Game 41: Helynna vs Ossyan

Game 41 – Vs Paul Sheard – Retribution – 14/06/17

My list:

Magister Helynna (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Hyperion

-Hydra

-Chimera

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Magister

His List:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Aspis

-Hydra

-Hypnos

-Banshee

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

With a 2 day steamroller event coming up at the weekend I wanted one more practice game with Helynna to get a proper feel for the list. Paul was also playing the event and wanted to try out his Ossyan list so we got going. Paul won 1^st turn thanks to his +1 to go first.

Paul is using a couple of proxy models/units in this game. The Invictors are actually a second unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force and the Mage Hunter Assassin is actually Narn. Regardless, it all runs up with Quicken on the Banshee and Admonition on Hypnos

Having played games with the Shadows theme myself I really shouldn’t have been surprised how quickly it can get up the table but I still was. Paul had probably advanced slightly too far however as some of his Strike Force were within run + Rhythm range of Helynna. Helynna kept outside of Narn’s threat range and feated, and I engaged as best I could, whilst keeping a shield guard up near my caster to protect against the Eiryss shot.

Unfortunately the picture I took at the end of this turn corrupted, so the next 2 turns may be slightly tricky to follow (for writer as well as reader). In essence Paul feated and shot the world into my battlegroup, after disengaging from the Mage Hunters. He rolled pretty poorly on the whole and by the end of the turn only 2 heavies were dead, with a 3^rd Disrupted and Shadow Bound.

As a part of Paul’s turn he had clumped up his right Mage Hunters pretty tightly, and the central one was within 10” of Hyperion. I walked up, boosted the main gun, and Critical Consumed all but 2 of the unit. The small guns removed the last 2. This cleared the zone for Helynna to dominate and start scoring points. On the left a Manticore got into Hypnos dealing good damage but not destroying it. The Rhythm moves built a fort around Helynna and I scored to go 2-0 up.

With the scenario game looking to be slipping away from him Paul looks for an assassination victory. I had foolishly forgotten about Quicken which would allow the Hydra on the right to get to Helynna. Paul had to do work in order to get it done though, and played his turn in the exact right order to get it done. I didn’t have enough Shield Guards around to protect from both the slam on the Chimera and the Shadow Bind shot from Hypnos. The latter comes off and hits Helynna, reducing her defence to a point where the Hydra could kill her comfortably.

DEFEAT

No entirely disassitfied with my game on this occasion. Despite losing I felt that I had managed to wrestle control of the game and if I had built Fort Helynna just a bit further back I think I would have been able to grind out the 5CPs. Either way I was happy enough with the list to feel confident taking it at the weekend.