Upcoming 35pts tournament

Front and back

So me and a couple of friends are going on our first 35pts Steamroller tournament in February. We thought it would be cool to get som t-shirts to represent our gaming club DDS (Dead Deckers Society). Since I'm gonna play with my favorite caster - Kara Sloan - I thought it would be nice to also have her mentioned on my shirt.

It's gonna be a 2-list (second list optional) SR 2013 tournamnet, with the regular character restrictions. As mentioned I've decided to bring Kara Sloan as my "main" list, and I'm thinking of bringing eStryker as my back up, since he my second most played caster. I have both Haley's, and I do enjoy them, but I haven't played that many games with them. And I think I'd prefer to play Haley at 50points, so I can bring both a Stormwall and some support for it.

At the moment I'm thinking something a long the line of these two lists.

Points: 35/35
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)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

Points: 35/35
Lord Commander Stryker (*6pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Ol' Rowdy (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 1 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (1pts)
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

Hard choice

I'm kinda at a crossroad. I feel my Cygnar force is almost where I want it to be. I got the casters I want. I got the Warjacks I want. I almost got every solo I need (except Eiryss and A&H). But what I really need is one more unit.

I currently own 3 units. The ATGM, which are just a solid unit that will fit in almost any list. I got the Boomhowlers who is a perfect tarpit unit. And then I got the Stormblades, who I really like, but haven't really preformed lately. I feel like a need an option to the Stormnouns. I've been thinking about the Stormguards, but they feel too similar. The Swordknights only have real synergy with eStryker and Warjacks with reach.

The two units I'm currently looking at are the Precursor Knights and the Horgehold Forge Guards. What I want is a unit that can both take a few hits and can hit back with force. Both the Knights and the Guards kinda fill that role, but I don't want to invest in both these units... one will have to do it.

Precursor bring Shield Wall, Spell Ward and Blessed Weapon, and with the help of their UA they get a "mini-feat" which give them an additional die in melee for one turn. With eStryker it's possible to charge and get 4 dices of damage, and then 3 dices on the feat activation. And with Rhupert in the list he can give them though and pathfinder if needed.

Forge Guards are Weapon Masters with Reach. And if you throw in Murdoch with them you can even benefit from the Ranked Attacks with the rest of your army. Something that I do want when I'm playing with Haley. With the help of Boomhowlers I don't think it'll be that hard to use them as a "second wave" to punish the enemy.

It's a hard choice

Cygnar vs Khador (eHaley vs eSorscha) 35pts - Battle Report

Sorry guys no pictures this time, we didn't bring a camera. I was planning on playing a eHaley 50pts list for the first time. Give this famous Haleay/Stormwall combo a try. But my Khador playing friend only came with a 35pts list, and since we're planning on going on our first tournament (that will be played with 35pts) I quickly remade my list to 35pts. Not quite the list I wanted to play with eHaley, but this is what we played.

Points: 35/35
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Defender (9pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)

Points: 35/35
Forward Kommander Sorscha (*6pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Manhunter (2pts)
Manhunter (2pts)
Widowmaker Marksman (2pts)
Yuri the Axe (3pts)

Setup

We played the "Process of elemination" scenario from SR 2012. Khador won the roll, but let me start. I deployed Stormblades in the middle with Stormclad to their right and the Defender on their left. ATGM deployed on my left flank near a wall. eHaley deployed behind the Defender, as did the Squire and the Journeyman.

Khador placed Black Dragoons and the Behemoth in the middle. Sorscha deployed next to the Behemoth with Sylys. Widowmakers, Markman and Eyriess advance deployed in a forest infront of my ATGM. Manhunter and Yuri advanced deployed on the opposite flank (to my right).

Turn 1

Cygnar - Everything either ran or advanced. eHaley cast Deceleration, Temporal Acceleration and Deadeye on the Defender. The only thing that was in range (with the help of Snipe) was the Widowmakers, so the Defender shot and killed one.

Khador - Pikemen ran towards the middle of the board. Yuri and his Manhunters ran down the flank. Sorscha cast "Shatter Storm" on the Widowmakers who tried to shoot the ATGM but missed. Behemoth had 2 focus so he took a pot shot towards the ATGM. A lucky deviation caught the Officer and with a boosted roll he was killed.

Turn 2 

Cygnar - eHaley advanced and used her feat, and once again cast Temporal Acceleration and Deadeye on the Defender. The Defender shot twice at the Behemoth but hardly did any damage. ATGM advanced out of cover and did "Arcane Inferno" which killed all the Widowmakers. Stormblades advanced into a forest and was now within charge range of both the Pikemen and the Manhunters. Stormclad advanced and tried to shoot with his generator but missed.

Khador - Sorscha wasn't affected by Haleys feat, so she advanced and cast Shatter Storm on the Widowmakers Marksman and used her feat. The Marksman shot and killed 3 ATGM, who then failed their command check. Behemoth activated and shot twice at the Stormclad and did crippled his movement, Eyriess then shot and disrupted it. Pikemen, Manhunters and Yuri all ran too lock the Stormblades, Defender and Stormclad in melee.

Turn 3

Cygnar - ATGM once again failed their command check and ran behind a wall. Haley activated and cast Timebomb on the pikemen which killed about 7-8 of them. Stormblades activated and with CMA they managed to kill both Yuri and a Manhunter. The Journeyman Warcaster charged and killed the last Manhunter. Defender killed a pikeman in melee. I forgot to activate my Stormclad for some unknown reason.. brain fart.

Khador - Sorscha upkept Shatter Storm on the Marksman and cast Iron Flesh on the pikemen. The Marksman shot at the fleeing ATGM and killed the rest of them due to Shatter Storm. Eiryss advanced and tried to shoot Haley but missed. The Behemoth charged the Defender but missed with 3 of the attacks, and only did about 9-10 boxes of damage (crippled his right arm). Pikemen started to bash at the Stormclad, and got a critical knockdown, but couldn't finish the job (3 boxes remained on the left arm).

Turn 4

Cygnar - Haley cast telekenisis on the Defender to move it out of combat with the Behemoth and pikemen. Then she cast Time Bomb on a pikeman which caught Eiryss in the blast. The Defender activated and shot with its cannon at the Behemoth, and did 5 damage. The Stormclad failed to connect any hits at the Iron Fleshed pikemen. Stormblades activated and charged both the Behemoth and Pikmen. Did 6 damage to the Behemoth and killed a single pikemen (on 2 pikemen left at this point, one being the standard bearer). I also scored a scenario point.

Khador - The Widowmaker Marksman shot and killed two Stormblades with the help of Shatter Storm. Sorscha advanced a bit and killed two Stormblades with her Quad-iron. Behemoth had lost his sub-cortex, so he advanced into melee with the Defender and wrecked it with some brutal hits.

Turn 5

Cygnar - Haley advanced out of the forest she was hiding in. She cast Time Bomb on Sylys, who was standing next to Sorscha. It landed and did about 14 damage to Sorscha. The Stormblades tried their best to block the charges lanes for the Behemoth. But Haley was out in the open in front of Sorscha.

Khador - Sorscha kept all the focus and charged into melee with Haley. Due to set-defence Sorscha missed her charge attack, and only 1 attack connected to Haley which did 9 damage. Behemoth and the Marksmen killed the Stormblades and the Journeyman Warcaster.

Turn 6 

Cygnar - Haley kept all her focus and attacked Sorscha in melee. The first boosted hit connected and killed Sorscha. Victory for the Swans!

Conclusion

As I said before, not quite the army I wanted to play at 35 points. But it was nice to try eHaley once again, and I can really see the strength of her feat and spell list. I still want a unit other than the Stormblades. I'm thinking about Precoursors Knights or the Horgehold Forge Guards. The ATGM with a marshalled Defender was really expensive and I don't think it's the best thing to bring at 35pts. A unit of Long Gunners would have been really nice.

Cygnar vs Retribution (eHaley vs Ravyn) 35pts - Battle Report

Went to another city for some games. I played against a new Trollblood player (his first game ever), played my first game ever against Skorne (which I lost, due to a stupid assassination attempt), and I also played my first game against Retribution as you will see in this battle report. I choose to play with eHaley since I've never played with her before, but people tell me she's da bomb. Anyway, these are the lists we played. 

Points: 35/35
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Centurion (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts) (I had one point left)

Points: 35/35
Ravyn, Eternal Light (*6pts)
* Hyperion (18pts)
Mage Hunter Strikeforce (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Mage Hunter Commander (2pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

Setup - No scenario, just caster-kill

Turn 1 

Cygnar - I won the roll and went first. Everything ran up the board. Journeyman Warcaster cast Arcane Shield on Centurion. eHaley cast Deceleration for some extra protection.

Retribution - The Mage Hunter Strike Force ran forward, and so did one group Stormfall archers and Hypperion. Ravyn cast snipe on the other Stormfall unit and they shot at the ATGM. Every shot missed, but one deviation reached Haley and caused 4 wounds on her due to good dice rolls.

Turn 2

Cygnar - Gun Mages shot and killed the Mage Hunter solo and 3 Stormfall Archers. Centurion advanced towards the Hypperion and activated the Polarity Shield. Stormblades advanced and spread out to avoid the huge AoE from Hypperion. Haley once again cast Decelaration and camped the rest of her focus.

Retribution - Ravyn activated first and cast snipe on the Mage Hunter Strike force, and then she feated. Hypperion and the Stormfall archers shot at the Stormblades killing 4 of them. Then the Mage Hunter Strike Force advanced towards Haley and started to shoot at her. He managed to put her down to 4 boxes, but she survived. He also killed the Journeyman Warcaster with a few Hunters that couldn't reach Haley.

Turn 3

Cygnar - Centurion got filled with focus, and Haley also cast Temporal Acceleration on the Centurion and used her feat. Centurion charged Hypperion and did a decent amount of damage to it (crippled the left arm). Stormblades lost their UA to Hypperion, but they still charged the MHSF and killed 4. ATGM moved up and killed the last Stormfall archer and the Arcanist.

Retribution - Hypperion did a decent amount of damage to the Centurion (crippled both arms). MHSF killed another two Stormblades. Ravyn only moved a bit this turn.

Turn 4

Cygnar - The Lancer moved up to get vision to Ravyn. Haley activated and cast both Time Bomb and Arcane Bolt to try and hurt Ravyn, but only did about 5 damage to her. The Stormblades kept killing a few more Mage Hunters. ATGM started to run around Hypperion looking for Ravyn.

Retribution - Hypperion engaged ATGM but didn't manage to kill anyone. Ravyn charged the Stormblades and the Lancer. She killed the Stormblades and did a few wounds to the Lancer (crippled the left/shield arm). Mage Hunter used CMA to kill the last Stormblade.

Turn 5

Cygnar - ATGM disengaged Hypperion who couldn't manage to hit them even with free strikes. They tried to shoot Ravyn, but everyone missed. They did however kill the last of the Stormfall Archers. Lancer did a few wounds to Ravyn leaving her with 4 wounds left. Haley did a last final attempt to kill Ravyn with her magic and hand cannon, but the dices didn't roll my way.

Retribution - The 3 Mage Hunter that remained shot at Haley, but they missed with every attack. Hypperion moved closer towards Haley and shoot with a boosted Starcannon that made a direct hit. Haley was destroyed.

Conclusion 

It was fun to try eHaley. Not the best list to use her, but it gave me some ideas on how she should be played. Also I think I should have used her feat on my second turn, I kinda forgot how huge her control area is. Well, you live and you learn. Next time it'll be a different force that follow her into battle (read Stormwall).

Progress log

Just some really low-res pictures to show what I'm currently working on. I've been painting my Boomhowlers since early December, and I'm still not done with them. I just got some small details (belts mostly) and some cover up where I screwed up the colors, and then they should be finished. 

I love painting warjacks, so my new Charger and Ol' Rowdy will probably be painted in a week or two, depending on how much other stuff I have to do. My friend will help me base coat the Stormstrider, which means it'll probably be a few weeks before I'll start to paint it. Other than these guys I still have a few solos and the entire unit of ATGM to paint. 

The goal it so "play it painted 2013" and I have a lot of stuff painted, but as I keep buying more models it's hard to keep up. Hopefully I can at least field a Kara Sloan and eNemo with fully painted armies at 50 points. 

Two left legs

Small update. I unpacked the Stormwall today and wanted to see if I got every part, since I've heard there been some problem when people have been buying colossals. And just my luck.. I got two left legs and no right leg. When leg was even really badly miss cast. Oh well, I hope PP will send my missing leg before the summer... 

A storm is coming

Finally got my order. I have a lot of assembling to do these next few days. I also got three new caster - eNemo, eHaley and pHaley. I'm still gonna play a lot of Kara Sloan, but I felt I needed something else than Stryker as my second caster. And after reading every forum post and tactica, I just felt that I needed to have a Stormwall in my army... and I really like the Stormstrider, so I just bought that one as well. 

Friendly tournament - Battle Reports

Me and my gaming group had the great idea of making a small tournament and play each other just for the glory of bragging rights.. or something like that. Rules were simple. 2 lists with character restrictions, you need to field both lists at least once. And since we were only 4 guys it meant two games with one, and a single game with the other. We played three SR2012 scenarios - Close Quarter - Overrun - Incursion.

Since this is my blog I'll only write about the three games that I had and the two lists I played with. Oh, another ruled we played with was no proxy models allowed, which made it a bit difficult for me since I don't yet own Ol' Rowdy and I always play with him (I have ordered him, but haven't received the shipment). I went for my standard Kara Sloan list, and for my second list I choose eStryker with some slight changes.

Points: 35/35
Captain Kara Sloan (*6pts)
* Hunter (6pts)
* Defender (9pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
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
Lord Commander Stryker (*6pts)
* Centurion (9pts)
* Stormclad (10pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)

As you can see the eStryker list is lacking some of the things I want to run. Ol' Rowdy and eEyriss being the two models I really wanted in this list. In the Kara Sloan list I was thinking of switching out Arlan for Jonas Murdoch to give the Boomhowler a bit more punch, but I decided I wanted Arlan in case I needed to repair a gun early on.

Game 1 - Khador (pButcher) - Scenario: Close Quarter

First game was against this pButcher list: 

The Butcher of Khardov (*6pts)
* Demolisher (9pts)
* Demolisher (9pts)
* War dog (1pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Widowmakers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (4pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Yuri the Axe (3pts)
Widowmaker Marksman (2pts)
Points: 37/37

A small mistake with the list, he shouldn't have had Gorman, but it didn't really matter anyway. Khador started with running up with everything, and I did the same on my first turn. On the second turn Pikeman advanced in Shield Wall and Iron Zeal (ARM 22!) and was prepared to face my alpha charge. I charged with both my Jacks and my Stormblades, killing absolutely nothing (except Yuri with the Stormclad). Khador answered the next turn with pButchers feat - killing all but 1 Stormblade and wreaking the Centurion even though it had Arcane Shield. Wasn't much I could do, so I ran Stryker up killing a Demolisher and locked myself in combat with the pikemen in hope that some (un)lucky dice rolls would save me and the game. It didn't. Pikemen did a CMA and got critical knockdown, so it was an easy victory for Khador.

Game 2 - Menoth (pKreoss) - Scenario: Overrun

Samuel (who plays Menoth) is quite new to the game, and this was his first time with a full unit of Errants with their UA. He played with this list:

High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Redeemer (6pts)
* Repenter (4pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Reclaimer (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (2pts)
Points: 35/35

I played with my Kara Sloan list. My plan was to run with the Boomhowlers as quickly as I could into the "overrun" area and just sit there forever, while the rest of my army would stay back and just try and blast the rest away. Menoth advanced and got some lucky scatters with the Zealots and the Redeemer, while the Errants and some really bad dice rolls. It became somewhat a war of attrition when we met on the middle of the board, but he moved Kreoss a bit too far and I saw my chance. I cleared a path with my Boomhowlers in melee and got a straight line towards Kreoss, two boosted shots from Kara and one from the Defender killed him. Victory for Cygnar!

Game 3 - Circle (eKreuger) - Scenario: Incursion

I was about to play eStryker one more time, but I really do like to play with Kara and her gunline, and I haven't really tried her against Circle before. He played with this list:

Krueger the Stormlord (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Pureblood Warpwolf (9pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2pts)
Druid Wilder (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Points: 36/36

Another small mistake in the list. Seems he brought an extra Gallows. Maybe I should start checking my opponents list before the game... anyway, it didn't matter much either. We both moved up towards the middle of the board, the objective on the right side of the screen disappeared. Druids tried to "pull out" the Hunter from the woods so the Stalker could charge it, but he didn't get it to move far enough, and he also blocked the charge lane for his Stalker. Boomies moved towards the middle objective, and Kara used her feat and killed all but 1 Druid with the help of the ATGM. eKrueger tried to push away my whole army to claim some "easy" points, but he only managed to score 1 point. Kara Sloan got 2 boosted shots into eKreuger who had to transfer them to both the Gorax and Pureblood killing them. The Stalker tried to flank Kara and got into melee range locking her in combat. Still I moved out and took the free-strike, which missed. Got a final boosted shot into eKrueger who couldn't transfer the damage this time. Another Victory for Cygnar!

Conclusion

Winner - Khador (3-0)
2:nd Place - Cygnar (2-1)
3:rd Place - Menoth (1-2)
4:th Place - Circle (0-3)