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...