2nd Game: vs Cygnar

Another report of a battle, this one from earlier this week.

So this game was a rematch against my opponent from last week, though as Haley had been eaten by a Carnivean when she left herself a little too open, my opponent decided to try out Stryker instead. Though she had an extra point from the increased warmachine allocation, she was lacking the figures to take advantage of it, so we once again played a 21 point game. My list was the same as last week:

pLylyth
Carnivean
3 Shredders
Seraph
Forsaken

Hers was also the same except for the caster change:

pStryker
Ironclad
Lancer
Charger
The Black 13th
Katherine Laddermore

She won the roll off and elected to go first. There were 3 objective markers along the middle line between us, with one in the center and the other two 8" to each side. We would score 1 point for each uncontested marker we controlled (meaning we were in base-to-base but the opponent wasn't) at the end of each turn starting at the bottom of turn 2, with victory at 7 points. On her side to the left there was a hill and on the right was a forest. There was a forest directly in front of the middle of my deployment zone and another narrow hill to my right.

Cygnar turn 1
She deployed her forces with the 3 jacks front and center, with Stryker and the Black 13th directly behind them, and Laddermore on the right flank. The jacks all ran straight forward towards the objectives, and Laddermore also ran forward along the right side. The Black 13th ran to the top of the hill, while Stryker, remembering Haley's mistake from last week, elected to walk up behind the Jacks, staying a good distance behind and well-screened.

Legion turn 1
Jealous of Laddermore's flanking capabilities, I decided to try to match her by setting up my 3 shredders to the right behind the hill. Though I didn't realize it until the next turn, this was my first mistake as I then set up the Carnivean and the Seraph front and center, with Lylyth and the forsaken behind them. This left the shredders out of control, so on their turn they simply walked up behind the hill, spreading out to avoid taking multiple hits from Laddermore if she charged at them. The seraph moved into the forest, slipstreaming to bring the Carnivean up a bit, then tried to take a shot at the Lancer but fell short. The Carnivean also moved into the forest and tried to catch the Charger in his breath but fell barely short. Lylyth cast Tenacity on the Seraph, the Carnivean, the Forsaken, and herself, then moved up into the forest behind the Carnivean and riled it so she could have her full fury next turn. The forsaken meanwhile headed right to back up the shredders, though what I assumed she could do given they couldn't generate fury was still a mystery to me.

Cygnar turn 2
Deciding to go for an early lead, the Charger moved onto the right objective while the Lancer took the middle one, and the Ironclad moved into the middle to provide backup to either one if they needed it. The charger took a shot at the carnivean but fell short on range. Stryker moved onto the hill behind the Black 13th, casting snipe on them and arcane shield on the Charger. The Black 13th took a few shots at the Seraph and the Carnivean, but all were out of range or failed to hit thanks to tenacity and the forest. Determined to make sure it was at least a little wounded, Laddermore assaulted the carnivean, falling short of melee but managing to hit it with a shot, dealing 3 damage and arcing to Lylyth, but failing to wound my caster. This left her in the middle of the board and closer to my forces than her own, and my shredders could taste her demise...

Legion turn 2
As my opponent was about to score 2 points, I decided to hit her with everything I had and see what I could wreck. Lylyth moved first, first trying the parasite the Ironclad but missing despite a boosted attack roll (arg!), then walking right so she could control 2 of the shredders before popping her feat (in hindsight should have done this before casting parasite...). She then took a shot at Laddermore, slightly wounding her horse. The 2 shredders in range both went rabid and charged at Laddermore, eyeless sight allowing them to see through the hill. The first gobbled her horse, while the second devoured the hapless rider. Looks like things are starting to shape up! The Carnivean then assaulted the Ironclad, moving so it could also attack the Charger, and by buying attacks up to its full fury tore the Ironclad apart but left the Charger with 3 hit boxes and only its movement active! At this point I realize that I did not get in contact with the objective, so the Charger still controls it! If I had activated the feat and managed to parasite the Ironclad I could've used the extra attacks to take out the Charger, and ended up giving my opponent 2 free points (one on this turn and one on her next one). I'm so caught up that I move my forsaken forward but forget that I have to leech the fury off the Carnivean now, not at the begining of my turn, so leave it full. The seraph moves up and tried to shoot the Black 13th, but find itself out of range. Annoyed that I wasted so much potential on the turn, I end and my opponent scores 2.

Cygnar turn 3
Still reeling from the last turn's mayhem, my opponent decides to go for and objective win. The Lancer charges the Seraph, putting 6 points of damage on it, while the black 13th moves onto the middle and left objectives, then take a few shots at the seraph-lancer melee, doing 7 to the seraph but 4 to her own lancer! A little low on fury because he upkept his spells, Stryker just casts blur on the black 13th, then activates his feat, then she ends and scores 3 more, bringing her up to 5 points - within 1 turn of victory.

Legion turn 3
At this point I make yet another major blunder and forget the "uncontested" part of controlling an objective, and think that unless I get all her forces off their objectives I will lose at the end of her next turn. To make matters worse, the Carnivean furies, wasting its incredible attack power to rip apart the nearly-dead charger. I activate one of my shredders, making it rabid and sending it at the b13 guy on the middle objective. Sadly thanks to Stryker's feat I fail to damage it. so I bring Lylyth to the center and take 2 shots, both failing to hit. Its then I realize I'm less than 3" from the edge of the forest, and decide I need to buff myself (of course forgetting that I can transfer...), so I burn the last 2 fury points to cast Spiny Growth on herself, and have one of the shredders come in and cast Tenacity on her. The seraph, rather than moving in and slipstreaming lylyth back and out of sight (because that would be the SMART thing to do), tries to engage the far left black 13th member to prevent her from scoring. The forsaken and the last shredder move left to join the fray, and though I score 1 point to her 0, I'm just hoping Lylyth will live just 1 turn so I can properly wipe out his army...

Its at this point that the guy who taught us walks by and notices the setup, saying that its a perfect stryker assassination run. When I point out that I have 17 def and arm, not including the forest, he points to earthquake on on stryker. I am suddenly have a horrible premonition of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory...

Cygnar turn 4
Assigning as much focus as he can to the charger, stryker moves up and casts earthquake, though a bad scatter means he gets knocked down as well. Theres a glimmer of hope - if I don't die, the Carnivean can easily munch him next turn. The lancer charges in, and my hopes are dashed as she uses focus for more attacks, killing Lylyth with only one bonus attack.

Afterthoughts
Wow, that was a painful loss. I think I'd like to enumerate my mistakes, just so I can see them all in one place:
1. Setting up my shredders away from my caster. Seriously, what was I thinking. As incredible as they are, they can't do shit unless they're forced. If I actually want to do this, I need to bring along a shepherd to escort them along the flank.
2. Not contacting objectives. As wonderful as it is to just rip your opponent apart, try to win the game while doing so.
3. Forsaken leech fury during their activation. Shouldn't be too hard to remember.
4. Remember the rules - forgetting that you can contest objectives really messed me up.
5. 3" inside forest for protection.
6. Fury should be saved for transfers, not wasted on buffing the defense of a fragile caster.
7. NEVER send your caster out. As powerful as they are, they are just better to keep in the back so they can support the troops. Warmachine can have their battlecasters - Hordes should stick to letting the beasts do the fighting
BONUS 8. I realized this long after the match and after I posted this on the Privateer Press Forums - the Shredders did not need to be forced to charge Laddermore, because of Lylyth's Blood Lure ability. This would have let me leech the fury off the Carnivean. Honestly, I have not been using Lylyth properly at all. I am casting Parasite without being guaranteed the hit using Witch Mark, and instead wasting fury boosting the roll, and I haven't used Blood Lure once, even though it would have helped save me Fury, something I really need since I keep running really hot. Sadly, I may swap her for Saeryn since next week my opponent may be able to field 25 points, so I may pick up some Spell Martyrs to fill out the points, and they are completely wasted on Lylyth. If that happens I definitely need to remember to pick her back up once I have more minis so I can use her properly