Battle Report #280: Haley3 vs Vayl2

:: Prologue ::

Haley3 vs Vayl2 is a matchup I've been wanting to play for some time. Now I finally had the opportunity to do so!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

Opponent:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight - WB: +28
-    Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
-    Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 11)
-    Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 11
-    Seraph - PC: 14
-    Ravagore - PC: 19
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 4
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 4
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Spell Martyr - PC: 1
Hellmouth - Hellmouth & 3 Tentacles: 6
Hellmouth - Hellmouth & 3 Tentacles: 6

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Extraction and Legion went first. I chose a side with a wall, intending to put fort Haley behind it.

:: Game ::

Legion moves up, Admonition is put up on a bird and Occultation on the Hellmouth to my right.

Fort Haley moves for cover. Dig in across the board, Grenadiers shot up Tentacles.

A couple of Trenchers are pinged off. My opponent has a new-found respect for Grenadiers so the bird with Admonition moves in for one but DEF18 is a thing and he doesn't even scratch it. The Deathstalkers on my left take out a Trencher or so. A lucky Ravagore shot cripples Thorn's Arc Node.

I contemplate feating or not. I figure that by feating I can hopefully kill the Ravagore, left Hellmouth and Angelius while freeing up the fence for Cover for Haley in the following turn (i.e. I camp a lot this turn to be safe).

It all works out well but the Ironclad completely whiffs against the Angelius so it survives. Truth be told I did forget Ragman before the Ironclad so it should have died. Bad dice happen but in this case I had a very clear mistake which would've overcome the dice.

The Angelius doesn't do a whole lot in return because Temporal Distortion is a thing. A Tentacle tries to drag Thorn on the right flank but fails. The Ravagore is lucky again as it kills a Lance with blast (!). Second Angelius goes in as well but it doesn't do a whole lot either.

Time to consolidate and press the advantage. I move up the field, kill the Ravagore, both birds and tentacles. Prime takes the cover this time around.

The Seraph is able to move past the Charger and provide Vayl with a backstrike bonus against Prime. This is a problem and his dice start rolling really hot. It is however not enough still as the Shield against the first nuke and the DEF16 even with Icy Grip combined with camp is hard to get through. Indeed he comes close, leaving Prime on as little as 3 boxes, but I live and Vayl is super exposed.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Angelii aren't that popular in Mk. 3 and it's rare to see 2 of them for sure. In this matchup, flight and SPD7 was big for my opponent as he at least got to grips with me. However Temporal Distortion was huge and he could never really capitalize on his threat ranges as he kept missing.

The Grenadiers were MVPs here as they pounded stuff left, right and center. Even in melee with Ragman they move to PS15 which is pretty decent. This list just keeps piling on the damage.

The assassination run which just barely failed to take out Prime could possibly have been prevented with better turn planning. In any case it was good to see that Prime is fairly resilient to Vayl's worst tricks.

A very interesting game which convinced me that Haley3 is solid into Vayl2.