Battle Report #88: Caine2 vs Stryker2

Jarle wanted to try out some experimental Cygnar builds and test them in the mirror, so both of these lists are his design. I am a big Caine2 fan, but the 2017v1 nerf on him was really hard. I was not able to find any good lists for him. Jarle thought that maybe Heavy Metal could give Caine2 the volume he wants. Caine2 does not himself do much for the list, but he still has a respectable damage output, and Grievous Wounds is still a useful ability.

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Theme: Heavy Metal

Captain Allister Caine (Caine2)
* Squire
* Ace
* Stormwall
Captain Arlan Strangewayes
Journeyman Warcaster
* Hunter
* Hunter
Lieutenant Allison Jakes
* Hunter
* Stormclad

Lord Commander Stryker (75 points)

Theme: Storm Division

Lord Commander Stryker (Stryker2)
* Squire
* Lancer
* Ol' Rowdy
Major Katherine Laddermore
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Stormblade Captain
2x5 Storm Lances
6 Stormblade Infantry
* Office & Standard
* 2x Storm Gunner

Deployment

I go first. I place the Stormwall and Stormclad to walk up to the zone. Hunters go on the left and right.

Stryker2 deploys in a long long line.

Round 1

I move up.

Stryker2's swarm of dudes fill the board. He casts Deceleration and the right flank Lances get Arcane Shield.

Round 2

Dudes with Deceleration are pretty solid. I kill a Lance and a couple of Blades. Stormwall backs out in order to not take the Lance charge. My dice are poor, but still.

Laddermore charges Caine but misses. Caine dodges back. Stryker caps the flag. My Hunters get pinned down by Lances.

0-2

Round 3

I cripple Ol'Rowdy and clear away some dudes. I fail to contest but it does not matter at his point.

0-4

Stryker goes super saiyan and murders my Stormwall for shits and giggles.

0-5

Evil Cygnar wins by scenario!

Post Mortem

I am not good enough at playing with the Stormwall. Jarle tends to keep his jacks closer together so that the Stormwall can block vision and movement to them. I will try to do that the next time!

I am not sure if I really like the Caine2 list. Caine can pew pew, but that's pretty much the only thing he does here. Against high ARM models his pew pew is not so good. I feel that a solid support caster like Stryker1 will probably run a similar list a whole lot better, and Sloan has a lot more punch.

I don't think the list is bad, either. It deserves some more games to determine if it is good or not. It felt good to field Caine2 again, though!

Jarle has, of course, also written a battle report about the same match.

Battle Report #49 and #50: Caine2 vs Makeda2

After playing some Caine2 games against Baldur2 it was time to try the newly nerfed Caine2 into a matchup where he used to rock hard: Caine2 against Makeda2. Hans is running the Skorne forces.

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Back to my normal Caine2 list.


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

Supreme Archdomina Makeda (75 points)

The trick in  this list is Makeda2 using Stay Death on her army of Tough & Steady kitties, either grinding me down or going for an assassination with the crazy mobility (up to 18" non-linear threat, including a 5" jump).

Supreme Archdomina Makeda (Makeda2)

* Basilisk Krea

* Despoiler

2x Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Tyrant Radheim

Void Spirit

2x5 Praetorian Ferox

4 Paingiver Beast Handlers

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer

Tyrant Commander Hans is ready to deal the pain.

Deployment

I have never played this before, so I dunno. Hans wins the die roll and I decide to skew, maybe get one more turn of shooting.

Turn 1

Cats move up.

I circle left.

Turn 2

Boy do the kitties hit hard. Two Arcane Shielded Lances go down. Tyrant Radheim hits Caine2 hard, but he lives.

I put Grievous Wounds on three kitties and kill them, leaving way, way too many alive.

Clearly I cannot survive the next turn. We shake hands.

Skorne wins by assassination!

Post Mortem

This is one matchup where the nerfs to Caine are super bad! This matchup used to be a walk in the park for Caine2, since he could put Grievous on almost everything and murder a whole lot of kitties. Now that I can only kill around 3 a turn, things have changed a lot.

We talked through the game and clearly I made things a buit easy by going so aggressive and allowing him to jam so hard. We reset and try again!

The next game went exactly the same way. I tried to feat and not use Grievous and try to see how much I could get away just by volume of attacks. The answer: Not much.

Battle Report #47: Caine2 vs Baldur2 (match #2)

After I threw the previous game, we reset and played again.

Captain Allister Caine

Captain Allister Caine (Caine2)
Objective: Fuel Cache
* Reinholdt
* Stormwall
Journeyman Warcaster
* Charger
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
2x3 Storm Lances

Baldur the Stonesoul

Baldur the Stonesoul (Baldur2)
Objective: Bunker
* Feral Warpwolf
* Megalith
* 2x Pureblood Warpwolf
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
2x Sentry Stone & Mannikins
2x Shifting Stones

Deployment

Baldur2 wins the roll, I grab the side with the wall.

Turn 1

Baldur moves up and bricks up.

I move up and shoot away some Mannikins. The Stormwall puts some shots into the Feral.

Turn 2

The brick moves further up. Baldur2 feats. Two Storm Lances get shot away by Pureblood sprays. A Mannikin manages to get the GMCA.

Balder2 has placed himself in the wrong spot, and just removing a single Stone will be enough for Caine2 to get himself and the Stormwall to fire on him. We shake hands.

Cygnar wins by assassination!  

Then we minifeat Baldur2 back into safety, and continue the game.

The Stormwall moves up and splats Megalith. In hindsight, a terrible move. I should have stayed back, shot something, and kept getting points.

Left side Lances move far away to pull Wrong Eye and Snapjaw away from the fight.

I clear away all the things that could contest next turn and grab a point.

1-0

Turn 3

A Feral, two Purebloods and a Stormwall walk into a bar...

2-1

I have lost the attrition game, but try to jam as well as I can.

3-1

Turn 4

My jam is cleared and an ARM 21 Feral toes into the zone. Baldur is camping 4.

It will be impossible to kill the Feral and then live to clear the Pureblood next turn, so my only option is to go for the kill. It is not enough, and Baldur lives.

Circle wins by attrition!

Post Mortem

A clear misplay to give him the Stormwall! I should have kept back, kept scoring, and tried to force him into bad trades.

Battle Report #46: Caine2 vs Baldur2 (match #1)

The nerfs are upon us! This game is my first played according to the January 2017 Errata.

One of the casters that was hit really badly was Caine2, which incidentally is the caster I have been practicing the most with in preparation for the Norwegian Masters. Caine2 was really strong, but his best ability has been nerfed really hard. His new ability is called Empowered Shot, and is the same as his old Ammo Type - except takes a shot type costs 1 focus.

I am not quite sure whether this still leaves him a top tier caster, or whether this makes him more average. Time to find out!

This is a practice game for WTC 2017, so I am playing a different list than my usual choice, because reasons.

Captain Allister Caine

Caine2, Stormwall and Lances. A fairly standard setup, very punchy but depends a lot on  not losing that Stormwall.


Captain Allister Caine (Caine2)
Objective: Fuel Cache
* Reinholdt
* Stormwall
Journeyman Warcaster
* Charger
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
2x3 Storm Lances

Baldur the Stonesoul

Baldur and lots of heavies + Wrong Eye for extra defense when the brick engages. A lot to chew through, but Caine2 + GMCA should have some pressure on Baldur.

Baldur the Stonesoul (Baldur2)
Objective: Bunker
* Feral Warpwolf
* Megalith
* 2x Pureblood Warpwolf
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
2x Sentry Stone & Mannikins
2x Shifting Stones

Asbjørn the Stonesoul has his war face on.

Deployment

I win the roll off. I am not sure if it's a good idea to give him the wall, but his army is slow and I decide to go first and claim the board.

By plan is to play for scenario and try to deny Asbjørn points in his zone while getting points in my zone.

The satyr model is a proxy Pureblood.

Turn 1

Arcane shield on the Stormwall, Bullet Dodger on Caine2, up we go.

The brick goes behind the wall. I am already in range of his stuff so Baldur2 feats. One Lance on the left gets sprayed away.

Turn 2

Lances move in. I kill all the small stuff that could contest the right zone, trying to force him into feeding me heavies to avoid letting me score. Caine2 moves to his zone. I have taken out the Mind on the right Pureblood, given him Grievous Wounds, and have DEF 19, so I'm feeling safe...

---unfortunately I have made a mistake and placed my own Ranger at exactly the wrong distance from Caine2. He gets thrown, Caine2 goes down, the Pureblood goes ghostly, disengages, and feasts on Caine's prostate body.

Circle wins by assassination!

Post Mortem

Haha, throws get nerfed and what do I lose to? Getting my own dude thrown on me. Probably I should have had Heightened Reflexes since there is not all that much Baldur can get on to me at range. Anyway, I think my strategy was good, the tactics leave something to be desired though.

We reset and try again.

Battle Report #45: Caine2 vs Deneghra1 (Internal Affairs VI #4)

After playing Caine2 vs Bart I am now 2-1!

For the last game of the tournament my opponent Marius is unfortunately list locked into Deneghra1, having played Coven for all his other matches. Caine2 is a hard counter to that list, so I drop him of course. Honestly, I feel a bit bad.

"Gode miner til slett spill", as we say in Norway

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Captain Allister Caine (Caine2, Bunker)
* Reinholdt
* Centurion
* Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
5 Storm Lances
10 Trencher Infantry

Warwitch Deneghra (75 points)

Warwitch Deneghra (Deneghra1)
* Barathrum
* Deathripper

* Nightwretch
Pistol Wraith
Wrong Eye
* Snapjaw
6 Satyxis Gunslingers
10 Satyxis Raiders
* Sea Witch
10 Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters

3 Cephalyx Overlords

Deployment

The scenario is unwinnable by my opponent since he cannot dominate a flag without being within 19" of Caine2. My battle plan is to not die to anything, and just shoot all his stuff away.

Turn 1

I move up and dig in, outside his threat range. Caine gets Heightned Reflexes just so he won't die to some knockdown trick.

Barathrum tries to jam up the middle, and everything else moves up.

Turn 2

The Trenchers charge Barathrum and kill him. Caine moves up, trick shots away a bunch of Satyxis and Nyss, and Gate Crashes out of range of everything. Lances charge and murder some models, and reposition to jam up the Gunslingers,

Marius fires back and kills a Storm Lance and a Ranger. Whee.

Turn 3

I kill the Cephalyx, the rest of the Gunslingers. Deneghra's army is pretty much wiped out at this point. We shake hands!

Cygnar wins by attrition!

Post Mortem

I felt a bit bad after this, the matchup is just a massacre. Marius was a good sport through it all, though. Next time he will bring Coven, and then we'll have a proper game!

And... guess which OP faction won the whole thing?

Battle Report #44: Caine2 vs Montador (Internal Affairs VI #3)

After facing Helynna with Haley2 I was ready for a third round. Now I face Amund's Mercenaries with Mantador and the Cephalyx dude spam. I cannot play Haley2 into 60+ Cephalyx so I drop Caine2. Amund drops Mondator.

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Captain Allister Caine (Caine2, Bunker)
* Reinholdt
* Centurion
* Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
5 Storm Lances
10 Trencher Infantry

Captain Bartolo Montador (75 points)

Captain Bartolo Montador (Montador1, Stockpile)
* Galleon
* 2x Nomad
* Mangler
Orin Midwinter
Raluk Moorclaw
Trencher Infantry
* Officer & Sniper

Deployment

His list is very tanky. I will have to spend a long time to kill all those ARM21 heavies and ARM22 Galleon. but I think I have scenario opportunities.

He wins the die roll and goes first. I take the trench and the open terrain.

I deploy the Hunter on the left to stay in the small forest and deny the left zone. Caine goes in the middle with the Centurion and the Lances go far right.

Turn 1

Bart moves up. I move up and cloud up in front of Caine2 just in case. Rangers get Dirge of Mist and Lances get Arcane Shield. Caine2 gets Bullet Dodger and the Trenchers get Heightened Reflexes.

Turn 2

Bart feats and shoots some Trenchers, and a lucky shot kills a Storm Lance, needing 12 on 2D6!

Caine2 moves up and uses trick shots to kill half his Trenchers. Lances back out a bit so they can charge to clear the zone next turn.

Turn 3

Galleon toes into the zone and a Mangler kills my Firefly in two attacks! Bart is hiding behind a Nomad. First I look at an attrition play, I could use Ragman, feat with Caine and hit the Galleon a lot of times. But then I see that a few of the enemy Trenchers are about 10" away from Caine2. I measure it up, and from that position Caine2 can just barely see Bart.

Bart is at ARM19,  but this seems like a good opportunity! I really want to have the +2 to hit from Rangers. I use those awesome movement templates from Frozen Forge to measure up the 14" Ranger run around the Mangler and Trencher. It's possible!

The Ranger runs up.

Caine2 gets Pathfinder from Rhupert, charges the Trencher, feats, kills it with the first shot, misses a shot with snake eyes, but five shots is enough to kill Bart!

Post Mortem

This seemed difficult against so much armor, but Caine can often find a way! The GMCA prevents Bart from hiding behind the Galleon and that makes things a lot harder for him.

I am up 2-1 in the tournament, this is going well! The last fight will be Caine2 against Deneghra1.

Battle Report #41: Caine2 vs Rahn

Another game against Rahn, this time played by Nico. I have played this matchup before against Nima, but Nico's list is less focused on assassination and more on attrition.

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

Adeptis Rahn (75 points)

Adeptis Rahn
* 2x Chimera
* Hyperion
Elara
* Discordia
2x Arcanist Mechanik
Lanyssa Ryssyl
2x6 House Shyeel Battle Mages

Deployment

Rahn winds the die roll and skews to the left flank. I decide to skew right with the Lances to try to keep my flag clear, and use the Centurion to block off him scoring in the zone.

Turn 1

Rahn moves up and casts Polarity Shield on the Hyperion.

Caine2 gets Heightened Reflexes since anything else is insane against Master Knockdown and Pull Artist Rahn.

I move Caine2 up the centre and build a cloud wall. He stays 2" behind it so that it is impossible for Rahn to cast Telekinesis through a Chimera and get me into the clouds or into view of any of the Battle Mages, and so far behind that it seems impossible to run a Chimera behind Caine2 and Force Blast him forwards. Caine2 camps 3 so that I won't be killed by double Chain Blast.

Have I played against this shit before? You bet.

Caine2 has been placed with 12" of the right flank flag, so that I can Gate Crash there later.

The Hunter shoots the right Chimera and does 8 boxes, but does not take out anything important.

Turn 2

Rahn mostly shuffles around and decides not to feat. A Force Hammer knocks down the two leftmost Lances. The Chimera and Battle Mages try to knockdown and kill a Lance or two on the right, but they all live. Four Trenchers and two Rangers are killed my various shooting. All in all his dice are pretty poor and I make a lot of tough rolls.

I build a new cloud wall. Caine moves up and together with the Hunter he clears away the jamming Chimera. This frees up my Lances which then charge and murder 7 Battle Mages and Lanyssa. Perfect!

The Centurion toes into the zone but a much better play would have been to place him behind the clouds so he could not so easily be Telekinsis'ed out of the zone or into melee range

The Trenchers make a new cloud wall. Since I only have 2 Focus left I decide to not Gate Crash to the flag. I think I would have been assassinated if I did. Caine ends up camping 2, stays 2" behind the cloud wall and also get the Dirge of Mist. I don't trust that Rahn one bit!

Turn 3

Rahn goes for a scenario play, clearing the zone and killing my objective. He feats, but the Battle Mages do very little. Even boosted spells are weak against ARM 20 Lances.

For some reason he dropped Polarity Field to have more Focus available, I think that was a bad move since it makes killing Hyperion so easy.

0-2

That Hyperion is in a terrible position. My plan for this turn is to kill Hyperion and whatever else I can get my hands on, and then camp as much as I can out of melee range of Discordia. I therefore decide to activate Caine late and see whether the rest of the army can deliver the goods.

Ragman with Death Field, the Centurion, the Hunter, a fully charged Firefly and two Trrenchers together do a lot of damage. I activate Caine, feat, shoot away the Hyperion and the one Battle Mage jamming the Lances. Caine stops while camping 2 (it is so hard to not go all out on Overkill!)

The Lances go in and kill the other Chimera and few more Battle Mages.

Turn 4

I have lost nothing of importance and Rahn is almost out of models. He decides to go for a hail Mary play by moving up Rahn and casting two Chain Blasts at me, needing 11+ on 2D6 to hit. The first one misses, and that is that.

Post Mortem

I think that losing so many Battle Mages in turn 2, and then getting further down on attrition after the scenario play in turn 3, lost the game for Rahn. A stronger play might have been feating in turn 2, and just try to kill as much as possible and get up on attrition. There is not much in my list that can reliably kill an unchargeable Hyperion, and Telekinesis can keep the Centurion away forever.

I am happy with my careful play this game. My main goal each turn was to deal as much damage as I could and not lose Caine, and it worked out that way.

I am not quite sure who is up here. We both have a lot of options and strong assassinations. It's a hard matchup to play for both sides, since one small mistake and it's over.