Indian Summer Game 5 (#242): Haley2 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

First game of day two was against Wurmwood. All I was hoping for here was to either go first, or get a scenario which would force him into a predictable position with Wurmwood so that the Stormwall would get a bit of space.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- 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:

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper - WB: +27
-    Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper (Cont.)
-    Feral Warpwolf - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 18)
-    Megalith - PC: 20 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
-    Pureblood Warpwolf - PC: 17
Gallows Grove - PC: 2
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
War Wolf - PC: 2
War Wolf - PC: 2
Reeves of Orboros - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
-    Reeve of Orboros Chieftain & Standard - Chieftain & Standard: 4
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Farrow Bone Grinders - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I lose the roll-off and move second and we are playing the Pit. Christ. I put the Stormwall on my "strong" flank, hoping to be able to perhaps force a scenario move or something or at least skew him away from Wurmwood if he wanted to go for his own scenario play.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up. Sentry stones weren't pre-measured and their forest spawns didn't overlap. I did point this out to my opponent before he activated Wurmwood so he put down a woods in front of them.

I saw 2 options here: Try and flank with the Stormwall and hope for an opening or go for Cassius. The Cassius angle is as follows: Run Thorn, arcane bolt the Mannikin in the way, reaction drive Thorn, TK Thorn into the Wurmie woods, TK Cassius out, shoot Cassius with Stormwall having TA. Needing TA was a real pain as Haley had no focus left. I figured balls to the wall and what-not and went for the play. Unfortunately I was unable to get the Feral in the feat without being inside of 18" of Wurmwood (I really didn't want this as his Stones could've ported him and he could've Strangleholded me but this was a mistake anyway because Craft Talisman gives him a 20" threat range, not 18"). At least Cassius died.

Feral charges Thorn and at this point in time I'm just hoping for a miss. If Thorn goes down I'm in trouble. The miss does come, but at the very last attack and Thorn is left on 5 or 6 boxes, cortex and arc node both gone. Wurmwood tries to finish him off before he is ported to his own objective but he fails. It doesn't matter though, at a single box Thorn won't be doing much. Wurmie feats.

The flanking Stormwall move is showing its limitations. I can't get it into the thick of things quickly enough to capitalize on it. I realize how badly the gambit was to begin with (even if successful, which by all means it was) but that's too late now. I spend about forever trying to figure out just what on Earth I can do. I respect the Gallow's Grove way too much because I don't realize it's too far away from Wurmwood for him to channel through it. My first idea was to get the Stormwall into the wolf solo on the left by charging it to get it far up. This also creates a multi-angle threat on Wurmwood and forces his heavies to commit somewhat. I don't go for that move because of the Grove, so instead I try and shoot shit up. That also would've gotten me my opponent's Lanyssa. I move my own Lanyssa + Junior behind the house alongside the Firefly. Not being able to contest him or even score myself really hurts here and says a lot about the state of the game.

A really clever play by Circle sees his entire army pulling back and just consolidating its position. 0-3.

At this point in time it's down to dice and I just hope I can get some work done. The Stormwall and the Ironclad charge a Sentry Stone each and kill them. A Lance moves in the zone. I don't however put the Firefly in the zone. Mistake. 'Wall pops Lanyssa and contests with a pod.

Circle's plan is to shoot the Lance with Reeves and throw out the Ironclad with the Pureblood, followed up by Megalith and Feral hammering the Stormwall. The Lances dies and the Ironclad is thrown out. The remaining heavies both get Wraithbane and Wurmwood puts up Curse of Shadows on the Stormwall. He rolls pretty bad, close to crap I'd say, and it all comes down to a single hit needing a 9+ unboosted to kill off the wall and thus win the game (anything else is more or less an auto-loss as Wurmwood stands in the open at 1 fury and 0 souls). He makes the roll and wins the game.

10 minutes later or something however I remember that he was rolling at dice minus 2, which isn't correct: He forgot the bonus from Curse of Shadows which essentially meant that it actually wasn't even remotely close.

:: Evaluation ::

Although the gambit was a success, it was a bad trade. Thorn is more important for me than Cassius is for him, basically, at least when the feat is like this. Furthermore if I'd have gotten all Wolves in the feat he could likely have killed Thorn regardless with Hellmouth setup by Mannikins.

I hate going second vs the Wurmwood as my angles get so insanely gimped. This was no exception but I think the flanking play is a mistake. I have to the Stormwall into action somehow. The Ironclad is probably a better flanker together with Thorn. Megalith does provide an additional Stranglehold though which is really strong against both of these as it's fairly likely to damage ARM18 when boosted.

The lack of terrain in this game was a big deal. No-where to reliably hide or use for DEF-bonus/Hellmouth prevention. Neither the Feral nor the Pureblood have Pathfinder so that would be a biggie for sure. In any case my opponent played a better game here and won deservedly.