Podcast 081: Cygnar (Siege) vs Legion (Lylyth3) – Can’t Teach a Huge Warcaster New Tricks

Nick, having done quite well with Lylyth2 and Thags2 but still needing practice with them, did what any rational player would do: Completely change up his warcasters and lists, obviously!

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I joke, mostly. Nick isn’t really trying to become a “super-competitive, top-tier” player (although I stand by the fact that he’s better than I am!), and he enjoys trying out new things, new lists, new pairings. Plus, Lylyth3 is just a beautiful, beautiful model…

As for me, I’m still trying to get a better handle on my list pairings, specifically Siege and Haley2… although the thought of Haley3… well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I am extremely tempted…

Either way, for this game I obviously dropped Siege into Legion. His only weak matchup (near as I can tell) is Vayl2, and even there he has some pretty respectable game as long as you can keep him safe from being spell-assassinated. So for me, it was an obvious choice.

Major Markus “Siege” Brisbane
– Squire
– Stormwall
Stormcaller Stormsmith
Greygore Boomhowler & Co (max)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers (“ATGM”)
– Officer (“The Dude”)
Rangers
Journeywoman Warcaster
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt (“A&H)
Reinholdt
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (“eEiryss”)
Objective: Effigy of Valour

A solid list, and almost a direct carbon-copy of Jay Larsen’s 2012 Iron Gauntlet Siege list. The only change I’ve made is to swap out the Black 13th and put in A&H instead… this helps with the Menoth match up (although there are currently almost no competitive Menoth players in Southern Ontario… I suspect L&L will change that as the new models become available…) and Aiyana’s Kiss coupled with Holt on Feat Turn… it’s pretty good. I’m STILL not convinced the B13th wouldn’t be better, though… but for now, it stays.

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight (“Lylyth3”)
– Scythean
– Angelius
– Zuriel
– Shredder
– Succubus
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max)
Annyssa Ryvaal
Strider Deathstalker x2
Forsaken x2
Spell Martyr
Objective: Fuel Cache

Nick has mixed up his list a bit since last time he played it… upgrading to Zuriel (who synergizes really well with Lylyth), and putting Raptors in the list, along with the Spell Martyr for the Blood-Booned Frost Hammer. It’s a good list, lots of interesting threat vectors and a substantial amount of both ARM-cracking AND infantry clearing. That stated, I think it’ll struggle against some of the ARM-skews available these days, but by the same token his other list will PROBABLY be the ARM-skew drop.

This week’s battle was fought over “Incoming”: Two rectangular zones aligned asymmetrically with objectives in the middle. 1CP to deestroy the enemy objective, control the enemy zone, or dominate the friendly zone, and 2CPs to dominate the enemy zone. Killbox is go.
A solid scenario, and very live (you can score 3CPs relatively easily). Both Siege and Lylyth are happy about the Killbox… I don’t know yet who likes Killbox scenarios *more*…

We rolled for initiative, which I won and elected to take table side (GASP!), giving myself a hill and denying Nick a central position to place Lylyth due to a wall at 13.8″ up his side of the table smack in the middle.

Deployment

Nick deployed Lylyth to the left side of center, with her warbeasts nearby (carefully pushing the Angelius to be *just* within CTRL). The Raptors flanked to the left, with Annyssa on the far right. The Deathstalkers went near the wall downfield.

Meanwhile, my Stormwall had taken up position near the hill and the middle of the table (although LoS to Lylyth wouldn’t be an issue this game!). Siege, Reinholdt, and the Squire went to the right, away from all of Nick’s models aside from Annyssa, and the ATGM went opposite the Raptors (I *think* they’ll win that pairing). I put Aiyana and Holt near the Stormwall, Eiryss on the far left, and the Rangers on the right.

Annyssa declares that the Rangers are her Prey, and we’re off to the races!

Legion, Turn 1

Nick moves Lylyth forward. He confirms with me that there is no way to assassinate her if she’s only 13.5″ from his table edge: I mentally math it all out and confirm that my longest threat range is about 30″ from my side of the table, so she should be safe by a fair margin (excluding Explosivo scatters, but that’s not really a viable assassination vector!). She casts “Windwall” and “Escort”.

The Angelius, Zuriel, and Scythean all run forward (conservatively), and the Raptors run forward and spread out (less conservatively, but still far short of their full runs).

The Shredder moves up and puts “Tenacity” on Lylyth.

The Succubus moves up behind Lylyth, and the Forsaken move forward near their respective warbeasts.

Lastly, Annyssa moves into the nearby forest.

Cygnar, Turn 1

I look at the closest few Raptors and decide I can probably get a few shots on them with my ATGM and Stormwall… after all, my Stormwall can shoot 5″ past the mid-line (10″ deployment, 5″ walk, 14″ guns is 29″, or 5″ past mid), and that Raptor is way closer than 5″ to the objective.

Which, of course, isn’t actually on the midline, but I’m an idiot and forget that. Give 1 Focus to the Stormwall, and we’re off.

Rangers go first. I give them a Run order, and turf 1 straight towards the middle of the table while another goes near Annyssa. The rest stay far back behind Cover (DEF20 is pretty good against unboosted attacks!). Of the 2 that went running way out of formation, 1 fails his CMD and the other passes.

ATGM go next, walking forward. I put 2 in front of the wall, most of them behind the wall. They fire Snipe shots, but only 2 are in range, and one of those misses: the other inflicts 2 points of damage.

The Journeywoman puts Arcane Shield on the Boomhowlers, who Super-Tough and run forward. I try to keep Boomhowler himself further back and with LoS blocked to him.

The Stormwall walks forward his full 5″ and fires on the closest Raptor… who is out by about an inch. At this point I remember that the Objectives are NOT on the midline… oh well. Covering Fire goes out over some of the Boomhowlers, and a Pod is dropped in such a way as to annoy Nick the most.

Siege moves up and casts “Foxhole”, and hides inside it, on the hill (because DEF20 against Lylyth also seams like a good idea!). Reinholdt and the Squire both join him.

The Stormcaller runs forward, and Eiryss flanks hard left behind a building (DEF22!).

Legion, Turn 2

Nick ponders for awhile about whether to Feat or not, but elects against it. Upkeeps “Escort” for free from Succubus, and pulls in full Fury.

Annyssa goes first and picks off 2 Rangers effortlessly. The Deathstalkers both kill Boomhowlers who successfully Tough.

The Succubus puts “Tenacity” on the Angelius.
The Angelius moves up and takes a shot at a Boomhowler, who Toughs.

The Raptors go next, moving towards the Boomhowlers and taking shots. They carefully maintain LoS to Annyssa to get the +2 hit bonus. They kill 4 (who fail Toughs), and the last shot pings Greygore himself for 2 damage. Nick Light-Cavs them back, putting a couple close to Lylyth and the rest in front, leaving space for the other Heavy warbeasts to go close to his warlock

The Spell Martyr runs forward, and then Lylyth moves up and takes her 3 shots. She kills 1 Boomhowler and Toughs 2 others. She casts “Windwall” for free from Bloodboon, and then casts “Frost Hammer” and Zuriel’s Animus, killing 1 more Boomhowler and forcing another Tough.

The Scythean and Zuriel move up into Lylyth’s Windwall bubble.
The Shredder moves up and puts “Tenacity” on Lylyth again.

Cygnar, Turn 2

I look at the table and decide it will not be Feat turn, but I do want to hurt that Angelius… they’re pretty fragile, and 2 POW15s followed by 2 POW14s should, theoretically, do enough damage to kill or maim it. Killing being preferable. 3 Focus to the Stormwall, drop Foxhole, pull from the Squire. I drop Arcane Shield.

Rangers go first. I run one to be close to Annyssa and the Angelius.

Reinholdt reloads Siege and I move Siege forward to get to max range of the Angelius (I actually get a little too close, but that’s okay: Siege’s gun is a 14″ range, the Angelius with Escort has a 14″ charge… basically no way to avoid it). Siege boosts to hit, hits, and boosts damage: I inflict 3 points (at dice-3). After a quick consideration, I decide not to risk the second boost: I cast Foxhole for Siege, and then take a raw-shot at the Angelius which flies wide.

The Boomhowlers get Super Tough again, and those that aren’t Knocked Down move towards Nick’s lines, basically trying to choke the Scythean-Stormwall charge lane. I take a few shots, one which hits by some miracle and kills a Raptor.

The Stormwall goes next, toeing into the zone and opening fire on the Angelius. First shot boosts to hit and damage, and inflicts 5 points (at dice-2!), and boost to hit with the second shot: hits, and inflicts another 2 points (BOO!). I elect to fire the Metalstorms: 1 shot on the right, 2 on the left. The right shot goes into Nick’s Objective for 2 points of damage, and the left shots manage to kill another Raptor. I drop a Stormpod behind the Objective, but do no damage.

My Stormcaller runs to be in front of Siege to deny a clear landing zone for the Angelius, if Nick decides to charge it into Siege.

My ATGM move forward and open fire on the Raptors, but most of the shots fly wide. I do kill a 3rd Raptor with the Officer.

Eiryss elects to run down the left flank, trying to force Lylyth towards the middle (I may not be able to shoot her with Eiryss’s gun, but I can still charge her!).

Lastly, Aiyana and Holt move up. Aiyana gives herself Stealth again, and Holt takes a shot at the Objective, but it’s out of range.

I move my Journeyman towards Siege, but realize I won’t be able to reach him. So instead I put Arcane Shield on the Stormwall and hope for the best.

After a lackluster turn, the score stays at 0-0

Legion, Turn 3

Nick decides to try something “cute” with Lylyth’s Feat. Either way, he pulls in all his Fury, upkeeps “Escort” for Free, and we’re off.

Zuriel goes first, moving up and using his animus. He Sprays over 2 Boomhowlers and Greygore, hitting and killing all 3. They all fail their Toughs.

Annyssa shoots two more Rangers quite dead.

Lylyth moves up a few inches towards the middle of the table and pops her Feat. Her first shot hits the Stormwall (Death Chilling it), her second shot kills the Stormcaller, and the third shot pings off the Arcane Shielded Stormwall. She uses her free Bloodboon to cast Windwall again, and camps her last 2 Fury.

The Shredder moves up and gives her Tenacity again.

The Angelius charges to be completely on the left side of my Stormwall. The Armour-Piercing Attack does 12 points of damage (not bad!).
The Scythean then charges in, easily making distance. It hits with both initials and its Chain Attack: Bloodbath (which also hits the Angelius for 6 points of damage), and then burns through the rest of its Fury. The end result is that the Stormwall is completely crippled on the left, and has about 16 boxes remaining on the right.

The Deathstalkers take shots at my last 2 Boomhowlers, killing 1 and Toughing the other.

The 2 remaining Raptors activate and kill the last Boomhowler. One takes a shot at an ATGM and misses. Nick Light Cavs one into my ATGM, and the other behind the Effigy’s Cover.

Lastly, the Forsaken move up and each pull 2 Fury off some warbeasts.

Score is still tied at 0!

Cygnar, Turn 3

The “Death Chill” and then scrap the half of my Colossal where all the warbeasts are… I like that. It’s neat. But despite not being able to use my Stormwall for a turn, I still wasn’t terribly concerned… I just had to decide whether to go all-in for an assassination attempt or not… I decide not.

Pull from the Squire, upkeep Arcane Shield, drop Foxhole.

Rangers activate and Run. I get one close to the warbeasts and the other near Lylyth.

Reinholdt reloads Siege.
Siege pops his Feat. I measure my CTRL, and sure enough Lylyth is already within it, so I aim the first shot into her and boost to hit. I hit, and at Dice+3 (ARM16 plus Tenacity plus Escort is ARM11 with Siege’s Feat), inflict a respectable 20 points of damage.

Hee.

Anyway, Nick transfers that to Zuriel. Second shot goes into Zuriel, hits, and boosts damage, taking the warbeast off the table. Siege camps his last 3 Focus.

Good start.

The Stormwall forfeits its combat action to walk away from the Angelius and Scythean, taking 2 Free Strikes in the process (which inflicts light damage).

Aiyana and Holt go next. Aiyana moves over and Kisses the Scythean successfully: Holt’s first shot goes into it, doing heavy damage (but not crippling anything), while his second shot hits and kills the Angelius.

Eiryss takes a shot at a Raptor, hitting and killing it.

The ATGM go next. My 2 engaged ones walk away from the Raptor: 1 dies to the Free Strike, the other gets away. They take Crit: Brutal shots at Lylyth, but despite most hitting, Nick only takes a few points of damage.

Laslty, the Journeyman moves up and casts “Arcane Shield” on Siege. She then pumps a Hand Cannon shot into Nick’s Objective, and at Dice+3, does 14 points of damage and destroys it (rolled a hard-11).

Score is now 1-0 for Cygnar, but Nick only has 2.5 minutes left… so I doubt this is going to be decided by CPs…

Legion, Turn 4

Nick pulls in all his Fury, leaving 1 on the Shredder. It passes its Threshold check.
The two Forsaken go first, moving up and Blight Bombing my last 2 Rangers very dead (but failing to kill either Stormpod).

Lylyth goes next, moving up and taking her 3 shots on Siege, but at ARM23, she only inflicts 1 point of damage total.

The Scythean goes next. It walks over to Siege, hitting with both initials, and Nick boosts damage both times: first one does 2 damage, second one does 7. Bloodbath hits and Nick boosts the damage, inflicting another 3 points just before he runs out of time.

Victory to Cygnar!

Post Game Analysis:

Phew! That was close… Siege survives with 3 boxes! I wasn’t sure that ARM23 would be enough to save him (in fact, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be!), but turns out I was wrong!

If I were in Nick’s shoes, I probably would’ve moved Lylyth up more to try and pick off the Journeywoman on the hill (she’s DEF16 or 17 on the hill, but Lylyth is very accurate!)… 12 more points of damage from the Scythean due to losing Arcane Shield would’ve won Nick the game. But he was rushed for time and I’m not 100% that Junior would’ve been within range anyway.

Other than that, I think it was an okay game for both of us. Nick got pretty acceptable mileage out of his Feat considering the lack of multi-wound anything in my list, and taking 2 Heavies off the table with Siege’s Feat is pretty acceptable… if the Stormwall was still functional on the Left, I might’ve tried for the assassination on the spot (another POW15 against Lylyth would’ve been pretty okay!), but I think I played it right either way. Pity about getting Siege so close to the front lines, but I guess he was pretty safe-ish.

Anyway, there ya go! Thanks for reading and listening, and stay tuned for our next episode! Feedback is always welcome!