onsdag 26. april 2017

Battle Report #505: Haley2 vs Karchev

:: Prologue ::

Since Battle at Lund I haven't played as much as I did before Easter. That is intentional. For me this game sometimes becomes an all-consuming hobby. I mean that in a good way, I thoroughly enjoy the around-the-clock discussions, analysis, thoughts, preparations and games. It's also extremely rewarding when it pays off. Inevitably, diving this deep into the game means I neglect other things to an extent. It feels natural to slow down afterwards, take it a little slower and just chill. There certainly are more tournaments to prepare for, more options to explore and more awesome games to play. Don't worry, I'm not leaving anytime soon.

Today I had my first "standard" 75-point games since Lund. I was playing against Khador. The first game was a matchup I had requested: Haley2 vs Karchev. With the recent changes I've deliberated for Haley2 I wanted to see if she could still control ARM-skew lists sufficiently. Initially I wanted to try Haley2 with all-out shooting but I quickly realized that keeping the Stormclad on Jakes was the right choice.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:
Cygnar - Technical Death Metal v6
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Cyclone [13]
- Stormwall [39]
- Thorn [13]
- Firefly [8]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
- Stormclad [18]
Opponent:
Karchev
- 2x Devastators
- 2x Juggernauts
- 5x Marauders
2x Greylord Forge Seers
Manhunter
Marksman

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Breakdown from SR2017 CID and Karchev wins, electing to go first. My plan here is to keep applying ranged firepower, take out Devastators and slowly win on attrition.


:: Game ::

Stuff runs. Karchev casts battle-charged.


I move up. A Charger and the Stormwall shoot. Pew pew!


Karchev pushes with Devastators in front.


The scenario is slow enough for me to give up some points early on. I decide to withdraw, keep shooting, pull out a Devastator with Domination + TK and hold my feat. I use Domination to punch my own Stormwall. It takes a couple of boxes so Hero Arlan is there to patch him right back up.


Another push. Khador moves to 2-0.


Time to feat! I dominate the Devastator to allow the Stormwall to remove it. It's kind of annoying having to spend time killing them when they are the least killy, but if they get into my backline they are so troublesome. The stormclad kills another heavy and my shooting does some work as well.


Karchev sets up, putting himself up close to really force the issue.


I back off again, leave the middle uncontested and score with Junior in the left zone. Khador still ahead by 2.


Karchev goes in and kills the Stormwall with the help of a nearby Marauder. This empties his focus stack though...


...and the firepower alone takes him down before my heavy hitters can even activate!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Haley's control elements coupled with the slower scenarios in SR2017 combine to let her handle matchups like this I feel, despite not having the extra melee heavy I've played with thus far. The Cyclone didn't really shine here, obviously, but the added firepower actually did get some work done.

I don't think there's a whole lot else to say about this game. I've got a lot of experience against builds like this and I feel the game largely plays itself. There are tons of things to watch out for, but barring that it's a matter of the whether the nature of the matchup favours Haley2 or Karchev. This felt like it was in my favour, quite clearly. 

3 kommentarer:

  1. You don't have to make the Melee attack off the back of Domination if you don't want to.

    SvarSlett
    Svar
    1. Making the attack opens the shields up, reducing it from ARM23 to ARM19

      Slett
    2. Ben is correct! Indeed this is important when you want to deal with devastators. ARM19 is a lot more manageable than ARM23 :)

      Slett