Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Orgoth Sea Raiders

Thursday nights at our FLGS, The Portal, are becoming a thing. With that in mind, a friend and I headed over to the store to push models across a table. I brought my newest purchase, the Cygnar Storm Forge Cadre, brand spanking new and still unpainted.

Cygnar (Sparkhammer) vs Orgoth (Sabbreth)

Cygnar

• Mechanik Adept Sparkhammer
• Courser
• Stryker
• Zephyr
• Zephyr (proxied by a harpoon-looking thing on an appropriate base)
• Specialist Tyson Vas
• Storm Callers
• Storm Callers
• Storm Callers
• Storm Lance Legionnaires
• Storm Lance Legionnaires

Orgoth

• Sabbreth, the Eternal Annihilation
• Tyrant
• Tyrant
• Jackal
• Jackal
• Jackal
• Jackal
• Warwitch Coven
• Warwitch Coven
• Therion Vhanek
• Strike Reavers
• Vulcar Forge Master
• Vulcar Forge Master

The terrain was bonkers. A massive plateau in the corner, and next to it a factory of some sort with corrosive runoff abutting a wall. On the opposite side, a forest with a small round gobber brewery, a large crater, and a bunker. In the center of the map, a lava pit, a small wall, and a house on the far side.

The scenario was the preview of Battle Lines - steamroller 2024. Two flags, two 30mm objectives, and two 40mm objectives went onto the board. the flags made the objective terrain pieces the bunker and the small round building.

Deployment

Orgoth won the roll and chose to go first. Cygnar placed its defenses. Two walls were placed centrally, with the primary goal of preventing any model from being dragged by Orgoth's harpoons. The spike trap was placed near the house furthest from the camera.

Orgoth Turn 1

The Orgoth battlegroup runs forward in a clump, with Therion Vhanek staying on a flank behind the pumphouse, perhaps thinking about the objective on the other side of the large mesa.

Cygnar Turn 1

Cygnar runs forward, Sparkhammer casting many spells: deflection, arcane shield, mobility, sunhammer, and inhospitable ground. The cost for all those spells would normally be 12, but with Sunhammer's arcane calibrations, they total only 7 focus. It's at this point that I realize that mobility only helps my battlegroup, and sunhammer and inhospitable ground are unlikely to matter this early. Perhaps I shouldn't have left my caster on zero focus. At least I've got him hidden behind the gobber brewery, flanked by two jacks.

One zephyr sprints up the flank towards the objective behind the plateau. I'm careful to position all my models behind walls and in cover to avoid the two tyrants with harpoons capable of dragging them in. Their defense is very high. For example, the stormcallers in the crater are DEF 13, plus 4 for cover, plus 2 for force barrier, plus 2 for deflection. DEF21.

Orgoth Turn 2

This is the most critical turn for Orgoth, and my opponent agonizes over what to do. Shooting is ineffective with the high defense, my models are out of range of a charge, and running forward feels like suicide.

In the end, he takes a few ineffective shots, and stays hidden.

Cygnar Turn 2

It's the first scoring turn, and it looks like the objectives are mostly uncontested. I'm happy to leave Orgoth in the same difficult position they'd found themselves in last turn, but perhaps I can make it even more difficult.

The stormlances closest to the Orgoth blob move three inches forward, take shots, and reposition back to exactly where they were. The zephyr behind the building likewise takes its shots and repositions back, ending exactly three inches from the objective. In the end, three strike reavers are dead.

All the stormcallers stay hidden, the second unit of stormlances run up behind the central barrier, and the zephyr moves up ahead of the 30mm objective.

Orgoth scores a point for the terrain objective on the round hut. Each zephyr scores an objective, the stormcallers score the bunker terrain objective, and the stormlances behind the barrier score two 40mm objectives for a total of five points.

(Orgoth 1, Cygnar 5)

Orgoth Turn 3

Orgoth is in an extremely difficult position and will have a difficult time not losing this turn. Since they can't contest the objective behind the plateau, they'd need to score four points this turn to not lose, which means getting rid of all three stormlances on the central objectives.

Sabbreth feats and casts a bunch of spells, but the dice do not cooperate. Many models run to contest, but in the end Orgoth is unable to contest the bunker terrain objective, and only scores their own terrain objective. Cygnar scores the bunker and the objective behind the plateau, winning.

(Orgoth 2, Cygnar 7)

Cygnar Victory!

Final Thoughts

• Having a battlegroup-centric caster with a small control area really hurts an army's scenario play.
• Cygnar's defenses ended up being a big deal. I took barriers primarily to prevent dragging, but the cover was extremely helpful as well.
• This is the first time I've played Sparkhammer. I didn't get to try out his full rack of shenanigans, but deflection on models with force barrier is very nice.
• This scenario has two 40mm objectives right in the center where a single small unit can easily score both simultaneously. Contesting them every turn is very important.

A Meme I Just Created

 

Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Khador Winter Corps

Cygnar (Di Baro) vs Khador (Borisyuk)

Cygnar

• Captain Athena Di Baro
• Stryker
• Stryker
• Stryker (proxied by Ironclad)
• Legionnaire Officer
• Legionnaire Officer
• Arcane Mechanics
• Stormguard Legionnaires
• Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by stormblades)
• Tempest Assailers

---

Khador

• Kaptain Ilari Borisyuk
• Great Bear
• Great Bear
• Great Bear
• Great Bear
• Dire Wolf
• Dire Wolf
• Arkanists
• Arkanists

---

Deployment 

The map had a house, bunker, and forest placed centrally. One side had a lake and a building too far back to be consequential, and the other side had a hill, acid bath, a small pond, and tall grass. Cygnar won the roll, and I chose the side with the forest and bunker blocking the flag and objective, because that seemed to be a huge advantage.

Khador then placed defenses: three spike traps lined up along the center. In retrospect, I don't think you're supposed to place those close to obstructions or obstacles. Whoops.

---

Khador Turn 1 

Khador lumbers forward with a massive wall of warjacks.

---

Cygnar Turn 1 

Cygnar runs forward, a line of mechanics hiding poorly behind the forest, two strykers shielding Di Baro, a unit of stormguard sprinting into the bunker, and the tempest assailers making a wall nearby with arcane shield, bringing their armor up to 23.

---

Khador Turn 2 

Khador lets loose with the freeze cannons, killing one tempest assailer and one mechanic, and freezing the rest. But the stormguard remain safe, and a second unit in the bunker is waiting to come out.

---

Cygnar Turn 2  

The stormguard in the bunker want to attack, but a Khador heavy is up against the outside of the door, blcoking the way. An officer uses precision strike, Di Baro feats, and the outdoor unit of stormguard charges that khador heavy, wrecking it. Then the unit inside rushes out, wrecking a second Khador heavy. Another two heavys are pretty beat up. A stryker toes the zone and takes another shot.

The stryker hiding behind the bunker puts up a polarity field to prevent a charge from the Khador heavy, and hits it with an electro bombard shot.

The mechanics and tempest assailers remain frozen, but Cygnar scores the first point.

(Cygnar 1, Khador 0)

---

Khador Turn 3  

Khador strikes back, and despite the protection of Di Baro's feat, all ten stormguard and both tempest assailers die. At the end, two strykers, an officer, and Di Baro herself end up frozen and stationary. Cygnar scores a second point.

(Cygnar 2, Khador 0)

---

Cygnar Turn 3  

With only the one melee heavy, two ranged jacks, two officers, and two mechanics, it's hard to get enough done. The melee stryker goes in and beats on the undamaged closest Khador heavy, but doesn't kill it. The others take shots, and kill two arkanists. Cygnar gets a point.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 0)

---

Khador Turn 4  

Proving Khador superiority, the Khador heavy who just took a beating destroys the undamaged stryker who'd just tried to kill him.

The two damaged Khador heavies in the zone take shots at the ranged stryker, and on the opposite end of the field, a khador heavy runs to contest the flag, and the arkanist hides behind the wall.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 0)

---

Cygnar Turn 4  

The stryker backs out of the zone, then shoots the arkanist so that Khador can't score there.

On the other side, the ranged stryker beats on a Khador heavy with his shield, doing little. The mechanics help as best they can.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 0)

---

Khador Turn 5 

In a brilliant but risky move, Borisyuk runs forward and puts up a cloud, giving himself stealth.

The zero focus damaged Khador jack contesting the other flag doesn't do much, but Borisyuk scores both the flag and the zone.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 2)

---

Cygnar Turn 5 

Desperate to get rid of the contesting jack, the officer gives Di Baro reposition 3, then charges. Di Baro herself charges, then repositions onto the flag. And the Stryker whales away. But nobody can kill the Khador warjack.

The ranged stryker on the other side moves up to contest, taking shots at Borisyuk from within five inches to ignore the stealth.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 2)

---

Khador Turn 6  

The stryker in the zone survives a beating, and his Khador counterpart edges closer to Di Baro. No points are scored.

(Cygnar 3, Khador 2)

---

Cygnar Turn 6  

The stryker in the zone moves over behind the wall, giving himself better defense from Borisyuk's shots and forcing the Khador heavy to move further from Di Baro if it wants to fight.

The mob assailing the Khador warjack finally gets the job done, and scores a point.

(Cygnar 4, Khador 2)

---

Khador Turn 7  

Boris edges around the flag and shoots the contesting stryker to death.

The Khador jack runs to contest the other flag. Boris scores another two points for the zone and flag.

(Cygnar 4, Khador 4)

---

Cygnar Turn 7  

This is it. It's either assassination or take out that Khador heavy. With no breakthrough card and all my shooting troops engaged, it looks like the Khador jack has to die. So after the stryker gets focus from the mechanic and punches away with his shield, Di Baro goes all in, spending all her focus boosting damage.

However, there's nobody left to contest the Khador zone. The mechanic was too far, and the officer was too far even if he wasn't in the forest - an extra two inches from desperate pace wouldn't have sufficed. The stryker might have been able to run into the zone if I'd planned well, but it was after midnight, and I did not plan well.

(Cygnar 5, Khador 6)

(Khador Victory!)

---

Final Thoughts

• This was a brutal attrition game, and easily the longest MK4 game we've ever played. Both players took over two hours - this would not have worked if we'd been on a deathclock.
• Apparently, I cheated on turn 2, as we later found out that models cannot charge out of a structure, like I did out of the bunker.
• My Khador opponent was kicking himself for not using beat back to get the stryker out of the zone on turn 6 - he could have had a relatively easy victory. Although if he'd gotten more points, I'd have been forced to go for the assassination, and who knows how that might have gone?
• This was our first game using a bunker. The ability to block troops, keeping them inside, will be a real thing going forward.

Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Khador Winter Korps

Cygnar (Wolfe) vs Khador (Borisyuk)

 

A Cygnar vs Khador rematch. We rolled Recon II as a scenario, and used the Discord bot I created to generate a random terrain placement pattern, which gave us ten pieces of terrain plus scatter. The left side of the field had a small hill, cloud, lake, forest, and an acid pit. The right side had a large derailed train car, a weird rectangular forest, a larger hill, and a building at the edge of the map.

Cygnar Storm Legion

• Major Anson Wolfe
• Stryker
• Stryker
• Stryker
• Alexia, Queen of the Damned (proxied by Alexia1)
• Legionnaire Officer (proxied)
• Arcane Mechanics
• Stormguard Legionnaires
• Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by various stormblades)
• Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by various stormblades)

---

Khador Winter Korps

• Kaptain Ilari Borisyuk
• Medveditsa
• Great Bear
• Great Bear
• Dire Wolf
• Dire Wolf
• Arkanists
• Arkanists
• Battle Mechanik
• Battle Mechanik

---

Deployment

Mark won the roll and chose to go first, and I picked the side with the large hill, which would aid my infantry on approach, plus I could put a barrier on top of it.

We both placed defenses - he placed a spike trap and a fire, and I placed a spike trap, powder keg, and the barrier on the hill.

---

Khador Turn 1

Khador lumbers forward in an unsightly red blob.

---

Cygnar Turn 1

Cygnar valiantly advances, blue armor shining, and mostly hides in the hedge. One unit of stormguard hides behind the barrier and gets stealth from a command card.

A unit of stormguard circles the far side of the building, and a stryker with snipe takes cover at the building's opposite corner.

---

Khador Turn 2

Left with few targets, Khador uses sapper to remove the barrier on the hill, and a warjack with superiority advances through the forest to within five inches and blows the stormguard to smithereens. Another Khador jack hides behind a stump, and a mechanic toes the zone.

---

Cygnar Turn 2

The stryker behind the building shoots out three arcanists with an AoE, and the mechanic with a power fist. Stormguard advance to protect the jack, and the officer takes the flag.

The other stryker energizes forward, aims and takes a shot at a mechanic on the flag, killing him and an arcanist. The melee stryker and stormguard run forward into the zone.

Wolfe feats, and Cygnar scores one for the flag and one for the zone.

---

Khador Turn 3

Borisyuk feats, leading to the abhorrent interaction we've always got to deal with when we play these two casters. Each time Khador kills a model, we each get a free attack out of it.

As he kills Cygnar models, most of Cygnar's attacks are electrobombard shots into a stealthed Borisyuk, doing unboosted blast damage each time at dice minus four. This leads Khador to stop killing infantry, and thus some live.

Medveditsa lays into the melee stryker, failing to kill it only due to poor dice. Borisyuk heads to the forest, where its concealment grants him stealth. The Cygnar officer on the flag survives being shot.

Cygnar scores one for the flag, bringing the score to 3-0.

---

Cygnar Turn 3

I know I can repair the melee stryker and do some serious damage to Medveditsa with Blessing of the gods and Positive Charge, but I only need two points to win. The flag is a gimme, but I spend time trying to figure out how to get the Khador warjack out of the zone. The best I come up with is a throw, which has a 1-in-3 shot of working, given that only a 5 or 6 inch throw will get the jack far enough out of the zone. The Stryker tromps up, throws, and rolls a 6, throwing the jack into the caster. We don't even roll damage, because the game is over, 5-0.

(Cygnar Victory!)

---

Final Thoughts

• That throw only had a 1-in-3 shot, but it was a 1-in-3 shot to end the whole game, which is why I took it. I don't think I'd have had a great chance without that.
• Area of effect attacks are good against stealth models - they auto-miss and always do blast damage.

Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Orgoth Sea Raiders

 Cygnar (Wolfe) vs Orgoth (Horruskh)

 

Cygnar Storm Legion

• Major Anson Wolfe
• Courser
• Stryker
• Stryker
• Alexia, Queen of the Damned (proxied by Alexia1)
• Legionnaire Officer (proxied)
• Sharpshooter
• Arcane Mechanics
• Stormblade Legionnaires (proxied by stormblades)
• Legionnaire Standard Bearer (proxied)
• Stormguard Legionnaires
• Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by various stormblades)]  

Orgoth Sea Raiders

• Horruskh, The Thousand Wraths
• Tyrant (shredder and quad bolt)
• Tyrant (shredder and quad bolt)
• Tyrant (thresher thingy and shield)(proxied)
• Siege Tarask (proxied)
• Vulcar Forge Master
• Reaver Commander
• Reaver Commander
• Warwitch Coven
• Warwitch Coven (proxied)

---

Deployment

The scenario was Split Decision. We placed a building centrally, along with two forests. One side had a wall and a trench, and the other side had a L-shaped wall and a double hill with the flag.

Cygnar places defenses - two spike traps which will never be relevant in this battle.

---

Cygnar Turn 1

Cygnar runs forward, the stormblades getting an extra two inches of movement from the officer.

---

Orgoth Turn 1

Orgoth moves forward, and the titans shoot out the three most overeager stormblades. Horruskh hides behind a building.

---

Cygnar Turn 2

The stryker with the heavy mag bolter and electro bombard shoots the melee tyrant, and then the stryker with the javelin and power fist gets focus from the mechanics and charges the same tyrant, killing it. Incidentally, this is the first time I've made use of the 1-point relentless charge head I'm always putting on my strykers.

Alexia takes her only meaningful action of the game and brings back one stormblade, and then the stormblades run to engage the titans. Two units of stormguard run in behind, flooding the zone, and Wolfe feats.

---

Orgoth Turn 2

The warwitches put up a dark shroud, then Horruskh feats and singlehandedly kills the stryker that just killed a tyrant. The tyrants kill all the stormblades, the sharpshooter, and an entire unit of stormguard, but as he does so, Wolfe's feat allows for a bunch of shots which kill a raver commander and a bunch of warwitches.

During one of the feat attacks, a shot from the stryker's electro bombard actually hits a DEF17 warwitch, and needs a 3 to kill her. I roll snake eyes on the damage, and then roll 7 twice on the blast damage rolls that need 8 to kill.

The siege tarrask drags in and kills the courser.

---

Cygnar Turn 3

Cygnar has lost a lot, but I feel like this is my turn. The officer moves up within 10 inches and allows the unit of stormguard clustered on the back porch of the Dijon Rave House to charge through each other. They charge the titans, needing a 5 to hit. Three of the five models roll 4 or less. At least due to an early attack taking out the titan's movement, three hit. No kill though.

The stryker with the heavy mag bolter and electro bombard tries for the assassination and actually lands a hit on Horruskh, doing two damage.

Wolfe moves over to keep his lone remaining warjack in his control area.

---

Orgoth Turn 3

The titans turn to the last stryker and although only one is in range, they nearly kill it.

Horruskh kills all 5 stormguard singlehandedly.

The tarrask has no targets and lumbers towards Alexia.

---

Cygnar Turn 4

Not much else to do, so Wolfe rushes into the fray. He charges the siege tarrask, killing it with three attacks, and sidestepping forward. He then casts energizer and moves forward another two inches. This isn't close enough to reach Horruskh, but he hits and kills the Reaver Commander on the flag and sidesteps into range of Horruskh. With two blood tokens from killing two models, he's now POW17 on his attacks, and he kills Horruskh.

(Cygnar Victory!)

---

Final Thoughts

• I was quite surprised to win this game. Horruskh was very much taking an unnecessary risk in stepping out, and had he stayed behind the building, I'd have been in trouble.
• Horruskh's feat is doubly a problem for Wolfe - it grants additional armor during Horruskh's own turn for Wolfe's feat attacks, and stays up during Wolfe's folliwing turn, so it's almost like feating twice.
• Titans remain a problem.

 

Battle Report: Cygnar Storm Legion vs Khador Winter Korps

Cygnar (Wolfe) vs Khador (Borisyuk)

After all the story campaign shenanigans, Mark and I were glad to get together for an old fashioned Steamroller. We both brought MK4 armies, which felt like a novelty at this point.

Cygnar Storm Legion

 

• Major Anson Wolfe
• Courser
• Stryker
• Stryker
• Alexia, Queen of the Damned (proxied by Alexia1)
• Legionnaire Officer (proxied)
• Sharpshooter
• Arcane Mechanics
• Stormblade Legionnaires (proxied by stormblades)
• Legionnaire Standard Bearer (proxied)
• Stormguard Legionnaires
• Stormguard Legionnaires (proxied by various stormblades)

---

Khador Winter Korps

• Kaptain Ilari Borisyuk
• Medveditsa
• Great Bear
• Great Bear
• Dire Wolf
• Dire Wolf
• Arkanists
• Arkanists
• Battle Mechanik
• Battle Mechanik

---

Deployment

We each placed four pieces of terrain. Mark placed three forests and a tree stump. I placed a house, lake, tall grass, and a graveyard which would act as rubble. Then I won the roll to go first, and Mark chose the side with the lake.

We both had brought defenses. Mark placed his spike trap in the zone, a barrier up against a forest, and a fire beside the building to prevent me from running through that small opening. I placed a spike trap near my flag and objective, a barrier centrally to hide behind, and a powder keg which I planned to use to get rid of the spike trap.

---

Cygnar Turn 1

Cygnar runs forward, placing snipe on the courser and arcane shield on the stryker.

---

Khador Turn 1

Khador runs up, one heavy taking the barrier with a mechanic, and on the other side, heavies get Iron Flesh and Superiority, and edge the zone just out of Cygnar's range.

Khador uses their Sapper card to remove Cygnar's Powder Keg, so that the Stryker can't throw it into the spike trap and remove it.

---

Cygnar Turn 2

Cygnar immediately uses the sapper card to remove the Khador spike trap in the zone, then the stormblades run to engage and spread out, the intent being to jam up the Khador heavies and prevent them from getting through, and allowing for a stormguard countercharge next turn. The second unit of stormguard on the opposite flank readies to charge anyone in their range, or failing that to charge the objective.

The three Cygnar warjacks put some damage on Khador heavies, the stormblade legionnaires get tough from a True Inspiration card, and Wolfe feats.

---

Khador Turn 2

Borisyuk feats, and the warjacks attack. The combination of the two feats is a beautiful mess, and queued out-of-turn activations quickly get sloppy. I'm nearly certain we got the correct number of activations, but we probably did some in the wrong order.

When the dust clears, Khador jacks have taken some damage, but all the stormblades and all but three stormguard out of the two units are dead, and Cygnar is left with no melee presence.

---

Cygnar Turn 3

With no apparent way to deal with all that red metal, Cygnar is left looking for assassination angles. Borisyuk has no focus and no cover, but is fairly far away. The courser gets a lucky armor piercing shot on Borisyuk, leaving him on one box, and because none of the Strykers are in range, one Stryker takes out an arkanist, which allows for an AoE from the second Stryker to include Borisyuk. The boosted blast damage ends the game.

(Cygnar Victory!)

---

Final Thoughts

• If I hadn't been able to kill Borisyuk that last turn, I'd have been done for. My warjacks were entirely ranged. This may need to change in the future.
• At the end of this match, we realized that Borisyuk can give himself stealth every turn. Future games will be different.