It's been a lot of Kromac2 lately, but it's largely because it's what's been available. Given my inexperience with Haley3 it's just as well that I play into something where I understand the dynamic. I also know Circle very well and I believe this matchup is in Haley's favour. Anyway, onto the game!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3Opponent:
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 10
Kromac, Champion of the Wurm - WB: +4
- Druid Wilder
- Ghetorix - PC: 11
- Warpwolf Stalker - PC: 10
- Warpwolf Stalker - PC: 10
- Rotterhorn - PC: 4
- Gorax - PC: 4
Blackclad Wayfarer - PC: 2
Druids of Orboros - Leader & 5 Grunts: 7
- Druid of Orboros Overseer - Overseer 2
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 2
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
We were playing Outflank and I went first. I had no intention of this being a scenario game. I would approach it from a point of attrition and take the scenario opportunity if it presented itself. As such I deployed Haley centrally, Storm Lances behind the zone where I guessed my opponent would weigh his heavy hitters and Blazers on the opposite flank to wrap around. He responded with a typical, symmetrical battleline.
:: Game ::
Trenchers move up and take advantage of the other LoS-blockers here to create a huge zone which my opponent can't see. I'm a little too defensive with the Blazers, which cost me dearly later on. B13th run up far, with Prowl he can't reliably hurt me. Stormblades run in the wrong direction, should've moved them centrally as I anticipate his heavy hitters going right and I deployed them skewed left.
In a daring move my opponent moves all his forces way right. This could -and perhaps should - have been game breaking as Lynch's 5" aoe allows me to charge through the forest.
Problem is, I forget this. I've never used that ability for anything but magic/shooting before. LoS is important too, of course. I charge a Stalker with a single Lance. Centrally I try and take out the Rotterhorn, including Future, but it survives on a couple of boxes. My Blazers wrap around, Stormblades move towards the center and Trenchers wall up again.
Past is a tiny bit too far forward, Kromac is teleported in and kills her, Storm Lances fail Terror check and the rest of the contesting models are cleared out. He goes to 2-0 and I'm out of Past. Should've been a tiny bit more careful with her positioning.
I lost a lot of Trenchers but at this point in time sheer damage is more important than preventing LoS so I feat to revive Storm Lances which all go for Kromac. He's camping a couple of Fury and I don't expect to kill him outright, but the leader is so far back (I promoted the wrong model in my previous turn, otherwise I could possibly have taken out Ghetorix) that I can't revive them to take out anything else. I'm also hoping that with 4 Lances around him having tough, it'll be hard for him to clear out the rest. Haley summons Past again and casts Tactical Supremacy on herself which allows me to go into my own zone and score 2 seeing as the Druid is out of formation and the running Blackclad is killed (after 2 Blazers miss him I take him out with Black Penny from Ryan).
Stormblades kill the Stalker, Future kills a Rotterhorn and I pretty much own the table.
Circle kill the Lances but can't get in range to take out the other infantry models nearby contesting. With that, the game is essentially over as he can't move to 4 and threaten me. We play on as though he's cleared me out and moved to 4-2. In that case, I send absolutely everything I have into his beasts (Ghetorix, Stalker and Gorax with feat) and make sure to jam angles with big/medium-based models so that Ghetorix can't do something fancy like Trample out to contest me or anything like that. Gorax dies to shooting, Stalker dies to Past melee + Junior's shooting and Ghetorix is brought down to 2 boxes or so, mainly by Stormblades because P+S15 is a thing.
I have a single Trencher left who clouds up Haley and as I contest his zone it's 4-4. He's looking for angles to contest me but there are none - after all he's basically out of models - and with we'll move to 6-6 if he clears out the right zone, which I can easily contest and thus move to 8-6 in my ensuing turn.
:: Evaluation ::
:: Game ::
Trenchers move up and take advantage of the other LoS-blockers here to create a huge zone which my opponent can't see. I'm a little too defensive with the Blazers, which cost me dearly later on. B13th run up far, with Prowl he can't reliably hurt me. Stormblades run in the wrong direction, should've moved them centrally as I anticipate his heavy hitters going right and I deployed them skewed left.
In a daring move my opponent moves all his forces way right. This could -and perhaps should - have been game breaking as Lynch's 5" aoe allows me to charge through the forest.
Problem is, I forget this. I've never used that ability for anything but magic/shooting before. LoS is important too, of course. I charge a Stalker with a single Lance. Centrally I try and take out the Rotterhorn, including Future, but it survives on a couple of boxes. My Blazers wrap around, Stormblades move towards the center and Trenchers wall up again.
Past is a tiny bit too far forward, Kromac is teleported in and kills her, Storm Lances fail Terror check and the rest of the contesting models are cleared out. He goes to 2-0 and I'm out of Past. Should've been a tiny bit more careful with her positioning.
I lost a lot of Trenchers but at this point in time sheer damage is more important than preventing LoS so I feat to revive Storm Lances which all go for Kromac. He's camping a couple of Fury and I don't expect to kill him outright, but the leader is so far back (I promoted the wrong model in my previous turn, otherwise I could possibly have taken out Ghetorix) that I can't revive them to take out anything else. I'm also hoping that with 4 Lances around him having tough, it'll be hard for him to clear out the rest. Haley summons Past again and casts Tactical Supremacy on herself which allows me to go into my own zone and score 2 seeing as the Druid is out of formation and the running Blackclad is killed (after 2 Blazers miss him I take him out with Black Penny from Ryan).
Stormblades kill the Stalker, Future kills a Rotterhorn and I pretty much own the table.
Circle kill the Lances but can't get in range to take out the other infantry models nearby contesting. With that, the game is essentially over as he can't move to 4 and threaten me. We play on as though he's cleared me out and moved to 4-2. In that case, I send absolutely everything I have into his beasts (Ghetorix, Stalker and Gorax with feat) and make sure to jam angles with big/medium-based models so that Ghetorix can't do something fancy like Trample out to contest me or anything like that. Gorax dies to shooting, Stalker dies to Past melee + Junior's shooting and Ghetorix is brought down to 2 boxes or so, mainly by Stormblades because P+S15 is a thing.
I have a single Trencher left who clouds up Haley and as I contest his zone it's 4-4. He's looking for angles to contest me but there are none - after all he's basically out of models - and with we'll move to 6-6 if he clears out the right zone, which I can easily contest and thus move to 8-6 in my ensuing turn.
Victory to the Swans!
As per usual, tons of stuff to address. First of all, Lynch. He can make me see things through woods. I need to (ab)use that more. Next: Stormblades. No reason not to have them near Storm Lances, at least close by. They are essentially doing the same thing: Taking on high-arm stuff. Die, revive, repeat. Then there's the field promotion. I need to see where I'm likely to revive stuff when I do this. Surrounding Kromac is a risky move, if he rolls poorly and/or I tough he'll waste his powers doing next to nothing but if it all goes his way he'll clear out tons of models and even healing in the process. If I'd been able to take out Ghetorix instead, or severely damage him at least, that would be a lot more valuable.
I'm still struggling to put the Blazers to good use. I have yet to find them worth the 10 point investment. I'll keep an eye out for this as I know there are many interesting twists for this list if I suddenly have that many points to spare. I also didn't use the Lancer once in this game, but then again I never cast an offensive spell either. Druids are largely to thank as Past would've loved to make Chain Blast go to town on those sweet ARM-crap Druids early game. Speaking of Past, her positioning which allowed Kromac to kill her T2 was just careless. Need to be more careful with my echos.
Overall a good game with tons of learning points for Haley3.
EDIT: It was pointed out to me after writing this report that Lynch's Fire Beacon only allows LoS over clouds, not forests. I got it confused with Mage Sight.
EDIT: It was pointed out to me after writing this report that Lynch's Fire Beacon only allows LoS over clouds, not forests. I got it confused with Mage Sight.
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