Issyria, eh? Never an easy opponent. I need to practice though, ClogCon is coming up and time flies by!
:: 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:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
We are playing Extraction and Retribution got first turn. Hyperion is deployed on one flank with Invictors on the other. I deploy Lances opposite Hyperion and Stormwall opposite the Invictors with the rest in the middle. The idea is to look for alpha or scenario openings bottom of 2 and keep my things safe until then.
:: Game ::
Ret puts up IR on Hyperion and Admonition on Phoenix.
Lances swing left, pre-measuring the possible final position of Hyperion should he wish to shoot them so as to be outside of everything he has. Firefly goes a little closer, staying just outside its big gun. Haley throws up Deflection and TA on the Stormwall which swings right. I keep Thorn in the trench with the Ironclad in the cloud, outside of 15" of the Hyperion. Should he wish to alpha me he has to rely on sub-optimal shooting.
The Stormwall was deliberately left in charge range of the Phoenix. I figured that if he commits the Phoenix and I sub-sequently kill it under my feat turn I can probably take control of the left flank. Phoenix goes in and Issyria feats. Some solid dice coupled with support from Invictors and Discordia leave my colossal with an entire side -and- Pod system crippled. Good grief. Ironclad is also shot a bit but nothing major happens here.
Ok, thinkthinkthink. I have to take advantage of my scenario opening on the left flank but the Invictors on the right flank are very well positioned to deny me anything there so yeah, I´ll have to settle for 1-0. I TK the Phoenix into my remaining arm and feat safely behind the cloud with Haley. I throw up Deflection again and the Lances sweep far left to threaten central action bottom of 3. I chill out with Thorn and the Ironclad and my Stormwall fluffs so Phoenix survives on 8 boxes or so. 4+ so hard on 2d6. 1-0.
In a game defining decision my opponent chooses to shoot with Hyperion instead of walking up to contest. Some truly ridiculous dice sees him leave the unharmed Firefly on 2 (!) boxes, despite me having Deflection up and Issyria feating last turn. Wow, ok. The Phoenix walks a bit to deny me back arc again and the Invictors stand still, shooting the Stormwall up some more. Discordia repositions ahead. 2-0.
My idea with the jacks chilling out was to threaten Hyperion with multiple fully-fueled jacks + lances supported by Ragman if he wanted to move in to contest. Seeing as he did not do so it's kind of irrelevant at this point in time as I can instead look for other attrition plays. The idea is to send the Ironclad into Discordia instead and send the Lances to jam Hyperion and Thorn to apply Ragman so it will hopefully start taking some damage he cannot ignore. The Stormwall finally kills the Phoenix but I am unable to do enough to the Invictors to let me score that flag this turn. Still, the Firefly has the left flag, 3-0.
Issyria ancillary on Thorn misses, I dodge away. He casts Blinding Light. Invictors assault. 4 into Ironclad, some into Stormwall, 1 into Firefly. Firefly dies, Stormwall has 8 or so boxes left (MCR intact) and Ironclad is left on 4 boxes. Hyperion shoots Firefly dead and some boxes on Thorn but nothing important.
Ironclad + Lances clear a lane for Thorn. With Ragman Death Field he moves in to kill the objective. Squire runs to my flag and that is all she wrote!
:: Evaluation ::
This game highlights how lethal Retribution are, especially with Issyria feat. Their lack of control compared to Haley is made up for sufficiently with pure damage output.
I am not sure letting Phoenix charge Stormwall is the right move. I need more power on the right flank if I want to capitalize on this in terms of getting scenario points. That being said, getting out a heavy like that can be valuable. With Admonition it is very hard for me to alpha it from a long way anyways with this list.
Going first here is obviously big, but I feel Retribution committed a little too much in terms of deployment here. That helped me get pretty decent matchups here. I feel this is a game for both sides and it boils down to whether Haley2 can score enough points or get a crippling feat. This time I got away with the former.
Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn - WJ: +29
- Hyperion - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 29)
- Phoenix - PC: 18
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
Arcanist Mechanik - PC: 2
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber - PC: 4
- Discordia - PC: 18
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Dawnguard Invictors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
- Soulless Escort - PC: 1
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
We are playing Extraction and Retribution got first turn. Hyperion is deployed on one flank with Invictors on the other. I deploy Lances opposite Hyperion and Stormwall opposite the Invictors with the rest in the middle. The idea is to look for alpha or scenario openings bottom of 2 and keep my things safe until then.
:: Game ::
Ret puts up IR on Hyperion and Admonition on Phoenix.
Lances swing left, pre-measuring the possible final position of Hyperion should he wish to shoot them so as to be outside of everything he has. Firefly goes a little closer, staying just outside its big gun. Haley throws up Deflection and TA on the Stormwall which swings right. I keep Thorn in the trench with the Ironclad in the cloud, outside of 15" of the Hyperion. Should he wish to alpha me he has to rely on sub-optimal shooting.
The Stormwall was deliberately left in charge range of the Phoenix. I figured that if he commits the Phoenix and I sub-sequently kill it under my feat turn I can probably take control of the left flank. Phoenix goes in and Issyria feats. Some solid dice coupled with support from Invictors and Discordia leave my colossal with an entire side -and- Pod system crippled. Good grief. Ironclad is also shot a bit but nothing major happens here.
Ok, thinkthinkthink. I have to take advantage of my scenario opening on the left flank but the Invictors on the right flank are very well positioned to deny me anything there so yeah, I´ll have to settle for 1-0. I TK the Phoenix into my remaining arm and feat safely behind the cloud with Haley. I throw up Deflection again and the Lances sweep far left to threaten central action bottom of 3. I chill out with Thorn and the Ironclad and my Stormwall fluffs so Phoenix survives on 8 boxes or so. 4+ so hard on 2d6. 1-0.
In a game defining decision my opponent chooses to shoot with Hyperion instead of walking up to contest. Some truly ridiculous dice sees him leave the unharmed Firefly on 2 (!) boxes, despite me having Deflection up and Issyria feating last turn. Wow, ok. The Phoenix walks a bit to deny me back arc again and the Invictors stand still, shooting the Stormwall up some more. Discordia repositions ahead. 2-0.
My idea with the jacks chilling out was to threaten Hyperion with multiple fully-fueled jacks + lances supported by Ragman if he wanted to move in to contest. Seeing as he did not do so it's kind of irrelevant at this point in time as I can instead look for other attrition plays. The idea is to send the Ironclad into Discordia instead and send the Lances to jam Hyperion and Thorn to apply Ragman so it will hopefully start taking some damage he cannot ignore. The Stormwall finally kills the Phoenix but I am unable to do enough to the Invictors to let me score that flag this turn. Still, the Firefly has the left flag, 3-0.
Issyria ancillary on Thorn misses, I dodge away. He casts Blinding Light. Invictors assault. 4 into Ironclad, some into Stormwall, 1 into Firefly. Firefly dies, Stormwall has 8 or so boxes left (MCR intact) and Ironclad is left on 4 boxes. Hyperion shoots Firefly dead and some boxes on Thorn but nothing important.
Ironclad + Lances clear a lane for Thorn. With Ragman Death Field he moves in to kill the objective. Squire runs to my flag and that is all she wrote!
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
This game highlights how lethal Retribution are, especially with Issyria feat. Their lack of control compared to Haley is made up for sufficiently with pure damage output.
I am not sure letting Phoenix charge Stormwall is the right move. I need more power on the right flank if I want to capitalize on this in terms of getting scenario points. That being said, getting out a heavy like that can be valuable. With Admonition it is very hard for me to alpha it from a long way anyways with this list.
Going first here is obviously big, but I feel Retribution committed a little too much in terms of deployment here. That helped me get pretty decent matchups here. I feel this is a game for both sides and it boils down to whether Haley2 can score enough points or get a crippling feat. This time I got away with the former.
Interesting match! Do you think that Hyperion could have moved up further early and denied the left flag?
SvarSlettHe would have had to run to accomplish that. I also positioned a lot of models to charge him if he had gone for such a play.
Slett