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.

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

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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

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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)

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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!

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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.

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!

Making Sense of Steamroller 2024: Two Fronts

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.

Two Fronts has two 50mm objectives, two 40mm objectives, and that one wacky 30mm objective. 

This scenario is far less complex than most others in the Steamroller 2024 packet. Two 50mm objectives on one side, and two 40mm objectives on the other side, with the 30mm objective sitting square in the middle, just nine inches away from player two deployment.

The solo rules twist in Two Fronts is that if a player scores both 50mm objectives or both 40mm objectives, he gets 4VP rather than just 2VP. I foresee a lot of unit-on-unit skirmishes happening between the two 40mm objectives.

Other than that, Two Fronts is extremely straightforward. Stay tuned for tomorrow's review of the final Steamroller 2024 scenario: Invasion!

Making Sense of Steamroller 2024: Payload

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.

When I first read the Steamroller 2024 packet and came to the realization of what Payload actually was, it immediately became my favorite of the scenarios. I can't guarantee that will remain the case after I've actually played them, but the notion of pushing an enormous explosive payload towards an enemy building is so narratively cool that it makes the scenario just work.

Payload includes two 50mm objectives, two 40mm objectives, one 30mm objective, and two flags, which of course become the scenario terrain pieces.

The inclusion of one 30mm objective rather than two immediately caught my attention. The 40mm objectives are placed symmetrically - the first player will begin 22 inches from the opponent's 40mm objective, and the second player will begin 17 inches from his opponent's 40mm objective, due to the second player's further deployment. The flags and the 50mm payload objectives are also symmetrical. But then you have this crazy 30mm objective which sits only on one side of the board, just nine inches from the second player's deployment zone. This feels like a fairly large player two advantage, especially since capturing that area of the board will make it easier to push the payload right into the scenario terrain.

When a player scored a 50mm objective (these objectives I'll refer to as "the payload") he moves the objective three inches toward the opponent's objective terrain. Furthermore, the payload is pushed an additional inch for every other objective that the player scored that turn. 

As if that weren't enough, there's the Made to Haul rule, which allows a cohort model a free 5 inches of after-activation movement directly towards it, allowing that cohort model to potentially score (and push!) the objective again on their opponent's turn. The movement is five inches rather than just three to allow for extra movement that the objective may have gotten from scoring other objectives, but because of the was the rule is worded, it's also possible to use that movement to move a model other than the one pushing the objective. This should allow for some interesting movement shenanigans.

I can easily visualize a mob of models blocking the payload from making it those last few inches. It's such a dramatic image. I've already spoken to a friend with a 3d printer and suggested creating 50mm objectives that look like a giant pile of explosives, specifically to use for this scenario.

Stay tuned for our analysis of the remaining two Warmachine scenarios in Privateer Press's Steamroller 2024 packet!