Again, the scenario is gaining ground.
Army Name: Blaize as a Swan
troopjam
Cygnar
25+6 points, 19 models
Constance Blaize +6 points
* Gallant 9 points (because of Constance's flank ability with Morrowan models, I consider the first 'jack and unit in her army to always be Gallant and a unit of Precursor Knights. Her army choices begin after 10 points IMO)
* Lancer 6 points (this is not a 'jack I particularly like. Some have said that Constance can do spell assassinations with her Sunburst attack spell, and the Lancer helps with the angles on that. I tend to disagree, but I also wanted a cheaper 'jack with reach to support my Sword knights, so it's a dual purpose choice here)
Archduke Alain Runewood 3 points (had to proxy, but buffs units with Pathfinder and gives Sword Knights reform, all good really)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points (my favorite two point solo in Cygnar. His ability to give 'jacks evasion to move about the battlefield ignoring free strikes is huge)
6 Precursor Knights 5 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
6 Sword Knights 4 points (Constance's feat begs infantry fodder, the two units of Knights are it, Constance can flank with her Precursors and Sword Knights flank with faction warjacks).
Army Name: Le Resistance
Highborn Covenant
25+6 points, 13 models
Ashlynn D'Elyse +6 points
* Gallant 9 points (battle of the Gallants! He's better with Constance, but Ashlynn loves DEF 13 on her feat turn and having a Nomad with a free focus from Harlan is good).
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** Mule 8 points (this is a standard Ashlynn combo, all the gunmages and the Mule have crit effects on their weapons, so under her feat they are pushing stuff all over the board.
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator 1 point (merc solos are great. Harlan is there to power Gallant, Eiryss is super dangerous, and Reinholdt takes Ashlynn from awesome to amazing with a bonus hand cannon shot).
Unfortunately for Ashlynn, Blaize won the roll to go first. This allowed the Knights to take the side of the board with the forest and hide in there. Blaize's entire force ran forward, save Arlan who power boosted the Lancer after walking.
Ashlynn countered by cautiously advancing toward the hill on her side of the board and moving Harlan and Eiryss up in front of a building. Eiryss shot a Precursor Knight, but that was a bad sign. She'd gotten close enough for a couple knights to counter attack her next turn. The Mule got Quicken from Ashlynn to increase it's threat by two, but it missed the Knights in the woods and the deviation went away into nowhere.
Constance popped her feat and Crusader's Call to allow her stuff to charge an additional two inches. Gallant charged Gallant, missed his first attack, and then bought two attacks on the also-engaged Mule, which had an upkeep, so Purgation gave him an extra damage die. He mugged the Mule good but only crippled its cortex, so no real effect. It still had 10 boxes left.
The Precursors charged in and managed to kill Harlan and Eiryss (big loss for Ashlynn there) and hit Gallant for 16 boxes (popped minifeat), crippling his movement.
The Lancer and Sword Knights ran to engage the gunmages, but couldn't actually attack them. Runewood had given pathfinder to the Precursors in the woods two turns in a row and was sitting midfield after missing a hand cannon shot.
Arlan had powerboosted the Lancer and was sitting way back because of it.
Ashlynn popped her own feat and killed the two Precursors who had gotten Eiryss. They were out of Blaize's control so they did not provide souls. Gallant got fully loaded and put a serious hurting on Blaize's Gallant, crippling everything but movement.
The Mule took a free strike from Gallant to extricate itself, but with the sword crippled it didn't do much damage. Then the Mule fired a boosted steam lobber shot into a Sword Knight behind the Lancer and of course got the crit. The Lancer and four Sword Knights were hit, knocked down, and thrown 2-9 inches away. Two Sword Knights died.
The gunmages activated and killed several Precursors engaging Gallant and another Sword Knight. When the turn ended Constance had 5 souls for extra focus, and as her troopjam had secured the center of the table she got a control point.
Ashlynn's feat is tough to work around. Constance focussed on what she could reliably hit under Roulette. She upkept Transference to boost her troops success rate, and the remaining two Precursors wrecked Gallant. Constance's Gallant moved in and tried to thump the Mule again, but without cortex it couldn't boost, and Ashlynn's feat is brutal against luck.
Constance had allocated two focus to the Lancer. Runewood used reveille to stand up all the knocked down Sword Knights and Lancer. Then he charged a gunmage and killed it. The Lancer charged the Dude but missed. The Sword Knights charged in but missed (except the Dude, who didn't make it) I had been using Constance's focus with attacks against key targets, but it was a lost cause most of the time. She still had 6 left after everyone else had activated and she moved up and cast Sunburst through the Lancer at the Mule. The blast damage killed a gunmage and Reinholdt.
Because Ashlynn chose not to use Admonition to engage the Precursor Knights, Constance got another control point. Blaize 2 Ashlynn 0, first to 4 wins (or assassinate other 'caster).
Ashlynn could have moved into the center to contest the zone, but would have been leaving herself open to Blaize in doing so. It was a tough call. She decided to kill all the Morrowans on Blaize's side to limit flank opportunities. She personally killed the last two PKs, and the Mule finished off Gallant.
The gunmages remaining (only two) were engaged and couldn't do much, but did kill a Sword Knight. Constance got another control point.
At this point Blaize did nothing on her turn, so as to not allow Ashlynn to contest the center by triggering Admonition. Blaize wins by scenario.
For fun Ashlynn made a desperate assassination run post-loss, but didn't seal the deal. Constance was camping focus and Ashlynn couldn't hurt her easily.
Match MVP: Blaize herself? Transference, Crusader's Call, and Sunburst were all important to her victory. Runewood giving pathfinder to PKs two turns was big.
Lessons learned: Blaize, if she goes first, will push the scenario. The threat range on her troops using Crusader's Call is nice. She needs a Morrowan pal to make herself a decent threat. Ashlynn is a beast, but losing her support solos early hurt a lot. Roulette is tough to deal with against high-defense troops, and Gallant's 13 defense would have been great if he hadn't had movement crippled by feat turn.
-Merlin out
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