With the table set for Split Decision, it was time for another Steamroller game. Dessa was a little out of practice, and I wanted to see some older models in play. It was a contest of old vs new, Cygnar from the earliest days against the latest Crucible Guard.
Lists
| Crucible Guard, Prima Materia | Cygnar, Heavy Metal |
| Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke +29 – Aurum Ominus Alyce Marc (4) (free) – Toro (13) – Toro (13) – Vindicator (15) Railless Interceptor (16) Ascendant Mentalist (4) (free) Crucible Guard Mechanik (1) Crucible Guard Mechanik (1) Crucible Guard Mechanik (1) Death Archon (9) Prospero (5) (free) – Vulcan (35) | Commander Coleman Stryker +30 – Squire (4) (free) – Ironclad (12) – Lancer (8) – Ol’ Rowdy (17) Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin (4) – Hammersmith (12) Captain Arlan Strangewayes (4) (free) Journeyman Warcaster (3) – Sentinel (7) Lieutenant Allison Jakes (4) – Charger (9) Long Gunner Infantry (13) – Officer & Standard (4) (free) Sword Knights (11) – Officer & Standard (3) Field Mechaniks (2) |
The game
Crucible Guard took the initiative and deployed first. Cygnar picked the side of the table with the water, hoping to block line of sight to some key models with the forest and building on the right side of the table.
Crucible Guard deployed with the Vulcan to their left, and the Railless to the right. Locke’s battlegroup played right up the center.
Cygnar deployed a little oddly, first forgetting they brought an arcnode, then rearranging because of the arcnode. The goal was to kill the Vulcan with big hits from Rowdy and the Ironclad while the units tied up the circle zone.
Turn 1
Typical turn, both sides run up. Locke cast Redline on one of the Toros and Road to War on herself. Stryker casts Blur on the gunners, Arcane Shield on the knights, and Junior casts Arcane Shield on Ol’ Rowdy.
Turn 2
Crucible Guard
Vulcan drops a rust rocket on Ol’ Rowdy, only managing to scuff his armor. It lines up a spray with boosted damage. The acid also is unable to breach Rowdy’s armor, due to the Arcane Shield. The Ironclad is less fortunate, and the acid starts eating into its left arm. The Railless Interceptor chugs into the ancient Orgoth temple foundation and sprays down some knights with its flame thrower. It quickly turns its turret to blast the hammersmith laying down a scather, and then using the antiminators, killing a knight and a long gunner.
The Toros and Vindicator each advanced after the Cygnar warriors were killed. The Vindicator fired off a decrepitation shot on the Hammersmith, nailing it on its left side, damaging the main gear in its arm, and causing hydraulic fluid to gush from a hose in its leg. The blast damage hit Runewood, the shrapnel killing him. A Toro charged the Hammersmith, Locke pushing it hard with Redline. The swing smashed through its left arm, severing its motor controls. The shield smashed into the other arm, and a second swing finished it off the heavy warjack.
The second Toro joined the fray, merely slaying a knight. The mechanics ran to flags in hopes of claiming them at the end of the turn.
Cygnar
Stryker kept Blur up, but he dropped Arcane Shield on the knights to give his warjacks more focus. Rowdy smashed into the Toro, but the Toro managed to survive, laying on the ground and barely hanging on. The Lancer took out the cortex on the other Toro, and the knights charged. One finished off Rowdy’s Toro, but the other Toro managed to keep both arms functioning and its movement.
Gobbers reattached the Ironclad’s armor on its left arm. It tore into the Vulcan, crippling the colossal’s left side. The Charger fired on the objective, but its rounds failed to kill. The gunners fired shots into the Railless Interceptor’s armor, but miscalculated. Rather than take two combined attacks, they took four, lessening the chance of a bullet hitting a vital area.
The proximity of models in the circle prevented scoring of that flag by Crucible Guard, but each of the other two flags is scored by both Cygnar and Crucible. Score 1/1.
Turn 3
Crucible Guard
The Vindicator took a pot shot at Ol’ Rowdy, but only managed to kill the knight who delt the final blow to the Toro and the nearby gobber. The Railless adjusted its position, and dropped a cannon shot on the Long Gunners. It missed, but the subsequent sprays managed to clear out most of the troops hiding in the craters. The Blur didn’t work as well as intended. However, one could argue its success, by forcing all the Railless Interceptor’s guns to focus on the unit.
The Vulcan put the clamps on the Ironclad. It smashed the cortex and right arm. The Ironclad wouldn’t be helpful next turn.
Score moves to 3/2, Crucible Leads.
Cygnar
Rowdy pushed into the Vulcan, but Locke’s feat prevents a killing blow. The Ironclad managed to hit for a little more damage, but the mighty colossal retained its spark, its boiler still churning. Jakes’s charger took aim, and with a boosted gunshot, punched through a weak spot in the Vulcan’s armor, knocking out its cortex, and finishing the rolling chemical factory. It fired a second round into the objective, but merely scratches it. Jakes, feeling brave, peeked around her warjack and plinked into the objective as well. It survived.
On the other side of the field, the remaining Long Gunners finally managed to score a couple hits on the Railless Interceptor. The Junior Warcaster, looking through her warjack’s eyes, commanded it to fire everything it had at the Mechanik claiming the flag on the old, ruined dais. The jack managed to squeeze off two rounds, nailing the mechanic with one.
Gobbers advanced, managing to heal the Ironclad’s cortex and arm.
Score advanced to 3/3, Cygnar scoring the flag, contesting Crucible’s, and removing the scoring piece from the flag in the circle.
Turn 4
Crucible Guard
A free shot from the Vindicator killed a gobber in the blast area. It then aimed at the Squire camping the Cygnar flag, and let loose a decrepitation blast, obliterating it. The Interceptor charged the Lancer, bulldozing it before bashing it, knocking it down. The Lancer took the charge on its shield, deflecting most of the damage. The Interceptor followed up with a couple of ice sprays and a fire spray. The Lancer, crippled, its shield gone, knocked down, and on fire, lost all capability to threaten anyone. The Interceptor directed its cannon on Ol’ Rowdy, plugging the larger threat in the back. Prospero took a quick shot, then the Death Archon charged. It landed both swings of its scythes on Rowdy and the Ironclad, killing the Ironclad, and taking out Rowdy’s arms and movement. Rowdy freezes in place, stationary. Alyce tried to drop a grenade on Rowdy, but mostly misses. The splash catches him, doing no damage. The Mentalist charged in, doing just enough damage with her Force Crush to finish the jack, then sprayed the Field Mechanik Crew Chief, melting his brain.
Locke, through the Toro’s eyes, found the Cygnar warcaster hiding behind a wall. The Toro advanced under Road to War after Rowdy fell, then charged, landing behind Stryker. It swung with a dice plus five advantage. It hit, leaving Stryker on five boxes. The shield missed, but the bought and boosted sword landed again. Stryker was finished, even though he pushed 5 damage to his power field.
Stryker capitulated, so the game ended. Crucible Guard ran the score to 6/3, their advantage.
Analysis
Dessa
I forgot half the stuff I could do with the Death Archon, but remembered the Bash abilities on the Interceptor. That really opened things up, and helped the Toro get a line in on Stryker. I also learned that I have to change Alyce during my Control phase, and the Mentalist is more than just “Force Aura.”
Tom
That was a really fun game. I veered from my original plan. Snipe was supposed to go on the gunners, to keep them firing at the Toros. I messed up with the Knights, forgetting about their +2 DEF in melee when next to each other. They should have been blurred for ranged defense on the walk up. The Ironclad did okay, as did Rowdy. Next time, two heavies need to be protected with Arcane Shield.
It’s been a while since I’ve played Cygnar. Still a favorite. During the game, all the whoopses in the game were pretty much my fault, or Dessa taking advantage of the game state. I never felt disadvantaged because of bad models at any given time during the game. I think the people who say that the old models aren’t playable need to give these units a chance.
Alternatives to the Heavy Metal knight and gunner theme is to run Storm Division, Arcane Tempest, or Grave Diggers. While I understand why people play Storm Division, it’s helpful to play a list that isn’t storm division. You can’t have two lists that just do lightning damage. Well, you can, but it isn’t wise. What do you do when someone brings a bunch of immunities? The Arcane Tempest can’t reach Sniped out Long Gunners as far as range and volume of fire. The closest in comparison is the Grave Diggers, with the trencher long gunners. The difference between the two themes comes down to how many warjacks you want to run vs how many warriors. The Grave Diggers has high quality warriors, but they often overlap in roles and price out many of the more expensive warjacks. The Storm Division does have some of the ranged and melee capability as Heavy Metal, but again, do you want two lists that do the same thing?
My point here is this: Warmachine has lots of older models that are still playable in today’s meta. Since most of us only play locally, in our basements, garages, or local game stores, it’s possible for an older army to still be competitive in a steamroller. The ability of someone to drop in after a few years and play some army they enjoyed six or seven years ago is one of the things that makes this game magical and fantastic.