Battle Report #135: Haley3 vs Lylyth2

:: Prologue ::

Had to get in a couple of practice games tonight before a tournament tomorrow. Following the Battle at Lund, I intend to practice Haley3 some more in the time to come. First of all I want to see how well she performs into Haley2's bad matchups. Seeing as I need more practice with her in general I fully expect to run her into matchups where I'd normally choose Haley2 (for some time at least), but my main goal is to see how well she covers the rest. To that end, getting games in vs Lylyth2 tonight was just perfect!

:: 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:

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight - WB: +5
- Succubus
- Naga Nightlurker - PC: 5
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 6
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 6
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Ravagore - PC: 10
- Ravagore - PC: 10
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 2
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
The Forsaken - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

One of the worst Lylyth2 lists out there for Cygnar to face I do believe. While I haven't faced the Blightbringer (and indeed that might be even worse), 3 Ravagores and 2 Bolt Throwers have a -lot- of shooting combined.

The changes I've made since Lund include getting the Lancer back in and including Alexia1 instead of Alexia2. Subtle changes on paper perhaps but I anticipate these to affect especially the Legion matchup drastically.

The scenario was Destruction and I got first turn. My idea was to get the Storm Lances into the thick of the fighting as soon as possible and keep reviving 2 per turn (3-4 on feat) to attrition. I put them so I could run 2 into an offensive trench and had the rest of my forces centrally.

:: Game ::

I get the Lances in with Dirge + Shield. Forge Guard run up middle. Lancer runs up in cover. I am a little careless again with Prime (as I was vs Scaverous): While I do remember the threat ranges of his beasts and move accordingly, I don't consider Lylyth2 herself. Even with Flux it's an unnecessary risk.

A lot of effort is spent clearing the Lances in the trench. He accomplishes nothing more of note.

I contemplate killing my own boys to go for Lylyth2 with feat, but I decide against it as 2 fury makes it a little iffy and unnecessary, given my position. 2 Lances revived, charge in on the right ravagore together with a Thrall. He survives on 3 boxes. In the middle I dig in with Trenchers and Murdoch mini-feats. Lancer runs behind Effigy. I mess up a little as the traffic jam centrally doesn't allow Past to go and spread her Flux without risking a Forge Guard being hit for boosted blast damage, furthermore Future is pretty much B2B with a zombie -and- the squire is outside of 5" from Prime. Did I mention Past missed a boosted Blast on the Deathstalker on the left flank?

Legion feat turn. Unfortunately for him target priorities aren't 100%. He focuses on clearing the zone to score 3, but Lylyth camps a single fury in the zone, in front of basically everything I have. Without Past, Future or Acosta taken out, not to mention the lances (including the leader!) alive on his right flank, that is madness.

I run up a Trencher who ends up 0.6" away from Lylyth. Lancer runs next to him. I run up a Thrall 0.6" away from Lylyth in case Past misses her Force Hammer (so Prime can follow up). Haley activates and feats. Future moves 6" towards Lylyth, Past moves within 12" of the Lancer. Prime moves within 10" of the Thrall. Past boosts Force Hammer through Lancer on Trencher, hits and knocks Lylyth down. Future kills Lylyth with shots.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Haley3's assassination angles are many and varied. This victory largely came as a result of my opponent not knowing them. That said, his feat didn't do nearly enough damage as I could've feated in return for attrition if he'd played more conservatively with Lylyth.

I made some rookie mistakes with the traffic jam positioning. I find that placing Past + Future correctly here is very hard. Even with all the DEF bonuses they are very vulnerable to Lylyth's beasts on feat turn with Wraithbane. Cover is pretty much a must to have them semi-safe. If my opponent had gone for Future instead and kept Lylyth back I'd have to spend a turn chilling with Lances as no revives means they can't really go do their thing. I also should've had Alexia1 near Forge Guard / Trenchers for souls. At least make him think twice about chewing into them. Acosta was there and that was the correct play for sure, but Alexia1 as well would've been better than on the flank.

Lastly I'd like to note that swapping the Charger for a Lancer drastically improves this matchup for Cygnar. So many angles to beware and on top of that it's pretty hard to deal with: Relatively high DEF and relatively high ARM with many boxes is essentially a target saturation problem for Legion. Also, as expected, Alexia1 is miles better than Alexia2 here.