Battle Report #246: Haley2 vs Thyra

:: Prologue ::

I'm trying to help my regular Protectorate opponent come up with anti-Haley2 lists. Today we had scheduled a couple of games for a Thyra concept. Let's jump right in.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Thorn [13]
- Stormwall [39]
- Squire [5]
- Ironclad [12]
Journeyman Warcaster [4]
- Minuteman [9]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [4]
Gobber Tinker [2]Storm Lances (min) [12]

Opponent:

Thyra, Flame of Sorrow - WJ: +29
-    Hierophant - PC: 3
-    Scourge of Heresy - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 16)
-    Blood of Martyrs - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)
Avatar of Menoth - PC: 20
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist - PC: 3
Vassal Mechanik - PC: 1
Vassal of Menoth - PC: 3
Wrack - PC: 1
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist - PC: 4
Kell Bailoch - PC: 5
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 4
Flame Bringers - Leader & 4 Grunts: 17
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 8
-    Attendant Priest - PC: 3

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

To start things off we went with one of the most dead scenarios there is: Take and Hold. Largely a choice to see how this played out. I put Haley across Thyra's flag. The idea is basically that I can't imagine Thyra going for a scenario play on my flag and as such I expect him to deploy there and that allows my feat to cover more of his army. He obliges and we're good to go!

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. I am hyper-aggressive with Thorn on the right flank because I want to set up for disruptions and threaten solos. He doesn't really have any shooting so what's to fear?

Flamebringers run up to jam on the left. Kell takes the Minuteman-bait: He aims to get out a lance.

With Aiyana + Holt advancing quite far up on the right flank I want to take them out. I also want to take out the Monk and this is definitely feat turn: Buy the middle, get rid of the support, establish board control. To avoid Haley getting trapped in Gaze from Avatar the Ironclad runs up to block LoS next to the 'wall. Minuteman receives TK + TA and kills Kell -and- Gorman -and- Vassal.

I make a technical mistake on the left and a Flame Bringer survives. That's just bad. I also forget to reform away.

Avatar moves to Thyra's flag. Stranglehold lands on 'clad. Flamebringers kill a lance, jam the other and move up. Thyra hides behind forest.

TA on Stormwall which kills Avatar. Ironclad moves to jam. This is a big mistake as it means giving him up. Haley moves behind the house. Thorn disrupts both jacks and is TK'd away by Haley.

Flamebringers and Thyra kill Ironclad. Thorn nearly dies. Stormwall unscathed apart from a Stranglehold.

I clear up one of the jacks with the 'wall and TK the other away. Thyra has started a crazy Haley-run near my lines so I have to be careful.

Thorn is killed. Thyra moves up behind the pod.

Stormwall charges a choir dude to get some damage on the jack.

Thyra + Flamebringer move to block Haley in.

I TK Haley out of their melee range, TA her and charge the remaining jack.

At this point in time I'm basically home free. It takes 2 or 3 more turns to clear out the rest and win on CP but I get there eventually.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A technical mistake with the Lances and giving away the Ironclad too easily allowed my opponent to win the left flank by far more than he should've. The resulting drawn out attrition game was unnecessarily clumsy because of this.

I also feel I gave up Thorn a little too easy. I could've had the Stormwall tank more damage I think instead of insisting on disrupting.

Those mistakes aside (and they are quite minor really), I think the list and strategy worked very well. Considering how devastating Haley2's feat could be in Mk. 2 (i.e. you shot up a ton, then feated, then shot up another ton and won the game) I am sometimes wondering like "wtf am I doing?" when I feat like I did in this game. However the way she plays the game now the feat is often more about owning parts of the table. It's difficult to judge but in this game it certainly worked out well. Put tons of pressure on Thyra and bought be a head start in the jack attrition game.

The idea behind Thyra was that the support would be hard to get to and constantly harass/threaten Haley's BG. Combined with Feat it's hard to lock down under Shift as well. In practice I find that it's too slow and predictable for Haley to counter.