Game 112: Kaelyssa vs Zerkova1

Game 112 – Vs Jim Gradwell – Khador – 11/11/17

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper (Legions of Dawn)

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

His List:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova (Legion of Steel)

-Marauder

-Juggernaut

-Juggernaut

Iron Fang Kovnik

Iron Fang Kovnik

Uhlan Kovnik Markov

Min Iron Fang Uhlans

Min Iron Fang Uhlans

Great Bears of the Gallowswood

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Min Black Dragons

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Round 3 and I’m going well and feeling good. Until I am drawn against Jim Gradwell. I had played him twice before at 3-0 and 4-1 in a couple of events, only to have good runs cut short, so knew I would be in for a tough event. I was pretty certain he would drop Zerkova1 as he did in the Nationals, so took a chance on Kaelyssa, as at least I had Banishing Ward to make the Assassination difficult. Jim won the first roll and we got going.

After Advance Moving the Pikemen on the left everything advances up, in Shield Wall where possible. Zerkova then puts out a cloud wall to protect them from charges from the Destors, who were all on the left flank at the start of the game. The Uhlans both flanked pretty hard, but there was a definite weakness on the right hand side of the table.

I advance up, remaining out of the very static threat ranges of his army. Kaelyssa just cast Banishing Ward on herself and camped the rest of her Focus. The interesting interaction of this turn was a Destor running up into the cloud wall to jam, but was Countercharged by a Kovnik. This left him in range of the other Destor unit’s guns, and I was able to roll the 2 consecutive 8s to kill it.

Jim and I both know that more often than not the person who feats second in a game like this will take out the victory, so he spends some time working out how to not have to. He basically continues his advance under the cloud wall, trying to force me to feat in the next turn. The Black Dragons use Iron Zeal and Shield Wall to get up to a high armour and hold back for a later turn. The jacks move into the central forest to be of use later in the game.

I consider my options and opt to make a big play to force the game. I drop Banishing Ward and replace it with Refuge, shoot the Marauder to make it Stationary, cast Phantom Hunter on Helios and Feat. Eiryss follows up with the Disruption to take the heavy out of the game. I charge Helios into the cloud wall, boosting hits to kill 2 of the Pikemen, setting a load more on fire. The rest of my forces reposition within Kae’s feat, staying out of threats for the most part. I score my flag, but can’t contest Jim’s zone, so the score starts at 1-1.

My gamble paid off, as Jim was unable to remove Helios under my Feat, dealing around 2/3rds damage to it with a fully loaded Juggernaut and the remaining Pikemen that didn’t die to fire. His Black Dragons run up to engage my Sentinels and the Uhlans and Great Bears back off to prepare for next turn. Jim clears the Arcanist that was on my flag, and scores his own and the zone, scoreing 2CP to move into a 3-1 lead.

Zerkova’s feat is difficult to get round in a lot of ways, but if things are already in melee range then there aren’t really any downsides, so I am able to get a decent amount of work done this turn. Helios punches the Juggernaut to death, setting a couple more Pikemen on fire again, before the Sentinels get to work clearing out the Black Dragons. One of the Sentinels was able to get through to contest Jim’s flag. After once again Stalling the Marauder, Kaelyssa Refuges back to the right zone, allowing me to score that, and with all other zones contested we move to 3-2 to Jim.

There aren’t many things scarier in SR2017 then passing over the turn already down on scenario, but thankfully there was never really any way for Jim to close out the game from this point. Instead he continues with the attrition, finishing off Helios with the Great Bears, clearing out me remaining Destors on the left and killing off some of the Sentinels in the blue unit. He scores both flags and his zone to move into an intimidating 6-2 lead, but I feel that I am starting to gain an attrition foothold.

I need to turn the tide pretty hard now, and have a strong turn. Vengeance moves deal with the Uhlans on the right flank, allowing that unit of Sentinels to clear the flag and put a couple of attacks into the Marauder. Eiryss runs to Jim’s flag to start scoring it. The Scyir clears out a blocking Pikeman allowing the Orange unit of Sentinels to get through and contest Jim’s zone. I make a huge mistake with a Destor. I should have declared being exactly 4” from the flag to contest, but as I moved it in a rush Markov was able to Countercharge whilst remaining on the flag, meaning I had to run an extra model over to contest it. Regardless, I score 2 CPs to close the game to 6-4

We are now at the top of 5 and the game is starting to look like it is going the distance. Zerkova starts to get some work done of her own and sprays down some Sentinels, with the other Uhlan unit charging in to kill some more. Jim clears both his zone and my flag, but is unable to contest where I am scoring so we both score 2 to move to 8-6 in Jim’s favour.

Jim has basically run out of models to contest my flag, so as long as I can find a way to keep the tide turning I have a decent change to claw this back. I have another strong turn of attrition, finishing off the Marauder, putting a big hole in the Juggernaut and killing the Uhlans and another Great Bear. I contest his zone but not his flag. I close to 1 behind at 9-8

Zerkova continues throwing her considerable weight around, killing off the Sentinels that charged into the Juggernaut. Markov stoically remains on his flag. We both score 2 more points to make it 11-10.

3 Sentinels charge and destroy the Juggernaut, meaning that I don’t need to contest his zone as Zerkova has left it. The other Sentinels clump up at the other end of the zone. This was a huge mistake as I should have spread them all out so that he couldn’t get them all with a single spray. I score 2 to Jim’s 1, and at the bottom of turn 6 we are equal at 12-12

Jim and I both have around 3 minutes left on our clocks, and he spends the time considering his options. He opts to clear out the central zone with Zerkova and the remaining Great Bear. After the sprays one Sentinel remains, Jim hits with the gun, rolls damage and hits the clock, killing the last Sentinel and clocking over to me with 1 second left. We both score 2 and move to 14-14.

I pause, I have time to do this properly. I do the maths. There is a spot that Kae can sit in where she can shoot the Great Bear and score both zones. I move to it, put 2 of my 3 shots into the Bear and kill it. I score 3 points, Jim scores 2 and I win 17-16 on scenario.

VICTORY

17-16 on scenario. 110-109 Victory Points scored. 2 models each left on the table. There isn’t an awful lot else that can be said about this game. Jim was, as ever, a joy to play against, and even when the game was getting incredibly tight everything was so clean. I was incredibly pleased to get one back on him after being convincingly beaten on the previous 2 occasions, and to do so to move to 3-0 in a major event was even sweeter. I didn’t play anywhere near the perfect game, I misplayed some Countercharges and my endgame was a bit weak, giving him the opportunity to clear the zone that he really shouldn’t have had, but I just did enough. I had about 4 minutes before Round 4 started. No rest for the wicked.