Norwegian Masters 2016 Game 4: Haley2 vs Lylyth2

:: Prologue ::

Running into Legion once is to be expected. Twice? Let's just say I was less than thrilled. When I discovered it was Lylyth2 as well...

:: 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:

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight - WB: +5
- Succubus
- Naga Nightlurker - PC: 5
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 6
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 6
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Shredder - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
The Forsaken - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Two Fronts and this is good for me because it has killbox, thus forcing Lylyth up the table. It's not like Haley can hide anywhere apart from behind Stormwalls anyway so may as well be in the middle of the table. The problem though is that it's relatively slow, i.e. hard to score quick points.

I managed to get first turn which is huge here. I deployed the bonded 'wall behind the fuel cache, ATGM opposite his zone and the last 'wall centrally. The idea was to advance max and feat T2.

:: Game ::

Temporal on non-bonded wall, decel up, run and jam Haley shut. ATGM run as well.

It turns out that running more than 7" allows Lylyth with specialists to really put the hurt out. One Stormwall flat out dies to her feat after all Ravagores receive Wraithbane.

So. What to do? I spend 5 minutes just considering my options. Attrition is out of the question barring insane dice. I need to put pressure on Lylyth and hope she either makes a mistake in terms of killbox (allowing me to go for the scenario) or assassination angles. I cast Temporal, move Haley into the wreck, heal the 6 damage I take from the Ravagores' rings and feat. The Stormwall runs as far as it can (see the proxy base half-way up the hill on the picture below), locking down the majority of the beasts. ATGM run to position themselves to be helpful next turn.

Lylyth opts to spread her beasts out, tanking free strikes left, right and center which I'm more than happy to help her with. The 2 Bolt Throwers end up being the only ones blocking me. As Lylyth herself starts having problems moving out of the killbox (the 7" along the path she took on the right behind her 2 Ravagores didn't get her beyond the 14" line from the back) she realizes she has to shoot ATGM to make this work. Her first attack misses. The second is bought and boosted, hits and she gets out. Close, but no cigar!

So I accomplished what I set out to do, pressure Lylyth. The question is what game I have when she's on 3 fury. I do the math and reckon that there's a fairly fail-safe way of going about this. The most risky rolls are a 5+ unboosted and a 9+ boosted with re-roll.

TAC move up, allowing Haley to charge out. Squire moves up, don't forget the re-roll! Haley charges TAC, casts TK boosted on the Bolt Thrower and since I'm on the hill it's "only" defense 17, meaning I need 9s. I make it and move it out the way. The Stormwall then moves up, pods behind Lylyth and throws the Ravagore on the pod. I make the 5+ to hit the Ravagore and the pod is hit automatically in melee. Lylyth is knocked down and between the pod + collateral, she has to transfer. I buy 3 attacks, she has to transfer the first 2 and the last is sufficient to kill her. I had ATGM nearby as well and with her knocked down on ARM15 (tenacity) there was a little more damage I could've put in her direction, but not a lot. Regardless, I'll take it! A tough game resulting in a win because I pressured her and found an opening.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I think the lessons to be learned here is to never give up and never go beyond 7" against Lylyth2 with this much shooting if you get first turn.

Apart from that, there's not a whole lot to be said about the game. A couple of months back I tried to actively start looking for openings in terms of power attack assassinations and that really enabled me to find the angle here. DEF17 is hopeless for a Stormwall to hit when the 'lock is camping 3 fury but with a shenanigan or two it's a whole other story.