Game 76 – Vs Ryan Longthorne – Skorne
– 19/08/17
My list:
Magister Helynna
-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker
-Discordia
-Manticore
-Manticore
Arcanist Mechanik
Max Dawnguard Sentinels
-Officer & Standard Bearer
Max Dawnguard Sentinels
-Officer & Standard Bearer
Spears of Scyrah
His List:
Zaal, The Ancestral Advocate
-Basilisk Drake
-Basilisk Krea
-Cyclops Shaman
-Agonizer
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Hakaar the Destroyer
Swamp Gobber Chef
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate
The final round of the 3rd
list testing Steamroller saw me drawn against Ryan, the local Skorne Tyrant,
who like me was trying to find the lists to build around his Makeda double cats
list. I wanted to try out Helynna with Sentinels as their armour can become
pretty absurd, and Ryan dropped the Immortal spam Zaal list. High Armour, slow Vengeance troops slogging into each
other. Not what you want on game 4. Ryan won first turn and the slog began.
Ryan casts Vision on Zekaar and Aura of
Power on Zaal, before running up all of his troops, with the Warbeasts
generally getting ahead of the sea of Immortals.
I respond by running up as well,
staying out of his predictable threat ranges and getting at lease something in
each zone unless he tried to jam me out. I plan to use the Manticores on the
right to control that flank with Covering
Fire and try to win the game on the left. The single Arcanist is sat near
the right flag to start scoring next turn if possible.
As I have remained out of threat
there isn’t too much for Ryan to do this turn, but he gets slight tunnel vision
and tries to take out some Sentinels with his guns. The Basilisk spray kills
one Sentinel, triggering Vengeance on
the right unit, whilst the single shot from the Shaman is Shield Guarded onto a Spear, failing to kill, but triggering Vengeance on the unit.
The extra 3” of range on 2 of my
units gives me a pretty good way in to one of Ryan’s units. I know this is
going to be feat turn so if I can kill most of a unit without reprisal I may be
able to hold a pretty strong attrition position. A couple of Vengeance attacks followed by charges
from the Spears destroys the Shaman, before the Sentinels charge into the
Immortals, killing 4. The Manticores then move into position to shoot into the
same unit, killing 3 more, before Rhythm
of Warring back out of threat. The rest of my Sentinels run to engage the
left unit. Under Iron Zeal and
Helynna’s feat, the Sentinels are sat in his face at ARM23. I score my flag to
lead 1-0.
Zaal feats and his Immortals begin
pointlessly attacking my Sentinels, dealing no damage with early attacks and
quickly concluding that it is not worth triggering Vengeance. He does finish off the Spear that previously Shield Guard, triggering Vengeance on the two remaining members.
With nothing happening, I score my flag again to lead 2-0.
It is now my turn to flail
ineffectively into high armour, but after considering a moment I consider a
different approach. If I can stop Ryan contesting my flag in his turn I will
win. If I don’t kill any models at all in my turn then his Advocate won’t be
able to make the unit Incorporeal, so
I may be able to jam them away from the flag. I jam as best as I can with the
Sentinels, put down Covering Fire
from the Manticores and use Rhythm of War
to move them further in. I score again to lead 3-0.
I have made a pretty significant
miscalculation in my plan, as if Ryan loses an Immortal to either Covering Fire or a Free Strike, he will
still gain the Soul to fuel becoming Incorporeal.
His centre unit activates and provides that Soul, though all of the unit dies
to Free Strikes from a Spear of Scyrah. The full right unit advances members
through to contest the flag until one survives the Covering Fire, then removes a load of my Sentinels. On the left
flank Ryan is very unlucky not to remove all of my Sentinels in the zone,
leaving one alive contesting both the flag and zone. Nobody scores so the score
remains 3-0 to me.
My route to victory is to kill the
objective and remove the single contesting Immortal. Helynna charges the
Immortal, not risking a damage roll and instead just pushing it away. One Spear
and 2 Immortals move into the objective, though one Sentinel dies to a Defensive Strike. They do some damage
before Discordia tramples in and destroys it. I score 2 without reply to win
5-0.
VICTORY
Ryan and
I both agreed that this game was not a particularly fun slog, and I did not
really enjoy playing my list. I would have lost the game had the remaining
Sentinel not hung on in his zone, as I was down on attrition and scenario was
my only way out. We were both tired in the game which led to some bad
decisions, but it was still good to see our lists in action.
I
finished the Steamroller 3-1, as I have the previous 2 events. The more
surprising result was the fact that out of my 3 lists, Ravyn was the one that
stood out, so I have made the decision that her list will join Issyria and
Vyros2 as my lists for the Nationals. I have 3 weeks to get as many games in
with them as possible, and hopefully be prepared for whatever the wider British
meta throws at me.
