Battle Report #221: Haley2 vs Butcher3

:: Prologue ::

Butcher3 gives me nightmares. The problem is Orin having gained Arcane Vortex. I have no idea how to counter that. I wish I did, I really do. Anyway it's a matchup I have to try. A lot. There are some factions I play a lot against and some I wish I could play more against. Khador is definitely among the latter. As such I was very much looking forward to this game against Butcher3.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25] (Fuel Cache)
- Thorn [13]
- Stormwall [39]
- Squire [5]
- Ironclad [12]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
- Firefly [8]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Storm Lances (min) [12]

Opponent:

Butcher3
- Juggernaut
- Juggernaut
- Ruin
- Devastator
Orin
Winter Guard Shooty Buff Solo
Min mechaniks
Winter Guard Rifles (Max)
- Rocketeer x3
Uhlans (min)

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The Butcher3 matchup usually boils down to assassination. However going second in The Pit on this map I was hoping I might be able to pressure him by physically blocking him out of contesting my scenario game. Butcher deploys battlegroup slightly to the right and doesn't commit his Winter Guards. I commit Lances to the left but I should probably have tried to fool them to going right. The terrain piece behind my opponent's flag is Rubble.

:: Game ::

Khador runs up. Winter Guard shuffle left.

I decide to try and shoot up Ruin a bit. Don't really know what else I can do. Lances move to the right of the Stormwall to try and fool Winter Guard over there. Ironclad sets up to take advantage of the gap between the obstacle + house.

In return, Khador runs up. Butcher moves to the left a bit.

Given the Khador position above, I don't really know what to do. I consider trying to block the scenario angle but with Butcher so far up that's really, really dicey. Ruin contests his flag so I can't get a sneaky 2-0 lead either. However I do eye an opening for assassination, at least pressure Butcher sufficiently to get an opening. The picture below demonstrates the clusterfuck of proxy bases as I try and make sense of the mess.

The idea is to run Thorn over to the proxy on my side of the obstacle, TK + TA the Ironclad, reaction drive across the wall, TK Butcher out. In-between Thorn moving and Haley activating, I have to trample the Stormwall up and pod Orin to death. What started this entire chain of events was the fact that I couldn't walk up and pod Orin, I had to have a boost on the Stormwall. Temporal Acceleration might have been a solution, I'm not sure why I decided against this. In any case I had made a mistake with the proxy bases as I forgot that Butcher3 was in Thorn's melee range. The ensuing kiss would thus likely miss of course and I have to nudge him a little. As this was not accounted for I ended up blocking my own charge lane as the Firefly + Lanyssa moved up. Big mistake and at that point in time the game is basically over. To resolve this and play on, we agreed to ditch the Firefly (and its damage onto B3) and send in the Ironclad regardless. Butcher survived on a handful of boxes.

I didn't tremor and I didn't crit KD so Butcher got his vengeance and missed Thorn. I Dodge'd away. Because of this Butcher had to cast Impending Doom following a jack trying to move away (which the Ironclad crit knocked down!). The Ironclad and Thorn both died to a couple of strokes so Butcher healed up a bit and then energized away.

The KD jack solved my problems as I thus had LoS to Butcher. With Thorn + Ironclad dead there was nothing else to do but Time Bomb him and Temporal the Stormwall and follow up with shots. This killed Zoktavir and I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

What a mess of a game. Playing vs Butcher is something I obviously don't really know how to do. I should probably feign going right with the Lances. If I can do that and buy myself time on Haley's left flank I might be able to force some kind of a scenario angle.

The angles is what it's all about for Haley2 here. Butcher and his battlegroup move up like an unstoppable freight train. Sooner or later they will hit home. It's all about trying to deny him that in an effective manner. Orin is the key here as he stops Haley's spells. I don't know if there is any way I can deal with him effectively.

The ensuing Ironclad assassination attempt was a big mess and to be fair I lost the game here as I didn't remember to keep Butcher's proxy base outside of Thorn's melee range. I'm pretty sure I could've made this happen regardless, but still my mistake. Anyway, angles like this are what make this matchup playable. I need to set up the Ironclad for them to ensure that Butcher always has to think of every possible situation. Easier said than done but he came pretty close to dying here (I missed an attack).

I need more experience here. I have a lot of ideas for how to handle the situation and I wish I could play vs Khador a lot more. I also hope that the meta forces Khador to take more support because in the Cygnar matchup the added "meat" he brings is a problem.