Point Value: 35
Scenario: The Pit.
Lists;
Cygnar.
Captain Allison Jakes - WJ: +28
- Squire - PC: 5
- Ironclad - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
- Hammersmith - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 grunts.
Retribution.
Lord Arcanist Ossyan WJ+28
Phoenix: PC 18
Griffon: PC 8
Mage Hunter Strike Force, leader and 9 grunts: PC 16
Houseguard Rifleman, Leader and 9 Grunts. PC 15
Houseguard Thane: PC 4
My opponent won the roll and chose to go second.
My opponent deployed his riflemen and battlegroup centrally, and flanked to his left with the MHSF, which I believe to be a misplay. The Riflemen can more readily hit and damage the Lances, while MHSF are far more adept at removing warjacks.
Cygnar Turn 1
Top of one, I push hard with the lances, putting them on the hill. The trenchers move up and provide smoke, while the battlegroup follows up.
Retribution Turn 1
Bottom of one, my opponent presses up with the MHSF, and the riflemen to attempt to remove the lances from the flank. The mage hunters don't hit much, and damage even less. The Riflemen miss some trenchers, and kill a lance. The battlegroup advances
I push forward with the stormlances, and between impact attacks, lance attacks, assault shots, and electroleaps, they mulch the MHSF. They repo backwards. I have mixed feelings. If I had pushed forward with the repo, I could have tied up more forces, and more of the lances would have lived.
The trenchers again advance and smokewall, and again the battlegroup follow up, staying just behind.
Bottom of two, Ossyan feats. He puts fortune onto the Houseguard Riflemen. The Riflemen then proceed to do paired CRA's into the Stormlances, removing the entire unit. I feel okay about this, as the only thing he's destroying on ossyan's brutal feat turn is the lances, and ignoring my battlegroup. With the MHSF already gone, it's a pretty pillow fisted turn. The Griffon charges a trencher, removing it. Phoenix moves up and shoots at another, missing it.
Cygnar Turn 3.
I load up the Ironclad and Hammersmith, squire throws a focus onto Jakes. Jakes moves up, casts Positive Charge, and feats.
The Ironclad charges the Pheonix, which then goes down. I choose to not tremor. Under positive charge, the Ironclad is MAT 9, and pow 20/16. I feel like the pow 16 damage roll does more for me, especially with E-Leap on the fist. He moves in, and the Pheonix goes down, alongside half the houseguard. He Sprints forward into the Houseguard Thane.
The Hammersmith moves up and starts swinging into the Griffon, destroying it and moving 7 inches in the process. He Sprints over to block LOS to Jakes. The trenchers charge and clear all but one Rifleman.
I dominate the zone, going to 2 control points.
My opponent doesn't have a lot of options here. The thane throws a shot into the ironclad, the MHSF run to contest the zone, and Ossyan moves up to contest with full camp.
I keep all the focus on Jakes. I know that if I can dominate the zone and control the objective, I'll win. I also have the option to attempt an assassination run, however I feel that I need to improve my scenario game. I move the Ironclad up, and throw Ossyan, boosting to hit. Ossyan is removed from the Zone. The trenchers move up, and shoot both the Thane and last Houseguard from the board. Jakes activates, and clears the MHSF from the zone, for what should have been the win. In an accidental moment of "Tactics overriding strategy" I sprint Jakes to the hill for the DEF bonus, and cas Bullwt Dodger onto her. I realize too late my mistake. I go to 4 control points.
Realizing that he has a shot at capitalizing on my mistake, my opponent pays a focus to stand, and charges Jakes with Ossyan. It's not a great assassination run, however. When he missed on the first swing and Jakes dodged away, we shook hands.
Cygnar Victory.
Analysis.
Firstly, I feel like my opponent misplayed by focusing all of his attention on the stormlances, allowing me to creep far further under smokewall than I should have. This seems to happen when people aren't terribly familiar with the trenchers and their general gameplan. The lances removed a few less points than their point value, but they ate Ossyan's feat, which can be killer, and allowed me to alpha with my battlegroup.
I feel that the squire is somewhat wasted, however I'm of a split mind. The extra bubble on the feat was nice, however the focus wasn't terribly worthwhile.
All in all, I feel that I played well, and I'm amazed at the work that the Ironclad can get done under positive charge. The obvious elephant in the room is the sprint out of the Zone. If my opponent was more experienced and had more on the table, it could very well have cost me the game.
