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Thursday, 24 August 2017

Game 76: Helynna vs Zaal2

Game 76 – Vs Ryan Longthorne – Skorne – 19/08/17

My list:
Magister Helynna
-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker
-Discordia
-Manticore
-Manticore
Arcanist Mechanik
Max Dawnguard Sentinels
-Officer & Standard Bearer
Max Dawnguard Sentinels
-Officer & Standard Bearer
Spears of Scyrah

His List:
Zaal, The Ancestral Advocate
-Basilisk Drake
-Basilisk Krea
-Cyclops Shaman
-Agonizer
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Hakaar the Destroyer
Swamp Gobber Chef
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate
Max Immortals
-Extoller Advocate

The final round of the 3rd list testing Steamroller saw me drawn against Ryan, the local Skorne Tyrant, who like me was trying to find the lists to build around his Makeda double cats list. I wanted to try out Helynna with Sentinels as their armour can become pretty absurd, and Ryan dropped the Immortal spam Zaal list. High Armour, slow Vengeance troops slogging into each other. Not what you want on game 4. Ryan won first turn and the slog began.

Ryan casts Vision on Zekaar and Aura of Power on Zaal, before running up all of his troops, with the Warbeasts generally getting ahead of the sea of Immortals.

I respond by running up as well, staying out of his predictable threat ranges and getting at lease something in each zone unless he tried to jam me out. I plan to use the Manticores on the right to control that flank with Covering Fire and try to win the game on the left. The single Arcanist is sat near the right flag to start scoring next turn if possible.



As I have remained out of threat there isn’t too much for Ryan to do this turn, but he gets slight tunnel vision and tries to take out some Sentinels with his guns. The Basilisk spray kills one Sentinel, triggering Vengeance on the right unit, whilst the single shot from the Shaman is Shield Guarded onto a Spear, failing to kill, but triggering Vengeance on the unit.

The extra 3” of range on 2 of my units gives me a pretty good way in to one of Ryan’s units. I know this is going to be feat turn so if I can kill most of a unit without reprisal I may be able to hold a pretty strong attrition position. A couple of Vengeance attacks followed by charges from the Spears destroys the Shaman, before the Sentinels charge into the Immortals, killing 4. The Manticores then move into position to shoot into the same unit, killing 3 more, before Rhythm of Warring back out of threat. The rest of my Sentinels run to engage the left unit. Under Iron Zeal and Helynna’s feat, the Sentinels are sat in his face at ARM23. I score my flag to lead 1-0.



Zaal feats and his Immortals begin pointlessly attacking my Sentinels, dealing no damage with early attacks and quickly concluding that it is not worth triggering Vengeance. He does finish off the Spear that previously Shield Guard, triggering Vengeance on the two remaining members. With nothing happening, I score my flag again to lead 2-0.

It is now my turn to flail ineffectively into high armour, but after considering a moment I consider a different approach. If I can stop Ryan contesting my flag in his turn I will win. If I don’t kill any models at all in my turn then his Advocate won’t be able to make the unit Incorporeal, so I may be able to jam them away from the flag. I jam as best as I can with the Sentinels, put down Covering Fire from the Manticores and use Rhythm of War to move them further in. I score again to lead 3-0.



I have made a pretty significant miscalculation in my plan, as if Ryan loses an Immortal to either Covering Fire or a Free Strike, he will still gain the Soul to fuel becoming Incorporeal. His centre unit activates and provides that Soul, though all of the unit dies to Free Strikes from a Spear of Scyrah. The full right unit advances members through to contest the flag until one survives the Covering Fire, then removes a load of my Sentinels. On the left flank Ryan is very unlucky not to remove all of my Sentinels in the zone, leaving one alive contesting both the flag and zone. Nobody scores so the score remains 3-0 to me.

My route to victory is to kill the objective and remove the single contesting Immortal. Helynna charges the Immortal, not risking a damage roll and instead just pushing it away. One Spear and 2 Immortals move into the objective, though one Sentinel dies to a Defensive Strike. They do some damage before Discordia tramples in and destroys it. I score 2 without reply to win 5-0.



VICTORY

Ryan and I both agreed that this game was not a particularly fun slog, and I did not really enjoy playing my list. I would have lost the game had the remaining Sentinel not hung on in his zone, as I was down on attrition and scenario was my only way out. We were both tired in the game which led to some bad decisions, but it was still good to see our lists in action.


I finished the Steamroller 3-1, as I have the previous 2 events. The more surprising result was the fact that out of my 3 lists, Ravyn was the one that stood out, so I have made the decision that her list will join Issyria and Vyros2 as my lists for the Nationals. I have 3 weeks to get as many games in with them as possible, and hopefully be prepared for whatever the wider British meta throws at me.

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