Battle Report #92: Haley2 vs Caine2

:: Prologue ::

2nd game and the tables are turned: This time I'm up against Caine2. I know he's fantastic into Cygnar so now I'm the one fighting uphill. Bring it!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr - Lynus & Edrea: 3
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4

Opponent:

Captain Allister Caine - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Ace - PC: 7
- Sentinel - PC: 4
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire - PC: 4
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Rangers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Tempest Blazers - Leader & 2 Grunts: 6
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. - Boomhowler and 9 Grunts: 9

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Same mission, same sides & turns. I pre-deploy Stormwall in the middle and skew right with most of the other things. Thorn goes right as I'm trying to keep 4" hard to get for him. E-leaps, Ace, Magic Bullet... My army is super fragile so I'm depending on the Stormwall to break apart his forces and make life miserable for whatever's on its far flank while I (hopefully) clean out the rest and start pressuring him on scenario.

:: Game ::

Caine's forces run up and claim the table. Caine himself even runs, camps all bar 2 (1 for sentinel, 1 for ace).

So the threats I see are Blazers on the left, Alexia2 on the right (Hellfire is devastating for my solos) and Ace, of course. I notice that he doesn't have ATGM so I immediately start looking for Magic Bullet targets. Boomies without Murdoch are not faction models so I safely conclude that all his assassination opportunities are on the right. Because of Ace however (which can easily hurt me with Magic Bullet + Trick shot tearing apart solos) I make sure to spread out my right flank. Haley puts 1 on Stormwall and casts Deceleration + Acceleration to camp 1. Stormwall runs up but not so far, turns out I didn't need Acceleration and could've camped 4...

...which is what I should have done as The Black 13th is in the middle of the map. I completely forgot about them and Haley is easily within 4" of the TAC models. 3 Magic Bullets later (with Trick Shot as backup it's kind of a safe play actually) and our beloved Major Victoria bites the dust.

:: Evaluation ::

Caine is amazing when there's not too much armour around. Cygnar mirrors without double colossals is something he really loves. With Ace, double colossals is sometimes playable as well because of Shadow Fire. Anyways, despite this short game we saw some of his highlights: Multiple threat angles, spreads out across the map, sets up nicely for attrition. I would've had to make some strong plays T2 to have a chance here.

I deployed Eiryss poorly. I should've had her opposite Boomies and Alexia because they are the prime targets for Arcane Shield. Apart from taking off said Shield, she doesn't do a whole lot in this game.

It's good to be back to Haley and I need to slow down the pace with her. Had she been 3" further back she'd still be in range of the zone in T2 and she'd be outside 4" of the TAC. 

Battle Report #91: Haley2 vs Haley1

:: Prologue ::

Cygnar Civil Conflict! I played 2 mirror matches today, both with Haley2. Cygnar is a tricky matchup in the sense that Haley2 looks to be better on paper, but I think it really depends on the pairing as Haley3's cloudwall seriously messes with certain opponents. The first game was against Haley1 double colossal. As I'm desperately missing Haley2 I decided I'd play her for both games today.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr - Lynus & Edrea: 3
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4

Opponent:

Captain Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Sentinel - PC: 4
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
- Galleon - PC: 18
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Outflank and I went as the second player. All colossals pre-deployed centrally (my opponent had to use a proxy huge base for his Galleon, I proxied Gorman as McNaille and Stormsmith + Rhupert as Lynus + Edrea, respectively). I believed the best choice for me would be to go right as I could use the building there to cloud up and if he wanted to get in a position to contest he'd have to go in the water instead of in a trench. As he deployed centrally I skewed right. 

:: Game ::

Haley1 opens up with the usual advance. It's kind of slow, which is one of the reasons I don't like Colossals without buffs to movement: It takes too long to get them where you need them. I respond by skewing out right and stealthing A+H on the left. I make a mistake as Eiryss runs up to shoot off Arcane Shield on the Galleon but it is naturally prevented by the Sentinel. I'm also a bit too cautious with Thorn because of Drag. I could most likely have found a better spot for him, as it were he couldn't easily get out if I needed him.

Galleon moves up 5" so as to contest. It tries to shoot down Eiryss but rolls too high on the scatter rolls. B13th follow up but struggle with Deceleration.

Aiyana + Holt are barely outside of kiss range on the Galleon. I should've moved them more centrally because I could have anticipated his movement. Eiryss shoots off Arcane Shield. I'm a bit overconfident so my shooters start blasting apart B13th instead of putting the hurt on the Galleon. Regardless, a 4-focus Stormwall with Temporal Acceleration manages to finish the job (though it's close!) and I run Thorn in to contest under Haley's feat.

We measure the distance and my opponent's Dougal is too far away because of the wreck marker's rough terrain. With that, he concedes the game. 

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This went about as expected: Some rusty mistakes on priorities but a matchup clearly in favour of my list I believe. A classic Haley2-move takes the game home. I don't know if there's a whole lot more to be said about this game, the mistakes were obvious and there's only so much you can play in 2 turns, 1 of which consists of running an entire army save for a Stormwall and a solo who fires off their shots. 

Caster & List Updates

22. The answer is 22. The question? How many games would I play in a row before returning to Haley2.

A little background: I play Warmachine to compete. When I play rock hard lists against the best my opponents can bring I enjoy the game the most. I do not suffer from SUSS, nor do I have a need to stick to one approach. My reason for moving away from the most popular/powerful choices in the first place is to seek out other viable approaches because they inherently carry some unique strengths. Case in question: How many people that do not play Cygnar knows Haley2's feat and spell list well? Pretty much everyone. They expect the Time Bombs and Telekinesis' being thrown out and they are just waiting for Temporal Shift. By contrast, how many people that do not play Cygnar even knows what Kraye's feat does? At the start of a given game I assume that my opponent will read up on what my various elements do, but this is not the same as having experience playing against it. Thus, I'm exploring our less popular options not only to learn how our casters play but also to see if I can find angles that are powerful and unknown to my opponents.

With Stryker2, that experiment has failed. While I haven't exhausted all options with him, Stryker2 boils down to 2 simple facts the way I see it: You have 2 abilities that help your army. These abilities are both great: Positive Charge and Rolling Thunder. Apart from that, Stryker does not help his army out at all. He is a monster on his own, which brings me to the second fact: Stryker2 is inherently unreliable when he has to get serious work done himself. I've found that even Caine2's reliance on dice is unreliable when he feats and he rolls a LOT more dice than Stryker. One poor roll from Overload and the game's over. It really is that simple. Averages don't matter as much with this ability because if you're using it, he is both exposed and in great need of doing some serious work. Thus it boils down to whether you will accept this risk and how much you can benefit from Positive Charge and Rolling Thunder. I tried to build my list around the Prontoclads (which truly are great by the way!) and Positive Charge, but I've found through a dozen games or so that it's inflexible and doesn't have sufficient resilience to get where it needs to be with the momentum it needs against its intended matchups. It's not that it can't have a game against certain opponents, but it fails to bring what I need it to when it comes to pairing. Essentially, I can't make the army play either ping-ping or ping-pon.

What I potentially could have done was to build Stryker2 as an all-comers list instead and have Haley3 tailored to anti-arm. The problem with that approach is that I see Stryker2 taking elements such as B13th, TAC and utility solos such as Alexia2 perhaps and Eiryss2. The question then is obviously, do I think he is better suited for this role than e.g. Caine2 or Haley2? Would I rather play Stryker2 with such a configuration into Retribution/Cygnar/Cryx etc? I see that as a massive, unnecessary drawback which is not outweighed by the surprise factor he brings to the table. Furthermore, building such a list fails to take advantage of Positive Charge, which is a downright amazing ability. As I noted above I haven't exhausted all builds I've considered with him, but there are real life constraints at play here as well such as model collection and miniatures I need to paint before my next tournament. I might revisit Stryker2 in the future. For now, I'm happy with the lessons I learned and will put Stryker2 on the shelf.

Instead of returning to the Haley2/Caine2 pairing I used at NM, which I strongly believe is our currently best combination (because I believe it has game into just about anything you can expect to face, at least outside of ADR), I will continue with Haley3. I've found my Haley3 lists to move more and more towards arm-skew because she runs our otherwise poor/mediocre choices so well. Stormblades and Storm Lances becomes freakishly strong with Revive and Temporal Flux for example. Their angles are just crazy. I also want to keep expanding my horizons so Haley3 will stick around, at least for now.

Switching Haley3 over to anti-arm means Haley2 loses the second Stormwall. Welcome back, Thorn! Doublewall Haley2 is, in a nutshell, an inferior build for her I believe. However it's a compromise I made to improve my pairings. It simply gives the pair Haley2/Caine2 more playable matchups. Now that I'm playing Haley3 with anti-arm I can take whatever I want with Haley2 to make her as strong a generalist as possible. Previously I've designed Haley2 lists to be scenario first, attrition second. While I've often won on attrition with her, my scenario game with her is my currently strongest card. I frequently find openings that are so brutal that games just end before my opponent has time to react. In the interest of expanding my horizons, I've now designed a Haley2 list which does the opposite: Attrition first, scenario second. That means leaving my beloved deadeye-ATGM at home in favour of high-quality shots. I also want to see how the list plays if I squeeze in as much shooting as I possibly can, which means Alexia2 is benched as well.

Enough talk, let's look at the lists:

:: Haley2 ::

Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +5
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Thorn - PC: 8
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution - PC: 3
Gastone Crosse - PC: 3
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile - PC: 2
Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr - Lynus & Edrea: 3
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4
Tactical Arcanist Corps - Leader & 2 Grunts: 4
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4

:: Haley3 ::

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Captain Maxwell Finn - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 2
Stormblade Captain - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Horgenhold Forge Guard - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Captain Jonas Murdoch - Murdoch 2

Playtesting will begin soon, hopefully next week!

Battle Report #90: Stryker2 vs Grim

:: Prologue ::

Second game of the night and yet another caster I haven't played against before: Trollbloods' Grim! I was hoping I'd get Doomie3 when facing Trolls because I believe it would be a good test for Stryker2 but Grim sure is interesting as well. With double Croaks and Scattergunners I was up against yet another list that seriously threaten to obliterate me at a distance. With Kraye vs Jarl (link) fresh in mind, I knew very well that he would be able to take out my jacks as well with proper planning. Anyways, to the fight!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Lord Commander Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Ol' Rowdy - PC: 9
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 3
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 2
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
- Sword Knight Officer & Standard - PC: 2
- Stormclad - PC: 10
- Stormclad - PC: 10
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4

Opponent:

Grim Angus - WB: +6
- Dire Troll Bomber - PC: 10
- Troll Impaler - PC: 5
Viktor Pendrake - PC: 2
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 3
Scattergunners - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Scattergunner Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard 2
Croak Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
Croak Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
Pyg Burrowers - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
Northkin Fire Eaters - Leader, Grunt, and Pyg Buddy: 4

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

As the astute reader will surely have noticed, the Lancer is gone. Corbeau is in my opinion a model that is too situational and that skilled players can dodge when it's crucial, at least in this setup. I can see her working well behind a cloudwall (e.g. from TAC) in other settings, but I digress. Rowdy in! More punch! 

Yet again I went first and the idea here was quite simply to stand outside of his threat range T1 and either send home a big punch T2 or maybe just threaten his caster and keep the army out of range. I went first, again in Incoming. 

:: Game ::

Stryker runs up 12" with full camp and Arcane Shield. The rest follow suit and I take care to place Sword Knights on the right so as to tempt the Croaks.

Croaks on the left try for some crazy pot-shots on Stryker. No damage dealt. Right Croaks tried for Sword Knights. One in range, he missed.

In this matchup I will just about never, ever get an opening as good as the one I had at this point in time. Croaks on both flanks are close and I can position Stryker so as to both threaten the caster and a scenario play: If I clear out the right flank sufficiently it'll be hard for him to deal with a T3 skew from me I think.

So it is that we go in and we go in full speed! I pump Sword Knights into the center + right side. A+H start working on Northkin. Ol Rowdy moves up left, as does a Stormclad. The other takes on Croaks on the right side. It's a glorious day as filthy Trolls and their minion allies all die in droves as Stryker feats, allowing all the boys running up to really bring the pain train.

Stryker himself however does end up a little far ahead. It's not a big problem per se, camping 7 focus and having Arcane Shield should be enough to keep him safe. The problem is that if Grim feats on him he'll be struggling to get to my zone for said scenario play I was considering.

Grim does indeed feat in return. Burrowers come up and make a big mess in the middle, many thanks to the Fell Caller helping boost their MAT. Bomber goes into Rowdy, Croaks damage the Stormclad and my Sword Knights lose well over half their number, including the officer + standard, to Scattergunners.

Grim is however in a very exposed position. I move the Stormclad away (it was knocked down with no means to shake the effect), Stryker moves up 3" and spends 2 points on Velocity to get there. Now, the Bomber had spent all its fury trying to take down Ol' Rowdy so Grim could only transfer to the Impaler. All I needed now was a big roll and some sweet hits. Overload came in 4,5,6 so I was hitting at P+S30. The first attack boosted to hit and took down the Impaler straight. The second attack was bought and boosted as well, and when I made the 9+ required, Grim couldn't do much but bite the dust.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

The setup I was able to get here with Croaks tightly packed on both flanks and even some Scattergunners in range was just pure awesomesauce. It went so well in fact that I probably should've changed my plan mid-feat to focus on scenario instead. Arlan and Alain can be used as contesting pieces midgame, even the squire for that matter, which means that I could (and probably should) have kept Rowdy back together with Stryker so I could more easily have moved into the right zone and started scoring T3. 

So why didn't I go for scenario regardless? It's actually a good question because Stryker did have range to get there. Camping 4 focus and Shield puts him at ARM23 which none of the elements on that side of the table could've dealt with. I also had a full-health Stormclad there, Aiyana + Holt, 3 remaining Sword Knights and some Stormblades. The answer is unfortunately that I was tired and just wanted to end it. Given the situation at the start of my turn (see the last picture) I think the better play really is to go for scenario. I believe Trolls will struggle to do anything but feed me models on the right flank whereas my models on the left flank still hurt him a lot. 

Had I not gotten the big Croak-opening T2 I believe I would slowly have been shot apart. If they're dispersed properly I can't alpha them to death. In this game the scattergunners + burrowers alone caused a huge mess. With 4-5 more croaks on both sides it would've been disastrous. 

I've had a good few games now with the multiple Prontoclads approach. I feel that I need something else and next Stryker2 game will likely feature a different list. I'm also on the verge of giving up on the caster because I feel he always ends up in super-risky and dicey spots where I often end up winning because I exploit a tactical mistake. As evidenced by his inability to have the strategical upper hand against shooty lists like this Troll list, he'll also be hard to pair properly. An idea is to try and swap his and Haley3s roles around, but I don't fancy Haley3 into Menoth (Severius1, Rhoven, Harbinger feat...) nor Stryker2 into Cryx, Haley2 etc either. 

Battle Report #89: Stryker2 vs Lylyth1

:: Prologue ::

Some more Stryker2 action today! The first game was against an interesting Legion list: Featuring lots of troops and Lylyth1. While I suppose there's a reason we don't see her often I'm always eager to face casters I haven't played against before. Game on!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Lord Commander Stryker - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Archduke Alain Runewood, Lord of Fharin - PC: 3
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 2
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan - PC: 2
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator - PC: 1
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6
- Sword Knight Officer & Standard - PC: 2
- Stormclad - PC: 10
- Stormclad - PC: 10
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - Lady Aiyana & Master Holt: 4

Opponent:

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight - WB: +6
- Succubus
- Raek - PC: 4
- Nephilim Protector - PC: 5
- Shredder - PC: 2
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 2
Strider Deathstalker - PC: 2
Gatorman Posse - Leader & 4 Grunts: 9
Blighted Ogrun Warspears - Leader & 4 Grunts: 8
- Warspear Chieftan - PC: 2
Strider Rangers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Strider Rangers Officer & Musician - Blighted Nyss Strider Officer & Musician 3
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 3
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Incoming and I got first turn. I deployed highly aggressively on his flank, intending to really put the pressure on him to mitigate the fact that if I'm not careful he'll take me apart at a distance and ensure I can't favourably alpha with my feat.

:: Game ::

T1 I run stuff up. The only ones I run far are the tough things. I really can't afford to lose infantry already and even where they're placed now they'll have enough movement to get where they need to be T2. A+H take up positions behind the wall so as not to leave my right side completely alone.

Legion spreads out and Lylyth2 heads straight for my zone. A big challenge for my strategy is the fact that he does begin the scoring...

However, with a lack of heavy hitters I don't see how he can remove a Stormclad so I move one over there with A+H in support. I don't want to lose infantry to reform-shooters so I weigh them left and move Stryker into the zone with tons of focus + Arcane Shield, putting up the Lancer to Rebuke the Warspears because I can't have them run into the middle of the table. In the process of taking on the left flank I kill a couple of Hex Hunters. Electroleaps galore!

The Legion strike begins! The Lancer dies (many thanks to parasite), the Striders CRA on Stryker for a couple of boxes and the pot puts a Harrier with True Strike in his face. Overall, not too bad.

I'm struggling with how to approach this. Truth be told I wasn't sufficiently confident in my list's ability to clear the middle. The original plan was to feat and take apart the middle but I switched my mind mid-turn because I struggled to deal with the Harrier. Aiyana + Holt thus tried to kill a Gator but failed miserably. Because of this Stryker had no angle to Lylyth and I had to revert to clearing the zone, this time with essentially having thrown away A+H.

The TL;DR is that the Stormclads, one of which had positive charge, did tons of work. The right one charged due to Fuel Cache and thus got into the mess. The officer drove it further into the middle and the other one tanked free strikes to get in there as well. Inbetween the 2, positive charge, Arlan's focus, electro leaps and feat, they pretty much wrecked face on their own. Stryker had spent a lot of focus so he just made sure to stay safe and spent his last focus points healing a bit back up.

2-1 (Strider solo in "my" zone).

The Legion counter-charge seeks to jam me out of the middle and take on the Stormclads but alas, it cannot be done as his list simply lacks enough power to handle them effectively, even with pray + parasite. Still, Lylyth goes into my zone and it's thus 2-3.

Stryker sits on 12 boxes. The idea is to have him clear the middle, positive charge the left Clad and have it take out the objective. The Stormblades + Sword Knights cleared out the pot-summoned Harrier, the latter reforming away to clear a path for Stryker. Stryker healed 1 point to get to 13 boxes and then boosted damage by 2d6 to get some work done. He charged in, positive charge on the Stormclad, killed a couple of Gators, used Velocity to toe the zone, killed another model and ended his activation B2B with the zone. Arlan gave the Clad a focus, it activated well within both Officer and Stormblades range and with 4 attacks at P+S21, the objective didn't last long.

Reinholdt ran over to contest "my" zone since Holt was fleeing. With that, the score went to 5-3.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Well, my deployment probably was a tad bit aggressive. If I had realized how much he'd struggle with armor I might've been able to drive up the middle instead. Furthermore if he counters middle-with-middle he'll struggle to contest his own zone because of the big obstacle behind it, I think. The problem going middle though is the slow scoring coupled with his ranged advantage and the rough terrain which seriously limits me. Alain can only help 1 unit/solo per turn.

I realized in this game that I'm not a fan of the Lancer for this list. It's too many points to get off a Rebuke (which is all it does the way this list plays). I need more punchy-punchy.

Lastly I don't like playing when the clock really is ticking on the attrition part of things and I'm outgunned. Without feating my threat ranges are abysmal, save for the Stormclads, and if they go in alone they're in trouble. However setting up for the feat is also kind of hard because of the threat ranges in play. It's a catch22: Move too far and you lose models before the feat goes off, don't move far enough and you won't even threaten with feat. What broke this game I think was largely Lylyth's decision to go crazy for Stryker with CRA + Harrier instead of playing an attrition game. If he can jam the zone shut with gators and warspears while having taken out enough infantry I can't win because the right zone is open. The Legion T2 could have been spent either killing infantry -or- setting up for a T3 super-jam. Killing the Lancer took a lot of effort that didn't help his position on the board. Remember that all he'd need to do was block me from getting the objective (that crucial 5th point), he could probably systematically got to 5 first by taking out contesting elements and blocking me out. 

Battle Report #88: Haley3 vs Ravyn

:: Prologue ::

Going into the rematch we discussed the role of the MHSF unit here. I was looking forward to see how he'd approach this game with all of the lessons from the last one!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Ragman - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light - WJ: +6
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
- Sphinx - PC: 7
Arcanist - PC: 1
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber - PC: 3
- Hyperion - PC: 18
Houseguard Thane - PC: 2
Mage Hunter Infiltrators - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
- Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander - PC: 3
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Strike Force Commander - Commander 2
Houseguard Riflemen - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I won the roll-off again but went second to see how that would affect the dynamic. I hate going 2nd with Haley because she can't do anything T1, just about, since neither Past nor Future are available. I deployed largely the same but upon seeing MHSF opposite Haley I pushed Trenchers back just over 3" to ensure he couldn't alpha them before I'd even moved.

:: Game ::

Infiltrators spreads out on the left. MHSF sets up. Hyperion runs.

I'm a little unsure of how I should approach this. I believe his MHSF have gone up so that I can take out 2-3 guys with ATGM. I start with this but I only get 1, 2 others are a whisker away from me getting shots off at them. Haley has to be very careful so she stays deep. Her position is attempting in the sense that he might get 7-8 on me, but if he misjudges the distance with feat it's game over. I give her Dirge just to be sure and put up the cloudwall, taking care to have 1 Trencher deep (though to be fair probably not deep enough: Note to self - Trencher Leader has to act as an intermediary here so that I can push 1 Trencher far behind vs MHSF with Snipe).

The rest of my models just jam up high behind the clouds. If he wants to alpha with feat, he can do so, but regardless of what he kills there'll be something left to return the favour.

Ain't no thing like a snipe-feat-go! He doesn't try for Haley though, which is good for him as we measure for when and. barring insane dice, it would've been disastrous. Instead they take out ~8-9 models or so but they are spread out across multiple units so it's not that bad. I'm losing left flank completely but it doesn't worry me that much because I'll be the one to start scoring and I don't even have to contest it. Yet.

With such a devastating blow I'm forced to feat in return, which leaves me wondering how I'll deal with Hyperion later on. I bring back 2 Trenchers and 2 Storm Lances. Ryan is close enough to MHSF that she can walk up and shoot. ATGM take out 3 models as well and with Past throwing Chain Blast under Feat as well and Acosta charging in they are almost killed to a man. I score the left flag for 1-0 and Haley takes a decent spot. The only problem I have is that my engaged force is a little too far ahead of the rest, meaning it'll be hard to support Lances with Stormblades.

My opponent has made a big mistake which I'm not even aware of: The model closest to Hyperion is its junior warcaster. This, combined with some decent dice, means that Electroleaps is a nightmare and indeed Hyperion ends up without a controller. Wow!

Retribution takes the left flag, contests mine and clear out a couple of Lances. Ravyn takes control of Hyperion.

I don't know exactly how but I manage to stay way too passive this turn, not moving my cloudwall nearly as much as I should have. I revive Storm Lances again which run to contest and charge as per usual. Acosta takes out another 2 MHSF models and I score the right flag.

Storm Lances are cleared and he takes the flag on the left, unable to contest my right at this point in time.

Hyperion is basically full health, or close to, and I can't take him down reliably, meaning I can't score to go to 5 this turn. Furthermore Ravyn is sitting in the trench on a single focus. I decide to go for her. B13th run behind her. Lancer runs behind B13th again. Past casts Force Hammer. Prime recasts it at Ryan through the Lancer, boosted, but even with the Squire re-roll I can't meet the required 7+ to hit her. I learned a very imporant lesson here: Before initiating this I simply ran Stormblades out of the way to the get remaining Storm Lance in melee with Ravyn to get the Dark Shroud -2 ARM effect, but in doing so they didn't finish the Sphinx (which they easily could've).

I had a huge mess on my hands and trying to salvage this situation came down to contesting the middle flag with enough models while keeping Haley alive. The awkward picture below shows my position at the end of my turn:

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The score at this point in time was 4-4. He would thus need to take the middle + left flag or take the left and contest my right flag. As casters do not contest he pretty much couldn't contest the right so it was down to clearing the middle. Hyperion started with a nice, big critical hit which evaporated quite a few models there. The Retribution forces were really reduced though and there weren't that many sources of damage left. In the end I had a single Gun Mage left within 4" of the flag. He had to take a command check. I rolled an 8 and thus passed. Close one!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

First things first: Acosta is out. Sure he will almost always get Swift Vengeance, but too often that's not the answer as he goes in, kills a couple of models, then checks out. I'm bringing Alexia back in. She's an excellent target for Arcane Shield, her Thralls benefit a lot from Temporal Flux and her continuous spawns complement Haley's attrition game very well. Further on list thoughts: Retribution is a matchup where I'd expect Blazers to be good. Maybe they are, but I would rather have ATGM, even with the fairly little support they get here.Ragman also gives this list significantly stronger counter-push.

In this game the Retribution forces committed to a swift onslaught which forced me to react. It took a great amount of models away but I fear the lack of taking down one target (e.g. Trenchers) left too many things alive that could, with a couple of revives, simply be operational post-feat again. True enough, ATGM never truly recovered but they weren't that essential either.

It should be noted that in this game of attrition, losing a full turn on Hyperion really hurt. That was kind of lucky for me and I doubt my opponent will make the electroleap mistake again anytime soon. It would be interesting to see how the game would've played out as my inability to bring the Stormblades up quick enough meant that support was too far away. Meanwhile I was also struggling with the left flag because I basically had to revive a Storm Lance to keep that flag in check every other turn.

Lastly, when going for an assassination run, regardless of how easy it is, if there are other ways to win the models should at least be moved accordingly first. I simply pushed the Stormblades out of the way when they could've contributed significantly. Hopefully, lesson learned ;)

Battle Report #87: Haley3 vs Ravyn

:: Prologue ::

With some Stryker2 games recently it was time to pull out Haley2 today. Luckily I was facing Retribution which is a matchup Haley3 is supposed to go into. When I got the dreaded Ravyn I was excited because she is really strong against Cygnar, but at least it wasn't her theme force madness. Regardless, a single unit of MHSF with Snipe + Feat can take out Haley3 easily enough if I'm not careful. To the game!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +3
- Squire
- Lancer - PC: 6
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Haley Future - PC: 0
Haley Past - PC: 0
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 2
Ragman - PC: 2
Stormsmith Stormcaller - PC: 1
Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 3
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 11
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Lynch, Ryan & Watts: 4
Stormblade Infantry - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers - Leader & 5 Grunts: 6
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer - Officer 2

Opponent:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light - WJ: +6
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
- Sphinx - PC: 7
Arcanist - PC: 1
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber - PC: 3
- Hyperion - PC: 18
Houseguard Thane - PC: 2
Mage Hunter Infiltrators - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5
- Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander - PC: 3
Mage Hunter Strike Force - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
- Strike Force Commander - Commander 2
Houseguard Riflemen - Leader & 5 Grunts: 5

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Incursion and I won the roll-off and opted to go first. In my experience, initiative is almost always worth it against Retribution. There are tons of assassination angles for both sides so regardless of what your list is supposed to do it tends to end up as a game of attrition or "flank-chicken", in both cases board control is essential. 

I deployed Lances on the anticipated weak flank. A bit of a change, I know, but I wanted them to contest a flag and besides the Hyperion was pre-deployed in such a manner that I knew I could threaten him from that side as well. Stormblades went centrally, opposite said Hyperion, and the rest took the right flank.

:: Game ::

Wary of Snipe + Feat + Go end of game bottom of T1 I decided to not go full speed with Haley. I did put up the cloudwall with TAC supremacy and hid everything behind, save for the Lances which went for an aggressive move to own the table.

 ¨
Eiryss3 shoots off Arcane Shield but fails to kill a Lance. MHSF ping off a couple of models here and there, nothing major. ¨

The aggressive nature of the MHSF has to be punished. Acosta goes in because of Swift Vengeance and kills 2. Storm Lances go in as well and kill a few. ATGM take a couple of more and I believe even Lynch gets one. I push the cloudwall and I'm confident he won't be in a strong, scoring position.

The retaliation focuses on the Storm Lances, killing most of them. Acosta also takes a nose dive to the grave. Not surprising, given his position.

Feat turn! Stormblades are in a good spot and they've lost a couple as well. What ensues then is Ragman moving up to lower the ARM on Hyperion. I feat and revive 4 models and kill said Hyperion, scoring 2 points in the process, contesting the left flag and completely obliterating any significant Retribution presence on the left flank.

The devastating feat turn left Retribution essentially out-attritioned. We played out 2 scenarios: 1 in which Ravyn went for a crazy assassination run on Haley (with swift hunter etc she can get pretty far). She ended up in her melee range after we modified some rolls earlier on but with only 1 focus left there was no way for her to compete with a DEF17 ARM17 15-box caster. The secondary scenario we played out was a desperate couple of contests and an attempt to score on the left side. It didn't work out either because there were too many Cygnarans left on the table, frankly.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

It is my experience that Retribution struggles if it cannot understand the pace of the game when they face Cygnar. Likewise Cygnar instantly loses if they fail to assess how the Retribution forces project momentum and strength. In this game, I believe the MHSF grossly over-estimated their defensive capabilities T1. Their aggressive move was not warranted without feat-backup because they didn't take out anything essential. In return, I was able to kill off almost all of them without having to care about anything else. Sure I lost Lances but Lances are only around in the first place to be revived, right? When he has to use Hyperion to remove the Storm Lances within range of Ragman, Storm Lances and Stormblades it's a pretty terrible trade for him considering I have Feat intact. 

What I feared here was that he'd bide his time as he was going second and go for a 2-0 lead where I would be forced to face Hyperion and MHSF at the same time. The way I see it there are 2 ways MHSF can go about this game, strategically: Move up T1/T2 with feat to take stuff out or stay deep, simply not shooting at all perhaps save for a couple of longshots, and just wait for a decisive moment to strike where I'm forced to deal with multiple adversaries at once. As it were I was able to take on one element at a time which quickly left the important pieces in tatters.