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I managed to sneak into the FLGS for a quick game after work. This one was a "training exercise" with Cygnar vs. Cygnar - my eStryker vs. Bobaferret's Siege. Me and the 'ferret have a long standing tradition of the winner writing the battle report (history is written by the victor, right?). I've been writting quite a few battle reports lately, but I won't be writing one tonight... I got a taste of my own medicine, losing the game with a pair of rockets to the face. So, keep an eye on the ghettokore studios blog for the full battle report.

Tonight my focus was learning eStryker. I played him for the first time in the tournament (yeah, dumb, I know), and realized I needed to spend some time with him. He is my first foray into epic warcasters, and I made the mistake of thinking that epic warcasters are just a jacked up version of the original version. In play, they are nothing alike - prime Stryker is a versatile and ultimately defensive caster, where eStryker is a cruise missile in warcaster armor designed to stick it in and break it off. It was going to take a completely different approach.

Here is what our lists looked like:

My Epic Stryker Army (749 pts.) Epic Stryker Squire Ol'Rowdy Journeyman Stormclad Rupert Carvolo 9 Precursor Knights + UA 8 Trenchers + UA Black 13th Stormsmith

Jen's Siege Army (750 pts.) Siege Squire Ol'Rowdy Journeyman Defender Reinholdt Rupert Carvolo 8 Precursor Knights + UA 7 Sword Knights + UA Epic Eiryss Gun Mage Captain Adept Lady Aiyana & Master Holt 2 Stormsmiths

In the tournament I lead with the Stormblades, only to realize that they are just too few and a little too fragile to use as a speartip. They need a delivery service. I had originally planned to take Sword Knights (yeah, I love them just a little too much), but at the last minute I decided to swap them out for the Precursor Knights. The Precursors don't have quite the same damage output, but they make a great delivery service - they can't be targeted by spells, they block line of sight to whatever is behind them, and thanks to kneel they allow the Stormblades to shoot electric death from the back row. I liked this arrangement much better, and if not for some shortcomings (more on that in a minute), I think it would have been a great strategy.

I still struggle a little with the stormblades in this list. They do well, but there are so many synergies to remember (elite cadre bonus, UA bonuses, Stormclad bonues) that I will have to play them for a while to remember to use them all. In fact, between all of those synergy rules, all of Ol' Rowdy's rules and all of the Black 13th's rules, preparing to run this list is an awful lot like studying for an exam.

One last note: It's been a while since I've taken a Stormsmith, and I had forgotten how useful that little guy can be. Mine killed both a GMCA and Aiyanna off, more than earning his 12 points. One of bobaferret's picked off Ryan from out of the middle of the 13th, taking the teeth out of that unit. I love the angry old men - Soft targets beware!

So, why the provocative title you ask? Tonight was a night of misjudging distances at key points in the game. First, my March-empowered Precursors fell a half an inch short when charging the enemy's line, leaving them an inch away and out of shield wall. But that wasn't the worst of it: At the top of turn three I had Epic Stryker perfectly set up for his assassination run, only to find out I did not leave a large enough gap between my Stormclad and a stormblade trooper (by a millimeter!) for him to fit through. The charge failed and I took the rocket to the face for the loss on the next turn. When Siege gets to you there isn't much you can do about it - if I have learned one thing from playing him for the last month is that the best strategy against him is just to kill him fast.

Labels: miniatures, wargaming, Warmachine