3rd Game: vs Cygnar

Yet another Legion vs. Cygnar battle report! Once again, my list and my opponent's are the same at 21 points as we are still getting the hang of them and assembling the rest of our forces. Her list was:

pHaley
Lancer
Charger
Ironclad
The Black 13th
Katherine Laddermore

and once again, I am running:

pLylyth
Carnivean
3 Shredders
Seraph
Forsaken

This time there was no mission, as we opted for straight caster kill. Note: all directions are from my point of view, so when I say "right" it means the right side of the board from my perspective.

Deployment
To the middle left of the board was a small hill, in the center in front of my opponent's deployment zone there was a forest and on the right side was another hill. My deployment zone had 2 patches of cover-granting difficult terrain, on in the middle and one on the right. My opponent won the die doll, and deployed all her forces on the right behind the hill except Laddermore, who was on the far left. I responded by placing my entire army on the left across from Laddermore, hoping to get the jump on her before my opponent's other forces could catch up.

Turn 1
Cygnar - Her jacks and the black 13th ran towards the middle of the field, while Haley cautiously walk up behind them. Laddermore ran forward onto the left hill.
Legion - I moved the Shredders behind the center rough terrain, and had the Seraph move forward, trying to shoot at Laddermore. Unfortunately I was out of range, but Lylyth slipstreamed the Seraph out of charge range then cast tenacity on the Seraph the Carnivean and herself. The Carnivean moved up a bit, staying outside of Laddermore's charge but sticking close to Lylyth, then riled for 3. The forsaken pretty much stood still.

Turn 2
Cygnar - Laddermore ran to the left behind my forces, right next to the edge of the board. The charger and the lancer both ran forward, putting them in between the two rough patches of terrain, while the Ironclad ran so it was a bit behind the large patch of terrain. The Black 13th moved forward to get in range, but they were still a bit shy of the Seraph, and Haley moved up a bit, still opting to stay back.
Legion - Deciding to seize the initiative, I activated Lylyth and popped her feat, moving up to take a shot at the Ironclad. It hit, and I then cast Parasite on it. Next I activated the Shredders, all 3 going and charging the Ironclad and forcing for an extra attack (thanks, Blood Lure!). I have to say, boosted attack and damage rolls, increased speed and pathfinder are a steal for 1 fury! Sadly, they didn't manage to kill it, but dropped it to only one box (movement). In hindsight this was helpful since it would protect they from shooting next turn. The Carnivean turned and charged Laddermore, easily dismounting her, but she was out of its range for more attacks (makes me wish I picked up a Scythean...). The Seraph moved up and slipstreamed Lylyth back, then opened fire on the Charger, boosting damage to cripple its gun. The forsaken was too far from the shredders to leech fury, so it moved in front of Lylyth and then took a point of fury from the Seraph.

Turn 3
Cygnar - Realizing if she didn't use her feat soon there would be nothing left, Haley activated her feat and moved forward, into the terrain on the right for some cover. The Charger boosted 2 shots at the Seraph of compensate for the damage to its gun, and managed to do a fair bit of damage. The Lancer charged and skewered the Forsaken (whew, glad that wasn't Lylyth!), then smacked the Seraph, taking out its Spirit. Laddermore ran back to the left hill, and the Black 13th opened fire on the Ironclad-Shredder melee. The first shot was a template that damaged all the Shredders and took out the ironclad, and then with the remaining shots took out two of the little beasts.
Legion - Lylyth first heals the remaining Shredder so he has his body back and the Seraph so it recovers its Spirit, then moves back from the Lancer, slipsteaming the Seraph out of combat as she does. I momentarily forgot about reach so she took a free strike, but managed to dodge it. I then realized the last Shredder was now out of my control range (doh!), so all he could do was walk over to the charger and bite it for a bit of damage (getting a backstrike at least). The Seraph moved back to screen Lylyth and took some shots at the Lancer, damaging it but failing to take out any systems. The Carnivean then turned and walked up next to the Seraph, preparing for the next turn.

Turn 4
Cygnar - My opponent realized she was running out of forces fast, and wouldn't last long once the Carnivean got back into the fray, so the Lancer charged the Seraph, hoping to get close enough to Lylyth to hurt her a bit. It succeeded in getting in range, and while its inital attack took the Seraph spirit out once again, it failed to harm Lylyth. The Charger finished off the last Shredder in melee, and Black 13th moved up and shot at the Seraph, but to no avail. Laddermore then assaulted Lylyth but missed her shot, instead injuring the Lancer! Haley for the first time moved up, just behind the B13.
Legion - The veterans who had been watching the game up till this point started encouraging me to send the Carnivean after the Charger, B13, and Haley, going for the kill, but remembering how tough it had been to kill Haley I opted for a more conservative approach (especially with the Lancer so close to Lylyth!) I moved Lylyth back and slipstreamed the Seraph out of combat, but this time was not able to dodge the damage. The lancer hit for a whopping 10 points, which I immediately transferred to the Carnivean, knocking out his Spirit (which was promptly healed along with the Seraph so they were both fully functional). Lylyth then opened fire on Laddermore, boosting to hit and damage and doubling the amount of damage needed to take the dismounted dragoon out. The Carnivean then charged the Lancer, managing to seriously cripple it but not kill it, despite running all its Fury. The seraph then moved up and blew the template-dropping black 13er off the map with some great strafe rolls.

Turn 5
Cygnar - With the Lancer out of control and her army dwindling, my opponent had all but given up, but held out hope that if she could drop the Seraph she would have a chance. Unfortunately the charger's crippled gun really held her back, and while she managed to hurt it, it still stood, leaving the Charger next to the Black 13th and Haley, a target that was looking better and better each turn. The Lancer wiffed its only attack against the Carnivean, and Haley ran back to keep from getting killed if I charged the charger and black 13th.
Legion - Lylyth healed up the Seraph to get it working again, then Slipsteamed the Carnivean out of combat, allowing the Seraph to charge in. Pushing it for more attacks, it managed to take out the Lancer under a barrage of blows. The Carnivean then assaulted the Charger, and while the spray didn't hurt the black 13th (15 def is incredibly unfair!), he did manage to wreck the Charger. At this point, my opponent surrendered, realizing there was no way to keep her forces from getting wrecked over the next few turns by my heavies.

Aftermath
Wow, what an intense match! It was really interesting to see how things played out without an early caster kill. Though I managed to cripple her pretty badly on the feat turn, playing low on models was pretty rough. I really need to invest in a unit - having to sacrifice my forsaken to screen Lylyth did not feel good. I was really pleased with how I played Lylyth; the Parasite on the Ironclad was a huge win, as without it she really had nothing to go up against my Carnivean. Though it was tricky, I also managed to keep Lylyth out of charge lanes all game, keeping my opponent from stealing the victory through assassination. The 5 fury is still pretty rough though - I spent most of the game camping at least 1 point and often 2, meaning I couldn't run the beasts too hot and if I healed on a given turn, I pretty much could not cast Parasite. It helped that my opponent was really scared to bring Haley into action. I know I also got an idea for the first time of how fragile the army is. Attrition is definitely not the way to go! I probably would have lost if I hadn't crippled the charger's gun; I can only imagine how brutal that thing is at full strength with 1 fury boosting both rolls. Slipsteam was definitely the star of the game (though that should be evident by how often I mention using it!) Being able to shift things in and out of combat on the fly is incredible, and thats only one part of the shenanigans you can pull with it.

We have a few new players joining us next week, so hopefully my next report will be against someone other than Cygnar!