Cygnaran Tacticas: eHaley

[GunMageinTraining]

eHaley – Major Victoria Haley
Cloaknado, combine both mysterious and all powerful!

http://privateerpress.com/files/products/cygnar/warcasters/major-victoria-haley.png

Why Play eHaley?
eHaley is the master of (in super spooky voice) TIME & SPACE! She is one of the if not the ultimate control caster. She can exert tremendous amounts of control, over both the enemy’s force, as well as your own. She works well with just about anything from jack heavy to infantry heavy and can support them all. She may not have the specialist tools/buffs of infantry heavy eStryker or jack master eNemo, but she can function well in almost any circumstance. Her spells are largely unique, powerful, yet subtle enough to allow for a great many varied tactics, and she can cast plenty of them in any given turn.



For competitive play, her versatility and feat make her top-tier. While specialized warcasters like eStryker, Nemo or Caine can work well in some situations, She can work well in those too, and more varied situations as well.

Overview
eHaley is squishy, maybe not as much as Nemo or Caine but not far off. 16/14/14 isn’t much better than poor pNemo. She is decidedly a back rank caster. With her massive control area, and an arc node (don’t leave home without one) she can stand well behind the front lines and still have a massive impact in the overall course of battle.

Statistics
Focus 8, yes… Our highest to date, and she has the spell list to use it. Other than that, she’s very ‘generic’. A little bit above average def for most warcasters, which is further reinforced by Set Defence. Still, she doesn’t have the armor or boxes to go toe to toe so try and keep her protected. When camping she does go up to am impressive Arm 22, 25 with JR’s Arcane Shield, which might just catch someone by surprise. Her Mat/Rat are average or lower, she is no more accurate with her hand cannon now than she was before loosing an arm.

Weapons, Abilities, and Feat
The obligatory Hand Cannon + Echo, which beyond providing Set Defense vs charges/slams is slightly stronger than it’s previous incarnation. It also allows her to mimic and use the offensive spells cast by Warcasters and the DJ. They are required to use Focus (so no Hordes here) and have been within her control zone at time of cast, so Arc Nodes don’t count. It’s situational, and more likely than not your never going to use it, but it’s there and it’s funny to use Parasite or Crippling Grasp on Cryx and Oblivion on the Butcher.

eHaley, as if she needed it… also comes with a Warjack Bond, and a good one at that. One warjack in her battlegroup (any jack save ol’Rowdy and Thunderhead currently) gains +2 spd during it’s activation. At first you might think this a good idea on a Arc Node to move it even faster, but common practice is to put this on Haley’s strongest combat Jack. Frequently a Stormclad, Ironclad or Hammersmith. With just the bond, the Stormclad goes up to a 12” threat on the charge.

Lastly, we come to eHaley’s feat. One of the single most annoying event’s for your opponents. Basically the turn you pop it, you get another turn again, only this time with their models. All models/units within her control zone must forfeit half their activations (as if Knockdown, but it can’t be shaken) and if that wasn’t bad enough, you get to dictate the order of operation for units. The second part of the feat is the one which drives opponent’s nuts. Any and all combination plays become null and void. Screwing around with the order of operation lets you finagle which units are going to go first, second, third and so forth and you can insure that even if they could respond the turn after, that any synergistic activities are going to be limited.

Many frequently use it to provide an extra turn of shooting, to cover the advance of melee units, or to bide time while positioning your forces. It’s one of the strongest feats in the game, and combined with her huge control area, is libel to tag all of your opponent’s stuff.

Spells
Arcane Bolt: Cheap offensive spell. Nothing to write home about, but loads more accuate than her hand cannon, and can be arced. In normal practice though, you’ll almost never cast this, as another Telekinesis is almost always a better option.

Deadeye: You’ve seen this one before, ‘extra’ die on the first ranged attack made by model/unit this turn. Not an upkeep so you can stack it with any other upkeep spell (of which she doesn’t actually have any). Great on Defenders, Gun Mages, or anything you need to hit, the more models the better, can further stack with Focus for boosting if you really need to hit something with a gun.

Deceleration: A better version of Deflection, increasing both armor and defense. Great to cast on early turns to weather any fire that the opponent may have, it provides enough of a boost to put most of our infantry out of both direct fire and blast damage averages.

Domination: An excellent spell with the increase in jacks on the field. It has no use on Hordes, and unfortunately limited use on Warmachine as it does not affect Character/Unique jacks. No Dominating the Behemoth or Deathjack. Still, on those that can be dominated, not only do you get to stall them by at least one turn (moving them directly back and turning around) but you can take a swing/shot and maybe cause some damage as a bonus. Great on blast jacks like Mule, Renegade, Vanquisher and Destroyers. Can only be cast once per turn, but you can chain-Dominate the same jack over and over. Addendum: Odd rules issue, assuming the jack you dominated had an upkeepable buff of some form on it, you could benefit from the buff too, in the case of eButcher's Fury buff for added strength, special abilities, and more. I don't think you could benefit from any Bonding rules the jack may have with it's own caster, but the possibility exists for some chaotic fun.

Telekinesis: Cheap, Useful, Awesome. Really all need be said about the spell. Any friendly model, or target enemy model (offensive) can be placed anywhere within 2 inches, and have it’s facing turned around as needed. Can extend the charge range of a model, turn an enemy model around to provide backstrikes for other units, pull them forwards or push them back, preserve aiming bonus and more. There are dozens of potential uses for it, and I’m finding new ones all the time.

Temporal Acceleration: This spell got hit significantly from it’s Mk1 version, but is still quite potent. Allowing a single model an extra 2” movement during it’s activation, and an extra melee or ranged attack ignoring RoF for free. Does not work well on units due to it’s single model restriction, but propels jacks forward significantly, while also giving them an extra swing. You can only cast this once per turn though.

Time Bomb: Haley’s second offensive spell/debuff. Good range, good blast size, good damage, and slows and reduces the def of anything hit. Great to drop on a Warcaster/Warlock to set up for the assassination, and strong enough to hurt, but it’s an expensive spell, your not going to cast it often. It can also muck up units of harder to hurt stuff as well as jacks. Speed debuffs are quite nasty in general.

[GunMageinTraining]

Army Composition
As I stated earlier, Haley is an equal opportunity warcaster. She can work decently well with anything, but there are two staples that you will basically always want.



Squire – Just accept it, your bringing him.
Lancer/Thorn – You need it, because she’s to fragile without it, and her control area is far larger than most of her spells reach.


The Warjacks
A quick and dirty rundown.

Lights
Charger: Good, and simple, nothing to write home about, but eHaley has plenty of focus so it’s not bad. With her movement tricks, you could get some additional threat, and 3 shots with TA. Something of a waste but it’s there.

Lancer: A good choice of course, but with the affinity you really want…

Thorn: As close to auto-include as you can get. Yes it’s expensive, but with Haley at least, it more than makes up for the cost, with reaction drive, the affinity allows you to use it in melee with it’s lovely Mat7 and still arc. Reaction Drive + odd TKs make it very mobile. Normally you don’t actually want to bond the Thorn. It’s mobile enough without it thanks to Reaction drive (and you will be arcing, frequently)

Hunter: Not a bad choice, use it if you like it. Effectively can range the entire map with eHaley at the reins, best for marshaling though. With TA, (and TK) you can double tap anything in your opponent's deployment zone, upto 5" deep from wherever you drop the hunter on Turn 1. Add in Strangewaves for the focus and your talking about 2 damage boosted Hunter shots on most jacks. That's a wake-up most people won't forgive. (works on medium/large base casters too, but if they are focus camping, it won't really hurt).

Grenadier: Use if you have Trenchers and like it, else… *shrug*

Sentinel: Time bomb can help it hit, but the stuff that’s going to survive time bombs probably isn’t going to be phased by pow 10s. With it's new Shield Guard ability, and Haley's general squishy-ness, it may be a good investment in larger games. Not much does ranged combat better than cygnar, but we by and large can't take a hit. As she's going to lead from the way back, it may not be as desirable as on some other casters.

Firefly: Don’t know, don’t have the rules yet, may be good.

Heavies
Ironclad: Good, Cheap, with Bond, good range, and KD is always useful. Not a bad choice by any means.

Hammersmith: eHaley can really move a jack along, and that’s the Hammersmith’s primary weakness. With bond, it’s as fast as most infantry, with TK and TA as well, it’s going to be hauling down the field.

Centurion: It’s ok, but more defensively minded. Great guardian for eHaley, and speed buffs can move it down the field even while polarity shielding.

Defender: A great jack, especially if your fielding ATGMs+UA, for the price of 3 focus (TA), you can basically double it’s firepower in any given turn. With the standard module of ATGMs+UA, Defender and Arlan your talking two single boosted shots a turn, or with Deadeye, one proxy double boost and a single boost a turn. A fun trick is to TK, and TA it on the first turn, and shoot a few inches into your opponent’s deployment area, twice. You could end a game instantly, but don’t count on it.

Ol' Rowdy: Focus Efficient, high MAT and POW, ARM20 makes for a great warjack. As Ironclad, just better. Excellent eHaley Guardian, but can’t receive her bonding, use as a second heavy jack.

Stormclad: An excellent jack. Stormblades work well with Haley, and Stormclad works well with stormblades. With the bonding, it’s one of the highest base threat jacks/beasts in the game, and can be further amped with Haley’s other spells. Great Mat, Great Pow, and electro-leaps aren’t bad either.

Thunderhead: Another excellent choice. Can’t be bonded, but who cares…. With TK and TA, your talking about a 15” threat on his pulse, with up to 3 additional auto-hitting jolts after. TK lets you pull it out of melee if it gets engaged, to turn around and pulse away. Even without the pulse he’s got an impressive threat range, and with boost and deadeye, is rolling 4 dice on the initial attack. Most stuff is going to get hit, and then eat every sustained attack afterwards.

Cyclone: No clue yet, probably not bad, probably not awesome.

Solos
Works well with anything, take Squire as default, everything else is optional. Even the much maligned GMCAs can get some use out of a TA (better choices though). Arlan is great if your fielding more than one heavy, or the ATGM/Defender module. Stormsmiths are also quite useful to help disrupt and control enemy WM armies.

Units
Stormnouns, SKs, PK, Trenchers, LGs. It doesn’t really matter what you take. She doesn’t provide anything specific for any one type so take whatever you feel comfortable with and works best with the rest of your force. SBs are a good choice as she can cover for both their vulnerability to shooting and lower speed with spells and feat.

Mercenaries
A Marshaled mule (say with Devil Dogs) with Deadeye can make a right scary option, a shot with up to 4d6 on a to-hit roll, and increased range? Yes please…Can’t be TAed though as it’s restricted to Faction specific. Outside of TA though, nothing she has is faction so she works well with any and all mercs.

General Gameplay
Haley is equally at home in attrition style warfare as going for assassination via proxy. In any case, her feat lets her cover for potential missteps and can give you time to better prepare for a charge.

Summery
Infantry Machine, Jack Heavy, Refused Flank, Brick, Assassination Rush, Jack Bullets, just about any tactic you can think of, can be managed by Haley. Her spell list is flexible enough to be useful in any situation, and powerful enough to make itself known. That said, she’s not a knock out punch by herself. You will need units/jacks to reinforce her and help deal with the opponents. Her personal assassination rush leaves much to be desired for, so expect to, and count on using your units to kill, with her as support.

She also is finite, don’t expect too much in a given turn and over-extend yourself. Even with her prodigious focus amount, she’s only going to be casting 2-4 spells a turn on average.

edit: Info added on Hunter/Haley/ATGM+UA combo.
edit2: added Sentinel Shield Guard information.

[lobachevskii]

Temporal Acceleration: This spell got hit significantly from it?s Mk1 version, but is still quite potent. Allowing a single model an extra 2? movement during it?s activation, and an extra melee or ranged attack ignoring RoF for free. Does not work well on units due to it?s single model restriction, but propels jacks forward significantly, while also giving them an extra swing. You can only cast this once per turn though.


Has there been an update since the field test to prevent it targeting units?

[whats82]

Has there been an update since the field test to prevent it targeting units?

Yes, it no longer says model/units, it says model.

[Gorbad]

In the final rules it's a single mode, not a model/unit.

Pretty good write up, however there is one thing I disagree with. Arcane Bolt. I actually use that spell a lot.
It's nothing amazing but it her 8(9) focus does mean that you can potentially put out 4 of them almost anywhere on the table should you choose to and that can be an excelent way to take out annoying soloes or even to kill casters. I've had several kills that were basically just Thorn moving up and then Miss Poledancer giving a caster 4 Arcane Bolts to the face. With the Squire you can even boost the damage on one of them.
If you can copy something like Hellfire or Immolation or something that's obviously preferable but Arcane Bolt can do it.

However I'll say that you don't 'need' the squire. It's great with her, but I think she is actually one of the Cygnar casters who can do without it if you need the points for something else.
But I especially like the reroll failed magic attack with her, as Haley does a lot of spell slinging.

[lobachevskii]

Yes, it no longer says model/units, it says model.

Ah well ... guess I'll just have to go back to using it on 'jacks then. *shrugs*

[isawatsuke]

Every thing looks good except for a few things. Arcane bolt is a good spell specially with foc 8. Ive killed pistol wraiths first turn that way and sometimes used it to annoy units. I also like the lancer with ehaley more than i do thorn. On ft thorn could move up to his spd in reaction drive now its only 3" not really enough to get him out of trouble and not worth the extra 2 points imho.

[GunMageinTraining]

I've danced around many a jack between use of his disruptor spear and alternating TK on him (for a total 5" move) and Dominating the jack to walk back and swing at something else. Plus the arc while engaged is very much worth it for Haley.

[ricefrisbeetreats]

I've been enjoying great success with a 50 pt Epic Haley list that includes Squire, Journeyman, Stormclad, Stormblades, Defender, Gunmages and UA, Strangewayes, and of course a Lancer.

This covers most bases and you usually tear down low and mid ARM targets before they're near the caster. The Stormclad has a scary big threat range, so use it!

In general, Haley is shooting off Temporal Acceleration every turn and possibly Deadeye on something. After that, she's either hitting up jacks with her ability to control them or slowing down areas of troops. It's all good.

The best part of all is moving forward and then dropping your feat on them to watch them sweat. If you can, get into melee with their ranged stuff and stay out of melee with their melee attackers. They are stuck moving forward (relatively slow for most things) or using low MAT/POW weapons. It is like giving yourself a second turn, which by then you should have now won or are really really close after that.

[Jiub]

If you are running eHaley, you are running Thorn and Squire. That's all there is to it.

Time Bomb is really a 5-focus spell, because you are always going to want to boost the damage so that it can reliably hurt the heavy melee jacks that you really want to keep plodding along at 2 or 3 inches a turn without the ability to run or charge.

Decel is very nice, bringing our ironclad-chassis heavies up to def 14 against ranged attacks, which is more important then it sounds because most armies only have a few guns dealing any real damage to our heavies. Every miss is significant.

Telekinesis is eHaleys best spell. Use it often, and abuse Reaction Drive.

[Gorbad]

Time Bomb is really a 5-focus spell, because you are always going to want to boost the damage so that it can reliably hurt the heavy melee jacks that you really want to keep plodding along at 2 or 3 inches a turn without the ability to run or charge.


Time Bomb got buffed in MK II. You now give -2 SPD and DEF to any model hit by the template, rather than models damaged. Making it a lot more useful for debuffing and means you don't have to boost the damage on tough targets if all you want is the debuff.

@Thorn. I agree with GunMageInTraining. Thorns best ability is to channel while engaged, something I find very worthwhile with her.
The movement is cool though and can help in surprising situations, but yes, it's not nearly as good as before.

[ricefrisbeetreats]

With the squire's ability to reroll and Time bomb just needing to touch the enemy in the AoE, I rarely boost. It's usually channeled anyways and I would try to keep my channeler as close as possible so the deviation can't be so far.

To me, the Thorn/Lancer debate depends on if you have the available points for it. Tough call on that one.

If we get a Stormblade Solo or Character Unit that's cheaper than the 8 point unit I take now, I'd probably do Thorn everytime. It's just a nice investment for the melee channelling.

[Gorbad]

I'm greatly looking forward to seeing if we get a Stormblade solo or some other melee solo as that would be great for eHaley. I actually think you can get good use out of Laddermore with her, just for TA.

Btw, did you know you can get eHaley to DEF 26 against ranged attacks? That's eCaine needing 17s to hit her :p

[GunMageinTraining]

.. Def 26?

16+2(Deceleration)+4(Cover)+2(Concealment... can you even stack those two?)

That's 24, but where's the last 2?

[TsavongLah]

No, Concealment and Cover don't stack.

[Gorbad]

16+Deceleration+Cover+engaged=26

You don't want her engaged I was just thinking up how high it theoretically could get while at work today.

[raincaller]

well you could add in a second caster with blur too..:eek:

[phreaker187]

If you are running eHaley, you are running Thorn and Squire. That's all there is to it.

Time Bomb is really a 5-focus spell, because you are always going to want to boost the damage so that it can reliably hurt the heavy melee jacks that you really want to keep plodding along at 2 or 3 inches a turn without the ability to run or charge.

Decel is very nice, bringing our ironclad-chassis heavies up to def 14 against ranged attacks, which is more important then it sounds because most armies only have a few guns dealing any real damage to our heavies. Every miss is significant.

Telekinesis is eHaleys best spell. Use it often, and abuse Reaction Drive.

TB just has to hit now, not do damage. So if you fire it at a heavy, if somehow you miss it will still hit it with the mid size aoe almost every time.

[Jiub]

I realize that.

Unboosted time bomb just scratches most heavies. Boosting the damage roll makes it do some real damage.

[dukeandfrank]

I hear there is a trick she can do agaist retribution, involving a dominated hydra. If you guys know of this trick could you elaborate for me?

[GunMageinTraining]

Is it the hydra? Basically it involves LGs or something to double-tap the Hydra into obscene amounts of focus, with minimal to no damage inflicted, then dominating it to use it's new super-gun on something, then disrupting it to clear the focus off.

VERY impractical, but funny.

[Gorbad]

It's really a theorymachine example and I doubt you would see it in actual play but as was said, you get the Hydre into the 10+ focus range so it have an insane gun and then you turn it around and kill there warcaster or something with it.

And then you have a stormsmith disrupt it so it doesn't get to use it's pow 20+ gun on you.

[ricefrisbeetreats]

It's really a theorymachine example and I doubt you would see it in actual play but as was said, you get the Hydre into the 10+ focus range so it have an insane gun and then you turn it around and kill there warcaster or something with it.

And then you have a stormsmith disrupt it so it doesn't get to use it's pow 20+ gun on you.

Does it just go up in POW? I'd assume the RAT is atrocious, nearly forcing it to boost and thus, not making it totally worth it.

I'd be too scared about screwing up with my stormsmiths.

Cool, idea though

[GunMageinTraining]

Yea, you don't get a rat bonus (you can't boost it), but the pow and range go up in direct relationship.

Not a practical tactic, more a 'HaHa' type one as your walking it back towards your lines to be killed the same turn with something.

Or to just say, Pow 30 shot at your Pheonix or something.

[Dyoria]

Too bad you can't deadeye it once you've dominated it. :)

Although a bonded Ironclad can charge for 10, and maybe clip the enemy WC with a boosted Tremor attack. Then you build up the charge on the hydra, then you dominate it and pop a POW 30 cap into the enemy WC while he's down.

Hmmm thats a lot of work to get a ninja POW 30 shot out of nowhere on someone's warcaster.

Might be fun for the sheer lulz though. :) hehe.

Will work one in a thousand times, but when it does, thats what legends are made of. :)

[Gorbad]

However what you can do is hit the target with Time Bomb before you Dominate the jack. Depending on the positioning it can work just, but it's sort of all eggs in one very unreliable basket.

[GunMageinTraining]

Timebomb, TK (for backstrike) and dominate.

You could in theory get all 3 cast in one turn, but it's not practical. A KD from slam or Ironclad would be more reliable.

[The_Buzzsaw]

Would love an eNemo write up.....early christmas present? :D

cheers

[phreaker187]

Would love an eNemo write up.....early christmas present? :D

cheers


I think there's one on here somewhere by Mutton.

[Mutton]

Would love an eNemo write up.....early christmas present? :D

cheers

Ask and ye shall recieve (http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?t=129)

[thoughtfoxx]

I have to admit I am fast becoming a Mutton fanboy. These tactica articles are just the thing any noob needs! Food for thought and grist to the mill and all that. I have quite a few Cygnar models now [the list of what I dont have is far shorter than the list of the models that I do] but with the change to MK II providing epic levels of confusion for me I have been floundering about trying to find my feet again. These tactica provide an excellent departure point for a new player, or an experienced player just wanting to try something new.
Gushing rave over, is there any way that these posts can be stickeyed or moved to a tactica slot? All this good work is in real danger of being swamped and lost in the general plethora of board chat.

[TsavongLah]

Gushing rave over, is there any way that these posts can be stickeyed or moved to a tactica slot? All this good work is in real danger of being swamped and lost in the general plethora of board chat.

Once there's enough worthwhile threads floating around, I imagine someone will redo the Boot Camp thread from the old forums.

[Mutton]

I have to admit I am fast becoming a Mutton fanboy. These tactica articles are just the thing any noob needs! Food for thought and grist to the mill and all that. I have quite a few Cygnar models now [the list of what I dont have is far shorter than the list of the models that I do] but with the change to MK II providing epic levels of confusion for me I have been floundering about trying to find my feet again. These tactica provide an excellent departure point for a new player, or an experienced player just wanting to try something new.
Gushing rave over, is there any way that these posts can be stickeyed or moved to a tactica slot? All this good work is in real danger of being swamped and lost in the general plethora of board chat.

Thanks for the compliment, but this is all GMiT's hard work; he was willing to take on the task of doing the Haleys and Siege, seeing as I don't play them often. eStryker should be coming down the pipe this weekend though; I'm pretty much snowed in so it will be a nice distraction.

[GunMageinTraining]

I'll probably be doing a pHaley article at some point myself, in addition to Sloan when we get the rules, and I get some time alone with that sexy sexy rifle of hers.

Mutton, did you ever write a pStryker article? I can take that one up too.

[Mutton]

Please do; I start to put out pStryker and am bored by the time his base hits the table.

We've got left:
pHaley
pStryker
eStryker (I swear, I'm halfway done with it!)
Kraye
Darius
Sloan

Feel free to take pHaley, pStryker, and Sloan, although if she's fun I may beat you up and take your lunch money over it. Big question is if anyone wants to do Darius or Kraye

[PUFNSTUF]

I do want to hear a kraye tactica for sure, and phaley

[leo_neil316]

In the final rules it's a single mode, not a model/unit.

Pretty good write up, however there is one thing I disagree with. Arcane Bolt. I actually use that spell a lot.
It's nothing amazing but it her 8(9) focus does mean that you can potentially put out 4 of them almost anywhere on the table should you choose to and that can be an excelent way to take out annoying soloes or even to kill casters. I've had several kills that were basically just Thorn moving up and then Miss Poledancer giving a caster 4 Arcane Bolts to the face. With the Squire you can even boost the damage on one of them.
If you can copy something like Hellfire or Immolation or something that's obviously preferable but Arcane Bolt can do it.

lot of spell slinging.

I agree there, a very important thing to remember about arcane bolt is it's utility with thorn.

Fast, skirmishing stealthed things (like say, tharn bloodtrackers) aren't exactly difficult for him to catch with a charge (especially when bonded and T.A'd, but his -base- threat is 11").

With a bit of focus you can send him into a unit of irritating flankers, slap a couple about with his good MAT.

And then throw out a couple of arcane bolts with haley from inside the stealth, and reaction drive thorn to engage any that are left.

The 12" range also makes it good for hitting anything that advance deploys on turn one, if you so choose. Two with boosted damage -should- just about take down a shifting stone, and that keeps the unit from teleporting stuff around. That's a -good- target on turn one, especially since AD means no one's gonna set them up across from your ATGM marshaled defender (unless they're uninformed).

[masleth]

My favorite warcaster so far. Also my first purchase after the battlebox. I'm a focus junky. Give me more!

[iknowinternet]

What do you think about the Sentinel as a cheap bodyguard now that it has Shield Guard? Considering that eHaley will often need something to absorb stray shots from particularly aggressive or devious lists.

[masleth]

What do you think about the Sentinel as a cheap bodyguard now that it has Shield Guard? Considering that eHaley will often need something to absorb stray shots from particularly aggressive or devious lists.

For 4pts, its something I'd consider. It is slightly more durable than a Bokur. It kinda comes down to strafe or slam.

[Gorbad]

I don't think she needs it. Between hiding in the back, her native def 16 and Deceleration she really shouldn't have a problem avoiding getting shot.

[Eagle dan 4]

One of my favourite tactics with ehayley is to charge thorn at a non character 'jack, make the attacks and then arc node domination at the 'jack in combat it runs out takes a free strike and then you can make an attack with the dominated warjack.. ace :D

[admanb]

One of my favourite tactics with ehayley is to charge thorn at a non character 'jack, make the attacks and then arc node domination at the 'jack in combat it runs out takes a free strike and then you can make an attack with the dominated warjack.. ace :D

It's under your control; it doesn't take a free strike.

[Dino-Czar]

I don't think she needs it. Between hiding in the back, her native def 16 and Deceleration she really shouldn't have a problem avoiding getting shot.

Its because she hides back from the front that I worry more about ranged attacks than melee.

Maybe I worry to much, but I like the insurance.

[Gorbad]

You do worry to much. :p

I've never had issues with her getting killed by ranged attacks. Generally if she have been vulnerable to ranged fire it's because my army had been annihilated anyway. Else she can hide quite effectively as she have no need to risk her neck at all and even have a very good anti-range spell.

I'd be much more worried with some of our other casters that likes to get involved actively in the fight. Haley (either version) generally doesn't. On the other hand she also depends more on her army to do the heavy lifting so I'd rather send the points that way. Now there can certainly be armies and match-ups where a Sentinel will be very handy but in general I'll maintain that eHaley is one of the casters that will need it the least. She needs protection from melee much more I find.

[fildrigar]

eHaley – Major Victoria Haley

Lastly, we come to eHaley’s feat. One of the single most annoying event’s for your opponents. Basically the turn you pop it, you get another turn again, only this time with their models. All models/units within her control zone must forfeit half their activations (as if Knockdown, but it can’t be shaken) and if that wasn’t bad enough, you get to dictate the order of operation for units. The second part of the feat is the one which drives opponent’s nuts. Any and all combination plays become null and void. Screwing around with the order of operation lets you finagle which units are going to go first, second, third and so forth and you can insure that even if they could respond the turn after, that any synergistic activities are going to be limited.

Anyone have any advice for what order to make the enemy go in? Usually the units behind other units first, right? Their 'Caster or 'Lock, it really depends on what function they serve. If their 'Caster is primarily a buffer, you want them to go last usually. If their 'Caster is primarily a super solo,
DIY type, you want them to go sooner. ( Since they're normally behind some of their other stuff. )

I used her for the first time yesterday, and had to think about her feat a bit.

[malfred]

I haven't thought about playing eHaley because her feat is annoying for both
players. That means you're actively thinking for three consecutive turns rather
than plotting quietly in your head for one of them.

[GunMageinTraining]

Some can play the game that many moves in advance. I myself play WM from a similar mindset as chess, a few moves ahead of time, envisioning what I see happening the next turn, and if possible, knowing exactly what the opponent's going to do on his turn, what moves he's likely to make, so I can prepare two or three steps ahead.

Obviously it's not always accurate, but if your opponent ends up playing to your schedule, you usually only have dice to blame.

[whats82]

Activation order really depend on what is on the board. Look for known combos in the opponent's army and have them activate in opposite order.

Simple one is arcnode after caster.
Another one is, if there's troops engaged in the front, have his range unit activate before his front line.
If they have more than 1 line of troops, the back ones before the front.
Caster tend to go very late, as feat and spell support would have no model to benefit with.

[whats82]

Also, surprised that you didn't mention: Gorman with black oil.
If the opponent have some vital piece already engaging one of your vital piece, one thing you can do on feat turn is black oil his model (or yours if that's easier to hit), so that having to forfeit one thing for black oil and another for feat leaves the model useless even if it is already in melee with something. Your model being blinded doesn't really matter if you already activated it. This is assuming you can't kill that model this turn.

[Creaux]

Almost as funny as ganking the POW 30 hydra is shooting Magnus' obliterators for him :D

[Novan]

Almost as funny as ganking the POW 30 hydra is shooting Magnus' obliterators for him :D

I did this yesterday. It was really fun. Later that game, I slapped Magnus around with his own Mangler.

[GunMageinTraining]

Taking vanquishers and lighting their own casters on fire will scare most Menoth players into singing only no-spells on their Vanquishers.

[knight_actual]

then you light them up with your pair of hunters yes?

[Pigeon Von Smythe]

Do people ever use a charger to bond with her to get 3 boosted shots with 4 focus and TA? add in a focus from a squire and cast TK as well and you can move your charger 12 inches before it opens up.

[TAG]

Do people ever use a charger to bond with her to get 3 boosted shots with 4 focus and TA? add in a focus from a squire and cast TK as well and you can move your charger 12 inches before it opens up.

For 7 focus, 3 double boosted POW 12s doesn't seem terribly awesome. For the same focus, I can give it to a Defender who will give me a pair of POW 15s at a higher threat range. Or, y'know, a melee heavy who can get an ungodly amount of swings with a big hammer or sword.

[Aetou]

Do people ever use a charger to bond with her to get 3 boosted shots with 4 focus and TA? add in a focus from a squire and cast TK as well and you can move your charger 12 inches before it opens up.

In small games in particular, yes. I've experimented with it and if you're running Thorn and Rowdy (who can't be bonded) then putting the bond on a Charger is generally better than giving it to Thorn. Obviously you aren't going to be triple-tapping with it very often (but you will use the extra movement a lot) but the thing about it is... is that when you get an angle with it three Powerful Shots will kill a lot of 'casters - and being able to do so from 22" (more with TK) away is pretty useful. Often somebody will think that being that deep behind their lines they only need to hold a single fury for transfers and, well, then you nail them. Is a Defender double tapping better? Yes, but it also costs an extra 5 points and when you make the comparison Bonded Charger + Rangers vs. Bonded Defender... it becomes much less clear cut.

[Creaux]

I think the bonded charger is one of the sneakiest aces in the hole eHaley has.