Battle Report #174: Haley2 vs Reznik2

:: Prologue ::

Finally the rules are official and I'm so happy to see that all the rumored changes are more or less what we thought they'd be. First up was a game with good ol' Haley2 against Protectorate!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Haley2
- Squire
- Stormwall
- Thorn
Junior
- Charger
Ragman
Gobber Tinker
Arlan Strangeways
Storm Lances (max)

Opponent:

Servath Reznik, Wrath of Ages - WJ: +29
- Hierophant - PC: 3
- Reckoner - PC: 0
- Reckoner - PC: 3
- Scourge of Heresy - PC: 16
- Templar - PC: 15
- Redeemer - PC: 11
Vassal Mechanik - PC: 1
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Idrian Skirmishers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15 - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide - Chieftain & Guide: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Close Quarters and I got first turn. With Reznik having a heavy-spam I was concerned with my ability to handle all of it in a war of attrition, doubly so because of his various spells adding to their power and threat ranges. The idea then was to put pressure on Reznik himself instead. To this end I positioned Storm Lances behind my flag where I anticipated them to run up quickly and start sweeping in towards the middle. I put Thorn centrally so he could run whereever he was needed.

:: Game ::

With the Protectorate responding by putting Reznik far out on a flank my plan was to send Thorn towards said flank and Stormwall centrally. I put up Deflection and ran Thorn far left with the Lances spreading out as intended.

Idrians spread out and mini-feat.

I contemplate whether to go for attrition or try a sneaky assassination. The Idrians were very exposed to the Storm Lances in particular but I could also get Thorn + Stormwall into solid positions under Shift. However this being a first, I felt an urge to see what the new focus rules are like in practice and I decided to go for gold by sending in Thorn with TK + reaction drive and shooting 3 times with the Stormwall. He had a shield guard but I was hoping to set up so that even if he survived he'd be in trouble in his next turn. Reznik ended up with something like 3 boxes left and I was covered with Temporal Shift.

Hierophant heals and Mechanik repairs Reznik up to 9 boxes.

I forget about Reznik only being safe from non-magical shooting while he has focus so I mess up my activation order by taking out useless stuff with the Charger but luckily Junior steps up and finishes the job as my last possible kill angle with an unboosted 7+. Phew!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

As anticipated the huge based caster would be very exposed to long threat ranges and solid shooting. Even with a solid ARM18 base dice happen. I also learned how the focus rules work in practice in terms of defense, which is important to have a "feeling about" as math only takes you so far when dice happen. The assassination runs could have been executed better, I'll chalk that down to learning a new list under new rules.

I found that in practice, dealing with the infantry and swarm of jacks appeared easier than in theory. Lots of new angles to learn but definitely a lot of potential in this list. Idrians by the way seem like a very interesting choice, much like our Trenchers, but RNG10 is an issue which is just painful to deal with. Perhaps Reposition can allow them to get some work done but that leaves them on a miserable DEF12 without bonuses, at least if they can't get help from Rhupert/Caster.

All in all an interesting game with tons of learning points! Junior taking it all away with a Hand Cannon shot to Reznik's face was just the icing on the cake.