Battle Report #334: Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

Time for the rematch. We just re-racked basically with a slightly changed list for Retribution and lessons learned on both sides.

:: 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:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Phoenix [18]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
MHA x2 

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The way I deploy Lances with Haley3 seems to be working fine with Haley2 as well, provided I start. I put Haley on the right flank this turn so she could move up before the Stormwall top of 2. The rest was largely the same.

:: Game ::

Same start as last game pretty much. Please ignore the Lances in the picture below, I "minifeated" them to be a less committing position.

Hyperion runs up to contest the flag already. I like this move! If I feat Hyperion already contests and can thus shoot. However Retribution leaves the other flank wide open.

It might look like a shitty position but I haz a plan. Run Thorn up, kill all electrobros with Arcane Bolts and then reaction drive onto the flag. Stormwall shoots Hyperion for a few boxes and Haley feats. Ironclad moves to relative safety and everything else gets ready for top of 3.

In a move I don't understand, the Hyperion is sent forward. I question the legitimacy of this move from a tactical point of view but my opponent thinks his big, bad boy is within threat range of "everything" anyways. Ok, I beg to differ but it's not my call to make. Phoenix is sent up with Admonition to let Issyria put Blinding Light on Haley. Disco remains in reserve, as do the HRTs and MHAs.

Fully fuel the 'clad and the 'wall. TK on the former, TA on the latter. Ragman moves up with Death Field, 'wall and Firefly pound Hyperion. It dies. I pod behind Phoenix. Lances run, 1 places itself behind the Phoenix so that it can't admonition out (pod blocks one angle, lance another). This lets the Ironclad simply walk up to it without having the Phoenix run away and I kill it.

The game is effectively over and my opponent forfeits.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Issyria needs to delay this game and keep the scenario angles shut down. On this map I think she's picking the wrong side. The forests make it too hard for her heavies to get into decent anti-scenario positions whereas the linear obstacle on my side would've enabled an easy shut-down on at least one of the flanks.

The Hyperion move under Haley's feat is just bad. He needs to make me work hard for this. I even got Hunter's Mark for free! By keeping it back and forcing me to charge I won't get neither Ragman nor Lanyssa and it's kind of hard to fit a lot of my other things as well. Essentially I can't one-round it. With the MHAs and HRTs simply waiting out Haley feat Issyria just needs to be patient. It can be unnerving but there's only really the 5th CP which matters. By keeping a tight formation she can probably weather the pain sufficiently long to slowly bring her sheer power to bear, eventually.

All in all a great couple of games for the Swans. Next time I play this matchup my opponent and I might do something fun!

Battle Report #333: Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

Lots of Haley3 lately, time for some Haley2 again. Today I was facing Retribution for what seems like the 123rd time. It's good practice because it's a tough matchup!

:: 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:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Phoenix [18]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
Heavy Rifle Team [4]
House Vyre Electromancers [8]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4]
 - Discordia [18]
Skeryth Issyen

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was extraction and I got to go first. My opponent picked a side with two forests for him to hide stuff behind. I deployed with the Stormwall going left of the center and my other 2 jacks going right.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up. Lances spread out. My thinking here is that Hyperion has to make a commitment and I can reply accordingly.

My opponent wants to blinding light the Stormwall. I tell him it's not a viable play because he'll lose his Phoenix. He doesn't see the angle so he asks me. I say the Ironclad will throw a Lance to knock him down and then I will charge him. He still goes for the play. Ok.

A Lance runs to within 8" of the Phoenix. Gotta be careful of that Admonition messing my plan up. Haley activates, casting TA on the Stormwall and TK on the lance to get him within 6" of the Phoenix without triggering Admonition. The Ironclad follows up and throws the Lance on the Phoenix to knock him down. Stormwall charges Phoenix and kills him. Thorn moves to take the right flag. Firefly moves to take the left. Haley feated.

Issyria tries a counter play here in which she basically tries to jam me up. The electrobros, HRTs and Ancillary on Hyperion are all committed to taking out the Ironclad. It does die but I take no other damage. Discordia and Skeryth box my Stormwall in.

I move up Ragman to put down death field. A fully fueled Thorn starts working on Hyperion. Haley TKs Discordia and puts up TA on the Stormwall. The Stormwall kills the objective, Discordia and de-mounts Skeryth. Lances kill Skeryth and take the left flag. 2-0.

Elara, ancillary and the remaining electrobro kill Thorn. Hyperion tries to do a number on the 'wall but with Issyria's feat being spent to ensure the demise of the Ironclad the damage just isn't there and he survives.

In return I have Ragman with Death Field, Lanyssa with Hunter's Mark and the Lances + Firefly to commit. Hyperion dies...

...and with that, the game is over.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I don't like Skeryth in Retribution lists. I find him way too situational for his cost. Sure he can be a pain, but 8 points is huge. I can see him being valuable in certain matchups but if Haley2 is one of Issyria's harder matchups I think Retribution needs to leave him at home and just get more value pieces here. We did play a rematch (report coming up soon!) in which Skeryth was swapped for 2x MHAs.

I played Haley on the wrong flank here and that resulted in my feat hitting way too little. By going on the other side of the Stormwall I can get further up and she's still safe.

The Retribution Phoenix play was asking for trouble. It shows the value of Lances (large based expendable models are perfect for these setups) and having another throw-option that isn't the Stormwall. It's rare, but still valuable.

All Haley, All The Time!

I was recently asked to do a piece explaining my current lists in detail. I constantly revise and update my lists as I see fit, but now I am taking the exact same lists to my third event in a row. This is solely because I believe this is the best pair available to us and I have not been able to find any variations of the either of the lists I like better.

So, why do I have 4 Haleys in a 2-list pair? Let's take a look at the lists in detail.


:: Haley2 ::

Consider how Haley2 plays in Mk. 3. In my experience she plays a blazingly fast and aggressive game, shoving pieces in your opponent's face to deal with and having tons of angles for shenanigans from a multitude of models. Her board space development is typically to take control of one flank, anchor the other and have the Stormwall act as a central, pivotal piece. This report against Karchev illustrates this pattern quite well. Haley2's strength is primarily to control melee-oriented armies. She struggles against quite a few lists of course but in general she is better agianst melee-heavy lists than shooty ones. She often gets a double alpha, or a ping ping if you like, through the use of her feat. It is harder to do than it used to be in Mk. 2 and I frequently find myself feating more for positioning and scenario than an alpha per se. This report against Reznik2 shows this in practice.

Ok, so we have a caster which plays "fast and furious", running her battlegroup across the table. What's important is to have enough power to smash what needs to be smashed, clear off anything trying to jam you and have enough speed and firepower to remain a threat even if an opponent tries to keep the distance. Let's take a look at the list:

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

From the top: Squire is a no-brainer. Stormwall is a fundamental choice you either go with or without when it comes to building Haley2 lists. Some prefer multiple heavies, I prefer the colossal. The shenanigans you have available and the sheer amount of things you are immune to are what make it my go-to choice. Its flexibility in terms of shooting, covering fire and the very powerful Lightning Pod just add to make it an amazing choice.

Thorn is also a no-brainer. My opponents have learned to really hate this little guy in Mk. 3 and I can empathize. He is quite ridiculous.

The Ironclad might seem out of place. The fact of the matter is that the Stormwall alone does not have enough punch in the current meta I find. I have tried with more lances but didn't like it. The Ironclad is a perfect compromise between cost, hitting power and survivability. Its lack of reach isn't that big of a deal and with Lanyssa in the mix I can send it off way more than its SPD5 Melee RNG 1" might hint at. Tremor has also come in handy more than once and even the extra jack which can perform a throw power attack has been game breaking for me.

Junior is a no-brainer -if- you take a Stormwall. I am not sure he is needed if you don't have one but that's irrelevant for this list. Anyway. His jack is bound to be an 8-point choice since the list is exactly 75 points. Otherwise the Charger is an interesting candidate. However I do like my Firefly. He combines with Ragman to provide the Stormwall a potential for POW14 pods and electro leaps. It actually is quite a big deal when you simply have to add up as much damage as possible. This game vs Butcher3 shows it off quite well. The ability to threaten solos very far away with shenanigans (hitting my own models, including a pod, receiving threat range boosts from Haley) also makes this list so much harder than it looks on paper. Lastly, its 2" melee range helps it clear out infantry surprisingly well.

That leaves the list at 19 points. I consider the Lances a no-brainer. Their ability to perform multiple roles ranging from infantry clearing to jamming to helping out killing heavies is a game changer for Haley. Their main weakness is their fragility, but Haley's playstyle and feat combined with careful positioning effectively makes this a non-issue in most games.

With 7 points left to spare we're down to pure support. I have tried multiple options here but landed on Ragman and Lanyssa to increase my power and threat ranges. In the current meta I find that Ragman is essential in so many matchups. Initially I found the same with Lanyssa but the fact of the matter is that she is currently the only choice I'm not 100% on. I do miss repairs as having the ability to bring back a few boxes is amazing for all of Haley's jacks. I have games every now and then where a shot cripples something useful on a lucky spike. Dice happen. However overall I think Hunter's Mark is a more valuable asset and hence I'm still running with Lanyssa. The potential replacement for her is min. mechaniks. I have run them a little in Caine2 and they make the Stormwall an absolute beast to take out.

That concludes Haley2. Before looking at Haley3, let's consider what her weaknesses are in terms of matchups and what she needs help with. This post is up to date (at the time of this writing) with my thoughts on the current meta. Going from the top I think Khador is fine for Haley2. Retribution is ok as well, but Ossyan is a problem. I can accept a list chicken situation. Circle I don't like with her. Cygnar mirror is fine I think. Minions I think we have better answers for. Protectorate I'm not 100%, I need more practice vs High Reclaimer but she should be fine against their other variants. Mercenaries are fine for her but I don't like her into Cephalyx. They seem to be falling out of favour but both Kingmaker's and Rhulics are fine I think. Trollbloods have been fine. I don't like her into Skorne because she's not solid vs neither Rasheth (unless scenario + terrain help me) nor Makeda2 kitkat. Legion have too many angles to kill her, Deneghra1 makes her Stormwall miserable and lastly Convergence is a good matchup.

So we have Circle, Ossyan, Minions, possibly High Reclaimer, Cephalyx, Skorne and Legion to worry about. No easy list of matchups. The answer is to just get more Haley!


:: Haley3 ::

Haley3's playstyle is so different from Haley2 that it's hard to fathom. Haley2 is about pushing the advantage, launching the insane angles and making the crazy plays. Haley3 is patient. She plays the long game and is ridiculously evasive to play against. It is hard for most opponents to land decent alphas against her because no matter what you do, chances are there will be enough pieces left to get work done. Board space wise she typically claims a big portion of the middle of the table, examplified in this report. She rarely plays for scenario or assassination (although she's perfectly capable if the situation presents itself), but then again I favour lists that are primarily built for attrition in the first place. Her shooting and feat sometimes ensure her the alpha, but more often than not the opponent will be the first one to make a push which commits him. She can then bide her time, setting up pieces and eventually the counter-punch connects and breaks the game. This mirror match vs Haley2 is a very good example.

What she needs is a number of models capable of taking advantage of Temporal Distortion. I.e. sheer numbers become a quantity for her. She also wants to dodge pricey models because she doesn't help a single model out much at all (especially compared to Haley2). It's more important to simply have a lot of stuff around so that there's always something more dishing out hurt regardless of what an opponent tries to take out. Let's take a look at the list:

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

Starting from the top, the Grenadiers are the bread and butter of this list. The echoes have plenty of focus to feed them with and their insane firepower has won me many games. In a recent game against Lylyth3 for example they start pounding an Archangel with POW15 shots. Ouch! With a base DEF of 14, a 1" melee range and PS13 they synergize well with what the list is trying to do, even sporting AD and dig in for the ridiculous cost of 9 points. I am quite serious: Grenadiers might very well be the most broken warjack Cygnar has.

Thorn is not as much of a no-brainer in this list as he is with Haley2 but he becomes amazing with Temporal Distortion and when you need to bring Past's presence to bear or Prime's Repudiate to connect he is a beast. He is also an undercosted jack in general with an amazing skillset. Lastly for her battlegroup the Ironclad is pretty much in here for the same reason it is in the Haley2 list: It is the perfect compromise between cost, hitting power and survivability. You can see him going to town in this game vs Amon.

Junior is important. The Shield often goes on Haley herself which makes the echoes near impossible to go for. It also helps out a ton against assassinations. In many situations going for Prime is just impossible. Since I'm used to playing Haley2, Caine2 and Sloan for example this is a welcome trait. The Charger here doubles up as another solid shooter to help amplify the strength of the Grenadiers while still getting a lot from Distortion. He is also decent in melee.

Ragman and Rhupert are both essential. The former is a huge force amplifier and is, in many matchups, the only model which I truly need to keep alive for as long as I can. The latter is essentialy because there are so many models around and I'm bound to need Pathfinder. Also, Dirge helps skew the DEF even further, often very valuable for Haley's unit. Lastly Tough isn't exactly bad in this list.

The max. Trenchers and max. Lances are essential to how the list plays. You simply need bodies to go around. The list rounds off perfectly at 75 points. There are multiple nice-to-haves which you will often see in other Haley3 lists, e.g. Squire and Alexia1, but I have yet to analyze a game where it makes sense for Haley3's intended matchups to make the switch to any of these choices. Min. Trenchers are favoured by many but I think Haley3 really wants that unit maxed out. Consider how important it can be to have just a few models left in games against Legion. Take a look at this game for example.

Where do I go from here with the Haleys? I honestly don't know. ClogCon is coming up in just a couple of weeks and that will be the last tournament I take the Haleys to for some time. I need to explore other options and I need to experiment. I fully expect the errata in January to hit Cygnar both directly in terms of nerfing and buffing various choices and indirectly in terms of changing the meta. We will see what happens when we get there. I'm excited!

Battle Report #332: Haley3 vs Wurmwood

:: Prologue ::

Due to some delays today my much anticipated date for 2 games against Wurmwood had to be cut down to 1. However, it was quite the game though with tons of learning points! Let's get to the action.

:: 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:

(Wurmwood 1) Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
 - Cassius the Oathkeeper
 - Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
 - Warpwolf Stalker [19]
 - Megalith [20]
Shifting Stones [3]
Shifting Stones [3]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
 - Wolves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [4]
Wolves of Orboros (max) [11]
 - Wolves of Orboros Chieftain & Standard [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Incursion and Wurmwood won the roll-off, opting to take first turn. I choose a side which denies Wurmie any woods to play around with and provides me with a nice, central impassable for Prime to stay safe behind in a central position.

:: Game ::

Wurmwood's sentries go on one flank each and I immediately realize I've picked the wrong side. With the sentries able to contest the flags on both flanks from behind obstructions I will basically never score relevant CPs but furthermore it will be very hard for me to prevent him from scoring. Anyway, what's done is done and I reckon that with an army this big and so many models to move around I can practice playing the very worst case possible in this matchup: Fairly poor terrain (I fooled myself in denying him the woods), terrible scenario, hard list to face. I considered forfeiting and asking for a re-rack but decided instead to try and improve one aspect of Haley3's game which is crucial: Winning on time.

In order to win this game on time I have to slow it down. The early turns are crucial for me. I do not want to get stuck in a position where things happen too quickly. The idea then is to pretty much forfeit the early scenario and try and get an edge in terms of attrition, letting him get some easy CP. In any case, having learned from my mistake at WTC I take care to not let any important pieces within 3" of the clouds and advance behind the 'wall.

A couple of sprays on Trenchers are attempted but no success for Circle. Wolves run to jam, however Wurmwood holds his feat. Instead, Cassius kills two Wolves in the middle to "forest up" the beatsticks. I probably played my first turn too passively with jacks etc. One thing is slowing down the game but this is giving away too much space, doubly so with the perfect positioning of the sentry stones on the flanks.

Thus far Circle has played the best game and I need to do something. There are multiple problems here, mildly speaking. My plan is to try and shut down the right flank by feating to kill the Sentry Stone with 3x Chain Blasts and have Thorn contest the flag. I figure I have to leave the other 2 flags open and maintain the cloudwall. I feat but the rolls are absolutely miserable and the right sentry stone lives. I lose my concentration and move Thorn too far away from the flag. In the center I have to commit the Ironclad to a position where I'm not really happy with him because I cannot for the life of me kill the last Wolf there.

The TL;DR of this turn is that Wurmwood plays conservatively, feats and moves to 3 CP.

I didn't make things nearly as hard as I had hoped to but from here on out it's all in. Present Circle with as many problems as possible to force my opponent to spend a lot of time and cover a ton of angles. I fully fuel Thorn on the right flank to kill the Sentry. The plan is to jam the middle with basically everything I have and run a Ghost Walked Grenadier over to the left flag.

The turn starts off terribly with Thorn failing to kill the Sentry stone. I had 3 focus. This is getting ridiculous. I kill a few Wolves and jam things up. I'm fairly happy with how many models I'm forcing Circle to try and kill.

Luckily for me my opponent does spend ages trying to clear up this mess. Furthermore he scores 0 CP and when he clocks over to me he has only a couple of minutes left to my 15.

All I need to do now is keep Prime safe. I move her away from danger, summon Past and cast Temporal, camping 2. I kill a few models here and there and clock over.

My opponent cannot clear out 2 flags quickly enough (in fact he doesn't clear any of them as he has serious fury issues and this time the dice are failing him) and I win on time.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

One of my main problems playing into Wurmwood is figuring out what angles to worry about and what my overall strategy needs to be. At the WTC I made some elementary level mistakes such as clouding up top of 1 and letting the Ironclad get pulled into a cloud to have a Stalker subsequently beat it to death and sprint away.

In this game I decided I would try and keep the Lances tight, as I have learned to do in other matchups, and beware Hellmouth angles. I did however, as noted, choose the wrong side, and this cost me dearly. I am pretty sure I could've taken the top side and kept Prime safe in the rubble or whatever (depending on Wurmwood's positioning). This also would've given me more time. Letting him get 3 CP in a single turn was disastrous, there are no two ways about it.

The problem with keeping all jacks super-safe is that my threat ranges are too small and Wurmwood gets too much space. I need to find the balance between not letting him have anything (and getting too much space) and giving him too much (which means I lose attrition). I think that in this matchup the answer might be Lances, i.e. playing them further up closer to the clouds. Going for the Lances early leaves the warjacks intact and to be honest reviving Lances isn't a half-bad play here. Given that Prime is safe from assassination I'd even consider going Arcane Shield on them (as any Wolf wanting to get work done on Echoes will likely have Wraithbane anyways).

This matchup is incredibly hard yet so rewarding when you pull it off. I did have some truly shitty dice here (seriously, 2 chain blasts from Past and a fully fueled Thorn doesn't kill a Sentry Stone?), but dice happen in this game and I basically set myself up to rely on dice in the first place. Granted, in some matchups that is unavoidable but that was not the case here.

I hope I will get more games vs Wurmwood soon. I feel I keep improving and learning every time I play this matchup. I still don't know whether it's actually a 50-50 or if one side is up, I do know however that it feels like Wurmwood has the upper hand early and Haley gets more and more game the longer it goes on.

I'll finish this rather long evaluation with a positive take away: I did play a worse game than my opponent but I did manage to land my win condition. Playing the clock aggressively is a legit strategy for Haley3 and in this matchup in particular I can often see that being a winning play. Despite the various mistakes I made, that is something I'm happy with.

Battle Report #331: Haley3 vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

Following the first game we took a small break and went at it again. Let's go!

:: 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:

(Lylyth 3) Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight [+29]
 - Succubus [4]
 - Naga Nightlurker [8]
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
 - Seraph [14]
 - Carnivean [19]
 - Typhon [24]
Strider Scouts [9]
 - Strider Scout Officer & Musician [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
The Forsaken [4]
Strider Deathstalker [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I wanted to try a couple of things in this second go. First of all I wanted to see if it would be viable to keep my AD things outside of her threat range. Secondly I wanted to try and skew hard for scenario to see if Lylyth has any decent counter-plays.

:: Game ::

TL;DR my strategy is flawed. The picture below pretty much says it all.

I end up deciding to go with the original plan. Trenchers run up to set up for Grenadiers and jam Striders as best as I can. Prime moves onto the hill with AS, covered by Thorn, Ironclad and Charger. I leave Junior within control range of the Charger but I know this might be a little too risky considering Lylyth's extreme threat. Lances set up for scenario.

Lylyth goes for Junior. Odds Machine puts this at 74%. Lylyth fails and is left at 0 fury. She repositions away and her beasts run with her. My opponent did have an amazing start for his turn with the Deathstalker killing 2 Trenchers and the Striders taking down 5 more. Although the junior-move is overwhelmingly likely to happen, I'm not sure it's the best play. After all, with such a good start she could've gone for the play to kill off all the Trenchers instead for example. In any case it is what it is!

I consider going for scenario vs going for the kill. I decide on the latter after running some numbers. The idea is to Repudiate Lylyth, cast Chain Blast with Past and then Future and have the Charger shoot her. Past misses her Chain Blast but both of her deviating aoes hit Lylyth and I boost. Prime also follows up with her own, hitting as opposed to Past, but she survives on a couple of boxes. It is kind of ironic I suppose that the Charger, fueled by Junior, finishes the job and kills Lylyth with his gun.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The first game today taught me a ton. This one unfortunately not so much. It was a mess of a game and my strategy gives up way too much board space to Lylyth, enabling her to basically choke me down. I think that I'll simply have to risk a trencher or three top of 1.

Also, deploying for scenario vs Lylyth3 just feels bad. I think the Grenadiers must largely act as a spearhead of sorts here and the rest of the army can follow behind. The one thing I got right this game was having the lances in a more relevant position. I think there's even more to be had out of these in this matchup which I will look into further.

Battle Report #330: Haley3 vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

I got in a couple of games against Lylyth3 today. Always an interesting matchup and one I feel I need to understand better strategically. I also need more practice with Haley3 so this was pretty sweet.

:: 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:

(Lylyth 3) Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight [+29]
 - Succubus [4]
 - Naga Nightlurker [8]
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
 - Seraph [14]
 - Carnivean [19]
 - Typhon [24]
Strider Scouts [9]
 - Strider Scout Officer & Musician [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
The Forsaken [4]
Strider Deathstalker [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Entrenched and Lylyth got first turn. I chose a side with a hill, a forest and rubble. The idea was to have Haley behind the forest. Legion deployed centrally and I committed to the forest.

:: Game ::

Lylyth tried to kill dug in Trenchers but miserable rolls left them all alive.

I put up Supremacy on Trenchers because the Striders can be a real pain on feat turn. I make a mistake as I somehow think he can't commit to my hill-fort and send Lances wide right. Note that I summon Future before I move over to the woods and Past afterwards to keep the bubble as wide as possible. Rhupert provides Haley with Tough and Junior casts Shield on her.

Lylyth commits with feat. I lose Thorn and the Ironclad. One Grenadier is made stationary and a couple of Trenchers go down as well. My opponent considered going for the kill on Haley but Odds Machine put it at ~30% and she would have been super exposed in return so that's a no. The alpha is pretty solid and my stupid Lance play means that there is no solid melee retaliation.

Feat turn incoming! Max. focus on Grenadiers, one shakes Stationary. Past is within 11" of Typhon so the idea is to force hammer it and follow up with as much damage as I can. I hit the 7+ boosted roll and slam it into the Seraph for a nice 5d6 damage roll, but dice aren't on my side so there's that. Charger and Prime follow up with pow 12s and even Future spends the rest of her focus trying to help out. In the end I have to spend one of the Grenadiers as well which leaves but a single Grenadier and Trenchers to deal with the Carnivean. I couldn't get Future within 5" of it so I can't move Ragman up to apply Death Field to it as I'd be needing 7s to hit with aiming, which is too risky. It loses one aspect but that's not enough. CP 1-1.

Legion decides to focus on Lances and kill them all. The Carnivean tries to kill a Grenadier but fails, crippling only its melee weapon. CP 1-2.

I fuel the Grenadiers both max again. Future saves 3 for Revive. Ragman puts up Death Field but the first Grenadier flukes a lot as it fails to kill the Carnivean. This leaves the Trenchers to get the job done and luckily they manage it so the last Grenadier is free to shoot. I get a couple of good scatters and kill most of the remaining Striders. A revived Trencher contests so we move to 2-2.

My opponent is extremely low on time and the hill-fort is solid. There is a possible assassination run I suppose but he decides not to go for it but rather clear out the hill with Lylyth. She fails, miserably, and with that the game is over.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

What a dicey game. The Lance move was terrible. I'm just so used to them dying easily to Legion and I'm sick and tired of it. Ironically enough I think the solution here is probably to keep them behind my main lines, as I have made a habit out of doing otherwise, from where they can counter-punch hard. After discussing with fellow Cygnar players it might even be legit to AS them up and have them help out in Fort Haley duty as well.

The hill-fort won me the game easily. It was close and my opponent forgot a crucial Wraithbane or two. We had some dice swings on both sides but all in all I think it evened out.

I win on time here, strictly speaking, but I may well have been in a position to win on attrition regardless, if scenario had not gone too fast. I had 3 lights left on pretty much all systems go and he was down to Seraph, Naga and Bolter. I am pretty sure my echoes + Prime do more work than Lylyth3 as well. In any case it was very close and I learned a valuable lesson re: Lances vs Lylyth3!

Battle Report #329: Haley3 vs Naaresh

:: Prologue ::

Following Makeda's defeat my opponent wanted to try Naaresh out against Haley3. I was eager to get more Skorne practice!

:: 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:

Master Ascetic Naaresh - WB: +32
- Agonizer - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Cyclops Brute - PC: 8
- Tiberion - PC: 22 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
- Titan Sentry - PC: 15
- Titan Gladiator - PC: 14
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - PC: 4
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - PC: 5
Wrong Eye - Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: 17
- Snapjaw
Legends of Halaak - Valgesh, CIdaar & J'Deth: 8
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 7

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

This time I went second. I figure it doesn't make that much of a difference here either so when I won the roll-off I might as well try.

:: Game ::

Skorne moves up, Lamentation is cast.

I don't bother with clouds bot of 1 but put up Supremacy etc. Lances keep a wide threat arc.

Naaresh has a choice to make and a problem to solve. Choice: Does he feat? If yes, does he move within "serious melee threat range?". Also, how does he keep me from getting massively ahead on scenario? He ends up feating and placing himself outside of melee range while putting Snapjaw with Submerge, backed by star crossed to contest scenario.

I see no reason to engage so I just shoot the objective and cloud up.

Tiberion goes in to kill a few Trenchers. Snapjaw runs and is covered with Star Crossed again.

The counter-punch dismantles Tiberion, Snapjaw and some collateral. Feat is spent but that was easily worth it.

My opponent plays his turn but forfeits the game half-way through as he hasn't done anything noteworthy.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Skorne is sad and Haley3 is a solid caster here. Not sure how they can build against her to be honest. That being said, I feel as though Naaresh needs to do one of two things: Tank a turn of shooting without feat or move up -way- harder on feat turn. The solution he ended up taking here was neither of these and the feat was highly ineffective. Apart from that, I don't think there's a lot to say about this game.

Battle Report #328: Haley3 vs Makeda2

:: Prologue ::

I know that Skorne is universally regarded to be -the- weakest faction in the game right now. While I can see why people might feel this way, I don't quite agree. They are weak, don't get me wrong, but they have one powerbuild which is actually very strong: Makeda2 with Ferox spam, or kitkat which I usually call it. The Ferox are the only cavalry models in the game surpassing our Storm Lances in my opinion and once you stack Dodge, Tough and Stay Death on them (not to mention Dash and Makeda2 feat) they become a true nightmare.

I have for some time wanted to try Haley3 into this list. Partly because I think Haley2 struggles a lot with it (she sheer assassination potential alone is a big problem for her), but also partly because I'm not that big of a fan of relying on Haley2 into Skorne at all. Rasheth's Castigate for example screws Thorn over utterly while the combination of Agonizer + Feat means the Stormwall will be rather pillowfisted. As such, getting a couple of games in with Haley3 was just what the doctor ordered!

:: 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:

(Makeda 2) Supreme Archdomina Makeda [+24]
- Basilisk Krea [7]
- Tiberion [22]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [21]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [21]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Tyrant Rhadeim [9]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Recon and I got first turn. To be honest I don't think turns matter that much in this matchup and I'll revisit this further down the report. In any case I set up for the long game, patiently waiting for my opponent to commit. I've become a big fan of keeping my Lances non-committed deployment-wise and opted for a a symmetrical deployment here.

:: Game ::

I don't bother with clouds because he can't reach me with anything anyway. Charger takes the left flank. Lances move up on both flank, stretched but ready for whatever's needed.

Ferox start moving up and spread out. Support gets in position.

This is kind of my point from deployment on why I don't think turns matter too much. Sooner or later I get all set up with clouds blocking everything off and the Ferox within range of engaging me. The Charger does kill a cat this turn due to my opponent placing it just outside of Makeda's command range but nothing else happens. I simply implicitly threaten scenario if he doesn't commit and I think this is how Haley3 should play this matchup. My only worry now is that he can get too much work done on me.

Kitkats move in but there is no feat. They kill 5 Trenchers. I originally thought feat would be the best choice here but he can't really connect with anything important anyway. If anything the Trenchers are more in my way to be honest.

What happens when 9 kitkats with tough, dodge and stay death on 6 fury crash into Haley3 lines? You load up your jacks on focus from Prime + Future, let Past go to town, apply Distortion as well as you can and let it rip. The result?

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Prior to this game I was hoping that Haley3 would be able to do pretty much exactly what I did here. The volume is too high for the Ferox and the tons of independent activations combined with a clusterfuck of a combat means that neither dodge, tough nor stay death is enough. This game helped me convince that Haley3 is a very solid counter to this list, which I am obviously very happy with.

What could Makeda conceivably have done? With a proper setup she might be able to get more Ferox onto more important targets. She could possibly have had one unit engage one flank, kill the trenchers in front and then reposition away and then follow up with the second unit to get to more juicy stuff. With feat she might just be capable to deliver this. However, the problem is that there aren't really much "juicy stuff" to go for. The Ironclad perhaps but that opens up a lot more for the Lances (which were way too far behind here for him to effectively engage), if he can even get to it at all.

Steamrolling Skorne might not be the hardest thing in Mk. 3 but having struggled with kitkat previously I was relieved to experience how well Haley3 handles this.