Cygnar vs Khador (Kara Sloan vs Harkevich) 50pts - Battle Report

We decided to play a 50pts game with a scenario we have never played before - Diversion. You need to control the flag/objective to your right, and have a unit controlling the zone in the opponents deployment zone. First player to reach 2 points win... or caster kill. We played with a 54min Deathclock.

Once again I decided to try out my Kara Sloan list with some minor changes, while my opponent went for Harkevich and a few other of his newer units/solos. This we're the lists.

Captain Kara Sloan (*6pts)
* Avenger (9pts)
* Cyclone (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Hunter (6pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Trencher Master Gunner (2pts)
Points: 50/50

Kommander Harkevich, the Iron Wolf (*5pts)
* Black Ivan (10pts)
* Conquest (19pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)
Yuri the Axe (3pts)
Points: 50/50

Setup

Khador won to roll and choose deploy second. My plan was to move up my jacks in the middle to be able to both prevent him from reaching his objective, and perhaps clear the path to my. Boomhowlers deployed towards my left to be able to quickly run and act like a tar pit. B13 got the mission to grab my own objective as soon as possible and perhaps kill a few solos on their way.

Khador setup with the Conquest in the middle. The Black Dragon pikemen were deployed to contest my objective, while Harkevich and Black Ivan was going to claim his objective.

Cygnar - Turn 1

Run phase. Each Jack got a focus. Kara Sloan cast "Refuge" on herself and up kept it on herself the rest of the game so I won't point that out. Every unit ran or advanced into position. Black 13th hid behind the ruins along with Kara, Reinholdt, Squire and Gorman.

Khador - Turn 1

Khadors run phase. Harkevich cast "Fortune" and "Escort" before he advanced into the forest. Pikemen ran forward and used their mini-feat "Iron Zeal" for +4 ARM and immune to knockdowns. Greylords advanced and cast Blizzard on the pikemen and Eyriss. Conquest shot at the Boomhowlers and caused a wound, be I made the tough roll (a thing I won't be doing a lot of).

Cygnar - Turn 2

Kara got her rifle reloaded by Reinholdt and she advanced and killed a pikeman. Boomhowlers advanced towards the enemy objective and Jonas used "go-to-ground" to give the cover and immune to blast damage. The Hunter shot at Black Ivan causing 10 wounds. Ryan from the B13 tried to put a magestorm on the pikemen but missed, the deviation hit and killed Eyriss instead. The Avengers missed his shot even though the Master Gunner helped him. The Cyclone ended my turn by putting down 2 covering fire in front of my jacks.

Khador - Turn 2

The Battle Mechanics started with repairing 4 wounds of Black Ivan. Harkevich advanced, shot a Boomie, and used his feat. Yuri charged the Boomhowlers and killed 2 of them. Conquest then charged the Boomhowlers and killed another 2. Black Ivan made a failed charge. Pikemen advanced in shield wall formation, and the Greylords and Koldun Lord gave them all a Blizzard for cover.

Cygnar - Turn 3

Reinholdt once again reloaded Karas rifle before she activated and used her feat. Kara, Avenger, Cyclone and B13 all shot at the pikemen and killed all but three of them. Boomhowlers charged both the Conquest, Yuri the Axe and Black Ivan with the assault order, the Boomies did however miss Black Ivan which made him "dodge" out of combat, but at least they killed Yuri. ATGM and the Hunter took some shots at the Conquest and did a few wounds to it.

Khador - Turn 3

Harkevich up kept both "Fortune" and "Escort", and he gave 3 focus to the Conquest and one to Black Ivan. Then Harkevich charged and killed Greygore of the Boomhowlers. Black Ivan also charged and killed a troll. The Conquest advanced into combat with the gunmages but only managed to kill a single one. Greylords advanced and cast "Ice Cage" on the Cyclone, and "Frost Bite" on the gunmages (but missed). Pikemen charged the Cyclone and caused 9 wounds to it. Battle Mechanics advanced and tried to repair Black Ivan some more but only managed to remove 1 wound from it.

Cygnar - Turn 4

Kara advanced and killed a Greylord. Avenger advanced into combat and killed a pikeman, and the last pikeman was killed by the Cyclone. ATGM tried to disengage from the Conquest but two were killed. Gorman sneaked up on the Conquest a threw "Black Oil" on it. The Boomhowlers killed a Battle Mechanic and did a few more wounds to Black Ivan. Black 13th killed the remaining Greylords and Kuldon Lord. The Hunter shot with "Critical Brutal" at the Conquest and got a critical. With a boost (from the Marshall) I rolled 4 dices and got 6-6-6-4, doing a ton of damage on it.

Khador - Turn 4

Harkevich and Black Ivan killed 3 Boomhowlers. Battle Mechanics and Sylys moved up to screen Harkevich a bit. Conquest forfeited its movement to shoot, and it killed Gorman and 2 gunmages.

Cygnar - Turn 5

It took the Avenger, Black 13th and the Hunter to remove the screening Sylys and Battle Mechanic. Cyclone tried to put some more dents into Conquest, it caused about 6 more wounds. Kara moved up to take a shot at Harkevich but an unlucky roll made me miss (rolled 1 less than I needed to), and because I missed I couldn't use "Refuge" to get out of the way and had already activated all the units that I could have used to screen her with... *sigh*

Khador - Turn 5

Conquest got 3 focus and Black Ivan got 1. Black Ivan tried to disengage from the last Boomhowler but the free strike landed and I rolled triple-sixes for damage, crippling his legs and making him end his activation. Harkevich did the same thing, but I missed the free strike. Harkevich then boosted his with his hand cannon, but only caused a single wound on Kara.

It was up to the Conquest to get things done, with MAT 6 he needed a 10 to hit Kara. So he advanced the Conquest into reach range of Kara, boosted the hit and got 5-3-2 and caused 15 wounds (boosted roll) to Kara, leaving her standing with a single wound. He also boosted his next hit and got 4-5-1. Kara was nothing but a wet stain on the ground. Victory to Harkevich and Khador!

Conclusion

As always I need to become better at protecting my caster. If I start with Kara I should have some units left to back her up in case she misses with her rifle. I do think I prefer to play with the Cyclone instead of the Defender, I feel it brings a lot more utility with the covering fires.

I also should have moved Gorman closer to the Conquest. With the help of "Rust Bomb" and Kara's feat I should have been able to destroy, or at least cripple, the Conquest on a single turn. 

Cygnar vs Cryx (Kara Sloan vs pDenny) 35pts - Battle Report

Long time since I played against Cryx. I've faced the Banes a long time ago and did okay against them. I knew I needed something to deal with stealth and I was thinking of picking a Siege list, but I've been playing a lot of Kara and wanted to give her a try against the undead. And to deal with stealth I had both Gun Mages and the Black 13th.

Captain Kara Sloan (*6pts)
* Defender (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Hunter (6pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)
Points: 35/35

Warwitch Deneghra (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Deathjack (12pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Pistol Wraith (3pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)
Points: 35/35

Setup

The scenario we're playing is "Incursion" - a random objective is removed after the second players first turn, and you need 2 points to win the game.

I won the roll and decided to setup first. Boomies in the middle and ATGM and B13 on each flank. Kara had her eyes on the forest (the green plastic stuff) along with the Hunter.

Cryx deployed with the Banes in the middle and a Warwitch on each flank. Death Jack used his advance deployment to start close to the objectives.

Cygnar Turn 1

Everything ran as fast as possible up the board. Kara Sloan cast Refuge on herself. The Hunter got of a sniped bullet at the Death Jack and caused 4 wounds on it.

Cryx - Turn 1

Cryx also ran with basically with everything. The Skarlock gave the Banes "Gosthly", and the Death Jack made a small advance.

We rolled to see which objective would disappear, and the one on the right flank was removed.

Cygnar - Turn 2

Reinholdt reloaded Kara Sloans rifle and Arlan gave a focus to the Defender. Then Kara activated, used her feat, and shot at Death Jack and did 14(!) wounds with one boosted shot. With the help of the Defender, Hunter and ATGM the Death Jack didn't last long. Boomhowlers advanced to claim/contest the objectives, and prepared themselves for the charge from the Banes. B13 shot a Magestorm at the Pistol Wraith but rolled snake-eyes on the damage.

Cryx - Turn 2

Deneghra activade, moved up and used her feat (which affected the Boomies, Defender and Lynch from the B13). Then Lord Tartus and his Banes charged the Boomhowlers, killing 3 and almost Greygore, but he made the tough check. The Warwitch on the left charged the B13 and killed Ryan, the other Warwitch fell 1" short on her charge.

Cygnar - Turn 3

Reinhold once again reloaded Karas rifle. The Defender killed a Bane with his cannon. Kara cast "Firegroup" to get 2" more range on her rifle, and she forfeited her movement to gain Arcane Precision and she was just in range to shoot Deneghra. With 2 boosted shots I caused 10 wounds (4d6-7) on a caster with 6 Focus.

Watt from B13 tried to disengage from the Warwitch but was killed with a free strike. Two ATGM tried to shot the other Warwitch but failed to cause enough wounds, the rest shot at the Banes killing the officer. Boomies engaged the Banes and manged to kill two.

Cryx - Turn 3

Deneghra stayed in the forest and sent her bonejack forward. Lord Tartus, Banes and Warwitch did everything they could to kill the Trolls but I only failed 1 tough roll. The Warwitch on the right flank cast "Venom" but only killed one gunmage and wounded the Hunter.

Cygnar - Turn 4

Reinhold reloaded the rifle and Kara activated, moved up and shot the bonejack causing 6 wounds. Arlan gave the Defender a focus, and the Defender caused another 10 wounds to the bonejack, killing it. ATGM didn't manage to do any damage against the Warwitch, the rest of the Gunmages shot and killed the Skarlock. Boomies killed a few more Banes.

Cryx - Turn 4

Lord Tartus and Banes started the turn with killing all of the Boomhowlers, but one. He saw that he could move in and claim both objectives and score 2 points without problem so I surrendered.

Conclusion

I think my Siege list would have been a better choice, but I really did want to try Kara against Cryx. My biggest mistake was to underestimate the threat range of the Warwitches (SPD 7 with reach). I lost the B13 without doing anything with them. Could really have used a magestorm to block a charge lane against my Boomhowlers.

Even though I almost made all of my tough rolls, and a big number on Death Jack, I had a hard time to do anything else. And with the scenario it was not easy for Kara to try and hunt for Deneghra who just stayed in the back the entire game. I'll probably remove both Arlan and the Defender in my next game. I want to try out Jonas Murdoch and maybe the Avenger or Cyclone with Kara.

How to deal with the Iron Fang Pikemen with Cygnar

I've been playing a lot against Khador (like 80-90% of my last games) lately. My win ratio is about 50-50. However, I always want to improve my self and my army. My biggest issue for me is how to deal with the Black Dragon Pikemen. Who are they, what do they do and how do I stop them?

The Iron Fang Pikemen (or IFP for short) is the elite of Khador infantry with good stats for a good price. DEF 13 and ARM 14 can easily be improved with the help of "Iron Flesh" and "Shield Wall" order bringing them up to respected DEF 16 and ARM 18. For offence they have "Reach", "Combined Melee Attack" and "Critical: Knock Down". They're P+S 13 so they can even put a hurt into high ARM targets withou breaking a sweat.

With the addition of the Black Dragon Unit Attachment they get "Precision Strike", which will really devestate just about any jack they end up fighting. The officer is CMD 10 which makes in almost impossible for them to fail a command check, and they can spread out their formation to cover a large area. Finally they also get a "mini-feat" named Iron Zeal - which gives the unit +4 ARM and immune to knock down and stationary for a turn. This can allow them to make a run with ARM 18, or put them at ARM 22 for a turn in shield wall formation. A tough nut to crack.

To be honest, these guys have always been a problem for me, and if I can't get the alpha strike on them they'll likely to ruin my game. So how do you deal with them? Below are some usfull tricks and tactics that the forums have given me.

 - Covering Fire. Block their charge lane with POW 12. This will force them to use "Iron Zeal" if they still want to try and make a charge. With decent dice rolls even ARM 18 should fall to this.

- Mage Storm. Same tactic as above. A neat trick is to drop a Stormpod and use the Mage Storm to really get it to land where you want to.

- Trencher Commandos WA with "Deadeye". Scatterguns are POW 12 and with SP 8 have good odds on killing atleast a few of them.

- pStryker or Avenger. Big AoE knock down. Another way to force them to use Iron Zeal or to prevent them from getting the alpha strike.

- ATGM with Deadeye. With some skillful placement you can knock them back and out of Shield Wall formation.

- Harlan Versh ignores "Iron Flesh" and gets boosted attack and damage rolls against them.

- eEyriss can remove upkeep spells.

- Electro Leaps. Use a Storm pod or something that's immune to lightning damage. Get those leaps to bounce in the back arcs of the IFP.