136 Thexus1 OT vs Haley2 HM
27.10.2021
With the Fell Curse gone from the Thamarite Advocates my only option for anti-heal is to look for the Cephalyx. They got a bit of a shake-up in the Dynamic Update with some significant nerfs to the Gaspy+Blockader combo and also the hit to the Void Archons. But at the same time we did get some nice DEF and ARM buffs to the Monstrosities and Cephalyx Overlords went down to 6 points. With the Blockader out of the list I struggle to fill out the points, but ended up with a min unit of Croes. I feel that a max unit is too big an investment because there are many lists that just completely shut them down, but at 11 points the min unit might just be worth it. My opponent is playing Haley2 which I think should be a pretty even matchup.
Mercenary – Thexus
Theme: Operating Theater
75 / 75 Army
Exulon Thexus – WJ: +29
– Doctor Stygius – PC: 0
– Warden – PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
– Warden – PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 10)
– Warden – PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
– Warden – PC: 10
– Warden – PC: 10
Pistol Wraith – PC: 0
Cephalyx Agitator – PC: 0
Cephalyx Agitator – PC: 0
Void Archon – PC: 9
Asphyxious the Sanctified – Asphyxious & 3 Annihilation Servitors: 14
– Stalker – PC: 8
Cephalyx Overlords – Leader & 2 Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Overlords – Leader & 2 Grunts: 6
Cephalyx Dominator – PC: 1
– Croe’s Cutthroats – Leader & 5 Grunts: 10
vs
Cygnar – Haley 2
Theme: Heavy Metal
75 / 75 Army
Major Victoria Haley – WJ: +29
– Squire – PC: 0
– Thorn – PC: 11 (Battlegroup Points Used: 11)
– Centurion – PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 16)
– Firefly – PC: 7 (Battlegroup Points Used: 2)
Artificer Prime Nemo – Nemo & 3 Arcane Mechaniks: 18
– Arcane Mechaniks
– Dynamo – PC: 17
Captain Arlan Strangewayes – PC: 0
Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine – PC: 0
– Ace – PC: 10
Journeyman Warcaster – PC: 3
– Firefly – PC: 7
Thamarite Archon – PC: 9
Field Mechaniks – Crew Chief & 3 Grunts: 2
Field Mechaniks – Crew Chief & 3 Grunts: 2
Field Mechaniks – Crew Chief & 3 Grunts: 2
Deployment
Haley goes first. I should have spent some more time on my AD step here to really consider what to go for with my Croe’s and the Stalker. The obvious value piece is Nemo, but the Centurion is more likely to get pushed up front. I decide to go for a central deployment, just skewing the Croes a bit towards the left side. But with the Journeyman all the way over on the right side I should have realized that my opponent intends to cast Arcane Shield on Nemo and not the Centurion. I should therefore have put the Stalker opposite the Centurion to threaten a bottom of Turn 1 play with the Stalker and Croes (yes, I know that the Stalker is blessed and Thexus has Hex Blast but I really need Decel up so there is a limit to how much focus I can spare). Another huge mistake I make is that I forget to declare Prey from the Croes. It comes up on my turn and my opponent is kind enough to let me roll off between the Centurion and Nemo since those were the two obvious targets, but the dice land on Nemo.
We both choose the Anchor objective. In hindsight my opponent commented that True Sight would have been better due to the narrow gap between the forest and the cloud in my center.
Turn 1A
As discussed Arcane Shield goes up on Nemo and the Centurion runs up full speed. Everything else stays pretty far back.
Turn 1B
I take a while to decide if it is worth going after the Centurion. It is costing me three TKs so I will be unable to do anything else if I go for the play. It also costs me the chance to kill the Dominator on Turn 1. Long story short: I go in but leave the Centurion alive.
I ran the odds through Buy or Boost and get a 62% chance to destroy the Centurion (up to 85% with Prey). It is difficult to say if it is worth it or not. I am giving away the Stalker and a Warden, so point for point that’s 18 points for a 62% chance to kill a 16 point model. But with the board position I am tempted to say that it was still worth the risk because the upside is that I have a chance to get full control over the left zone.
Turn 2A
Luckily the Centurion is Grievously wounded and cannot be repaired yet, but the Mechanics are lining up for next turn. The Stalker is disposed of quite trivially, but my opponent is really struggling with the Warden because of Nemo’s push shots and Hyper aggressive.
Ace fires off a trick shot at the Dominator and gets the 8. I fail the tough check, so now my Croe’s are running next turn. Needless to say I am still no fan of the Lynchpin rule.
I had positioned the Pistol Wraith behind the Wall and outside of aiming range of the Thamarite Archon, thinking that he is welcome to fish for the 11s. However, I didn’t consider that my opponent could just TK the Thamarite up and be able to aim for an easy six attempts at a 9. A bit annoying for me to see my Pistol Wraith go down so easily, but it was a nice play on my opponent’s part.
Oh, and Haley feats of course. On more or less everything.
Turn 2B
The rightmost Wrecker gets Anchor and sets up at the corner of the zone with a cloud wall in front. I sacrifice two of my Overlords to get some sprays off on the Mechanics surrounding the Centurion in hopes of him remaining crippled for a while longer. He still has cortex and his spear, but at least the shield is gone. I also cast a Hex blast on some more mechanics in the back.
I keep two Wreckers within 1” of Thexus. This may be a bit overly conservative with the nice central forest providing such good cover. The Wrecker in the back could easily have stood a bit further forward so that it could have stayed more relevant in the game.
Score 0-0
Turn 3A
This is where I really start losing models. Both Wreckers in the zone go down along with a whole bunch of Overlords. My opponent is rolling 8s left right and center on e-leaps and trick shots so it seems that there is no safe place on the board for my cephalyx. The only thing that is keeping me in the game is the choke point and the cloud wall which prevents my opponent from taking control over the central zone.
Also it turns out that Arlan was hiding behind the central obstruction and with TA he was able to walk forward and repair the Centurion despite my efforts to kill the mechanics on the previous turn.
Score 0-2
Turn 3B
After a long and convoluted planning phase I come up with a plan to send in Gaspy on Nemo4 and then Vanish over to kill the objective. The plan involves removing a Murder bot who was blocking Gaspy’s TK landing spot. They are a unit, so I need to resolve the TK before activating. And the whole operation almost fell flat because I just simply couldn’t hit that stupid little thing. The lesson learnt is to not put any bots directly in front of Gaspy!
With Nemo down and Dynamo inert it is turning a bit around on attrition even though I am still behind. My opponent will certainly score a point or two next turn, but by scoring the central zone I am no longer in danger of outright losing on scenario over the next round or two.
Score 2-2
Turn 4A
The mechanics repair the Centurion almost back to full (very annoying!) and it charges the wrecker in the zone. The wrecker has been TK’ed in advance in hopes that the Centurion could also reach the objective and my Agoniser, but the angles didn’t quite line up. Besides, the Wrecker ends up surviving anyway.
Score 2-3
Turn 4B
I get very greedy this turn and try to kill the Centurion, Thamarite archon and Thorn while also use my feat to score two points. First of it is quite risky due to all the dodges, and secondly it is putting Thexus in a quite dangerous position. Stygious had died on the previous turn to another 8+ trick shot, so I am not able to use him to TK Thexus back behind the forest after feating.
On the upside I get done all the work I wanted to get done and score my two points.
Score 4-3
Turn 5A
At this point it is trivial for Haley, Caine and Ace to shoot and spell Thexus to death. I am just barely outside of Sac pawn range, but it wouldn’t have mattered because Haley was still in range to TK my wrecker out anyway.
Sadly, a loss for the Mercenaries
:: Evaluation ::
I have to say that this was an extremely entertaining game. It went back and forth the whole time. In the end I felt that I had the upper hand but gave the game away because I got greedy either with focus allocation or wanting to feat Ace out of the circular zone. I could easily have settled for the same attrition work and then gone to 3-3 instead of 4-3, but kept Thexus safe behind the forest.