Battle Report #35: Caine2 vs Butcher3

Today I play against Juan, our Spanish club member! He has Vlad1 and Butcher3 as drops, and we decide to make it fun by having the two stone cold killers face off.

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Captain Allister Caine
* Reinholdt
* Centurion
* Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
5 Storm Lances
10 Trencher Infantry

Bunker

Commander Zoktavir, the Butcher Unleashed (75 points)

Commander Zoktavir, the Butcher Unleashed

* Behemoth

* 2 Kodiak

* Ruin

Gobber Tinker

Kovnik Jozef Grogorovich

Orin Midwinter

6 Winter Guard Rifle Corps

* 3 Winter Guard Rocketeer

2 Kayazy Eliminators

Bunker

Deployment

I win the die roll and decide to claim the board.

My plan is to go for attrition and see if I can get up on scenario by taking my own zone, and then using the Lances to deny him his zone.

4 heavies is a lot of armor to chew through for Caine, and if I should decide to murder a puppy Butcher has even longer threat (20") than Caine (19"). I have to be careful, because the Butcher will easily cut Caine to pieces. On the other hand, if Butcher does not camp enough, Caine might be able to fell even the mighty Butcher.

Turn 1

I give the Rangers Stealth, Caine takes Bullet Dodger, the Trenchers get Heightened Reflexes and I move up as far as I can.

Butcher moves up. The Winter guard pick off a Trencher and a Behemoth shot clips Caine, doing 2 boxes of damage.

Turn 2

I shift Caine to the right, and he first removes the Eliminators after accidentally rolling snake eyes and shooting one of  my own Rangers in the back. Then he shoots away all the Grenadiers, before Gate Crashing to safety behind a cloud wall. Kovnik Joe also dies for the Motherland.

I am unsure if the Butcher can reach me if he gets Vengeance, so I let the dogs life this turn.

I make a mistake with the threat ranges. I forgot Ruin's bond, so my Lances were placed too close. This could easily cost me the game, since it will weaken my scenario pressure.

Ruin and the Behemoth does a number on the Lances, only one survives. I was expecting to lose a Lance, or maybe 2 to shooting, but loosing 4 is not good.

The right Kodiak kills some infantry. My zone is uncontested and I score.

1-0

Turn 3

The Centurion with Death Field easily takes out the Kodiak. I am pretty sure he cannot kill it in retaliation without committing the Butcher. Caine removes the rest of the infantry. My army shifts right to be out of range of Ruin, and Arcane Shield moves to the Centurion.

2-0

The other Kodiak goes in to contest, and cripples the shield on the Centurion. Butcher goes into his own zone and scores.

2-1

Turn 3

The Centurion takes out the other Kodiak. I kill the dogs and everything charges in to jam. I scratch the paint on Ruin and the Behemoth. Since the Butrcher is in a forest he cannot reach me, even with Vengeance move.

I make a bad mistake here my not running in a Trencher to contest. I actually measured out that I could, and then I forgot right after when I did the charges.

3-2

The Butcher uses his feat and he and Ruin clear out everything, doing nice plays that put Butcher back into the zone. The Behemoth goes into my zone and kills the Centurion and the objective.

3-4

Turn 4

Due to my mistakes there is no way for me to score 2 points and win this turn, and there is no way I can prevent him from getting another point next turn and winning.

Butcher is only camping 3... but all my Rangers are dead...

The GMCA steps out of melee and gets swatted like a fly. The Hunter shoots the Butcher but only does a single point of damage. Not a good start!

But today, the dice are in my favor. I hit on every 5+ roll and roll fairly average damage every time. There is one single bullet left in the chamber when the Butcher falls.

Cygnar wins by assassination!

Post Mortem

I knew for sure this was going to be rough. 4 heavies is a lot to chew through, and the Butcher can remove anything and still be pretty safe by feating and camping afterwards. Also I cannot really use Caine to pressure as much since our threat ranges are both so long.

I did a few really bad scenario mistakes, but still the scenerio pressure forced Juan to make a risky last play, and I won in the end on good dice rolls.

Overall I think Juan played better, but still I won, so I think Caine could have an edge here, not sure though.