Game 6--pStryker vs 3Makeda (50pts)

Finally made it back out to Dragon's Lair to get a game in--only had time for 1 though because of the damn drive both ways and class in the morning, no matter though, got some experience out of it.

Played Incursion, a personal favorite of mine:

I played the same pStryker List I've been running, my opponent played something like:

3Makeda
-Molik Karn
-Bronzeback
-Gladiator
-Krea
Min Incendiarii
Min Nihilators
Max Paingivers
Willbreaker
Agonizer

I got the first turn, Deployed Stormwall Centrally with Stormblades and the Lancer on the Left, and Everything else on the Right.  My opponent deployed his Nihilators opposide my SBs, and the Incendiarii across from my Gunmages. Shit.

Turn one stuff ran.

Turn two, I'm feasibly in threat range of a lot of his stuff, which gives me a decent chance to deal with his superiority in numbers.  I allocate some focus, and run the Lancer up 10" away from the Agonizer (who had 3Makeda and a shield guard, as well as a few Nihilators next to it)  and Shot an Earthquake at it and feated.

It's at this point that I manage to miss the fact that I've knocked Makeda down, with no fury, and only one shieldguard.

Moving forward, I decide that maybe an assault with the stormblades would clear the nihilators out and even the numbers some... That works-ish, and kills a couple, but puts my Stormblades a little too far up with nothing to really protect them.  The GunMages shoot ineffectively at the Incendiarii, and the Cyclone pumps like 5 metal storm shots into them, killing 1.  Stormwall advances and takes 2 shots at the Bronzeback--who is regrettably in the krea bubble--Putting him at DEF14, or 8 to hit.  With 2 focus, I boost to hit the first shot and do no damage, and I think I miss the second shot?  Lame, yo.  I drop a pod in between the BB and SW so that something is in between the two (I think I was also basically out of charge range, but we'll see)

With my feat up Everything's at a lot of armor, so I feel not WHOLLY terrible about having a bunch of stuff more or less in the open.

Well, I should have been more scared.  This is the turn where things took a turn for the worse.  Makeda and Co. stand up-- The Nihilators stand up and advance, some take some swings and I think kill 1 stormblade?  Makeda feats and charges and kills a whole BUNCH of stuff. The Incendiarii Drop some well-placed fire on my GunMages, killing 2.   The Bronzeback moves over and is about to put Beatback on Karn when my opponent realized that it would replace Rush that Makeda put on him.  The Krea Charges and Kills one GunMage.  Karn basically charges and sidestep-beatbacks his way through what's left of my left flank, and then he and Makeda fatewalker over to the left objective, and my opponent scores 2 points.

So, my turn begins with fire checks on all but 2 of the gun mages, and all of those die, so the 2 remaining ATGMS take a command check and fail spectacularly, so my Right Flank collapses as well.  This basically leaves me with:  the Stormblades UA, Rhupert, the Lancer, and Jr on my Left, and a Cyclone on my right, with Stormwall, Stryker, and a Squire in the middle.  I try to go for an Earthquake on Karn, but I miss (I would have missed anyway, because he would have made me re-roll) and it deviates onto one of Makeda's shield guards and 2 Nihilators.  I decide that with the revelation of the re-roll, operation: 1-round Karn isn't going to pan out, so I switch focus to reclaiming the middle objective and contesting the left one.  My stormblades assault the shield guards.  My Banner one-shots the knocked down one, and the officer nearly kills the other. The Lancer pokes a nihilator and knocks him down with tough.  The Cyclone tries to shoot stuff but doesn't do much, and Stormwall tries to shoot up the gladiator, but alas, no luck.  He does, however, drop a pod within 4" of the far flag to contest.

My opponent's turn, nihilators and shieldguards basically kill my Stormblades UA (after a few tough rolls by my officer, thanks to Rhupert).  Makeda charges the Lancer and kills it after a while, putting SW in Vortex of Destruction.  The Gladiator charges it and kills it all by himself.  the bronzeback moves up next to it.  Shiiiit.  Incendiarii do a CRA on Stryker for a few points and kill the squire.  Molik Beats a few things up?  Makeda Fatewalkers away.

My turn, I've basically got the Cyclone and Stryker.  I have a half-baked scheme to put snipe on him and try to shoot makeda up, but Orin Midwinter's anti-magic bubble screws things up, so I basically get wildly out of place.

Next turn, the gladiator puts Rush on the Bronzeback, which charges through what used to be stormwall and beats Stryker to death.  On the plus side, Molik Karn missed 6 attacks on him first.

Result: Loss

So, what did I learn?  I'm not really sure.  I feel like some of that came down to bad matchups due to deployment... Once again, I see that Stormblades vs standard infantry is a bad way to go, and ATGM vs heavy infantry is also bad.  I had a few bad rolls with stormwall, but I really need to be getting better use out of his ranged game.

Definitely will have to keep in mind that Molik Karn can screw around with making you re-roll attacks that hit him.

Definitely have to watch out for giving 3Makeda ANY infantry to chew on, that feat turn could have been really nasty. (that being said, it was).

One thing to keep in mind would be to, you know, notice when I've knocked down my opponent's warlock with NO FURY.  I'll have nightmares about that one for a while.

I wouldn't say I feel discouraged, but I don't think I did a particularly good job there.