Warmachine/Hordes: Major Victoria Haley List Building and Video Battle Report
One of my locals is trying to up his game, so he recently approached me asking if I’d bring the nasty: Major Victoria Haley and a Stormwall at 50 points. Well, I’m never one to deny a simple request, so let’s do this.
I’ll start with a Squire and a Journeyman Warcaster. The Squire increases Haley’s already-impressive control area, provides an additional focus during three of my turns, and gives me a reroll on one magic attack per turn. The Journeyman is present merely to provide the Stormwall with Arcane Shield. It’s obviously the most important piece in my army, so I need to make sure it can take it on the chin. These pretty much go in any list with a Stormwall, so there shouldn’t be a surprise here.
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| This is a Stormwall, in case you’ve been living under a rock. |
Seeing why eHaley and a Stormwall are fantastic together isn’t difficult. The combination of her feat and the Stormwall’s Covering Fire ability make for a disgusting level of denial, but I think we can go a step higher. I’m going to immediately add in Thorn for channeling Telekinesis and Time Bomb. Telekinesis is a spell that allows me to place a model within 2″ of its position, changing its facing if I wish. This is great for denying charges by turning a model around or bringing it closer to put it into the range of the rest of my forces. Time Bomb is an AOE 4 magic attack that reduces DEF and SPD of all models hit. I’m also going to add in the Black 13th. They’re super-accurate and always have a role to play. Additionally Ryan’s Mage Storm attack is fantastic for putting out a 4″ AOE that remains on the board, dealing POW 12s to anything that advances through or ends its movement in it, pairing beautifully with the Stormwall’s Covering Fire templates and its Lightning Pods for an ideally placed Mage Storm target.
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| Gun Mages love Dead Eye. Dig it. |
Major Haley’s Dead Eye spell, which adds an additional die to target model/unit’s first ranged attack, is fantastic with Gun Mages and their various critical effects. Gun Mages additionally provide fantastic anti-Stealth tech thanks to the Officer’s True Sight ability. I’ll have the Officer marshal a Hunter for additional ranged dominance against high-ARM targets like hardy, medium-based solos and heavies.
This leaves five points to play with. As much as I’d like to fill those five points with Rangers, I really want Eiryss present in case I run into a warcaster camping focus. Either would be fine, but I tend to prefer her epic form, which will additionally allow me to strip upkeeps in addition to focus. With my last two points, I’ll take Strangeways for Power Booster and Repair. Power Booster allows me to give out a focus point to a ‘jack that doesn’t have one, pairing well with Thorn, who typically just runs into an optimal channeling position. Repair is also nice if my opponent does manage to get into my Stormwall and do enough damage to knock out either arm.
Overall, it’s a pretty simple list, but making Major Haley hum isn’t exactly difficult; she is, what we call, a turd polisher, in that she makes everything fantastic. I’m feeling this list, but really want Stormcallers to synergize with the Stormwall’s Lightning Pods, so I’d need to look for something to change or drop to free up some points, perhaps changing Thorn to a simple Lancer. I’ll leave that in mind during my first game and reconsider that part of my build after I get a game or two in.
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Thorn (8pts)
* Stormwall (19pts)
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
* * Hunter (6pts)
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team (4pts)
Captain Arlan Strangewayes (2pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Looking at the build as whole, I like what I see. The combination of the Stormwall’s Covering Fire and Mage Storm will allow me to deal with single-wound infantry with ease. The Hunter and Stormwall can focus fire heavy targets with their big-damage shots. The Gun Mages with Dead Eye and the Black 13th can tackle a variety of targets. Telekinesis and Time Bomb from Haley act as fine initiation or denial tools.
Unsurprisingly, the list feels pretty solid despite some deployment-/first turn-problems on my behalf. While I didn’t get a big turn of shooting against his heavies, I’ve played with ranged-heavy lists to know that I have the resources to take down a Titan in a single turn with enough left over to leave a dent on another one.
I hope you guys enjoyed the new video format. I actually liked it quite a bit; I just need to reduce my “uhmms” and “uhhs” by about 30%…
