Stryker1 vs Xekaar – Hot pursuit

Hello everyone,

I continue playtesting Stryker1 in Flames, this time with Gallant and Jakes1, as I wasn’t happy with how Malvin&Mayhem worked for me. I introduced Gallant with Jakes1 and removed one Thamarite Advocate and one Battle Priest.

Pawel, after an intense game with Konrad, also wanted to test Death Archons. Thanks to my previous game (here) I knew that Death Archons will be troublesome and I was happy to gain more experience against them. Pawel selected Xekaar, a warlock with Mortality, yet again 🙁

Pawel’s Xekaar1 list:

Skorne
[Theme] Disciples of Agony

[Xekaar 1] Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
– Agonizer [0(6)]
– Bronzeback Titan [17]
– Bronzeback Titan [17]
– Chiron [19]
– Swamp Horror [15]
– The Terrorizer [0(7)]
– Aptimus Marketh [5]
Gatorman Husk [3]
Gatorman Husk [3]
Paingiver Task Master [0(3)]
Paingiver Task Master [0(3)]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Death Archon [8]
Death Archon [8]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

My Stryker1 list:

Cygnar
[Theme] Flame in the Darkness

[Stryker 1] Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]
– Blockader [33]
Grand Master Gabriel Throne [7]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [0(4)]
– Gallant [17]
Morrowan Archon [8]
Thamarite Advocate [3]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Field Mechaniks (min) [3]
Precursor Knights (max) [14]
– Morrowan Battle Priest (3) [0(6)]
– Precursor Knight Officer & Standard [4]

We played new Bunkers with middle flag removed.

Deployment

I won the roll and decided to pick the side without a building and allowed Pawel to go first.

Pawel deployed Death Archons on the flanks and his battle group with rest of the models in the middle.

I deployed Blockader on the right, opposite to the building. Throne and one Thamarite Archon joined Blockader on the flank. PKs and support together with Stryker1 were placed in the middle. Jakes1, Gallant and 2 remaining Archons took the right flank. I kept both Thamarite Archons close to Stryker1 to be able to cast Snipe on either of them.

Round 1 Turn 1

Skorne army advanced cautiously, Pawel kept his important and vulnerable pieces safe from Thamarite Archons’ threat range.

Round 1 Turn 2

I kept my infantry safe from Death Archons. Some were within charge range of beasts, but I was sure Pawel wouldn’t fall for that. Blockader was outside of Titan’s threat range, that was much more important. I cast Snipe on the leftmost Thamarite Archon, Blur on Precursors and Arcane Shield on Blockader. Gallant advanced on the left flank. Thamarite Archon, afraid of hyper aggresive decided to skip shiooting phase this time.

Round 2 Turn 1

Pawel knew that charging into my army would be suicidal, so he opted for a more careful and reasonable move. He decided to wait with the engagement one more round and stayed outside charging ranges, forcing me this way to step forward and put my models in risk of being charged afterwards. Pawel knew that Death Archons might play a decisive role in this match up so he kept them reasonably safe. Oh, two Husks came out from ambush and ran within 4″ from the flags.

Round 2 Turn 2

Since Skorne positioned very defensively, I could gain some space and go for a significant scenario push. Both flags were within my reach. Moreover, the leftmost Death Archon was outside 4″, so I wasn’t too worried about him, yet 😛 Precursors, with Tough from Gabriel and Blur upkept, moved forward and received Shield Wall order. Morrowan Archon took a strategic position behind the wall in the middle of the board. Jakes, used Energizer to extend Gallant’s charge range and moved far enough to be safe and keep her jack within 8″. Gallant charged a Husk on the left flank and cleared the flag. Thamarite Archon flew over there to score a point. On the other side, Blockader moved in a way to have only one Titan within charge range next turn. I was hoping that feat and AS would be sufficient for him to survive that turn. I believe it was Blockader who fried the other Husk. My second Thamarite Archon captured the rightmost flag what granted me third scenario point. Mechanics ran closer to my colossal. Hermit walked into the forest, what at the end, I think, wasn’t the best decision. I scored 3 points, Pawel scored 1. Oh, Stryker feated 😉

Round 3 Turn 1

Pawel decided to go all out, Xekaar feated, cast Mortality on Blockader (so where did my mechanics go? to repair Blockader next turn? Oh…) and Pursuit (I believe it was this turn when he did cast it) and feated obviously. His heavies charged forward. First, rightmost Titan killed Thamarite Archon and damaged Blockader severely. Hermit’s Mad Visions rule helped a bit, but only a bit and my colossal lost an arm. In the center, the other Titan charged in and thanks to beat backs and enough models to move that far, he stepped into my rectangular zone. ARM 23 and DEF 15 (in some cases) on PKs was trivial for a Bronzeback to go around. He also destroyed my objective. Swamp Horror charged my Morrowan Archon, but apart from engaging it, there was no harm done. Pawel scored two more points, 3:3.

Round 3 Turn 2

Enemy warbeasts approached Stryker dangerously close. Moreover, there weren’t too many models between Stryker and the enemy. Was it time to run? It was 😛 Stryker ran behind the forest. Sadly, Hermit was too far to capture both Bronzebacks within his 5″ -2ARM aura. PKs charged the Titan, and with minifeat managed to reduce him to a handful of boxes. They managed to stay outside of Xekaar’s feat. Gabriel charged in and finished the wounded beast. Gallant killed DA on the left flank easily. Morrowan Archon, missed by the free strike (-4 to hit was enough), ran toward the flag and captured it. Thamarite Advocate used it’s anti healing aura within 5″. Blockader critically hit Titan with his first initial. I was afraid that the beast will be slammed too far and decided not to do that. In a hindsight I think it was a bad call, as the angle the beast would be slammed went through the forest. He would stay within my reach and this way I would hit all the attacks. Sadly, I left it on few boxes, I missed most of my attacks. Xekaar moved thanks to pursuit. I scored 1 point, as did Pawel, 4:4.

Round 4 Turn 1

Since I crippled Bronzeback, Pawel wanted to heal it. However, the beast was still within Thamarite Advocate’s no healing aura. Death Archon charged in and with full boosts failed to kill her lol are Death Archons that bad? Maybe the proxied ones are? 😉 Sadly, Chiron was close enough to charge Blockader and finish it toghether with hurt Bronzeback, with a slight help of Mortality. On the left, The octopus engaged Gallant and Morrowan Archon, but failed to kill any of them. The rectangular zone ramined uncontested, I had no warjack inside, so there was no reason to waste resources. Pawel scored 2 points, 4:6 to Skorne’s advantage.

Round 4 Turn 2

The right flank was lost, with no doubt. Stryker, again, ran. This time the other way. Gallant killed Swamp Horror easily. Jakes captured the flag. Hermit ran out of the forest to be useful next turns. I moved outside of enemy threat ranges. Morrowan Archon flew over the building and landed within the enemy rectangular zone to contest it. Heroic Thamarite Advocate contested the rightmost flag. I scored 2 points, 6:6.

Round 5 Turn 1

Terrorizer killed Morrowan Archon and the zone was cleared. Agonizer contested my zone. Bronzeback moved back and was healed. DA killed the Advocate this time. Pawel scored his flag and contested mine. 6:8 for Skorne.

Round 5 Turn 2

I was getting low on time and I had to play fast. I regrouped in my rectangular zone. Jakes stayed to score the flag. Gallant ran to my rectangular zone to counter whatever would enter the zone to contest. I contested the flag, but didn’t contest the opposite zone for some reason. PKs should go there. I scored 2 points, Pawel scored one, 8:9. I was getting low not only on time, but also on resources.

Round 6 Turn 1

Pawel had the upper hand on scenario, attrition and clock. He contested my flag and cleared his. DA contested my rectangular zone and Xekaar stayed safely in Pawel’s zone. Pawel scored 2 points, 8:11.

Round 6 Turn 2

With only a minute left on my clock I cleared the flag, cleared my rectangular zone and contested the other flag. Pawel scored his zone and increased his lead to 10:12.

Round 7 Turn 1

Pawel didn’t need to think for too long, as the game was already won by him. Bronzeback contested my rectangular zone, he cleared the flag again and contested mine. The score was 10:14.

Round 7 Turn 2

In 6 seconds I only managed to contest his flag, but that couldn’t stop Pawel from winning. In the last turn of the game Pawel scored 1 more point and increased his lead to 5 points, winning this game.

Afterthoughts

Thanks, Pawel, for the game! It was demanding and interesting as always!

Now, from a distant perspective, as I played this game a month ago, I see more mistakes. Not going for the slam was one thing. Running with Stryker for no apparent reason was another. To top it off with not contesting the opposite rectangular zone at all. From a strategical point of view, I regret going that far left with Gallant. Jakes was rather safe, and Gallant could have push mid instead taking a defensive position and then moving to my zone. My center collapsed really early in the game. I believe I forgot about beatback, and yeah, ARM 23 is still not enough against mad Bronzeback. Is Stryker’s feat though? Blockader survived, but Mortality spoilt it all. Also, Pursuit cast on Blockader was a perfect call, as this cost me a lot of time put into planning the turn and positioning the crucial models in correct order.

If it comes to the list, I am satisfied with swapping Malvin with Gallant. It’s weak point is Jakes, that’s for sure and he is not as self sufficient as Malvin is, however, accumulator helps a bit. To be fair, I need to test it more. I need to swap one Thamarite Archon for a Morrowan one. In current meta, where Death Archons are dominating, I think people tend to take less infantry (do they?) and it’s not worth it paying 16 points for 2d3 shots. Next time I will take MA.

If it comes to changes in the scenario? The game focused on the flanks here, for a reason, right? Also, the game slowed down a bit and contesting the rectangular zone might be more important than ever.

Next to play? STORM DIVISION!!

Cheers,
Piotr