Game 114: Vyros2 vs Rask

Game 114 – Vs Michael Dick– Minions – 12/11/17

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Aspis

-Imperatus

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Rask (Will Work For Food)

-Targ

-Ironback Spitter

-Ironback Spitter

-Blackhide Wrastler

-Bull Snapper

Alten Ashley

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Dahlia Hallyr

-Skarath

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Rorsh

-Brine

Wrong Eye

-Snapjaw

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Following game 4 on the Saturday of Blood and Oil we returned to the house we were staying in, and when the draw went up later in the evening I found that I was playing Michael Dick, who was staying with me in the same house. We briefly discussed the game, both knew that it had to be Vyros2 against Rask, and got a decent night’s sleep. Fast-Forward to the morning and, after going through the formalities, Michael won the first turn and we got going.

I was in an unusual situation in this game. I was pretty certain that this match up against an equally skilled player would result in a win to me. Unfortunately I wasn’t playing against a player of equal skill, so I was going to need some things to go my way to get the win. Michael starts, predictably, by running up the table, pretty quickly with the +2 speed from the Theme benefit. He casts Fury on one of the Spitters and Admonition on the other.

I will need to play the forest in the centre well as it is a big advantage to me in the match up, and I decide to swing my forces to one side of it to threaten the parts of his army over there. Vyros casts Deceleration to protect against the surprising number of guns in the Minions force, and takes position behind the forest in the zone. I Feat, throwing up 2 Aspises and a Griffon to tempt him in.

Michael surprises me by backing up pretty significantly. Players don’t often respect Vyros’ Feat to this extent but he clearly didn’t want to lose a heavy early on to a Feat-moved Imperatus. He takes a few pot shots into me, but I Shield Guard them on to Aspises, and the damage is healed back over toe following rounds.

The central and right zones are only contested by a Swamp Gobber and Bull Snapper respectively, so I look to score 2 early CPs and take a Scenario lead. A Griffon charges through the forest, contesting the left zone and killing the Gobber to take the central one. The Magister simply pushes the Bull Snapper out of the zone and, once Vyros moves in, confirms a second point. I need to get further up the table, so Vyros fires off a speculative Twister, which scatters well and gives me a nice cloud to hide Imperatus behind in a threatening position. I send up an Aspis to jam and cover Imperatus with another in case I have missed something. I move into a 2-0 lead.

Michael kills off the two lights that I had thrown forward, and repositions himself further round the flanks to start threatening my back lines. He starts clearing out some of my back lines with a 3-leap Electro-Leap from Orin which takes out 2 Arcanist Mechaniks (sloppy play from me to not see that). He contests all of the zones and scores the left to move to a 2-1 lead for me.

I can’t clear the central zone so need to concentrate on contesting the left and scoring on mine until an opportunity presents itself. I push the Bull Snapper out of the zone again, and Vyros takes advantage of Orin’s positioning (and having used all of his Power Tokens) by killing him with Twister, setting up another usefully positioned cloud. This allows Imperatus to stay relevant in the game, and I use 2 lights again to sure up his position. I run an Arcanist unit to contest the left zone, but another minor error means that the far one isn’t within 12” to be able to contest next turn. I move 3-1 ahead.

Michael finally commits something significant. The Wrastler on the right takes off the blocking Aspis, and Brine comes in from downtown to take out 2 Griffons. The Bull Snapper charges the Magister but misses the attack, and their endless duel continues. Michael scores the central and left zones to even the game up at 3-3.

At this point I have Imperatus and 3 Griffons left against 6 heavies so I need to turn things around quickly. Vyros starts off the Synergy chain by finishing off the Bull Snapper, and puts out another Twister cloud, killing Targ and further blocking Snapjaw’s line of sight. I complete my Synergy chain and take out both the Spitter and Brine. We both score our circle zone to move to 4-4.

More Minion Heavies come in, but this time Michael’s dice desert him and he can barely roll a 6 to hit to save his life. As a result his Furied, Raged, Boundless Charged Wrastler fails to take out a Griffon, and as it is within range of a zero camp Rask he has no choice but to waste Wrongeye to finish it off. He does contest my zone and score his own to take scenario lead for the first time but it isn’t a good turn for him.

Not one to shy away from fortune I take the gift that the dice have given me. I have to use Vyros to start the Synergy chain as I have so few activations left, and unfortunately this requires casting Easy Rider, leaving me on no Focus. I do destroy both heavies but have Focus left over on Imperatus so may have over-committed. We each score our zones again and Micheal takes a 6-5 lead.

The last round has swung attrition significantly in my favour, but it is uncertain whether I would be able to bring the scenario back in time. Unfortunately for me Michael spots an assassination angle that I had missed. He casts Fury and Boundless Charge on Skarath, and after one Overtake move he is able to get onto Vyros, killing him with 2 attacks.

DEFEAT

A disappointing end to a really good game. Was a shame to make a mistake after I’d just got back into the game by some pretty good play. Michael was a real joy to play against, and to be able to compete with players of his level shows that I am really starting to get somewhere with my Ret now. Into the last round now and I was really hoping that a strong start to the event wouldn’t fade away to nothing.