Several
weeks ago, I had the pleasure of facing Cane III. My friend Corc came in from out of town to do
battle on the field of honor. Cygnar has
ever been my nemesis so I figured this would be an excellent learning
opportunity. I seared a couple steaks,
had a great dinner, and faced down PP’s newest bad-boy.
My list or bringing the big guns:
Corcs list or I’ll prove to you that size does not matter:
This was a basic test run. We just wanted to try our lists out against
someone competent and get a feel for new product. I got conquest back from my painting god a
couple weeks earlier and yearned to see him on-table. Corc does not get much chance to play and
wanted to see if his concept was valid.
The
only relevant terrain was a big forest splotch in my lower right-hand quadrant
and a bunker building midway up the field on the right-hand side. I won the roll and chose first. Against swans you have to cover that ground
or you’ll be cut to ribbons by defensive fire before you get close to
combat. Victory favors a long-range gun
and a strong shield wall—or so I hoped.
1.
I set up in the middle of my zone with the shock
troopers in shield wall, conquest on the left, and Zerkova behind the man-o-war
line. Corc set up mostly on the right
hand far line with the thorn gun mages farther left for a flanking move. The
mage hunter went far right and out front.
2.
I ran my boys up and right, pushed conquest to
the edge of their line, and put Zerkova behind the metal wall far enough to be
out of range of black penny. She dropped
the cloud wall and I passed the turn. Corc ran most of his list down my right flank,
using the bunker as cover. Jr. put
arcane shield on the hellslingers. The
gun mages jinked left to flank my forces.
3.
I walked my shock troopers forward in shield
wall, moved conquest forward with a failed scatter attempt toward the elf, and
Zerkova moved up with feat popped and dropped a couple clouds in front of the
iron wall. Zerkova was up against the
forest with the shock troopers to her left and conquest on the left of their
shield wall. Corc checked the wording on
my feat, and moved to consolidate in anticipation of next turn. The gun mages moved farther down the left
flank. 2 chargers cut loose on the shock
troopers doing a grand total of 3 damage.
Eiryss ran down to the forest edge hoping to disrupt Zerkova next turn.
4.
I checked a bunch of ranges, saw a ton of
targets and promptly forgot about the plan.
After my last game against Sloan, I was so happy to actually get in
range of things I neglected the larger strategy. Also, I probably should have read Cain’s card
before playing…but enough excuses.
Conquest powered up, moved back a bit, and used its main gun to one-shot
the gun mages into oblivion. I hadn’t allocated
him any focus and figured what the heck, might as well use those secondary
batteries. It was not as if anyone was
going to be charging into a creeping barrage.
I unloaded 4 shots into the nearest charger. I managed to scratch it for 3 damage…until
the last shot which scattered and killed JR outright—truck ya high
explosive! Zerkova activated, hit Eiryss
with a fatal frost hammer, and backed up on five camp. The MOW had no range to charge so backed up to
the maximum range of their shield cannons, shield walled, and cut loose on the
nearest charger—immobilizing it but otherwise leaving it fully
operational. Cain activated, moved up,
popped feat, and started the math train.
The center MOW took a shadow fire shot for a couple damage after Cain
and company scratched the paint on the unit.
A couple chargers shot through the MOW, darned cheaty shadow fire, and
splattered zerkova. Game—Swans. I am going to take Cygnar down one of these
days.
Mutterings:
1.
I really really should have read Cain’s
card. Mage sight only affects models
covered by the AOE. It does not dispel clouds. So, even if the shock troopers got shadow
fired, if Zerkova was not under the template, she still would have benefited
from the clouds. Also, I could have just
dropped a cloud on her. Defense 17 is
nothing to sneeze at even if he hit me with the template.
2.
I am not afraid of the elf. In MKI she was the bane of my existence. Now she just walks up and dies. Premeasuring spelled the end of her hold over
me. I have seen her multiple times in
this and the previous edition and she has fallen without affect every time.
3.
That was probably a winnable game. If I had known my enemy just a tad bit better,
I could have bated him out and killed Cain with Conquest. Corc said that he had nothing to deal with a
gargossul.
4.
I need to give her a try with hillbillies and
Hutchuk. That flanking crap would not have
flown if I had ambushing knockdown and some cheap guns available on command.
5.
I liked conquest in theory. Now I like him in practice. High
explosive will not fix every problem but it darn sure is worth gambling on. I am not sure he is Zerkova’s best option but
he is fun.
6.
Caster kill is no-fun in general play. It is great to show you weaknesses in general
mechanics though. I only wish I could
have played a couple more games before Corc had to hit the road.
7.
Shock troopers are just solid. Armor 21 is beastly. If I ever get my officer painted I really
want to test them at full power.
8.
I am getting close to the point where 25 points
and caster kill are not enough. It may
be time to switch casters and try a couple bigger games.
9.
I am solidly improving. Getting my teeth kicked in is the best
teaching method. Here’s to losing gracefully…freaking
Swans😉
That’s all for now. I have to think on Zerkova. I have this strange affinity for her clunky
design and weird interactions. There
might be something wrong with me. I keep
dropping ice into my glass of bourbon and wondering when the god of air-conditioning
is going to show up (fluff joke for those not acquainted with the
setting.) More militant recounting
later.
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