After my quick loss into Circle, my army found themselves on the retreat and on their way back to camp. They ran across some Cygnar forces who were a little high strung and too eager for combat. Cygnar had the initiative, but my Crucible Guard had terrain.
My List
Crucible Guard Army – 75 / 75 points
- [Theme] Prima Materia
- [Syvestro 1] Aurum Adeptus Syvestro [+28]
- Liberator [10]
- Suppressor [13]
- Vindicator [15]
- Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)]
- Prospero [0(5)]
- Retaliator [9]
- Retaliator [9]
- Suppressor [13]
- Crucible Guard Assault Troopers (max) [13]
- Crucible Guard Storm Troopers (max) [16]
- Dragon’s Breath Rocket [5]
Honestly, I feel like this list is pretty good into troops. It might have game into jacks as well. I also have a pretty good game into Cygnar, I think.
Cygnar List
- Beth Maddox
- Stormwall
- Stormblades (max unit)
- Trenchers (max unit)
- Express Team x2
- Gun Mage Rifleman x2
- Gun Mage Captain x2
I think this is a fairly new player. They don’t like themes much. I’ve played him before, and I feel like he has positioning down as well as the mechanics of the game, but playing out of theme has some weaknesses. Unless there is a solid plan, I don’t see any reason to play out of theme.
Turn 1
Everyone runs up.
My thoughts were that I disperse the medium based infantry again and lure out the Stormwall with some jacks. Nobody likes the Liberator, so it got to hang out in front on the left. Meanwhile, Prospero’s guys would take out the snipers on the hill and I’d try to engage the guys in the circle. I know where the Swormwall is headed simply due to the deployment and the house.
Note: The building is super important here. The way the Stormwall is deployed makes it very difficult to push in or be a threat. It may have been wiser to place it behind the forest, since it has Pathfinder.
Ch`en Hao says: “The advantages of weather and season are not equal to those connected with ground.”
Turn 2
Cygnar moves up, cautiously, and the Stormwall shuffles around the house. Express team lays into the Liberator. The other express team pushed back the Retaliator, and the snipers tried to take down Prospero, who shluffed off the damage with Focus. I figured the Stormwall would have moved up more, but the Stormblades clogged it up.
The Liberator knocks down the objective, sprays start taking down the trenchers, Ass troopers engage, knocking the dug in advantage out of the picture, and some AOEs take out a few other trenchers. A few other shots obliterate Stormblades, despite Beth’s Dauntless.
At this point, there isn’t a whole lot Cygnar can do. The Stormwall is pretty far back, and Syvestro decides to hide in the cloud. Crucible picks up 3 points in all (from the rectangles and objective).
Turn 3
Stormwall ambles in, and tries to make a play, but can’t get any work done. Cygnar could contest with solos in the rectangle or the express team on the left, but it’s too late. It’s obvious Crucible will clear both rectangles and win, and they have a very real possibility of wiping the field. Cygnar resigns.
I don’t remember how, but we ended up having a conversation about the hills and how shooting from a hill gives you an advantage. I like how my opponent rephrased his understanding of the rule. It simplifies the (sometimes confusing) rulebook text as “If you’re shooting from a hill, you have arcing fire.”
Analysis
I think if the Stormwall had been brought up further on turn1, then it could have done more to the Crucible. Those big cannons are good even against the medium based dudes, but Syvestro could bring them back. What they needed was concentrated fire on the jacks, and Stormblades on the medium bases. I brought no way outside of Syvestro’s feat to repair warjacks, and the express team could nerf the feat. An alpha was needed.
In list building, I would have probably stayed in the Storm theme or Gravediggers, but not both. Although one could make an argument of running either Caine 2 or 3 with a mix of Gun mage solos and trenchers with Minutemen and Grenadiers into Crucible Guard, I feel the stronger play is to stay within theme.
Thinking back, it would have been neat to gain a Trencher Gun Mage solo. I guess the express team is bonkers enough. Maybe Privateer could do a theme that allows Rangers, Trencher Commandos, one Gun Mage unit, Solos, and warjacks. Then it could do something like allow 2 units of mercs. Cygnar special forces or whatever the spy group was called. I forget. It’s late. And I have work in the morning.
Afterward
I hope these battle reports are being well received. I haven’t gotten much in the way of feedback. Like/share/comment on facebook. It takes a lot of time to write these down in a comprehensible way, and it would be nice to know that other people besides myself are benefitting.