Continuing on from my close loss to a local Ret player my next game pitted me against an out of town Cygnar player running Haley1 and Caine2. I'll admit that Cygnar was one of the matchups that I was hoping to dodge, but figured that Vlad1 would have the best go of it. He dropped the following Caine2 list into me:
Captain Alistair Caine
- Ace
- Hunter
- Hunter
Alten Ashley
Maxwell Finn
Strangeways
Lanyssa Ryssyl
Trencher Commandos, Min, with Scattergunner
Max Trenchers with UA and three Grenadiers
He won the roll and chose to go first. The scenario had Kill Box, so I measured out the walls that were available and realized that one side had a "trap wall" (that was placed such that the caster would need to suffer the kill box penalty) while the other side did not. I wisely chose the side where my caster could stand in safety.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pics this game. Scenario was Take and Hold.
I deployed my Uhlan pods on either flank, A+H+V on the extreme left flank, my Jacks and Rifle Corps in the center and Vlad on the left side near the wall. He had Caine, Ace, and <mechanic> in the center, a Hunter on either side, AD'ed the Commandos on my left flank and the rest of the Trenchers in the center.
Round 1:
His force advanced cautiously, Trenchers putting up a cloud wall and staying out of my charge range. Hunters edged up on either side of the board and Caine ran up to his wall, throwing Heightened Reflexes on the Trenchers and Bullet Dodger on himself.
My turn I advanced the left Uhlans cautiously all in a three man pod, trusting Wall of Steel to see them through the hail of bullets that would no doubt come looking for them. My jacks ran up the center as far as they could while the right Uhlans huddled around a Blood of Kings/Wind Wall'ed Vlad standing at the edge of the wall and outside of Caine's 19" threat range. My Winterguard advanced cautiously behind the jack wall, trying to stay out of Trencher threat ranges. Joe tough'ed the Winter Guard.
Round 2:
Caine upkept his spells and kept his focus. The Commandos advanced and took some shots, causing a few Tough checks and some splash damage on the Uhlans. The left Hunter killed an Uhlan while the right Hunter got magical weapons from Strangeways and gunned another rider down. The normal Trenchers ordered a Cautious Advance and threw some shots down range and killed a few Winter Guard.
My turn I weighed my options. Stealth on the Commandos was annoying, but I at least had the Spriggan to light some of them up for my Rifle Corps. The two remaining left Uhlans went their separate ways, one taking out the gun arm on the Hunter and the other murdered a Commando. The Spriggan walked up and flared some Commandos and the Rifle Corps finished them off along with a few normal Trenchers. The right Uhlans destroyed the right Hunter while my Juggernauts killed a few additional Cygnaran dogs.
We realized at the end of this turn that my opponent had kill boxed himself, getting me two control points.
Round 3:
My opponent made some big mistakes this round due to kill box. Caine and the Trenchers danced around, but Caine couldn't hide and for some reason he didn't feat to remove my jacks from the table. At the end of his turn he had placed the Cygnaran warcaster within 14" of one of my Juggernauts. I allocated the Juggernaut one, feated, Boundless Charge'd the Juggy and cast Signs and Portents. One boosted Ice Axe later and Caine was frozen on one hit box left, with the Juggy's second initial finishing him off.
Game 4: Irusk2 vs Harkevich in Extraction
The last game of the day was against renowned local Khador player Jordan, who was famous in Mk 2 for bringing exactly two lists: Claws of the Dragon and Mad Dogs of War, and doing extremely well with them.
In Mk 3 he's switched things up and is now running the new "Mad Dogs of War" manned by Harkevich:
Harkevich
- Kodiak x 2
- Juggernaut x 2
- Mad Dog x 2
- Rager
Max Mechanics
After some debate I decided to drop Irusk2 into this, as Battle Lust is great at breaking armor. I won the roll and decided to go first.
Uhlans went on the right with the Juggernaut, Pikemen/Irusk2/Spriggan/Mortar in the center and Rifle Corps on the left. The plan was to try and sneak the Rifle Corps around and work towards an assassination and stay just outside of his charge range where possible.
Round 1:
I ran up with everything as fast as possible. He advanced to just outside of my charge range.
Round 2:
I backed off a bit, but ran the Juggernaut into just outside of his charge range and on the flag to force him to come up. The Uhlans backed off to the middle of my line and the Rifle Corps set up 13" from the left edge of his line.
Jordan feated and ran up with his jacks. Turns out that Kodiaks can run 15" with Mobility, which I hadn't accounted for, leading to three of my Uhlans getting engaged.
Round 3:
Well, that was unfortunate. I went in the tank for a while trying to figure out a way to get through. I considered going for an assassination on Harkevich- I was pretty sure I could get two fully loaded Jacks on him- but at 16/21 thanks to Iron Sentinel I didn't think it would be a winning proposition. So, I tried to go for some attrition.
My Juggernaut threw the Kodiak away so that I could free up an Uhlan, and the Spriggan speared the Kodiak next to it for a few points. Battle Lust went on the Pikemen and the Uhlans. The Uhlans ripped both arms off of a Juggernaut and the Pikemen stabbed a Mad Dog to death and put some damage on another Kodiak. Meanwhile the Rifle Corps snuck around the one Mad Dog engaging them and eliminated all but one of the mechanics.
Jordan wasn't able to do much damage to me in return- the Spriggan and Juggernaut got punched a bit, over half of the Pikemen were trampled to death, and I lost all but two Uhlans. Free strikes destroyed another Kodiak. Harkevich and the Rager walked over to the left near his flag.
Round 4:
I didn't have many resources left to chew threw all of that armor, so I decided to go for the assassination. The problem was that the Rager in front of Hark was granting him some significant armor bonuses that I couldn't work through. After thinking I decided to eliminate the Mad Dog, then get to Hark.
On reflection I think I would have been better served just running the Spriggan to push the Mad Dog out of the way, but instead I charged it and battered it with my lance. Two battle lusted Pikemen charged in and couldn't finish it, leading to the Mortar having to be used to finish it off. My Rifle Corps aimed and fired... but left him on 10 boxes.
And really... that was pretty much it for me. I survived the following turn and tried to assassinate again (including getting a ludicrously lucky hit with the Mortar on Harkevich behind a wall), but I ended up being 3 boxes short. Irusk was killed shortly there after.
End Thoughts
I had a great time at the tournament and certainly did better than the 0-4 that I was planning on. With a few smarter moves I think I could have made a better show of things, but that's just me shaking the rust off.
Thinking more about the jack spam lists I think that actually my Vlad1 list will do much better into it. Signs and Portents is a big deal, and in the current version I have even more heavies to throw at my opponent from a longer range than he can threat. Plus with Harm the Rifle Corps can actually put damage on heavies. During my initial testing it seems to work, but I haven't actually gone against Hark with it yet- guess that'll be for next tourney.
Next time, I tackle Menoth.
Captain Alistair Caine
- Ace
- Hunter
- Hunter
Alten Ashley
Maxwell Finn
Strangeways
Lanyssa Ryssyl
Trencher Commandos, Min, with Scattergunner
Max Trenchers with UA and three Grenadiers
He won the roll and chose to go first. The scenario had Kill Box, so I measured out the walls that were available and realized that one side had a "trap wall" (that was placed such that the caster would need to suffer the kill box penalty) while the other side did not. I wisely chose the side where my caster could stand in safety.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pics this game. Scenario was Take and Hold.
I deployed my Uhlan pods on either flank, A+H+V on the extreme left flank, my Jacks and Rifle Corps in the center and Vlad on the left side near the wall. He had Caine, Ace, and <mechanic> in the center, a Hunter on either side, AD'ed the Commandos on my left flank and the rest of the Trenchers in the center.
Round 1:
His force advanced cautiously, Trenchers putting up a cloud wall and staying out of my charge range. Hunters edged up on either side of the board and Caine ran up to his wall, throwing Heightened Reflexes on the Trenchers and Bullet Dodger on himself.
My turn I advanced the left Uhlans cautiously all in a three man pod, trusting Wall of Steel to see them through the hail of bullets that would no doubt come looking for them. My jacks ran up the center as far as they could while the right Uhlans huddled around a Blood of Kings/Wind Wall'ed Vlad standing at the edge of the wall and outside of Caine's 19" threat range. My Winterguard advanced cautiously behind the jack wall, trying to stay out of Trencher threat ranges. Joe tough'ed the Winter Guard.
Round 2:
Caine upkept his spells and kept his focus. The Commandos advanced and took some shots, causing a few Tough checks and some splash damage on the Uhlans. The left Hunter killed an Uhlan while the right Hunter got magical weapons from Strangeways and gunned another rider down. The normal Trenchers ordered a Cautious Advance and threw some shots down range and killed a few Winter Guard.
My turn I weighed my options. Stealth on the Commandos was annoying, but I at least had the Spriggan to light some of them up for my Rifle Corps. The two remaining left Uhlans went their separate ways, one taking out the gun arm on the Hunter and the other murdered a Commando. The Spriggan walked up and flared some Commandos and the Rifle Corps finished them off along with a few normal Trenchers. The right Uhlans destroyed the right Hunter while my Juggernauts killed a few additional Cygnaran dogs.
We realized at the end of this turn that my opponent had kill boxed himself, getting me two control points.
Round 3:
My opponent made some big mistakes this round due to kill box. Caine and the Trenchers danced around, but Caine couldn't hide and for some reason he didn't feat to remove my jacks from the table. At the end of his turn he had placed the Cygnaran warcaster within 14" of one of my Juggernauts. I allocated the Juggernaut one, feated, Boundless Charge'd the Juggy and cast Signs and Portents. One boosted Ice Axe later and Caine was frozen on one hit box left, with the Juggy's second initial finishing him off.
Game 4: Irusk2 vs Harkevich in Extraction
The last game of the day was against renowned local Khador player Jordan, who was famous in Mk 2 for bringing exactly two lists: Claws of the Dragon and Mad Dogs of War, and doing extremely well with them.
In Mk 3 he's switched things up and is now running the new "Mad Dogs of War" manned by Harkevich:
Harkevich
- Kodiak x 2
- Juggernaut x 2
- Mad Dog x 2
- Rager
Max Mechanics
After some debate I decided to drop Irusk2 into this, as Battle Lust is great at breaking armor. I won the roll and decided to go first.
Uhlans went on the right with the Juggernaut, Pikemen/Irusk2/Spriggan/Mortar in the center and Rifle Corps on the left. The plan was to try and sneak the Rifle Corps around and work towards an assassination and stay just outside of his charge range where possible.
Round 1:
I ran up with everything as fast as possible. He advanced to just outside of my charge range.
Round 2:
I backed off a bit, but ran the Juggernaut into just outside of his charge range and on the flag to force him to come up. The Uhlans backed off to the middle of my line and the Rifle Corps set up 13" from the left edge of his line.
Jordan feated and ran up with his jacks. Turns out that Kodiaks can run 15" with Mobility, which I hadn't accounted for, leading to three of my Uhlans getting engaged.
Round 3:
Well, that was unfortunate. I went in the tank for a while trying to figure out a way to get through. I considered going for an assassination on Harkevich- I was pretty sure I could get two fully loaded Jacks on him- but at 16/21 thanks to Iron Sentinel I didn't think it would be a winning proposition. So, I tried to go for some attrition.
My Juggernaut threw the Kodiak away so that I could free up an Uhlan, and the Spriggan speared the Kodiak next to it for a few points. Battle Lust went on the Pikemen and the Uhlans. The Uhlans ripped both arms off of a Juggernaut and the Pikemen stabbed a Mad Dog to death and put some damage on another Kodiak. Meanwhile the Rifle Corps snuck around the one Mad Dog engaging them and eliminated all but one of the mechanics.
Jordan wasn't able to do much damage to me in return- the Spriggan and Juggernaut got punched a bit, over half of the Pikemen were trampled to death, and I lost all but two Uhlans. Free strikes destroyed another Kodiak. Harkevich and the Rager walked over to the left near his flag.
Round 4:
I didn't have many resources left to chew threw all of that armor, so I decided to go for the assassination. The problem was that the Rager in front of Hark was granting him some significant armor bonuses that I couldn't work through. After thinking I decided to eliminate the Mad Dog, then get to Hark.
On reflection I think I would have been better served just running the Spriggan to push the Mad Dog out of the way, but instead I charged it and battered it with my lance. Two battle lusted Pikemen charged in and couldn't finish it, leading to the Mortar having to be used to finish it off. My Rifle Corps aimed and fired... but left him on 10 boxes.
And really... that was pretty much it for me. I survived the following turn and tried to assassinate again (including getting a ludicrously lucky hit with the Mortar on Harkevich behind a wall), but I ended up being 3 boxes short. Irusk was killed shortly there after.
End Thoughts
I had a great time at the tournament and certainly did better than the 0-4 that I was planning on. With a few smarter moves I think I could have made a better show of things, but that's just me shaking the rust off.
Thinking more about the jack spam lists I think that actually my Vlad1 list will do much better into it. Signs and Portents is a big deal, and in the current version I have even more heavies to throw at my opponent from a longer range than he can threat. Plus with Harm the Rifle Corps can actually put damage on heavies. During my initial testing it seems to work, but I haven't actually gone against Hark with it yet- guess that'll be for next tourney.
Next time, I tackle Menoth.
Nice write-up! What do you think of Khador Mad Dog/Juggernaut spam? Also, looks like the pictures aren't loading.
ReplyDeleteNice! Khador 'jack spam is scary for sure. On another note, are you picking up Menoth?
ReplyDelete