eHaley vs The Witch Coven of Garlghast 35pts

[Phantom]

So, I was up against Cryx again last weekend, this time I brought my Cygnar though. My opponent wanted to try out a bunch of new models that he got so I wasn't going agains't a properly tuned list. I brought eHaley and facing me on the other side of the table was the Witch Coven of Garlghast. I never faced them before so again this game will be full of mistakes on my part so stay tuned.

I would also like to apologize for the overall quality of the pictures, it was quite dark in this part of the store and I had the flash turned off since the pictures seemed to be coming up fine in my phones screen, I only noticed their true quality when I got home...

My list was:

eHaley
- Squire
- Lancer
- Stormclad
Stormblades (min unit)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
- Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
- Defender



And my opponent had:

The Witch Coven of Garlghast
- 2x Ripjaw
- Stalker
- Harrower
Bane Knights (min unit)
10x Satyxis Raiders
- Sea Witch



I win the roll of to see who deploys first and decide to go with it. We aren't using any scenario so its just straight up caster kill.

I set up the Defender on my extreme left flank (mistake number 1 since this puts it too far away from Haley so that she can't really cast Temporal Acceleration on it), followed by the ATGM, my center has the Lancer and the Stormclad with the Stormblades behind and Haley and her Squire behind the Stormblades. My right flank is completly open.



My opponent sets up the Satyxis and a Ripjaw opposite my ATGM, next is his Harrower and the other Ripjaw followed by his Bane Knights. The Coven is setup in the center back on top of a hill and the Stalker goes into his extreme left flank (my right), ready to zip up the table.

[Phantom]

Turn 1 - Cygnar

The Lancer gets 1 focus and everything runs straight up with the exception of Haley and the Squire. Haley casts Decelaration and moves up behind a hedge and the Squire goes with her.



Turn 1 - Cryx

The Satyxis move into the woods with the right hand side Ripjaw hanging a bit back. Next the Coven stays on top of the hill and cast Infernal Machine on the Harrower and Occultation on the Bane Knights. The Stalker (having received a focus from the Coven) runs a frightening 14" down the table.

The Harrower moves inside the woods as well and takes a pot shot at my Lancer but is extremelly out of range and the shot scatters harmlessly.

The Bane Knights move up with the second Ripjaw staying behind them.

[Phantom]

Turn 2 - Cygnar

Haley take 1 focus from the Squire and gives 1 focus to the Lancer that runs up. The Stormclad moves a bit up as well just so that its still in range of the Stormblades but doesn't run (mistake number 2). The Stormblades run and overtake the Stormclad so that they are in charge range of the Bane Knights next turn.

Haley moves forward closer to the hedge and casts Time Bomb through the Lancer and into the Ripjaw that is standing behind the Bane Knights, boosting to hit and catching 3 Banes in the blast. The spell does some damage to the bonejack but nothing critical, all the Banes survive the blast but the unit is now at -2 SPD and DEF (and so is the Bonejack).

She then casts Deadeye on the Gun Mages and pops her feat (mistake number 3), catching the Satyxis, the Harrower and the Bane Knights in it.

The Gun Mages move up and kill 5 Satyxis using Snipe shots the Satyxis fail their CMD check and run. The Defender moves up but misses the Satyxis it was firing on, even with a boosted shot its not easy to hit DEF 18!

Why do I think that leaving the Stormclad behind was a mistake? I was getting worried about the Stalker on my right flank and he was my only way of protecting Haley from it. What I should have done was divert the Lancer to do the job. This would be enough to deal with it and it would let me have the Stormclad available to support the Stormblades. I would loose on spell range, but that Time Bomb didn't actually acomplish much anyway.

And why do I think that popping Haley's feat was a mistake? First is because since I left the Stormclad behing, my overwelming offensive was restricted to a min unit of Stormblades! I was too eager to pop the feat and it did squat, the Satyxis where already running so they where no threat, the Bane Knights where Time Bombed so they couldn't charge anyway, it was just a huge waste.





Turn 2 - Cryx

My opponent upkeeps both Infernal Machine and Occultation and gives a focus to the Stalker.

I get to choose wich units activate first from those affected by the feat so the Satyxis go first. Now, since they had to run and Temporal Shift says that they have to forfeit the move or activation, we played it so that they couldn't actually move anywhere. They did rally at the end of the activation though.

The Harrower wen't next and shot the Lancer, hitting him and doing a few boxes of damage. The Bane Knights use their 3" move to back away from the Stormblades, negating my charge, while the Ripjaw moves forward to get into spell range.

The Stalker, having moved foward enough starts its run towards Haley.



The Coven activates next and casts Curse of Shadows on the Stormblades through the Ripjaw. They then cast Stygian Abyss at my foremost Stormblade, failling to kill him, but getting a critical (meaning that he couldn't move, except to change facing, next turn).

[Phantom]

Turn 3 - Cygnar

This was supposed to be my big alpha strike turn but thanks to my previous mistakes it was just a bit disapointment all around.

Haley gets 1 focus from the Squire and gives 1 to the Stormclad. The Lancer moves up into stealth range of the Bane Knights. The ATGM and the Defender move up and try to shoot at the Satyxis some more, but without the bonus from Deadeye they can't hit the DEF 16 witches.

Haley activates and casts Telekinesis on the Stormclad, moving him 2" closer and facing the Stalker whille making sure that he is still close to the Stormblades. She then casts another Time Bomb at the Bane Knights through the Lancer, hiting and killing one of them (mistake number 4), the remaining 3 banes that where hit by the blast are unhurt but they are at -2 DEF and SPD again. At this point I realise that I've miscalculated my focus, with 2 focus remaining after the spells, I am unnable to cast the Temporal Acceleration on the Stormclad that I needed to make sure that I was within charge range of the stalker (mistake number 5, they just keep raking up on this game!).

Now is the time to activate the Stormclad, I do so and he gets 1 focus for being within 3" of the Stormblades. Now, accounting for Telekinesis he should have a 14" range on the charge (5" base move + 2" from the bond + 2" from Telekinesis + 3" from the charge + 2" from Reach), I measure the distance to the Stalker and... I'm about 1" out of range.



All that I have left to activate are the Stormblades, they do so and those that are able charge teh Ripjaw thats standing in front of them (the model that had Stygian Abyss cast on him couldn't move and the unit leader didn't have a clear charge path so he ran instead).



Now, I would like to make a quick pause here to explain something, we where playing under the assumption that in the case of Stygian Abyss, the model still had its movement (he just couldn't use it), so he could charge. While in the case of Time Bomb, because some of the models in the unit had a speed penalty then the whole unit couldn't charge. So please correct me if I'm wrong.

At the end of the charge, I had 4 models in contact with the Ripjaw, having to hit DEF 15 with MAT 7 I decided to do 2x 2 man CMA. The first 2 models missed but the next 2 hit and did some considerable damage to the bonejack, taking away its head and cortex, in fact, leaving him with only 1 point of arc node and another of movement.

Turn 3 - Cryx

Slightly cringing my teeth I braced myself for the onslaught that was sure to come, but first, since I had killed 1 of them, the Bane Knights made their 3" vengeance move during the maintenance phase (see mistake number 4), putting them in range to advance into mellee with my Stormblades.

My opponent upkept Infernal Machine and Curse of Shadows, dropping Occultation from the Bane Knights. He assigned 1 focus to the Stalker and 2 (I think) to the Harrower.

The Satyxis activated first and ran behind the Banes, cowardly fleeing from my Gun Mages. The Ripjaw on his right flank advanced into the woods and teh Stalker ran outside teh mellee range of my Stormclad and moved ever closer to Haley.

The other Ripjaw left combat with my Stormblades (who couldn't get free strikes because of Curse of Shadows), and moved a bit to my left.

The Harrower was next and charged my Lancer, with a boost to hit my DEF 15 jack, the MAT 8 Helljack took away the Lancers shield on with the blow destroying the light jack's movement and arc node in the process.

The 5 remaining Bane Knights then activated and used their 3" move to get into mellee with my Stormblades (with one them going for the Lancer). The Bane Knight in combat with the Lancer destroyed what was left of the light warjack, while the other ones killed 3 Stormblades, fortunatelly they passed their CMD check and remained in combat.

The Coven then ended their turn by killing another Stormblade with a Stygian Abyss casted through the Ripjaw.

[Phantom]

Turn 4 - Cygnar

I need to take out that Stalker, otherwise I'm pretty much dead next turn. I give 2 focus to the Stormclad.

Haley activates, casts Deadeye on the Gun Mages, moves into stealth range from the Stalker and hits him with a boosted Telekinesis, placing him 2" backwards and presenting his rear arc to both Haley and the Stomclad.

The Gun Mages and the Defender move closer to the Harrower and together manage to destroy his gun and movement (most of the damage was done by the Defender, even using Critical Brutal Damage shots in the ATGMs and getting plenty of criticals because of Deadeye, I was rolling like crap on the damage rolls).

The 2 remaining Stormblades make me proud and manage to kill 2 Bane Knights.

The Stormclad on the other hand is an altogether diferent story. I activate it and move into contact with the Stalker. Now, I'm in his back arc and I'm MAT 7, wich means that against DEF 16 I just need a 7 to hit. I boost the attack roll and MISS... Try to hit with the fist and its another miss. I finally buy another attack with the sword and miss again. My brand new dice hate me already.





Turn 4 - Cryx

I just realized that during the Maintenance phase, the Bane Knights should have got their vengeance move and attack, but we both forgot during the game.

The Coven upkeeps Infernal Machine on the Harrower and give him 2 focus with another one going for the Stalker, Curse of Shadows is also upkept.

The Stalker tries to charge Haley but my Stormclad suddenly remembers how to fight and hits the smaller bonejack as he is trying to get away, doing massive amounts of damage and destroying both its arms and its movement, leaving him only a single point of cortex away from beeing destroyed. The Stalker completes his charge but is unnable to hit the DEF 18/16 Haley with just one attack dice.

The Harrower then moves into mellee range of my Gun Mages (who pass their Terror check due to Infernal Machine), and does its Tresher attack, gains souls from the Gun Mage he manages to kill, buys an extra attack, kills another, gains another soul, buys another attack, etc... untill the 4 Gun Mages that where within his reach lie dead on the floor. (That thing, toghether with Infernal Machine, just mows down infantry like nobodys business, damn!).



The Bane Knights attack the Stormblades and miss all their attacks needing the Satyxis to move towards them and finnally take them out.



The damaged Ripjaw moves towards Haley and the Coven finally moves down from the hill. They try to fry Haley with successive castings of Stygian Abyss arced through the bonejack, but they all miss.

[Phantom]

Turn 5 - Cygnar

5th turn and Haley is still alive. \o/

I have a couple of choices this turn, I need to get rid of the Stalker and the Ripjaw for starters, I can get Haley to do it and try and pull another jack bullet on the Stormclad to send him against the Satyxis / Bane Knights, or I can get the Stormclad to kill the Ripjaw whille I get Haley to help the ATGMs and the Defender against the Harrower. After a few minutes I choose the second option.

Haley gives 2 focus to the Stormclad and activates. Neatly avoiding the free strike from the Stalker I move her closer to the Harrower and cast Domination on it. I move the Harrower to the back of the Sea Witch and kill her with a single blow.



Haley then casually blows up the Stalker with a shot from her Hand Cannon.

The Stormclad runs back to the action.

Next comes the Defender that puts a shot straight through the Harrowers back, taking out its claw and its movement. The Gun Mages try to take it out with Critical Brutal Damage shots but fail miserably, so the Officer pushes him further back with a Thunderbolt round.



Turn 5 - Cryx

The Coven upkeep Infernal Machine and give one focus to the Harrower and their remaining Ripjaw that is still inside the woods.

The Ripjaw moves to the edge of the woods and kills one Gun Mage with a Stygian Abyss, all the other spells miss.

The Harrower moves back towards the Gun Mages but misses his shot, the roll scatering harmlessly.

The remaining Satyxis and Bane Knights run towards Haley.

The Coven finally pop their feat.

[Phantom]

Turn 6 - Cygnar

With the Covens feat up, I can't pull an assassination run this turn, so the priorities for this turn will be the Harrower and the Ripjaw. I give 2 focus to the Stormclad.

The Defender finishes of the Harrower with a boosted damage shot that explodes the heavy helljack. Next up are the ATGMs, but the Officer is in mellee range of one of the Satyxis so he tries to kill her with his sword but fails miserably. The Gun Mage unit leader then shoots one of the remainder Satyxis through the eye, leaving only 4 remaining.

The Stormclad charges one of the Bane Knights and kills him with the lighning arc damaging the Ripjaw standing next to him, the bought attack then destroys the Ripjaw and the lightning kills one of the remaining Satyxis.

Haley kills the other Satyxis with an Arcane Bolt leaving only the unit leader alive.



Turn 6 - Cryx

The Coven give 1 focus to their remaining jack.

The Coven cast Veil of Mists on the Ripjaw and he runs near Haley. The other members of the Coven then try and kill her with Stygian Abyss once again, but they all miss.

The 2 remaining Banes charge Haley but one is out of range and the other misses the DEF 18 caster (should have been DEF 20 actually thanks to the hedge).

The Satyxis leader hits the Gun Mage officer with her horns, but only gives him 4 wounds.



Turn 7 - Cygnar

Time to finish it then. Haley gives 4 focus to the Stormclad after receiving the last focus from the Squire.

The Gun Mage Officer kills the Satyxis unit leader with a flick of his sword.

Haley kills the Bane Knight that was in combat with her with a thrust of her spear, she then casts Temporal Acceleration and Telekinesis on the Stormclad, giving him an extra attack, +2 MOV and moving him 2" closer to the Coven.

The Stormclad activates and declares a charge at the Egregore. The Stormclad now has a 16" charge range (5" base move + 2" from the bond + 2" from Telekinesis + 2" from Temporal Acceleration + 3" from the charge + 2" from Reach), we measure the distance and this time I'm in! The first hit does heavy damage, stripping away more than half the Witches damage boxes (with the help of the lightning arc), I buy a second attack and finish of the oozing ball of spikes.

[Phantom]

Post Game Analysis

Whew, that was a long game. At some point I thought I was done for, all that my opponent needed was a little bit of luck evading the free strike with the Stalker and Haley would be making bricks by now. I made alot of rookie mistakes on this one, from spliting up my forces to basic deployment mistakes, for all intents and purposes I should have lost this game. Only a few key errors by my opponent and some luck allowed me to get the win in the end.

Now, what did I think of my units?

eHaley: Cygnar's best caster without a doubt, she has the potential to do everything that you could possibly ask of her.

Squire: Auto-include with every cygnarian caster that I can think of, 3 extra focus and especially the 2" extra control range are golden.

Lancer: I'm not sure that he is needed on this list, sure you lose offensive Telekinesis and Domination, but the use I'm planning for the points more than make up for it, hopefully.

Stormclad: Point it at something and it dies, its as simple as that. Our best mellee jack just gets better with the extra focus and 2" MOV from the bond. Besides, eHaley needs a jack bullet and no other Cygnarian jack will do the job quite as well as the Stormclad. The Centurion comes close (you loose 1" threat range, focus efficiency and 1 P+S on the mellee weapon), but beeing only 1 point less there really isn't any choice between the two.

Stormblades (min unit): I have to beef up these guys, the points saved from scrapping the Lancer will go straight to a UA + WA for these guys (+ Arlan), giving them more staying power plus the awesomeness that is Assault + Deadeye.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + UA: Long Gunners are dead, long live the age of the Gun Mage. These guys do it all and are the bane of stealth infantry as well. Just remember kids, POW 10 + 3d6 don't really do anything against ARM 19 jacks, you're better of pushing them away than trying to kill them...

Marshalled Defender: My deploy hurt it all game long, plus I'm starting to think that you really need Arlan to make the best use of the ATGM + UA + Defender module. In a Haley list this would give him the ability to boost both shots under Temporal Acceleration giving him twice the effectiveness at long range that he has now.

If you've made it this far, then thanks for reading it, I hope you've enjoyed it half as much as I've enjoyed playing it and writing the report.

[Sanctjud]

Isn't the coven stealthed?
Can't declare charge on something you can't see.
You can still advance and hit, so it would have been 13" would prob. still have range.
_________
Anyway, nice report. Good pics and rundown at the end.

[Benjihuff]

You can charge stealth, only thing about it is ranged attacks auto miss.

[Sanctjud]

Ahh you are correct.
Very noob of me. I mixed up their LoS reducing feat with stealth, doh...

[sleet01]

One correction: as far as I recall, Time Bomb only affects the models hit, not the entire unit. It's still a good spell, and certainly a great assassination vector against the Coven.

You might consider a marshaled Cyclone, or a marshaled Grenadier + 2x Trencher Master Gunners, in place of the Defender provided you keep the Stormclad and 'Blades. With the Grenadier package, 3 x 3" Thunderbolt AOEs with +2 RAT, rerolling deviation, and no damage to friendlies is a pretty spectacular way to clear lanes for the Storm* charges.

[Phantom]

One correction: as far as I recall, Time Bomb only affects the models hit, not the entire unit. It's still a good spell, and certainly a great assassination vector against the Coven.

You are correct sir, but like I said in the BR, we were playing that since part of the unit had a movement debuff and couldn't charge because of it, then the wholle unit couldn't charge.

Even if we were playing it wrong, it didn't really affect the game since the first time I cast it at the Banes they were also under Haley's feat, and the 2nd time they just used their Vengeance move to advance into normal move distance.

You might consider a marshaled Cyclone, or a marshaled Grenadier + 2x Trencher Master Gunners, in place of the Defender provided you keep the Stormclad and 'Blades. With the Grenadier package, 3 x 3" Thunderbolt AOEs with +2 RAT, rerolling deviation, and no damage to friendlies is a pretty spectacular way to clear lanes for the Storm* charges.

I feel that a marshaled Cyclone doesn't really fit in this list, I would be loosing the 2x POW 15 shots into your deployment zone option that the Defender provides. I would also loose that option with the Grenadier and Arlan casting Evasive Action on the Stormclad and having him trample his way over enemy infantry is also a good way to clear charge lanes

The changes that I'm making to the list at the moment are to remove the Lancer and using the points to add the UA + 1 WA to the Stormblades and putting Arlan in. I'll see how that goes and take it from there.

[moob]

Thanks for the report - enjoy them especially with pictures. Just one thing stuck out:

With the Covens feat up, I can't pull an assassination run this turn, so the priorities for this turn will be the Harrower and the Ripjaw. I give 2 focus to the Stormclad.

The Defender finishes of the Harrower with a boosted damage shot that explodes the heavy helljack. Next up are the ATGMs, but the Officer is in mellee range of one of the Satyxis so he tries to kill her with his sword but fails miserably. The Gun Mage unit leader then shoots one of the remainder Satyxis through the eye, leaving only 4 remaining.

The Stormclad charges one of the Bane Knights and kills him with the lighning arc damaging the Ripjaw standing next to him, the bought attack then destroys the Ripjaw and the lightning kills one of the remaining Satyxis.

Haley kills the other Satyxis with an Arcane Bolt leaving only the unit leader alive.

The coven's feat gives you 5" los, why'd he wait to use it until you were already close enough that you'd still get to attack? Especially considering the stormclad was 5" from the bane knights to be able to charge.

[Phantom]

He just feated for no particular reason. It was a mistake on my opponents part as well, if it was me I would have feated on the first turn to protect the Satyxis from the ATGM or at the very least I would have feated in response to Haleys feat.

[Saphon]

Phantom, my nemesis, i will get you someday
Actually, the coven feat only afects enemy models inside their control area (18" if all 3 sisters are around and kicking) so in the first couple turns there was really no point in using it

PS: nice BR by the way