Battle Report #51 - Haley2 vs Kreoss3 (50)

:: Prologue ::

My last 2 games of the day were scheduled against Menoth. Menoth is a faction which in my experience can muster impressive amounts of hard-to-kill-dudes. I do believe that Haley fits best into this, partly because Caine is pretty much gimped during Harbinger's feat turn (not Caine himself, but the army as a whole). So anyway, the hypothesis is that Haley is my Menoth drop. Let's see how this played out. First up: Kreoss3!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4

Opponent:

Intercessor Kreoss - WJ: +5
- Reckoner - PC: 8
- Reckoner - PC: 8
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Initiate Tristan Durant - PC: 3
- Redeemer - PC: 6
Vassal of Menoth - PC: 2
Vassal of Menoth - PC: 2
Wrack - PC: 1
The Covenant of Menoth - PC: 2
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2
Exemplar Vengers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Temple Flameguard - Leader and 9 Grunts: 6
- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard - Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Incoming and yet again I found myself going first. I'm not sure that's the best course of action against this Kreoss variant. More on this matter later. So anyway I deployed much like I did vs Skorne with ATGM on my "safe" flank.

:: Game ::

Stuff ran up. Temporal on the right Stormwall and Deceleration up.

Menoth runs up with the Vengers physically blocking my 'walls out from engaging both Reckoners. With Temporal I could reach the one the furthest away with the non-bonded wall. Redeemer killed a single ATGM. Warpath up on Kreoss. Flameguard mini-feated.

This was a complete and utter mess of a turn. The general idea here was to get the Stormwalls to jam stuff up so Haley would be safe. I would then feat and run my entire army to the left to go for an offensive scenario variant. I made a couple of mistakes in light of this, first and foremost actually not managing to block Kreoss' vision to Haley despite casting Temporal. While I was pretty sure mr Kreoss was in my feat he might be able to draw LoS to Haley through the Stormwalls or on one of their sides. I should've taken more time to deliberate focus distribution and ensured Haley could TK further away. The Vengers had Holy Ward so the 'walls had to boost attack rolls. DEF14 is a treshold which they really hate.

As I ran the ATGM left I made a huge mistake: I left one in the zone which is complete and utter stupidity. Not only is he unlikely to get a scoring unit into the zone because every model needs to be within, if he scores a point it pretty much doesn't matter anyway as the road I'm taking in this approach necessitates a quick win. Running the SPD4 TAC around like lunatics isn't exactly playing to their strengths. Despite boosting with the 'Walls 2 Vengers survive, 1 on a single box.

The Protectorate decide to leave Haley alone. Redeemer manages to kill an ATGM which gives a Reckoner, fully loaded with 3 focus, Warpath to move into the non-shielded Stormwall. Kreoss feats and grants said Reckoner Ignite. Choir also gave it Battle so it's hitting me for dice +2 damage. I lose ~45 boxes. Vengers block the left Stormwall.

So if my move is to pay off, I have to score 3 points now. I put 3 focus on the bonded Stormwall, 2 on the other and keep 4 on Haley. This is a conservative distribution because I originally thought I could Time Bomb the remaining Reckoner to keep it out of combat but with Warpath that simply isn't happening. So anyway junior starts the show and he has to hit the Venger and kill him (DEF16 ARM17 5 boxes), so it's a 10+ 10+ boosted. Luckily for me this goes through (it's 50-50 if he makes it or not so quite the risky play!). The bonded 'wall wraps around, kills the objective and wacks the Reckoner. The second Stormwall finishes the Reckoner. Haley runs into the opposite corner. Squire + ATGM form a protective circle around her so that an Assassination run is practically impossible (she's also camping 4 for ARM18). TAC set up to counter potentially jamming Flameguard.

Rhupert messes up and gives Temple Flameguard tough instead of Pathfinder. As the first Stormwall goes down then they only get 2 models into the zone. Kreoss furthermore fails to kill the other Stormwall as well.

I put a focus on the Stormwall, boost a pod on one of the contesting Flameguards. He dies. ATGM move out of the way, Squire moves up, Haley charges in and TKs the last contesting model out of the zone. 5-0.

Victory to the Swans! 

:: Evaluation ::

What a mess of a game. I underestimated the ability of Temple Flameguard to block me out of the original plan "feat and deny entry" as performed in my game against Skorne. To make that work in this game I'd have to sacrifice tons of shooting to put down covering fires. With that said, it probably is the better move as what I ended up doing was extremely risky. Haley might indeed have died while she feated if Kreoss had found an opening. I believe it was there and the Redeemer could've shot her up after Force Hammer or something.

So let's discuss going first vs second here for a minute. The Flameguards' mini-feat is disruptive in the sense that it means that ATGM can't really hurt them reliably. Had they not mini-feated I would simply have killed them all off and taken the zone with my feat. 4 focus on bonded Stormwalls, 3 on the other, ATGM with deadeye and shoot the living daylights out of them.

If I go second however I can not only counter-deploy him but I can also get a potentially game-breaking T2 as we start scoring on my terms. Furthermore I get to shoot in my T1 and Temple Flameguard have to make a bit of an awkward decision as to when they should mini-feat. It needs to be playtested but I should consider going second with this list more often I believe since it's so scenario based and Haley loves running stuff into <insert scenario thing> T2 and feating.

I hope I'll get a rematch here soon enough. I need more practice vs Menoth.