Battle Report #169: Sloan vs Vayl1

:: Prologue ::

Finally time to take Sloan out! Legion was the opponent and boy, was I looking forward to this matchup. From the first list I created with Sloan more or less I've envisioned how good her setup naturally is vs Legion. Time to put it to the test!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Sloan
- Reinholdt
- Stormwall
- Hunter
- Hunter
- Firefly
- Firefly
Junior
- Charger
Arlan Strangeways
Alten Ashley

Opponent:

Vayl1
- Angelius
- Seraph
- Typhon
- Raek
Striders
- UA
Raptors
Spell Martyr
2x Forsaken
Shepherd
Swamp Gobbers

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Incoming and I went first. I positioned the Stormwall slightly on my side, intending to use it as a center-piece in a non-scenario-aggressive way so that Sloan could hide behind it if necessary. My idea was to shut down the right flank and buy myself space there. As such I plugged down a Firefly there along with Sloan while the other Firefly + Charger went center. My opponent deployed the Raptors on the left flank and the beasts centrally. My AD sent Hunters on the left and Ashley on the right flank and his Striders went down on the right flank as well. Interesting! 

:: Game ::

I contemplated a T1 feat to try and remove his Forsaken but decided I'd rather hold it. It wouldn't have made enough of a difference in terms of his fury management as he doesn't shoot very hard and I don't intend for him to reach combat with sufficient power to make a difference. As such the feat is better spent simply dishing out more hurt. Sloan cast Refuge on herself and charged. Firefly + Ashley took the Trench on the flank with the Stormwall running up 10". Hunters took the hill and support chilled out.

Legion advances in a bit of a wide fashion. A hunter loses a few boxes, I'm otherwise unharmed.

The Raek on the hill is a problem, the Striders could become a problem and the Seraph is a huge enabler. I shot down all of these problems without even using my feat (which I should have done in hindsight as this alpha is too devastating for Legion to recover from), guided fire and fire group going to town. Sloan Refuges to cover and the Stormwall is outside of his charge range.

Spending 5 minutes considering what he can and finding no good answers, my opponent concedes the game. 

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Pew pew! Shooty list is shooty and it feels so good to reverse the Lylyth2 feeling of the Cygnar-Legion matchup. This shoots hard, no doubt. Furthermore it hits. A very strong combination. I'm not sure what Legion could've done here. 

I should've placed both Fireflies on Sloan's flank in anticipation of the Striders. Although they did go down the one on the left ended up doing nothing. It had a bit of an awkward position. Since I go first I can re-arrange for a Firefly deployed on the right flank to run to the left flank or whatever, doing the opposite isn't as easy. The Hunters were ok since the middle was too crowded for them and deploying them on the right I feel would have made it too easy to jam them up. 

Not using feat was a bit of a mistake. I didn't anticipate doing as much damage as I did. A few good rolls probably but with the feat the alpha is crippling, barring abysmal dice. 

I like the list composition and everything feels like it has a certain role. I just need to figure out how best to use everything to the best of their ability.