Cygnar is on the move again. Probably encouraged by Madison Calder’s success at the last crossroad. This time they are sending their Cadre ‘caster Sparkhammer — and what a hammer it is. Tatiana is dispatched again to make up for her past mistakes. She is again bringing her Man-O-Wars. She does a pretty good job until the last second where a ‘jack breaks through and ends the game.

I have a thing with Cygnar. I can’t seem to break them. I’m guessing most of the problem lies with the man behind the scene. He (yes, that is me) is simply not proficient enough with this list. However, practices makes perfect so I’m trying again with the same list as the last time I got beaten (see here for my last loss). So, let’s see what happens. The two lists are as follows:

Khador – Winter Korps Kommander Tatiana Sikora    – Iron Flesh    – Puissance    – Dire Wolf [9]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Ice Hammer      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield    – Dire Wolf [9]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Ice Hammer      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield    – Dire Wolf [10]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Long Axe      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield Koldun Lord Damien Korovnik [3] Sergeant Sergei Krol [5] Winter Korps Officer [2] Winter Korps Officer [2] Arkanists [4] Arkanists [4] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Winter Korps Snipers [4]    – Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Winter Korps Snipers [4]    – Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Command cards     – Careful Reconnaissance     – Hit & Run     – Old Faithful     – Power Swell     – Put the Fires Out Total Points   100/100

Cygnar – Storm Legion Mechanik Adept Sparkhammer    – Deflection    – Lighting Pulse    – Courser [8]      HEAD – Arc Node      RIGHT ARM – Heavy Stormthrower      LEFT ARM – Voltaic Punching Spike    – Courser [7]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Heavy Stormthrower      LEFT ARM – Voltaic Punching Spike    – Stryker [12]      HEAD – Relentless Charge      RIGHT ARM – Voltaic Halberd      LEFT ARM – Stormblazer Cannon    – Stryker [12]      HEAD – Relentless Charge      RIGHT ARM – Voltaic Hammer      LEFT ARM – Stormblazer Cannon    – Stryker [12]      HEAD – Relentless Charge      RIGHT ARM – Voltaic Javelin      LEFT ARM – Stormblazer Cannon Weather Station [3] Weather Station [3] Weather Station [3] Weather Station [3] Zephyr [7] Arcane Mechaniks [5] Arcane Mechaniks [5] Storm Callers [5] Storm Callers [5] Storm Lance Legionnaires [10] Command cards     – Blessing of the Gods     – Break Through     – Careful Reconnaissance     – High Alert     – Old Faithful Total Points   100/100

A note to the reader: I’m proxying two units: One of the Wrecking Crews is Man-O-War Demolition Corps on large bases. The other one, is one of the Suppressor units that are Man-O-War Bombardiers on large bases. Both are painted red.

The Cygnar player is also proxying: Three of the Weather Stations are just blank bases, so is the Zephyr. One of the Storm Callers are a unit of Storm Vanes.

Sparkhammer is very new to me. I have basically no idea what he does. He has a machine on him that allows him to extend his control range to 16″, add 2 to electric damage rolls within his control range, or reduce the cost of each spell he casts by one. Pretty nifty. His feat gives him all three and friendly models can reroll storm call attacks. Seems a bit weak, but there is probably something in the details.

He brings Inhospitable Ground, which I’m not too worried about; Jackhammer, which he can actually cast 7 times when picking the ‘redcue cost’ ability — that is quite a lot of extra attacks on a ‘jack; Mobility for +2 SPD and Pathfinder for his battlegroup — pretty good; Sunhammer, which gives d3 damage om ‘jacks advancing in his control; Deflection for +2 DEF against ranged attacks — for everybody!; and Lighting Pulse, for a kind of POW 10 chain lighting. A pretty good set of spells.

He brings five ‘jacks: two Coursers and three Strykers. The two former brings sprays and one of them is an arc node, which doesn’t really makes any sense in this list. The latter are the normal beatsticks. Three different hand weapons, but all the same POW 14 gun and POW 10 hazard.

In addition to the five ‘jacks, he is bringing a load of stuff that can bring lightning down: four Weather Stations and two Storm Callers. They are annoying. There are two units of the best mechanics in town. A unit of the Storm Lancers, which are normally very annoying. Finally, the new apperance (or in this case not-apperance) of the Zephyr. It is a bit uncelar what this does that is particullary dangerous.

On paper I think Tatiana and the Khadorian wall of steel should be good here. Except for the Strykers and the Lancers it is not a particular hard hitting list; even though Sparkhammer can stack stuff for damage. I’m not going to go through the list i details here. There is some more information here.

I think I’ll just stick to my standard plan for Tatiana and Man-O-Wars: move as fast as Khador possible up the board and grab some real estate. Then feat, survive and kill stuff. No point in making plans to complicated.

War are playing the Steamroller 2024 scenario Two Fronts. Sparkhammer wins the roll-off and goes first. Tatiana picks the side with the nice L-shaped wall, which will be very nice to hide behind.

Sparkhammer deploys far to the left with only a unit of Storm Callers on that flank. He is probably going to be hiding behind the houses for the whole game. All the ‘jacks, save for one Courser deploys next to him towards the middel. There are two Weather Stations on each side of the ‘jack brick. The fast stuff goes to the right. 

Tatiana deploys a unit of Snipers on each flank (as always). A Man-O-War module (Suppressors, Wrecking Crew and Officer) on each side. The Arkanist of each side to be able to Empower but also spray stuff. Everything else goes in the middle.

This picture above shows the situation after deployment. 

The first round is probably going to be just as eventful as all other first rounds. Let the extended deployment phase comence.

Sparkhammer sends his Zephyr up the right flank along with a unit of Strom Callers that move into the forest. A unit of Mechaniks moves in behind thee forest. The Storm Lancers move forward and one of the repositions into the forest. They are making room for two advancing Weather Stations to move though next round.

On the left flank, a unit of Storm Callers, along with a Weather Station moves slowly forward shielding themselves behind the two houses.

Everything else moves up in the middle. The three Strykers line up from the house to block line of sight. Sparkhammer himself moves up and hides behind the house. He casts Deflection and Sunhammer. The remaining Mechaniks also move forward. That was it.

This picture above depitcs the battlefield after the inital Cygnar turn.

It is Tatiana’s turn to do extended deployment. She puts Desperate Pase on unit of Suppressors along with Iron Flesh; Puissance on a unit of Wrecking Crew; and then moves up behind the wall. Finally, she casts Avenging Force on herself.

Both of the two Snipers move up their respective flanks and into the forest. I know the Storm Callers ignor forests. But they like it in the woods.

The two Man-O-War modules move up the board to claim some real estate. Two Dire wolfs tag along for the ride. One of the makes sure to stay within Shield Guard range of Tatiana. The rest of the troops just hag back.

The picture above shows the result of the invigorating first round.

The second round is where the action is. Let’s see which way the wind blows.

This is Sparkhammers feat round. He fires the feat up, and perhaps casts some spells. In claccic Cygnar style he boldly stays hidden behind the house.

On the right flank, the Storm Callers move forward and obviously kill the poor dog and at least one Sniper. The Storm Lancers charge forward and helps clean out the remaing Snipers. The Zephyr moves forward and might get a shot of at something. Finally, one the the Strykers charge a Suppressor and kills him.

On the left flank, the Storm Callers move forward and attempts to reproduce the result on the left flank. Supprisingly, the dog and one Sniper survive!

In the middle, the two Coursers moves a bit forward. The Mechaniks do their thing and a fully tanked Stryker charges the right most unit of Wrecking Crews. It manages to take two our; one from each unit, trickering Vengeance. The second fully tanked Stryker charges the left most Wrecking Crew and manages to kill one of them. Everything else shuffles forward.

The picture above shows the result of the Cygnar drawing first blood.

“Vengenace is mine” shout two units of Wrecking Crew. The left most moves a far forward as possible and whacks a Stryker. This also brings him within charge distance of the Courser. The second Wrecking Crew moves forward a whack the second Stryker. Finally, a Dire Wolf move forward and smashes a Storm Lancer, except that it misses. Now, the turn can really begin.

It is feat turn! Tatiana drop her upkeeps, feats and cast Positive Charge on a Dire Wolf. She has to kill the Storm Lance in front of her to make room for the Dire Wolf behind her. Thus, she is left with only one focus.

Inititally, the Arkanists fill up the ‘jacks and enjoys the view. Damien forgets he can cast Positive Charge and moves next to the objective in the forest on the right. The left Officer says Pathfinder to the unit of Suppressors and the right Officer says it to the unit of Wrecking Crew. Everybody is now ready to rumble.

The remaining Suppressor on the right side backs of and shoots at the Stryke. He does some damage. The Dire Wolf charges the Zephyr and kills it. This accidently exposes Tatians right side, so Sergei moves up to block and shoots at the Stryker. It is still alive.

On the left side, the remaining Sniper actually manage to kill a Storm Caller. This makes room for the Suppressors to move into the swap. They fire up and kills the Weather Station and chips away at the Courser and the left most Stryker. This also makes room for the two remaining Dire Wolfs.

The two Wrecking Crew on the right moves forward and hammer away at the middle Stryker. The middle Dire Wolf charges one of the Strykers and kills both. Nice Dire Wolf. This, of course leaves the last Dire Wolf with no target, yet three fokus. This releases the last of the right Wrecking Crew, which can then charge the Courser.

That is it. A rather brutal round leaving Sparkhammer on his heels. The picture above shoes the beatiful sight of Cygnar under preassure.

Sparkhammer is under heavy preassure. Howver, Tatiane has left her right side potentially exposed. Everything can happen.

Not only is Sparkhammer under pressure, he is also quite low on time. The only way to go is to attempt to break through on the right and kill Tatiane. This requires some finesse and hefty rereading of the rules for charging and Unstoppable. The plan is to make room for the Stryker to get to Tatiana along the wall and hammer her to a pulp. The requires that Sergei is removed.

The Storm Lancers charge since one of the models are unengaged. Both Storm Lancers can reach Sergei. One with no issues and the other one because it does not leave the engagement with the Dire Wolf. This is more than Sergei can handle and he goes down. A corridor has now been opend for the Stryker.

The Stryker are fully load by the Mechaniks and moves down to Tatiana. It hammers away with surprisingly little damage. For a brief moment Tatiana feels safe. Then Sparkhammer activates. He does Vexing Alignment and 7 Jackhammers later Tatiana is pulp.

I managed to snap defeat from the jaws of victory. It was going so well and then I messed up by making it too easy to get to Tatiana. 

The list is working better and better as I get to now it better. There are still some issues around focus management. I left a ‘jack with three focus that Tatiana could have used. I’m pretty sure that some simple calculations would have told me that it did not need focus. 

I still forge that Damian can cast Postitive Charge and has a spray. The main reason he is there. Snipers still die like flies to attacks that really wouldn’t touch Man-O-Wars. 

On the positive side, I getting better at the Man-O-War modules. They are beginning to feel good. Obviously, the main point is to have fun and we did. We did also get to reread a lot of rules around charging, being engaged and Unstoppable. Unstoppable units are really powerful and Man-O-Wars are Unstoppable… 

Until next time.
For the Motherland!

I have always had trouble with Cygnar. It is a long ans proud tradition to loose. So, I’m worried. In addition, it is NuCygnar, which I honestly don’t really know a lot about, except my complains about Cygnar getting the long end of the stick in the army starter boxes. You can read my complaining here. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best. I’m going to try out some version of Tatiana and Man-O-Wars. Probably not the last iteration, though. Let’s see what happens. The two lists facing off are: 

Khador – Winter Korps Kommander Tatiana Sikora    – Iron Flesh    – Puissance    – Dire Wolf [9]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Ice Hammer      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield    – Dire Wolf [9]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Ice Hammer      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield    – Dire Wolf [10]      HEAD – Shield Guard      RIGHT ARM – Long Axe      LEFT ARM – Plow-Shield Koldun Lord Damien Korovnik [3] Sergeant Sergei Krol [5] Winter Korps Officer [2] Winter Korps Officer [2] Arkanists [4] Arkanists [4] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Winter Korps Snipers [4]    – Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Winter Korps Snipers [4]    – Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Defenses    – Barrier    – Barrier    – Barrier Command cards     – Defenses     – Hit & Run     – Old Faithful     – Power Swell     – Put the Fires Out Total Points   100/100

Cygnar – Storm Legion Captain Madison Calder – Arcane Shield – Deflection – Electrify – Courser [7] Head – Advance Deployment Right arm – Heavy Stormthrower Left arm – Voltaic Punching Spike – Courser [7] Head – Advance Deployment Right arm – Heavy Stormthrower Left arm – Voltaic Punching Spike – Courser [7] Head – Shield Guard Right arm – Heavy Stormthrower Left arm – Voltaic Punching Spike – Stryker [11] Head – Relentless Charge Right arm – Voltaic Halberd Left arm – Power Fist – Stryker [11] Head – Relentless Charge Right arm – Voltaic Hammer Left arm – Power Fist – The General [17] Head – The General Left arm – Polarity Fist Right arm – Quicksilver Mk III Legionnaire Officer [3] Legionnaire Officer [3] Arcane Mechaniks [5] Arcane Mechaniks [5] Storm Callers [5] Storm Lance Legionnaires [10] Storm Vanes [4] Stormguard Legionnaires [7] – Legionnaire Standard Bearer [2] Command cards – Break Through – Careful Reconnaissance – Duck and Cover! [1] – Old Faithful – Power Swell Total points    100/100

Tatiana Sikora is the new shining Cadre ‘caster clad in Man-O-War armour. In an sense that brings back memories of Sorscha3 who was surprisingly brittel give she was in aa huge armour. I wonder if looks also deceive when it comes to Tatiana?

I’m not going to do a very thorough walk through of Tatiana’s list; that will be for a later time. Yet, she is bringing three Dire Wolfs, all with shields (never leave home without them), two with the nice Ice-Hammer and one with a Long Axe for a bit of extra reach. Dire Wolfs in this type of configuration must be among the cheapest beat sticks in the game.

At a mere nine points a Dire Wolf comes with 30 boxes, ARM 21 a POW 17 weapon and a POW 14 Shield. In addition it is a Shield Guard with Anchor and Girded. We get to pay an additional point to exchange the Ice-Hammer with a POW 16, reach two Axe without critical freeze. This is a steal.

The ‘jacks are supported by two units of Arkanists, which might be a bit over the top. However, after power-up, six Arkanists can fill three ‘jacks with focus; and I like duplicating stuf. So, why not?

The main force consists of two units of Man-O-War Wrecking Crew and two units of Man-O-War Suppressors (look, duplication again!). This is a lot of boxes with some armour (I still believe that Khador should have one or two points more of armour). 

They are supported by their Sergeant, Sergei Krol. He gives them tough, which us nice; in particular in combination with build in Steady. They can also be helped by Tatiana’s Iron Flesh spell, and clever use of Puissance and Positive Charge. Suppressors can’t hit anything smaller than large base. So, feating at the right time will bring them from large and noisy lumps of metal to killing machines.There are also two Officers that can help with Pathfinder and perhaps Swift Hunter.

To take out small stuff and perhaps assist the Suppressors in hitting, two units of Snipers with dogs are around. They still need an extra point of RAT to be truly useful. Also, the dogs tend to die very fast. Apparently, I’m only playing cat lovers.

Finally, Damien is here. He can only Spell Slave Positive Charge, which can be useful. He also has a nice spray, which I tend to forget. Also, he is a solo so there are probably some objective around he can work with (or against).

Madison Calder is brings the ability to ignore clouds, forrest and intervening models to her battlegroup. That is highly annoying as it remove most options for hiding. She also brings Arcane Shield (+3 ARM). How I wish we could learn that; Crusader’s Call (+2 SPD for everybody); Deflection (+2 DEF against ranged and arcane attacks); Electrify (+2 melee attack for a ‘jack); and Rhythm of War (kind of 3″ reposition for all ‘jacks). Her feat gives her battlegroup +3 DEF, Dodge (advance 2″ if an attack misses this model), and Riposte (if an attack misses a Cygnar battlegroup model, it gets to hit back). This all makes for a pretty mobile force with a decent amount of Armour.

She brings six ‘jacks! The main beat-stick, the General is there; Two Strykers with hammer og halberd; and two Coursers with sprays. Except for the General, the remaining ‘jacks are also quite cheap. So so well protected (without spells) as Khador ‘jacks. Yet, they are full of tricks.

Despite having six ‘jacks there are still room for quite a lot of boots on the group. Primarily, there is a unit of Storm Lancers, Cygnar’s fast, hard hitting and well armoured cavalry. I really don’t like them. A unit of Stormguards who are really dangerous agains ‘jacks. A unit of Storm Callers who are really annoying. The tend to move forward, kill my Snipers, and then make an Cygnar advance (running away). They are also rather hard to shoot. Effective DEF 15, plus any terrain. That means a 9 to hit on the average for Snipers.

All of this is support by the extremely good Mechaniks; they are basically our Mechaniks and Arkanists wrapped into one nice heavy armoured package. There are also two Legionnaire Officers and a unit of Storm Vanes. 

I’m not completely sure what to do about this army. I’ll just stick to my standard plan for Tatiana and Man-O-Wars: move as fast as Khador possible up the board and grab some real estate. Then feat, survive and kill stuff. No point in making plans to complicated.

A note to the reader: I’m proxying two units: One of the Wrecking Crews is Man-O-War Demolition Corps on large bases. The other one, is one of the Suppressor units that are Man-O-War Bombardiers on large bases. Both are painted red.

War are playing the Steamroller 2024 scenario Battle Lines. Tatiana wins the roll-off and goes first. Madison picks the side with the nice L-shaped wall, which will be very nice to hide behind. Tatiana drops two barriers where the Suppressors should be able to reach them before the opposing force gets there.

Tatiana deploys in a standard pattern. There is a unit of Snipers on each flank; all the Man-O-Wars are in the middle with ‘jacks evenly spaced; an Officer and a unit of Arkanists on each side; and Tatiana with slave in the middle.

Madison deploys herself in the middle, ready to run and hide behind the wall. She packs all of her troops and one of the light ‘jacks, save for the Storm Callers and Storm Lances, to the left where they are protected by the Storm Vanes. The two remaining units goes on the right flank. The five remaining ‘jacks are placed around Madison in the middle.

The picture above shows the end of the deployment phase.

Tatiana starts by sticking to the plan. She puts Iron Flesh on the Supressor unit to the right to make it annoying for the Storm Lancers to deal with. She puts Puissance on the Wrecking Crew to the left and finally casts Tactical Supremacy.

Everything with armour then moves forward with the Suppressors attempting to move in and screen everything behind. It quickly turns into a trafic jam. However, the unit movement rules in MK IV actually makes it less messy.

Arkanists and Officers move in behind the wall of steel to be ready to support. The Snipers move forward, hugging a forest on the left where there are no Storm Callers and trying to hide behind stuff on the right.

The picture below shows the result of attempting to navigate 16 large bases in the middle of the board.

After the eventful first turn it is now Madison’s turn. She casts Deflection to annoy my Suppressors, and I think Arcane Shield on one of the ‘jacks. She feats to speed up the army and basically make it more annoying. 

She then basically moves everything up. Though, surprisingly not the Strom Lancers. They normally tend to be in my face before I know it. She also draws first blood and kills the dog on the left flank. My opponent is clearly not a dog person. It gets sprayed from the light ‘jack. Finally, Madison moves up and hides behind the wall. I suspect she will stay there forever. 

That is basically it. A rather uneventful round. The picture above depicts the end of the first round. The game is still very much open. 

Round 2 is normally when the action happens. Games are won and lost here. Let’s see what happens. 

Tatiana starts by upkeeping her spells. Having watch her precursor, Sorscha3 die too many times by standing in the frontline trusting her armour, she decides to hang back and watch the show. She does, however remember to feat. She also says Desperate Pace to the Wrecking Crew on the left to enable them to get into the opposing ‘jacks on the left.

On the right, the Snipers are well aware that there is no chance of them actually hitting the Storm Callers, so they just charge them instead. Not that it actually helps a lot, but it does get the remaining dog near something that the Suppressors wants to shoot.

The Suppressors starts unloading into the the General. Even with the feat they do miss a few times. This activates Dodge and the General moves forward until it is in the Suppressors faces; stopping the barrage. The Suppressors do have Pistol on their weapon (ignores the target in melee bonus). I just think I forgot that. The right most Dire Wolf moves in for the kill but leaves the General at 2-3 boxes.

The right most Wrecking Crew attempts to box in the Stryker in the middle to stop Dodge. But it is too far, leaving room for it to escape. I was fishing for knockdown (actually Smite) from the Ram Piston. But no fish would bite.

The second Suppressor unit opened fire on the dog-killing Courser getting it to Dodge out of range, which is nice as it leaves room for the second Wrecking Crew. This one could actually charge the Stryker (with a bit of help from an Officer, giving them Pathfinder). However, the Stryker survived.

The two remaining ‘jacks were caught in a trafic jam. The picture above depicts the end of Tatiana’s feat turn. I think the damage output was lacking.

Madison strikes back. She now has Rhythm of War up; Electrify on the Styrker to the left and Arcane Shield on the second Styker.

On the right side, the Storm Callers moves out of combat, using the Break Through card and shoots my Snipers to kingdom come; including another dog! The Storm Lancers charge in along the right flank, but does really nothing to write home about. It is followed up by a Courser, also not really doing anything. The General is in a bad shape and can’t really contribute. Finally, a unit of Mechanics also join the fun. All in all, the right flank is solid. Unfortunately, the Storm Callers can score and a Legionnaire Officers runs to the right most objective and can also score.

In the middle, I loose two members of the Wrecking Crew. To something I forgot. This opens up a route for the Stryker to move into the Suppressor unit. But, again without must effect.

On the right, the combined work of a Courser, a unit of Mechanics and a unit of Storm Vanes removes the Wrecking Crew. It really means a lot being outside Tatiana’s feat. This enables the Stryker to move up to the wall.

Finally, the unit of Stormguards now have a free line to the left Dire Wolf. Despite being under feat, five Stormguards are too much.

At the end of this turn Madison manages to score 3 points whilst denying any for the Empress. The picture above shows the sorry state of affairs after the second round.

I’m in trouble. Unless something brutal is pulled out of a helmet I’m loosing on Scenario. Assassination is out of the question. Madison is dug in too good. I need to contest and score… a lot.

On the right flank the Dire Wolf get to work after being Empowered by some Arkanists. It gets rid of the General and the Courser. Freeing the Suppressors to shoot stuff. They remove one Mechanik and makes a decent attempt on the left Stryker.

The Suppressors in the middle moves up to the objective to contest and shoots the Styrker and some Stormguards. The Styrker goes down and as a miracle so does a few of the Stormguards. This leaves room for the Dire Wolf with the axe that takes on the last Stryker, without killing it.

On the left side, Officers, Sergei Krol and Damien cleans out the remaining Stormguards, leaving room for the Snipes to move and contest the objective. They also shoot and kill the Legionnaire Officer.

That is really it. Madison manage to score an additional two points and Tatiana only one. That leaves Madison the three points ahead and the game ends. The picture above shows the end of the pary.

This was rough. It is strikingly clear that scenarion is so much more important in this version of Steamroller. Having 3 additional scenario points after scoring in the opponent’s turn is nice in the sense that the opponent gets a chance. However, contesting hard becomes really important. The old approach of just killing enough stuff seems deprecated.

I’m convinced that Tatiana with Man-O-Wars has game. There is a lot of boxes and armour. I still think that Khador needs an extra point of armour. It is basically only under feat that we are somewhat safe.

It is also clear that shooty Khador requires much more finess than I can currently manage. The Suppressors are good when they can use Volley Fire against their opponents. Snipers are still underwhelming. I need to figure out how to keep the dog alive.

Nevertheless, we had fun! More practice with Tatiana is required and perhaps some fine tuning of the list.

Until next time.
For the Motherland!

I have never faced Sloan before. I’m told that Sloan gun line is a thing – and boy there are many guns here. Vlad is feeling lucky and moves his Winter Guards into position.  He brings his standard Winter Guard list (detailed here). This is the post-Oblivion version, which only differs in an additional Artillery Kapitan.

Sloan1 is completely new to me. She appears to be a little girl carrying a big gun. Her build in ability is True Sight, which allows her to ignore cloud effects and stealth. I guess this is handy, when carrying a big gun. She also confers this ability to her eight ‘jacks. Luckily, Vlad and his Winter Guards doesn’t really do a lot in the whole cloud business. When in the theme, Gravedigger, the trenchers also gains Rise, which allows knocked down trenchers to stand up in the maintenance phase. There really isn’t a lot of trenchers in this list. So, it is almost inconsequential. Vlad’s knockdown circus will probably focus on the ‘jacks. It also allows Sloan to reroll the starting roll, which might matter as I guess she wants to go first.

Besides the big gun, she also brings five spells to the table. One of them is a damage spell (Dust to Dust); another is Return Fire, which allows a model to shoot back; and one is Refuge, which allows a model hitting something to make a full advance. However, all of her value is in the last two spells in combination with the eight shooty ‘jacks: Fire Group, which gives all her ‘jacks +2 RNG; and Guided Fire, which gives all her ‘jacks boosted attack rolls. She is probably going to cast them all the time, which will consume five of her six focus. She really rounds of her shooting ‘jacks with her feat, which gives her a free Fire Group, and models in her battle group and make an addition ranged attack.

In the feat turn, that is 12, range 16″, POW 6 (Armor Piercing) shots (hitting DEF 17 on average), and 8 (assuming a trencher nearby). range 12. AOE 3″, POW 13 shots (hitting DEF 16 on average). All of this without spending a single focus and not including her own shooting. That is a whole lot of shooting!

She is also in the company of Reinholdt. Two of his three abilities are relevant here (removing Stealth not). He can use Lucky Charm to give Sloan a reroll an attack or damage roll, or Reloader to give her an addition ranged attack. Again, under feat turn she can potentially put out 3 shots (one on her own, one from the feat, and one from Reinholdt’s Reload) at range 16″, POW 12, hitting DEF 18 on the average.

Sloan is brining an impressive eight ‘jacks: two Grenadiers and six Hunters. The Grenadiers are kind of the trencher version of ‘jacks. It can Dig In for an impressive DEF 18. It can also Advance Deploy. Its gun can reach 10″ (12″ under Fire Group), and easily kills Winter Guards inside the 3″ AOE. It can make an impressive 3 attacks, if there are two or more trenchers within 1″ of it. That is a lot of dead Winter Guards. Luckily, there aren’t that many trenchers in the list, so actually having a lot of shots is unlikely.

Where the Grenadiers are there to kill infantry, the Hunters are there to kill ‘jacks. Its range 14″ (16″ under Fire Group) gun is only POW 6, but it is Armor Piercing. So it is 7 points of damage on a Khador ‘jack per shot (assuming boosted damage, by why not?). Six of them is potentially a dead ‘jack or carriage per turn (two on the feat turn). It also has Extended Control Range, allowing it to operate within 24″ of Sloan.

Sloan is also bringing three units: two units Trencher Express Teams and a single unit of Rangers. Trencher Express Team is one more things that might cause trouble. They can reliably hit most of our stuff, removes tough and can push model d3″. Given the rather short threat range of our ‘jacks, a d3″ push can seriously hamper any charge plans. Even using Vlad’s speed tricks. The Rangers are really mostly a nuisance. They can do Mark Target for a +2 to hit. But with all the boosting going on that doesn’t really matter a lot. They can obviously score. However, they are not Trencher models, so they can’t assist a Grenadier. 

Finally, Sloan is brining a Patrol Dog and two Trench Busters. The Patrol Dog is situational annoying, but nothing more. The two Trench Busters, on the other hand are quite annoying. They are primarily Shield Guards, but is also a solo for scoring. They can be somewhat dangerous when charging.

All in all, this is shooting galore. This list can put out an impressive amount of shots and damage. On the bright side, it doesn’t really matter how much damage a shot can do. Only one Winter Guard can die per shot (at least with a bit of clever positioning to avoid the Grenadier). I think this game calls for application of the subtle preferred Khador approach: apply axe to face (or anything you can grab to face) as fast as possible. Slacker will be shot, either by Cygnar og Joe. 

We are playing Steamroller 2019 Bunker. We both opt for the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″). After several identical dice rolls, Sloa finally fixes the roll-off using the theme reroll. She decides to go first. Vlad is lazy and just stays on the side of the table where he already is. In hindsight, he should perhaps have chosen the other side. There is one of his favourite walls.

Sloan deploys in the middel with a Shield Guard on both sides, and all the hunters in a neat line. Everything that can Advance Deploy does so in the middle of the field. 

Vlad deploys very much the standard way. A Gun Carriage on each flank. A bit ‘jack heavy on the left flank to protect them a bit behind the two houses. Artillery heavy on the right to not be hampered by the two houses. The picture above show the setup at the end of deployment. 

Round one, the round of not a lot. Yet, having all of these ‘jacks doing Advance Deployment might actually bring them closer to axe to face. 

Sloan casts Guided Fire and then runs all the Hunter spreading a bit out on each flank. This leaves room for the Grenadiers to advance up in the middle and dig in. Most other stuff just advance, except for the dog that moves to the left, and the Rangers who just stay put. The picture above shoes the end of Cygnar’s first round. 

Vlad need to get up the field. However, there is no way that the army can get in the face of Sloan’s army. So, it is probably better to advance pseudo-slow to in such a way that I will hopefully survive the first barrage. On the left flank the Gun Carriage advances and closes the hole between the two house to shelter the Winter Guards behind. The two Marauders move forward and tries to continue the block. Finally, Joe says Courage of the Forefathers to the Rifle Corps. On the right flank, the Gun Carriage moves forward next to the cloud to do the same shelter manoeuvre. The last Marauder also moves up to continue the block. Vlad moves forward, up behind the objective and casts Wind Wall. Everybody else moves forward. The picture above depicts the end of Vlads turn.

So, this is probably the shooting bonanza round. This is going to hurt. I guess it is just a question about how much is left, and whether it will be enough.

Not surprisingly, Sloan start by casting Guided Fire and using her feat starts the hailstorm of bullets. On the left flank, the three Hunters fires all six shots (three of them boosted damage) on the Gun Carriage. Sadly, that is more than sufficient to kill it. A Grenadier then moves forward and lobs a grenade into the Rifle Corps. Thanks to Joes encouraging speech only one dies.

On the right flank, two Hunters do the same trick and removes the second Gun Carriage. A Grenadier moves forward and takes out five Winter Guards. The Express Team hits the Marauder and pushes it. Maxwell runs to the right flag to start scoring soon, and the Rangers move forward to be a general annoyance. The picture above demonstrates the surprisingly little slaughter from Sloan’s feat.

This was not too bad. It is always sad to see two Gun Carriages evaporate in a single turn. Yet, given this armies shooting output under Sloan’s feat, I think I got away cheaply. I don’t think the dice gods were on Sloan’s side. Anyway, the remaining heavy armour need to get up field. The objective heals one of the Marauders. Vlad allocates a single focus to each of the jacks. He then activates, feats and casts Sing & Portents. He is quite happy enjoying the view from behind the Objective. So, he stays there.

On the left flank, the Kapitan runs to the left and hides behind the house. He is then ready to run forward to the flag in the next round. The Rifle Corps advances a bit takes out the dog. One less solo to score. The leftmost Marauders tramples over the Ranger and kills the Spotter in the Express Team. Unfortunately, the troll is just outside the Marauder’s reach.

The second Kapitan moves next to the woods and gives Artillerist to the Mortar. Joe also moves forward and supports the Marauder with For the Motherland. The Mortar then drops a shell at the Ranger standing in front of the Grenadier and Express Team. He dies. This now leaves room for the rightmost Marauder. This Marauder can now charge the Grenadier, which it proceeds to destroy. There is a single attack left, which is used to kill the troll in the Express Team. The right most Rifle Corps can now advance. They move forward and shoots Maxwell to death. Yet another solo gone. The rightmost Field Gun can now aim and kill the middle Ranger.

There is now room fo the middle Marauder, which charges the Hunter behind the wall. It is having a bad day, so the Hunter barely survives. I think this was pretty OK. The Marauders are now in Sloa’s face, all solos have been taken out, and mine are still left. We both score a point, leaving the scenario score at 1-1. The picture above shoes the end of round 2.

So far, so good. The game can still go either way. Let’s see what Sloan can do, now that she have used her feat.

Sloan starts by casting Guided Fire. On the left flank, the Grenadier takes out the three Winter Guards in front. Probably as a revenger over the dead dog (I can sympathise). The three Hunters start shooting at the Marauder standing next to the house. They almost kills it. Sloan also takes a shot, and the troll from the Express Team finishes it off.

The remaining ‘jacks concentrate on the Marauder in front. A lot of shooting takes place, but it actually achieves an acceptable DEF from being engaged and for some behind a wall. The two Trench Busters also have to commit. They charge it, hut it refuses to go down. The remaining Rangers move forward to, once again stand in the way. All in all, a survivable round. We each score another point. Leaving the scenario at 2-2. The picture above depicts the end of Sloan’s turn. 

This battle is still wide open. Vlad probably needs to get to work. I think I need to go for some scenario points. Vlad allocates to focus points to the middle Marauder. He then activates, casts S&P, and charges the Ranger next to the middle flag. He uses one focus to boost to hit as he really needs to cast Boundless Charge. He kills the Ranger and uses Blood Boon to cast Boundless charge on the rightmost Marauder. The two Rifle Corps move up in the middle and shoots the Ranger and the troll from the Express Team next to the house. Joe tags along and says For the Motherland to the Mortar.

The rightmost Marauder can now charge the rightmost Hunter as it is currently contesting the rightmost flag. It will happily take a free strike from the Ranger. It then does a Combo Smite on the Hunter and slams it quite a long distance. This now opens up for the Kapitan to run to the flag to score. The last Marauder moves a bit forward. It the proceeds to kill the two Trench Busters and add more pain to the Hunter.

The rightmost Kapitan moves back to where he originally came from. There is no way he is going near the leftmost flag, where there are three Hunters lined up. He gives Artillerist to the Mortar. The Mortar takes a chance and shoots at the Ranger in front of the wall. It misses. The Field Gun tries the same and is successful! Unfortunately, Vlad has left his zone, so no point there. There is, however two points for flags. Only one point for Sloan. This leaves the scenario score at 4-3 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of the third round. 

So, Vlad is in the middle of the fray. This normally spells trouble. Vlad is surprisingly less robust than one thinks.

Sloan is not too happy being within a Marauder’s charge range. She allocates some focus to a few ‘jacks. Two of the Hunters, which have been leisurely hanging around on the left flank finally moves in. Together with last Hunter on the right flank the shoot the Marauder until is perish. They also manage to kill the Kapitan at the right flag. The last Hunter, on the left flank kills the other Kapitan. Vlad is quickly running out of solos.

Sloan and the Grenadier shoots at Vlad. But, he brought Winter Guards. The Empress’ finest always selfishly support their leader by sacrificing them selves. When the gun smoke blows away, Vlad is still standing. This leaves Vlad scoring nothing is this turn. Yet, Sloan still scores one. This leaves the scenario score at 4-4. The picture above shows the end of Sloan’s turn.

This is still wide open. Vlad might have over extended himself a bit. Vlad activates. He then moves back into the home zone, casts S&P and Wind Wall. Joe moves to the middle flag and shouts Courage of the Forefathers on the Rifle Corps, who the gathers around him. They shoot everything at the Grenadier. All the artillery also shoots the Grenadier until it goes sway. This will now allow Joe to score. On the right flank the remaining Marauder turns slightly to the left and the trashes the Hunter. This leaves Vlad scoring two points and Sloan scoring one point, leaving the scenario score at 6-5 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above depicts the end of round four. 

This game seems to be going to either clock or scenario. It still seems that is can go either way. 

Sloan is annoyed. She activates and casts Guided Fire and then proceeds to shoot at Joe. Luckily, he is almost as esteemed as Vlad. So, the Winter Guards are more than happy to sacrifice themselves on his behalf. The Hunters move about a bit, also to contest Joe’s flag. They then pump all lead into him,. Once they run out, Joe has also run out of Winter Guards. However, he is innately tough. So his is still alive. This turn leaves Vlad and Sloan scoring one point each; leaving the scenario score at 7-6 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above demonstrates the heroic and unselfish behaviour of the proud Winter Guards.

Vlad is slowly running out of troops. He really can’t do anything but activate first, cast S&P and Wind Wall once again. As before, all artillery focus on the Hunter contesting the flag. The combined might of two Field Guns and a Mortar leaves the Hunter as scrap. Joe stands up and shouts obscene remarks at Sloan and her forefathers (it is probably unnecessary to mention that courage was not part of it). The remaining Marauder just runs into Sloans zone to contest. This allows Vlad to score two points and Sloan none. Scenario score is now 9-6 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of round five.

Sloan is getting impatient and behind on scenario points. Vlad is quite happy. Not overly so, but nevertheless.

Sloan activates and casts Fire Group. Most of the Hunters pound away at Vlad’s objective and manages to kill it. The remaining shots are put into the Mortar, which also dies. Sloan herself, having a magical rifle, shoots at Vlad. There are still Winter Guards around, so he is safe. That was it. Sloan scores one, as do Vlad. This leaves the scenario score at 10-7 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows (almost) the end of round 6. 

Vlad just needs to score two more points, whilst Sloan scores nothing. Vlad just hanging around doing nothing will score one for his zone. Joe can easily run to the rightmost flag, that is another point. Finally, the Marauder can trivially remove the objective. We agree to end the game at scenario score 13-7 in Vlad’s favour.

This was a rough game. It started at a low point, loosing two Gun Carriages in one turn. However, it probably turned out to be a blessing, as Sloan’s feat basically left the three Marauders more or less unhurt. I think Sloan would have been better off focusing on the Marauders.

I think Vlad used his feat at the best time. It did not allow the Marauders to kill a lot. But, it did put a significant part of the army on Sloan’s side of the flags, putting pressure on her.

Once again, Blood Boon proved its value. Vlad simply haven’t got enough focus any other way. It was paramount that the Marauder managed to slam the Hunter away in round 3. Also, Sacrificial Pawn is golden. Many, many Winter Guards can be packed around Vlad to ward of heavy shooting; and boy did Sloan’s list have a lot of heavy shooting.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

I have only faced Siege once before, but that was in his epic version; and Irusk was dispatched for that intermezzo. Irusk was clearly not up for the task. Despite a heroic effort from the Winter Guards, they had to admit defeat on scenario (battle report here). This time, Vlad moves to intercept. He brings his standard Winter Guard list (detailed here). This is the post-Oblivion version, which only differs in an additional Artillery Kapitan.

Cygnar [Theme] Heavy Metal [Brisbane 1] Major Markus “Siege” Brisbane [+28] .    – Hurricane [35] – Triumph [18] – Squire [0(5)] Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine [0(5)] – Ace [10] Journeyman Warcaster [0(4)] – Charger [9] Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10] Field Mechaniks (min) [3] Storm Strider [18]

Khador [Theme] Winter Guard Kommand [Vladimir 1] Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince [+28] – Marauder [11] – Marauder [11] – Marauder [11] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [0(4)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [0(3)] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [4] Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] – Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (min) [8] – Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17] Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]

I have never faced Siege1 before. I have, however had my behind handed to me by his epic incarnation. Siege1 is a 6 focus caster who brings five spells to the table, who carries a really big gun. This gun can place a 4″ AOE anywhere completely within 14″. Everybody within this AOE suffers a POW 14. This makes Winter Guards really sad.

His most famous spell is probably Foxhole, which allows him to place, basically a AOE 5″ trench (almost) anywhere within 14″ (thanks to the Squire). Siege likes to hide in such a hole. A lot of models can hide in a foxhole. This is unfortunate, as Vlad has quite a few models that like to blast stuff. He can also cast Mage Sight, which puts a 5″ AOE completely within 14″ (thanks to the Squire). Siege’s models can ignore forrest, clouds and stealth when attacking. He can also slam stuff using Force Hammer. Rift is a 4″ AOE, which also leaves rough terrain. Explosivo allows a model to gain Magical Weapons and 3″ blast. Finally, his feat allows him to remove all walls in his control and his models basically gets Armor Piercing when damaging a model in Seige’s control area (14″ due to the Squire).

The battlegroup includes the ubiquitous Squire, a Hurricane, and his pet ‘jack Triumph. The Squire does quite a few neat tricks for Siege. First and foremost, it extends his control range to 14″. It also allows him to reroll one magic attack roll per turn. Finally, it has a 5 focus battery, which Siege can user in his control phase.

Siege’s pet ‘jack Triumph has a bond that gives it boosted range attack rolls. Triumph is a surprisingly shooty ‘jack. It carries a range 16″ gun, POW 15 gun, which it can fire both in normal activation, but also in the Maintenance phase. At RAT 7 (automatically boosted), it is going to hit must stuff (DEF 17 on average); also because it has True Sight. As an extra bonus, it is a Shield Guard.

The Hurricane is the largest Arc Node around. It is a standard colossal with ARM 19 (probably 22 under the Journeyman Warcaster’s Arcane Shield), 56 boxes and two massive fists; the latter causes Cortex damage. So, Warjacks beware. It has four guns, two range 12″, POW 16, which slams small- and medium-based models; and two range 14″, POW 13 AOE 4″ guns. The Hurricane is actually not too scary. It will still go down to two Marauders, using just two focus in addition to feat and power up).

Siege brings two junior Warcaster. The ever present Journeyman Warcaster, and Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine. The standard Journeyman Warcaster is basically there for Arcane Shield (+3 ARM to a model). Here he is bringing a Charger as his little friend. The Charger is actually a quite nifty light warjack. It can shoot twice with its range 12″ POW 12 gun, and using Powerfull Attack it can boost all attack and damage rolls. This means hitting DEF 16 for 22 points of damage on average.

Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine, carries two POW 10, range 10″ magelock pistols that can either shoot 14″, push stuff D3″, or hit a model within 4″ of the original model hit. In this setup, I do however think his most important role is to bring his pet ‘jack Ace, and the spell Fire for Effect (we all know and love this one. How Cygnar has stolen it from Irusk needs to be investigated). Ace is a small shooty ‘jack. It carries a POW 12, range 14″ gun, which like Caine’s guns also can do three different things: Shadow Fire, which stops the target model from blocking LOS; Thunderbolt, which pushes D3″; and Trick Shot, which hits another model within 4″ of the original model hit.

Siege also bring a Battle Engine, namely the Storm Strider. It has a ROF 2, range 14″, POW 15 gun, which also arcs lightning to D3 nearby models. Not nice behaviour against the Winter Guards. It generates its own power tokens (fake focus). Finally, and quite important it adds +2 to friendly Faction model’s range attack roll targeting an enemy model within 10″ of it. It is probably going to be close to the Hurricane. At ARM 18 and 28 boxes, a single fully powered Marauder can take it out.

There are two units in this army, a minimum unit of Field Mechaniks, and Alexia1. The former basically does what it says on the tin. Yet the Heavy Metal theme allows the Reposition [3″], and that they repair for an addition 1 point.

The final unit is Alexia Ciannor & the Risen, who has been payed, handsomely I hope to assist Cygnar here. Alexia1 can make solos (Thrall Warriors) and is in her self actually pretty dangerous as long as there are Risen around. Unfortunately for her, she needs to restock her supply of Risen to really function, and there are mostly Winter Guards around to do that. Not having an ample supply of bodies on her own side will probably make her less efficient.

All in all, Vald is not too scared. The huge-bases should be manageable. Siege needs to get within charge range (under feat) of the Marauders to really do something. Alexia is probably going to run suboptimal. There is, however and tremendous amount of potential very damaging shooting. In particular when Siege feats.

Deployment

We are playing Steamroller 2019 King of the hill. Probably the best scenario for Vlad and his happy Winter Guards (more on this later). We both picked the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″). Siege opted to go first. So, Vlad chose the side with a nice wall in the middle. He has developed a tradition of standing behind walls enjoying the view.

Siege deploys in the middle with all the solos and Alexia around him. The two huge-bases deploy on the left and all the remaining ‘jacks on the right. The Risen and Mechaniks deploy in the back. 

Vlad deploys pretty standard. Him in the middle surrounded by a unit of Winter Guards. All artillery in the middle, along with the ‘jacks. The solos deploy in the back. A Gun Carriage deploys on each flank. King of the hill is really good for this list. Vlad can bring a Gun Carriage into each of the rectangular zones in turn 1! Winter guards can concentrate on the middle zone. The picture above depicts the end of deployment. 

Round 1 is always about positioning. We both really need to get up the field to do some scenario work. Siege in particular as he, in principal has a slower army! 

Siege starts by dropping a Foxhole near the edge of the circular zone. He then moves into it, hiding from all the shooting. The Storm Strider and Hurricane cautiously moves forward on the left flank. Triumph moves into the Foxhole with his best friend, and the two other ‘jacks also moves forward. For some strange reason, all the rest stays at the back. I guess they are scared of the shooting capabilities of Vlad’s forces. The picture above shows the end of Siege’s turn.

We need to get forward, yet without being shot to death by the Hurricane. The two Gun Carriages runs forward into the two rectangular zones. They are now ready to score or contest. The three Marauders advance and spread out. Two to the left to engage the two huge bases. The Winter Guards spread out to avoid Electro Leap from the Hurricane, and just in case, Joe goes Courage of the Motherland on the left most Rifle Corps. The artillery goes behind the wall or stay out of the threat range from the Hurricane.

This is probably the round where Cygnar will go electric.

On the left flank, the Storm Strider and Hurricane advance surprisingly short. They do all the shooting they can, and three Winter Guards. The middle Marauder also gets hit by the Storm Strider, it is pushed backwards, and is disrupted. On the right flank, the ‘jacks move around, and one of Alexia’s new Thralls moves into the zone. The troops in the back move around a bit. A surprisingly uneventful turn. The picture above depicts the end of Cygnar’s turn.

Hey ho, let’s go. Vlad is on a roll. Vlad stays where he is. He casts Signs & Portens, and Wind Wall. The Winter Guards begins. One of the Artillery Kapitans uses Artillerist on the Mortar, and moves to the left. The second one runs to score the flag. Joe moves up near Vlad to stay inside Wind Wall, and says For the Motherland to the Mortar. It drops a shot at the Hurricane and does some damage. The leftmost Field Gun runs forward, the other own moves over the wall a shoots the Cygnar objective. All the remaining Winter Guards move forward, and might have shot at something.

The rightmost Gun Carriage charges the Thrall and takes it out. It the shoots Ace and the Charger. It the repositions into the zone to score. On the left flank, the other Gun Carriage charges the objective and takes it out. It the proceeds to shoot at the Hurricane. The leftmost Marauder moves through the forrest and lines up to charge either the Storm Strider or the Hurricane. The middle one (disrupted) just moves forward. The right one moves between the flag and the house to protect the Artillery Kapitan.

That was it. This makes four scenario points for Vlad: two zones, a flag, and killing the objective. The scenario score is now 4-0 in Vlad’s favour. The picture above shows the end of Vlad’s scenario turn.

Siege is in trouble. Vlad just needs one more scenario point to win (assuming that Siege does not score).

End of round 3, end of game

Siege deceides to go for the assassination. Luckily, Vlad is nicely placed. He is behind a wall, under Wind Wall, and with nine Sacrificial Pawns near by. Nevertheless, that is probably the only choice for Siege.

There is some tricks that Siege can do. He can cast Explosivo to give a model Magical Weapons, Triumph has a Magical gun, Caine has a magical gun, Ace has a magical gun (but can’t reach Vlad), So Siege begins. He feats, casts Explosivo on the Hurricane, moves forward and starts shooting Winter Guards. I think Siege either made an error here, or Vlad is not behind a Wall template. Siege’s feat can remove walls in this control (14″ with the Squire). So he either should have moved, and then feated; or he forgot. All in all, Winter Guards are dying.

Next up is Ace, which shoots the right most Marauder using Shadow Fire to hinder it in blocking LOS. The Hurricane also kills Winter Guards (Vlad is running low). The Charger moves up and shoots Vlad. Triumph follows up with the same procedure. Vlad is left with five boxes!

Siege did not kill Vlad. He did not score any points either. He did manage to contest the circular zone and the flag. Vlad manages to score two more points leaving him at 7-0. Thus, the game is won. The picture above shows Vlad’s victorious moment. 

This was easy. Despite Siege (perhaps) forgetting an effect of his feat. I did not do the calculations, but I do not think that it would have changed so much. As I remember, none of the Cygnar shooting missed (perhaps once or twice).

Vlad is a beast behind a wall (or not) under Wind Wall, and with enough Sacrificial Pawns. There is no way to assassinate him by shooting.

Even if Vlad did not win on scenario, he would probably have won in the next turn. The picture below demonstrates the plan. Vlad would give focus to a sensible number of ‘jacks, feat, and cast S&P. The two leftmost ‘jacks can trivially remove the Hurricane, and the last one can kill Siege. This still leaves the havoc that the two Gun Carriages and the remaining Winter Guards can cause.

The winning plan

Until next time.

For the Motherland!

The battle is bloody, in a “human life is cheap” kind of way. Despite Irusk doing a thorough cleaning-up of Cygnar insurgents, he is narrowly beaten by scenario score. Cygnar did a classic hide the caster instead of a proper fight. Next time, Siege will not know what hit him. 

Siege2 is a regular star around here. It is a well know fact that you should stay at least 15″ away – or you are dead. Normally, he is accompanied by Long Gunners and Commandos, so the addition of a Blockhouse is a surprising addition. However, this is not going to disturb Irusk and his standard WGK list, detailed here. Here are the two lists (the Cygnar list is purely based on memory):

This analysis is, as always post-event. I should probably have done this before the game. Steamroller events rarely allow for a couple of hours of analysis before the game can commence. So, as always, this will hopefully prepare me for the next time I face such a force.

Siege2 is well know for the: don’t stand with 15″ of him assassin run (I have lost Sorscha3 to that assassin run before). He can feat, giving him 3″; then walk for 5″, use his Rocket Pack to be placed completely within 5″ (making screening difficult); and finally he has a 2″ reach. The Rocket Pack also boosts his next damage roll (same as if he charged). In addition, his big maul has knockdown on a stick. Fully loaded with focus, he can hit the opponent’s caster five times for an average of 25+22+22+22+22+22 points of damage. He hits DEF 14 on average. 

What does this mean for Irusk2? Irusk do have one major advantage: he will most likely be immune to knockdown, thanks to Solid Ground. This makes him much more survivable that other casters who might lead a Winter Guard Kommand. Siege2 has a 42% probability of hitting Irusk2 with an unboosted attack roll. Assuming Irusk2 is left without focus, he will still be dead if Siege2 makes a dedicated assassin run. A fully loaded Siege2 will make an average of 19 points of damage to Irusk2, which is 4 more that he has. Irusk2 should be left with at least two focus, preferably three. Hence, measure carefully if spending more than four focus. This is assuming no spikes!

The opponent brought three ‘jacks: a Hammersmith, an Ironclad, and Triumph. The two former are basically “just” beat sticks; Triumph is slightly annoying with his boosted (due to bond with Siege) gun with 16″ range. All in all, it is just three ‘jacks.

We are playing the Pit II. We both chose the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″). I won the roll-off and opted to go first; I like to add scenario pressure as early as possible.

I went the for the classic setup, with a Rifle Corps on each flank, the infantry in the middle, and artillery between the middle and the flanks. Since we are playing Pit II, and only ‘jacks can score the rectangular zones (ignoring the warcaster), I chose to have a ‘jack on each flank 

Se picture below for deployment (ignore the four Winter Guards in the middle. They were a bit enthusiastic and ran before the photographer was ready).

The Cygnar player deployed his Blockhouse in the middle, along with the two trenches. The infantry goes on my left flank, and the Commandos goes on my right flank. Siege and the ‘jacks, more or less in the middle. 

I basically just run everything. Irusk starts of by casting Solid Ground, and puts down Artifice of Deviation to hinder the Trencher Infantry on the left flank. He also pulls a little to the left, leaving Joe to make sure that the Rifle Corps on the right flank are tough. They are facing down the Commandos, so the whole tough thing might not be worth anything. I actually manage to remember to move Ayana & Holt this match.

The Cygnar player advances everything, most of it cautiously. This leaves the trenchers on my left flank Dug In in the middle of the zone, leaving them on DEF 17 and imune to blast. Somehow they also manage to kill three of the Rifle Corps on my left flank. 

That is more or less it. The picture above is at the end of turn 1.

For turn 2, I still play the red tide, so everybody go forward. Except Irusk, of course. He is an old man, so he will hang a bit back. He drops Artifice of Deviation, upkeeps Solid Ground and cast Fire for Effect on the artillery on the left. 

On my left flank, the Rifle Corps charge the infantry, as there is no change of actually shooting anybody, when they are dug in. The Rifle Corps is not particularly effective, despite them managing to kill three trenchers (they should actually have a 70% chance of killing a trencher on the charge. Apparently the Rifle Corp was not aware of that). 

The Rifle Corps on the right flank moves up and does a lot of combined ranged attacks to remove Commandos. They were much more efficient than there colleagues on the left flak. Combined with artillery support, they manage to remove all but one!

My infantry moves into the centre zone and stays behind the Razor Wall Siege put down. Artillery also moves up and shoots at some random stuff. The Spriggan moves into the right zone to be able to score. The Marauder moves up behind the forest, to be ready for a feat-driven surprise charge.

The Cygnar player started by clearing out my left flank, leaving the whole party rather exposed. The trenchers, the Hammersmith, the Trench Buster, and Triumph did a little too much for my taste. He also moves Siege2 a bit up and hide him in a trench. The Ironclad and the last Commando contests the zone to my right. This leaves my one down on scenario points, and loosing my left flank. Not good. The picture above depicts the end of turn 2.

I really cannot do anything about my left flank this turn. Irusk2 upkeeps Solid Ground and Fire for Effect, and allocates focus to the two ‘jacks. He also feats.

The artillery and Winter Guards clean up the area in the middel between the Hammersmith and the forest. This makes room for the Marauder, who thanks to Irusk2’s feat now can charge through the forest and remove the Hammersmith. One problem down. The Spriggan also wants to join the party, and after a bit of shooting from troops on the right flank, it charges the Iron Clad and removes it. So far so good.

The Winter Guards also remove the Express Team, the last Commando, and other bits and bobs on the right flank. I do manage to score one scenario point, making it 2-1 in his favour. The picture below shows the situation after my round 3.

Retaliation time for the Cygnar player. The Trenchers on my left flank continues rolling up the flank. They remove one of the Field Guns, and Ayana & Holt. This puts an uncomfortable amount of pressure onto the back of my line, and Irusk. 

Triumph, supported by the Blockhouse and Siege2 manage to remove the Marauder from the centre zone. Siege2 also recasts Razor Wall to block my infantry. Somehow, I forgot how, he also manages to take out my objective. 

All in all, the board is now turned 90 degrees, with Siege controlling my left side, and Irusk controlling the right side. Scenario is now 4-2 in his favour. 

So, I’m halfway in trouble. I have lost my left flank, and the Cygnar player now potential threatens Irusk. At the same time, he has gathered his forces to my left, making any hope of an assassin run dubious at best. On the rigt side life is a party. Despite having lost my objective, I am in total control. 

Irusk2 upkeeps Solid Ground and put down an Artifice of Deviation just behind the forest to hamper any trenchers thinking that the remaining artillery or Irusk should be a target. Fire for Effect also goes on the remaining Field Gun. Finally, he moves closer to the right zone, so that he might score at some point. I think the Spriggan might have been seriously damaged at some point. I have to admit, I forgot.

The artillery shoots at some random stuff without doing anything memorable. The remaining Rifle Corps advances and cleans up any Cygnar leftovers in the right flank.

Finally, the infantry moves towards the centre and into the forest. To perhaps threaten something and potential score the middle zone, once the Cygnar stuff is cleared away.

The Cygnar player consolidates his troops on the left side on the centre zone. Takes a few potshots, and that is basically it. The picture above shows the end of turn 4. Scenario is now 7-4 in his favour.

So trouble is getting worse. I’m slowly loosing on scenario and it seems that there is nothing serious I can do about it. I need to chew through Triumph, a bunch of trenchers, and potentially the Blockhouse to do something about the left zone (and to score in the middle for that matter).

The Rifle Corps advances a bit and start trying to chew though the Blockhouse. This might take a while. The infantry attempts to stay the line in the middle. The Mortar tries to clean up some trenchers, and the Field Gun tries to dent Triumph. The Spriggan is for all purposes out of the game and can only score. 

Siege runs away. In Cygnar-speak it is know as a tactical retreat. However, it is typical Cygnar cowardice. He hides behind his objective. The Blockhouse, Triumph and the remaining trenchers cleans out some of my infantry, and advances into the middle zone. The picture above depicts the end of turn 5.

This turn ends 9-6. There is no way to do any more, and Cygnar wins on scenario.

It was all going so well. I though I had controlle. End of the second turn was the beginning of the downfall. I was in complete controlle on my right flank; which I’m quite happy about. I managed to subdue the Commands without any problems. However, my left flank completely broke. Once the Rifle Corps had been decimated I did not have anything as a second line support. 

I think I might have been too afraid of the Blockhouse. I was very worried about advancing into its field of fire. I haven’t done the math, but I think I might have overestimated its capabilities. It basically blocked my troops on the right flank from assisting on the left flank. In particular it kept my Spriggan (which I think somehow got damaged) from moving to the left to deal with Triumph.

I am quite happy with the usage of the Marauder under feat. I think the main error I made was not distributing the infantry equally on both sides of the forest. That would have allowed me to at least contest the left zone, and potentially get rid of some of the Trencher Infantry. Perhaps I could have moved Irusk faster to the right zone, once it was going my way. I do, however, still think that the Spriggan would not have survived the advancement from the right zone to the left.

All in all, Irusk lost to Siege due to the classic hide and seek from the cowardly Cygnar. If they could just take a fight like a proper battle hardened warrior. Next time, they will not be let off as easily. 

Whilst returning to his tent, Irusk is also contemplating if he needs more ‘jacks. Two doesn’t seem to cut it, and perhaps the Spriggan isn’t paying off.

For the Motherland!