Battle Report #37: Caine2 vs Issyria

I had time for another quick fight and Nima wanted to try out his Issyria list. Normally I would drop Haley2 into this, but I need more Caine2 practice.

Edit: Nima has written about this fight on the blog, declaring it a victory for him even if he had lost 3 times on takebacks! The gall! The lies! The pointy, pointy ears! Never trust an elf, that's what I say. :D

Captain Allister Caine (75 points)

Captain Allister Caine
* Reinholdt
* Centurion
* Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Gun Mage Captain Adept
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo
6 Rangers
5 Storm Lances
10 Trencher Infantry
Bunker

Issyria, Sybil of Dawn (75 points)

Issyria, Sybil of Dawn
* Chimera
* Hyperion
Elara
* Discordia
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (Eiryss2)
2x Archanist Mechanik
Nyss Hunters
* Soulless Escort
2x2 Heavy Rifle Team

Deployment

This is interesting. Issyria's spell countering is useless against Caine2, but she can armor skew a lot which Caine2 doesn't like. On the other hand Issyria dies to a stiff breeze so perfect positioning is needed to avoid the Trick Shot assassination. It's going to be hard to me got get Ragman into position since he can feat to see through my clouds, and anyway Hyperion scatters can kill any of my solos.

Nima wins the die roll and elects to go first. I elect to get the trench.

His infantry goes on the right, and I counterdeploy the Lances to chew them up. Usually I want Lances to harass the distant zone, but they will just murder Nyss. The solosplace near that sweet, sweet trench.

Turn 1

Hyperion gets Inviolable Resolve and skews towards the left objective. The Chimera gets Admonition. Eiryss runs behind the objective.

Issyria is standing within 4" of Discordia and camping only 2, and Discordia is within 19" of Caine2. So that is ~36 Trick Shot damage on poor Issyria.

Cygnar wins by assassination!

We minifeat Issyria back and continue the game.

Cygnar tech time. I run two Rangers near Eiryss. Caine casts Bullet Dodger and Heightened Reflexes. He shoots his own Rangers in the back and after two Trick Shots Eiryss dies.

Lances get Arcane Shield and run up. One goes within 4" of a Nyss and I bounce a Firefly shot off it. A Nyss is electrocuted.

The Hunter shoots a weapon team member.

God, I love playing Cygnar.

Most of my lovely solos jump into the Trench and hope for the best. I did a misplay here, I should have had 2 Trenchers make smoke in front of the Trench to force a feat if he wants to go for murdering my solos, or for a long shot assassination run on Caine with the Starburst.

Turn 2

Hyperion toes into the zone. There are some shots, but only minimal damage, I lose a Storm Lance, two Rangers and a Trencher. Nima looks frustrated.

I start killing stuff. All but one Nyss dies. Caine gate crashes into the zone and camps 2.

Turn 3

Nima sees he is losing both the attrition and scenario game, and ponders the throw assassination.

When Nima smiles and goes all quiet, you know it's assassination time.

He plays out a bit of his turn but doesn't get it done. We reset. He does it another way but that doesn't work either. We reset. In the end we figure out that throwing the Chimera with the Hyperion, clearing out the Lance jamming the last Nyss, a Discordia spray, and then Nyss hunters charge, is the way to land it.

I still cannot wait for the throw rules to get fixed!

Post Mortem

Quite an interesting matchup. I would think that Issyria should be up here, that ARM23 against shooting Hyperion should be really tough to crack with my list. On the other hand, her extreme brittleness means she is always in danger of dying to the tiniest mistake.

Again, I need to look for the throw angles here. The whole thing is just so stupid. Hyperion's laser guided throw threat is like 8.5" + 5" + 2" + a base, and it simply cannot miss.

Battle Report #16: Haley2 vs Issyria (match 3)

The games went so quickly that we found out that we had time for a third game. The score is 1-1? Who will be the champion? Who will walk home, mind gone, spirit crushed, body mauled? Well, none of us, because we don't play HORDES. We, my friend, have cortexes.

Major Victoria Haley (75 pts)

I felt in both the matches that another Ironclad would have given me more punch, with the possibility of one-rounding a colossal. I modified the list back to be almost identical to Jarle's supertuned Stormwall list. I'm not such a big fan of Lanyssa in that list, since her threat is so close to my max threat. I don't have the Gobber Tinker, so I used a min bodgers instead, making this the Official Pjolterbeist's Thornwall Extra Gobber Repair Power List (tm).

Major Victoria Haley (+25)
* Squire (5)
* Stormwall (39)
* Ironclad (12)
* Thorn (13)
Journeyman Warcaster (4)
* Firefly (8)
Ragman (4)
4 Field Mechanics (3)
3 Storm Lances (20)

Issyra, Sybil of Dawn (75 pts)

Nico also swapped back to his original list. I think the only change was Wyshyshnanalyrrylyrr for Lanyssa.


Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (+29)
* Hyperion (36)
* Phoenix (18)
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber (4)
* Discordia (18)
Lanyssa (3)
2x Arcanist Mechanik (4)
Dawnguard Invictors - Leader & 9 Grunts: (16)
* Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: (4)

Deployment

For once Nico wins the roll, and this time he opts to go last, taking the hated trench. Evicted from my apartment, I take the other side.

My strategy this time is similar - threaten to clear the left zone while grabbing a point or two with Haley2 on the right zone.

Counterdeployment

Turn 1

Lances taker the hill. Stormwall goes up and leaves a gap for Haley. The Ironclad gets a bit hemmed in, he should probably have taken the other way around the forest.

Turn 2

Issyria advances up.

I go up, and feat. The Stormwall shoots at Phoenix, hitting every shot, and rolls crazy damage. Phoenix is blasted off the table. A lucky hard 9 also takes out Lanyssa. Ironclad moves into position.I set up Lances to assault the objective next round.

I made a mistake in keeping the bodgers too far back, so no repair for me next turn.

Locked under the feat, Issyria tries to shoot away the Ironclad, but dice are low and he does not kill it completely, leaving it at 7 boxes and with the right arm intact. Nico cannot contest, I score in his turn.

1-0

Turn 3

I shoot the objective but fail to clear the last Invictor. Stormclad moves up to block off the colossal and I kill the Invictors which could have run up to contest the right zone.

3-0

Issyria punches back but cannot contest. I score another point in her turn.

4-0

Blocked out

Turn 4

I pass and score the last point.

5-0

Cygnar wins by scenario!

Post Mortem

Haley2 is so good on scenario. Granted, the dice were in my favor, but it is hard for Issyria to contest without feeding me too much of her army. My conclusion is that Haley2 has game against Issyria when the scenario is live.

I learnt a lot from the games, and it was great to have three games back to back in the same matchup. I definitely will try to practice like this in the future.

Battle Report #15: Haley2 vs Issyria (match 2)

After the previous game I was feeling good. Even if I lost, the matchup seems very playable.

Major Victoria Haley (75 pts)

Trying out my Storm Lances for the first time, so I modified Jarle's Thornwall list to include a full unit.

Major Victoria Haley (+25)
* Squire (5)
* Stormwall (39)
* Thorn (13)
Journeyman Warcaster (4)
* Firefly (8)
Arlan (4),
Ragman (4)
Lanyssa (3)
5 Storm Lances (20)

Issyra, Sybil of Dawn (75 pts)

Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (+29)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker (4)
* Hyperion (36)
* Phoenix (18)
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber (4)
* Discordia (18)
2x Arcanist Mechanik (4)
Dawnguard Invictors - Leader & 9 Grunts: (16)
* Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: (4)

Deployment

We rolled again, and again Nico won. He positioned a heavy on both sides of Hyperion in order to be able to contest both zones better.

This time I was thinking harder about the objective. The Firefly and Storm Lances were positioned to capture the left zone. The game plan was to score the right zone, feat, clear the left zone and score again in both zones, hopefully going to 3-0 or 4-0 after feat turn.

Turn 1

Issyria plays the same as the previous game. She moves up and covers all heavies with her Arcane Vortex, staying out of my range.

I flank hard left with my Lances and trundle up the center with Stormwall. Haley2 and Firefly are within capping distance next turn.

Turn 2

Nico moves up to contest.

I move up and feat. Lances engage. Ragman, Accelerated Stormwall and Thorn together remove more than half of Hyperion's boxes and I disrupt Phoneix. I also put a some damage on Discordia and clear the left side Invictors. Haley camps 2 and casts Deflection. A good turn, lots of damage, no scoring, but Issyria had to pay by giving me the alpha.

Turn 3

Haley feat turn is always a problem. Nico decides to play for attrition. Hyperion takes out moree than half the Stormwall, and Discordia moves out of melee and blasts Ragman.

Phoenix gets turned around with Telekinesis so he cannot reach either Haley or the Stormwall. I punch Hyperion a lot, rolling poorly and leaving him at a couple of boxes. I should have used Acceleration and then he would have died for sure. It was actually Jarle's idea to not cast it, saying the kill was a sure thing, so I can only blame myself for listening to his n00bish advice. He should play some more games.

Issyria is unfortunately standing close to Hyperion and is exposed to electro leaps. After a bunch of leaps, she dies.

We actually did a misplay there and there was another model that should have been hit before Issyria, but it was impossible to backtrack completely at that point. Bit of a mess, but well well.

Cygnar wins by assassination!

Post Mortem

The game went a lot better when I paid attention to deployment and scenario ranges, and ensured that I had a shot at taking the zones. Even though I did not actually grab a single point, the pressure forced Issyria to fan out and contest, giving me better chances to kill stuff, and also forcing Issyria up where she was exposed.

Battle Report #14: Haley2 vs Issyria (match 1)

Tournament practice begins in earnest. After some discussions I decided to change the Haley2 list to include the Stormwall, and figure out something else for Caine2.

Today I face Issyria from the Retribution of Scyrah - not once, not twice, but three times in a row! All times played by Nico. I am sure that if I meet Issyria I have to drop Haley2, since I think Caine2 is almost an autoloss against all the anti-shooting.

Major Victoria Haley (75 pts)

Trying out my Storm Lances for the first time, so I modified Jarle's Thornwall list to include a full unit.

Major Victoria Haley (+25)
* Squire (5)
* Stormwall (39)
* Thorn (13)
Journeyman Warcaster (4)
* Firefly (8)
Arlan (4),
Ragman (4)
Lanyssa (3)
5 Storm Lances (20)

Issyra, Sybil of Dawn (75 pts)

Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (+29)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker (4)
* Hyperion (36)
* Phoenix (18)
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber (4)
* Discordia (18)
2x Arcanist Mechanik (4)
Dawnguard Invictors - Leader & 9 Grunts: (16)
* Dawnguard Invictor Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: (4)

Deployment

Nico wins the dice roll, as he does every game this evening. He wants to go first, which I think is a good call against Haley2's control. I see a trench on one side and annoying blocking terrain on the other. I take the trench, which I from now on will call "Haley2's front line apartment".

Honestly, I am not thinking so hard here, I want to see what the lists can do. Nico skews right. I place Stormwall centrally in front of the rubble since I have no other pathfinder, and from there he can contest both ways.

Turn 1

Issyria moves up just outside my threat ranges. Hyperion gets +2 ARM, Phoenix gets Admonition, Issyria places so that I cannot really cast at the jacks. Discordia bubbles all the jacks.

Stormwall gets Arcane Shield and I cast Deflection and Temporal on Stormwall. I walk up and drop covering fire, to stop him from assaulting me with the Invictors. Not sure if there was much point to that though. Maybe I should have run instead and taken some more space. I place one Lance so that if he has to use the Invictor Snipe minifeat if he wants to kill it with them. Everything keeps back a bit to punish Issyria if she goes for the right zone.

I should have thought more about scenario. The Firefly cannot run to the left zone from here, which means I cannot grab it without a Telekinesis. Bad placement.

Turn 2

Issyria's jacks shuffle a bit. The forward Lance gets killed.

I decide to start scoring. Firefly runs and gets a TK to capture the uncontested left zone. Haley also casts Deflection and Temporal Acceleration and allocates one focus to the Stormwall, leaving her at zero. If I had played the Firefly better then I could have camped 2. Haley2 feats. Stormwall blows away the objective. The Lances try to block vision but I forget about admonition. Phoenix moves into range of the Lances.

3-0

Turn 3

The Lances are cleared easily. Issyria feats and sticks Blinding Light on Haley. Between the Invictors and jacks I get shot way too much. Haley dies.

Cygnar loses by assassination!

Post Mortem

I played several things badly and deserved the loss. First, I did not think about how I would take the scenario. This forced me to make a risky play that I could have avoided. Also, I forgot about admonition. And, I forgot to drop smoke from the objective.

Issyria has lots of direct counters to my army, The Invictors are great for killing my cavalry. Issyria prevents me from doing much offensive spellcasting as long as she is bricked up, The heavy shooting is dangerous to my caster. Even so, I felt pretty good after the first game. Haley clearly has game into this, and the mistakes I made can be avoided.