Battle Report #101: Haley2 vs Vayl2

:: Prologue ::

Having tried Haley3 it was time for Haley2, which is my preferred Legion drop. Haley2 vs Vayl2 is interesting. I believe Haley2 requires a lot more precise play. She is vulnerable and there are so many mistakes you can make with her army. However, I also believe that if both players bring a "perfect game", Haley2 is slightly up. Why? Because a combination of Time Bomb, Telekinesis and Feat provides Cygnar with enough control to take out the beasts one at a time, all the while the Stormwall is kept safe. At least that is what I believe. An interesting change since the last iteration I ran of Haley2 Thornwall is that I now have significantly more powerful shooting and no useless Alexia2 running around. Let's get to the game!

:: 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
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr - Lynus & Edrea: 3
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4

Opponent:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight - WB: +6
- Angelius - PC: 8
- Angelius - PC: 8
- Ravagore - PC: 9
- Ravagore - PC: 9
- Scythean - PC: 8
- Seraph - PC: 7
- Shredder - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 3
THEME: Machinations of Shadow - Tier 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Again, we were playing Fire Support and again Legion went first. I pre-deployed the Stormwall defensively, intending to block off the section between the impassable and the flag with him, keeping Haley behind for safety. Legion skews towards my flag again. With ATGM, aka my old list, I believe I -can- counter-skew and go for scenario here because of the plethora of control elements. Without however it's too risky so I deploy opposite.

:: Game :: 

Legion runs up.

I consider a plethora of options. My initial thought is to Time Bomb a pod between the central Angelii to buy space, running B13th up on the right flank and casting Deceleration. The problem is the Scythean on the left, it has a long threat range and I can't afford to have it crash into the Stormwall next turn. It also puts Thorn in a dangerous spot because there's so little space between the rock and the objective. Instead I decide to go for the right-most Angelius and expose the Stormwall to the second Angelius, retaliation be damned.

So I move Thorn up, Time Bomb the Angelius, Eiryss follows up, B13th follow up and the bird has ~8-10 boxes left or so before the Stormwall moves up. Disaster strikes however as its 7" isn't enough to close off the gap between its base and the impassable. The Angelius dies but I have a feeling it doesn't matter.

The Angelius charges a TAC (which it sees beyond the impassable), kills it and uses overtake to get into melee range of Haley. Poor TAC positioning from me but I don't think it mattered that much anyway. Haley loses ~10 boxes or so and when Ravagores start hitting Thorn (Slipstream allows the left one to aim) with boosted blast on Haley the game is over as my caster dies.

:: Evaluation ::

Fire Support is typically a tricky mission to play Thornwall in when you're on the defensive because the space is so crammed and it's really hard to get all the angles you want/need. In this game I should've realized the inherent problems of having Thorn + Stormwall on the same flank: If I need to contain the middle I either have to feat or send one of them into harm's way, otherwise they could easily jam my entire middle up. Even if I had blocked off the middle here, I would be so boxed in it wouldn't even be funny.

This game also highlights the tons of angles Haley has to beware. It also shows why a forest in the middle is a bad idea (I've tried this many times on different scenarios, it simply skews the game too much in many matchups. This includes Haley3's cloudwall against lots of lists), but that part didn't really become relevant in this game.