Battle Report #11 - Stryker1 vs Vayl2 (50)

:: Prologue ::

Second game of the night was against Legion. Legion is one of the factions I've played the most against (together with Retribution): They are one of the hardest matchups for Cygnar and as such I feel I need the training to know how best to play against them. Tonight saw a classic matchup which I consider to be in Legion's favour: Stryker1 vs Vayl2.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11

Opponent:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight - WB: +6
- Angelius - PC: 8
- Angelius - PC: 8
- Ravagore - PC: 9
- Ravagore - PC: 9
- Scythean - PC: 8
- Harrier - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Spell Martyrs - PC: 1
Spell Martyrs - PC: 1
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 4 Grunts: 2
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
THEME: Machinations of Shadow - Tier 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Two Fronts and Legion won the roll-off. Due to a defensive trench in one of the zones she opted for side, forcing me into the open but also giving me T1. I took it and deployed Stormwalls centrally with Stryker, junior and squire in-between and Storm Lances poised to go offensively ahead. Legion replied with a fairly standard, compact deployment.

:: Game ::

T1 was sloppy from me. 31" apart. Ravagore moves 6" and shoots 14" so that's a 20" threat range. Anything above 11" is risky. Yet Storm Lances ran way beyond this, which was just silly. Arcane Shields went up on the Stormwalls and I cast blur on Stryker just because he wanted to spend his focus on something. 

Legion responded by saying thanks and wiping out 3 Storm Lances. 

Well, bad start. I realized at this point in time that the Storm Lances had no business even going offensively. I learned in an earlier game that Storm Lances should deploy centrally around the Stormwalls vs Lylyth when I get T1. Apparantly the same applies vs Vayl. I will remember that and I'll also remember that they are primarily a unit to help me keep "my" zone. 

Anyway, when in doubt: Push. I was so close to being able to engage the closest Angelius with my left Stormwall but it was just outside of 10". Instead I locked it down by running up and I spent my feat. At least I have 2 colossals on full health sitting in the middle of the table. Your move, Legion!

The reply was a counter-feat and massive damage on the Colossals: The Scythean even committed. I think they took something like 30-40 boxes comined, many thanks due to Vayl's purification. She ended up casting Admonition on the Scythean and Refuge on the Angelius which I engaged, which simply used it to dodge away and hide behind the obstacle. I also lost another Storm Lance. 

Well, the thing is that Vayl2 was sitting on the hill with Occultation on herself. The way this game was shaping up I was in no way to win on either assassination or attrition. However going for gold was definitely an option here, I just had to find an angle.

After my last game, I spent a lot of time looking at a specific assassination vector involving a power attack. I've rarely, if ever, used a colossal power attack to game-winning effect (apart from Trample) but this was a good situation. There were 2 Legionaires blocking my left Stormwall from charging Vayl2 in addition to the Scythean which had Admonition. However the Scythean had ensured it could target both Colossals. Bad move. I put 3 focus on both Stormwalls. The right one activated, did a double-handed throw, boosted to hit and then boosted to hit Vayl. I managed both rolls. As I've never done two-handed throws before we had to look up how least disturbance actually works. It turns out that this was a bit of a risky proposition for me and I should most definitely have targeted the Shepherd in front instead (not to mention the lower DEF this has!). Anyways Vayl wasn't randomized out of range. The collateral saw her lose a few boxes. I then podded to clear one of the 2 remaining models. A Stormcaller cleared the last one and my remaining Stormwall went in with 5 auto-hitting attacks (free charge from Fuel Cache) and Vayl having less than 10 boxes and only 2 fury remaining...

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

As with playing against Haley, playing this matchup requires remembering lessons learned. Moving up too aggressively with the cavalry nets me nothing in this matchup. Furthermore I must focus on my own zone to give me some flexibility. With the possibility of establishing a fire base and scoring scenario points I can do things besides going all-in for Vayl, something that is often countered. 

All in all a quick and messy game. I'm just happy I got to use a power attack to find a game-winning angle. I also learned that throwing large-based models can be done with a few tricks, such as podding next to the target for example to avoid having to hit DEF16 etc when the pod is but DEF5.