ClogCon: Steamroller #1 (#342): Haley2 vs Karchev

:: Prologue ::

I arrived at ClogCon later, Friday night. I've been struggling with a cold for a while and was tired so I decided not to play any games that day. Instead I slept in on Saturday and figured I would try and get in a quality game or two before the European Invitationals started at 21:00.

Luckily for me it turned out that there was a steamroller starting so that I could get a couple of games in before the Invitationals. It was dubbed the "shark tank steamroller" because everyone participating there was also playing in the Invitationals.

For my first round I drew Olov Winroth, which inevitably meant Mad Dogs. This was near perfect. I say near because truth be told I believe Olov is one of the best players with one of the strongest lists. Thus, if I make it all the way through my thinking was that I would meet him sooner or later. I did not want him to learn the little secrets about this matchup prior to the Invitationals as that is such a big deal of this game. Anyway, that aside I could not have asked for more: Quality opponent, insanely strong list. Furthermore, both of my previous encounters with Olov have resulted in janky top of 2 assassinations (1 for me, 1 for him) and this time I was hoping we would get a good game. Indeed we did, I think this was the best game I had all weekend! Let's get to it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

(Haley2) Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25 Fuel Cache
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12

Opponent:

Karchev the Terrible - WJ: +30
- Mad Dog - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Mad Dog - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Mad Dog - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Mad Dog - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Mad Dog - PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 2)
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Mad Dog - PC: 7
- Ruin - PC: 17
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2
Gobber Tinker - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I have encountered the mad dogs a handful of times ish in total. I have also witnessed them in action a few times. I think the cardinal mistake people do against the Mad Dogs of War is that they commit heavily on an early alpha. In many ways the dogs handle such a play just like Haley3. The alpha is simply absorbed and there is no relevant damage dealt. Let's say you kill something ridiculous like 8 mad dogs. Chances are it won't matter because what's left will kill you and you lose.

The key to this matchup is in my opinion to keep your cool, hold the fort and make the mad dogs come to you. Haley2 has an excellent array of skills to make this happen, drawing the game out and forcing the mad dogs to commit on your terms instead of the other way around. If I can do this I think I'm favoured. Also, I need to protect the other jacks and let the lights do work. Thorn's PS16 and the Firefly's PS15 (with death field) really help grind these jacks down.

The scenario was extraction. Olov won the roll-off and let me go first. I think this is the right decision considering that going first here isn't necessarily favourable for Haley and one side of the table was littered in rough terrain.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs up. I intend to use the impassable on the right flank to help protect the Ironclad, let the Stormwall use the central wall as a tempo controller and hold the other flank with lights and cav. The forest on Karchev's side also meant I assumed he would be unable to commit heavily to deal with the Ironclad.

Battle Charged is cast and the dogs converge a lot more on the Ironclad than I had thought they would be able to do. However this provides me with breathing space on the left flank so I guess I'm ok with it. Karchev sprays Thorn and deals a few boxes to him. Also, KD of course.

What I need to accomplish here is quite easy. In theory anyway. I need to ensure my opponent cannot score, I need to start grinding dogs and I need to save my feat. I try out a ton of different ways to drag in 2 mad dogs but it simply cannot be done so I pull out one and decide to try and shoot another.

The one who gets pulled in is killed easily enough. The one I decide send all my firepower into survives on single-digit boxes.

One dog goes into the Ironclad and rolls fairly well, doing double digits boxes. Luckily no systems are crippled. 2 dogs try and slam-jank me in the center but the attack roll misses. The one I hurt so much with shooting moves to the back lines, tail between its legs, to get repaired by a tinker.

This is a feat turn. The Mad Dogs have committed themselves and I consider my position at this point in time fairly favourable. It takes like forever to set this up properly because of counter-charges, commitment, angles etc but in the end I get away with a fairly good grind and a solid setup for next turn. The lights are also in a perfect position, they are getting so much work done and the Firefly's +2 to electrical damage rolls is boss, as per usual.

Karchev consolidates. Considering my insane angles and the way I have literally every single piece set up in a solid position I believe this is the correct play. The board space does look good for me though which mainly tells me that so far I've been finding the plays I need.

I need to wipe the rest of the dogs on my side of the table, disrupt Ruin to prevent fuck-ups, set up to kill Karchev if he goes #yolo on the Stormwall and ensure my position is solid. I manage all of this and I'm now really happy with where I'm at.

Karchev opts for a play where he moves to kill the Ironclad without feating. Interesting.

I am slowly running out of time and the scenario score is still 0-0. I don't have the time I need to ensure that I solve this optimally, I just need to play now. The solution I end up with is to clear the middle with the Stormwall, set up as best as I can and have the Squire score my flag.

Karchev feats and kills the Stormwall. This is a very dicey proposition actually. The Stormwall was 100% intact at this point in time. Odds Machine puts the odds of 7x PS19 attacks boosted killing the Stormwall at 34%. Granted Karchev has an open fist as well but the chances of the Stormwall surviving and having cortex + weapon system intact are fairly significant. Of course Karchev has no choice at this point in time so it's the correct gamble. In return I clear my flag again and establish myself on the left flank. 2-0.

A part of being low on time is not considering all the angles. Unfortunately I left junior within 16" of Karchev which means the bad boy can simply move up and spray him to death, which he does. That leaves the Firefly inert. Damn.

I TK Karchev around, move Haley out of his threat, dominate the Mad dog away from me and run Ragman over to the opposite flag. 3-0.

Karchev tramples towards "my" flag and runs the mad dog to contest ragman. A tinker contests the other flag. Luckily for me I have pinged the objective every now and then when I've had the chance so it's fairly low. Haley finds a place where Karchev doesn't engage her and kill the objective with a Hand Cannon and Arcane Bolt before finishing the Tinker off with another Arcane Bolt.

5 control points.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Oh my God, what a game! This is without a doubt one of the most interesting games I have ever played. It certainly was a big change from my previous top of 2 assassination encounters with Olov.

I managed to execute my strategy well. The wall in the middle acted as the tempo controller I needed it to and I kept getting Mad Dogs out to slowly but surely win the grind. Sure there were things I could have done better here and there but you cannot play 100% all the time.

As the game reached the end even Olov got pressed on time here. We were both down to a few minutes when I finally won, I had like 2 minutes left on the clock I think when the Tinker bit the dust. It ended up being closer than I had thought it would be. Obviously Karchev killing the Stormwall is a huge part of this but I think the "oh shit" moment was when Junior died. Firefly was the MVP of this match, he did so much work throughout and if I had managed to keep Junior alive I don't think the end would have been even close.

An amazing game and a great start to my ClogCon 2016 experience!

For a spoiler-free series, read about my next game in this tournament here.

A Few Thoughts on Karchev

Yesterday, I made this video to honour Christopher Davies' amazing achievement of winning the Iron Gauntlet, WTC -and- Warmachine Weekend Invitationals. It is of course a tongue in cheek video, and I don't want to take anything away from Chris' win (he must be an amazing player, besides he didn't run Mad Dogs for neither the Iron Gauntlet nor the WTC). I just thought it would be funny. Indeed, today the twitter-verse has more or less exploded following a tweet from William Cruickshanks which you can see here. Since we are talking about twitter you can find my account here: Courage of Caspia on Twitter.

Anyway. Karchev! I first faced this beast of a list at Iron Moot. You can check out my reports #271 and #274 on the battle reports page to read about those encounters. Right off the bat it was clear to me that this list was potentially a meta breaker. It is just too much of too many things for a lot of the factions in the game to handle. Truth be told I feel very lucky to play Cygnar and actually have some sort of answer. In my opinion most factions to not without tooling excessively. 

The merits of the Karchev + Mad Dog spam lists were impressive even before yesterday. Johan Dyrlind came in second at the Iron Gauntlet Qualifier at Iron Moot and then finished 2nd in the Nordic Invitationals the next day, losing the finals when he was list-locked to his second list. Jocke Rapp then went on to win Danish Masters. Johan and Jocke both took this list to the WTC this year. Sweden was the best nation at the WTC so they certainly faced their fair share of tough opponents. To my knowledge both of them exclusively played Karchev throughout the event, coming up with a staggering record of 11-1 against some of the best players in the world. UPDATE: In the commens below Torbjörn pointed out that Canada also played Mad Dogs and the total record at the WTC this year was 13-1. The only loss occured when Johan forgot to move a Mad Dog to block LoS to Karchev in a game against Haley2, one of the few casters in the game with some angles in this matchup. 

On top of all this, Chris Davies now qualifies for Warmachine Weekend Invitationals through the Last Chance Qualifiers and simply wins the entire event! I do believe that all of these Karchev-piloting players are amazingly strong, but these insane records speak of other factors at play here as well. It is in my opinion quite evident that this list needs a serious nerf and I hope Privateer Press addresses this issue come January. 

In closing, I would like to note that I love a challenge. I love trying out various lists and games against the hardest opposition out there. Haley2 is one of the better answers to Karchev and my current list has all the tools I need, I think. However when assessing what breaks the meta we have to consider the big picture and this is just too much. It reminds me of the Haley2 list I played towards the end of Mk. 2: Roughly half the factions in the game felt like walk-over matchups. Haley2 has been greatly toned down from that (she arguably needs another hit with the nerf-bat but her power-level is nowhere near the 9000+ it used to be), but that doesn't help the meta that much if something else takes her place. I think PP did a great job with Mk. 3 and I hope the January errata will improve the amazing warmahordes experience even more. 

Battle Report #340 & #341: Issyria vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

I have played against Retribution. A lot. It gives me some ideas about what I fear, what I'm trying to avoid etc. I was eager to try it out in practice from the other side of the table. Let's get to it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar disguised as Elves:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Imperatus [22]
 - Phoenix [18]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (max) [16]
 - Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander [6]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]

Opponent:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The linear obstacle in the middle struck me as the perfect place to have my heavies. Haley will feat bottom of 2, that much is nearly guaranteed. As such the fact that I don't have Pathfinder is kind of irrelevant. This also allowed me to send Hyperion on the left flank where he'd have way less things blocking him to worry about. 

:: Game ::

I run stuff up. MHSF take care to stay around the objective so the Firefly will seriously struggle to reach any of them outside of bouncing twice (off of a Lance and the objective for example). IR on Hyperion, Admo on Imperatus.

Cygnar has to be careful. The advance is setting up for bottom of 2 action...

However, Stormwall is within 18" of nearly all the MHSF models. Feat, shoot, forfeit game. Rerack time!

Wise from his mistakes in the very quick first game my opponent now places the Firefly a lot more centrally. I decide to place MHSF centrally as well, the idea is to simply form a wall of jacks and Issyria in front of them so that the leaps simply can't reach them.

I do brainfart however as I don't run the jacks max. ahead. My bad. Admo on Imperatus and IR on Hyperion again. Cygnar sets up for bottom of 2 action and this time the 'wall is outside of 18" of most of my jacks.

I move all my heavy hitters up and spread out MHSF.

Cygnar takes the 3-0 lead under Shift.

Weeell I am way too far behind on scenario so I simply move all my pieces up to threaten Haley as much as possible. I forget that she can simply run away and comfortably make it to 5 CP but my opponent forgets that as well, so in the end a little power attack: power strike shenanigans sends an Ironclad over her and Issyria finishes her off with an Ancillary Attack. 

:: Evaluation ::

Scenario is the big weakness here for Retribution, no doubt. The MHSF experiment didn't turn out to be a big game changer unfortunately. Cygnar simply has too many shenanigans and counters. 

It was interesting to play as Issyria for a couple of games. It really helps one understand the matchup better!

Battle Report #338 & #339: Haley2 vs Issyria

:: Prologue ::

I was scheduled to play Retribution and Convergence today but I ended up with a string of games on both sides of the table in the Haley2 - Issyria matchup. First up: 2 games where I pilot the Cygnar forces!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12

Opponent:

(Issyria 1) Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29]
 - Hyperion [36]
 - Imperatus [22]
 - Phoenix [18]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (max) [16]
 - Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander [6]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario is Entrenched and Issyria moves first. My idea here is that I need to get my eleaps onto the Strike Force if they present themselves. If he gets all of his firepower onto the Stormwall under Issyria's feat I will be in trouble. I set up for a classic scenario angle. Retribution goes for a bit of a defensive counter-play.

:: Game ::

MHSF realize they can't push hard in the center so they shift right. Rest advance as expected.

I play fairly defensively and have Lanyssa on my left to get the Lances onto the objective if needed. Firefly runs right to counter MHSF.

Issyria's forces converge on the center.

By charging a strike force model Haley is able to catch just about everyone in her feat. Stormwall tramples and pods so that the Firefly with Temporal Acceleration can zap out 4 strike force guys. Lances kill objective with Hunter's Mark help.

Since I move to 2-0 and will go 3-0 in his turn and 4-0 in my sub-sequent turn 3 the game is essentially over. My opponent concedes and we go again. This time his plan is to play the MHSF more aggressively.

The aggressive Strike Force figure out that they may as well just lose a couple to buy table space.

Trample + pod + electro leaps = 4 dead strike force models. I take care to keep the 'wall out of the majority of their retaliation range.

A couple of strike force models shoot the 'wall, nothing major. Phoenix charges pod to land Blinding Light on 'wall.

I figure that if I take out the Phoenix and a few more strike force dudes I can play this slow, no need to rush. I do it and feat.

Imperatus moves to contest me.

Lance moves to 6.1" from Imperatus. Haley TKs it within 6". Ironclad throws it, knocking Imperatus down. Ragman moves up, Temporally accelerated Stormwall kills it and Thorn blocks Hyperion from getting to Stormwall.

My opponent concedes.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Scenario is a big issue for Issyria. The MHSF struggle to put pressure on the Stormwall quickly enough because of their vulnerability to electro leaps. In these two games I was able to keep a defensive position while still having an edge in terms of both attrition and scenario.

It was a good confirmation to see how well my list handled this rather unorthodox Issyria list.

Reports where I play Issyria will come soon! 

Battle Report #337: Haley3 vs Severius2

:: Prologue ::

One of the Protectorate casters I fear the most with Haley3 is Severius2. Awareness, free spell, +2 attack roll on first spell channeled from Blessing, Ashes-to-ashes and Oracular Vision all seem like they are problematic for Haley3 to face. Nevertheless, I need to try this out if I want Haley3 to be my Protectorate drop!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

Opponent:

(Severius 2) Hierarch Severius [+26]
 - Blessing of Vengeance [13]
 - Reckoner [16]
 - Reckoner [16]
 - Redeemer [11]
 - Scourge of Heresy [16]
 - Hierophant [3]
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3]
Choir of Menoth (max) [6]
Vassal Mechanik [1]
Vassal of Menoth [3]
Wrack [1]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard [9]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We are playing Line Breaker and I am going first. I really don't know what to do here so my plan is to bumrush one flank and the middle and take it from there.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up, casting Supremacy via Thorn to get him up behind the central obstruction.

Severius puts Blessing on the right flank and the 2 Reckoners B2B in the center to deny me a chance to try and scatter on his Choir and stuff.

My problem here is that Scourge, Oracular and Arcane Ward (currently on Blessing) makes him practically immune to magic whereas Passage means I cannot shoot. I have to close the gap. My plan is to cast Ghost Walk twice to reaction drive Thorn and charge Blessing. Disrupting him stops the worst Ashes to Ashes shenanigans. Trenchers run and jam and the rest get into position. I put up Arcane Shield on Thorn: If he wants to go for the kill here he needs to commit Severius so I ensure a ton of hurt if he does do so.

Severius decides to go for Thorn personally. He kills him and puts up Arcane Ward on himself, camping 2. Blessing moves up a bit. Rhoven's boys move within 3" for SG duty. Severius feated killing Trenchers.

I go for Severius. I might have a decent attrition play here but this assassination opening is pretty big. Besides, I think the entire game at this point in time is based around mistakes so my lessons learned are already over with. Aaaanyway, Past Force Hammers the Blessing onto Severius for KD niceness (Prime was in a spot to follow up if Past didn't roll high enough), Prime, Charger, Future and Grenadier follow up with their shots and Severius bites the dust.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Severius' army is practically immune to both shooting and magic. The only thing Severius needs to do is keep Blessing alive and keep forcing me to stay within hurt-range but outside of my melee range. Awareness ensures clouds are useless and he has tons of damage at a distance.

My take away then is that this is largely unplayable for my list. On top of all of the above, Severius' feat can take out my key models once I get into position (including Ragman) -and- Oracular Vision is extremely powerful in robbing me of what melee power I end up reaching him with.

The key factor in this game is Severius committing to taking out Thorn of course, which comes from Blessing being placed on the flank. I think that with Blessing in a safer spot it's very hard for me to find an opening which enables me anything close to this. In fact even with Blessing engaged as we were I think Severius' play should be to concentrate on the attrition in the center. Spending focus to boost and kill Lances feels a lot better (and Ragman of course!).

Perhaps the Protectorate matchup boils down to a game of list chicken, I don't know. Interesting set of games for sure!

Battle Report #336: Haley3 vs High Reclaimer

:: Prologue ::

If memory serves I have only played High Reclaimer once in Mk. 3. That did not go so well. I believe the way I build my Haley2 lists don't really play that well into HR, so I've kind of been exploring Haley3 as a Protectorate drop. Today I finally got the chance to actually play her against HR!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16

Opponent:

(High Reclaimer 1) The High Reclaimer [+32]
 - Vigilant [9]
 - Scourge of Heresy [16]
 - Hierophant [3]
 - Crusader [10]
Flame Bringers (max) [17]
Knights Exemplar [9]
- UA [5]
Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15]
 - Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5]
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist [3]
The Covenant of Menoth [4]
Wrack [1]
Wrack [1]
Vassal Mechanik [1]
Taryn di la Rovissi, Llaelese Gun Mage [5]
Anastasia di Bray [3]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Scenario is Outlast and Protectorate moves first. My idea is to create fort Prime and attrition, attrition, attrition.

:: Game ::

Protectorate run their troops up and spread out. Idrians put Prey on Prime and receive Hand of Fate.

Grenadiers shoot! A lucky scatter lands on the Idrian Officer and I boost damage to kill him. No Go To Ground for you unless you feat, sucker! Cloudwall goes up and fort Prime is built.

HR shows off with clouds of his own.

I figure there's no reason to feat. I want my clouds on the right flank but don't think it's necessary on the left. I go to work and kill Idrians + Exemplars.

HR tries to kill Past with double Ashes. Note to self: Camp 2 if I want Past to contest when he gets a lot of souls. I survive, luckily. I lose a couple of Trenchers.

It's feat turn! I want to clear his heavy jack on the right flank and the Flame Bringers there. It works out quite well!

The counter-feat with mini-feat from Exemplars takes out Past, Future and the Ironclad. Note to self: Should've worked to get the Ironclad into his heavy so I could've saved Future in my last turn. He moves to 2 CP to my 0.

I clear a lot and am now massively up on attrition. Thorn contests. Past and Future are spawned again.

Protectorate tries once more to get work done, but it's not enough.

I clear the remaining models barring HR.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

A very interesting game! I am too cautious with Prime here and if I spend less models shielding her off I can get the attrition rate up a bit more, which would be nice here of course.

On my feat turn I need to prioritize differently and try and deal with the last Exempler. They are my opponent's only way back in the game I feel.

Ashes to ashes can be a way for HR to deal with echoes. 2 focus camped can often be something to prioritize here.

A great game, I was happy with the solutions I found and not least of all learning that this is a matchup which certainly feels in Haley's favour!

Battle Report #335: Haley2 vs Karchev

:: Prologue ::

Unfortunately, nobody at my gaming club plays Karchev doggies. I say unfortunately because you need to practice against this list, it's currently the best in the game. If you think you don't need to practice against it, think again. You're wrong. Luckily for me one of my regular opponents agreed to proxy it today so I could get a game in.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 5
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 2 Grunts: 12

Opponent:

(Karchev 1) Karchev the Terrible [+30]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Mad Dog [7]
 - Ruin [17]
Gobber Tinker [2]
Gobber Tinker [2]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Outlast and I won the roll-off. A lot of this matchup hinges on relative positioning and having Haley start to pressure the scenario ASAP. Because of this I kind of think it's best for me to go second so I chose to go first to get the hardest possible challenge.

:: Game ::

I've learned from previous games that what I want to have happen in this matchup is to have Thorn and Ironclad on the flank of the Stormwall and slowly just wrap around basically. The middle is typically held by the Firefly and the opposite flank by the Lances. I deployed accordingly but I made one major mistake: I chose the wrong flank. I didn't realize this T1 despite my opponent's deployment screaming "I will shift left!". Again, practice is so important.

Doggies run up in a staggered formation.

My mistake becomes apparent. I try and look for angles to take out one or two doggies on the left flank without feating but I simply can't find any. The doggies on the right flank are basically my main problem. They are too numerous to be ignored and without feating they present sort of a credible threat.

Eventually I decide not only to feat but to shift right. It is of the utmost importance that I keep Karchev and Ruin away for as long as possible. By going right I make it significantly harder for him to keep these models relevant. The Ironclad is left in the left zone with Thorn taking the middle. I fear this will be a clusterfuck I can't effectively attrition out of since both Thorn and Ironclad will be unable to help out the way I'm used to needing them. In any case the damage wrought on the right flank is significant and it's not half bad. The Ironclad unfortunately rolls a snake eyes for one of its attack and this sees the doggie over there survive on 1 box.

Fort Karchev is created and doggies slowly converge around him. The ones remaining on the right flank do their best to jam.

Fort Karchev is impenetrable but it provides a unique opportunity: A Time Bomb there effectively buys me an entire turn. Awesome! I go for the Time bomb play and this also allows me to keep Thorn in the center as a buffer of sorts. That might actually work out rather well. I run the Ironclad away because I need it intact late game. Lances, Firefly and Stormwall clear the zone and I move to 2-0.

Karchev moves towards me but Time Bomb sure helps.

The idea is to keep Karchev away and have Thorn deal with Ruin. I also need to clear the zone, of course. I start with Haley and TK Karchev away. I then TK Thorn and use Reaction Drive to get to Ruin, making sure there are no counter charge angles. The Firefly and Stormwall clears out Mad Dogs with a little help from Thorn (who opted to simply disrupt Ruin and not do much else). I finish off my turn with running pieces to contest if needed and have the Lances screen the Stormwall. 4-2.

Attrition- and scenariowise the game is effectively over. Karchev's one remaining play is to see if he can somehow clock me. I've spent a -ton- of time taking care to avoid all angles and correct my rather poor start. I'm down to 7 minutes and he gets no less than 3 doggies in my zone. Karchev feats to clear the Lances and kill Thorn, a move which would otherwise typically have cost him the game.

Haley TKs out the 2 dogs on the Stormwall's left flank and said Stormwall kills the last dog.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Oh Karchev that list is so, so brutal. I love playing against it, really challenging. This game revealed the dangers of not reading the map nor deployment properly.

I do feel as though Karchev himself could've played more aggressively under my feat. Assuming I cannot knock Karchev down, he has pretty ridiculous survivability against the Stormwall. I ran the numbers on Odds Machine and if I somehow get both Ragman and Lanyssa in and I have Temporal Acceleration on the Stormwall I have roughly a 3% chance to kill him. If you add in a TK it sure helps but it's still a rather low chance. He is just so tanky. I wonder how the game would've played out if he had instead simply advanced towards me and kept his jacks ahead of him. A lot of what I was able to do in this game came as a result of the Time Bomb play which effectively bought me a turn of clearing dogs.

One thing is for sure: Haley needs to pressure the scenario angle. The Pit is probably her best scenario in this matchup, as with so many other matchups she has, but it's perfectly viable to go for the flag/zone/whatever in most of the other scenarios as well.

A good game and a much needed re-run against this list. I wonder what January's errata will do to Karchev and the doggies. Until then, I'll continue enjoying the challenge and considering myself lucky seeing as I play one of the few factions which this list doesn't simply steamroll.