Battle at Lund: Invitationals Finals (#134): Haley2 vs Haley1

:: Prologue ::

After game 3 against Skarre1 I was completely exhausted. I couldn't bear the thought of another grind fest. I asked my opponent if we could roll a D6 to determine the winner. He was equally exhausted and agreed, but the head organizer wanted us to play because he was filming it and wanted to promote the convention with the Invitational Finals. That's perfectly fair of course and thus we decided to play. I lost the dice-off (we had to roll just to see, "what if" you know) so I had nothing to lose! Across the table from me was Fredrik with his Haley1/Haley3 pairing. As if this situation wasn't similar enough to the finals from Saturday, he dropped Haley1 into my Haley3 and got first turn. On Destruction.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Captain Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Sentinel - PC: 4
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gorman di Wulfe - PC: 2
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 10

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Luckily I had this matchup fresh in mind and I knew what I wanted to do: Ensure solid targets would be next to e-leaps, keep things out of range and spread out so as to enable precision counter-strikes.

:: Game ::

Fredrik sends up Blazers on the right flank and ATGM on the left, towards mine.

I shoot his Stormwall with mine and boost damage. Haley camps a couple, puts up Deceleration and goes on a hill. She is nearly b2b with the Stormwall but Thorn is closer. I also ensure ATGM are not closest to Eiryss for e-leap shenanigans. Covering Fires are put down and Gastone takes up an offensive position with focus. A+H Stealth up.

His ATGM take out 3 of mine or so. Blazers manage nothing I believe but lose 1 when he tries to light cav between covering fire + objective. Sentinel is interestingly enough not B2B with Stormwall and by my estimation probably not in Vortex range either.

The plan is simple enough: Engage the Stormwall on one flank, kill or cripple it, take out Gorman with pod. Kiss on Stormwall is not stopped (Haley camped 2), nor does he try to stop TK on the Sentinel. Fine by me, Eiryss moves up and shoots off Arcane Shield so my Stormwall is now dice +3 for his. Haley2 Feats and receives Arcane from Junior. My Stormwall kills his, but I have to spend focus buying the last attack and the pod on Gorman is thus not boosted and thus deals no damage. Gastone take out a Tempest Blazer and Ryan takes another with Mage Storm. My ATGM do nothing but I'm massively up by now.

Fredrik has a couple of options: Blind + Eiryss the Stormwall. That one goes out the window when he forgets Shift and moves Gorman, thus not getting the oil. Eiryss runs up regardless. Haley1 tries a Chain Lightning Assassination following ATGM taking out Eiryss2. It has to roll 4+ to even leap to Haley2 and none of her 2 attempts even get that far (from where he'd be dice -7). 

Although Haley1 is at 0 focus I can't allocate to my Stormwall because of Eiryss so I see no reason to play it risky. I instead kill the objective, Eiryss2 and jam Thorn down his throat as well. Haley2 camps 4 + Arcane for ARM21. Gastone and B13th move up to put even more pressure on him. Gorman dies to pod. 

He tries a desperate assassination run on Haley2 with Feat. He needs box cars for a single wound and he gets none.

The game goes on for a couple of turns with me basically just clearing him out slowly but surely while Haley camps a ton. Eventually he concedes but it was pointless taking pictures meanwhile because the game was all but over following his failed assassination run.

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I'm glad we didn't roll, after all! I think our exhaustion was very clear in this game but it affected Fredrik more so than me. Also the experience from my finals on Saturday vs Olov helped me approach this matchup better than I would've otherwise. It's very different having experience doing something and facing something. E-leaps and Deadeye are nightmares for Cygnar but this game I kept his things at bay. 

The matchup I feel is inherently in Haley2's favor because the Stormwall will eventually kill Haley1's Stormwall. It's just a matter of time with a superior feat in terms of colossal battles and 4" greater threat range. The shooting power is slightly in Haley1's favor because of Blitz combined with e-leaps from Blazers but this is far outweighed by Shift and the Stormwall dynamic. 

Overall I had an amazing run this weekend with 2 wins and 1 runner-up. Cygnar also completely dominated the convention with 3 first place finishes and 2 runner-ups. I could not be happier about my own performance but Olov and Fredrik doing so well in addition was just the icing on the cake. Until Legion players figure out that Vayl2 is the shit and Retribution players start picking up Ravyn again I believe we'll enjoy the meta a lot. 

Battle at Lund: Invitationals #3 (#133): Haley2 vs Skarre1

:: Prologue ::

For the Invitationals semi-finals I was paired against Anders again, my Cryx opponent from the semi-finals on Saturday. This time he dropped Skarre1 McThrall-recursion into Haley2.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Pirate Queen Skarre - WJ: +6
- Skarlock Thrall
- Cankerworm - PC: 5
- Stalker - PC: 4
General Gerlak Slaughterborn - PC: 3
Satyxis Raider Captain - PC: 2
Saxon Orrik - PC: 2
Warwitch Siren - PC: 2
Warwitch Siren - PC: 2
Bloodgorgers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
Satyxis Blood Witches - Leader & 5 Grunts: 4
- Satyxis Blood Hag - Satyxis Blood Hag 2
Satyxis Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch - Satyxis Raider Sea Witch 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Two Fronts and I went first. Going first here is a little risky because of the scenario angle but if all else fails I can feat to prevent it. He also has to get the last 2 points as well, i.e. simply getting into my zone and taking out the objective isn't enough. I put ATGM behind my zone, Haley behind his (for terrain purposes) and the Stormwall centrally.

:: Game ::

Thorn runs up far to threaten angles on Necrosurgeons. The infantry spread out wide so that everything can move to where I need it without traffic jam issues.

Cankerworm more or less sacrifices itself to tie up Thorn. Stalker runs towards Eiryss2. It's clear from my opponent's play that he expects me to feat in turn 2. My plan is not to. Satyxis take up the central hill. Wonderful!

3 focus on Thorn, rest on Haley. Thorn hits Cankerworm and deals quite a bit of damage. Haley then TKs him out and with Reaction Drive he is standing in a position where the Cankerworm is the only one who can reach him and it lost its cortex. Lynch puts a brutal into it as well for good measure while Ryan Mage Storms a pod on the hill to murder Satyxis who find out that her Mage Storm isn't blast damage, much to their dismay. The Stormwall had put up covering fires as well and the POW12 wall is just glorious. Deadeyed ATGM remove the rest of the immediate threats and I am very happy with my position, as opposed to me not feating vs Deneghra yesterday when I should have (or moved back as I did here).

Cankerworm moves to Thorn and deals 6 boxes or so with help from Dark Guidance and Feat. Stalker runs towards Eiryss but it's too far away. Satyxis try their luck through the POW12 wall with ARM17 but they all die. Killing Cryx in their own turn? Doesn't get much better than that!

Now it's feat time. The Stormwall moves up as Shift covers it to deal damage and the carnage is beautiful. My only problem is that I cannot get to the Necrosurgeons because they are too far back with too many models they can sacrifice while Thorn is still engaged. I send Gastone up to shoot the Stalker and prevent it from reaching Haley. Eiryss disrupts it. B13th try for the Trolls but tough is a thing. Ryan Mage Storms in a central position.

With no intent to do damage, Anders swiftly moves up to jam and block scenario angles.

I try for a scenario angle regardless and boost a pod to take out a Necrosurgeon but I brainfart with target selection from the Stormwall as it kills off a Troll in the center instead of a McThrall in the zone. I hoped Deadeyed ATGM could take the Thrall but 3 shots at 9+ to hit couldn't do it. Stalker is still not dead but at least the Cankerworm is out of the game.

An effort is made to kill off the Stormwall and what Anders has left in range charges it. It loses 25 boxes or so, evenly spread out. Skarre runs to hide.

At this point we're both low on time so I have to stop the pictures. ATGM panicked to Gerlak but B13th kill him. Thorn clears the rest near him and the Stormwall kills a couple. I shift Arcane to Haley and finally kill the Stalker.

My opponent responds with a desperate gamble: Skarre runs up with 10 focus to threaten assassination. Haley Time Bombs + TKs her. Eiryss makes the 3+ shot to strip her of her focus and A+H and Gastone kill her.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Finals again?! Crazy!

I feel I played this game well and had control throughout. I got a little stressed when I didn't score 3 points but truly it didn't matter because he didn't nearly have enough left to make a dent. The Skarre assassination threat move shows the position my opponent was in: Banking on Haley missing an 8+ with a re-roll and lucky charm or Eiryss missing her 3+ is extreme, even for a long shot. The one mistake that bothers me was the Stormwall not targeting the McThrall, this would've given me 3 points and I could've played even safer when Skarre came a-running. 

I was exhausted after this game though as this was a long grind where I finished the game on 8 minutes or so left on the clock. It felt closer than it probably was but the clock is always an issue if you get low enough. Even though Anders had less time than me he had less models to move and could literally complete a turn in a minute. I kept my cool though and didn't stress out. I believe this is an important part of the game as tight/long games will often see you down to just a few minutes left. 

Battle at Lund: Invitationals #2 (#132): Haley2 vs Thagrosh1

:: Prologue ::

For the second game I faced Gustav and his Legion. Gustav is an experienced and skilled player who had a pairing which made me wonder what on Earth to do: While no Vayl2 or Lylyth2 were present he had Vayl1 (which Haley is up against I believe) and a Thagrosh1 tier list with a million mini-beasts on junior warlocks (is that even a term?), a list I have absolutely no experience against and no clue how I'd perform against. Anyway I dropped Haley2 because we had no 2-list requirement and he dropped Thagrosh1. Interesting...

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight - WB: +5
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Scythean - PC: 9
- Naga Nightlurker - PC: 5
Beast Mistress - PC: 3
- Harrier - PC: 0
- Harrier - PC: 0
- Harrier - PC: 0
Beast Mistress - PC: 3
- Harrier - PC: 0
- Harrier - PC: 2
Beast Mistress - PC: 3
- Shredder - PC: 2
- Stinger - PC: 2
Beast Mistress - PC: 3
- Stinger - PC: 2
- Stinger - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 4 Grunts: 2
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 3
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 3
THEME: New Blood - Tier 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Fire Support and he went first. Fire Support is ok because as he goes first it is very hard, if not impossible, for him to use his early aggression to transition board control into a scenario push. Believe me, I've tried. So I chill out and instead deploy Haley so that she can get cover midgame with A+H nearby, Stormwall centrally and the rest on the opposite flank.

:: Game ::

Harriers fly away at full speed and Fog of War goes up.

Stormwall receives 2 focus, Haley takes 6. Stormwall activates first, boosts 2 shots (one of which hits) on the Harrier the furthest to the left and pods between the other 2. Thorn moves up. Haley Time Bombs the pod to weaken SPD and DEF of the Harriers. Thorn Reaction drives and I deadeye ATGM I believe. The Harriers all die following the rest of my shooting. It's a bit of a mess because Ryan and Gastone are nearly B2B with Thorn, a terrible technical mistake with a Ravagore on the field, but I'm hoping he'll take a shot at Haley instead. Haley stood still because relative to the Ravagore she is quite off-center (8" or so by my estimation) which means he shouldn't be able to reach her (31" between us straight across and he has a 32" max threat range on 2 turns without any boosts). Now he could've moved the Scythean behind to push him and I'd be in trouble, but I didn't consider the option at the time.

The first declared action is to have said Ravagore fire at Haley. A huge mess begins as we discuss and measure ranges etc. I think a judge spends literally over 5 minutes to figure out the exact position of the Ravagore and in the end I am right: He is out of range. The shot scatters off. This is a huge opening for me obviously and the Legion army can do little to protect the hapless Ravagore.

I smell blood in the water though and want more. The Scythean is in Stormwall threat range as well. The idea then is to Thunderbolt the Ravagore, TK the Scythean and take them both out under cover of Shift. This is exactly what I do and they both survive on a couple of boxes. Unfortunately I forget to Reaction Drive Thorn so he's a bit exposed.

The Scythean dies to a free strike. Thagrosh feats it back. Ravagore moves to jam Stormwall. Some units on the left side are outside of Shift range and they manage to cripple Thorn's arc node (but nothing else).

I'm massively up on attrition, scenario is a non-issue and I have control of the table and pace of the game. Only one thing to do: Back off and consolidate the position. I sacrifice a couple of jammed ATGM to clear the Stingers on my right flank, Stormwall tanks a free strike and shoots the Ravagore to death to get out of the Scythean's threat range. I finish my turn with Ryan launching a mage storm just to mess with his options, but lo and behold it scatters on Thorn (which I probably should've shot in the first place as he has few things with reach) so he cannot engage me with Harriers.

Thagrosh and the Scythean run up in a last, desperate gamble. Thagrosh camps 3 fury. I keep all focus on Haley, move up and TK + Time Bomb him. Eiryss shoots off tenacity, Aiyana follows up with kiss and before B13th are done activating (following Gastone) he goes down.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A decent game with a sound strategy. The Haley2 ice cold gamble was a little too close for comfort. I should've done my math more precisely (this is all elementary geometry after all). On the bright side the temptation kept my opponent from going for Gastone + Ryan, something which could seriously have compromised my ability to out-grind him.

I'm not sure what to think of the matchup. Time Bomb and Deadeye are huge spells here and I think it's in my favor because of these control elements. He also really struggles with the Stormwall because the Scythean and Ravagore are fairly easy to control (i.e. keep out of melee). Keeping a flexible mindset is a big deal here as a continued push post-feat could see me throw away the game.

2-0 and with hopefully no more Legion matches I was looking forward to game 3!

Battle at Lund: Invitationals #1 (#131): Haley2 vs Father Lucant

:: Prologue ::

Sunday was upon us. With 12 games in 3 days and many, many hours of sleep short I was facing yet another 4 game tournament, full of the best players at the convention. I had no idea how I would get through this. It didn't exactly start off easy either: My draw for game 1 was the Lucant army of doom I faced in the semi-finals on Friday, with Ben at the helm again.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Father Lucant, Divinity Architect - WJ: +5
- Corollary - PC: 3
- Prime Axiom - PC: 19
Transfinite Emergence Projector - PC: 9
Transfinite Emergence Projector - PC: 9
Attunement Servitors - PC: 2
Enigma Foundry - PC: 3
Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 2
Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 2
Reductors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The mission was close quarters. This time I went first and at least I knew what I was up against. The idea was to either alpha his Axiom pre-feat or get a battle engine during his feat and counter-feat to tackle the Axiom later. This time I also made a mental note to let gun mages have los to shield guard servitors and keep Aiyana safe.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up. With Stormwall running 14" and battle engines threatening 15" I had no worries for T2.

Covnergence put up a semi-circle around their flag. Crucially, Axiom shoots the Stormwall. He is just outside of 13", meaning I can charge him back. While I could've used Spyglass to figure this out as well, I didn't remember it at the time so this was golden. Now all I had to do was load the Stormwall on 4 focus, Temporal it, Kiss the Prime Axiom following a TK from Haley and hopefully one-round it.

So I activate my master plan with the biggest fluke of the game: Haley deadeyes ATGM so I can remove as many infantry guys as possible. That leaves little focus for TK + Temporal, yes? Wow. Ok. I decide to go in anyway because I fear being absolutely devastated if I let him up the table. In going in he might have to sacrifice 2 CP to killbox which might give me an opening. I kill a lot of infantry but the Axiom naturally survives. I forget both e-leaps and pod. What can I say? I was exhausted and demoralized from forgetting kiss. I finished with desperately trying to run Eiryss up. She was too far away.

Stormwall dies -and- Lucant feats. Left engine kills Eiryss. Prime Axiom is healed back a ton seeing as I forgot e-leaps.

Well, fuck me. He did give me 2CP from Killbox, but what to do? So I hatch this master plan, right: I Time Bomb Axiom and TK Lucant so that he ends up in the killbox and can't move out with SPD6 while Axiom cannot throw him. Putting Haley on the flag as well surely leads to 5-0, no?

After debating the conondrum for a while, Ben simply asks: "I can just run, can't I?". I don't even know what I was thinking. Of course he can. He does get greedy though: Axiom kills Thorn but more crucially the servitors keep repairing it instead of jamming his flag. In fact, the only thing contesting the flag was 1 Battle Engine and the Enigma Foundry...

With 3-0, I had one last, desperate chance. Squire died so I was at 8 focus. 3 for Temporal Acceleration + 2 for TK on myself to reach the flag, 2 for TK on the Foundry (it was outside of 2" of the flag) and 1 to boost damage on the Temporal attack. The rest of the army would just have to do enough damage on the foundry so that Haley could finish it off. Now this was a bit of a crazy moment as on the table to my left, Fredrik was charging his Haley1 into Terminus to kill him in melee and on my right, Olov was getting Haley3 into the thick of it. Haley, erm, Cygnar representing!

Reinholdt moves to Haley to give her Lucky Charm. Holt brainfarts as he doesn't kill Servitors before shooting (he could've charged) and he thus gets a number of Shield Guards. B13th follow up. Junior spikes a hit on Arcane Bolt on a Servitor, taking out a Shield Guard and Gastone spikes damage. Haley activates and goes in and it turns out that PS13 with boost and lucky charm does a LOT of work! I kill the battle engine, barely make the TK roll on the Foundry and TK myself to the flag for 5-0!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Another mess of a game that boils down to a dicey situation which again tips in my favor. I feel sorry for Ben losing 2 games like this, but at least in this game he could've ran the repair boys in to contest instead of repairing the Axiom as I had literally nothing that could threaten it at this point in time. By simply jamming up the flag there is absolutely no way I can win because he can run up all his huge bases in his next turn to contest and I'm all done. 

Forgetting to TK Aiyana was obviously huge. With Kiss I might even have put up a couple of wounds through shooting as well but I just brainfarted. Furthermore my "brilliant" move to TK Lucant after the Stormwall died was a huge waste. With Thorn alive and kicking I might've dropped the Foundry and spray dudes whilst TK-ing him to keep him away from me and gone to 3-0 with a slight chance of holding him off. I don't know though, part of why I did manage to deal with a battle engine in the first place was because Lucant ran and thus couldn't cast Deceleration. 

If the Axiom goes down to the Stormwall while Haley feats on Lucant I believe the game is more or less over in my favor. I don't see him coming back from that: If he feats the Stormwall kills a battle engine with kiss and I keep Lucant away with Time Bomb. That leaves Lucant exposed and a single battle engine vs my entire army more or less. 

In the end I get a single opening and the dice gods want me to take it home. I got lucky, no way around that. It's kind of ironic that my long shot here was more of a long shot than in my game vs Ben on Friday considering I had a way better plan here, the execution was just poor. 

Battle at Lund: Road to Invitationals Finals (#130): Haley2 vs Haley1

:: Prologue ::

With 3 wins and only 16 players in the tournament, I was in the finals again! I could hardly believe it, 2 finals in 2 days. I was up against a fellow Cygnar player, Olov, who ran Haley1 and Haley3. An odd thing to leave Haley2 at home if you ask me, but I had seen both Olov and Fredrik (another Cygnar player with near identical lists as Olov) perform well on day 1 (Fredrik was beaten in the semi-finals by the Convergence player I faced in the finale) so I assumed this would be a hard fight.

I debated which Haley to drop for a long time. I ended up going for Haley2 because I couldn't see how the Haley3 list (lacking Forge Guard and Ragman) could effectively deal with Stormwall and Temporal Shift. I was very surprised to see Haley1 dropped in return. Let's get to it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Captain Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Sentinel - PC: 4
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Taryn di la Rovissi, Llaelese Gun Mage - PC: 2
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 10

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Destruction and I went second. Going last against shooty lists with Deadeye is often risky but I figured I could at least force him to commit the Stormwall and thus lose it bottom of 2. I deployed ATGM on one flank and B13th on the other with Stormwall, Haley and Thorn in the middle.

:: Game ::

Olov runs up and ensures he is not in range of ATGM. He does make a big mistake though as Eiryss runs for Effigy cover.

I figure that with the extreme ranges between us (e.g. his Stormwall might not even be in range), Haley will be safe in cover. I thus spend my focus on Temporal on the Stormwall to ensure he gets Eiryss. I also take out Ryan with an Arcane Bolt. Trying to protect against e-leaps is a mindfuck and I don't really feel I end up with a solid formation. Stormwall tramples and boosts a pod to kill Eiryss.

Turns out Olov wants to try for the assassination. The Stormwall receives 2 focus and Haley casts Temporal Barrier to bring me down to DEF18 (no deceleration up). Lynch and Watts receive deadeye. Stormwall hits 1, as does the Black 13th, leaving Haley on a single box. He then pods near a+h and they die to eleaps after the pod survives the first hit. With all that done he had 4 shots or so left on Haley2, hitting on 11+. One of the Blazers made the Brutal Damage hit and Haley went down.

:: Evaluation ::

Finding the right balance between using Haley aggressively and having her survive is hard. This proved to be a little too risky. If I remember correctly I could've been out of range of the majority of his shots by simply staying 1" behind the wall instead of B2B with it. Without an assassination angle and with Eiryss2 I'm not sure what he could/should've done. My plan was to engage Stormwall-to-Stormwall with Kiss (didn't see the pod-e-leap angle) and move Haley up behind the wall with Shift on T2. I never got that far. I also should have prioritized Deceleration over taking out Ryan.

Little did I know at the time but the experience from this game would be crucial on Sunday! I finished 2nd in this tournament which I was still very happy with, doubly so because Cygnar (without Haley2 even!) took the win!

Battle at Lund: Road to Invitationals #3 (#129): Haley2 vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

For my third game I drew Cryx. I get too little experience with Cryx on a daily basis so it was back to "serious gaming mode". I dropped Haley2 and received Denehra1. Wielding the Cryx forces was Anders, an experienced general.

Let's go twin sistah!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Warwitch Deneghra - WJ: +5
- Skarlock Thrall
- Nightwretch - PC: 4
- Deathjack - PC: 12
Darragh Wrathe - PC: 4
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius - PC: 3
- Leviathan - PC: 9
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
The Withershadow Combine - Malevolus, Admonia, & Tremulus: 5
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Close Quarters and I got to go first. I am so used to dealing with a Skarre2 Deathjack that it was refreshing to play against one without shenanigans. As such my plan was to run up hard and try and take him out of the picture as soon as possible. I placed the Stormwall centrally, Haley opposite my opponent's flag (because of superior terrain more than anything) and Thorn behind mine. Cryx replied with DJ opposite Stormwall. Excellent!

:: Game ::

I run stuff up and throw up Deceleration in case Leviathan wants to try his luck.

Nyss flank up, Leviathan runs, DJ takes the center with McThralls nearby and Surgeon behind.

I love not feating T2 vs Cryx when I have better options. In hindsight I played this too aggressively not to feat but I blame it on not knowing Deneghra1 well enough. So anyway Thorn moves up, I TK Deathjack out, kiss + shoot him and finish him off easily with Stormwall. E-leaps + pod takes out the Withershadow model who removes upkeeps. Eiryss disrupts Leviathan. B13th + ATGM start working on Nyss.

Crippling grasp was already up on the Stormwall and fore some reason Deneghra opted not to take it off and cast Parasite but instead just upkeep it. She feated and her plan was to take down the Stormwall. She came very close, but I had ~8 boxes left or so.

My turn to respond. Stormwall gets max. focus and starts hitting stuff. Thorn helps out and deadeyed ATGM clear out Nyss. I feat and kill most of the important models. Eiryss Disrupts Leviathan again.

One last attempt is made trying to take down the Stormwall but it fails because of my feat.

I clear out most of what remains of his troops and engage the arc node with Thorn.

Deneghra tries a crazy run on Haley because that's basically her only shot. While she does have puppetmaster and the arc node gets Ghost Walk to bypass Thorn, 13+/16+ is too much and I survive.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A bit of a messy game. I try and do too much top of 2 and I even think I expose Haley to a bit of a risky assassination run on my feat turn (which I of course realized too late). Luckily for me, Anders didn't take it. 

As for the DJ move top of 2, I should either have feated (totally legit given my ensuing dominant position) -or- simply backed off beyond 10" from DJ and shot it with the Stormwall as well as my other guns. 

Apart from that, Leviathan was trivial to handle because he was too aggressive. He should've taken up cover and the Withershadow do not need defense buffs as their Stealth is plenty if they just chill in the back lines. I also learned that Thorn can scalpel out the Necrosurgeon, something I should've looked for openings for earlier on. 

A bit lucky to have the Stormwall survive Deneghra's feat turn. Not sure it was crucial as he committed half his army, had already lost DJ and the Necrosurgeon was exposed, but it most certainly helped a ton. Doubly so because Deneghra wisely started pushing scenario as well in this turn. 

The lessons I learned here would come in handy on day 3!

Battle at Lund: Road to Invitationals #2 (#128): Haley3 vs Scaverous

:: Prologue ::

Back in November I had my first (and thus far only) encounter with Deneghra3. I realized during that game that she is probably way more dangerous in a competitive setting than people give her credit for. Assuming she isn't threatened at a distance she can be absolutely lethal. On Friday I observed one of the Danes who attended the Battle at Lund, Laurents, battling it out on a table next to me with Deneghra3 against Haley3. So when I draw Laurents for my second game on Saturday and I don't see Deneghra at all, I ask him what his lists are and why he's not playing Deneghra. The answer is quite simply that he wants to play something else, something a bit more... unique. I figure that this is a good shot at having a relaxed game and maybe not stress so much with performing so I simply ask him what he wants to play against and what he wants to play himself. He chooses Haley3 into Scaverous. We then roll for sides, he wins and takes first turn. The scenario is Incursion and I don't really care what happens, I just want to practice some with Haley3 and take a break from the tense gaming so I roll a dice to determine what side to play. We grab a couple of beers and start playing what turns out to be the most hilarious game I've ever played.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Charger - PC: 4
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Captain Maxwell Finn - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire - PC: 4
Viktor Pendrake - PC: 2
Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Horgenhold Forge Guard - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Captain Jonas Murdoch - Murdoch 2

Opponent:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous - WJ: +5
- Skarlock Thrall
- Deathripper - PC: 4
- Stalker - PC: 4
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius - PC: 3
- Reaper - PC: 7
Wrong Eye - PC: 9
- Snapjaw
Warwitch Siren - PC: 2
Saxon Orrik - PC: 2
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist - PC: 2
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10
The Withershadow Combine - Malevolus, Admonia, & Tremulus: 5
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I don't know Scaverous, Stalker, Reaper, Wrong Eye or Snapjaw as I've never played any of them. Laurents explains it's a trick-list, i.e. one with many angles. I'm always eager to learn about new things so I'm excited for this game even if it's more relaxed than my previous ones have been. Case in question: There's an achievement award (i.e. you get to choose a small blister prize) if Saxon Orrik kills Viktor Pendrake or vice versa, so we decide to have these 2 fight it out near a building on the left flank while our forces clash in the middle.

I deploy Alexia with Storm Lances on the flank opposite his Nyss. The idea is to roll like a God, e-leap off of Arcane Shielded Alexia and get souls for Recursion. My plan, as per usual, is to win by attrition.

:: Game ::

Cryx run up, including the Nyss on the right side. I don't think anything else of importance happens.

In my eagerness to get the ball rolling on the right side I forget about junior and rush Alexia up. No Arcane Shield? No problem, imma e-leap those Nyss regardless! I just have to make the 8s to hit her and then roll super low to avoid hurting her. I declare my plan and Laurents says "go for it". Lo and behold, the dice gods love my plan as the first 3 Lances all hit their attacks and kill 3 Nyss with Alexia taking... 0 boxes! We laugh and shake our heads. I then move the rest of my forces and realize as I clock over to Laurents that I've probably been a bit too brave with Prime. For some reason she is in the open instead of behind cover, just 1" to her right. Clouds of invincibility?

Scaverous goes for the assassination run, naturally. Arc node runs in. Gorman throws black oil but misses. Laurents blames himself for forgetting Puppetmaster. Scaverous activates and feats. Icy grip on Haley. Miss. Icy grip on Haley. Hit. TK on Haley. Miss. TK on Haley. Miss. Laurents blames himself for forgetting Puppetmaster. TK on Haley. Hit! TK on Gorman to get him away. TK on Snapjaw to get him closer. Reaper activates, moves into clouds, boosts a shot on Haley with Drag. Miss. Laurents blames himself for forgetting Puppetmaster. Stalker tries to get an angle on Haley. Can't, because TK'd Gorman is in the way. THE WITHERSHADOW COMBINE ACTIVATES AND PUPPETMASTER IS CAST ON AIAKOS. Aiakos activates, moves into the clouds and shoots Haley. Snake eyes. Puppet Master re-roll. Miss. So with the dice gods loving me beyond belief, I am still alive.

Viktor takes his shot at Saxon and misses. Alexia and Lances start clearing things on the right flank. Haley runs for cover, thankful she got out alive (she certainly isn't thanking me for putting her in that spot). I jam the Forge Guard through the center and use Past to start clearing stuff out with them. Too bad 4 of them are black oiled following Gorman's fail-shot. I figure it'll be fun sending them to their doom so they move up as well.

Snapjaw tries for Murdoch but ends up being too far away. Withershadow try for the Charger only to realize he's in a trench and thus DEF17. Forge Guard get slaughtered.

I'm winning the right flank but middle is becoming desperate. I think I feat this turn and bring back Forge Guard to take out Wrongeye or something. I leave the Charger in place because I want to see if Laurents can make a Cryx jack out of him, plus he's contesting a flag (given my lead and control on the right though I largely consider the game to be over at this point in time so it's largely to give the Withershadow a juicy target). I kill Cryx in the middle but leave Scaverous alone. He needs souls I've been told.

Scaverous moves up and starts threshering Dwarfs left, right and center. Withershadow charge the Charger and realize that +4 DEF from trench doesn't work against melee attacks. They are very happy as they bring him down to ~10 boxes. Saxon Orrik holds his ground, happy he took care of Pendrake.

Laurents was so happy he'd set a new record for souls on Scaverous but was sure I'd kill him for his troubles. I had no such intentions. Time to run for the hills! Prime ditches Past + Future, pulls off of the Squire and runs to the right flag with Arcane Shield for ARM26. No more assassinations! Her trusty army forms up a protective layer in front of her and I move to 4-0.

Withershadow kill the Charger and suddenly there's a Stalker on the table again. We laugh, Laurents kills things in the middle with his infinite soul-focus and I move to 5 CP on my flag.

Victory to the Dice Gods!

:: Evaluation ::

I don't know if there's much to say about this game from a serious perspective. Obviously putting Haley in the open was a stupid move but apart from that there's not a whole lot that happened in this game that wasn't done on purpose to create crazy situations. When Scaverous spends his entire feat and half his army on a failed assassination run he is so massively down that it hardly matters what I do as long as it's semi-sensible and with the huge start against the Nyss on the right I could score early and easily to secure a win. Throughout the game though we did manage to have more than a good share of fun. 

Laurents runs his own blog/website over at www.overseer.dk. He's already written up a summary of his experiences from Battle at Lund and you can read them here if you're interested: link. Rumor has it he spent the Saxon Orrik kills Pendrake achievement to get a Squire and he is now starting Cygnar! Great success :)