do it. Luckily for me the damage spreads out and I think I hardly lose a single system.

I have to get out of the killbox which presents a couple of issues: I have Stalkers and arc nodes bearing down on me, on top of pistol wraiths and of course the multitude of Revenants. Did I mention the incorporeal infantry?

The solution is the Hammersmith. It's able to move up and clear out my lights on the right flank which lets me take out another unit of Revenants. The Stormwall clears out incorporeal models to the best of its ability and disrupts a jack or two. Sloan sends a solid slug into a Slayer, neutralizing that threat. I move out of the killbox and camp a few.

My opponent is struggling with attrition this game and if I can weather one more turn chances are I'm good. He cannot get an arc node close enough to Scourge Sloan so he needs to Scourge something next to her. Note to self: While I can't block off LoS to prevent Ghost Shots, I can block off LoS to prevent scourge. Henrik goes for a play where he charges Sloan with Blackbanes first and then he can Scourge one of them and follow up with Ghost Shots. My facing is sadly a little off so one of the Raiders gets in Sloan's back arc. DEF16 is still a thing though and luckily for me, they all miss. The Scourge lands and the Ghost Shots follow up, but my camp is sufficient and I'm fine.

I clear out the remaining threats easily. Henrik hasn't focused on scoring thus far, much to my relief, and I have plenty of time because of that. From here on out it's basically a mop-up for me:

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

People have been talking to me about Ghost Fleet for some time. I had not faced them before this game and I can see what the hype is all about. This is very hard to play against and there are tons of tricks you need to know how to deal with. A more experienced opponent would probably have gone for a scenario play here and not focused as much on threatening Sloan. The inherent, ever-present threat of assassination is enough I feel. If Henrik had started scoring defensively on his left flag and played a little more conservatively I fear I could not have shot out enough models in time to prevent a 5-0 win.

My take-aways from this game is that Ghost Fleet is certainly a thing and that Haley2 is probably the better caster in my pair to take it on. The latter was a very, very important lesson to learn. Stay tuned...