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.