Battle Report #57 - Haley2 vs Xerxis1 (50)

:: Prologue ::

With a week off from playing I finally got a game in again today. Facing me was the same Skorne list with Xerxis1 at the helm which I faced some time ago. Since Haley is my intended Skorne-drop it was time to bring out the colossals again.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5 (Fuel Cache)
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19 (bonded)
- 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:

Tyrant Xerxis - WB: +5 (Bunker)
- Titan Gladiator - PC: 8
- Titan Gladiator - PC: 8
- Archidon - PC: 7
Cataphract Incindiarii - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Cataphract Incindiarii - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Cataphract Incindiarii - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Cataphract Arcuarii - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Cataphract Cetrati - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2
THEME: The Fist of Halaak - Tier 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Destruction. I won the roll-off and went first. I'm not sure that is the right thing to do in this matchup but I don't have enough experience, yet. I deployed both 'walls centrally with TAC, Haley + support in between and ATGM on the flank I assumed Skorne would leave weak.

:: Game :: 

Temporal on non-bonded Stormwall, both run up. ATGM move far. Haley TKs one TAC for proper clouding T2.

Skorne runs stuff up. Defender's Ward on Cetratii.

I actually contemplate not dropping feat here. The problem is that I don't think I can do that without either sacrificing a colossal or risking a 3-0 head start with Xerxis' feat up defensively. A question is of course whether actually giving away 3 points is a risk in itself, given such a commitment from Skorne the rest of the game will be a heavy slugfest with both my colossals in the zone. That effectively means that if they die, I lose. Thing is though, if they both die I likely lose regardless.

Anyway I decide to play aggressively and feat, because when in doubt: Push. I take out ~7 models or so and furthermore Haley is in an excellent spot to work her tricks.

Skorne move Cetratii into the zone in return, feat defensively and shield wall. ARM24 is nasty.

I spend way too long trying to figure out what to do. I'm looking for scenario openings because I don't think this is a lucrative spot from which to start a war of attrition. In the end I opt for the right Stormwall to Power Attack: Sweep the Cetratii, since I can hit 5 of them, an Arcuarii and the objective (!). Regardless I do very little because ARM24 is ARM24. The bonded Stormwall charges one of the Gladiators and kills it. TAC cloud up, Haley hills, ATGM take out objective with deadeye + crit brutal.

The problem with committing both Stormwalls and have them bogged down is that I can't force my opponent to fight ARM22. ARM19 is a different world entirely which he is more than happy to show me as he kills off the right Stormwall.

I'm running low on time due to looking for openings T3. I end up concluding I have to play attrition. I move Haley backwards after she's time bombed the cetratii to get their melee def down to 12. ATGM receive a run order because I want to set up for scenario points T5. TAC move away from the Skorne infantry on the right side of the zone and the Stormwall deals massive damage to the Cetratii.

Skorne takes a risk: He believes the Archidon is within 12.5" of Haley. I didn't take care to measure this as I forgot the +2" movement. It turns out he's -just- in range and when he hits the initial 12+ charge attack roll I know I'm struggling. However he fails to hit the second attack on 10+ and I survive. Gladiator frenzied and killed off the remaining Cetratii.

So the good news is that the bonded Stormwall is still unhurt. The bad news is that I'm running out of time and Haley is sitting on ~6 boxes. In the heat of the moment I fail to see the opportunity to clear the zone and score points, which I ironically enough manage to do regardless because I deadeye ATGM, push stuff around so the Stormwall can kill off the rest. I TK the Archidon behind my lines because it was just in range of Xerxis and will thus likely frenzy, doing nothing in its next turn.

2-0.

Xerxis and the Gladiator go into the Stormwall, the latter having both Enrage and Fury. Because the Archidon is outside of his control he has to save the last fury point to be able to transfer to the Gladiator and the Stormwall survives on ~15-20 boxes. Incindiarii kill 2 ATGM and the remaining 2 guys fail their command check. Xerxis is on fire because of Vortex of Flames.

Time is really running out and if I go for scenario here it'll be extremely tough, not to mention that I have no plan for the guys in the right part of the zone as my ATGM are panicked. I go for Xerxis instead: Haley charges him, TKs around, hits him for a couple of boxes before TAC + Junior follow up with a few more. The Stormwall on 4 focus finishes the job: He only had 2 fury tokens left and needed 4 transfers to survive.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation :: 

Attrition against this many boxes is usually risky. I think my main mistake in this game was to push hard T2. I'm not 100% sure but I believe I would've been fine in just chilling out T2 and save feat for T3 because even if he goes for 3-0 it won't matter as the last 2 can never be gotten unless the game is over regardless. This buys me an additional turn of shooting so soften him up. It also allows me to use the feat in a different manner and perhaps even taunt out his.

The Archidon situation which nearly cost me the game was a really close call and I should've taken care to ensure this could not have happened.

Turn 2 when I went up I really didn't see how much of a problem the cetratii-feat-counter would be. The thing is that Xerxis feating defensively here is brilliant: The difference between ARM22 and ARM24 on 8 boxes is that Stormwalls are ~35% likely to one-shot a cetratii given a hit on the latter as opposed to ~67% likely on the former. This is a big deal because not killing them is kind of like not hurting them: They still hurt as much in the following turn. With DEF14 from Defender's Ward, elevation and combat, Haley can't really help out either.

All in all an intense, interesting and close game with another set of learning points!