Battle Report #234: Haley2 vs Father Lucant

:: Prologue ::

In Mk. 2 I usually felt comfortable into Lucant with Haley2, with the exception of the double TEP build which I struggled with. That could arguably have been due to inexperience, I don't know. In Mk. 3 however I think I'm better suited to face him because the added Ironclad and Storm Lances help a lot in putting pressure and big threat ranges on him early. Let's put the theory up with a proper test!

:: 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:

Father Lucant, The Divinity Architect - WJ: +28
-    Inverter - PC: 15
-    Diffuser - PC: 6
-    Corollary - PC: 6
-    Prime Axiom - PC: 38 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
Transfinite Emergence Projector - PC: 19
-    Permutation Servitors
Eradicators - Leader & 4 Grunts: 15
Optifex Directive - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was The Pit and I went first. I placed Haley on the left with Lances, Stormwall centrally and Thorn + support right. Lucant skewed heavily opposite my flag. Don't know what to make of that, we'll just see I suppose.

:: Game ::

Stormwall runs up to the left of the obstruction with the Lances close by, taking care to stay over 18" away from the Prime Axiom and over 15" away from the TEP. Ironclad ran up on the right flank and Thorn went up aggressively.

Convergence's T1 says a lot about the pressure Haley2 exerts with melee threats. He basically has to be super careful to do just about anything.

Lucant cast Discontinuity over Watcher. I saw an opening to just completely dominate the field: Send Lances in behind the woods so that the Axiom couldn't see them (and preferably take with them an Eradicator or two) and send the Ironclad into the Inverter with all of Haley's shenanigans and damage help from the Stormwall's shooting. I would finish with Haley feating offensively in a classic "I go first with Haley2 on The Pit" move. The support pieces moved up after the Ironclad cleared out the Inverter and I was good to go.

TEP and Axiom walk up, Lucant casts Dissolution Bolt on Thorn and feats. Unfortunately TEP is not in feat range because the Corollary has to move over towards the Axiom.

I can't usually expect to get a lot of work done against Lucant feat but in this situation I had a few options. By killing 2 Eradicators and the TEP he'd be left with caster + axiom + support. Discontinuity + positive charge would be pretty bad as he'd get 5 attacks at dice + 4, more or less one-rounding the Stormwall, but I could simultaneously grab 3 more scenario points so as to move to 4-0. This all worked out perfectly and I made sure to stack my pieces up as much as possible to deny the Axiom an angle to drag Haley in. For good measure I also had Deflection up.

While Lucant did clear the Lances, the Axiom had to kill both Junior and Haley. He took out Junior but was left with but a single focus and that would be a long shot for taking out Haley: First hit a 15+ boosted, then make a 10+ hit and lastly roll to get a POW34 hit to one-shot me (I camped a focus). This is actually only possible if he rolls double sixes but we didn't realize it at the time: Instead he boosted the drag to hit roll and missed.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I can see Lucant being an issue because he buys time with the feat and Discontinuity is absolutely amazing combined with Positive Charge vs Stormwall. That being said he arguably struggles more than ever against Haley's control elements. The Ironclad and Storm Lances are terrific in this matchup and caused him endless pain in this game.

I think Convergence should've had Axiom in the open and Lucant behind the woods. The way he deployed now he pretty much had no option but to take it very. very slow with the Axiom and TEP. The aggressive advance on my left flank basically shut him down and I think this more than anything broke the game.