Locke vs Sloan

During the Fourth of July weekend, Dessa and I played a game and recorded it with the Go Pro. The video is up on Youtube. The link is here.

Disgruntled Wargamer Youtube – Locke vs Sloan

For those that would rather read, or want a quick summary before diving into the roughly 10 minute battle report, here you go.

Lists

Dessa is running Locke in Prima Materia, with three Toros, Liberator and Vindicator in her battle group. The Death Archon and Ascendant Mentalists fill out the working defensive solos, and Prospero with a Suppressor provides offensive buffs for the army (+1 to attacks with warjacks and a Rust or Ice spray from the Suppressor). The Railless provides mass army removal and serves as an anchor. Two mechaniks and Alyce finish the list, providing support to the jacks and Locke.

My list is a variant on the Sloan lists described last week. I’m trying to work in the Stormwall while balancing Sloan’s alpha. The Stormwall, two Hunters, two Minuteman, and a Defender fill out her battlegroup. The Journeyman with the Firefly support the Stormwall, a Gun Mage Captain Adept enables assassinations, and the Umbral Guardians and Trencher Combat Engineers round out the army, providing support for the warjacks. The Stormcaller provides a possible source of random disruption, but it isn’t likely.

Deployment

Dessa went first, and deployed as she normally does. I went second, and deployed the Stormwall centrally, had all the Umbral Guardians on the board, and split my forces around the Stormwall. The limiting factor here is the quantity of soulless models. I want many, but only have three. Therefore, the jacks need to hang close.

Turn 1

Dessa moves everyone up, but she sort of blocks her Railless behind the building and Vindicator. She could move the Vindicator next turn to unblock. Her position is both offensive and defensive. Her jacks threaten the trenches, denying me from using them. She threats the center zone, and my objective.

I try to stay 12 inches away from her Redlined Toro, cautiously moving my jacks up field. Refuge goes on Kara and Arcane Shield goes on the Stormwall. I always forget I can use my upkeeps at the beginning of the game.

Turn 2

Dessa wrecks the Minteman light warjacks near the building. They get blasted by the Vindicator, then the Suppressor. If she had walked up with the Vindicator, she might have been able to still wreck them, and given enough room for the Railless to spray them, or do some damage to the Hunters. She also surprised me with a Toro being used as a missile. She initially loaded it with focus, intending to charge my objective, which she can’t do until next turn. So, we walked it back, and she kept the focus on Locke. Then she asked if she can run the jack, and still use Jackhammer.

Turns out, a Toro can run 14 inches under Redline. The Liberator takes no damage from the arcnode, and Locke is able to jackhammer the Defender to scrap. The Toro under Locke threats 16 inches with help from the Liberator delivering jackhammers. The risk is losing both a Toro and Liberator, but that play could potentially ruin an army. If she had a Road to War move, then the Toro would have essentially threatened 19 inches. Amazing.

I lost the Defender, and had a Minuteman with no Cortex and a Minuteman with no movement. I loaded focus on one, thinking it could still do some damage on the Suppressor. I also put a focus on the Stormwall, intending to take out the Toro. My goal was scenario.

Sloan feated, took a shot at the Liberator, and plugged the objective. The Firefly started in on the Toro, doing practically nothing, then the Umbral Guardian chipped away at it. I had a hunter finish off the objective, then realized I could walk the other up into the pond and drop a couple shots on Locke. She only had one focus.

The hunter walked up, took two armor piercing shots on Locke. The Stormwall aborted its melee on the Toro, instead walking forward, dropping a Lightning Pod on the Liberator. I boosted the damage roll, but wasn’t sure if that was allowable. I think it is, since back in 2016, I asked the question in the rules forum and received an affirmative answer. It wasn’t from an infernal (lol), but still a good answer in my book.

Boost Stormwall Lightning Pod? (privateerpressforums.com)

Potato. Just go read it on the forum.

Stormwall takes two shots on Locke, boosting damage on both, killing her. The end.

After Action

It was a quick game. Dessa forgot to move her Death Archon and Toros up to block LOS to Locke. I would have been forced to deal with the Toro that took out my Defender, and she would have been allowed to destroy the Minuteman jacks, and probably damage the Hunters on the next turn.

If the assassination opening wasn’t there, I would have scored a third point with the mechaniks. Then on the next turn, I think I could have taken the lead. It’s hard to say.

The video

Now that I’m doing these videos, the written reports might be a little more brief. Videos take a lot of time to do. Since this is all just a passion project anyway, I don’t have anyone to answer to but myself, in that respect. I still plan on publishing written blog posts as well as video now.

I’ve made a decision to avoid music in the videos. If you’re watching, you can play your own background music. Playing it back, it kind of reminds me of some of the SNL skits with the NPR folks or local cable TV folks, with some poor delivery of reaction and jokes. A little Wayne’s World, mixed with Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon flag show.


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