We can Rebuild Him! Mercenary theme list league and painting blog. Part 8: 30 pt Most Wanted

Nearing the end of this arc of theme list games, I'm happy to be finishing up my Steelhead contingent.

Brocker got retouched and I was happy with how the new basing gave some nice atmosphere to him.

I'm half-way through painting my Riflemen, who will be joining him, too.

While a staple of my army for years, the Mule has sadly been seeing almost no use during this league, because I've been focusing on learning other ranged elements better, and Magnus really only runs around one ranged piece other than the obligatory Renegades.

Game 10

I didn't get a game in two weeks ago, but my wife and I played another Stryker vs. Magnus grudge match.

Her list:
Lord Cmdr. Stryker
-Ol' Rowdy
-Charger
-Squire

Sword Knights (max)
Duke Runewood
Precursor Knights (max)
-UA
Rhupert

Runewood was new to both of us, and he looked good with Stryker, so she took him, and decided to try out Sword Knights because of the obvious synergy.

My list:
Magnus the Traitor
-Renegade
-2 Manglers
Steelhead Halberdiers (max)
Steelhead Riflemen (max)

I'd never run a pair of manglers, and wanted to try it out. That meant I was distinctly lacking in any ranged threat (I never count the Renegade in list composition because it'll only be good for a single attack), so I took Riflemen.

I played with the idea of taking minimum halberdiers and riflemen to make room for another jack, but decided I wanted a little more infantry.

Early game

I got the first turn, and, with 20 small steelheads and a speed of 6, nothing in range, and advance move, I pushed them all up around 16" to behind the walls near the cygnar deployment zone and a little out of charge range as far as I could tell. One Mangler got Iron Aggression and the Halberdiers got Blur.

My wife decided to try something different, and, other than a few shots, not advance, to try to force me to engage.

I shifted away from her Precursors flank and towards her sword knight flank, and did virtually nothing except cast snipe (and I think Temper Metal) and take out the Charger's hammer with riflemen.

My wife advanced to a more threatening position and failed a charge with Rowdy against my front lines. I think she may have killed some steelheads.

Mid-game

I did the unthinkable with Magnus, and willingly dropped every single upkeep. The reason was simple enough: my Iron Aggression-ed Mangler was out of position, and my other one wasn't, but it couldn't get the job done on its own.

The Steelheads went first, and mostly just got out of the way for the Mangler. The Mangler then proceded to to rip apart Rowdy.

Stryker, suitably enraged by seeing his favorite robot trashed, ran up and hit the offending Mangler until it was thoroughly dead, then missed some attacks on halberdiers, and feated. (And took 8 damage from his electro-roids.)

Everyone else ran or charged, and when the dust had settled, I think I had three or four riflemen and very dodgy halberdier, who promptly failed his command check.

Late Game

My Renegade trampled* over some sword knights that were engaging it and two of the riflemen, killing four of the five without boosts.

*Correction: illegally trampled. Forgot lights couldn't, because I almost never have mine near the front lines.

The now unengaged riflemen got an unlikely series of angles on a CRA and brought Stryker down to 2(?) health.

The remaining Mangler got Iron Aggression and Threshed 6 Precursors, killing them.

The Charger took out the Renegade's saw (poor luck that those two shots didn't hit the other arm), and Stryker got healed by the Precursor Chaplain. I think the Sword knights might have killed another couple riflemen, but that Halberdier stubbornly refused to die.

In a rather abrupt end to the game, the Renegade stood still, and pumped off its sniped Obliterator Rocket, which sailed over the entire battle and landed on Stryker's head, doing exactly the damage needed take down the Lord Commander