Game 115: Kaelyssa vs Gaspy1

Game 115 – Vs Matt Townsend – Cryx – 12/11/17

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper (Legions of Dawn)

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

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

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

His List:

Iron Lich Asphyxious (The Ghost Fleet)

-Deathripper

-Deathripper

-Seether

-Seether

Min Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders

Min Revenant Crew of the Atramentous

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

Min Revenant Crew of the Atramentous

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

Min Revenant Crew of the Atramentous

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

-Revenant Crew Rifleman

Revenant Cannon Crew

Captain Rengrave

Pistol Wraith

Hellslinger Phantom

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

It turns out that when you lose to move down to the 4-1 bracket games don’t actually get any easier… I was drawn against Matt Townsend who beat me at 2-0 in the Nationals earlier in the year. To settle this grudge I would have to get through his interesting trio of lists. Gaspy1 Ghost Fleet, Denny1 Scourge and Goreshade3 Dark Host. Last time we played he dropped Coven Host into me so that wasn’t much of an indicator. I decided to drop Kaelyssa, as she felt like she had the best worst matchup of the lot, and Matt dropped Gaspy Fleet. I wasn’t too disappointed in the match up, but the Destors would have to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of clearing the infantry. With +1 to go first Matt comfortably won first turn and we got moving.

Matt just runs up. No spells, no frills, just gets up the table. The Arc Nodes take each flank and the Blackbanes flank on my right, I don’t have any magical attacks over there apart from Eiryss so they might be a bit of a problem.

I try to be cute and intermingle my Sentinel units in a clump, to make is difficult to avoid triggering Vengeance on both. I cast Banishing Ward on the front unit of Sentinels, Refuge on Kaelyssa herself, and Blur on Helios to protect against shooting. I Feat and advance up with everything in my control area.

Matt moves up and starts taking some potshots into my army, dealing some damage into a Destor. He then makes the move that I wasn’t prepared for at all. He moves up 2 Revenants, then casts Breath of Corruption on both, killing them and creating a cloud wall that will instantly kill my Sentinels. Matt moves the Hellslinger to his flag and ends his turn. I need to rethink a lot of my strategy.

I need to work out how to get my Sentinels into the game, or I am going to start losing and quickly, and the number 1 priority is to take out the Arc Nodes, so that at least Gaspy has to commit to build the clouds. The Destors on the right charge and destroy the right Deathripper, before Repositioning back into the zone, and the left Destors advance into the cloud and shoot at the one on the left. I get very lucky with my shots here as I hit all 3 8s to hit, and the damage is enough to take out both Movement and Arc Node. Kaelyssa shoots the Hellslinger off the flag with a Phantom Hunter shot, and the Scyir runs to my flag to give me a 1-0 lead.

Matt pushes up and kills what is available. He puts some shots into the Scyir on the flag but can’t remove him through Iron Sentinel, but he is able to kill off all of the Destors on the left and all but one on the right. Gaspy himself holds back and camps. 3 Ghost Pirates charge Eiryss, but none of them are able to roll the 10 to hit her. We both score, and I lead 2-1.

I feel that it is time to commit Helios. I can charge him into the Seether on the right, contesting the flag and the right zone, and leave me to concentrate on winning the game on the left. I cast Banishing Ward onto it before sending him in, naking it really difficult for Gaspy to remove it in response. I don’t quite kill the Seether, but do remove both arms to leave it almost useless. The last Destor kills the 3 Blackbanes that attacked Eiryss, freeing her up to shoot and kill Blackbane himself. With no clouds out the Sentinels charge up, killing the left Seether and flooding the zone. I score again to lead 3-1.

Matt realises that he has to commit hard on the left and charges Gaspy in. He kills a Sentinel with his charge attack, and throws down another Breath of Corruption, killing several more. Then the dice go against Matt again as he misses a 5 to Parasite a Sentinel unit. Gaspy Feats and Breathes again, but hasn’t removed as much as he hoped. The Revenants on the left have no more luck, as they struggle to remove Sentinels, and more shots into the Scyir fail to kill him. By the end of the turn I have lost a lot, but not as much as I should. I score another point on my flag to lead 4-1.

With the luck going heavily my way in the last turn finishing the game off isn’t too difficult. There are only 7 Pirates and a Pistol Wraith in the zone that I need to clear for the win, and after Vengeance attacks, shots from Kaelyssa, and the Blue Sentinel’s activation the zone was cleared for a 6-1 scenario win.

VICTORY

I’m not going to pretend that dice didn’t go massively well for me in this game, but sometimes you just have to accept the good fortune. Matt took it extremely well given the circumstances and kept upbeat throughout. In hindsight Vyros would probably have been the right drop but I was so scared of Denny Scourge that I just didn’t feel comfortable in it.

All in all I finished the event at 5-1, finishing in 5^th out of 82. I was delighted with the result as I think it cements my improvement over the year and shows that I can compete with the best players in the country. I really like the Vyros and Kaelyssa lists but never felt like I had the opportunity to drop Issyria, so I think that needs looking at going forward. That is really it for major events until next year, so plenty of time to try some different things, including the 3 casters I haven’t put on the table yet. Thank you for reading,