Game 37: Kaelyssa vs Helynna

Game 37 – Vs Paul Sheald – Retribution of Scyrah – 03/06/17

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

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

His List:

Magister Helynna

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Hydra

-Phoenix

House Shyeel Artificer

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Game 3 of the Steamroller saw me matched up against my regular opponent and pointy-eared comrade Paul. We were both aiming for 3-1 at this event and so this game at least guaranteed that one of us would reach our goal. Like my last opponent, his pair was Helynna and Rahn (though the latter out of tier) and similarly he dropped Helynna. For the same reasons as last match I picked Kaelyssa and I won the roll to go first.

NOTE: In this game I got my Hyperion out of the box instead of Helios. We didn’t notice until the game was basically over. Apologies.

I ran up with the usual upkeep suite of Blur on Helios and Refuge on the AFG. I learned my lesson from the last game and split the two units of Sentinels up to make it difficult for Paul to block them in with Covering Fire templates.

Paul moves up with his jacks in a line ready to contest both zones and puts down 5 Covering Fire templates from the Manticores. Helynna casts Deceleration and has Rhythm of War up from the theme. His jacks are spread out in such a way that each one only has 1 or 2 Shield Guard options, which definitely opens up some possibilities for Helios plays to take an early jack.

I can move Helios up to a position where he would need 2 pushes to pull in one of the Manticores, and so the AFG and Kaelyssa work on making sure the 2 Shield Guards in range have either been used or incapacitated with Stationary or Knockdown. In doing so they also managed to Knock Down the target Manticore, so Helios pulled it in and killed it. This removed one of the Covering Fire templates which allowed the left Sentinels to move into a more aggressive position. Both Sentinels use Mini-feats and Kaelyssa feats, hoping to protect my force from reprisal.

Under my feat Paul doesn’t have a great deal to do and so mostly backs off and reapplied Covering Fire. His jacks on the right clump closer together to improve Shield Guard options, but the two Manticores on the left are starting to look quite isolated.

My aim this turn is to clear the left zone and start scoring. Helios is given 3 focus but uses them all to push the Def12 jacks, moving one Manticore out of the zone, and the other to a position where 6 Sentinels could charge and destroy it. Eiryss Disrupts the other left flank Manticore to make the zone a bit safer. Kaelyssa shoots a jack and Refuges towards the zone, but stays outside of it, figuring that at this stage 1 point is as good as 2, and she was much safer sat in the forest behind Helios. On the right the Sentinels ran in to jam, with a number holding back to hopefully Vengeance next turn. I score to lead 1-0

Paul isn’t really sure how to proceed at this point and so just concentrates on clearing the right zone. I didn’t think he would have enough to kill all the Sentinels but he comfortably does, leaving only one left outside the zone for Vengeance. On the left the Manticore moves into the zone and attacks the Helios for a bit of damage. Helynna feats to try and protect from my next turn. She dominates the right zone to lead 2-1.

This turn is about getting the huge bases into the zone, killing the Manticore, and dominating to take a 3-2 lead, which will put me in a very strong position. Helios tramples directly to the right an then uses his push guns to move the Manticore closer to the Sentinels. Kaelyssa makes the Mantircore Stationary and moves to the edge of the zone to dominate. The Sentinels charge it and kill it. The AFG advances to toe the zone out of range of any of his jacks so there is no way he could kill both is and Helios, and so the best case is for him to contest my zone, but then I could kill whatever it was to win on my turn. I lead 3-2

Paul realises the game is up and chooses to just kill Helios and the last Sentinel for victory points. I score 2 more points to win 5-2.

VICTORY

I think when compared to the last game this is a far better scenario for my list. I also played the Sentinels a lot better and felt fairly confident from pretty early in the game. I probably should have taken the 2 points instead of the 1 when they were on offer on turn 3 because it could easily have ended up as a 5-6 or 6-6 game had some things gone differently. Still, I progressed to the final and succeeded in my target of 3 wins with a game to spare.