Iron Moot: Steamroller #2 (#262): Haley2 vs Gorten

:: Prologue ::

For my second game I drew Benjamin and his Mercenaries with dual Rhulic shooting lists. I've never played this either so another great opportunity! After quickly looking at the lists I came to the conclusion that Kara likely can't fight this as there is too much shooting in return. This may or may not have been right but anyway I dropped Haley2.

:: 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:

Gorten Grundback - WJ: +31
-    Ghordson Avalancher - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
-    Ghordson Driller - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
-    Wroughthammer Rockram - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 4)
-    Grundback Blaster - PC: 6
-    Grundback Blaster - PC: 6
-    Grundback Blaster - PC: 6
-    Grundback Gunner - PC: 6
-    Grundback Gunner - PC: 6
-    Grundback Gunner - PC: 6
Ogrun Bokur - PC: 5
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 8
Horgenhold Forge Guard - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario is Recon and I go first. The idea is to set up for a top of 2 alpha and force him to either give me the zone or let me keep pushing in.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs, I skew right. Ironclad and Stormwall as far up as possible.

Gorten groups up his things, Aiyana & Holt place themselves far away with Stealth and Forge Guard are in reserve.

Ok so this is alpha strike turn. He has important jacks within charge range of both the Stormwall and Ironclad if I play my list right. However I make a huge mistake which I really, really, REALLY should not have done. I am too afraid of his feat pushing Haley way out to push her far up, however I've played against Krueger2 and I've learned that a Lightning Pod stops this move 100%. I run the Lances up to jam his shooters (they are really shit in melee) but because I'm too cautious with Haley I don't get the Forge Guard in my feat. I do alpha 2 heavies down at least.

Gorten kills all lances, deals a lot of damage to the Stormwall because of Kiss and feats to prevent another devastating blow.

Ok, this is problematic. I do see a possible opening for me to get to 3-0 but it looks super dicey both for Haley herself and the Stormwall so I doubt I can get to 5 in time. Instead I settle for the long game, which means keeping Forge Guard at bay and killing off Aiyana. The idea then is to back the Stormwall, shoot stuff up, put down covering fires and Bolt Aiyana to death. This all works out ok and I even get some solid repair rolls from both Arlan and the Tinker.

Another devastating round of shooting. He's only POW12 for most of the attacks so I struggle to understand how he does so many boxes to me (it might simply be the sheer volume of it or spikes), but it doesn't matter. I am losing attrition here and that is really bad as I'm in no way well off scenario-wise.

I figure I'll get the Ironclad into his last heavy to take it out, however I prioritize poorly with the Stormwall as it advances (despite me wanting to shoot with it) instead of going back (which I really could have done easily). I put down Covering Fires to hopefully keep Forge Guard out but this is looking grim.

In one fell swoop the Stormwall dies as I fail to kill more than 1 out of 4 Forge Guard charging it and the Ironclad goes down as well. He still has Forge Guard nearly 100% intact and 6 lights. I have Haley, Thorn, Minuteman, Arlan and Tinker. Did I mention it was 0-0 and I was down on time?

I have to make a scenario play here and force him to commit his troops unfavourably. I TK Haley out to the right, charge a light and kill it. PS13 in melee is legit. I don't kill the other one though so I don't score, which is a big, big problem. The Minuteman and Thorn really start clearing things up in the zone though, preventing the worst retaliation.

After this turn I was so short on time that I had to stop taking pictures. The game was a true nailbiter though and I fought like a madman, I think we played like 3 more turns and in the end I had 39 seconds left on my clock. Unfortunately my opponent won 5-4 on scenario. It came down to a gunbunny taking out the Squire and we both had 2 models left on the field (I had Junior and Haley, he had Gorton and said gunbunny). It is a pity I didn't get the pictures because there were lots of interesting moves and plays on both parts.

Sadly, a loss for the Swans

:: Evaluation ::

Losing 5-4 on Recon against a Swede with like no time and no models left? Seems strangely familiar...

I lose this game because I waste my Lances and forget about the pod being able to anchor Haley's feat. The Lances would be huge here post-feat and with locking more of his list he won't be able to get a proper comeback without exposing himself to a quicker scenario play or possibly assassination. I do believe for example that a 3-0 move post-feat might be viable if I'm positioned to do so effectively with the Lances.

In any case it was a great game and yet again it shows the importance of truly knowing a matchup. Shooty lists are a problem for Haley2 by their very nature (i.e. they are hard to shut down with feat) but I feel this was definitely playable.