Battle Report #532: Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

Retribution recently got a lot of exciting releases with their Command book. Locally a couple of Ret players have gotten their passion back and are experimenting with different lists. One of my regular opponents had an Issyria draft he really wanted to try out and I was eager to see how Haley2 would cope with Shadows variants.

:: 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 ::

Issyria
- Hemera
- Banshee
- Chimera
Elara
- Manticore
Eiryss1
Narn
2x Arcanist
2x Max Mage Hunter Strike Force
- 2x UA

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Breakdown and Retribution seized the initiative. My plan here was to skew to a side so as to get control of one of my flanks. From there I'd just have to be patient.

:: Game ::

My opponent advances somewhat cautiously and skew Strike force to my right.

Thorn and a Firefly get in cover. Storm Strider runs up while Hurricane chills out. Reliant kills Narn with a lucky scatter.

The Strider is a big pain for my opponent. He is highly unlikely to kill it but he can't exactly respect its presence either. The thing of it is that he really wants to Blinding Light the Hurricane if he has to commit an Arc Node to begin with. This forces him to run the Chimera up very far. Showtime!

With both big boys unable to shoot I had to make other plans. No worry though, I predicted this. Now that an arc node was committed I could send in the Hurricane in melee and basically have it pummel things throughout the game. The Strider backed off, Junior's Firefly locked down Hemera, Haley feated and a super-angry Firefly with TK + TA made a mockery of MHSF on the right flank.

I had placed Thorn in melee with the Manticore to get him into a menacing position. While I rightly anticipated that the central rock would make it highly ineffective for MHSF to shoot him, I completely forgot about the Banshee. Ironic, seeing as I constantly look for momentum angles with the Hurricane. In any case this meant that Issyria could feat and take him out along with the right flank Firefly and some pot shots on the Hurricane.

Time for the Storm Strider to get back in action! I needed to disable the Manticore, Banshee and Hemera. To make a long story short the Reliant in melee and some shooting took out Hemera's melee weapon, the Hurricane killed the Banshee and the Storm Strider shot the Manticore basically to death (with Temporal, Ionization and Superconduction). The leaps were all over the place and when I finished my turn the game was essentially over and my opponent conceded.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A lot of stealthed Mage Hunters can be hard to deal with for sure. However they too struggle to deal with Cygnar lights in cover. Coupled with Haley's ability to send a Firefly off with TK + TA (threatening a massive 15" vs stealth!) it's hard for them to properly put the pressure on my vulnerable models. I was pleasantly surprised to find this matchup more than playable, in fact I consider it downright favourable for Haley2.

The Issyria list in my opinion sorely lacks Hyperion. While I think he's a great addition I also recognize that he's a huge points investment and I can understand if Ret players struggle to get all the goodies they want in a list if they are to bring him along. In this particular matchup he also makes for a very difficult DEF10 huge base to play around because of electro generators galore.

I'm excited to see what Retribution lists will end up looking like. It doesn't seem to me that their meta has stabilized yet. In the meantime I'm happy to play various experimental lists.