Day 2 and two more games to go. First up was a Cygnar mirror. Tor, my opponent, sported a carbon copy of my Haley2 list and a Caine2 list. I wasn't keen on a Haley2 mirror and fancied my chances with Haley3 into both of his lists so I dropped her. It was to be a Haley civil war!
:: 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:
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
The scenario was Recon and I won the roll-off. The idea was to cloudroll ahead, deny him scenario angles and allow my superior shooting to force a commitment, preferably on unfavourable terms.
:: Game ::
Clouds are put down, Lances shift right, Haley moves towards cover.
Stormwall takes care to be outside of 16" of Future. Haley throws up Deflection.
I realize I've made a big mistake as Thorn is way too defensively placed. I didn't check sufficiently thoroughly so I'm not 100% sure he can't get within range of the Stormwall but from the looks of it he was too far away consider he had to move around the Grenadier. This is big as Thorn in the right position here allows me to load up both Grenadiers on 3 focus, ditch Tactical Supremacy and cast both Repudiate and Distortion. Mistakes were made. Handling the traffic jam is a thing but this could easily have been solved by having clear priorities turn 1.
Instead I am forced to take pot-shots gainst ARM22. As such I don't want to expose both Grenadiers so I set up for a possible alpha on the left, hoping my right flank will be intact-ish. I move up the Charger to try and take out 2 Lances but am only successful in killing one.
I've made a mistake as my left Grenadier has space between 2 Trenchers in front of him and can thus be dominated out without Haley2 having to spend any of her efforts killing a Trencher. She feats and the Grenadier is taken out and killed by the 'wall. On the other flank the Ironclad and Lances go in and cripple the Charger's melee weapon and cortex. I'd much prefer it to be movement and gun at this point in time!
I consider trying to assassinate Haley but the odds are way too low and I have too much game left to start being desperate now. I want to clear out the right flank, send Past up into the rubble in the middle of the zone and put down a trap with Thorn. I forget to send the Charger to its free strike death before I start shooting the Lances and Ironclad so unfortunately I don't cripple anything essential on the Ironclad. I also miss a shot from the Grenadier on it. This is really bad as Future is not incorporeal for Tor's next turn and I'm surrounded by tremor-able models.
Luckily for me, the Ironclad misses its Tremor attack despite boosting to hit and thus Future lives! The Stormwall takes the Thorn bait and commits deeply. It doesn't get deep enough to pod Ragman but settles for the Ironclad. However at the point in time at which he chooses to do so he is out of focus and thus needs a hard 9 to disrupt it. Unfortunately for me he gets it but seeing as Future's alive I shall not complain as she should've been dead, dead, dead.
It's kind of a pain to keep taking a beating from Haley2 across multiple turns, however I've dealt enough damage in return and kept enough key pieces alive that I definitely have an opening here. The Ironclad can unfortunately not be relied upon to do much work, but Haley is angry and Ragman is available. I move up the Ironclad first and follow up with Ragman to get Death Field on both the Stormwall and the Ironclad. Haley feats and between Future's shots and Past's melee attacks the Stormwall goes down following Repudiate and Prime's boosted Hand Cannon! Past even has a couple of focus left when all is said and done. This enables the Lances and remaining Grenadier to kill both the Ironclad and the Firefly. An amazing feat turn for sure!
Haley2 tries the longshot of the year: Run Thorn around and try and assassinate Prime. It doesn't work out and the game is over.
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
As with my second game of this tournament, this was another super tense game with lots of headaches and clutch plays on both sides. Multiple mistakes were made by both players but honestly it's no wonder: This matchup has more angles than you can find even if you're not playing on time, playing -with- the clock makes it impossible to see everything. You simply have to make some moves and go with you gut feeling. Indeed, the clock was ticking down and would sooner or later prove to be a problem for the both of us as neither of us could get a scenario angle.
The one mistake which I should have been without though was the lacklustre Thorn positioning turn 1. With him in a proper position I believe the Stormwall would've taken a serious pounding top of 2 unless it had been very, very careful, at which point in time I can basically just inch ahead and wait it out.
A great game and Ragman ended up being the MVP again. Haley3's feat looks lackluster on paper but what I was able to do in this game showcases how powerful it really is. The matchup is very interesting and both sides definitely have game. It comes down to a game of skill basically, although certain key dice rolls can certainly help shape the flow of the game.
The finals can be found here.
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