WTC 2016 Game 6 (#309): Haley2 vs Irusk2

:: Prologue ::

For our very last game we drew Spain Red. I ended up getting Khador again with a Vlad1/Irusk2 pairing. I've never played Irusk2 before but after talking through it with my Khador team mate I decided to drop Haley2. Basically his Vlad1 list without Orin is super vulnerable (don't think it had Ruin either but don't remember) to Haley2 and he should be afraid beyond belief of me dropping Haley3 because that would basically be an autowin as the scenario was Entrenched.

So yeah, Haley2 vs Irusk2 it was. Let's get to it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

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

Opponent:

Supreme Kommandant Irusk - WJ: +27
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 4
- Behemoth - PC: 24 (Battlegroup Points Used: 24)
- Destroyer - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 5
Black Dragons - Leader & 9 Grunts: 17
- Black Dragon Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
Black Dragons - Leader & 9 Grunts: 17
- Black Dragon Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew - Gunner & 2 Grunts: 4
Kayazy Eliminators - Leader & Grunt: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I am tired and make a mistake when I choose side. I blame it partially on not knowing the matchup but I was also tired. Anyway, so I lose the roll-off and go second as I'm sure you figured out by now. The idea is to contain a flank with Ironclad + Thorn and the other with Storm Lances + Firefly. With the Stormwall centrally the idea is to force Irusk to commit, either to expose himself or forfeit one of the flanks (and thus open scenario up).

:: Game ::

Black Dragons spread out. Behemoth and Destroyer both run. Irusk puts up Artifice, FFE on the artillery and Solid Ground.

Trample, pod, electro leaps. Notice a pattern? Thorn and Ironclad take the Trench and I cast Deflection.

Black Dragons commit and jam on the left flank. On the right they just move to survive with Shield Wall. My mistake in choosing side becomes painfully clear to me as Behemoth moves up to be safe outside of my LoS with Orin protecting him from shenanigans. If I had taken the opposite side he could never have pulled off something like that and with Irusk's feat the forest is kind of a trap for me. Oh well. The two jacks both try to shoot the Ironclad but DEF18 is legit.

I decide to make a scenario play. I try and physically block him out on the right flank with Lances and Firefly while Thorn + Ironclad clear out a lot of Dragons on the left flank. I have a problem with the Squire though because of Behemoth: I want Haley far up to catch the Destroyer. This means the Squire needs to move close to the Stormwall (as does Haley as I fear a feat-assassination attempt). Ragman moves out of danger as does Junior. Stormwall tries to shoot Behemoth but my dice are ridiculously bad, I deal 5 boxes to him. I put up Covering Fires to keep the Black Dragons from going anywhere unpunished. 1-0.

Orin kills Squire. Damn. Artillery piece KDs Thorn and takes out one A box. The Destroyer shoots him as well but luckily doesn't roll the right column. Black Dragons stay still because of Covering Fire and one of them spikes to kill a Lance (I only let the Lances engage one each to avoid CMA but that wasn't enough). Behemoth kills another. 2-0.

With 2 CP I have an opening to downright win the game. Clear out Black Dragons on the left, charge objective with Ironclad, TK out the Destroyer. The problem is that Thorn is engaged and knocked down and without Squire I lack a focus. Anyway I decide to go for it as I have many options here.

Stormwall moves up, shoots out the Field Gun and a black dragon and kills the standard in the trench with a lightning pod. Junior kills a Black Dragon. Thorn kills the last two. Lanyssa Hunter's Mark on the objective. Haley Temporal on Ironclad, Reaction Drive Thorn, TK Destroyer out. Ironclad charges objective and kills it.

5-0.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A classic end to my last game from WTC 2016. Leaving Haley with scenario openings is lethal and I made the most of it here.

Choosing the wrong side made it a lot harder to play defensively than I had hoped for. The forest does become a big problem for him if I choose the other side because he can't feat to effectively cross it as that's a huge waste of time.

In any case I find the openings I need and I'm happy with how I executed my original plan. I'm sure there were attrition plays here as well they just didn't feel so good: If Stormwall moves in to kill Behemoth I might struggle to keep it alive from charging Black Dragons with extra damage. I'm not sure as I didn't do the math on this but the scenario openings was just so good.

My team unfortunately goes 2-3 yet again and we land up on a total of 2-4. Our SoS is abysmal so our final standing is 56th place out of 64 teams. Despite not having any ambitions going into this tournament, that was a low point which disappointed all of us.