Battle Report #198: Haley2 vs Iron Mother

:: Prologue ::

Convergence in Mk. 3 is something I haven't looked too closely on. I'm not sure what I should play against them either for that matter. For this game I decided to go with Haley2, partly because my opponent has never played vs Cygnar before and I think Haley2 is more representative of how Cygnar plays with a few classic tricks and choices (as opposed to Sloan where the game just boils down to whether or not I shoot hard enough). True, taking Haley2 vs a player who has never played Cygnar before isn't exactly beginner friendly, but in my opinion it's better to get used to it than get a false sense of how the faction plays. Realistically I think Convergence can expect to face Haley2 more often than not. Anyways, let's get to it!

:: 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:

Iron Mother
- Monitor
- Corollary
- Assimilator
- Prime Axiom
Optifus Directive
Steelsoul Protector
Reciprocators

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Iron Mother is a caster I've never played before. The scenario was Outlast and I had the first turn. The double pulls from Prime Axiom coupled with Field Marshal Arc Node and Domination made this a super dodgy proposition for my jacks. Some pretty extreme threat ranges on both sides of the table. After carefully going through what all my choices could do it was time to start. Deployment-wise I put down Storm Lances on my anticipated strong flank, junior + gastone with their respective jacks opposite (for contest purposes) and the Stormwall in the middle. I also put Thorn next to Haley because I wanted him up behind the central forest asap. Convergence replied as expected and we had a diagonal game ahead of us.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up, decel is up.

Reciprocators move up pretty far on the right flank, creating a bit of a situation for me which I need to deal with. Prime Axiom starts threatening the center and Iron Mother moves so as to dominate the left zone bottom of 2.

So I want to clear the reciprocators to ensure my control of the right side of the table. With his shooting in the center I know this likely means my Lances will die if I commit them, but so be it. I could possibly save them with feat but I can't secure points because of the Axiom's servitors so I want to save it. So anyway I TK one of the infantry dudes around and throw an Arcane Bolt on him for some damage. Temporal Acceleration on Stormwall. Lances kill 2 dudes and eleap 4 boxes or so on a fifth. Stormwall with Future Sight manages to take out the remaining. On the left zone I just give up contesting and move stuff back instead for T3 action.

Lances die (forgot to remove the last model before taking the picture), Iron Mother camps 4 and move to 2-0.

My idea is to move Haley2 up to the woods, catch both jacks on the right side in feat and kill all non-warcaster models in the left zone. This means I'll move to 3-2, with an ensuing 2 more CP most likely in my next turn. To do this I have to TK the jack around so that Gastone gets his bonus and I have to unleash all the shooting I have where it's most effective. It works out in the end but it's quite close!

With the 3 CP going to me my opponent concedes the game as he can't keep contesting my right zone under Shift.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A very interesting matchup that can definitely swing both ways. My opponent found it more playable than he had feared which is a very good thing. Mk. 3 took away a lot of Haley's ridiculous flexibility and it really shows. That is very good for the game as a whole.

The Reciprocators were positioned too far right and went too aggro T1. By going Shield Wall on the hill for example they are a lot more painful to deal with. True, my Lances don't die either but they aren't exactly easy to keep alive if I want to get any work out of them. With the Convergence going first it's hard to catch up on scenario unless I have a 3 CP opening, which truly turns the game around as it did here.

A close-fought game and I look forward to more encounters with the Convergence of Cyriss. I'm not sure if Sloan can actually shoot her way through this. Needs to be tested!