After 11 games and a tournament win we were down to game 3. In a 3-day convention you can get exhausted and in my (limited) experience, Sunday Syndrome is a thing: Fatigue kicks in and you no longer manage to focus properly. I got up at 06:30 on Friday to take on a 3.5 hour drive, played from 12 to midnight day 1, started again at 9 the next day and played until midnight again, celebrated the tournament win with a couple of beers and friends and we were now up again for day 3. To make matters worse this was the Invitationals where only the top players from the previous events were playing. Considering the shark tank nature of this event in the first place I had a long day ahead of me.
First up was Rickard and his Minions who I faced in the semi-finals of the IG qualifier on Saturday. Luckily for me, the scenario was The Pit and I got first turn.
:: 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:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Going first on The Pit is a dream come true for Haley2 in most matchups. It stresses out opponents immensely because not only is it pretty much impossible to contest her on scenario bottom of 2 if she feats, it is also hard to jam the zone so that she can't move to 3-0 top of 3. I knew this and I wanted to exploit it so I deployed the Stormwall to be a typical anchor and had the rest of my army flank on the other side, barring the Minuteman who I intended to hide behind the obstruction in front of my flag.
:: Game ::
Stuff runs.
Wrongeye moves up on the left, taking care not to be within any serious threat ranges. The snake goes in Veil of Mists with Prowl and the right flank hangs back.
I figure I can severely damage a Wrastler by putting 5 shots at POW14-15 into it. Spikes occur and it goes down. I realize that Wrongeye can make a move on my left flank too easily so I shift the Ironclad over there. Haley feats, which is possibly/probably too early as I can't really capitalize on the feat if Rask counter-feats.
Wrongeye + Snapjaw move out to the left. A brilliant move because Rask disrupts the Ironclad so I can't punish him for making this flank attack without committing the Stormwall. A wall of beasts move up in front of Rask and he feats of course so the idea for him is to prevent the Stormwall from doing too much. The remaining Wrastler is outside of my feat range so it kills the Minuteman. However to do so he spends -all- his fury...
...and it takes me about 5 minutes or so to realize that Rask can't transfer! However when I do the plan is quite simple to kill Rask. I spend a lot of time looking for angles to get some shots onto Rask as well from the Stormwall (the plan is originally to just TK + TA Thorn and walk him up, as the proxy bases in the picture below shows) but it's not possible. In any case Thorn gets the job done and Rask goes down!
:: Evaluation ::
Rickard is a solid player and I think his Wrastler play here simply boils down to Sunday Syndrome. We are all tired and mistakes happen in any games.
In this particular game I had my Lances on the wrong flank. If they were deployed on my left I could have held the feat, blocked off Haley with Stormwall + IC and still probably have prevented Rickard from both getting a decent alpha (at best he sends the PS22 snake into the 'wall for 5 attacks at dice damage) and contesting me. Inexperience with the matchup shows as I default to a play I'm comfortable with but which is really putting me in a fairly bad position here. I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't gotten such a big opening to be honest. I'd probably have to try and take out both Dahlia and Wrongeye but how on Earth that was supposed to happen I have no idea.
In any case Thorn got the job done and I got off to a great start!
Rask - WB: +27
- Targ - PC: 4
- Blackhide Wrastler - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 16)
- Blackhide Wrastler - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 11)
Wrong Eye - Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: 17
- Snapjaw
Dahlia Hallyr - Hallyr & Skarath: 17
- Skarath
Totem Hunter - PC: 6
Bog Trog Mist Speaker - PC: 4
Rorsh - Rorsh & Brine: 15
- Brine
- Battle Boar - PC: 7
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
Going first on The Pit is a dream come true for Haley2 in most matchups. It stresses out opponents immensely because not only is it pretty much impossible to contest her on scenario bottom of 2 if she feats, it is also hard to jam the zone so that she can't move to 3-0 top of 3. I knew this and I wanted to exploit it so I deployed the Stormwall to be a typical anchor and had the rest of my army flank on the other side, barring the Minuteman who I intended to hide behind the obstruction in front of my flag.
:: Game ::
Stuff runs.
Wrongeye moves up on the left, taking care not to be within any serious threat ranges. The snake goes in Veil of Mists with Prowl and the right flank hangs back.
I figure I can severely damage a Wrastler by putting 5 shots at POW14-15 into it. Spikes occur and it goes down. I realize that Wrongeye can make a move on my left flank too easily so I shift the Ironclad over there. Haley feats, which is possibly/probably too early as I can't really capitalize on the feat if Rask counter-feats.
Wrongeye + Snapjaw move out to the left. A brilliant move because Rask disrupts the Ironclad so I can't punish him for making this flank attack without committing the Stormwall. A wall of beasts move up in front of Rask and he feats of course so the idea for him is to prevent the Stormwall from doing too much. The remaining Wrastler is outside of my feat range so it kills the Minuteman. However to do so he spends -all- his fury...
...and it takes me about 5 minutes or so to realize that Rask can't transfer! However when I do the plan is quite simple to kill Rask. I spend a lot of time looking for angles to get some shots onto Rask as well from the Stormwall (the plan is originally to just TK + TA Thorn and walk him up, as the proxy bases in the picture below shows) but it's not possible. In any case Thorn gets the job done and Rask goes down!
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
Rickard is a solid player and I think his Wrastler play here simply boils down to Sunday Syndrome. We are all tired and mistakes happen in any games.
In this particular game I had my Lances on the wrong flank. If they were deployed on my left I could have held the feat, blocked off Haley with Stormwall + IC and still probably have prevented Rickard from both getting a decent alpha (at best he sends the PS22 snake into the 'wall for 5 attacks at dice damage) and contesting me. Inexperience with the matchup shows as I default to a play I'm comfortable with but which is really putting me in a fairly bad position here. I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't gotten such a big opening to be honest. I'd probably have to try and take out both Dahlia and Wrongeye but how on Earth that was supposed to happen I have no idea.
In any case Thorn got the job done and I got off to a great start!
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