Battle Report #527: Haley2 vs Iron Mother

:: Prologue ::

After game 1 we decided to tweak Mother to go with 1 TEP, which lets her take an Assimilator and a couple of Diffusers. Sadly, it was pointed out to me after the game, my opponent forgot about the Assimilator altogether (!).

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"TimeStorm"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
Storm Strider - PC: 18
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Reliant - PC: 14
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0

:: Opponent ::

Iron Mother
- Prime Axiom
- Diffuser x3
- Assimilator
- Corollary
Meks
TEP
Free bots

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same map and scenario, Mother goes first. I play the Storm Strider diagonally opposite the TEP now. The idea is that the TEP will have to commit itself heavily and thus open up a big vacuum if it wants to provide +3 shield guards every turn on the left flank.

:: Game ::

Convergence stuff runs up.

I go for pot-shots on a Diffuser with the Storm Strider. The dice aren't great. I figure my opponent is unlikely to one-round it and commitment-wise I'm establishing myself on the right flank.

Of course I didn't factor in harm. That alters the equation significantly. Sadly for my opponent the Harm shot misses as he doesn't want to feat. Sadly for me that doesn't matter as the Storm Strider goes down anyway. Pretty bad start, eh?

I have a pretty decent play by TK-ing the TEP around and running up hard with feat. I do this and Junior's Firefly contests on the left by running to engage a Diffuser. 1-0.

Mother again doesn't want to feat and this ensures that my Firefly survives (!), thus contesting. TEP has to withdraw which means no contest for Convergence. 2-0.

I figure that by blocking out Prime and killing the TEP I'll have an amazing position. I don't dare to put Haley on the flag (quite frankly it's impossible since I need to activate her before the Hurricane), but this still means I'll go to 3-0.

My opponent clears his zone, but he misses Thorn with an attack which lets me dodge away. Between the Reliant's AOE3 on his objective, the Hurricane and Thorn blocking tons of angles, it's impossible for him to contest me. That means I keep the 3 point lead, which in turn means I can kill the objective, take the flag, zone and contest to go +6 and win on scenario. My opponent concedes.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The Storm Strider greed was terrible and set me up way, way behind. My opponent forgetting to put down the Assimilator though greatly affected the game as well.

Those things aside, I think this game highlights how crazy fast some scenarios can still be played -if- you get the necessary opening. Luring people out to commit too heavily can really be punished and that's exactly what happened here. As with the first game I struggled with taking out bots here as well, but I found plays which didn't mean that I had to.

I find this matchup to be exhausting to play. It requires experience and patience in great amounts. For Cygnar it's hard to protect against Domination/pull angles while removing bots. For Convergence it's hard to set up properly for feat, ensure scenario is held down and that you don't lose too many bots. Despite the mental load it's a lot of fun and I greatly enjoy these encounters!