Ghyrrshyld's Return: September 2018

Friday 21 September 2018

Game 266: Vyros2 vs Siege1

Game 266 – Vs Rudolf Edlmayer – Cygnar – 16/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Major Markus “Siege” Brisbane (Heavy Metal)

-Squire

-Defender

-Triumph

Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine

-Ace

Journeyman Warcaster

-Charger

Lieutenant Allison Jakes

-Charger

-Defender

Max Field Mechaniks

Final round of the WTC and we are up against Hungary, with me matched up against their Cygnar player. I know that Siege has been revitalised by Caine0, but haven’t had a chance to play into him yet. That being said, against a full on gunline on Spread the Net I felt pretty confident. I won the roll to go first and got moving.

Vyros casts Deceleration and everything runs up the table in 2 groups, a pod of 3 on the left and the main bulk of the battlegroup on the right. Solos move up to prepare to dash to flags on later turns.

One Griffon if a bit too far forward and gives Triumph his Maintenance Phase shot, and the rest of the guns open up dealing some decent chunks of damage. The Journeyman puts Arcane Shield on Caine who in turn puts Fire for Effect on Siege.

I think I can start work on some of the Journeymen here to make some jacks inert and remove some of the useful upkeeps. I shoot off the Journeyman and put a shot into Caine, but leave the latter on 3 boxes. I run my 2 damaged jacks on the left to engage as Siege doesn’t have many activations with which to clear it. Vyros’ and Siege’s Feats interact in an interesting way; whilst normally I would Feat this turn with Vyros to take a few Feat moves, Siege wants to damage everything a bit with his Feat, and so mine wouldn’t do much. Holding it until the turn after where Siege will be finishing things off is far more useful.

Siege takes out the 2 engaging jacks and then Feats and opens up with his guns into my jacks, not killing any but damaging them pretty badly. A Defender charges into a Manticore, taking it out. We both score our zones to start at 1-1.

This turn was what I had been planning for all game. I score both flags and my zone, taking out the Defender and the contesting Mechanics from the central zone. I Feat to try and protect my lead and hope I can just survive the turn. Vyros takes out Caine with Lock the Target. I lead 5-1.

Rudolf continues the attrition but even though he gets Vyros knocked down, he never really has enough to threaten an assassination. I manage He contests everything and shoots Lanyssa off the left flag but can still only score his zone, as I do to move to 6-2.

I just need to contest the left zone to win, but I decide to kill Siege with Vyros for style points. I win on assassination and 9-2 on scenario.

VICTORY

Having played this matchup now I don’t think I win it on any other scenario, but with going first on Spread I was just able to score enough points and survive long enough to take the game.

The team won the round 5-0 to finish on 3-3 for the weekend. We were slightly disappointed with the overall result but the three rounds we lost were all incredibly close and could have gone either way.

I loved my first WTC experience, the whole event was incredibly well run and I met so many great people. I can’t recommend it highly enough to anybody. If you don’t make a national team, get into the Solo Masters and just soak up the atmosphere.

Thank you to my team mates Andy, Brett, Ben and Matt – it was a pleasure to be on a team with you guys and despite a few marginal results I think we can all be really proud of how we played. Congratulations too to the England Lions and Knights teams who finished 4^th and 3^rd respectively, showing just how strong Warmachine is in the UK right now.

I’ll be taking a brief break now until the CID drops, but it is the UK Nationals 3 weeks after the WTC, so I’ll need to be back up and running for that. Thank you all for reading, and if you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Game 265: Rahn vs Ossrum

Game 265 – Vs Wout Maerschalck – Mercenaries – 16/09/18

My list:

Adeptis Rahn (Defenders of Ios)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Chimera

-Phoenix

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Houseguard Thane

Ghost Sniper

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Min Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

His List:

General Ossrum (The Irregulars)

-Grundback Blaster

-Grundback Gunner

Hammerfall Siege Crawler

Ogrun Bokur

Horgenhold Artillery Corps

Max Horgenhold Forge Guard

One of the biggest weaknesses of my WTC pair is that neither of them are particularly good at playing the Standoff scenario. Neither have cheap contesting models to get into my opponent’s zone so I tend to tick along losing a CP a turn unless I can really overwhelm them. Round 5 of the WTC was against Belgium Sensual Chocolate on Standoff, so if there was a bus to throw somebody under, I was going to be the person thrown under it. That but took the form of Wout with his incredibly strong Ossrum list. I mentioned in my last report that some Ossrum lists are better into me than others, and this one on this scenario is as bad as it comes. I drop Rahn in the hope that he might make a small mistake and give me an assassination opening, but really we were accepting this as a loss in order to get better matches for the team. Wout wins the first turn and we get moving.

Dwarves run up either side of the central building, with Ossrum casting Energiser for an extra bit of movement and putting Fire for Effect up on the left Siege Crawler.

There are so many high powered guns on the Mercenaries side so I place as well as I can to protect against them. Both AFGs are TK’s and Polarity Shield goes on the left Halberdier unit.

The Dwarven guns open up and I lose an incredible amount. The left AFG is two-shot by some incredible dice spikes and the Halberdiers all go down to sprays or incidental shots from the Battle Engines. Ossrum Feats to limit my ability to respond. The game is lost at this point so I just look for ways to score some CPs.

I make a plan to take out the objective and do so with the AFG and Phoenix shooting and a Halberdier charge. I lead 2-0 (briefly)

Wout continues relentlessly removing all my forces, leaving me with just a handful of support left. 2-1 to me.

All I need to do is score 4CPs to win the game! I settle for scoring my zone again and essentially concede the game. Wout effortlessly wins in his next turn 9-3 on scenario.

DEFEAT

A really rough one, but I knew that from the start. With first turn I may have made a bit more of a game of it, but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately the team lost another close round 3-2 to move to 2-3 overall for the weekend. Winning the next round to get to 3-3 was pretty vital at this point, as we didn’t feel that our level of play deserved to place us where we were.

Game 264: Vyros2 vs Ossrum

Game 264 – Vs Timur Iakubov – Mercenaries – 16/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

General Ossrum (The Irregulars)

-Ghordson Basher

-Ghordson Driller

-Grundback Blaster

Alten Ashley

Eilish Garrity, the Occultist

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Ragman

Horgenhold Artillery Corps

Max Idrian Skirmishers

-Chieftain & Guide

Kayazy Eliminators

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Round 4 of the WTC and we are up against Russia Sputnik. They have some really interesting lists but by this time patterns are forming with regards to what lists people are using. My opponent for example had used his Ossrum list in all 3 rounds the previous day (not that I can talk…) so I was expecting to see that instead of his dudespam Damiano list. That was the way it worked out and with Timur winning the first turn we got moving.

Ossrum casts Snipe onto the Idrians (who had Preyed one of the Manticores) and Fire for Effect onto one of the Artillery Corps. The army moves up with the Jacks fairly centrally (aided by Advance Move to have reasonable board presence),

Ossrum’s threat with his jacks is pretty impressive, but for him to max it out at the 13” takes quite a lot of Focus, wheras I can get the same threat on a Griffon fairly trivially. As such I feel that I can take a turn standing outside the threat of the Jacks and cast Deceleration to reduce the shooting impact for a turn. I put down Covering Fire either side of the central cloud to hold back the Idrians. I play Lanyssa pretty aggressively, but under Force Wall with a couple of Shield Guards she should be ok

Timur feels that he has to Feat defensively in order to prevent me getting an alpha strike on him, and moves up to start contesting the zones and force me into them. Shooting deals some damage to my Jacks but nothing too substantial, and one of the Eliminators charges in to cause me some issues on the left.

A full Synergy Manticore gets to POW23 with all the buffs, so with a Hunter’s Mark I think I can take one of the Drillers down. I build Synergy taking out some Idrians and putting a bit of chip damage onto the jacks before sending in the Manticore and taking it out. I keep the rest in a defensive formation around Vyros and feel pretty pleased with the early attrition. I Feat to make the next turn harder for Timur and manage to take Ragman out with Lock the Target. 0-0

I think I use Vyros’ Feat pretty well in this turn, and whilst I lose the Aspis and 2 Griffons he isn’t ever really able to get attacks onto the Manticores, who end the turn in an ideal position to retaliate. The guns are starting to take their toll but I feel strong attritionally. 0-0

I have a really big attrition turn, taking out both remaining Drillers, crippling one of the Blasters and getting a Griffon into the support staff to take out Aiyana, Holt and all but the Guide for the Idrians. Vyros has lost a bit of his protection but he is still sitting at Def19 Arm20 with transfers on a hill, so I on’t see how an assassination could come about. 0-0

Timur agrees, as after a couple of fairly ineffective activations he shakes my hand.

VICTORY

A huge part of the strength of Ossrum is his ability to take a lot of different list styles and be able to make them all work. That being said I think this style of list is weaker into me than a battle engine/Forge Guard style of list. I was able to control the threats pretty well and the list doesn’t get close to the amount of shooting needed to grind through me, so I felt reasonably in control the whole game. The team won this round 5-0, which was a great confidence boost at the start of the day. We were back to 2-2 as a team now and were really focussed on clawing back to a 4-2 result overall.

Game 263: Vyros2 vs Orion

Game 263 – Vs Adrian Ramos – Convergence of Cyriss – 15/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Eminent Configurator Orion (Destruction Initiative)

-Corollary

-Prime Axiom

Transfinite Emergence Projector

Accretion Servitors

Attunement Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Reflex Servitors

Round 3, and surely this round a bit of luck will go our way. We are paired up against Spain Rogue who are equally disappointed to be in this position. This round I have to take a bit of a hit for the team. I had matchups that I was happy about in the first 2 rounds, but none of us wanted to face this Convergence pair, and after my long and hard Round 2 I was the obvious person to put up to it. And who knows, maybe there was a way I could win the game. I won the roll to go first and we got moving.

I move up the table, casting Deceleration as Orion can be a bit Focus strapped, and forcing him to spend 2 for Blessed is worthwhile. There are 4 Pull shots on the other side of the table, so I am careful to keep 4 Jacks behind in Shield Guard formations to stop anything being removed too early.

The 3 Huge Bases run up the table with Orion snugly hidden behind with some of the support models. He casts Avenging Force to add some options for next turn should I kill any Servitors.

And I do kill some Servitors. I honestly have no idea how I should be positioning into this matchup, there are just too many attack vectors. If I bunch up too much the TEP has a field day, if I spread out then I’m just doing to get picked apart piecemeal. I opt to send 3 Griffons up to kill Servitors and hold the rest back to hopefully do enough work next turn.

Between Avenging Force and the 2 Collosals activations I lose 4 Griffons and a Manticore, and I don’t really know how I could have avoided it. Adrian scores 2CP to take a 2-0 lead.

I make a desperate play to stay in the game, going for 2 boosted Lock the Targets on the far Axiom whilst destroying the near one. Unfortunately whilst the first colossal goes down, neither Lock break armour, so Vyros is left swinging in the breeze. It doesn’t matter in the end though, as The score goes to 4-1 in my turn and Adrian just has to contest to win 6-1.

DEFEAT

This is a real example of a WTC list for Adrian, and it really worked. It scared us, he got it into a good matchup and I really felt like I had no chance at all. Thankfully, sacrificing me into it worked out, and the team got through another close round 3-2 to finally get us up and running. We got a good night’s sleep again and prepared to continue our comeback on day 2.

Game 262: Vyros2 vs Kolgrimma

Game 262 – Vs Xavier Adriaens – Trollbloods – 15/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Kolgrimma Stonetruth, Winter Witch (Storm of the North)

-Trollkin Runebearer

-Pyre Troll

-Rok

-Winter Troll

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Fell Caller Hero

Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North

Min Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes

-Northkin Elder

Northkin Bear Handlers & Battle Bears

Northkin Fire Eaters

Max Trollkin Champions

-Skaldi Bonehammer

After losing Round 1 we were hoping for a slightly easier ride in Round 2, but were drawn against Belgium Sweet Salty and Sexy. Again we feel that the matchup process went pretty well, with me into Trolls, a matchup where I feel pretty confident. The matchup was Vyros2 against Kolgrimma, and with me winning first turn we got moving.

No point messing around here, cast Deceleration and run up the table.

The Fire Eaters are set alight by the Pyre Troll before Assaulting into my lines, dealing a bit of damage and setting some of my jacks, and Vyros, on fire. 2 of them move behind the central building to be available later. I tend not to mind early chip damage from Fire Eaters as most of the Force Field damage can be healed back due to the relatively slow pace of the game into Kolgrimma, and getting rid of some threats early probably ends up working in my favour. The rest of the troops move up, with the majority going to the right of the building.

I leave one Griffon in the right zone to force Kolgrimma to feat if she wants to score it, whilst focussing hard on the left. I stay out ok Rok’s threat and remove all 4 available Fire Eaters.

The Ambushing unit of Bears come on and Kolgrimma does Feat to score the right zone. The Champions flank round the right and the Bear unit on the left. I suddenly have a lot of threats to deal with and the game is hotting up. 1-0 to Xavier

I commit 3 Griffons over to the right flank to deal with the Bears over there and start to push up the centre to threaten his objective and the pocket of zone he’s keeping Rok in. I Feat to make it difficult for the Champions to do too much damage next turn. 1-0

I position pretty well and after Xavier takes out Lanyssa with a Fire Eater I am able to move the most damaged Griffon up to stop the Champions from killing more than one. The Feat move after he did also allowed me to contest the zone to stop him from scoring. 1-0

I have a strong attrition turn, taking out 4 of the Champions and the 2 light Warbeasts, whilst still not having to commit either of my Manticores I shoot at the objective and leave it on 3 boxes, which unfortunately denies me 2CPs. 1-0.

Xavier has an equally successful turn, taking out the 2 Griffons in the right zone and the 2 that had committed to the lights. He scores the right zone again to lead 2-0.

I keep pushing, taking out one of the Bears in the left unit and removing Rok. I toe the Aspis into the right zone. Again, the objective is alive on 3 boxes denying me CPs. 2-0

Xavier up on CPs and on clock but well down on attrition so pretty much just goes on defensive mode. Kolgrimma puts out a few sprays and he spreads out to keep zones contested. 2-0

I finally destroy the objective and take out the second Bear before going for an assassination run. I get 2 Manticores round the back and Vyros in the front all shooting Kolgrimma but nothing lands. 2-1

More sprays, more contesting, he clears the right zone to score again. 3-1.

I only have a minute left and have to clear zones. I manage to do so and score 2, but it is only the top of 6 and I have just one second left. 3-3.

Xavier hits his clock and I lose on time.

DEFEAT

Honestly this was pretty difficult to take. I had the game, his army was gone, I just couldn’t convert it at the end. The assassination attempt was the mistake, and one borne of panic. I should have used the Manticores to shoot off the Bear Handler and Mist Speaker on the left, scored that zone with an Arcanist unit and Xavier would never have been able to contest it. Xavier was an incredible opponent, and this will go down as one of my favourite ever games. He played the game really well, including the selection of table that gave him the best shot. We swapped shirts after the game so I now have an amazing Belgium shirt. Again, disappointingly the team went down 3-2 in an incredibly tight round. This was harder to pick ourselves up from, but thankfully it was only a very short break until we were playing again.

Game 261: Vyros2 vs Rasheth

Game 261 – Vs Lukas Neuhauser – Skorne – 15/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Dominar Rasheth (Winds of Death)

-Agonizer

-Basilisk Krea

-Cyclops Raider

-Cyclops Shaman

Siege Animantarax

Extoller Soulward

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Swamp Gobber Chef

Venator Dakar

Min Paingiver Beast Handlers

Venator Flayer Cannon Crew

Max Venator Reivers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Min Venator Slingers

Here we go then, my first ever WTC. Round one we are drawn against Germany Walsterben. Not the team we would have chosen this early in the event, but it promised to be a great challenge. The matchup process went pretty well, with us getting some good matchups but the Germans getting to pick tables, meaning that I had to play into Skorne on a pretty open field. We both knew the match would be Vyros2 against Rasheth, and with me winning first turn we got moving.

I’ve learnt in other games against Rasheth that it isn’t worth hanging back out of gun range on turn 1 as it just gives up too much board presence, so everything runs up, with Deceleration put up by Vyros.

Lukas moves up, casts Blood Mark onto one of my Griffons on the right and moves up to start shooting. I probably Shield Guard too much damage, and should have just left the Griffon to die a lot sooner, as with the turtles and Sniped Reivers it did go down pretty comfortably.

I get to feel pretty clever this turn as I cast Lock the Target on the left Turtle, limiting it’s melee threat to 10”. The Manticores and Vyros shoot off the rest of the Slinger unit (this is key to do as quickly as possible, as the list really needs them for contesting and Arcing) and I push up to just outside the 2 turtles’ threats. 2 Griffons go on a flanking move up the left side of the table and Vyros takes cover behind the central building.

Blood Mark is cast onto one of the flanking Griffons, but Lukas can’t get as many shots into it and it survives on a handful of boxes. More shots go into the central mass of jacks, again dealing some chip damage to Force Fields that is starting to add up. We both score our zones to start scoring at 1-1.

I looked at the table at the start of the turn and realised that winning was well within my grasp. The central and right flags were uncontested, and only the Dakar was contesting the left. Manticores went into the objective to destroy it and build Synergy allowing the untouched Griffon on the left to take out the Dakar. Solos ran to flags and I score 5CPs to win 6-1.

VICTORY

I will admit to having felt really nervous in the build up to this game, and my hands were visibly shaking as I played through my last turn. I cannot describe the relief at getting a win on the board at the WTC, knowing that I was capable of playing and winning at this level. The game naturally finished very early in the round, and after reporting the win to my teammates I took myself off for a drink. Unfortunately as the round progressed we couldn’t quite bring it home, with the Germans winning the round 3-2. We were disappointed to lose so early, but knew we had given all we could and lost to a really strong team. After lunch it was time to bounce back and get on the board.

Ghyrrshyld's Return

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Friday 21 September 2018

Game 266: Vyros2 vs Siege1

Game 265: Rahn vs Ossrum

Game 264: Vyros2 vs Ossrum

Game 263: Vyros2 vs Orion

Game 262: Vyros2 vs Kolgrimma

Game 261: Vyros2 vs Rasheth