Battle Report #156: Haley2 vs MacBain

:: Prologue ::

It's been a while! Mk. III has taken away a lot of the motivation to keep playing Mk. II, but we have one last tournament coming up in about a month. Besides, the game is still great! Today I was scheduled to play Minions but stuff came up and I ended up facing Mercenaries instead. As I was facing off against MacBain, a caster I've never played before, I was happy with the game regardless. 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:

Drake MacBain - WJ: +6
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
- Galleon - PC: 18
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 2
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen - Alexia & 9 Risen Grunts: 5
- Thrall Warrior - PC: 0
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 10
Kayazy Assassins - Mercenaries - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Kayazy Assassin Underboss - Mercenaries - PC: 2
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Recon and the Mercs went first. My idea here was to take out the Kayazy as soon as possible, contest the zone and just wait out his feat and let my shooting do its thing. I intended to have Thorn close to Effigy T2 to avoid being dragged in which put Haley on one flank (with a hill) and Thorn on the other. Shooting was spread out. We also played with pre-measuring to get a feel for the upcoming system.

:: Game ::

Mercs ran up. Eiryss was put 21" away from ATGM. Perfect! I TK 2 of them and cast Deadeye. Eiryss goes down. I put up Decel and the rest advance. I put up POW12s in the zone. Some Kayazy die.

MacBain feats and stuff runs up.

I was too cautious with Eiryss and she's out of range. If I want to threaten him with taking off his upkeep then he needs to be able to reach her with his own shots, it's just that simple really. Anyway I start TK-ing out a Kayazy and put up Temporal on the 4-focus Stormwall. I then Thunderbolt Kayazy away and feat. I make a mistake with the Stormwall: As it's not my intention to necessarily wreck the Galleon anyway I forget to charge it its left side to force it to forfeit the PS21 attacks. Strictly speaking he could've turned it around and used Jackhammer but it still costs him 2 attacks which is significant. Anyway the Galleon lands on 4 boxes.

It is not often that I lose the Stormwall under Haley's feat but some pretty good damage rolls, involving back-to-back box cars, allows the Galleon to overcome even Arcane Shield. True, the Nyss helped out with a big CRA as well as Alexia boosting a Hand Cannon shot, but the Colossal went down.

Regardless though I wasn't that worried. I had control of the game I felt as the Galleon only had 4 boxes left. Eiryss + Gastone took him out. Thorn cleared out nearby and used Imprint: Disengage. I shot apart most of the Kayazy and a few Nyss. Jr put Arcane on Thorn.

My opponent tries to take out Thorn but he's just too tanky with Arcane Shield. He takes 10-12 boxes or so and even then my opponent rolled well.

It's time to mop up. Thorn receives 3 focus. Haley TKs Alexia around and put Deadeye on B13th before she moves to the flag. A+H and Gastone take out the objective. Thorn kills Alexia1. Ryan mage storms Thorn and kill the rest with the POW12. I move to 3 CP.

One long-shot assassination attempt was all my opponent had left and as he needed a 10 with just Arcane Secrets to hit Haley, which he didn't make, the game was over.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A little rusty and a few poor mistakes in terms of model positioning, getting in my own way etc. By and large a good game though and the only semi-big blunder I made was not engaging the Galleon further to the left to deny him PS21. While he shouldn't take out the Stormwall unless the dice are hot, spikes do happen and it's a pointless risk to take.

I think MacBain should've weighed further left in the beginning of the game. Nyss are very hard for me to deal with quickly if he plays Kayazy + Alexia1 right. With an earlier start on the scenario game I might be forced to commit in an unfavourable manner. The way the game evolved though his list was basically taken apart one piece at a time and even the Stormwall going down didn't make too much of a difference in the end.

Pre-measuring was pretty big for flanking elements and extreme ranges. As I'm used to it from Warhammer I expect I'll adapt quickly and not spend too much time over-thinking what to measure and not. I look forward to this becoming the norm!

Mk. III: Cygnar Predictions

June 12th cannot get here fast enough if you ask me. The wait is unbearable and as those of you who follow this blog will likely have guessed, it's taken its toll on the motivation to play as well. While I am having a game tomorrow it's been a long time with no gaming by my standards now. Anyway, in this post I'll talk about what I think Cygnar will be like in Mk. III. I will also write a couple of things about what I do to prepare for the adaptation.

What does Mk. III have in store for Cygnar?

:: Known Cygnar Spoilers ::

Let's start with the obvious stuff: Things we know about Cygnar models. For Cygnar in particular, we know the Ironclad is getting a decent buff, the Trenchers are getting a bit of a buff as well (though to be honest it remains to be seen how they play in-game as we don't really know the rules for clouds/LoS 100% yet) and our cavalry are all moving to FA: 2 (at least) with Storm Lances receiving Reposition(3). Jacks all start with a focus each. Character choices are no longer 0-1 per list so, assuming the unit still exists, the Black 13th for example can be included in both lists in a typical tournament pair. So far, so good.

:: Other Known Spoilers ::

Let's move on to what we've seen overall. Cryx infantry took a nerf bat, but I think it's not as bad as it looks at first sight. Warriors picking up Ghostly and doubling their melee range might actually be a favourable trade-off whereas Knights still have roughly the same damage output on the charge. In total though it brings them down from over the top auto-include status, assuming the points aren't majorly shuffled around as well. Deneghra1 has lost some of her control elements but is otherwise nearly identical to her current, very powerful Mk. II variant. The Cryx Battle Engine got a significant buff as well: Incorporeal is a thing. The Protectorate has taken a few nerf hits, mostly to their Choir. Their gunlines were strong towards the end of Mk. II to the point where they could out-gun even most Cygnar lists. Legion's Archangel received a couple of big buffs.


:: What Does This Mean? ::

My take away from all of the above is that Privateer Press is trying to maintain the current powerlevel in Mk. 2 as a baseline. It seems they try and take the things that are over the top and reduce their power a bit, while buffing the weaker choices. They are also streamlining the rules and using the opportunity to eliminate loopholes, such as casters charging friendly models. This is a bit of a broken mechanic since casters like Haley2 and Krueger2 benefit a lot from it when they play their scenario game (I've won multiple games this way), whereas other(most?) casters hardly ever do it at all. So anyway, as I was saying I think they are trying to maintain the balance level. I also believe they will try to stay true to what works well now and keep building on that rather than turn everything around 180 degrees. Couple that with a stated intent (which I think the spoiled rules thus far reflect!) to bring each faction closer to their core traits and we have an interesting future ahead of us.

Let's take a step "back" to the status quo as of right now: End of Mk. II. What works well? Control shenanigans, speed, recursion, scenario denial seem to be the keywords in my experience. By controlling the alpha and/or ensuring there is enough recursion to hit back after you've been alpha'd, you are in a good spot for attrition. Typically I also see lists going for a slow scenario play rather than the all-out style which Haley2 for example can sometimes play.

How will Stryker1 be adjusted to Mk. III? Can he be aligned with core Cygnar traits?

So, with factions being brought back to their core traits, what does that really mean? I'll try and give a brief overview first of some of the more typical factions in the game and finish off with Cygnar. For Cryx we've seen a reduce in speed, shenanigans and control elements. Curse no longer grant bonus movement to Banes, models returned to play have to forfeit their actions and Deneghra's lost the ability to prevent charges and lower FOCUS for example. In my opinion Cryx are being brought back to a combined-arms melee force which relies on a mix of hard-hitting infantry, cheap-ish heavy jacks and strong casters to win the game. The Trollbloods have been stated to have more specialized units now. In my experience they've always been about durability and hitting power. The Warder nerf showed us that Privateer Press wanted to make their roles clearer and I am sure we will see more of this in Mk. III. The Protectorate lost some of its choir strength but I expect them to be even more focused on their synergy and anti-synergy tech. There is no "synergy" in Hymn of Battle in Mk. II, it's just a stupidly good ability (like our Journeyman's Arcane Shield). I expect them to have new and interesting ways of setting up angles that are hard to defend against and denying you the angles you are used to having. That is what the Protectorate is about in my opinion and if they pull this off I think it'll be a very rewarding faction to play.


:: Cygnar Predictions ::

So let's take a look at Cygnar. What are Cygnar's core traits? First of all we are a ranged faction, without a doubt. We are not the shootiest one, that probably goes to Legion, nor are we as numerous or specialized in our shooting as Retribution. However the ranged aspects alone do not define Cygnar. Casters like Haley3 and Stryker2 still 'feel' very Cygnar. How is this? I believe Cygnar's most significant trait is quite simply to ensure that you get the alpha first. Whether it's Caine2, any of the Haleys or even Kraye, we usually get the alpha unless you're doing something wrong. This fits well with Privateer Press' stated intent to have Cygnar be even more focused on hi-tech weaponry and gadgets and an "unhealthy obsession with thunder and lightning". We don't have the anti-synergy tech of the Protectorate but between electro leaps, lightning pods and similar support-ruining abilities, a successful Cygnar army employs the alpha to ensure the lead in attrition while the fragile but powerful hi-tech toys have to take out the vital enemy supports to ensure that the retaliation won't cripple us. Let's get down and dirty to specifics: What does all of this mean? I hope it means that we lose some of our speed, our recursion and our downright blistering firepower in favor of focusing the faction around control and shenanigans. That is what I love about playing Cygnar. The angles. They are always there! An infinite skill-cap but oh-so rewarding when you manage to pull it off. For casters and units it is of course hard to talk about specifics, especially since it's been hinted at that multiple Cygnar units will be completely reworked. I'll give it a go anyway: I expect B13th to receive a heavy nerf, Storm Lances and Gun Mages to either be nerfed or reworked, Haley2 will lose some of her power (but it's hard to say how much since many of the implicit changes like Time Bomb no longer stopping charges hurt her), Haley1 will almost guaranteed lose Temporal Barrier, Strykers will be buffed and hopefully Siege will be reworked (he is too static for my taste and although foxhole
and mage sight combined have a lot of shenanigan potential, it's situational).

Haley1, a possibly very interesting caster in Mk. III judging by her twin's recent stat-cards spoiler.

I have hopes for the Nemos, Kraye and Sloan to be playable but they are all very delicate casters to balance: Nemo's inherent jack-potential is amplified in Mk. III, Kraye's speed can quickly turn into ridiculous alphas that cannot be defended against nor recovered from and Sloan needs control elements as her shooting isn't mobile nor powerful enough to compare with Caine for example. I also hope we'll see more of Long Gunners, who I believe might be an interesting unit in a jack/beast-heavy world if they keep CRA. If one of our Storm Knight infantry units get buffed as well that would be wonderful. Conceptually I love them but in their current Mk. II state they simply aren't the best way we can spend our points. I fully expect our crutch mercs to drop significantly in popularity, from Boomhowlers to Aiyana + Holt and Eiryss2 to Gastone. This reduces our ability to mess with our enemies' synergies, which I think is just fine as that's not one of our core traits (it rather belongs to the Protectorate). Last but not least I am very interested to see what they'll do to our jacks. I think the warjack changes and the way these play with our casters will by and large determine, make or break if you will, how well they manage to pull off Cygnar being Cygnar. Obviously the colossal rules is a huge X-factor still that can swing both ways. I do expect the Stormwall to drop in power though but if Privateer Press reduce our ability to buff its SPD it will perhaps get the nerf it needs just "out of the box".

So TL;DR - My predictions for Cygnar:
+ More control elements
+ More hi-tech gadgets which help us remove troublesome elements
+ More core troops and jacks
- Less speed buffs
- Less anti-synergy tech (think Eiryss2 Arcane Interference and Upkeep Removal)
- Less ranged firepower

Unit-and-model-wise I'll make a bit of a wild guess.

Biggest winners:
+ Defender
+ Reliant
+ Long Gunners
+ Storm Guard

Biggest losers:
- Haley2
- Black13th
- Journeyman Warcaster

Go Cygnar infantry!

In preparation for Mk. III there are a few things to do. I keep following the spoilers on a day-to-day basis and try and evaluate how each little tidbit will shape the way the game plays. Thus far I think that Trollbloods (Doomshaper with 3 heavies) and Protectorate (Feora2 with 2 heavies + Redeemer) in Mk. II represent quite well what Mk. III will be like for most factions: Multiple jacks/beasts but with significant support and troop elements, with an overall army feel and focus close to their faction traits. However as we can't possibly know exactly what units, casters, jacks etc Privateer Press will buff and what they'll leave behind (so to speak), I have decided to buy up the remaining Warcasters I lack at the moment. If time permits I'll have them all assembled in time as well. With a little luck a lot of them will be viable. In Mk. II we see both Skorne, Cryx and Retribution (to an extent) have a handful or more competitively viable casters. I hope and believe Privateer Press can find that golden balance for Cygnar as well in Mk. III.

Battle Report #155: Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

Following the tournament conclusion on Sunday I had 2 practice games with Haley2 vs Issyria and Ossyan. Unfortunately I had no time to take pictures from the second game, but at least the Issyria game has pictures so here's another report!

:: 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:

Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn - WJ: +6
- Hyperion - PC: 18
- Imperatus - PC: 12
Arcanist - PC: 1
Houseguard Thane - PC: 2
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Strike Force Commander - Commander 2
Houseguard Halberdiers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 7
- Halberdier Officer & Standard - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Destruction and Retribution took the initiative. I deployed the Stormwall centrally opposite his Hyperion with ATGM on the left and Gastone + Haley on the right. My deployment was largely an answer to his Halberdiers which I assumed would move towards the right flank -ish, with Imperatus keeping the left flank anchored.

:: Game ::

Retribution moves up and the MHSF are far too aggressive. To launch a devastating alpha in return I spend Haley's 8 focus to TK 3 ATGM models before I put Deadeye on them. A lot of Strike Force dudes die, which takes away a lot of his punch. I keep Thorn out of trouble but in a position to handle Imperatus should he be willing to take a risky position.

Halberdiers move up with Desperate Pace in Shield Wall. Hyperion tries to deviate a shot into my juicy back ranks but it fails.

Removing the Halberdiers in the center is trivial enough. Haley moves up and Temporals the Stormwall before dropping Feat to catch his entire army except for Issyria. Eiryss puts out Inviolable Resolve from Hyperion and Stormwall charges it with full focus. It loses well over half its boxes.

The situation is absolutely terribly for Retribution and my opponent decides to make a hail mary attempt at Haley's life. Hyperion moves up before Issyria feats and makes an ancillary attack. However it misses and with that, my opponent concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

In my experience, Retribution players are without exception aggressive with their Strike Force. Against Cygnar, almost always too aggressive. By keeping them safe and just waiting it out, these models can instead seriously threaten the Stormwall on feat turn for example. As we have seen many times before my list is perfectly capable of clearing out infantry even in Shield Wall. As such I think Retribution should've played the entire game more cautiously here and perhaps have forced me to commit to Hyperion or something before the infantry move in.

A fairly classic Haley2 game where the execution was mostly based on countering my opponent's moves. Move up Strike Force too far? Fine, I'll kill them. Expose Halberdiers? They'll get kiss and subsequently shot to death by boosted shots and POW12s. Give me an opening on your colossal? Stormwall cripples one side under feat.

The game against Ossyan (different player though) after this was quite similar. Strike Force advance too far and get shot by ATGM. Stormwall waits for an opportunity and I bide my time as I shoot down Halberdiers when they commit to holding the center. Eventually I get an opening and I launch a devastating assault under feat to cripple him. As in this game, a desperate assassination run is attempted but fails and I won.

I'm sure there are ways for Retribution lists like these to play into Haley2 but they have to re-think their game plan. I find that in matchups where both sides are very shooty you often have to play completely differently to how you would approach a more typical matchup where one side shoots and the other side tries to assault. 

WarCon 2016 Finals (#154): Haley3 vs Siege

:: Prologue ::

A bit of a deja vu as I have recently had 2 other finals that were Cygnar mirrors. This time the pairings were Haley2 & Haley3 vs Haley2 & Siege. I feared assassination angles from both Haley2 and Siege if I dropped Haley2 but was quite confident with dropping Haley3 into the both of them. My opponent dropped Siege and off we went!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
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
Alexia1 & The Risen - PC: 5
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:

Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire - PC: 4
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2
Rangers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Destruction and I went first. Going into this game my main objective was to get into the middle to force Siege ahead so I could put my Forge Guard to good use. I would also have to be careful with assassination angles as the combination of mage sight and foxhole is impossible to protect against in terms of blocking vision.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up, I cloudwall. 2 Lances are put in harm's way with the leader on the right. If he doesn't kill him I might have a couple of interesting revive angles. I put one Lance behind my clouds to act as leader if the front 2 models are both killed, but I make a mistake with tactical supremacy as his path is blocked. This would prove to be crucial.

Stormwall shoots off both Lances with boosted damage rolls (one boosted attack roll). Covering Fires go down. The rest of Siege's list takes it slow.

I contemplate my options and make a grave mistake: I decide to ditch Tactical Supremacy to get up Flux + 2x Revive. The problem with this is that Flux doesn't really matter here and instead I could've upkept Tactical Supremacy and cast 2x Revive still. The idea was to revive 2 Lances centrally and send one into his Squire (which would e-leap into Reinholdt I believe) and one into one of his Lances to take it down. To do this however I had to move either the Forge Guard or the Trenchers before the Lances. With the Trenchers wanting to cloud and thus block LoS I had to move the Forge Guard first. They went up a bit too aggressively and I ended up with a very poor cloudwall. Adding insult to injury the Lance which charged the Squire failed both its assault shot and its charge attack and Past failed to kill a Lance with Chain Blast.

Siege takes the opening and feats in return. A great deal of models are killed as the Storm Lances on the right flank even get a handful of kills. I am suddenly down on attrition as I lose Lances and Ragman as well as Alexia grabs a lot of souls.

This isn't looking too good. I contemplate assassination angles but I can't find any reliable ones. Siege is camping a few focus as well and the covering fires deny reviving Forge Guard to charge him, I fear. Regardless the choice I end up making is clearing the zone and going for 3-0 and hope that DEF21 can keep Prime safe. Alexia has a ton of souls and moves to block out Rangers and start killing Lances. Haley has to feat to help out here but I make a big mistake as Past isn't placed within Reach range of the objective. Because of this Forge Guard have to clear it out and this prevents me from placing them far away from Prime and I am pretty susceptible to a Force Hammer assassination. The revived Lances struggle greatly but at least I clear the zone with Finn desperately taking out a Pod after a Lance failed to kill it on impact attack.

My opponent doesn't see the Force Hammer opportunity. He tries to run Rangers through the Risen (where I had awkwardly left him a gap with which to do so) but he ended up outside of 5". It didn't matter though as Siege could aim and with the help of Reinholdt's reload, he landed both shots on Prime despite needing 13+ and the boosted damage rolls killed her at dice minus 3.

:: Evaluation ::

The ensuing assassination run was a bit of a lucky one given its execution. Apart from Siege himself only the Stormwall could likely have hit Haley. It would need to clear Acosta though and with aim it would get a single shot off at her, also needing 13+. That said, there were better opportunities and the Force Hammer would have slammed a Forge Guard into Haley on a 3+.

Regardless though the turns leading up to this point were a string of mistakes from me, starting as early as T1 with the Trenchers using the 3" move poorly to allow the Lances to go through. This in turn made the Forge Guard run too far and the huge gaps in my cloudwall + Trenchers remaining visible on the right flank allowed Siege's feat to perfectly capitalize on the situation and kill enough to ensure he was up on attrition. All of this because of poor spell prioritization.

It's funny how mistakes as early as T1 end up trickling down to forcing me to play risky in T3. Among other things it's part of what makes this game so complex and enjoyable. I fully deserved to lose given the mistakes I made and how my opponent exploited them, Dice happen and I've been lucky more than my fair share earlier on.

It should be said though that if I had made the right priorities T2 with Tac Supremacy being upkept and the Forge Guard taking care not to disrupt the cloud wall I think Siege would have been in trouble. So much for the "what if" game, I know, but rest ensured that this lesson will be remembered!

I ended up getting a crazy Strength of Schedule, 11 or 12 I believe in just 4 games, which gave me 2nd place out of 14 participants. That is a result I'm happy with as I had 4 interesting games, the majority of which gave me lots of problems to consider.

WarCon 2016 Game 3 (#153): Haley3 vs Ravyn

:: Prologue ::

A, Ravyn tier. How long have I dreaded seeing this in a tournament setting again. Truth be told I have absolutely -no- idea why Retribution players don't field this. With Cygnar dominating the tournament field as of late it is the perfect list to bring and she pairs well with Issyria for example to create a strong pair. Anyway, let's get to the game!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
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
Alexia1 & The Risen - PC: 5
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:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light - WJ: +6
- Hyperion - PC: 18
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen - PC: 5
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios - PC: 0
Mage Hunter Assassin - PC: 2
Mage Hunter Assassin - PC: 2
Soulless Voidtracer - PC: 1
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Strike Force Commander - Commander 2
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Strike Force Commander - Commander 2
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
- Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander - PC: 3
THEME: Will of the Nine Voices - Tier 3

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Interesting list. He opts to go with util solos instead of maximised shooting. I can dig that, but I think it makes the list harder to play and it might allow me to taunt out a couple of important models. Anyway: We are playing Incoming (typically a slow scenario), I have a hill on my side (crucial to this matchup) and there is no killbox. I think this is about as good a situation as you can ever ask for here.

I deploy Haley near the hill, Storm Lances on the opposite flank, Forge Guard + Alexia between and Lancer next to Haley. I ensure the Trenchers AD only 3" so that Strike Force can't alpha me top of 1.

:: Game ::

Snipe goes up on the right unit, Hyperion runs towards Haley, Ravyn casts her smoke thingy, rest of MHSF advance.

I run 2 Lances to jam and taunt out combat solos. I run Lancer to toe the hill on the right side to taunt feat and/or aim. Forge Guard run as far as they can and Trenchers are split 4-1-1 (leader + "khador arc node") for revive purposes depending on how his turn develops. Alexia stays far behind.

Skeryth charges a Lance, an assassin the other. They die. Eiryss3-unit runs up and jams with 1 in the clouds for Hyperion to launch an aoe towards. Said aoe deviates directly ahead but does no significant damage, only taking out risen. MHSF focus down Trenchers and I lose 4.

The trick to playing Ravyn is keeping your cool. Despite her having 75% of the table top of 2 you can get back by systematically eliminating the dangerous threat angles. In this particular position I can launch an alpha on his Hyperion because Acosta got Swift Vengeance: Furthermore I can start taking out MHSF both left, right and center. This turn works out wonderfully for me with Hyperion nearly losing an entire side + shield, Skeryth going down to Thrall Warrior from Alexia1 and 1 Lance, a second Lance going into MHSF on the left and a Chain Blast from Past taking out a few MHSF on the right. I also ensured that Haley Prime was outside of aim range so he'd need 13s on feat. I even got her in clouds from the 2 remaining Trenchers to prevent Hyperion doing funny things. Arcane Shield was up on her to protect against Hyperion deviation.

My opponent has to do a lot of work and he knows it. I fully expect him to feat to clear out stuff and go for an attrition game, which he does. It starts out well with Hyperion landing a crit on the Forge Guard in front of him to consume 3 + Acosta. He then blasts apart a couple more Forge Guard with secondary attacks and the MHSF spike enough to take out the rest. This does however leave the Lancer with all systems intact. On the left side he takes out 3 Lances but I have the leader in a good spot for revives and a guy hanging way back to ensure they will all live. The situation on paper might look bleak - he certainly got a lot out of his feat including a CP from controlling my zone - but with my feat coming out in return and Haley3 being "safe" from assassination runs I am pretty sure I have a shot here.

I contemplate going for Hyperion but end up concluding that I need to take out Strike Force because the provide him with the biggest attrition game and I don't really fear assassination any longer. I feat and the revived Lances make a great impact on the left flank. Lancer runs into Strike Force to engage them and Past Chain Blasts a few of them to death. Trenchers CRA the MHA to death.

My opponent is getting seriously low on time (and, from my point of view, he is way down on attrition as well) so he makes a play for scenario. Unfortunately he can't Crit consume this time and thus I contest the right zone.

Revive-recursion sets up for the Hyperion if needed, however shooting from Prime + Future and spikes from Past in combat ensure its demise. I can thus use my Lances to launch a devastating assault which cripples his left as well.

With only couple of minutes left on the clock Ravyn attempts a hail mary assassination run (I'm not even sure he had a theoretical chance). It fails and he concedes.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Crazy game and a very, very satisfying win! I had a good starting point for this particular matchup and I felt I managed to make the most of the situation from the very beginning. Keeping Prime safe was what I considered to be most important and he never came close to anything but a dicey assassination run (13s at best to hit). 

In my first turn I sacrificed two Lances. The goal of this was to keep his left flank somewhat at bay and/or force out his solos. I succeeded in doing this and the following counter-attack meant the risk was well worth it. The left flank was swinging ever more in my favor as Alexia was kept safe and accumulated a huge number of souls throughout the game, which she spent to keep sending in Risen and Thralls. Every little strike force model counts and Alexia was, in many ways, the MVP of this game as her contribution freed up the Lances to do their work and helped tip the attrition in my favor. 

The Forge Guard were in a bit of a catch22 when the Trenchers died but Retribution's decision to send Hyperion up was a poor one as it allowed me to lock him down -and- put a lot of damage on him while forcing Strike Force to look for spikes on ARM18 during feat turn. In many ways this was the game-defining moment: While he got a lot of work done on his feat turn it wasn't enough and he wasn't far enough ahead on scenario to capitalize on it. My ensuing return feat crippled him and when he failed to crit consume and move ahead on scenario the game was all but over. 

A tense game to say the least. Ravyn tier is uphill for Cygnar but this time around I managed to take it home. The finals were yet another Cygnar mirror and this time it would be up to my Haley3 to take down Siege to win the tournament...

WarCon 2016 Game 2 (#152): Haley3 vs Exulon Thexus

:: Prologue ::

For my second game I drew Mercenaries. I don't know them well at all, especially not the variants I was up against now. My opponent had one list centered around the Dwarf Colossal and one list with Cephalyx. I gathered that Haley2 would be risky vs recursion-spam that I don't understand how works and that a shooty duel could be difficult (since I don't know the tricks) because my list has few ways of protecting her. Because of this I dropped Haley3 and got the Cephalyx in return. Grind-time!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
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
Alexia1 & The Risen - PC: 5
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:

Exulon Thexus - WJ: +5
- Wrecker - PC: 7
- Wrecker - PC: 7
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 0
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 2
Cephalyx Agitator - PC: 2
Cephalyx Agitator <! OVER FIELD ALLOWANCE !> - PC: 2
Cephalyx Dominator - Cephalyx Dominator: 1
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen <! INVALID FOR THEME !> - Alexia & 9 Risen Grunts: 5
- Thrall Warrior - PC: 0
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges - Bender & 9 Drudge Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges - Mercenaries - Mind Slaver & 9 Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges - Mercenaries - Mind Slaver & 9 Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Overlords - Mercenaries - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
THEME: Will of Darkness - Tier 3

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Destruction and I got first turn. The idea was to get up the table and position the Lances for T2 engagement with my infantry in reserve and in a position to counter scenario.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. Alexia goes on the left flank because I'm hoping to tie up whatever he sends there with Risen.

The Cephalyx advance and swarm the table.

I hope to take out as many of the "dudes in black" as I can. The idea is to cast chain blast with Past and assault with Storm Lances to scalpel out as many as possible. I get 2 or 3, however I make a mistake as I commit too many Forge Guard to frontline duty to keep him out.

My opponent wades in and kills a lot of troops. The various synergies in his list make it trivial to remove the things I put in front, furthermore eyeless sight on virtually half his army leaves the clouds useless.

I contemplate various angles but I am really afraid of being swarmed beyond belief next turn. Even if I get to 3-0 I might not get to 5. His heavies are closing in as well and I have no way of dealing with them effectively when he has so many dudes as well. Furthermore if I clear out the zone I am extremely vulnerable to his auto-hitting spell thingy. It is at this point in time that I realize I should have gone with Haley2 in this game.

Regardless: There is one big opening: One of his heavies is directly in front of his caster, who is sitting on "only" 5 focus for ARM19. I figure this is as good a time as any to go for assassination because I can put 5 Forge Guard on him. Dice minus 8 is not that much when I charge with weapon master. The rest of my army is thus dedicated to clearing a path for said Forge Guard and ensuring I don't tank any free strikes going in. It starts off pretty bad with 6 Trenchers killing 1 dude and knocking another, but the various elements all pitch in and in the end I get the clearing I need. Haley feats and I Force Hammer his heavy through Exulon to knock him down. 4 Forge Guard are revived and I manage to land 5 charges on Exulon. It looks bleak when 2 of them do a total of 3 boxes to him but the others come through in style and he goes down, much to my relief.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A short but intense game! I am convinced I chose the wrong list because Haley2 could have controlled this list very well with covering fires + mage storm, not to mention her ability to take out vital solos with Arcane Bolt/Time Bomb through Thorn, + lightning pods etc. Also I'm 99% sure she'd be more than capable for dealing with a shooty list if I just took my time to read through his shooting synergies. Anyway, let's look at this game:

Relying on clouds here is kind of useless and I think even the Trenchers should have pitched in earlier. I should also have been more careful with pushing into the zone T2. With Exulon that far behind he can't get to 3-0 even if he clears the zone and if he dominates said zone for 2 turns after that I'll have lost the game regardless of CP score.

What I probably should have done, I believe, was to play more cautiously, bide my time, upkeep tac supremacy on Lances to force him far up to exact revenge after I alpha him, remove more of the black dudes and protect Forge Guard better through positioning.

Going up against something you don't know or understand is hard and I was well on my way to lose this game before the assassination opening came. One of the great strengths of Haley3 is her ability to launch assassination runs from virtually anywhere, any time. In this game that crutch really helped me through.

2-0 thus far, but the dreaded Ravyn Tier list was up next...

WarCon 2016 Game 1 (#151): Haley2 vs Borka1

:: Prologue ::

This weekend I attended a tournament in Trondheim with a total of 14 participants. I had 4 interesting and close games against a variety of opponents. First up was Anders and his Trolls, an opponent I faced for my first game the last time I went to Trondheim as well. His pair was Borka1 meat mountain and Doomshaper3 heavy-spam. Since I have no experience with Haley3 against Trolls and I am comfortable with Haley2 I dropped her. Anders dropped Borka, the correct choice I think, and we were ready!

:: 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:

Borka Kegslayer - WB: +5
- Pyg Keg Carrier
- Slag Troll - PC: 6
- Pyre Troll - PC: 5
Stone Scribe Chronicler - PC: 2
Trollkin Champion Hero - PC: 3
Trollkin Champion Hero - PC: 3
Trollkin Champions - Leader & 2 Grunts: 5
Trollkin Champions - Leader & 2 Grunts: 5
Trollkin Champions - Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
- Skaldi Bonehammer - Skaldi 3
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. - Boomhowler and 9 Grunts: 9
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 4
- Stone Scribe Elder - Elder 1
THEME: Family Reunion - Tier 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Incoming and I got to go first, luckily because of his Tier bonus. My idea was to gun down the Boomies as soon as possible, hold the feat as long as possible and eliminate whatever came closest. Scenario -could- be an issue for me though as the endless streams of Trolls with high ARM and multiple boxes have proved to be troublesome in the past so I would keep a keen eye on Borka's positioning.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up.

Boomies jam, big Champions go left and he's very spread out. Due to an unfortunate deployment mistake Borka ended up being boxed in and as he wanted his Krielstones up (either they had to move first without Fury or Borka had to stay still) for the aura, the poor Warlock was left in the back.

No reason to feat now. The idea was to blast apart the Boomies with whatever I had on the right flank and kiss + double TK Champions on the left to shoot them up with kiss + Stormwall + B13th. This worked out wonderfully: While Boomies are often hard to deal with the sheer volume of my firepower was enough to deal with them. Haley aiming with Reload is a classic trick when you just need as much power as possible.

The Trolls advance but they are still too dispersed to pose a real threat. I feel comfortable with my position when his turn is over.

I'm not afraid to feat early and I believe that in this situation I can wipe out a lot of models if I do so, on top of that I can even take the lead in scenario. I TK 2 Champions out of B2B, one from the right unit and 1 from the left, and kill 4 with Stormwall. Shooting clears up stragglers here and there and I move to 1-0.

Trolls shift slightly left but crucially there is no-one who contests me and I score in his turn. True, he scores as well, but that is not worrying me at this point in time.

I realize that by pulling everything back and shooting up his objective I can move to 4-1 now. The central lake is really making it hard for him because he can't get pathfinder in any way. I cast Temporal on the Stormwall and it shoots up the objective. The rest of my shooting clears out the things that are best to contest me with. I go to 4-1.

Only a single Champion ends up contesting me...

Haley TKs him out and I move to 5 CP.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Trolls are hard and tough, but when they are dispersed and I can handle them piecemeal they are not impossible to deal with by ways of shooting. In this game the Borka deployment error obviously cost my opponent a great deal. I expected +3 DEF to be up on Boomies, hence I had Eiryss on that flank, but this mistake made sure even that wasn't the case. 

Mid-game the Trolls were too spread out and the lake in the center gave me a lot of predictability for his threat projection. The early feat from Haley pretty much locked down the game and from there on out I don't think the Trolls ever had much of an opening at all. 

A great start and I was ready to take on my next opponent. Little did I know I had no idea what I would be up against...

YouTube videos from Swedish Masters

Hello everyone, the videos from the Swedish Masters are up now! Among the 5 games that were recorded, I played in 2 of them: The semi-finals against Ben's Lucant Convergence and the finals against Jeppa's Axis Convergence. 

This game starts in the middle of my second turn I believe and we are asking a judge whether the Effigy of Valor makes my Stormwall suffer -2 to hit on melee attack rolls against his Battle Engine, assuming of course that it crosses a line between our bases.

The written report from this game can be read here: click

The Finals are unfortunately with Norwegian/Swedish instead of English as the spoken languages. Our languages are so close that we can understand eachother and as such I only spoke English when I faced the Germans and Danes at Lund. My apologies for international viewers.

The written report from this game can be read here: click

I will also link these videos on the reports page. In the Invitationals at Lund I also played 2 games that were filmed and I'll post them up here as soon as they are posted on YouTube! In the meantime, make sure you check out the other great games from Lund at YouTube, their channel is here: link It includes a very exciting game between Haley3 and Deneghra3 in which Olov (the guy who beat me the Road to Invitationals finals with Haley1) plays Cygnar.

Battle Report #150: Haley2 vs Goreshade3

:: Prologue ::

2nd game of the night and Haley2 is up. I'm playing against Goreshade3 with which I have no prior experience. 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:

Goreshade, Lord of Ruin - WJ: +5
- Skarlock Thrall
- Kraken - PC: 19
Darragh Wrathe - PC: 4
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Mechanithralls - Leader & 5 Grunts: 3
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls - Necrosurgeon & 3 Grunts: 2
Bane Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Soulhunters - Leader & 4 Grunts: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

So a fast list and a hard list with a strong late-game attrition play due to recursion. The idea was simple then: Shoot hard and fast and don't be afraid to feat early! We were playing Incursion and I was going first again.

:: Game ::

I send the Stormwall up, Thorn goes in a trench and the B13th spread out with Ryan in woods for Prowl. Can't remember the last time I effectively Prowled these guys. ATGM go wide in anticipation of Soulhunters and A+H and Gastone advance on either side of the Stormwall. 

Recursion-shenanigans start on the left flank as Goreshade + Necros basically summon 2 McThralls per 1 McThrall killed. Those units are growing! The cavalry all make a massive move down the tabletop though and when my opponent finishes his turn with the Kraken going up to well within Stormwall threat range, I'm 99% sure this will be a feat turn. Kraken fires its AoE towards Haley (Decel up), it scatters on Gastone (survives on 2 boxes, thank you Decel!) and Reinholdt. The poor gobber bit the dust. ARM9 is miserable.

I contemplate holding my feat for about 2 seconds before I realize how brutal it will likely be. So the idea is to feat, shoot out the cav and engage the Kraken on one side with the Stormwall and cripple said side to prevent retaliation. A+H activate, kiss on Riders, shoot Riders, put 4 boxes on two of them. B13th finish these 2 off before killing a third. Gastone kills the fourth after Junior misses his shot. Haley activates, puts up Temporal on the Stormwall and feats. I also cast Deadeye on ATGM. Thorn went up to try and kill 2 McThralls out of soul-range but fluffed both attacks. They try to make an impression on the Soulhunters but I can't roll crits for the really sweet damage and I "only" kill 2 of them. Stormwall goes in vs Kraken. I was sure that Darragh's Beyond Death also affected the Stormwall so I rolled all damage rolls as dice -1 instead of +1. Because of this he survived with a few more boxes left than I had hoped for. Anyway, a very good turn still.

The blue McThralls were out of feat so Goreshade counter-feated on Thorn to try and do some damage: And damage he did! Thorn died to 2 little buggers creeping into his back arc. The Kraken killed Holt and left Aiyana on 1 box. Soulhunters went in to jam.

Stormwall was in a bit of a shitty spot given that I needed to kill the Kraken: The McThralls nearby would be a huge threat. Luckily Ryan was still alive and she mage stormed in pretty much the perfect position to cover its flank. I then pounded the Kraken to death and killed a Necro with a boosted pod. Pew pew! I also made sure to clear out every enemy model within 4" of the flag to score with the Stormwall going B2B with it.

On the right flank I TK'd Haley out of the woods and she charged a Soulhunter, boosting the attack roll to kill it. This freed up 3 gun mages which she helped out with Deadeye and they went to town and killed the rest of the Soulhunters. Eiryss ran up to the right flag and I scored 2-0.

Cryx tried to find an opening on the Stormwall to have some chance at getting back in the game but it was not to be as the Mage Storm was just huge. With Goreshade standing on 0 focus in front of the Stormwall and said Stormwall having lost only 15-20 boxes or so my opponent conceded the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This was the first time my opponent played Goreshade3 and the hyper-aggressive cav move bottom of 1 with an opening to the Kraken as well is a combination of this and not knowing just how withering my list's firepower really is. That one turn pretty much shaped the entire game and although a greedy and stupid mistake cost me Thorn he wasn't really close to getting back in after that start. 

I think that Goreshade needs to utilize the insane McThrall threat range trick here to zone Cygnar out. If that can be done then it's a more interesting game, but it should be said that Cygnar has a lot of tools with which to scalpel out the Necros (boosted pods, Arcane Bolts, Time Bomb, e-leaps...). I also believe Occultation should be on Bane Riders. It makes them a -lot- harder for me to deal with and Goreshade himself can be protected by positioning, terrain and awesome base stats. 

All in all a good game and the last practice round went well. I'm savoring every last bit of the Haley lists before they will likely be nerfed away for a long time.