Battle Report #414: Haley2 vs Harkevich

:: Prologue ::

Following a round against Circle it was time for Khador! I requested Harkevich as I anticipate him to be a standard drop into Cygnar. My opponent happily obliged and off we went!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25], Storm Division, Fuel Cache
 - Thorn [13]
 - Stormwall [39]
 - Squire [0]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
 - Firefly [8]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]

Opponent:

Theme: Winter Guard Kommand
(Harkevich 1) Kommander Harkevich, The Iron Wolf [+28]
 - Juggernaut [12]
 - Juggernaut [12]
 - Kodiak [13]
 - Kodiak [13]
 - Kodiak [13]
 - Marauder [10]
 - Marauder [10]
Jozef da man [0]
Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10]
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6]
 - Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Harkevich I anticipate will be a classic pairing into Cygnar. He's combination of speed, durability and LoS-denial coupled with the innate damage output in everything Khadoran could overwhelm Haley. A perfect test for the Storm Division!

:: Game ::

Going second on Take and Hold means I anticipate an attrition-fest. I don't see anyone getting the upper hand here on scenario. That being said I'll position Haley nearby so I can jump to the flag if need be. Khador runs up and clouds.

I fan out, trying to get as good lances as possible for Lances.

Khador keeps on coming. The Clouds are focused on the big Lances.

I did consider the following here: Walk in with a Stormwall and hopefully kill a jack and dominate another to have Lances charge. Covered by Temporal Shift, of course. However, if I do that he can counter-feat and probably jam lances. Doesn't sound good.

Instead I am able to send Thorn around to see past the edge of the clouds, Dominate + TK a Kodiak out and kill it without any other retaliation.

Harkevich commits and feats. I don't expect to get a lot of work done under his feat so I counter-feat and jam with the minimum amount of models needed. The Stormwall tries to smack a Kodiak but dice off 3 coupled with low damage rolls mean I just tickle it.

Under my feat the Khadorans can't do a whole lot.

I can't find very good angles for the Lances. Too much terrain in my way. Grinding ARM20 jacks without Lances fully operational? Hard. Thorn bashes out the Cortex on one of the Marauders and disrupts the other. I TK a Juggernaut so it's outside of Harkevich's control range. The Stormwall kills a Kodiak and Laddermore + Lances leave the last Kodiak on a few boxes.

With this I have ensured 4 jacks receive no focus next turn out of the 5 remaining. Let's see if it's enough.

The infantry is getting up the Field and are making its presence felt. Lances lose a couple. Marauders miss Thorn with combo-smite. I giggle as I dodge away. Lucky, but I'll take it! A lucky Kodiak dismounts Laddermore while the Jugger which received focus killed the Firefly.

I need a good turn now and I get it: The remaining Kodiak's killed alongside the 2 Marauders (both harmed from before). I start wacking the juggernauts with the remaining Lances but don't cripple anything.

My opponent makes one last attempt at winning the attrition was and commits both Juggernauts to the Stormwall. It's not enough (not even close) and we call the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This matchup feels fairly even. It's very skill-intensive with Khador threatening to overrun everything Cygnar in sight whereas Haley has to be very careful to allow her to pick off pieces at a time and Divide and Conquer the Khador jacks.

I look forward to playing more against Harkevich and learning the little bits here and there of how he works. I didn't get enough out of my Lances in this game and that can surely be improved.