I've thrown my play-each-caster-a-few times-before-moving-on policy to the wind apparently, as Darius goes to his (inevitably temporary) place in the bin for another old time favourite of the game to pop up.
Haley1 - Stormwall, Gallant, Squire, Harlen Versh, Arlan Strangeways, Gun Mages w/UA + Defender
Objective: Bunker
Basic theory is I'll temporal Barrier, use the Heavy guns to focus fire and Thundershot stuff back to stay safe. Gun Mages are self clearing now in theory, so that's nice. Defender is there because I just don't know the Jack Marshal rules and want to give them a go, plus a potentially range 20 gun amuses me.
Yada yada list bad twinkle twinkle Storm Lancers.
And the emo chumps throw down:
Thyron1 - Imperatus, 2x Sphinx, 2x Battle Mittens, 3x Arcanist, Eiryss1, Mage Hunter Assassin, A unit that I think was Halberdiers?
In any event we have the Pit with some forests on the outside, an obstruction and Concealment granting wall in the zone.
I remember the Anastasia bonus! Still lose the roll! As planned!
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Ret 1: I've done that thing I hate of making a list that really wants to go first. Naturally Srawley nabs it, so I take the side with the Obstruction so I don't have to deal with a hidden model shenanigans at the edge of the zone.
Eiryss3 is proxying for Eiryss1, Sentinels are repping whatever the miscellaneous Ret melee infantry unit was.
Eiryss is in that left forest, jacks and one unit of Mages is the left side lump, right side lump is the other infantry unit and second lot of Mitteneisters, the spike is a converted Mage Hunter Assassin Model (Amateur poledancer, please give Loonies to upgrade to a reasonable pole. Quest not helped by the current standing of Canadian currency.).
Assail is on Imperatus.
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Cygnar 1: Alright, there are many mistakes this game, think I'll go with listing them at the end to keep the turn remembrances short.
Against Spell Piercer Arcane Shield seems like a poor choice, so I'm not going to bother with it. Plan is to get Temporal Barrier up the field, Stormwall is going to contest the zone and throw down pods if Thyron decides to go to the Ret flag for the defensive score.
Haley Temporal Barriers, advances. Gun Mages run in front of her, just shy of Imperatus' threat range (11 inch). Harlen runs up to be behind the Obstruction, idea being that Imperatus couldn't get to him and if the Gun Mages advances he'd clock them with Witch Hunt. Defender gets moves up, shoots Imperatus for some shield damage. Stormwall moves up toward the zone, puts down some Covering fire, misses big gun shots at the Halberdiers.
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Ret 2: The Battle Mages advance, two are in range of the Gun Mage in front of Haley. First one dies to Versh, second one gets missed, lands the 8 to hit the Gun Mage and kill them. Eiryss moves up, lands the 7, strips the focus, does a weaponmaster damage roll to put her on 4 boxes. Imperatus, being the last weapon in range, advances and pops Haley.
Quick game is a good game? The Pre-game Europa 4 recount lasted about twice as long.
So yes, we did screw up the rules, Eiryss 1 isn't a weaponmaster and Haley should have lived. Now onto the relevant mistakes:
What the hell was I doing?! Sure I don't care for the Swans that much, but this willingness for self torture is a bit beyond my own expectations.
The correct play is hold Haley back a few inches, enough to just tag Imperatus, then put the Defender and Gallant in front of her. Eiryss is a problem, as is stealth models in general, so that's probably worth examining.
In more specific and only minorly less egregious errors, HALEY HAS ARCANE VORTEX YOU TWIT. Sigh.
There was also a I-want-to-see-how-good-this-is moment at the end when the Assassin rolled damage out on the Stormwall. Zero points. Vindictive joy asserted.
Assuming I don't herp the derp, a number of issues occur. Specifically Eiryss and Imperatus. Imperatus out threats all my junk even under Temporal Barrier, so what I have to do is keep Haley safe behind the Heavies, use Harlen to stop the Defender getting moved, shoot Imperatus with the Heavies/Stormwall then knock him back out of threat range with Thundershot. Stormwall also has to covering fire to keep the Halberdiers back, so that'll be tricky. I think I have to throw away Anastasia to pop Eiryss, though the odds are pretty good (Pop in from the side and make an Opportunist attack).
Oh well, being a quick game it was pretty easy to nab in another one that I can guarantee at least manages to get past the top of 2. But how far? Not necessarily that much.
