Monday, July 29, 2024

The State of Cygnar, 2024

I've been listening to a lot about Cygnar recently. Storm Legion is at the bottom of the heap at the moment, faring worse than any other MK4 faction. The most recent episode of Focus, Fury, and Friends (episode 9) had some great in-depth discussion on Storm Legion. I listened twice. And while I am admittedly a filthy casual, I've got a lot of thoughts about the eventual end-of-year errata that will tweak models, and I've got a short wishlist.



I played Calder for the first time this past weekend, and she's a lot of fun. I lost twice before I got to feat with her, so my take on the caster may be premature, but she seems solid, if not strong. I'd love to see a buff to the caster, but I don't have enough plays to suggest anything as of yet.

Huxley, as a caster, is in theory a ton of fun. He doesn't do much at all to support his army, but he's a super solo, like Caine was back in the day. Instead of destroying all your infantry singlehandedly, Huxley takes a few big shots at extreme range and is extremely difficult to kill. But he's also the worst caster in the faction. Nobody takes Huxley. He does nothing for his army, and Cygnar really needs support in order to do much of anything. Short of giving Huxley a character jack that really unlocks him, I've really only got one suggestion.

Huxley has a great gun, and doing stuff himself rather than supporting his army seems to be his whole thing. Against an ARM20 heavy, his gun is going to do 5 points on average, or 8 if damage is boosted. But he's also got the siege weapon rule in ground assault mode, which means that boosted shot into an ARM20 colossal will do 12 damage on average. In the world of 2024, where colossals are increasingly appearing, that ain't bad.

My suggestion for Huxley? Make his gun reload 1. A second shot at the cost of one focus would be useful, but given that he's likely boosting damage on both shots, he's spending half his stack every turn on shooting. My feel is that this change would make more people take Huxley, but he still wouldn't be winning any tournaments. He'd be more of a counter to colossals.

The stryker is... fine. It does the job, but it's completely underwhelming when compared to the heavies in other factions. I've got two suggestions for Storm Legion's flagship heavy. First, it's bizarre to me that you've got a faction throwing lightning everywhere, making sure all the troops are lightning resistant, but the warjacks aren't. Unless you put the most expensive head on the stryker. Make that damn thing one point instead of three. The only other thing it does besides grant lightning immunity is plasma nimbus, which hits melee attackers with a POW10. How often has that ever been super relevant? If we're not putting in errata to make the stryker lightning immune by default, the head should be one point.

Secondly, the stormblazer cannon. The what? Yeah. Even if you play Cygnar, you likely don't know what this thing is because nobody would ever consider it. It's a range 10 POW14 shot with no AoE, and it leaves a behind a lightning cloud which does a POW10. Sure, in theory you could block a choke point with a cloud if your opponent places a model perfectly, but planning for that and selecting a stormblazer cannon? Not advisable. The stormblazer cannon costs a whopping 5 points. Let's change it to 4 points. 

The courser is a solid little jack. I love those range 12 POW12 lightning sprays, and the light mag bolter can do some work. But there are some arms that nobody will take ever. First off, the sword. At POW14, it's the hardest hitting weapon the courser can take, if you discount the punching spike. I think it makes sense to bump it up to POW15. Again, I doubt anyone will take it despite the buff.

Secondly, the courser's rapid fire light mag bolter is kind of trash. Range 10 POW10 would be decent if it weren't for "rapid fire" meaning only 1d3 shots. The fact that it has beat back is kind of cute, but it only feels marginally legit when you get 3 shots every time. I'd suggest upping the rate of fire. Either ROF3 or else 2d3 shots.

Most of the troops in Cygnar are okay, if situational. The only ones I'd like to address are the tempest thunderers. Despite getting infinitesimally better in the last year-end update, the thunderers are still bargain basement bad. Let's bump their melee weapons up from POW12 to POW 14. Not much will change, and I'm sure nobody will take them, but it's something.

Lastly, in an attempt to pull Cygnar melee threat ranges out of the toilet, how about giving the officer desperate pace back?

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Changes to Invasion

Yesterday's update to the Warmachine app saw a few changes. There was a strange and arcane change to the wording of disengagement which I'm still trying to figure out. But in my mind, the most significant change was to the much-maligned Invasion scenario. Let's dive in.

Previously, the first player had a 30mm objective, scorable by solos, and the second player had a 40mm objective, scorable by units. It's been changed, and now both players have a 40mm objective. The 30mm objectives are gone from Invasion.

 

Warmachine Invasion Scenario Old
Old Invasion Scenario

Warmachine Invasion Scenario New
New Invasion Scenario

Aside from removing that bit of asymmetry, the flags are now four inches further back. Given that they move up to five inches at the beginning of the game, the scenario terrain might now be as little as nine inches from the rear board edge, well within player two's deployment zone.

They've also removed the incredibly awkward measurement which used the size of player two's 20mm flag as part of the measurement to player one's 30mm objective. That was always just a mess.

The last change in the scenario sees the 40mm objectives moving over, now only five inches from the board edge. This gives even more value to already-valuable ambush units. Units in range to score that objective are now easy prey to any unit that can appear at the board edge at any moment.

Next up, will they address issues with Payload?

Sunday, March 31, 2024

My Second Steamroller

Seven years ago, I wrote about my first steamroller tournament. Yesterday, I played in my second. The tournament took place at The Portal in Manchester, and was set to be a four round tournament, although we only played three rounds.

I made two lists, but only brought the models for one, planning to play Sparkhammer every time.

Spankhammer
Cygnar - Storm Legion
Grand Melee - 100 pts

PC CARD

Mechanik Adept Sparkhammer
SPELL - Arcane Shield
SPELL - Deflection

7 Courser 1
1 HEAD - Shield Guard
4 RIGHT ARM - Heavy Stormthrower
2 LEFT ARM - Voltaic Punching Spike

7 Courser 2
1 HEAD - Shield Guard
4 RIGHT ARM - Heavy Stormthrower
2 LEFT ARM - Voltaic Punching Spike

17 The General
HEAD - The General
LEFT ARM - Polarity Fist
RIGHT ARM - Quicksilver Mk III

5 Eiryss, Shadow of Retribution

3 Specialist Tyson Vas

7 Zephyr 1

7 Zephyr 2

5 Arcane Mechaniks

5 Storm Callers 1

5 Storm Callers 2

5 Storm Callers 3

10 Storm Lance Legionnaires 1

10 Storm Lance Legionnaires 2

7 Stormguard Legionnaires

PC COMMAND CARD
Break Through
Careful Reconnaissance
Defenses
Infiltration
Old Faithful 

After the tournament, I'd only have changed one thing about the list: The command cards. I'd have dropped Break Through and the Defenses, and picked up the reposition and blessing cards.

My first game was against Pete, whom I'd played a few times before. I've never won a game against him - he's very good. But that was okay, as I hadn't planned to win at this tournament. 

Pete was playing Brinebloods, led by Shadowtongue. He systematically dissected my army, and we played until I was down to deathclock, and his time was relatively low as well. At the end, he was up by two points and had destroyed more than twice what I had in models. I clocked, but I played well, so that made me happy.

My second game was against Mark, with whom I've been good friends for at least 30 years. Mark was running Khador Winter Korps, led by Savaryn. He went first, and at the top of two he feated. His blessed shots which ignored concealment and cover destroyed my army.


After that, I rolled snake eyes on a few important attacks and missed a very important slam. From there, it was downhill for me until he killed Sparkhammer.

My third game was against Dan, who was running a legacy gator army led by Jaga Jaga. It ended up fantastic because it was so close. I sent three stormlances and a zephyr up each flank. My right flank got wrecked when a spitter corroded everything, then gatormen killed the rest. But at the same time, the stormlances on my left flank had arcane shield. After they charged the sacral vault, they were ARM 23, which gave those gatormen a hard time. I nickeled and dimed the sacral vault to death, and the stormcallers blasted a the rest of the gators on that side to death on Sparkhammer's feat turn. So at the same time my right flank was collapsing, his left flank was collapsing, leading to a weird spiral.


This scenario was Wolves at our Heels, so the 40mm objectives were moving forward. Critically, on one turn when I had only a single stormlance remaining on my collapsed flank, I took advantage of that stormlance's unstoppable rule and moved him up and out of melee to contest the 40mm objective, which allowed mine to move further, meaning that I'd gain three points on turn 4.

My lances cleared out the rest of the models at the top, and the zephyr got a charge on Jaga Jaga, forcing a few transfers, but doing no serious damage. Just after that, two gatormen and the wrassler made it over to Sparkhammer. But critically, I'd just hit that wrassler three times with Tyson Vas's electrocutioner attack, making him stationary, and I'd put Arcane Shield on Sparkhammer, bringing his armor up to 20. By the time the two gatormen and the wrassler were done with Sparkhammer, he had three boxes left. If the wrassler hadn't had to shake that stationary effect, he'd have had another attack and I'd likely have lost. As it stood, we both had less than 5 minutes left on clock, and I scored the three points one turn four, bringing the score to 15-9, and I actually won a game. Barely.

The steamroller was a blast - I'd expected to enjoy it, but I had even more fun than I'd expected.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Infernals

 

Battle Report 2/16/2024

Infernals vs Cygnar

This was a game I played with Brian at Tabletop Gaming center as part of a kind of February psuedo-tournament. It was great because I got the chance to see Infernals on the table for the first time. Those models are fantastic-looking.

Cygnar


  • Mechanik Adept Sparkhammer
  • Courser
  • The General
  • Zephyr
  • Specialist Tyson Vas
  • Storm Callers
  • Storm Callers
  • Storm Callers
  • Storm Lance Legionnaires
  • Storm Lance Legionnaires



Infernals

  • Zaateroth, The Weaver of Shadows
  • Desolator
  • Foreboder
  • Lamenter
  • Tormentor
  • Tormentor
  • Hermit of Henge Hold
  • Lord Roget D'Vyaros
  • Valin Hauke, the Fallen Knight
  • Cultist Band
  • Master Preceptor Orin Midwinter
  • Howlers



Deployment

We threw down terrain, rolled scenario, and got Wolves At Our Heels.

I won the roll, chose to go second, and picked the righthand side of the board.

My board edge had a forest to hide behind, open graves, a hill in the middle, and most importantly a giant red Khador wall to hide a caster behind.

The Infernal board edge had a hill, a lake, and a forest.

In the center were two houses and a smoke cloud.

Infernals placed two barriers as defenses. Of note - Cygnar's 40mm objective ended up in a forest, and the Cygnar cache was just behind the Khador wall.



Infernals Turn 1


Infernals run forward. Zaateroth summons a soul stalker, and the howlers take the hill.


Cygnar Turn 1

Already threatened on turn one, Cygnar moves up carefully, trying not to lose any models at the top of two.

Sparkhammer and the sniper stand on the back of the Khador bunker/hill. Any further back, and they have to worry about killbox soon. Any further forward, and they're possibly already in assassination range. The courser shield guard stands just behind, and the General takes a place just in front.

Stormcallers, storm lances, and the zephyr stay far back on the left, because the howlers have eyeless sight and can see through the cloud.



Infernals Turn 2

The infernals reposition and feat this turn. Zaateroth's feat gives his army +3 defense, and if an attack misses, they can be placed 3 inches away.

One AoE spikes and does some damage to a stormlance, but Cygnar takes no other damage.


Cygnar Turn 2

The Zephyr charges a DEF15 howler, and misses a lot, allowing the howler to pop out of range. The stormsmiths miss a lot of shots as well, and then reposition back to the 40mm objective. The howlers' repositioning has brought them into the stormlances' line of sight, so the stormlances charge. The first charge attack needs an 8 on 3 dice, and misses. This allows that howler to position back, and since he's now out of the charging storm lance's melee range, none of the other stormlance attacks are charge attacks, and missing out on those three dice to hit screws everything up - everything misses.

Cygnar takes a number of other shots, and again, due to the feat, everything misses. Sparkhammer decides to take a boosted shot at the soul stalker since he's got a range 16 shot which ignores stealth.  It hits and nearly kills the soul stalker, but nonetheless, it was likely a mistake due to the focus it consumed. Sparkhammer plans to run behind the Khador wall next turn, ending on one focus.

But then I realize that I forgot to pay focus to maintain arcane shield at the beginning of the turn, and to be honest, I take that last focus off of Sparkhammer. Damn it.

(Infernals 1, Cygnar 1)



Infernals Turn 3

The infernals begin planning an assassination.

The foreboder runs around the building, and Zaateroth channels a spell through it, killing a stormsmith.

The soul stalker moves forward three inches using rites of torment, and Zaateroth gives him ghost walk.

Then the soul stalker charges through stormsmiths, through the courser, and through The General, and kills Sparkhammer.

Infernal Victory!



Final Thoughts

  • Ghost walk is strong.
  • I couldn't have kept Sparkhammer any further back, especially since Wolves at our heels has an advancing killbox. But I could have camped more focus, or run him behind that building a turn earlier.



Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Making Sense of Steamroller 2024: Invasion

Privateer Press's Steamroller 2024 is out, and some of the new scenarios are outright bananas. After taking a close look at each of the new scenarios, I thought it would be worth spending a little time to give each a quick analysis and review. 

Invasion is another favorite of mine, owning largely to the thematic nature of the scenario. The goal in this one is to capture an enemy objective and drag it back home. Once it's in your deployment zone, you basically win.

Invasion has two 50mm objectives, one 40mm objective, one 30mm objective, and two flags. I find this to be the oddest layout in the packet. The 50mm objectives are both in the center, 20 inches up from the back board edge, but the 40mm objective is way over, just eight inches from the side. And the 30mm objective on the other side of the board is far more central. 

The flags are wacky on this scenario, and although it's really difficult to tell from the illustration on the map, I believe that both flags are eighteen inches up from the back and 14 inches from the side. These flags are placed opposite to how they normally are, which means that players will be picking the objective terrain on their opponent's side of the board. This likely means that objective terrain will be located far more centrally that in other scenarios.

Another wacky thing about this scenario is that while the primary goal is to move the 50mm objectives back into your own deployment zone, the 30mm and 40m objectives can be moved as well, but only by the opposing team. This scenario is likely to see the same terrain issues as with Payload, and players will need to quickly learn to spot obstructions which may hinder their ability to drag those 50mm objectives back home.

I also imagine this scenario having a bit of a reverse rubber band effect, where the further from the center those objectives get, the easier it is to score and thus to drag them. 

I'm sure that certain scenarios will quickly gain reputations. I look forward to seeing which are which, and to experiencing the new Steamroller goodness. Happy gaming!