Battle Report #444: Stryker1 vs Fyanna2

:: Prologue ::

Second and last game of the day: Facing Fyanna2 for the first time! Map and scenario same as last, all ready to go!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Stryker 1) Commander Coleman Stryker [+30]
- Firefly[8]
- Stormwall [39]
- Stormwall [39]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [0]
- Charger [9]

Opponent:

(Fyanna 2) Fyanna, Torment of Everblight [+28]
 - Angelius [17]
 - Naga Nightlurker [8]
 - Neraph [12]
 - Neraph [12]
 - Neraph [12]
 - Seraph [14]
Spell Martyr [1]
The Forsaken [4]
Wrong Eye [17]
 - Snapjaw
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion [6]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Legion goes first again. I liked my position from last game so I deploy basically as I did then.

:: Game ::

Fyanna places a lot of her beasts opposite my flag.

I can tempt my opponent to send the Angelius into a Stormwall. However I can't let him have an Angelius and a Neraph. This means one Stormwall hardly gets to run more than its 5" it would otherwise have advanced. Ugh. The second 'wall receives Snipe and starts shooting a Neraph. Damage is minimal. Chargers move into position, Jakes puts up Sidekick.

Legion shifts right. Crucially, the majority of the beasts are placed way back.

I am thinking I can get away without feating. I measure up the various Neraphs and only the ones behind the rock will be in range. I figure that despite them having DEF18 the sheer volume of shots I can produce -should- be enough to bring one of them down. This turns out to be correct!

Despite checking, double-checking and proxying all Neraphs multiple times I did forget to measure the Angelius before I placed the second 'wall in its final position. Turns out it's just within 14". Oh crap. This allows 2 heavies to charge it. Fyanna has a decision to make though: She can either get to the flag, leaving the Neraph charging said 'wall out of control, or she can feat. She chooses the former, having the Seraph slipstream her to the flag after the Neraph's activated. No feat. The 'wall survives on a handful of boxes. 0-1.

Feat time for me. I made a bit of a shitty mistake, a completely unnecessary one, which meant I couldn't pod to contest her. Wow, that's just so bad. Arlan was also too far away to repair the damaged 'wall so I had to clear out the center first and then have my 'wall back off to be healed. This worked out ok thanks to Jakes' Charger and the firefly. Still though, letting Fyanna score? So bad. I was too pre-occupied with Wrongeye's Star-Crossed range to even consider it. Bleh. 2-2.

Fyanna feats. Hellion contests me. Crucially the remaining Neraph doesn't go for the wounded 'wall, would definitely have been close with Wraithbane + Fury. With so few boxes left even ARM24 isn't close to being a sure bet. It does kill the Firefly though which is definitely value as well, especially considering Ionization. 2-3.

The wounded 'wall goes first, tries to kill the Neraph but fails. I blocked it in with a pod, which not only prevented the Neraph from getting out with Dodge, but also set up for a beautiful Earthquake which knocked down both the Hellion, Wrongeye and Snapjaw. Jakes finished the Hellion, the Stormwall killed Snapjaw and Junior's Charger killed Wrongeye. Pretty awesome turn, I also podded to contest now. 3-3.

Clocks are running very low. My opponent does clock out this turn but we play it out anyway. He kills the wounded 'wall and moves to 4 CP.

I can either try and clear the zone to go to 5-5 or try and contest him with something which doesn't easily die. The advantage of going for the former play is that he can't contest my flag with anything so if that works out I win unless he kills Stryker. I make the play and we go to 5-5.

There's one last ditch effort Fyanna can make: Charge the 'wall, pull in Stryker with Gallows and kill him. Not only does Gallows connect but the pull is long enough. Sadly for Fyanna, the fury isn't there and she doesn't have enough left to buy attacks to kill him.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The Angelius getting into the 'wall was a big mistake which shaped the game. Had the 'wall gone down I'm pretty sure I would've had a disastrous game at my hands. That being said though, I think the biggest mistake here was how my opponent set up top of 2: By placing the Neraphs as far back as he did I could quite comfortably get into a fairly legit position with the 'walls, forcing him to initiate a piece trade on unfavourable terms. True, I did make a mistake here anyway, but shuffling the bottom 'wall 0.2" further away would've meant that the play would have been a big success. I'm not sure what Fyanna could've done then and in my following turn I could've feated to physically block her from contesting my flag. It's typically not a good idea to feat first in a matchup like this but if you can get a solid start on CP like that I think it should definitely be looked into.

Two very interesting games vs Legion for sure! I still think this needs to be played into Lylyth3, in a build with Azrael and Typhon there is some significant power around. It might be very much in Stryker's favour for sure, but it needs to be validated.