Game 157: Rahn vs Stryker3

Game 157 – Vs Stuart Cargill – Cygnar – 10/03/18

My list:

Adeptis Rahn (Defenders of Ios)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Chimera

-Phoenix

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr

His List:

Lord General Coleman Stryker (Gravediggers)

-Ol’ Rowdy

-Stormclad

Captain Maxwell Finn

Commander Anson Hitch

Patrol Dog

Trench Buster

Trench Buster

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Max Trencher Commandos

-Officer

Max Trencher Infantry

Max Trencher Long Gunners

-Officer

My next game testing Rahn with Defenders saw me up against Stu with his Stryker3 Gravediggers list. A whole load of infantry with potentially super strong charge attacks would be a good test for my list. I won the roll to go first and we got moving.

The high amount of quality Advanced Deployed guns mean I have to be fairly cautious in my early movements. Both Halberdier units go into Shield Wall and advance up, whiles both AFGs run and are TK’d further up the table. Rahn puts Polarity Shield onto the right unit of Halberdiers and I wait to see what opportunities open up next turn.

With most of his guns out of range and no desire to just move into my threat ranges Stu opts to just move up, spread out and put up clouds with the Trencher Infantry to limit what I can achieve in my turn. Stryker puts up Iron Aggression onto the Stormclad and Escort up onto himself, moving his battlegroup up behind the cloud wall.

One of the things I was considering when putting this list together is its ability to clear out infantry if needed, and this turn was a perfect opportunity to test what my list can do in that regard. Rahn starts the turn by Feating and flinging 2 Chain Blasts into the Commandos, killing several, before TKing the right AFG into the zone. The AFGs then open fire, using Momentum shots to shoot the front Trenchers into the back ones, taking out Finn in the process. By the end of the turn 7 Infantry and 5 Commandos have been taken down, which feels like a decent enough attrition turn.

I had positioned pretty well last turn but my decision to Shield Wall the right unit into pods of three was a mistake that was punished by Stu. The remaining Commandos used their Mini-Feat for Prey on the Halberdiers, and by targeting the models at the back of the triangles he was able to get reliable POW8 blast damage ignoring the Shield Wall benefit. All of the Halberdiers in the right zone were destroyed, with a reasonable chunk of damage put into the Chimera as well. The Long Gunners moved up and took a few shots at me but I had positioned well on the left and didn’t lose too much. We both scored out rectangular zones to start at 1-1

A couple of mistakes that Stu made in the last turn mean that an Assassination is on the table now (Stryker not B2B with Rowdy, Trench Busters out of range). The Chimera Apparitions out of combat and moves into position, before Rahn Arcs a Force Hammer into the Stormclad, knocking down it and Stryker. Eiryss strips his Focus with a Disruptor Bolt before the AFGs shoot him dead.

VICTORY

It was nice to get a first win with this list that didn’t involve taking an assassination run to the face and very satisfying to see how the list attritioned into infantry. Trenchers are pretty sturdy troops and the fact that I was able to remove 12 in a turn speaks highly of how effective this list can be. Stu could have positioned better to make the assassination harder or impossible, but even if he had I think I could have taken most of his army in the next turn and taken an unassailable lead. It was nice to see Stu playing the game again after a bit of a break, and always useful to see a lesser seen caster like Stryker3.