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.
