Battle Report #188: Haley2 vs Vindictus

:: Prologue ::

It's been a lot of Sloan-Sloan-Sloan lately. At last it was time to bring out Haley2 again. Opposing me was Vindictus with a new and improved profile. Could the Protectorate bring their infantry to bear vs the Swans?

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
 - Thorn [13]
 - Stormwall [39]
 - Squire [5]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
 - Charger [9]
Gastone Crosse [4]
 - Buccaneer [6]
Ragman [4]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]

Opponent:

Vice Scrutator Vindictus - WJ: +29
-    Hierophant - PC: 3
-    Reckoner - PC: 0
-    Fire of Salvation - PC: 3
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon - PC: 6
Reclaimer Gatekeeper - PC: 3
Daughters of the Flame - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
Daughters of the Flame - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
Exemplar Cinerators - Leader & 4 Grunts: 16
Exemplar Vengers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I have to try Gastone with Haley2 because of his new-found synergy with TK/Domination. Buccaneer is a bit of an x-factor. At 6 points it's kind of cheap and I hope its threat of KD will be a thing to fear.

The scenario today was Outlast and my opponent chose to go first after he won the roll-off. I am quite comfortable going 2nd with Haley here as it slows the game down and gives me more time for attrition without having to worry about the scenario. After I saw his deployment I wanted to secure a flank for Haley so I put her on what I guessed would be his weak flank and had Gastone opposite to send in Buccaneer mid-game to contest scenario.

:: Game ::

Vindictus casts True Path, Admonition on Fire of Salvation and Defender's Ward on the right-most Daughters. He then feats and charges.

I am in no rush to get up the field with his feat up. Instead I device a plan to take out a few key models and keep my own safe. The Stormwall starts targeting Vengers with Temporal Acceleration. Future Sight ensures maximum efficiency and I kill 2 of them. Covering Fires go down to block the optimal lanes for the Daughters and I drop a pod. The Lances perform 2 e-leaps off of the pods to take out 2 more Daughters and reform out of threat ranges. I run Thorn across to protect Haley and the soft right flank from Daughters if they want to become aggressive. Gastone chills and the Buccaneer moves up a bit.

As I took out a lot of models and saved my feat my opponent was forced to do something. He decided to jam with both units of Daughters and shuffled Defender's Ward over to Cinerators. Vindictus himself moved to the far end of the left zone.

I placed a proxy base for Haley and made sure that I could get just about his entire army within 18". I could, so it was feat time. Deliver the final blow to ensure a solid lead on attrition. Thorn + Charger + Junior cleared out the right side minus 1 Daughter. Ragman tried but failed to roll the 5+ on his melee damage roll to kill the last Daughter (I didn't want to risk the spell hitting Arlan). Stormwall moved up and podded 2 Daughters jamming Gastone + Lance before killing another 2 Vengers with Temporal + Future Sight. I forgot to put down Covering Fires but it didn't matter as my opponent was out of soft things. The Lances cleared up the Daughters and moved to help out vs Cinerators should they continue their push.

The Cinerators push up and receive Ashen Veil. Vindictus moves behind the forest and the Venger jams Buccaneer, perhaps afraid of its KD. Score!

I put max. focus on Thorn and max. focus on Stormwall. Together with the Lances they clear out all the Cinerators easily despite them being 15/19.

I am out of range of Fire of Salvation and I score 2 points with Haley safely tucked in behind a ton of models. With that, my opponent concedes the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The Protectorate probably advanced too quickly here but then again what can they do when they are as out-gunned as they are here? Although I can't remove Daughters trivially and quickly, they are countered by covering fire and meanwhile my jacks + gastone can start working on Vengers and his jacks. Vindictus' feat is kind of lacklustre since I have Arlan and my feat, as per usual, decimates the Protectorate.

I wanted to evaluate Gastone in this matchup but I didn't feel like I really got to do that. He was ok and the Buccaneer was nice for scenario purposes but this game was too one sided due to the nature of the matchup for the choice to make a difference compared to full Lances and a Tinker. I'll keep playtesting him and see how he works out. Sooner or later I'll hopefully get a nice TK off and spike with him to once again fall in love with POW12 shooting!