Game 98: Ravyn vs Coven

Game 98 – Vs Brian Russell – Cryx – 27/09/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

The Witch Coven of Garlghast

-Egregore

-Deathjack

-Reaper

-Slayer

-Nightwretch

-Nightwretch

Soul Trapper

Warwitch Siren

Bane Lord Tartarus

Max Bane Warriors

-Officer & Standard Bearer

One of my relatively new but quickly improving club mates had been watching my game against Mark, and asked to play into the double colossal Ravyn list. I agreed and then realised why he was so keen when he dropped Coven into me. Always good to practice casters into bad games, so here we go. I won first turn and got moving.

Again nothing unusual for my first turn. Snipe goes onto the AFG, and a Veil of Mists is put down next to the central building. Everything else ran in order to force a first turn feat from Brian.

As predicted, the Coven feat comes out, but some of his flanking forces move up too far. The Bane Warriors gain Occultation and the Egregore runs into an aggressive position to catch as large an area as possible. Deathjack moves behind the building ready to charge through next turn.

Coven’s feat turn is always a tricky one to unravel, but I don’t feel confident in just waiting it out so need to find an avenue to attack. By moving the AFG out of Coven’s aura I am able to shoot at the Reaper, knocking it down and putting a decent chunk of damage into it. The Stormfalls move up and with Brutal Damage shots destroy the jack. The rest of my forces just take up positions ready to take the attack. I stay out of threat of the Banes and put up Repulsor Field on both Helios, ready for Deathjack to come in.

Putting 2 Helios with Repulsor Field next to each other leads to some pretty interesting interactions. Deathjack charges through the building such as that hitting one colossal pushed him back so that he could hit the other. After 2 attacks on each he had finally been pushed out of melee with both but by then boosted damage rolls had done 20 or so damage to each. The Banes continue their advance and the jacks on the left move into aggressive positions.

Having survived the feat turn relatively unscathed it was time to get ahead on scenario and attrition. Ravyn feats to help out the AFG, which knocks down both the Slayer and Deathjack, before both are destroyed by the Helii. I set some Banes on fire, and kill a couple, whilst the left Stormfalls start on the ach node. I score my flag with an arcanist to lead 1-0.

On comes the swarm. The Banes power through into my zone, killing all of the Stormfalls on the right flank. The Soul Trapper picks up a couple of Souls before moving to his flag to start scoring. On the left and in the centre Brian rearranges his forces to make my scoring as difficult as possible. We both score our flags to move to 2-1 to me. Note: The Stormfall on the right shouldn’t be on the table at this point.

You know those tricks that some casters have that are great fun but you know that you end up dead whenever you do them. Ravyn is probably the poster girl for that. On the left flank I clear out the zone, and the AFG shoots towards the Banes, killing the one directly in front of Ravyn. Then she gets to work. If anyone hasn’t seen the interaction of Thresher, Dual Attack, Swift Hunter and Quick Work it is great to see. Ravyn surfs through Banes, shooting Blaster shots each time she kills one, racking up 8 kills before retreating back to her cloud, camping 4. I score my flag and the left zone, and Brian scores his flag to push the score to 4-2.

15/16 statline, in Concealment with 4 Focus, should be fine. NO. The Soul Trapper starts off the assassination by giving the souls to one of the Withershadow, who puts a fully boosted Stygian Abyss into Ravyn, getting the Crit to Blind her. The Coven then fire 3 more in, leaving her on 6 boxes and no focus. The Bane Officer is in range to charge in and finish the job.

DEFEAT

It is a shame that Ravyn dies after doing anything cool but I regret nothing. This was a great fun game with a load of fun moments. Once the first Crit hit (Why does Stygian Abyss always Crit?) the deal was done, and Brian managed the assassination very nicely. I really enjoy playing Ravyn, and just wish she had…. Something else. Coming soon to a CID near you?