Cryx (Ghost Fleet)
- (Deneghra 1) Warwitch Deneghra
- - Deathripper
- - Kraken
- Agrimony, Crone of the Dying Strands
- Captain Rengrave
- Hellslinger Phantom
- Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (min)
- Revenant Cannon Crew
- Revenant Cannon Crew
- Revenant Crew of the Atramentous (max)
- Sea Dog Deck Gun (proxied by Gorman and a gun)
- Wraith Engine (proxied by a horrible thing we call the flesh stick)
Cygnar (Heavy Metal)
- (Stryker1) Lord General Coleman Stryker
- Squire
- - Centurion
- - Centurion
- - Lancer
- - Charger
- Storm Strider
- Journeyman Warcaster
- - Charger
- Alain Runewood
- - Cyclone
- Sword Knights (min)
- Arlan Strangewayes
The map we assembled for this game is what we refer to as a "character terrain". Once owned by the Trolls, it used to be called "Pennypork Harbor". When Cygnar captured the terrain, I built a Cygnaran flag for the centerpiece and renamed it "Cerulean Bay". Today, Cryx was here to pillage.
I should highlight the fact that the closer large base in the above photo is in fact a proxy for a Wraith Engine. We call that thing "The Flesh Stick", and partway into the game, it broke, becoming "The Flesh Stump".
Cryx won the roll and opted to go second, choosing the land-bound side, and leaving Cygnar to deal with deploying on the ship, which is problematic. I used a proxy base to deploy my storm strider because come on.
Cygnar Turn 1
I haven't yet learned to spread out the sword knights on approach. They like to be base to base when engaged, but on the approach there's no reason for that, unless they all feel like being murdered by blast damage. Apparently, today, they were in that kind of mood.
Cryx Turn 1
Cryx runs forward. A revenant cannon takes an out-of-range shot and drifts a small AoE perfectly onto all six sword knights, killing four. Runewood catches some blast damage as well.
Cygnar Turn 2
A centurion moves forward to engage the wraith engine and a bunch of ghost raiders. That centurion hadn't yet learned that the normal rules don't apply with incorporeal models.
Chargers shoot out some revenants, the lower centurion walks up and puts up his polarity shield, the lancer takes a blocking position, and Arlan takes the friendly flag. The storm strider puts two boosted shots into the kraken, the electricity taking out the sea dog deck gun and a few of the revenant crew. The cyclone moves up and puts down covering fire.
Cryx Turn 2
My opponent spends a while engineering how to get the wraith engine to charge through the cyclone, getting a landing spot involves killing both remaining sword knights, and the one taking cover behind the Cygnaran flag is currently DEF 20 vs shooting.
In the end, he does it. This puts Stryker within dark shroud, and only his high DEF and camped focus save him. Blackbane's ghost raiders also charge straight through everything. The wraith engine kills Runewood, turning him into a machine wraith, which activates and possesses a charger. The charger comes up begins Stryker and bonks him on the back of the head.The revenant crew can't charge and is forced to run around the covering fire. Cryx scores their flag and the near rectangular zone. Cryx infantry floods all other zones, so no scoring. And a single revenant crew member contests Cygnar's flag, so Arlan scored nothing.
(Cryx 2, Cygnar 0)
Cygnar Turn 3
Okay, time to go to work. My models are flooded with infantry. The lancer whiffs royally and manages to kill only a single revenant. The Storm Strider puts two more shots into the kraken, then the centurion tramples, killing two of the four revenants, and lays into the kraken with a full stack of focus, taking out all but one box on its right side.
The centurion moves up, whacks the deathripper with his shield, and uses its remaining attacks to kill the wraith engine. Chargers use their boosted shots to take out some of Blackbanes ghost raiders, who have lost incorporeal, and the machine wraith. But one charger makes the critical mistake of backing up onto the docks rather than moving into the zone. With the cyclone freed up, he takes another four POW12 shots, clearing out a lot more. But the cyclone was too concerned with protecting Stryker to move into that zone. With the arc node engaged by my centurion, I stop thinking of it as a threat.
Stryker activates last, feats, and shoots out the single Blackbane who was still incorporeal.
I'm now feeling pretty good - this was a great attrition round for me, I've got an unkillable ARM29 jack in the enemy zone, no enemy jacks that can get to the other rectangular zone, and I'm pretty sure I can take out the majority of the Cryx army next round. I'll survive just fine because of Stryker's feat.
Cryx still scores one point because of the damn hellslinger phantom on his flag, and the revenant that two Cygnar warjacks somehow failed to kill still contests Arlan's flag.
(Cryx 3, Cygnar 0)
Cryx Turn 3
There are two things I failed to account for. First, incorporeal. I'm not in the habit of playing against incorporeal models, so it's a new problem for me. Secondly, the power attack unique to colossals which I've never before seen used: power slam.
The Kraken power slams the ARM29 centurion out of the zone. Then Deneghra walks up, casts ghost walk on the deathripper, who runs into the rectangular zone, suffering no free strikes. Some infantry runs to contest Arlan's flag, and it's game over.
(Cryx win!)
(Cryx 6, Cygnar 0)
Final Thoughts
- This was my first time playing everyone's favorite/least favorite scenario: spread the net. It's infamous as a nightmare scenario, and I can now see why. Scoring three points in a turn trivially is nothing to sneeze at.
- Ghost fleet is still strong, but doesn't seem unbeatable. If I'd been more scenario-aware, even the ability for Cryx to ignore all my intervening models wouldn't be insurmountable.
- Notably, Denny never feated this game. If I'd contested scenario, she'd still have that one in her back pocket. I'm not sure whether it would have been too late for her feat to have maximum effect, but she's able to expose herself a good bit more when playing into a list like mine without any way to deal with stealth other than the strider's lightning generator.
