Internal Affairs Mk. XII Game 3 (#547): Stryker1 vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

Last game of the day and a Cygnar mirror! I was hoping to get more mirrors, but I'll take one over none for sure. Getting to try out the Jaeger Team in practice was something I had looked forward to for some time. My opponent brought a Haley2 list which was pretty well suited to mirror matches as well, with Sloan as the second caster. He dropped Haley2 into the Jaeger Team and off we went!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Stormwall - PC: 39
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Opponent ::

Haley2, Heavy Metal
- Stormwall
- Charger
- Minuteman
- Thorn
- Squire
Junior
- Charger
Jakes1
- Minuteman
- Ironclad
Arlan 

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We played Standoff and I went first. The plan was to apply the shooters ASAP, ensure no early sneaky angles for Haley and just let the pew pew work for me.

:: Game ::

Colossals run up max. Stormwall receives AS from Stryker, Hurricane Snipe. Blur on Stryker himself. Junior put up AS on his Charger as I expected the left flank to be somewhat contested.

My opponent spreads out: Minuteman receives Sidekick and runs on the left flank. Stormwall runs centrally out of my charge range, as does Haley, Junior's Charger and the second Minuteman. Thorn and the Ironclad are left in a trench fairly centrally.

I have a golden opportunity to get a huge advantage here: Junior is within shooting range of my Stormwall. Thorn is within shooting range of the Hurricane. I drop Snipe from the Hurricane and AS from the 'wall, intending to re-apply depending on what happens with Thorn: I start off with one slam cannon and if it fails he has to dodge out of the trench (to avoid the second) or risk eating that as well. No matter, the first connects and I follow up with enough firepower to simply remove Thorn altogether. The Stormwall receives Snipe and takes out Junior. Adding insult to injury Junior's Charger removes the Cortex from the Minuteman on the left flank. I feat and feel pretty good!

Stormwall charges Hurricane under my feat. Granted 'shield isn't up but ARM24 is still a thing. Haley feats.

Not much to do under Haley feat: Hurricane strikes back and deals massive damage, the loss of Junior (and thus Arcane Shield) really hurts my opponent's ability to take this fight. The Stormwall shoots and the Chargers pew pew a bit.

My opponent goes for a desperate assassination attempt on Stryker: With Blur and 3 camp it's a crazy long-shot and it doesn't work out.

I reply in kind by clearing out the entire table just about. My opponent concedes.

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

It was good to finally start in this matchup. I've gone second so many times and it makes a big difference here: Stryker really wants to get those buffs out! I got a dream start top of 2 when both Junior and Thorn had to throw in the towel. That is not supposed to happen, but it shows how extreme the shooting game of this list is.

There's still a lot of things I have yet to figure out with this list. It has so much potential but it's so different from what I'm used to. I hope to get some more games in with this in the not-too distant future, at which point I also hope to elaborate on the finer points of wielding the Jaeger Team.

This was but a small, local event, but it felt good to bring it home none the less!

Internal Affairs Mk. XII Game 2 (#546): Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

The second game of the day saw me face off against Issyria in Shadows! I find this a very interesting list to play against. Skill-intensive and unique! I was curious to see how the Stormwall would affect the matchup.

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

TimeStorm v2
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
Storm Strider - PC: 18
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Cyclone - PC: 13
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0 

:: Opponent ::

Issyria
- Hyperion
- 2x Chimera
- 3x Arcanist
Narn
Eiryss1
MHSF
MHSF
- UA
Spears
- Soulless Escort

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Spread the Net and Ret moved first. My plan here was to cover my Stormwall's flanks with the Strider on one side and the Firefly on the other. Since I went last I anticipated a fairly passive first turn and deployed so that I could utilize the terrain for DEF-bonuses early on.

:: Game ::

Typically I see Ret trying to overload a flank with MHSF in this matchup. My opponent chose another approach by taking one flank with each unit. Interesting!

My response was to cover the left flank with the Cyclone's Covering Fire. On the right flank I podded and had the Strider leap for 2 kills, while Thorn ran up with Evasive Action to allow Haley to arc. bolt 2x MHSF-models to death before TK-ing and reaction driving him back. I figured that if my opponent would commit for Thorn it would be one hell of a dicey play, on top of which he'd lose a ton of Strike Force dudes. I took care to land my Strider outside of 24" from both Chimeras.

Ret move in for Thorn and discover that Dodge + Evasive Action is every bit as hilarious as you'd have thought. I lose ~8 boxes or so but with the 2" moves I'm in repair range of Arlan.

Time to retaliate! My goal for this turn is to crush the right flank and the Chimeras (which both committed to apply Blinding Light to Haley and Thorn). That works out well and with feat to cover me I feel pretty good!

MHSF on the left try to advance a bit, but not much else really happens.

Instead of charging Hyperion, which I believe is a terrible mistake, I back off and shoot him.

Hyperion keeps committing with Issyria behind for arcane vortex.

The trouble is that being in range of Arcane Vortex also means you're in range of electro leaps! I run Thorn up and burn off some focus with Arcane Bolts, before the Stormwall and Storm Strider downright kill Issyria with leaps.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The arc nodes are key pieces for Issyria here. I think a lot in this matchup boils down to how well/how poorly they are played. In this game my opponent went for a gambit early on: Apply blinding light to Thorn and Haley in an effort to stop them both. This exposed both Chimeras which subsequently meant that the Storm Strider was free to do as I pleased without fear of being shut down.

I managed to use cover greatly to my advantage in this game. MHSF struggle with Cygnar lights in cover and there's really not a lot of great answers to that in this Shadows build.

I've played this matchup a few times now and I know what to look for. Having a Stormwall this time around certainly made things easier. I reckon it's playable with a Hurricane as well. 

Internal Affairs Mk. XII Game 1 (#545): Haley2 vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

I played in a tournament last Saturday. Just a small, local thing. I brought a variant of TimeStorm and the Jaeger Team with me. Game 1 saw me face a casual Cryx player, fielding a combined-arms variant with Deneghra1. Compared to the usual Ghost Fleet stereotype I considered myself lucky to draw this list!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

TimeStorm v2
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
Storm Strider - PC: 18
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Cyclone - PC: 13
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0 

:: Opponent ::

Deneghra1
- Cankerworm
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
Repair dude
Soul Trapper
Machine Wraith
Max Nyss
Max Satyxis
- UA
Max Warriors
- UA

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Breakdown and I won the dice-off, electing to go first. My plan was to take control of a flank heavily, send the Storm Strider up there and sweep across the table slowly but surely.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs, Haley puts up Force Field.

My opponent spreads out, taking care to not leave things within 4" of other things on the right flank. His Leviathan spikes like crazy on the Stormwall: With nothing but Parasite to help him out he takes 24 boxes!

I TK Leviathan around, shoot him with both huge bases, feat and claim table space. The majority of my small guns focus on the Nyss.

Cryx have to back up, leaving me tons of table space and options.

Stormwall backs off, I kill a lot of models with shooting. I also establish a CP lead. From here on in it's basically a clean-up:

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This was a fairly easy game: A casual list really struggles against an anti-Cryx Haley2 list. I had to avoid major mistakes, which I did. Despite some crazy rolls initially my opponent never really had an angle in this game. 

Battle Report #544: Stryker1 vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

Following the WTC practice weekend I had another mirror match a few days later against a local opponent. I wanted to get some more games in with Stryker1, a caster I find surprisingly hard to master. My opponent took Time Storm to the fight and off we went!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Stormwall - PC: 39
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Opponent ::

"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

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Spread the Net yet again and Haley moves first. The idea is to protect Stryker with a proper castle and let the shooting do work!

:: Game ::

My opponent's Strider, proxied by Hyperion for the time being, runs up rather aggressively on the left flank. The rest advance towards the center.

I put up Snipe on the Stormwall which proceeds to blow the Strider off the table with the help of Jakes' Chargers.

Haley's Hurricane kills the Chargers on the left flank. Poor positioning from me and a TK from Thorn ensured they were both in trouble real fast.

I push the colossals up, one into the Reliant and the other to shoot a bit and pod my flag (pods are solos!). Feat comes out.

Haley's forces shift right and she feats in return.

I can consolidate my position and indeed I do so, another pod, another point!

Haley gets desperate and sends her Hurricane into mine. Thorn has to run (!) to contest.

I get both of my colossals into the fight against his, which pretty much breaks the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The idea behind trying TimeStorm here was to see if the leaps etc could create some difficult angles for the support models desperately wanting to stay alive. Losing the Storm Strider top of 1 was definitely a mistake, but to be fair I lost two (!) Chargers for this so in the end not the worst trade.

With the experience from this game I believe that it will be hard for Haley to properly leverage the leap angles. POW10 isn't all that at the end of the day. I also believe that Haley's main plan here should be to spread out and delay. Kite and pray for openings either on scenario or assassination. That is indeed easier said than done but it feels like whenever the piece trades happen quickly Stryker comes out ahead.

Battle Report #542 & #543: Sloan vs Stryker1

:: Prologue ::

The mirror testing continues! The Trencher CID part which removed AD from Hunters arrived just prior to our practice weekend. We were eager to see if Sloan could do anything about the Jaeger Team configuration, especially with these changes in mind. Having played Haley2 in the former encounter Olov wanted to give Stryker1 a go, so I took Sloan.

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

Sloan with Stormwall & Hunters

:: Opponent ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
- Stormwall - PC: 39
- Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Charger - PC: 9
- Charger - PC: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Olov started. I deployed skewed on the right flank, wanting to use cover as much as I could.

:: Game ::

Colossals run up, Chargers spread out. Snipe on Hurricane which takes care to stay out of my threat ranges if memory serves.

I spread out the Hunters. Sloan goes in the Trench next to the 'wall.

And I die. Stormwall tramples up, Hurricane runs, Stryker arcs Earthquake, puts Snipe on a Charger, Jakes energizes a Charger and the two of them finish me off. This goes to show how crazy enabling the Hurricane is for this build!

We're running low on time and it seems to the both of us that no matter what I do, Stryker will have some pretty amazing alpha angles. Instead of mini-feating we decide to re-rack with Sloan going first.

I run stuff up and take care to use cover as much as I can...

...yet a light is lost on the left flank to pod + quake again. Olov's having the time of his life!

I take a couple of pot-shots and use cover as best as I can.

Stryker pushes and feats. Rolls are low but I still suffer a lot of damage.

I can't do a lot under his feat so I wrap around on the right where I can, block off his colossals in the middle and move my 'wall up. I'm hoping to get an angle to feat post-feat and kill off the Hurricane.

The jammed colossals struggle to get a lot of work done.

If memory serves a lot of my Hunters were crippled so odds weren't in my favour to get up on attrition here. I was down on scenario and, perhaps most importantly, Stryker was kind of exposed. By feating I could get some Hunter shots onto him and my 'wall could leap to him off of his own 'wall. It was a pretty good angle so I took it, unfortunately dice didn't cooperate and he lived.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

Although these games were played before the Hunters got the points reduction, this very much felt like an uphill battle. I'm not entirely sure if Sloan can be configured to effectively deal with Jaeger Team, but I doubt it. My Stryker1 build really impressed me in these short games and I intend to explore it further as it's an absolute beast in the mirror match (which is becoming increasingly important).

If there's an answer here for Sloan I believe it revolves around Jakes and Sidekick. If you can get something to help shelter vital models from the Hurricane that's a great place to start. I'll probably look into it, dojo a bit and let you guys know if I find something interesting! 

Battle Report #541: Stryker1 vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

At the time of our WTC practice weekend I had some experience with the Hurricane and it suddenly hit me while dojoing with Olov (fellow Cygnar player from Sweden) that I think it might just re-enable the Stryker1 double colossal build I tried to make work a little while back. It essentially opens up so many angles and I believe it to be possibly the best mirror drop we could ever have.

Naturally, I had to try it out! Olov and I decided to spend the rest of the last practice day playing various mirror matches with the Jaeger Team™ config!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

"Jaeger Team"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army
Commander Coleman Stryker - WJ: +30
-    Squire - PC: 0
-    Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 30)
-    Stormwall - PC: 39
-    Lightning Pod
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
-    Charger - PC: 9
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
-    Charger - PC: 9
-    Charger - PC: 9

:: Opponent ::

Haley2 Heavy Metal
- Hurricane
- Thorn
- Charger
- Charger
Junior
- Charger
Jakes
- Charger
- Hammersmith

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We avoided the Time Storm variant for Haley2 because we thought the Charger-spam would be more interesting to test out (the assumption being that Haley2 Time Storm rarely plays/wants to play mirror). The scenario was Spread the Net and Haley went first. My plan here was to take advantage of a nearby trench, create a fort there basically and work the pew pew game!

:: Game :: 

Haley runs stuff up.

By Sniping the Hurricane I can actually peg a Charger on the right flank. I do so and kill it dead, finishing my turn with Junior casting Shield to replace Snipe. In hindsight, I don't think I actually need to do this at all, I'm probably fine with just having it on ARM19 for a turn given the state of the game and upkeeping Snipe is a big deal. Anyway.

Haley tries to castle up with the central forest as a denier.

I contemplate slowing the game down but I fear that if I do so I will lose control of the table. I decide instead to push and feat: Podding on the left to Earthquake two Chargers and killing the Hammersmith on the right.

Haley counter-feats and despite my +5 ARM the clumsy position of my Chargers on the left lets the Hurricane have a field day here. They take a lot of damage. Thorn runs up on the right flank.

I have to contain Thorn. If I can do that the game is probably over. The idea is to get a Charger over there, Earthquake it and have my colossals kill Thorn with shooting. It all works out pretty well, unfortunately though the Stormwall rolls snake eyes for its big gun shot. Conveniently that leaves Thorn on ~6-8 boxes with systems AMC intact...

...which sadly means that he can run into the trench, TK Stryker out and let the Hurricane finish the job.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

This game feels like it's massively in Stryker's favour. Between the Storm Smitters and being able to arc Earthquake and cycle my upkeeps, the Hurricane provided exactly the flexibility I hoped it would. The list definitely did what I hoped it would in the mirror!

Thorn is a problem here, and if Haley can set up for him somehow to close in then Stryker really has to worry about angles. That being said, I could have done an even better job casting up around him I think. There's a lot of support to protect and Haley reaches far, but if Thorn dies it's usually game over because she cannot work her tricks in the back field.