Game 18: Helynna vs Kromac2

Game 18 – Vs Paul Sheard – Circle Orboros – 03/05/17

My list:

Helynna (Forges of War)

-Sylys

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Aspis

-Helios

-Hyperion

Arcanist

Arcanist

Artificer

His List:

Kromac, Champion of the Wurm

-Feral Warpwolf

-Ghetorix

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Rip Horn Satyr

-Rip Horn Satyr

Blackclad Wayfarer

Shifting Stoned

Sentry Stone & Mannikins

Sentry Stone & Mannikins

Feeling pretty confident with both of my base lists I wanted to take the opportunity to test out some of the ADR choices that I would be using at the Welsh Masters. I was only likely to get one more game in before travelling to Cardiff and decided that practicing my ADR Helynna variant would be more important, if nothing else to get a feel for how Rhythm of War plays now that I have models that can actually benefit for it. Paul is continuing to flip-flop between Circle and Retribution and had a Kromac2 list to try out. The scenario was Recon (2016 version) and I won first turn.

Everything ran up, with Helynna casting Deflection in case the Mannikins wanted to try something exciting. Kromac ran up in response, staying out of threat ranges and casting Awakened Spirit on Ghetorix. The Manikins spread out to attempt to block any tricks I wanted to try.

Paul had accidently left the Stalker in range of the right Manticore and I considered charging him in for some damage, but without being able to land Hand of Destruction DEF14 would have been too difficult to hit and I would have thrown the model away for little gain. Instead I chose to clear out Mannikins and reposition to the left, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Hyperion toes the zone and shoots an AOE in the direction of the Hand of Destruction Manikins, clipping the Sentry Stone and spiking damage to leave it on 1 box. The Artificer tries to hit the Blackclad with a Magno Bolt, recognising him as a vital threat extender, but misses the required 8 to hit. The Aspis is thrown away sacrificially to hopefully mess with order of activation.

Neither of us are at all sure how to progress this game and so resort to taking whatever models are on offer and waiting for decent opportunities to present themselves. My hope of causing an issue with the Aspis is unfounded as the Stalker kills it and then Sprints into a better position. 2 Mannikins kill the Articicer and the battle line prepares to charge in next turn. A Satyr is placed on the left flank as a potential sacrifice to pull me forwards.

It is a tempter that I cannot refuse. Hyperion activates and scatters an AOE onto the Blackclad and Sentry Stone, killing both with boosted blast damage. Helynna puts Hand of Destruction on the Satyr, kills off the Mannikin that is blocking Helios’ charge range, and feats. Helios charges, killing the Sentry Stone and Rip Horn and putting up Repulsor Field to cause problems for his retaliation. I feel like I’m in a good position but there are still effectively 5 heavies on my opponent’s side.

Paul’s retaliation is severe. He counterfeats giving his models +2 Strength and Armour, Primals the Feral and Ghetorix, and goes to work on my colossals. By the end of the turn the Hyperion and my objective have died to Ghetorix and the Stalker, and the Feral has destroyed roughly half of the Helios. A position that I was feeling fairly confident about starts to look fairly grim, and I need a big turn to stay in the game. Circle scores 2CP to lead 2-0.

Over the previous turns the Manticore guns have been picking boxes off Ghetorix, so at the start of this turn he probably has roughly half his boxes. I need him and the Stalker dead this turn but the Feral is less of an issue, as it is out of the way and will Frenzy next turn. The Manticores are each allocated 2 focus and given Concentrated Power, and the first advances to Ghetorix’s back arc and destroys it. Helynna puts Hand of Destruction onto the Stalker, and the second Mantircore goes in, failing to kill it but dealing decent damage. It doesn’t feel like enough though. My Manticores spread out using Rhythm of War so that the Stalker can’t get both of them in a turn.

The Feral Frenzies onto Helios, taking out it’s right arm, and the Stalker moves round and, with Primal, takes out the right Manticore. Kromac moves into the zone to score 2CP and move to 4-0. The Rip Horn moves round to prepare to remove whatever I put into the zone next turn. The Shifting Stones move round to block my Manticore’s charge lane to the Stalker.

I consider my options and none of them seem particularly appealing. The best I can do in terms of scenario is to run Helios into the zone and Rhythm of War the Manticore in, but he will still have a fully operational Stalker and Feral, as well as Kromac himself, to take them out. Even failing that Kromac could run towards the right flag and I don’t think I could stop him getting there in a turn. All this means that I have to go for an assassination. Helios is topped up with focus and the Manticore is given one extra by an Arcanist and given Concentrated Power. The plan is to land Hand of Destruction onto Kromac, knock him down with a Critical Hit on Force Strike and then between Helynna and Helios’ pushes move him into a position where both Helios and the Manticore can attack. With 3 transfers it would take a bit of work but I had more than enough attacks. I have no idea what the chance of a crit on 4 dice dropping the lowest is, but it comes off, the pushes all hit and Kromac is taken out in melee.

VICTORY

Another really good game. As stated above I don’t really know how likely the crit knockdown was but it feels reasonably likely and really was my only way out of this game. I always get confused by the fact that Kromac never seems to do anything, but his feat is so strong in Circle and can push the Warpwolves into terrifying numbers. This was probably a game where I would have stuck with the 3 colossal version in ADR but it was well worth it to try out the Manticores. Their output is odd to calculate in melee in terms of whether to use Force Generator or not but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it in time. As above, this is probably my last game before going to Cardiff, but I feel pretty ready to go, and I can’t wait.