Battle Report #441: Haley2 vs Xerxis2

:: Prologue ::

I got the chance to play Skorne last night! Good practice. I don't think Stryker1 is a particularly good Skorne drop. He doesn't have the volume to deal with Makeda2 nor the threat ranges to cope with heavy hitters. This means that I am currently trying to figure out whether Haley2 can handle Skorne.

First up was one of the hitty lists, more specifically Xerxis2!

:: 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: Winds of Death
1 / 1 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army
Xerxis, Fury of Halaak - WB: +28
-    Archidon - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
-    Archidon - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
-    Titan Gladiator - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
-    Tiberion - PC: 22
-    Basilisk Krea - PC: 7
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - PC: 4
Extoller Soulward - PC: 3
Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Venator Flayer Cannon Crew - Gunner & Grunt: 0
Venator Reivers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
-    Venator Reiver Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
Venator Slingers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 8

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Incursion and Skorne seized the initiative. My main worry here was the shooting demanding too much space. If Lances get hindered I could effectively be blocked out of the scenario, which is a -big- issue on Incursion. The idea then was to take it slow until scoring starts and let the 'wall do its thing.

:: Game ::

Skorne runs up, Archidon on either flank (Radheim proxying) and shooting in the center. Rapport on Tiberion.

I place the 'wall 13.1" away from Tiberion and let loose with 3 big gun shots. ~10 boxes or so, fair enough. Lances stay fairly far away, a properly alpha is close to impossible.

My opponent feels like he cannot yield too much board space. I can appreciate this for a couple of reasons: Time Bomb brings Tiberion down to an 11" threat range and the central terrain allows the 'wall to effectively lock the Reivers out of the fight. That is a problem. However the problem with my opponent's indecisive push is that I can probably capitalize on his weak center...

Some proxying and pre-measuring and I'm good to go: Haley can catch everything important in feat. I TA the Firefly and together with Lances, Stormwall and Laddermore the infantry is ripped to shreds with just a handful left. I score 2 points but forget to contest the left flank so 2-1.

Tiberion walks up to contest on the right flank. The Archidon jams a Lance on the left flank. The infantry in the center shoot up a couple of lances.

Stormwall kills Tiberion and I clear both the left flag and the center for a very fast 5 CP win!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Xerxis2 feels like the wrong kind of answer to Haley2. At the very least his melee/combined arms approach does. He doesn't bring a whole lot to the table for his army outside of his feat. To properly take advantage of that against Haley2 I think more shooting is needed. It's worth remembering that Issyria with shooting still struggles in this matchup so I'm not sure Xerxis can do it better.

In this game the Reivers got into an awkward position top of 2. I'm not sure what Skorne could have done differently. The shooting is demanded to get too much work done I believe. Possibly a more aggressive play by Xerxis and the beasts might have bought time and space.