Iron Moot: Nordic Championship #1 (#561): Haley2 vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

This game was recorded by WarRoomPL, check out the video here: link

Iron Moot this year was a shark tank. That is a big reason for why I love this event, it brings together a large amount of very strong players. It makes for excellent games and hard challenges, the stuff I've come to love about Warmachine & Hordes in a nutshell. The Nordic Championship spots reflected this accordingly, take a look at the list below:

Last year I lost to Johan Dyrlind's Karchev in the semi-finals of the Nordic Championship (link), this year I was hoping to go all the way. As always though I do my best to keep 100% focus on the game at hand and not drift away in dreams of glory or what not. It's always about your one next game.

My first draw was a fellow Cygnar player, Daniel with a Haley2/Haley3 pairing. His Haley2 list was very similar to the one I took to Battle at Lund in April, meaning more melee power and less shooting presence, while his Haley3 list was the good old vanilla list from last year. I'm not comfortable with Stryker1 into Haley3 due to a lack of practice but I figured Haley2 with shooting is better than Haley2 with melee, and my Haley2 list has plenty of lightning generators to dismantle Haley3. Thus I dropped Haley2. Daniel paired his Haley2 in return and off we went!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

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

:: Opponent ::

Haley2, HM
- Stormwall
- Thorn
- Ironclad
- Squire
- Charger
Junior
- Charger
Jakes
- Stormclad

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was The Pit 2 and I got first turn. This is big in this matchup as pushing your colossal far up the table provides so many angles and presents the opposing Haley2 with a ton of problems. The idea was to bully him out of the center, capitalize on this and ensure that my superior shooting would make its presence felt.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs and I abuse the house to shield my things from a batshit Thorn going out on a mission.

Daniel's Junior allocates a focus to his Charger and it looks like Daniel's considering trying to start a shooting war on my Stormwall. Somewhere along the way this plan changed and said Charger ended up running. With Junior putting up Arcane Shield on the Stormwall this left him on 0 camp...

...which is too good of an opportunity to pass up. By running Thorn and casting TK on him I would be in range of Daniel's Junior with an Arcane Bolt. I based my turn around this play, intending to tear his Stormwall a new one following the demise of Arcane Shield. This all worked out tremendously with my Charger and Cyclone putting boosted pow12s to great effect into the enemy 'wall. My Stormwall then finished him off with Temporal Acceleration. I feated in case the enemy 'wall would survive, which it did not (keep in mind that Haley activated before I had shot anything so I didn't know if I could kill it off or not). The Strider casually followed up with taking out Daniel's Thorn's Arc Node.

Daniel tried to get some sort of comeback but after a fruitless turn he conceded the game, understandably.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Haley2 mirrors are crazy because of the angles and threat ranges involved. I know this from past experience and was constantly looking to both prevent angles for my opponent and take advantage of those I could find. Thorn's reach is incredible if you are willing to TK him and protecting the weaker backline elements is essential.

I'm not sure how Daniel could've approached this game differently. Had his Junior been safe I would still have taken out Thorn and possibly a Charger. At that point I'm so far ahead because suddenly my backline elements are a lot safer. Again, my shooting also a lot stronger so he has to push into me. Pushing melee pieces into Haley2 is rarely a good idea.

A great start to the Championship!

Iron Moot: Masters #4 (#560): Stryker1 vs Stryker1

:: Prologue ::

For the 4th game I finally drew a Cygnar opponent! Julien had a Haley2/Stryker1 pairing so I was getting ready for a slug-fest. Indeed I dropped and received Stryker1 so it was Jaeger time!

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

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

:: Opponent ::

Stryker1
- Hurricane
- Stormwall
- Squire
Junior
- Sentinel
Arlan
Jakes
- Defender
Min Meks

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The thing about two Cygnar colossals fighting two Cygnar colossals is that it's all about isolation. If you can isolate one colossal with both of yours you're likely to win the grind. As such I deployed slightly skewed upon seeing Julien's start (he went first).

:: Game ::

Julien runs, I skew further to isolate as planned. Do note that my Hurricane here (the left colossal) is within charge range of his Stormwall. I don't mind this at all as one going in on one lets my isolate his and feat last (or outright kill it if he miraculously doesn't feat).

Julien shifts left. Defender and Hurricane land a hit on Jakes' Charger, DEF19 isn't enough.

To further isolate Julien's flanked colossal I now take the opportunity to run with the Hurricane in front of the Stormwall. I'm now very comfortable with my position and I really don't know what he'll do from here.

Stormwall goes in, kills Squire with a pod and starts beating my Hurricane. Dice aren't exactly stellar for Julien so the damage is negligible. Hurricane and Defender roll some crazy dice though and kill the Charger outright. He feats.

I make a very bad play here: I'm so happy my isolation play worked that I completely forget that it isn't necessarily permanent...

...so although I have 2 colossals on his one and feated last, Julien finds an amazing play: By tanking a free strike he can reverse the isolation, with the rock in my zone I am unable to get both of my colossals against his flanked one. Brilliant. Meks also run up, however...

...Julien forgets elector leaps and doesn't have the Sentinel closer to the Hurricane. This lets my Stormwall wipe out all meks. Coupled with my scoring more hits and rolling better damage, the attrition play is basically won here.

Towards the end the scenario is iffy but I keep my cool and count it out: I'm good to go.

In the end I win on 1 CP more I think it was, bottom of 7.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Stryker1 vs Stryker1 isn't the most exciting of games. That being said, it's a lot about knowing what to do and how to do it. After an amazing setup I nearly ruined this for myself by not completing the isolation (I should have charged the Stormwall to deny him being able to escape my double-trouble setup). Dice were certainly in my favour which helped out in the end in a very close game.

The Jakes module on the left flanked disappeared all too quickly. I was hoping to get more value out of it. I could have been more careful I guess, an aiming Defender is a pain.

Julien didn't contest the central zone top of 2, which was a major mistake as he could've done so easily without fear of any counter-plays from me. This CP pushed me to 2-0 and helped me find the plays I needed without compromising my scenario game throughout.

After this game I drew Cryx for the Semi-finals. I decided to forfeit that game. There are a lot of reasons why I decided to do that. I will not disclose all of those reasons here. What I will say however is that fatigue is a thing, and my opponent had the Bane theme list. My main goal for the weekend was the Sunday event (and the Nordic Champion title) and given my performances on Friday and Saturday thus far I reckoned that was within reach, something I had doubted before I went to Iron Moot. A 5th game on Saturday, possibly followed by finals, would severely drain me. Furthermore I think a lot of my strength in this game comes from being able to accurately analyze what I need to do in a given matchup. Following my recent games vs Coven and some spectated ones I didn't want my Cryx opponent(s) to find out what I had learned. As such I went 4-0 in the Masters, forfeited my 5th game and ended up in 3rd place. I went to bed early and was as ready as I could be for Sunday's Nordic Championship!

Battle Report #549: Haley2 vs Darius

:: Prologue ::

I have this idea that Darius is amazing in mirror, so I got a fellow Cygnar player to field him against a Haley2-variant.

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

Haley2 charger-spam

:: Opponent ::

Darius double colossal

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

I went first. The idea was to isolate one of his colossals and work from there. The reason behind my list was that we wanted to stress test this for Darius.

:: Game ::

Stuff runs. Hammersmith's a bit on the wrong side here.

Darius runs as well.

I can't engage the front-most colossal with the Hammersmith and my own colossal so I back off and shoot.

Darius pushes further up and shoots as well.

I can go in now and I do so while feating, killing one colossal.

Darius kills the Hammersmith with jackhammer.

I start pounding his colossal. I come quite close to killing it, but it's just not enough.

Feat and jackhammer ensure that attrition is now lost and I am not in a position to win on scenario. I concede the game.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

This worked out about as I thought it would. More practice needed though, finding optimal moves for Darius was not trivial.

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

:: Prologue ::

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

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

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

:: Opponent ::

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

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

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

:: Game ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

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

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

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

Battle Report #544: Stryker1 vs Haley2

:: Prologue ::

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

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

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

:: Opponent ::

"TimeStorm"
Theme: Heavy Metal
4 / 4 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Major Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Squire - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
- Thorn - PC: 13
- Hurricane - PC: 39 (Battlegroup Points Used: 25)
Storm Strider - PC: 18
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 0
- Firefly - PC: 8
Lieutenant Allison Jakes - PC: 0
- Reliant - PC: 14
Captain Arlan Strangewayes - PC: 0

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

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

:: Game ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

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

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

Battle Report #542 & #543: Sloan vs Stryker1

:: Prologue ::

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

:: Lists ::

:: Cygnar ::

Sloan with Stormwall & Hunters

:: Opponent ::

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

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

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

:: Game ::

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans. 

:: Evaluation ::

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

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