Game 57: Issyria vs Zerkova1

Game 57 – Vs Chris Campbell – Khador – 11/07/17

My list:

Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Hyperion

-Chimera

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Spears of Scyrah

-Soulless Escort

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Min Mage Hunter Infiltrators

His List:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova

-Behemoth

-Ruin

Koldun Lord

Kovnik Josef Grigorovich

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Min Greygore Boomhowler & Co

Great Bears of the Gallowswood

Greylord Ternion

Max Winter Guard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Continuing test games with Issyria put me against Chris again, who wanted to see if his Zerkova list had game in match ups where they clouds could be trivially ignored. Between the Mage Hunters minifeat and Issyria’s feat I could get 2 turns of being able to shoot through the cloud wall, so Zerkova would need to rely on her back-breaking feat in order to gain an attrition advantage. Thanks to the theme benefit I won first turn and got on with things.

I don’t usually comment on deployment but feel it was important in this game. After Chris deployed his forces I put both units of Strike Force on the right flank opposite his Winterguard and away from Behemoth’s devastating blasts, with the hope that I could quickly dominate this part of the board and start scoring on the flag here.

I put out Inviolable Resolve on Hyperion, Admonition on Issyria herself (again dropping it after turn 1, not sure why I bother). Everything ran up, keeping out of 18” of Behemoth to make his scatters less predictable. I spread out as far as possible in order to lessen the impact of Zerkova’s feat once it came into play.

Chris attempts to get a useful scatter from Behemoth’s AOEs but neither land. The Winter Guard Rockets on the right flank have more luck, killing 3 Mage Hunters. The Ternion puts up a partial cloud wall to make my life more difficult and the rest of his forces run up.

This turn was about pushing up on both flanks and thinning out the Khador units as much as possible. Between the Mage Hunter shooting and Narn and Infiltrators charging Boomhowlers (with the former Sprinting to engage Orin) the total destroyed for the turn is all 5 of Greygore’s friends and 7 of the Riflemen. A decent turn considering I was able to keep most of my models out of his threat ranges.

Chris’ retaliation is not too much to write home about. Orin is able to kill Narn after the Koldun Lord fails to, and the Riflemen combine to kill my only Arcanist (I should have protected it better). Other than this he kills off a few Mage Hunters but not many, triggers Vengeance by killing the Spears’ Soulless friend, and puts some damage into Hyperion. Zerkova feats to reduce my options in the next turn.

This turn my plan of spreading out very wide really came to fruition. Many of the Mage Hunters were able to stay out of Zerkova’s Feat range and stll get shots off, and between them killed the rest of the Winter Guard. Issyria moved to the right flag to start scoring, after casting a Blinding Light to shut down Behemoth’s guns, and Hyperion took up a position from which he could kill any jack that came in to contest it. On the left the Infiltrators killed off Boomhowler and Eiryss charged and killed the Koldun Lord. Having killed off the remaining Ternion with Vengeance moves, the Spears backed off to be in strong positions next turn. I score to lead 1-0.

Chris is rapidly running out of resources and needs to contest my flag to stop me scoring quickly to a scenario win. Ruin tramples up to contest, killing a Mage Hunter on the way. Behemoth moves to attack an Infiltrator but the dice don’t agree and it lives. Orin attempts to take out Eiryss, and despite hitting, doesn’t have the Power Token to boost damage and leaves her on 2 boxes. The Great Bears kill off 3 Infiltrators but things are starting to feel pretty hopeless. I continue to lead 1-0

Time to clear up. Issyria Feats and casts Admontion on herself as there is an outside chance that Ruin may live this turn. 2 Spears and 5 Mage Hunters charge into Ruin, killing it pretty trivially (5 dice damage dropping the lowest can power through Dice-11 or Dice-9 damage pretty well). Hyperion rolls awfully for damage on Behemoth but still manages to wreck it. The remaining 2 Infiltrators kill Orin, freeing up Eiryss, who puts a Disruptor Bolt into Zerkova, removing her camp of 2 and stopping her from gaining any next turn. I score the flag again to lead 2-0

With only 2 Great Bears and a zero focus caster left the game is over. He walks up to try and shoot Issyria with his gun, missing, and send the Great Bears to kill Eiryss in revenge. He has nothing to contest my flag so I go to 3-0

It is fairly simple for Hyperion to kill the objective and win on scenatio but then Chris mocks me for not being able to kill all the Great Bears so I hatch an elaborate plan to do so. It results in one being dead and one having 1 box left and being knocked down after rolling for Tough. I still destroy the objective and dominate the zone to win on scenario.

VICTORY

An advantaged match-up for sure but it is always nice to have a plan from deployment and to have it play out pretty much perfectly. I like the way the list feels and think that it will become my standard “Shadows” list. The only real part of the list that I’m not sure about is Narn, as he tends to die pretty trivially and doesn’t ever get that much work done for me. I intend to try replacing him with a Mage Hunter Assassin and see how that works.