Several of the gents in my local meta had a day off recently and we spent it at our localish gaming store throwing models at each other from across a four foot table. Recently I had picked up a few extra pieces for my Menoth collection and wanted to try them out in a list I had had tossed at me over a year ago. It was round three of my first tournament and I had no idea Feora2 could project so much threat across the battlefield. A year later and I have … probably too many Menoth models in my collection and the ability (thanks to a kind holiday gift) to field Defenders of the Temple. My good buddy Shamrod had completed his always stellar work on Dynamo and had spent the day dropping his Nemo3 theme force. We decided to pit the two forces against each other … mostly for the lols of watching scores of Menites drop to non-attack Electroleaps. Thus battle was met: Defenders of the Temple vs Lightning War in the 2015 scenario Destruction!
THE LISTS
Defenders of the Temple, Tier 4
Feora, Protector of the Flame
- Templar
Daughters of the Flame
Daughters of the Flame
Daughters of the Flame
Daughters of the Flame
Temple Flameguard (max) + Officer & Standard
Temple Flameguard (max) + Officer & Standard
Flameguard Cleansers (min)
Flameguard Cleansers (min)
Viscount Juviah Rhovan & Honor Guard
Objective: Armory
(I usually take Effigy of Valor when I have Daughters, but I figured they would be so far up the field it wouldn't matter and I wanted Asset Protection because of all the grunts on my side of the table.)
Tier 1: All Flameguard units are FA:U.
Tier 2: Free Temple Flameguard UA, ignoring FA limits.
Tier 3: All Flameguard units get a SPD bonus during your first turn.
Tier 4: Deployment zone extended 2".
Lightning War Tier 4
Artificer General Nemo
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Stormwall
- Dynamo
Storm Strider
Journeyman Warcaster
Silverline Stormguard (max)
Stormsmith Storm Tower
Stormsmith Storm Tower
Objective: I do not recall, maybe Stockpile?
Tier 1: Stormguard units cost one less
Tier 2: Stormwall stormpod deployment bonus before game
Tier 3: Deployment zone bonus.
Tier 4: Nemo's battlegroup gains free focus during 1st turn
THE ENEMY
Shamrod has some serious chops in the painting department. I love playing against his armies because it embodies the beauty of "play it painted" every time we battle. Dynamo might look like the little brother here, but he is really really cool, folks.
TURN 1 (MENOTH)
Nemo gives Feora first turn and I use it to motor. Within the tier, Daughters deploy on the 15" line and have Speed like cats have lives. I've been having clock issues lately, so one of my goals was to just throw models around the table and avoid clocking. Short story of it: the Daughters run like crazy pants, forcing the issue of dealing with them in Cygnar's immediate future. The forward TFG mini feat and run. Everything else trots along behind. I want to approach the fight in waves and see what happens. If I play my cards right, I will get him to spend large amounts of activations on relatively cheap models.
TURN 1 (CYGNAR) [no picture]
Out of 24 Daughters, he murders 13, so by the end of the turn I am down about 10 points of models. However, he hasn't advanced very far. Sadly, he also manages to smoke half of the forward TFG. Seriously … Dynamo … the number of times my heart rose on a miss only to be squashed by his ability to reroll misses. When I say my opponent managed to take out half my forward TFG, I think it was mostly Dynamo doing the work. So that is another 4 points off the table. Of note, the brave Daughters trying to slow down the advance of the Stormwall broke upon seeing three of their number evaporate like they were extras in Saving Private Ryan.
TURN 2 (MENOTH)
My ranges aren't exactly what I wanted because the Stormguards can't be charged and didn't move up as far as I hoped they would. However, I am able to get a couple Daughters on Nemo to scratch him up a bit. Again, the goal is to slow my opponent's roll. I can't start scoring until my next turn. I should probably look at going second with this list. I need to start scoring before everything gets wiped off the table. I do manage to take out three Stormguards and create more nuisance positions with my remaining Daughters. Feora has to move towards the Stormwall to rally the broken Daughters. I felt clever about that, even though it was not the direction I wanted to travel. The thinned out TFG advanced into a Shield Wall. Everything else moved up and attempted to screen Feora. The right flank Cleansers advanced but failed to clear anything. I am hoping to get something out of them next turn. I never get to spray stuff and I am excited by the chance.
TURN 2 (CYGNAR) [no picture]
The thirteen Daughters are zapped down to one by the end of my opponent's turn. The Strider moves forward some, as does the Stormwall. However, Dynamo aims and clears out more TFG. My objective takes a shot, but I luck out a bit as my opponent fails to allocate to the Stormwall. The Stormguards advance into my screen, but the TFG mostly hold out. Primary attacks and electroleaps have eliminated about half of my army. But the sacrifice was not in vain. The only enemy models contesting the zone are a pair of lightning pods, a few Stormguards, and the Objective.
TURN 3 (MENOTH)
For some reason, I get it in my head that the most important thing in the world is lighting Nemo on fire. Step one is getting any sort of fire on the table. Step two is feating that fire onto Nemo. Step three, obviously, is profit. I forget about the Daughter in the backfield. The right Cleansers start spraying all over the place. Sorry / Not Sorry, they kill everything they hit except the Objective. The TFG advance and light Dynamo on fire and try to jam the Strider. I wanted more fire on the table, but the Cleaners cleansed all the Stormguards. Technically for my tunnel vision plan, I only need one fire … I just wanted more focus / armor. I decide I need to confirm the Objective, in part because I need a few things out of the way for Feora to pull off a charge and a feat. I derp and have the other Cleansers wipe the Lightning Pods. I was supposed to save one to charge. The Honor Guard charge the Objective and wreck it. Feora advances, feats, and puts fire on Nemo. Success! Oh wait … I am way too close and for some reason I moved the Templar away from her. So I spent two focus to Fire Step into Escort range and hope armor 23 is enough to live through the next turn. On the bright side, I see what I should have noticed at the beginning of the turn. With the zone clear and Feora dominating, I score three and crank the scenario pressure.
SCORE: MENOTH 3, CYGNAR 0
Turn 3 Cygnar
The Stormwall advances but does not make it to the zone. It does manage to blow a hole straight through my minifeated, Shield Walled TFG. Then Dynamo starts in on me. After all the zaps and bangs settle out, Feora is sitting on one box. This included two attacks needing a 9 on two dice to kill and then one needing an 11 on three dice. With nothing making it into the zone except the Lightning Pod, the jig is up on scenario at the top of Turn 4.
SCORE: MENOTH 3, CYGNAR 0
TURN 4 (MENOTH)
I advance the Templar and smash the Lightning Pod to clear the zone. Feora dominates for the win.
SCORE: MENOTH 5, CYGNAR 0
VICTORY FOR MENOTH!!
Thoughts on the game:
Defenders of the Temple is fast up the field, but I definitely just threw my Daughters into the jaws of Electroleap City. I never really planned on trying to take down the Stormwall. My hope was to push scenario and if it became untenable, try to burn Nemo to the ground. Dynamo was fantastic at causing me trouble throughout the entire match. In Nemo's hands he is terrifying. This was only the third game that Shamrod fielded him and he was already clicking. So many shots, so many rerolls. so much electricity. I love it and hate it a bit.
Not sure where this is going to fall in my normal meta play right now, but I had the models and wanted to try it out. Putting four units of Daughters on either your opponent's 15" line on Turn 1 is kind of ridiculous. I played for scenario and then almost blew it when I got it in my head that lighting Nemo up was incredibly important. Although the turn I actually got a fire roll, Nemo didn't even blink. The smarter play was to see the scenario play and go for it while staying safe. Then, if the zone became contested by something large and ugly, dedicate resources to cracking it. Odds are I wouldn't have enough muscle to take down both Dynamo and the Stormwall.
Thanks for a fun matchup, Shamrod. You'll probably clean my clock when we cross swords again. And thanks for reading!
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