Battle Report #168: Haley2 vs Krueger1

:: Prologue ::

Time to field Haley2 again! A lot of interesting changes to her, both explicitly in terms of her abilities and implicitly in terms of what's happened to the rest of Cygnar. Today I was facing Krueger1. Without further ado, let's get to it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Haley2
- Squire
- Thorn
- Stormwall
Junior
- Charger
Arlan Strangeways
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Sword Knights (max)
- UA

Opponent:

Krueger1
- Megalith
- Feral Warpwolf
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Pureblood Warpwolf
Blood Witch x2
Blackclad x2
Gallow's Grove
Shifting Stones
Bloodweavers

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment :: 

Same lists, same map & scenario, going second. This time I wanted to see how he plays if I bully my way into his zone with the Stormwall. Going second that should put some pressure on him.

:: Game ::

Circle wastes no time in getting up the table. The Pureblood was closest to me and warped spell protection. Ah, no TK shenanigans.

My idea for this turn is to start shooting the Pureblood and send up Sword Knights covered by Covering Fires. The shooting isn't much to write home about but it's a start and the Sword Knights are well set up for a T2 push under Shift.

The Bloodweavers try and sneak one through and hopefully killing spree further. It doesn't work though. Megalith moves up, as a sacrificial piece I guess.

I take said piece: TK out, TA on Stormwall, Feat, move up, TK to get everything in. Stormwall charges, eleaps clear most of the infantry. SKs take out the rest and reform to make sure Krueger can't uberfeat of doom them. Ragman runs into my zone to contest and prevent easy points. 1-0.

Blackclad contests. Wolves set up, Stones block. Krueger feats but 5+ isn't easy to get so most SKs survive.

I create "Fort Haley" and ensure various distances this time around aren't setting her up for another e-leap kill. Stormwall's clear of the Wolves as well. I think maybe one might be in range but even that looks far from good.

Krueger goes for a Hail Mary run: Tornado onto Charger, hoping for 1 or 2 so it lands on Haley, followed up by Pureblood Assault. I have 1 focus and Deflection up so it's a longshot. It ends early though when the +2 DEF on the Charger makes Krueger miss his boosted Tornado. With that, he concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A lot tighter play this game and a fairly solid move for scenario. It worked out really well I must say! 

The big points in this game was getting the Stormwall into combat to both take out a heavy and eleap onto infantry while scoring and pushing him back. It's a classic move that is very hard to cope with. The way this game evolved I think that T2 push was pretty much the beginning of the end. I had a hard time seeing how Circle would get back from this. It would possibly have been an option to push all Wolves ahead in a suicidal fashion to hope some of them survived but I doubt it would've worked, even with the Stones blocking me in. 

The Sword Knights were lacklustre though. Don't get me wrong, they are a lot better than in Mk. 2 but I think they don't justify their points here. The GMCA didn't perform that well either but given Krueger's insane DEF-boost that's probably to be expected. 

Overall a great pair of games and I have lots of learning points to consider for our new Haley2!