Iron Moot: Steamroller ADR Finals (#556): Stryker1 vs Twins

:: Prologue ::

Poor Gustav. 

It turns out that the tournament I was in had D&C 1, meaning both lists had to be played. Guess what? I didn't know that. Having gone 4-0 and finding myself in the finals I was list-locked to Stryker1. That's.... Hardly ideal, to say the least. Ironically enough, my friend Gustav playing Legion was up against me. I've met Gustav multiple times before in Swedish tournaments. He's always struggling to find Cygnar counters and I've shown him #justHaley2Things many times before. This time he was prepared, with a list designed to deal with just that: Haley2. The irony was that he had no lists meant to take on Stryker1 and I couldn't even drop Haley2 (something I would've), so we ended up playing Stryker1 vs Twins!

:: 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 ::

Twins, Oracles
- Zuriel
- Scythean
- Naga
- Seraph
2x Throne
Blackfrost Shard
Solos

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Spread the Net and I went first. The idea was to bully up the middle with the big boys and play from there. I knew I had superior shooting and this list possesses some crazy angles. It was all about not exposing myself too badly, kiss and wraithbane make those Jaegers go down before you can say "arcane shield".

:: Game :: 

I spread the chargers out wide. Blur on Stryker, Snipe on Hurricane.

Gustav pushes to the max, Occultation on Twins.

I back off, consolidate my position and start shooting up the central Throne. I pod my flag because Gustav cannot kill it with anything without committing a vital piece.

Hellion moves in to contest my zone with her no-shooting thingy up. Rhyas in the middle means he scores. Hellion on the left runs to contest the pod. I lol a bit.

Charger on the right kills Hellion. I finish off the Throne with the Hurricane and continue on the Scythean. It nearly dies. Stryker feats and I take 2 points, meaning I'm up 1.

Gustav backs off, but Zuriel and Rhyas try to kill the Charger on the left. They fail. Remaining Throne contests the right zone, Scythean contests the middle. Nothing contests my flag so I'm up by 2.

If I can kill Rhyas and Zuriel I score in the left zone and there's nothing to threaten Stryker. If I kill the Throne as well I win outright. I go for the play (by Earthquaking to kd Zuriel + Rhyas, Stormwall clears up) and it works out, meaning I win by delta 5 CP. In hindsight it's possibly a sub-optimal play because it's so incredibly hard for my opponent to contest my flag here. A safer play is to kill the Scythean and leave the Throne on the right flank because this way fluffing dice won't matter much. In any case...

Tournament Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

An interesting game for sure! I love the tech's Gustav come up with, a pity he didn't get to play it vs Haley2. The Thrones are really tanky and hard to deal with. I was surprised by his decision to keep pushing despite one Throne being very low on HP. That being said I'm not sure holding it back would accomplish much. Putting Occultation on it means Rhyas and Saeryn can't play anywhere close to as aggressive as they did.

The left zone was won rather easily by me and this was a problem because not only did I score there, but I completely zoned Gustav from contesting my flag. That was a huge problem for him as the CP just kept running and running. A more balanced approached (i.e. shifting further left) probably would've delayed the game.

Another win for the Swans, this time with Stryker1 jumping in when he had to and carrying the day against the dragonspawn of Everblight.

Poor Gustav.

Iron Moot: Steamroller ADR #1 (#552): Haley2 vs Fyanna2

:: Prologue ::

Before I start this report, a short introduction is needed. My motivation for Warmachine & Hordes has been at an all-time low this summer. In my area it's normal for miniature gaming to sort of hibernate during the summer months, on top of this real life stuff has made me take a look at my priorities. Don't get me wrong, I love this game and it's the best when I'm in the mood for it. Sometimes other things need to get sorted out first is all.

In any case I wasn't even remotely ready to go to Iron Moot. My analysis was lacking, lists were old and not tested as well as I would have liked. On top of that I stayed up late to finish painting (I am a big fan of hardcore painting requirements as it forces people to care about the hobby, which in turn makes for a lot more enjoyable games. This time I was way behind though). I'm sad to say the Strider wasn't finished close to what I wanted it to be, a very rushed job made it tournament legal but far from the polished thing I was hoping it would be. The effort I've put into converting the Doof Strider™ deserved a proper job. I hope to be able to do that later on.

Iron Moot had an event starting 11AM on Friday. Living in Oslo which is roughly 3 hours by car away, 3 fellow gamers and I decided to leave Friday morning. This meant I had to get up at 6AM and considering I painted the Strider until 2AM that didn't leave a lot of room for sleep. Arriving at Iron Moot I had 0 expectations and just wanted to get some decent games in, meet friends from abroad and have a good time.

The very first game saw me draw one of the players I rode down with: Martin and his Legion. Martin and I have played a lot together and know each other very well. I brought Haley2 (an evolution of TimeStorm meant to better deal with Cryx and scenario plays) and Stryker1 (Jaeger Team), while Martin had Fyanna2 and Absylonia2. I expected Fyanna2 and had no second guesses about dropping Haley2 here. In my experience shooty-heavy Haley is massively favoured in this matchup. Let's get to the game!

:: 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 ::

Fyanna2, Oracles
- Seraph
- 3x Neraph
- 2x Angelius
- Naga
Various solos

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

We were playing Outlast and I went first. The idea was to get up, claim table space, get pieces into aggressive positions and force him to feat early.

:: Game ::

Just to be sure I'm 100% we go through Fyanna's spell list. Including Gallows, which I note "is the one that pulls, right?" Martin replies yes...

...somehow I still manage to place Thorn in a position where a Spell Martyr can run up. Oh well. Fyanna pulls Thorn out and he's killed by a charging Angelius. My opponent doesn't feat however...

So I take advantage of the situation and start shooting birds left, right and center. The Cyclone makes a mess of things: It's able to aim for RAT8 and rolls a lot of shots. The Charger, Stormwall, Strider and Firefly all follow up with decent shooting as well and I deal a ton of damage to the angry birds.

Fyanna feats. The Neraph on the left toes the zone, the remaining Angelius jams the Charger, Strider and Arlan, the Neraph on the right takes up a defensive position.

I TK Strider, Arlan and Charger. Haley moves back, out of threat ranges. Shooting deals with the 2 birds on the left. Stormwall tries to pummel the Neraph on the right but no such luck.

Fyanna of course has overtake so by killing the Charger she can actually reach Haley. I am camping 2 focus so it's a long shot no matter what. Dice don't agree with Martin though and he's sitting the middle of my army, camping instead. Hoping to somehow miraculously survive to get another shot...

...I'll have none of it however and kill him dead: Stormwall throws the Hellion to knock Fyanna down and all hell breaks loose as my army opens up on her.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

Fyanna's feat is a nightmare for melee lists, however I've found that Cygnar shooting generally deals well with it if you have control to follow up. Haley2 is an excellent counter and this list is incidentally nearly tailor-made to deal with her. Losing Thorn was a big blow but I still came out on top in terms of attrition. Sure, maybe Martin should've feated but I'd have my own feat to cover things up in return. A horrible start for me in terms of playing, but the matchup carried this home for me. 

Battle at Lund: Invitationals #2 (#500): Sloan vs Vayl2

:: Prologue ::

For the second game of the Invitationals, which was essentially the semi-finals, I faced Torbjörn's Vayl2 again. Since last time he had ditched the Ravagore for another Carnivean, which I think is the correct thing to do as a Ravagore in Vayl2 feels like it's way too expensive. Anyway! This is a matchup where Sloan truly is key. I don't know if I like any other Cygnar caster into Vayl2. Possibly Nemo3 I guess. Anyway, this was one of the closest games I've had this year and a blast of a game so let's get to it!

:: 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
- Carnivean- 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 ::

The scenario was Outlast and I won the roll-off, electing to go second. The reason here is two-fold: The nature of this matchup means that it's hard for Vayl to reliably contest and thus I can possibly get a scenario opening. The second reason is that I don't gain a whole lot by going first, whereas going second means I get to choose my side and there's an awesome set of terrain pieces on one side.

:: Game ::

Vayl elects to feat top of 1 to try and clear Hunters. The one I thought I placed in cover does indeed not have cover from the angles a spawned Harrier can get. Luckily for me, Torbjörn's dice are terrible and he doesn't even kill a single Hunter.

With the threat of Vayl's feat gone I've suddenly gained a lot of space for Sloan! Torbjörn also forgot about the heavy metal +2" so while he did the math on his Carniveans not being in my threat range (Stormwall) he forgot this and didn't actually measure it. I contemplated feating to get one Carnivean out but decided against it since Sloan had no targets personally. I figured I'd just as well feat later. The Carnivean took ~20 ish boxes and the Firefly fried some infantry. Arlan repaired the damaged Hunter which hid out behind its friends in the wood.

Unfortunately for me the carniveans had a perfect angle for the damaged Hunter. By assaulting they would end up in cover in the middle and with the assault spray touching said Hunter. It thus went down and some solid dice actually enabled him to kill another one as well with some help from Vayl and a Bolt Thrower. Not good at all.

A pure game of attrition from here looked dicey. With two Hunters down and both Carniveans in cover with their animus up I was unlikely to win big in the center. Instead I decided to go for a scenario play: I could easily clear both zones and put Sloan in the left one for a 3-0 start. This would put some real pressure on Legion as contesting the left zone heavily could conceivably lead to the right zone suddenly becoming a scoring zone for me.

This meant exposing Sloan so I needed to take out the Bolt Thrower to leave Vayl without batshit angles. By covering Sloan's front with Junior's Hunter Torbjörn would be forced to deal with DEF20 I hoped.

Sloan feated and shot the wounded Carnivean to death on the first shot, putting the second into the Bolter for great justice and lots of damage. Stormwall then killed the jam and put some hurt into the last Carnivean. Junior's Hunter finished off the Bolt Thrower while Sloan's last Hunter tried to put the pressure on the remaining Carnivean further, sadly to no effect. I got my 3CP and was very eager to see what Legion would do.

After deliberating various assassination and scenario plays Torbjörn concludes that the most sensible option he has actually is to go for the Stormwall. He can get the Seraph's shots into it as well as the Carnivean charging and possibly the Naga shooting. This really can go both ways, but this time his dice were on point and the 'wall went down. He then flooded the left zone heavily.

I looked for ways to clear out the left zone and instantly win but the odds were quite frankly terrible. I had a massive lead on the clock though so I figured I could "pause" my scenario angle and play a turn or two for attrition as Torbjörn simply didn't have the time to find the optimal plays he needed to win such a close-fought game of attrition.

The Hammersmith killed off the Carnivean. Sloan and Junior's Hunter killed the Hellion. Sloan's Hunter tried to kill off the pot was but not successful.

From here the pictures were a little lacking due to time issues and a really, really tense game. Torbjörn went for Junior's Hunter which he got with the Bloodseer. The Firefly and Hunter in the right zone were eventually killed as well.

We were down to 3-3 suddenly and Torbjörn had the Seraph, a Shepherd and a Forsaken contesting my zone. Junior killed the Shepherd, Jakes killed the Forsaken and Sloan shot the Seraph. The Hammersmith was fully loaded and ready to kill the Seraph should Sloan fail, but she rolled a spectacular damage roll (cue "boom headshot!") and killed it outright (it had taken some damage previously). I ran the Squire over to the other zone and thus won 5-3 on CP.

Victory to the Swans!

:: Evaluation ::

What. A. Game! This was so tense and close with multiple clutch plays, annoying mistakes and really hard positions to evaluate throughout. The game kicked off with a mistake from me. I think all Hunters need at least concealment vs Vayl2. Given the terrain here I could have given them cover as well with the building on the left flank. Most Legion players always save the powerful stuff for assassinations. However using feats etc to clear Hunters vs Sloan is a legit play I think. Indeed this game ended up being extremely close and I think that was largely due to me losing 2 Hunters early on. What if I had lost all 3? I wonder if I had could have kep the hurt Hunter from T1 alive by having him more than 3" into the forest.

The Stormwall going down was a big, big pain. It shows how strong the Carnivean is. It really is terrifying for Cygnar. I'm not sure what the math is here. The Seraph averages 2 shots which translates to 8 boxes with Blessed. Carnivean is 5x dice off 1 which is 30. On top of that we have charge and 2x dice off 3 which is another 11,5 so roughly 50 boxes in total, assuming no misses. The volume is too much for Odds Machine. It might be a coin flip, it might be 70 or 30, I really don't know. The fact of the matter is that it died, and when it did I was more than a little happy I had the Hammersmith. The reason this guy is in in the first place is that in most matchups things go south sooner or later and stuff gets into melee. When it does, the Hammersmith is so much more valuable than a 5th Hunter.

Towards the end of the game I was able to dissect his list faster than he could dissect mine. It was unbelievably close though and I believe that with more time for Legion, I probably would have lost. A very good game and a nail-biter towards the very end! 

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: 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!

Battle Report #483: Sloan vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

Time for the second game! I was recently told that Sloan into Lylyth3 is massively in favour of Sloan. Considering this is the opposite of what I thought I had to try this out. I mean, why can't Lylyth just slowly walk up, be a Windwall center and just take it from there? Sooner or later the melee beasts will tear Sloan's list apart. Those were my thoughts prior to the game, anyway. Let's jump in!

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

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The Pit, I go first. Idea? Spread out lights, create a fort with Stormwall and Hammersmith.

:: Game ::

Stuff gets into position. Refuge on Sloan.

Lylyth shifts everything left, does nothing but cast Windwall and have her beasts stay within. Not nearly all beasts have to run so coupled with fury management there are no frenzy issues.

I figure I cannot feat because that leaves Lylyth too much freedom to try and get work done. However I am not out of time quite yet so I can take a turn of pot-shots with Sloan and the 'wall. The latter however is way too close, he'll get ripped to pieces at 10.1" away from Angelii. They threaten 14" base and I want to force Lylyth to activate first if they want to try anything. Otherwise he can go with Angelii first and literally trample up 12" and cast Windwall and I cannot touch him.

So I back off and target the middle Angelius. It loses 20 ish boxes.

A mistake on my part not to contest the zone. I should've placed the Firefly in the zone rather than on the flank. No biggie though, it dies to shooting anyway so it wouldn't have mattered. Lylyth shifts towards her own flag and goes to 2-0.

I have to send the Stormwall in now to contest. If I don't the game is over no matter what I do. I consider feating, but the problem with feating is that I can only get 2 heavies at most, and if I do the remaining two heavies can take out the 'wall and Lylyth is safe with Windwall, yet again.

What I do is save the feat. I'm hoping to take out a heavy without. If that happens, I can conceivably win a game of attrition. Not sure what I'll do about scenario, but first things first.

I fail to kill a heavy and keeping Sloan safe at all is extremely difficult here.

Heavies engage and I lose Stormwall, Hammersmith and a Hunter. this is what I feel inevitably happens in this matchup and why it's bad for Sloan.

I go for a last assassination attempt on Lylyth, but she camps her 2 fury and has Windwall up so she lives.

Sadly, a Loss for the Swans.

:: Evaluation ::

This game went more or less like I anticipated it would. We ran some numbers and Sloan has to be very lucky to get enough work done before Lylyth can force the issue like she did here. One-rounding a heavy outside of feat is unlikely and I feel as though you need three heavies down to justify feating, considering Lylyth gets so much more space and freedom if you spend the feat. Given the situation however, I should have feated top of 3. We played this out with the Carnivean (who btw is my primary target here) and an unhurt Angelius going down. What happens then is that Lylyth simply tramples up with Windwall, lesser beasts block out Stormwall and the remaining Angelii kill Sloan.

I was hoping to get more work out of the Hammersmith but I found I had to use him as a piece to provide Sloan with a safe haven. Sloan has to commit to a part of the table rather early because if she's exposed she dies. If she dies it's obviously game over, however you basically also need both Jakes and Arlan to live (at least the latter!). This means you have a serious backline to keep intact whereas Lylyth has no such weaknesses. Bot of 1 she literally had her entire army wrapped in Windwall. With proxying it up it's simply very straight forward and easy to do. As long as the Legion player doesn't get greedy and plays the slow pressure game there is no work for the Hunters to do.

What can conceivably work is strategically giving up the Stormwall. The problem with doing this is that if the Legion player finds a way for Lylyth to catch her heavies in Windwall after the 'wall has died it's game over. With an objective based scenario I think this matchup is easily playable because you get the critical volume both to attrition through Windwall and to threaten assassination. However without it feels like Sloan is just short of what she needs. It does depend on the Legion player being patient and not looking for crazy angles, but if he knows what he's doing I feel this is pretty clearly in his favour.