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.

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Infernals Turn 1

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.