Battle Report #485: Sloan vs MacBain

:: Prologue ::

Second game of the evening and MacBain was facing me! MacBain is a scary caster to face with so many strong tools vs Cygnar up his sleeve. I was hoping Sloan's range and covering fires would be sufficient to deal with him.

:: 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 Kingmaker's Army
Drake MacBain - WJ: +30 Bunker
- Galleon - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
Kell Bailoch - PC: 0
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 0
Stannis Brocker - PC: 0
Dirty Meg - PC: 3
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry - Leader & 4 Grunts: 18
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry - Leader & 2 Grunts: 11
Steelhead Halberdiers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 7
Boomhower & Co - Leader & 5 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same scenario and map, I go first. Idea? Never let him score in the left zone, hopefully keep him from going to the right zone before it's too late.

:: Game ::

Kell is deployed aggressively with a couple of Trenchers screening him. I figure I'll have none of it and load a couple of Hunters up. I blow away a Trencher and kill Kell.

MacBain feats, getting 10(!) models. Cav, Stannis, Boomie get the gift of temporary immortality (pun intended).

The Firefly is way, way out of position. Should've been near Sloan near the fence. Oh well, too late for that now. I start wiping out Trenchers and bring most cav dudes down to 1 box.

With the Stormwall taking out 3 Halberdiers and zoning out more models with covering fires, it's hard for MacBain to get work done on the left flank. Cav tries regardless, going into the Hammersmith with next to no effect. I lose the Firefly centrally and the Galleon decides that the Hunter is going down, taking MacBain to 1-0.

Many mistakes, much pay. The Firefly dying means clearing up is a lot harder than it should have been. Its zzzzap! would've come in handy. Oh well. Clearing duty: Stormwall cannot shoot because Boomies have counter-measure up and there's no way I can back it out 5". I resolve to shoot with whatever can shoot and the 'wall finishes up by hitting Boomies in melee.

MacBain runs to his zone for 3 CP and jam the 'wall as best as he can.

I manage to clear off the jam and contest MacBain with a full health Stormwall and a near-full health Hunter. Unfortunately for me, Fortune is up on the Galleon. I just have to hope it's enough.

Due to me not clearing my zone yet I haven't scored a single point. This allows my opponent to consider a play to clear his zone over two turns instead of one. However he goes for the aggro variant. The damage to kill the Stormwall isn't there though, even with Jackhammer.

Next question: Can I one-round a Galleon? Sloan allocates and Arlan repairs. Whatever can shoot does do so. However the Galleon is left on roughly a dozen boxes.

Interestingly, the Galleon lost its left arm. This means MacBain needs to cast Fail Safe on it and jackhammer a Hunter to death on hard 8s. If that Hunter doesn't die then there are no models which can kill off the Hunter contesting the zone behind the forest (the Galleon has to activate last to manage this). The 8s are no-where to find for my opponent and he never gets his 5th CP. 

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This game was very tense with lots of actions from top of 1. It just exploded right from the get-go. I think I made a couple of crucial mistakes here, first of all not having the Firefly further left, secondly not using my pieces better in the center and on the right flank. Letting the Galleon kill a Hunter bot of 2 with its drag was bad. I should have opted not to contest that turn. The firepower I lost after my feat made my life somewhat miserable. 

The game dragged on and on and in this instance I did win the attrition war despite giving up pieces unnecessarily. I think Sloan's threat ranges are sufficient to give her a slight edge in this matchup, but if she fucks up MacBain can punish her real bad.