Kommandant Irusk vs Commander Stryker

Kommandant Irusk and Kovnik Grigorovich

Sorry, I was too engaged to take pics on this battle.

I opened up Lito's Bunker last Friday, March 9, 2012 for some casual WARMACHINE/HORDES gaming.  I had a chance to go up against Louie de Guzman's 50PC Stryker1 force using Steamroller 2012 Process of Elimination scenario.

A wise friend once said, "Not because you can, you should."  In that game, not because I had a full complement of Winter Guard, I should cast Irusk's Iron Flesh on them, which was a textbook Winter Guard Death Star move.  Louie had his Hunters on a hill, and I figured his primary target would be the Behemoth.  Having a big number of cavalry (specifically a minimum unit of Iron Fang Uhlans, Markov and Fenris), I decided to give his pair of Hunters a good grasp of target saturation.  I casted Irusk's Iron Flesh on the Uhlans and had them hunker down some trenches on my left flank -- DEF13 +3 DEF Iron Flesh +4 DEF for cover would be a nice deterrent to his Hunters if he wanted to shoot them.

But, one wild factor I had to consider was his Lancer - specifically the Arc Node on his Lancer.  Given that I can go Winter Guard Death Star on him, he could have easily shut that down with a well-placed Earthquake arced from the light warjack.  So he can either pull his Lancer back and wait for the Winter Guard to advance and then drop the Earthquake on them, or be pressured by the high DEF Uhlans on my left and send the Lancer to unload that knock down spell there.  Either way, I'd have something to deal with his Lancer -- if he went for my Winter Guard, the Behemoth can damage it with Bombard shots along with For The Motherland Rocketeer shots; if he went for the Uhlans, it will get charged by Fenris, and/or Uhlans, and/or Markov.

Before the match, I went and declared, "I'd probably not waste Saxon Orrik's Reconnaisance on a solo like Markov.  I mean, it's just one model, right?"  Lo and behold, again I had to recant my previous hurtful statements when I saw Louie's ATGM clumped up neatly outside Stryker's Invincibility.

I got to use Warhead in full effect against his ATGM, and For The Motherland sprays and rocket shots destroyed all of the Black 13th hiding behind a low wall.

Louie's Stormsmith failing a Stormcall on my Behemoth was crucial.  It allowed the Behemoth to lay waste to anything it touched, particularly enemy warjacks.

At the end, Stryker and his Journeyman Warcaster left the objective regions, leaving only a damaged heavy warjack to contest it.  Superiority on Behemoth and three focus diligently ripped the enemy warjack apart and securing an objective win for the Motherland.

Game 09: March  9, 2012
50PC SR2012 Process of Elimination
Khador's Kommandant Irusk versus Cygnar's Commander Coleman Stryker (Louie de Guzman)

Venue: Lito's Bunker
Result: Victory via objective