Battle at Lund: Invitationals #1 (#499): Haley2 vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

The last day of the convention saw the Invitationals tournament kick off. The top 8 players from the previous tournaments were qualified. It was a very hard field with nothing but top players, rock hard lists and solid factions. 3 Cygnar players, 2 Mercs, 2 Legion and 1 Skorne. I chose to stay with the exact same lists I took to the Masters on Friday as I saw no reason to tool differently.

For the first game I was paired up against... Gustav! A rematch from the very last game we had played the day before. I knew he had learned a lot from that game as we discussed the matchup at length following its early end. The scenario was Entrenched which would have given Sloan Armory. Usually I'd be happy to drop Sloan here because of said Armory, but I had a gut feeling that Haley2 would be a safer matchup for me and that I'd find the necessary angles. The thing about Sloan is that it can be forced to be a dicey game and I hate that.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Technical Death Metal v4
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Charger [9]
- Hammersmith [12]
- Stormwall [39]
- Thorn [13]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
- Stormclad [18]

Opponent:

Theme: Oracles of Annihilation
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight - WB: +29
- Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
- Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
- Angelius - PC: 17
- Naga Nightlurker - PC: 8
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 11
- Carnivean - PC: 19
- Seraph - PC: 14
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion - PC: 0
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion - PC: 0
The Forsaken - PC: 0
The Forsaken - PC: 0
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I won the roll-off and took first turn. The sides were fairly even. There was an obstruction in the middle which would hurt my Stormwall's threat projection no matter what side I chose so I figured it would be better to get up the field and feat early to get around the entire thing or stay defensive and bait Legion out. I deployed so I could do both, depending on Gustav's reply to my top of 1 moves.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. Fort Haley is created with a Sidekick'd Stormclad b2b with the 'wall.

Gustav chooses a cautious variant. From our game the previous day he has learned to spread out and there's a Hellion solo ready to contest my zone and 1 Angelii on each flank.

By advancing max and TK-ing, Haley can catch virtually his entire army in the feat, including the extremely-far-away Hellion on the right flank and the Angelius on the left flank. Perfect! This sets up so that I'll automatically go to 1-0 in his turn, scoring a second in my own shouldn't be a problem. I had a ton of options following this play I reckoned so I went for it.

This time there was no angle on Lylyth but I had an Angelius to fool around with. I thus spent the feat turn killing it and a Hellion solo in the center.

My Hammersmith and Stormclad were placed pretty far up and Gustav was afraid of their ability to launch a devastating alpha. He backed up a lot and left a single Angelius to contest his own zone.

I TK the Angelius out of his zone and kill the objective with the Hammersmith. Haley consolidates her position and the fort is built again. I move to 4CP.

A desperate contest play is made by running in an Angelius and the Hellion solo, both of which can be TK'd out (if not just downright killed).

The other flank is still contested by a single Angelius and it's within threat range of my Hammersmith so I load it up on full focus and go in. Double Beat Back and Chain Smite leaves it just within the zone sadly, but it hardly has boxes left. Junior's aiming Charger finishes the job though as it has but a couple of boxes left. Thus, I don't need to clear my own zone to get to 5CP.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

This matchup is rough for Lylyth when Haley gets to go first and apply a lot of scenario pressure. I had the perfect forts up defensively as well. The main things Lylyth needs to do is spread out even more. Windwall isn't that big of a deal here because I will typically TK stuff regardless to get the beasts from DEF14 -> DEF12. Knowing when and where the feat comes is crucial. There wasn't a lot of distance left for me to work with so moving the Hellion a little further right and the Angelius a little further left basically makes my play a lot less valuable.

The shooting alpha is a legit way for Haley to set up for the game I believe. I keep defaulting to my Mk. 2 mindset with Haley2 where I expected to get a lot of work done -on- her feat turn. In Mk. 3 I keep finding that her feat is often a lot more about setting up for the following turn actually. Kind of like Fyanna2 I guess.

Battle at Lund: Team Tournament #4 (#498): Haley2 vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

For the finals in the team tournament we decided to abandon our lose-on-purpose-concept. It was too late for beer bracket anyway and after all we had come this far! I was paired against Legion on Recon. My opponent had Lylyth3 and Thagrosh2. I was anticipating Lylyth3 and I had this plan with Haley2 which I wanted to try out so I went with her. Nemo is probably a safe bet here as well but I'm not 100% sure how he plays into Thagrosh2 and I think Recon is an amazing scenario for Haley2 in this matchup.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Technical Death Metal v4
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Charger [9]
- Hammersmith [12]
- Stormwall [39]
- Thorn [13]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
- Stormclad [18]

Opponent:

Theme: Oracles of Annihilation
4 / 4 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army
Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight - WB: +29
-    Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 17)
-    Angelius - PC: 17 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
-    Angelius - PC: 17
-    Naga Nightlurker - PC: 8
-    Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 11
-    Scythean - PC: 18
-    Seraph - PC: 14
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion - PC: 0
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion - PC: 0
The Forsaken - PC: 0
The Forsaken - PC: 0
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
THEME: Oracles of Annihilation

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I've faced Lylyth3 a few times in Mk. 3 one could say. What I've eventually come to is the realization that in scenarios where I can really bully her by scoring quickly, I believe I can aggressively feat without necessarily accomplishing much on the feat turn itself. Killing a single heavy with shooting might be acceptable for example. Thus, with my playing Gustav's Legion on Recon, I was hoping to test this out in practice. Gustav deploys Lylyth skewed a little on the left flank and I respond with the Stormwall directly across from her with most of the other jacks set up slightly to my right. The idea is to play aggressively for scenario, either go all-in hyper-aggro bot of 1 or chill until turn 2 to see how Lylyth intends to contest, depending on what Gustav does.

:: Game ::

Gustav runs up super-aggressively and in a big mash of beasts. Everything is clumped together and the Hellion solos are in front to prevent optimal TK plays.

While I can get a somewhat decent angle at an Angelius or two, I have a play here which seems completely legit: What happens if I simply go for Lylyth? She camps but a single fury and I am sure I can put the fear of God in her if I go all out to damage her and feat. I reckon my opponent will back off significantly to avoid dying the following turn which leads to either an easy 3-0 lead or a massive attrition advantage.

To do this I set up Fort Haley with a double layer of lights blocking her off (thus no bolter KD shenanigans to try and kill me while I feat) and the heavies run to position themselves for a bot of 2 scenario play. Haley then Time Bombs Lylyth and boosts damage. Gustav elects tro transfer this and is thus on 0 fury. I TK her around because DEF11 is awesome for the 'wall, and then the big guy activates. The dice I was lacking in my last game to kill battle engines certainly are back now as my colossal two-shots Lylyth for a surprisingly early end to the game!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Wow, that was unexpected! I'll happily admit that I didn't intend to downright kill Lylyth, merely make her game plan from here miserable and hard. I'll take it though, no doubt. The other 4 players in our teams were shocked to see our game end this early. Sadly though my team lost both of the other games and due to poor tie breaker scores we ended up in 4th place.

I think my strategy overall is legit. It might be better to try and see if you can get a heavy instead of damaging Lylyth but with only 1 fury camped that is some serious damage coming her way. How do you play against the potential damage output Haley2 has from there on out if she survives on, say, 5 boxes? Seems very hard to me. Looking at these pictures in hindsight I also wonder how Lylyth could've stopped me from going to 3CP without virtually sacrificing anything. From there on it should be easy to get to 5 and win.

This is a very experience intensive matchup. I applaud Gustav for making the aggressive play. My motto is: "When in doubt, push!" and that is certainly what he did here. The worst that can happen in such a case is that you learn where the limits in the matchup are, which makes you better suited the next time a similar encounter happens.

Battle at Lund: Team Tournament #3 (#497): Nemo3 vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

Game 3 saw me lose the dice-off and thus my job was to lose. I got thrown under the bus which meant Ghost Fleet again. With my job to lose I dropped Nemo3. I figured I would go for the first and worst opening I found to get work done and take it from there!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

Theme: The Ghost Fleet
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Warwitch Deneghra - WJ: +28
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Captain Rengrave - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Blackbane & 9 Grunts: 17
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Extraction and Cryx takes first turn. I would've loved to get up the field here but alas, it was not to be. At least Deneghra has to move out of killbox top of 2, that's something! I have one goal here and that is kill Deneghra. Secondary plan: Feat to kill Wraith Engine with chain lightnings and, if needed, Nemo + Finch charging. When you don't have magical attacks you don't have magical attacks!

:: Game ::

Deneghra runs up, Wraith Engine flanks left. Raiders in front.

I run in return. I put the jacks in front because they are basically unkillable with the sheer volume I have. I take care to put Nemo and Jakes in positions so that they can charge the Wraith Engine if it advances aggressively.

The Wraith Engine does move up and Henrik, my opponent, spends a lot of time creating fort Deneghra.

I take 10 minutes to look for angles on Deneghra but I find none at all. The incorporeal models will simply soak up the leaps no matter what I try out with proxies.

That means it's plan B! Try and kill the Wraith Engine! I feat and cast 2 Chain Lightnings at it with boosted damage rolls. Unfortunately all of my good dice were spent last game against another Deneghra player and it hardly suffers damage at all. No point in moving in then, especially since Finch is not in range. I clear out stuff on the right flank and score 2 points with Dynamo taking down Deneghra's objective.

Camping 0 with old man Nemo vs Deneghra Ghost Fleet? I think I did my job in terms of going for crazy plays to try and lose my game. However Henrik has Magnetic Field confused with Electrify and thinks I have the +2 ARM spell up on Nemo. He makes a very complicated play to get to Nemo with Scourge on one of my jacks: Wraith Engine kills Finch and engages Nemo for Dark Shroud. With Finch dead he spawns a machine wraith which hits my Lancer, moving him to within scourge aoe range of Nemo. Deneghra then moves up, feats and casts Scourge, only to realize he cannot knock me down. Despite Deneghra having feated Nemo is more or less impossible to hit because of the elevation bonus and being engaged. Henrik forfeits the game.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Setting up to defend your caster vs Nemo3 is no easy feat, but Henrik managed to build a perfect fort. At least I could not find any angles.

As I anticipated having leaps alone would not be enough vs Ghost Fleet. The incorporeal models are too hard to deal with. Assuming you can keep Deneghra alive I think this matchup is favourable for Cryx. This got me thinking about Nemo3 in Heavy Metal, which is a concept I hope to revisit very soon!

My team won one of the other games so suddenly we found ourselves in the finals! 

Battle at Lund: Team Tournament #2 (#496): Haley2 vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

Our second game saw us face "Team Gingers" and again, our Circle player was destined to lose. This meant I had the hard job of taking on Ghost Fleet yet again. Facing me was Magnus whom I played in the SM Finals the day before and we had identical lists.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Technical Death Metal v4
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Charger [9]
- Hammersmith [12]
- Stormwall [39]
- Thorn [13]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
- Stormclad [18]

Opponent:

Theme: The Ghost Fleet
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Warwitch Deneghra - WJ: +28
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Captain Rengrave - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Blackbane & 9 Grunts: 17
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Scenario was Take and Hold and this time around Magnus won the dice-off, electing to go first. I deployed virtually identical to our game from the night before and I was hoping to replicate that game more or less: Slowly whittle him down and then sweep a flank.

:: Game ::

Cryx run their stuff up. Stalkers behind a forest right in front of my flag. The terrain on this table is pretty terrible for me, so many pieces for Cryx to hide behind everywhere. Ugh.

I consider running up Thorn and dominating out a Stalker to get the Stormwall up the field and establish myself on the right flank. I decide against it because there are too many things I cannot catch and I think I need to get more work done on the ghosts before I go for such a play. Instead I make a play where I try and whittle down the ghosts in the middle with a couple of Arcane Bolts and shots from the 'wall. It turns out Haley spent all of her powers yesterday as I miss (!) one of the bolts despite boosting and re-rolling.

An arc node gives up its life to put Parasite on the 'wall and Crippling Grasp on Thorn.

Sigh. I look for angles but I cannot find anyone. I end up doing a little bit of a couple of very different plays which turns out to be terrible: I send in the Stormwall which kills the Wraith Engine but then my feat doesn't cover the Revenants on the left flank.

In return Magnus sends in everything he has on the Stormwall. On average he should do around 80 boxes I think it was. With Deneghra's feat I go to ARM17 which is next level sadness. In any case the undead roll terribly and I survive on ~10 boxes. In my next turn there are virtually no plays at all except to try and kill Deneghra. With a crippled arm that leaves the Stormwall on 2 boosted PS18 attacks. I need at least one boosted damage roll and a boosted pod to realistically kill her, but at 12+ to hit that's asking a lot. Never fear though, when I play like shit the dice come in and save me: Hero Stormwall hits both attacks and boosts damage on one to kill Deneghra.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Luck beats skill, no doubt. I diced Magnus here and there's just no way he deserved it. He took it very well though I must say, especially considering that our team won 2-1 and thus this game was important (our Circle player did his job and lost this time around!). I put it up in Odds Machine and my run was around 18% to succeed, however the Stormwall never should have been alive in the first place so this is an excellent example of dice being dice.

Ghost Fleet is a very unique list to play against and you have to find certain openings to handle it. In this game I was simply unable to do so. I need more time to sit down in a quiet and relaxed setting and go through my games systematically to figure out what the key tricks are to beating this list. I'm glad to see Cryx back in the game and this theme is a very challenging and rewarding element to play against.

Battle at Lund: Team Tournament #1 (#495): Nemo3 vs Iron Mother

:: Prologue ::

Following the Swedish Masters on Friday I didn't know what to do on Saturday. I knew that I wanted something relaxed as Sunday held the Invitationals tournament (the X best players from the other tournaments that weekend would each get a spot), which in my eyes is in many ways biggest to win. In any case more or less everyone at the convention wanted to play a team tournament so I got together with two other guys to take on a real challenge: Each round we would roll a dice each. The one who scored the lowest would have to try and lose his game. By that we didn't mean killbox yourself or kill your own caster, but rather make crazy plays, go for stupidly bad assassinations etc. We didn't mind winning or losing, we just wanted to have a good time and would happily go to the beer bracket.

Because of this I chose to leave Sloan at home and go with Nemo3. I love to play Nemo3 and this was the perfect format to take him out for a spin again. Our first game saw us pair up against a trio of Danes. I was delighted to see that one of them was playing Convergence, and since I didn't have to try and lose my game (our Circle player lost that roll-off for this round) I really wanted to try out Nemo3 against the CoC. "Please give me the CoC, I really need the CoC!" Somehow that got me the Convergence matchup!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

Theme: Destruction Initiative
Iron Mother
- Prime Axiom
- 2x Assimilators
- 2x Mitigators
- Diffuser
- Corollary
Tons of bots

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Entrenched and I got first turn. What is the game plan? Charge!! I wanted to respect Mother's threat ranges bottom of 1 and then simply take it from there. A viable approach is to give him semi-juicy targets and capitalize on greed. My feat is absolutely crazy in this matchup, virtually capable of killing all heavies and the Axiom if shield guards are dealt with, and the assassination potential is brutal. I have to beware of backlash plays and shield guards surviving for long. Lastly, Domination on key jacks like Lancer and Dynamo is an issue.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up and put up Arcane Shield on the big Lances, Electrify on the small ones. I take care to not have any jacks save for a Firefly in range of run + domination/backlash. I figured that if Mother wants to start getting aggressive bottom of 1 I can play from there.

Indeed Mother goes for the Firefly! A light vector runs up to arc Backlash. The Prime then follows up with a couple of attacks, doing 2-3 boxes to Nemo. All of this however leaves Mother on 0 camp, standing right next to an Assimilator...

Obviously, we cannot have that so the good ol' "let's-leap-off-of-a-friendly-model" trick came out in the shape of proxy bases. I did have quite a few direct attacks as well and Mother had 5 shield guards nearby. In any case I had such a huge volume of attacks I could get at her that it hardly mattered. 

The Lancer ran up, Nemo Force Hammered the Assimilator to KD Mother and from there it was a matter of feating and unleashing the lord of lightning. Before I had lept off of model at all, Mother was dead to direct attacks as all shield guards died to early D3 leap variants. 

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Nemo is a caster you simply have to know to avoid shenanigans like this. DEF19 is legit in most matchups, doubly so with 5 Shield Guards and closer targets all over the place. However enter the Lancer + Force Hammer combination and everything changes.

Had I not had an opening I would've consolidated my position, withdrawn the backlash'd Firefly, healed Nemo back up and camped. I would set up to punish both a scenario push and a push towards my zone. Iron Mother feels very hard to play vs Nemo3 in my opinion and probably Axis as well. Lucant is probably a nightmare but absent him, the pairing struggles.

My teammates both won their games. Our Circle player left his caster on 1 box in front of shooters and Butcher1's spell range, with his Khador opponent having Eiryss1. However Eiryss was engaged and didn't want to tempt her luck against a MAT6 Stalker so despite trying to lose, the Khador assassination just wasn't there. 

Battle at Lund: Swedish Masters Finals (#494): Haley2 vs Deneghra1

:: Prologue ::

Having learned earlier that Haley is the better drop into Ghost Fleet, I was eager to meet Cryx again in the finals. Magnus, my opponent, had crushed people left, right and center to make it here. It was time to truly test out this matchup, and boy did we get a game!

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Technical Death Metal v4
[Theme] Heavy Metal
(Haley 2) Major Victoria Haley [+25]
- Charger [9]
- Hammersmith [12]
- Stormwall [39]
- Thorn [13]
- Squire [0]
Captain Arlan Strangewayes [0]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Charger [9]
Lieutenant Allison Jakes [4]
- Stormclad [18]

Opponent:

Theme: The Ghost Fleet
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Warwitch Deneghra - WJ: +28
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Stalker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
- Deathripper - PC: 6 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Captain Rengrave - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Pistol Wraith - PC: 0
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Blackbane & 9 Grunts: 17
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
Revenant Crew of the Atramentous - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2
- Revenant Crew Rifleman - PC: 2

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

+1 to start doesn't matter when I roll a '6' and Magnus rolls a '1'. I elect to go first. I believe that with these 2 casters getting table space is a biggie. We were playing Recon. My idea going into this was that it should be possible to clear a zone and maybe get Haley towards a flag. To do that I weighed slightly on the right since I anticipated Deneghra would go left due to an obstruction there. It proved to be right.

:: Game ::

I run stuff up.

Deneghra wastes no time: One Stalker has the 'wall within its threat range. Arc Node runs up, parasite goes on me, Stalker hits me for ~15-20 ish boxes.

I don't want to over-extend so the idea this turn is to grind and consolidate. How? By having Jakes' Stormclad deal with the Stalker I could have the 'wall and Chargers shoot the Arc Node. Screw the infantry, we can deal with that later. The plan worked out and Haley killed a pistol wraith with an arcane bolt as well. I upkept Force Field because Scourge plays are scary.

The infantry keeps advancing and take some pot shots. Some of them reach Arlan with their shots but it's not enough to kill him. The Wraith Engine marches up on the left flank.

I could conceivably have cleared the zone here and taken a big lead, but I fear an ensuing Deneghra feat simply drowns such an effort since I have to extend so much to get such a play off. Instead I see an opportunity to establish myself on the left flank: Send in the Hammersmith and have the 'wall start shooting up the Wraith Engine. I cover this play with Haley's feat and put up TA on the 'wall, but sadly it's not enough to kill the infernal machine. I take out the last pistol wraith with an Arcane Bolt and the 'wall keeps thinning out the incorporeal raiders.

The Wraith Engine keeps flanking me and Magnus tries to scramble towards the middle zone to prevent me from scoring big, however it's simply not that many dudes left who can reliably do so following two turns of the 'wall shooting the incorporeal dudes.

My play comes into fruition on the left flank: The aggressive play from the Wraith Engine allows Haley to charge it. Contrary to popular belief Haley is no joke in melee, PS13 with RNG2 and TK allows for all sorts of shenanigans. I kill it and TK myself onto the hill. Jakes' Stormclad kills the objective and the Stormwall + Chargers clear the zone. Thorn runs towards Haley again and the Hammersmith tramples a lot of Revenants to death. 2-0 and I have an amazing position!

As predicted Deneghra feats this turn, hitting basically everything. There's no assassination play available so she tries to deal with Jakes' Stormclad. There's no Crippling Grasp however so Sidekick and its high armor holds true.

From here on out it's a very tight game so unfortunately my pictures stop. To make a long story short I score on the left flag and keep clearing the revenants there. The Stormwall and Stormclad hold the middle so Magnus has to desperately try and contest both pieces all the time to avoid me winning. I gradually shift more and more jacks towards the left flank and even Jakes and Junior get into positions where they get work done without fear of retaliation.

The scenario play is too strong and eventually the Cryx recursion dies out. I score my 5th control point and take the win!

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

I am so glad I got to face Ghost Fleet earlier in the Masters event to learn that Haley2 would be my best drop. Magnus made sure to keep "anchors" for each of his units so that I couldn't completely wipe one out like I did in game 2. What I managed to achieve in this game was to claim a lot of table space, deal with threats one at a time, grind down the ones who take forever (Raiders) and convert the ensuing local advantage on the left flank to a scenario play which proved unstoppable. Given my lack of experience against Ghost Fleet I think this is the best game I've played in a long time and it could not have come at a better time. I'm very happy and proud to have taken this game down the way I did, especially because I had such annoying technical mistakes in the semi-finals against Torbjörn.

The Wraith Engine aggressive play was a game changer. It allowed me to create the momentum I needed to get into the left part of the table. I was right in my prediction that Deneghra would go left, however I was wrong about the fact that I thought it would be easier for me to score on the right. Perhaps Magnus simply saw this and deployed more heavily there though, the way the game evolved it certainly was impossible for me to really clear out the right flank.

Last year I won the Swedish Masters with a Haley2/Haley3 pairing in Mk. 2. Back then I felt the lists carried me a great deal. This year I managed to defend my title and all 5 of my games were indeed close(ish). I've evolved and improved a lot as a player and the game is in a way better state now than it was then. That makes it even more rewarding to come out on top!

Battle at Lund: Swedish Masters #4 (#493): Sloan vs Vayl2

:: Prologue ::

The 4th game saw me face Torbjörn, one of Sweden's best players and a seasoned Legion general. As opposed to "everyone" else running the Lylyth3 hype, Torbjørn plays Vayl2 which makes life so much more miserable for Cygnar in my opinion. Nevertheless I have faith in Sloan in this matchup so despite the lethal Incursion being our scenario, I dropped everyone's favourite Sniper.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Cygnar - Firing Solution v4
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Armory - Steamroller Objective
Captain Kara Sloan - WJ: +28
- Squire - PC: 0
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Hunter - PC: 11
- Stormwall - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
- Lightning Pod
- Firefly - PC: 8
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Hunter - PC: 11
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Hammersmith - PC: 12

Opponent:

Theme: Oracles of Annihilation
3 / 3 Free Cards     75 / 75 Army
Vayl, Consul of Everblight - WB: +28
-    Carnivean - PC: 19 (Battlegroup Points Used: 19)
-    Naga Nightlurker - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 8)
-    Nephilim Bloodseer - PC: 8 (Battlegroup Points Used: 1)
-    Nephilim Bolt Thrower - PC: 11
-    Ravagore - PC: 19
-    Seraph - PC: 14
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion - PC: 0
The Forsaken - PC: 0
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Shepherd - PC: 1
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
-    Bayal, Hound of Everblight - PC: 0
Spawning Vessel - Vessel & 6 Grunts: 7

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

Incursion, I win roll-off, opt to go second. I choose the side with a central hill and a forest on my right flank. The idea is to deploy Hunters on the hill, take control of the right flank and have Sloan behind the woods.

:: Game ::

The spawning vessel. I thought we were rid of it when Mk. 3 hit the deck. Apparantly not. It's back and it's as annoying as ever. Even more so, arguably, with apparition. Placing a model where-ever you want to? I deployed Sloan, Junior, Jakes etc out of Vayl's threat. 33.2" top of 1 is next level crazy though and very annoying. I eventually left Arlan in harm's way, figuring that if he wants to go for that play I may as well let him. Better for Sloan later on. Anyway! A Harrier runs up and Vayl arcs a couple of Chastens onto a Hunter. Not much damage is done. Beasts either stay out of range or get cover.

I realize that my plan to take the right flank is likely flawed, partially because it'll be hard to prioritize killing the Bloodseer with Occultation there, partially because it's trivial to run a beast into the woods and arc onto Sloan. Regardless I have to create Fort Sloan™ and move up the MVP Hammersmith with Sidekick B2B with the 'wall to do so. I take some pot shots, clear out a couple of infantry dudes and hold my feat.

Infantry moves up further, some jam me up. Carnivean takes up cover in the center-ish.

I realize I've chosen the wrong side but it's kind of late for that now. The Seraph on the left flank is b2b with the flag there and I can't really threaten it in any way. I cannot apply Sloan's shots either. Ugh. Regardless I cannot lose more space or scenario pressure so I have to feat. If I can take out the Carnivean it might be a start. Sloan moves towards my center and starts killing infantry. The Firefly follows suit and this clears a lot of my jam. Disaster strikes though as I forget to pod to contest with the 'wall (after I've measured the distance beforehand). I simply cannot afford to run a Hunter under my feat turn, doubly so because I've rolled poorly for the Carnivean. The last Hunter though, mr Hero Hunter, puts some absolutely ridiculous rolls into the Carnivean, totalling something like 18 damage at two boosted shots dice off 6. This takes it out, luckily. The Stormwall contests the middle and the Hammersmith contests the right flag. 1-1.

Vayl contemplates feating for scenario. She decides to hold the feat, move out of my threat ranges and be happy with simply removing Sidekick from the Hammersmith. A combination of this means that the Bloodseer cannot be forced on the right flank and thus my Hunter lives. 1-2 on CP.

Time to push out and claim that space back. The Hammersmith gets the job to remove the Bloodseer. Despite being fully loaded and energized, it doesn't kill the Bloodseer. It does free up Junior's Hunter though and my Firepower ensures that the Ravagore dies. The naga also takes a heavy beating, however in my eager to push up the field I forget to use the 'walls Chain Cannons and it lives on a couple of boxes. Even worse, I forget to pod yet again. Jesus Christ. Instead I run a Hunter to contest this time.

Vayl cannot reach Sloan and there is nothing else meaningful to feat on. Torbjörn runs her in cover with a ton of camp, taunting an assassination from me. He puts all throwable models outside of 9". Good play.

I have to do one thing to win this game: Not lose Sloan. I don't need to get a lot of work done. I camp 5 and create a fort.

Given the Seraph's position it has to tank free strikes to get in range of Sloan. Vayl also needs to kill Jakes or one of the full-HP screening lights to get LoS. Both of my lights hit their free strikes and the Seraph takes a lot of damage, only having 1(!) hp left. Vayl needs a 9+ to kill it and much to my relief, Torbjörn makes this roll and the Seraph goes down before the run can even begin!

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Wow, what a long and intense game! This was back and forth with tons of small issues on both sides throughout. My lack of experience against Vayl2 is evident as I choose the wrong side. I struggle to get work out of Sloan while keeping her safe, which is definitely bad. The forest placements also don't help me much and Torbjörn gets a lot out of his cover pieces.

Sloan's guns and Vayl's reluctancy to capitalize on my scenario mistakes with her feat ensure that I eventually get ahead on attrition. I ride this home to a win by playing super conservatively with all key pieces. It's important to remember that Jakes doesn't have to always have the Hammersmith in control for example.

A great game and I was happy to walk away with a win here for sure!