Battle Report #542 & #543: Sloan vs Stryker1

:: Prologue ::

The mirror testing continues! The Trencher CID part which removed AD from Hunters arrived just prior to our practice weekend. We were eager to see if Sloan could do anything about the Jaeger Team configuration, especially with these changes in mind. Having played Haley2 in the former encounter Olov wanted to give Stryker1 a go, so I took Sloan.

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

Sloan with Stormwall & Hunters

:: Opponent ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Stormwall - PC: 39
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Olov started. I deployed skewed on the right flank, wanting to use cover as much as I could.

:: Game ::

Colossals run up, Chargers spread out. Snipe on Hurricane which takes care to stay out of my threat ranges if memory serves.

I spread out the Hunters. Sloan goes in the Trench next to the 'wall.

And I die. Stormwall tramples up, Hurricane runs, Stryker arcs Earthquake, puts Snipe on a Charger, Jakes energizes a Charger and the two of them finish me off. This goes to show how crazy enabling the Hurricane is for this build!

We're running low on time and it seems to the both of us that no matter what I do, Stryker will have some pretty amazing alpha angles. Instead of mini-feating we decide to re-rack with Sloan going first.

I run stuff up and take care to use cover as much as I can...

...yet a light is lost on the left flank to pod + quake again. Olov's having the time of his life!

I take a couple of pot-shots and use cover as best as I can.

Stryker pushes and feats. Rolls are low but I still suffer a lot of damage.

I can't do a lot under his feat so I wrap around on the right where I can, block off his colossals in the middle and move my 'wall up. I'm hoping to get an angle to feat post-feat and kill off the Hurricane.

The jammed colossals struggle to get a lot of work done.

If memory serves a lot of my Hunters were crippled so odds weren't in my favour to get up on attrition here. I was down on scenario and, perhaps most importantly, Stryker was kind of exposed. By feating I could get some Hunter shots onto him and my 'wall could leap to him off of his own 'wall. It was a pretty good angle so I took it, unfortunately dice didn't cooperate and he lived.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

Although these games were played before the Hunters got the points reduction, this very much felt like an uphill battle. I'm not entirely sure if Sloan can be configured to effectively deal with Jaeger Team, but I doubt it. My Stryker1 build really impressed me in these short games and I intend to explore it further as it's an absolute beast in the mirror match (which is becoming increasingly important).

If there's an answer here for Sloan I believe it revolves around Jakes and Sidekick. If you can get something to help shelter vital models from the Hurricane that's a great place to start. I'll probably look into it, dojo a bit and let you guys know if I find something interesting!