Iron Moot: Steamroller #4 (#264): Haley2 vs Reznik2

:: Prologue ::

My fourth game and I was facing Christian with the Protectorate! Again a friend from my club and he had Severius2 and Reznik2. With the last X games between Haley2 and Severius2 being so heavily in my favour he switched it up and went for Reznik2. Interesting!

:: 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:

Servath Reznik, Wrath of Ages - WJ: +29
-    Hierophant - PC: 3
-    Reckoner - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 16)
-    Reckoner - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)
-    Scourge of Heresy - PC: 16
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist - PC: 3
Vassal Mechanik - PC: 1
Wrack - PC: 1
Nicia, Tear of Vengeance - PC: 5
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 4
Idrian Skirmishers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
-    Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide - Chieftain & Guide: 5
Daughters of the Flame - Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard - Rhoven, Gius & Cassian: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Entrenched and I got first turn. The usual play here is to threaten top of 2 feat and I went for this with the deployment accordingly.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. Lances pre-measure Idrians.

Daughters and Idrians swarm me. Vengeance is cast on the latter. Monk moves out on the right flank.

Christian has done a good job deployment-wise. Feating now is a trap and I'm better served with fighting the long game. This means clearing out his screen now which puts the Lances in danger but in doing so I am up on attrition and I save my feat. It works out well and the Minuteman gets a couple of important models in the back field.

The Lances do all go down but it forces him to commit Idrians. The Reckoner on the right bashes the Minuteman but fails to kill him.

This is a pretty great spot, Haley can charge the Idrian in my zone and cast Bolt on the Monk. In doing this and blocking the Reckoner with the Minuteman I can prevent him from contesting me for a turn by feating. While this doesn't ensure an alpha, it ensures I'm ahead on both attrition and scenario. At least that's the idea.

It all works out and I feat to 1-1.

Reznik clears the pod easily enough and camps a lot. 2-2.

The beauty of not killing an objective early is that you can spike your scenario game so hard. I put up TA on the Stormwall, TK out Nicia and move to a whopping 5-2!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

One of the closer and more interesting games I've had against the Protectorate I must admit. I think the key to this matchup for PoM might be to have enough of a screen to force Haley back. I have a few thoughts on the matter which I'll discuss at a later point in time but this was a refreshing experience. It's kind of ironic though that his deployment of all heavies opposite my zone is what enabled me to win on scenario as I scored in his zone which was not contested.

The Idrians are hard to deal with and the Minuteman simply isn't the Firefly. It commits a lot more when it goes in for sure. I am ok with this fact as I prefer to spend the last points of my lists to tweak vs harder matchups and I consider the Protectorate possibly our easiest one in Mk. 3. It is a shame for game balance really and I hope we will discover a solution which makes the game more interesting.