Journeyman League Batreps

Got four games in-- two against Cryx, one against Dwarves, and one against Ret. 

First game was against Jim.  I advanced towards the middle and my Destroyer was able to do some damage on one of the arc nodes but then Jim arc'd Crippling Grasp to one of my Jacks and Parasite to the other.  Deneghra then feated so my Jacks where sitting at ARM 15 and 16.  Jim's Jacks charged and made quick work of mine wrecking both and getting a Mangled Metal win. 

I'm learning that Cryx is VERY tough to play against and against Jim's attack, the one thing I can think of is to stay as far back as I can and just rain bombards on him.  I can also advance Sorscha up, take a shot, and then Wind Rush away.  But at DEF 10, my Jacks will get hit and there's really nothing I can do about it.  Good game though and now I was on to my second game against Dwarves.

Doug is one of our resident Press Gangers and he fielded Gorten and the Dwarves.  The only heavy is a Driller and that thing is monstrous.  With Strength of Granite it's weapons go to something like P+S 20 and 21.  Crazy.  I advanced like usual and because the Driller is the same slow speed as my Jacks, my Destroyer was able to keep the distance and blast off it's drill arm.  That was really good.  Sensing that my tactic would slowly soften up his Jacks, Doug feated and pulled the Destroyer right to the Driller who tore it up easily.  Gorten had to expose himself to catch the Destroyer though so I sent Sorscha Wind Rushing and charging in under feat turn.  She wasn't able to kill him on her attack but she was sitting at DEF 20.  Doug was hoping to crit slam her with Gorten and had a few chances but was able to get it.  She survived on about half her life.  With full focus Sorscha hit back and suprisingly needed her last focus to boost the damage to kill Gorten. 

With Wind Rush and Fog of War, seems like Sorscha has great defense against the light Jacks' shooting and with the threat range of the Destroyer, I can fire bombards all day on the Driller.  I just have to make sure that if Gorten feats, I only lose one Jack.  In this game I had an opening for Sorscha's assassination run but in future games I might not be so lucky.  Got to be careful.

Next game I faced off against Deneghra again.  Krage had his battlebox fully painted and it looked great.  Same opening strat from me as always-- trying to shoot stuff with the Destroyer.  My first attempt failed as two of his arc nodes were either in a forest or on a hill and the other one was in my own Fog of War.  I missed the bombard.  Krage then played Deneghra competely different than Jim and chose to ignore my Jacks and run his arc nodes around.  Spell of choice was Scourge that knocked down Sorscha.  I had to face Deneghra's feat and couldn't do much of anything.  I tried to attack one of the arc nodes with Sorscha but on the following turn another arc node ran close and Scourged her again.  The arc node was so close that the deviating AOE still knocked her down.  That freed up the first arc node and with auto hits in melee Sorscha was done.

Thought it was really cool that Jim and Krage played Deneghra in two different ways, either going for the Jacks via Crippling Grasp and Parasite, or using the arc nodes and running them wide to Scourge Sorscha.  So many things to look out for.  I like the challenge though and look forward to playing Cryx again.

Last game of the night was against Jay and his Retribution battlebox.  This featured Kaelyssa, a Manitcore, and two Lights (can't remember their names).  I slow advanced and my bombard hit but failed to get passed the force fields.  Jay spread out his Jacks, possibly positioning them for a next turn charge.  Kaeylssa was way far back but it looked like Sorscha had a lane.  Wow it was far.  I decide to go for it, Wind Rush forward.  At that point I checked her control and there was no need for Boundless Charge.  Sweet.  That's two focus saved.  Sorscha charges Kaelyssa and after a few attacks gets the win.  Both Jay and I were quite surprised how far 17" actually is.  I doubt Jay will let an assassination like that happen again.

Finished 2-2 for the night.  Two losses to Cryx and two wins by assassniation.  Can't wait to play the other battleboxes and get revenge on Deneghra :P   

Journeyman League Preseason: pSorscha vs pStriker

The Journeyman League for our club starts next week but Ben and I wanted to try out some battlebox games in the mean time.  It was pSorscha, Juggernaut, and a Destroyer, vs pStriker, Iron Clad, Lancer, and a Charger. 

First game I went first and ran my 'Jacks up with Sorscha under cover of Wind Rush and Fog of War getting her Defense up to 20.  As our forces closed, I charged the Destroyer into his Lancer and Wind Rushed Sorscha to the outside on my right.  My thinking was that the Destroyer would tie up the 'Jacks and maybe Sorscha would get an angle to assassinate.  After Ben's next turn, I feated and later realized that Sorscha can't charge through frozen models (duh).  I ended up losing the Destroyer in melee and what followed was Ben's tactic of constantly disrupting the Juggernaut.  It's a very good tactic.  Not sure if he also knocked down the Jugg.  Didn't quite see a way to come back so I charged Sorscha into Striker a few turns later but the odds were against her and she couldn't bring him down.  Ben ended up knocking her down with Earthquake and then the Lancer and Iron Clad walked over to finish her off.

Mistake was not understanding Stationary lol.  On feat turn, I could have charged my 'Jacks into his and because of stationary they would have basically auto hit (or does it auto hit?  Good thing we're playing battlebox games.  I should know that).  Also messed up when I shot a bombard at the Lancer but could have just used the axe instead and boosted the damage roll. 

For the second game my goal was not to lose the Destroyer so easily and just try to stay back and soften up the  Cygnar 'Jacks a little.  My formation was a triangle with Sorscha in the back and all of my models were about 4 inches from each other-- so a little spread out.  What followed was more knockdown and disruption mainly focused on the Destroyer.  Ben walked up the Lancer and arced Earthquake through him and then walked Striker with snipe to disrupt.  Ugly stuff.  Sorscha died when I exposed her to a shot from the Charger and it was aiming against Sorscha's DEF 18 (no FOW).  So it hit and then rolled triple 6 haha.  Another shot and that was it.

Some pretty bad games on my part and GG to Ben although the last game didn't really feel like it was a good one because it was over so fast :P  but of course, always fun to play him and talk strategy afterwards. 

But wow, feel really lost about what to do against the Cygnar Battlebox.  I like the challenge though and it's time for me to hit the drawing board and think about this particular matchup. 

So let's start with things to remember:

• If I'm going to expose Sorscha to a shot, make sure it's under Wind Rush and Fog of War for DEF 20.
• If I Wind Rush, do it away from the Charger to force it to move and give up it's aiming bonus
• Stationary does not let me charge over bases ><;
• Ben creates a wall of 'Jacks in front of Striker so how about this on feat turn: Destroyer gets 1 focus to boost damage on a POW 14 shot.  Jugg gets Boundless Charge probably.  That's 3 focus.  And then an extra one for another P+S 19 attack.  And Sorscha can Wind Rush the heck out of there.  Just gottta make sure that she catches all the targets in her control area.  hmmm~ Destoryer will probably be distrupted so Jugg doesn't get that extra focus.
• Also against the wall of 'Jacks, might consider just knocking them all down with Tempest.  Sorscha can still Wind Rush away and the Destroyer will get a POW 14 bombard if that should hit.  
• Also, Sorscha HAS A GUN!  Couple turns she was in range to shoot it but I just forgot about it.  POW 12 could do a little damage to those light jacks.   

more thoughts later :P