Game 142: Vyros2 vs Haley3

Game 142 – Vs Glen Wareing – Cygnar – 3/2/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Aspis

-Imperatus

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Major Prime Victoria Haley (Gravediggers)

-Grenadier

-Grenadier

-Stormclad

Captain Maxwell Finn

Commander Anson Hitch

Patrol Dog

Trench Buster

Trench Buster

Ragman

Trencher Express Team

Trencher Express Team

Max Trencher Infantry

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Trencher Long Gunners

-Officer

Round 3 saw me drawn against Glen and his Cygnar, playing what I feel may be the strongest pair in the game of Haley3 and Nemo3. Glen is the only local Cygnar player and he has always been a problem for me at events, so I knew I was going to be in for a tough game. There was a bit of list chicken in the list picking phase, but I think we both got it right with Haley3 against Vyros2. Despite Glen having the +1, I am able to win the roll to go first and we get moving.

Deceleration is going to be vital this game so it is cast by Vyros before advancing centrally. The rest of my jacks Fleet-Run up the table, staying out of threat ranges of Glen’s non-Advance Deploy troops.

Glen summons the Haley Echoes, moving them all slightly further up with Tactical Supremacy. The back row of troops all run up into position, with the Long Gunners using their Mini-Feat to Dig In. The Trencher Infantry use a Cautious Advance and put some shots into my jacks, putting some damage on the Force Fields.

I want to keep the Long Gunners out of the game for as long as possible, which isn’t easy with their 20” threat range, but the central forest certainly helps me. I kill what I can, with most of the Trencher Infantry going down, before a Griffon goes in to kill the Patrol Dog (Who Toughs) and Finn (Who doesn’t). Vyros once again puts up Deceleration and Feats, sitting in the left and central zones to force Glen to contest them in his turn.

Haley’s Feat turn, and the Echoes charge in to deal some damage. Haley Past destroys an Aspis and significantly damages another, but Haley Future’s Gunfighter shots largely bounce off the Griffon in the forest. The Grenadiers and remaining Infantry charge in to my lines to do what damage they can, and the Stormclad and a Trench Buster finish off the Griffon that Haley was attacking. I didn’t do much with the Feat moves, just getting Griffons into slightly better positions. Glen scores the left zone which I have essentially abandoned, to lead 1-0.

It is again a simple matter of killing what I can, and on this occasion “what I can” kill is the Haley Echoes, both having lost Incorporeal in the last turn. One Griffon starts the Synergy chain through Tempotal Flux with a boosted Charge attack, before Vyros himself takes out Past Haley. Griffons then finish off the Trencher Infantry, the central Grenadier, and leave the left Grenadier on just a handful of boxes. Finally a Griffon walks through the forest to kill Past Haley and Ragman, and contest the right zone. I score the centre to level up at 1-1.

Glen continues the attrition game, but it definitely feels like I am ahead in that regard. I only lose one Griffon this turn, to the Stormclad, with a few other jacks taking some damage. The Long Gunners finally come into the game and start shooting off my support staff, killing 3 Arcanists in total. In hindsight, I should have held my Feat until Glen could start shooting my support, as punishing it with Feat moves would have been useful. Glen Scores the left zone again to lead 2-1.

I have an assassination opportunity here, and (possibly wrongly) choose to go for it. I build Synergy, attempt a couple of gun shots on Haley (I forgot she had a Shield Guard, and so should have gone for a Twister instead) before sending in Imperatus with Easy Rider. He Side-Steps off the Stormclad to engage 1 camp Haley, and basically needs to hit 2 boosted 8s to win the game. He hits the first one, then massively spikes damage to take her out in 1 shot.

VICTORY

Another good win against a really strong opponent, and nice to progress into another Steamroller final, but I’m not 100% I played the game right. I think I need to trust my attrition game a bit more as having calculated after the game the assassination was only 70%. Had I just continued the game I could have taken out all of his fun Trencher models and the Stormclad, leaving him with just the Haley unit and the Long Gunners. Part of my thinking was that I’ve heard horror stories about what the Long Gunners can do, and didn’t want to take a full volley from them, but it would be interesting to see what they could do to my army.