Internal Affairs Mk. IV Game 2 (#205): Haley2 vs Vyros2

:: Prologue ::

For my second game I was facing Retribution in The Pit. My opponent had Rahn with the usual suspects and Vyros2 with some serious jack-spam (4 heavies including Discordia for an absolutely amazing resilience vs shooting). I figured Sloan would more or less autolose to Vyros2 whereas Haley2 probably had game into Rahn so I went with Haley2. My opponent chose Vyros2.

:: 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:

(Vyros 2) Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard [+27]
 - Aspis [6]
 - Aspis [6]
 - Griffon [8]
 - Griffon [8]
 - Discordia [18]
 - Imperatus [22]
 - Manticore [14]
 - Sphinx [13]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I seized the initiative. I wanted Thorn behind the woods and Stormwall with vision to more or less everything. I also wanted Haley towards my flag so I could threaten feat and score in his turn.

:: Game ::

Lances position themselves outside of Manticore threat. Stormwall runs up and Thorn is in front of him, safely behind the woods.

Retribution advance across the field and Discordia is at the front with an Aspis and a Griffon preventing me from Dominating her out directly.

I TK away a light and Dominate Discordia out. Haley moves to the flag and feats. Stormwall kills Discordia. Lances move to threaten "zoners". Imperatus is outside of feat and he can charge the Stormwall with him if he wants to, the problem is that he won't be able to build synergy. I put the Ironclad in a counter-charge position as well.

The myrmidons end up trying to simply jam me shut instead. Imperatus is placed where I cannot see him with the Stormwall. 1-1.

I was later told that Vyros forgot to feat here and that indeed made things easier for me. I TK'd Imperatus around and tried to Hunter's Mark him. The TK succeeded but the Mark failed. I also TK the Sphinx away as I don't want it hurting me. Temporal on Stormwall. Lances move up. Thorn disrupts 2 lights. Firefly runs up for more eleap + pod damage. I miss an attack on Imperatus with Stormwall and as I have no grievous that means he probably won't die. I thus have to disrupt him at least so I launch a pod to see if I have to boost (I love future sight!). The Firefly ensures I do not have to do so and the rest of my attacks keep pummeling the Imperatus. He has to activate Phoenix Protocol and survives on ~10 boxes or so. The Ironclad kills a light.

Vyros + Imperatus try their best at the Stormwall but with Imperatus disrupted even +3 Synergy and +2 STR from Arcanists isn't enough as the volume simply isn't there. The Stormwall loses a little over 1 side.

At this point in time I'm 3-1 before I've even begun my turn. Vyros did feat this time around however but he's running out of pieces to get work done with so my opponent concedes when the Stormwall alone kills 2 jacks before I've activated anything else.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I feel that The Pit is a good scenario for Haley2 in general. I've had multiple games now where I've forced my opponent to let me score in his bottom of 2. Obviously that is a great start since it almost always ensures a lead, and often times my opponent is forced to make sub-optimal decisions to not get far behind on scenario.

Now that Domination can be cast on character warjacks I believe that Haley2 is massively up vs Vyros2. You can just take one of the jacks out, kill it and usually still be safe. Combined with TK-ing out threats as needed (like I did with the Sphinx) the Retribution forces are losing heavily on attrition. The lack of Aiyana + Holt and Eiryss2 from Mk. 2 really hinder their ability to effectively deal with an Arcane Shielded Stormwall as well.

A more interesting matchup would definitely be Haley2 vs Rahn. I'm glad I got away with this one but I'm looking forward to playing that in the future!