Battle at Lund Practice Game 1 (#119): Haley3 vs Thyron

:: Prologue ::

We were 3 Norwegians travelling by car to Lund to participate in the convention. As the drive is rather long (6-7 hours if you don't stop) we had time to talk a lot about Warmahordes. One of the things we discussed was my friend Magnus' Retribution pairing (he was taking Issyria + Thyron to Battle at Lund) and how he should deal with Cygnar. I recommended he try Thyron because I've never struggled with Issyria lists neither with Haley2 nor Caine2, so when we arrived and it was still early in the evening we sat down for a practice game.

:: 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:

Thyron, Sword of Truth - WJ: +5
- Imperatus - PC: 12
- Discordia - PC: 10
- Aspis - PC: 4
Arcanist - PC: 1
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen - PC: 5
Houseguard Thane - PC: 2
House Shyeel Artificer - PC: 3
Mage Hunter Assassin - PC: 2
Mage Hunter Assassin - PC: 2
Houseguard Halberdiers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 7
- Halberdier Officer & Standard - PC: 2
Stormfall Archers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I don't have a lot of experience against Thyron but the lack of MHSF made me think this would be fairly straight forward as I could be sure the Trenchers wouldn't be threatened at a distance. The scenario was Outflank and I went first. I placed Lances on one flank and Alexia2 on the other. Retribution hates Alexia2, her recursion game is practically made to destroy them. I also anticipated, based on terrain, that he'd go with his jacks + caster on the Lances' flank and thus he'd need infantry across Alexia2 to contest. This proved to be correct. Game on!

:: Game ::

T1, stuff runs. I keep Alexia back because I don't want to risk her to Assassins. The Charger however is bait, he is not important in this game.

Skeryth receives Storm Rager and runs up to jam. Assassins don't fall for the Charger bait. Halbs move up in Shield wall and battlegroup chills out.

I Assault Skeryth with 3 Lances but to little help: I do 3 boxes to him. Given the aggressive move from the Halbs I figure this is a good way to start thinning them out. I kill a few and push the cloud wall up.

Skeryth + Discordia clean up 3 Lances on the left flank. Halbs move up with Quicken to engage Trenchers. I lose a couple.

I make a strategical mistake as I push for scenario instead of continuing the grind. The Halbs have basically sacrificed themselves which means I no longer need Flux so I could've revived 2 Lances and assaulted Skeryth again instead of pushing home. However my mistake means 1 Assassin gets an angle on Prime. I put Dirge on her.

My opponent goes for the opening but makes a technical mistake as Thyron charges in a wrong direction and the MHA ends up being outside of feat range. Hitting a 12 is hard to begin with when boosted (mat 7 vs def 16 + dirge + set defense), but it's hail mary when it's 2d6. He misses and concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I felt this matchup was pretty good. In general I struggle a lot more when MHSF threaten Trenchers. They are vital to keeping other Ret tricks at bay. Part of taking Alexia2 over Alexia1 however is that I have a couple of models outside the Lances (Acosta and said Alexia primarily) that can really mess MHSF up if they go for the Trenchers. 

I feel I played the Forge Guard poorly here. I often have a feeling that I don't utilize them to their full potential. It's something I need to practice on because when they go to town they are amazing. 

The matchup is in my opinion strongly in Cygnar's favour. Without any way to deal with the clouds nor tank up what's coming behind them Thyron is always on the back foot. Couple that with some unlucky rolls on my part in this game (Skeryth could easily have died for example and I missed boosted hand cannon shots at the MHA) and it's clear that Retribution struggles here with this Thyron list. Perhaps Discordia could have done some work but that leaves her in a very exposed position.