Iron Moot: Masters #4 (#560): Stryker1 vs Stryker1

:: Prologue ::

For the 4th game I finally drew a Cygnar opponent! Julien had a Haley2/Stryker1 pairing so I was getting ready for a slug-fest. Indeed I dropped and received Stryker1 so it was Jaeger time!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"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
- Charger - PC: 9
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Opponent ::

Stryker1
- Hurricane
- Stormwall
- Squire
Junior
- Sentinel
Arlan
Jakes
- Defender
Min Meks

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The thing about two Cygnar colossals fighting two Cygnar colossals is that it's all about isolation. If you can isolate one colossal with both of yours you're likely to win the grind. As such I deployed slightly skewed upon seeing Julien's start (he went first).

:: Game ::

Julien runs, I skew further to isolate as planned. Do note that my Hurricane here (the left colossal) is within charge range of his Stormwall. I don't mind this at all as one going in on one lets my isolate his and feat last (or outright kill it if he miraculously doesn't feat).

Julien shifts left. Defender and Hurricane land a hit on Jakes' Charger, DEF19 isn't enough.

To further isolate Julien's flanked colossal I now take the opportunity to run with the Hurricane in front of the Stormwall. I'm now very comfortable with my position and I really don't know what he'll do from here.

Stormwall goes in, kills Squire with a pod and starts beating my Hurricane. Dice aren't exactly stellar for Julien so the damage is negligible. Hurricane and Defender roll some crazy dice though and kill the Charger outright. He feats.

I make a very bad play here: I'm so happy my isolation play worked that I completely forget that it isn't necessarily permanent...

...so although I have 2 colossals on his one and feated last, Julien finds an amazing play: By tanking a free strike he can reverse the isolation, with the rock in my zone I am unable to get both of my colossals against his flanked one. Brilliant. Meks also run up, however...

...Julien forgets elector leaps and doesn't have the Sentinel closer to the Hurricane. This lets my Stormwall wipe out all meks. Coupled with my scoring more hits and rolling better damage, the attrition play is basically won here.

Towards the end the scenario is iffy but I keep my cool and count it out: I'm good to go.

In the end I win on 1 CP more I think it was, bottom of 7.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Stryker1 vs Stryker1 isn't the most exciting of games. That being said, it's a lot about knowing what to do and how to do it. After an amazing setup I nearly ruined this for myself by not completing the isolation (I should have charged the Stormwall to deny him being able to escape my double-trouble setup). Dice were certainly in my favour which helped out in the end in a very close game.

The Jakes module on the left flanked disappeared all too quickly. I was hoping to get more value out of it. I could have been more careful I guess, an aiming Defender is a pain.

Julien didn't contest the central zone top of 2, which was a major mistake as he could've done so easily without fear of any counter-plays from me. This CP pushed me to 2-0 and helped me find the plays I needed without compromising my scenario game throughout.

After this game I drew Cryx for the Semi-finals. I decided to forfeit that game. There are a lot of reasons why I decided to do that. I will not disclose all of those reasons here. What I will say however is that fatigue is a thing, and my opponent had the Bane theme list. My main goal for the weekend was the Sunday event (and the Nordic Champion title) and given my performances on Friday and Saturday thus far I reckoned that was within reach, something I had doubted before I went to Iron Moot. A 5th game on Saturday, possibly followed by finals, would severely drain me. Furthermore I think a lot of my strength in this game comes from being able to accurately analyze what I need to do in a given matchup. Following my recent games vs Coven and some spectated ones I didn't want my Cryx opponent(s) to find out what I had learned. As such I went 4-0 in the Masters, forfeited my 5th game and ended up in 3rd place. I went to bed early and was as ready as I could be for Sunday's Nordic Championship!