Game 137: Kaelyssa vs Orion

Game 137 – Vs Chris Young – Convergence – 25/01/18

My list:

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

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

His List:

Eminent Configurator Orion (Destruction Initiative)

-Corollary

-Assimilator

-Assimilator

-Inverter

-Inverter

-Monitor

Transfinite Emergence Projector

Attunement Servitors

Reflex Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Elimination Servitors

With a big event in York on the horizon and my list pair decided after a successful Steamroller at the weekend I just needed reps with my pair to be prepared for whatever I was likely to see. Chris was looking for a game with his Convergence and it was something that I definitely wanted to test Kaelyssa into. He was using the interesting new caster Orion, who seems like a really great toolbox caster. I win the first turn and we get moving.

I’m up against a gunline so it’s the usual suite of Blur on Helios and Refuge on Elara before running everything up. One unit of Destors flanks really hard on the right with an eye to going after Servitors on a later turn. Eiryss shoots at one of the Dug In Reflex Servitors but can’t break armour.

I have made a pretty significant positioning error and Chris punishes me for it. Orion puts up Avenging Force ready for next turn, and casts Magic Bullet on the Monitor. I have left a Destor within the Monitor’s range, and Eiryss was within 4” of him, so the Magic Bullet takes her out. The rest of Chris’ forces advance up outside of my threat ranges.

I’m not absolutely sure how to go about my next turn, but know that if I take control of the zones Chris has to come into me eventually. I respect the threat ranges of his guns and largely stay out of them. Helios moves up into an advanced position. Kaelyssa Feats before casting Phantom Hunter on herself and shooting off all 3 Reflex Servitors. The right Destors move a long way round the flank, ready to cause trouble next turn.

Chris doesn’t want to walk into all my threat ranges, and can’t do too much damage to me through Stealth anyway, so he contests the zones with Servitors, and takes what shots he can into Helios, removing pat of his Force Field. The right Invertor gets into the right zone to contest and a Servitor takes advantage of a slight positioning error on my part by blocking up 2 of my flanking Destors.

Usually the turn after Kaelyssa’s feat is when everything charges in but Chris’ positioning has made this impossible, so I need to just score 3 CPs, weather the Convergence Feat and then see what I have left to work with. My Destors on the right unjam each other allowing one to charge through and kill a couple of Servitors, the ones on the left deal with the contesting models to score the left zone and clear the centre for Helios. Helios himself charges in and kills the contesting Invertor and Kaelyssa simply runs into the right zone to take a 3-0 lead.

Time for me to suffer Orion’s Feat turn for the first time, and it really is impressive. He casts Forced Induction onto Helios, to put a Focus on it, before concentrating on shooting off my forces, killing around 10 of them with the Ground Pounder shots. The TEP clears off all 3 Destors but he has no units with which to score the zone. The Inverter goes into Helios dealing an impressive amount of damage, taking out well over half of the colossal. I don’t feel that I have lost enough to lose me the game, but the mispositioning of my Sentinels on the right has made life difficult for me. All the zones are contested so we remain at 3-0 to me.

With most of Helios gone an attrition game feels like it will be a real struggle, but I do only need to score 2 CPs to win. 3 heavies are contesting the right and central zones and all are within 3” of being pushed out, so Helios can get that done. There are a number of Shield Guard Servitors making life difficult so Kaelyssa and the Sentinels have to deal with that, and thankfully I hit the 5s I need to clear them out. Helios has 3 focus and boosts all 3 shots to remove the Heavies from the zones, allowing me to score 2 more points and win 5-0.

VICTORY

This was a really tough game positionally with the impressive threat from Orion’s guns. I was at risk of a Magic Bullet assassination early in the game but the dice weren’t quite in Chris’ favour so he opted against it. The blue unit of Sentinels were mispositioned all game. They were on that side due to the difficult terrain near my deployment zone, but I should have recognised that the game was going to be played further up the field, and that the ability of Helios to gain Phantom Hunter would have been much more beneficial to deal with that forest.

Game 136: Kaelyssa vs Thagrosh1

Game 136 – Vs Mark Williams – Legion – 20/01/18

My list:

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

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

His List:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (Children of the Dragon)

-Azrael

-Typhon

-Zuriel

Craelix, Fang of Everblight

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Spell Martyr

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Min Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters

-Bayal, Hound of Everblight

Min Blighted Nyss Swordsmen

-Abbot & Champion

Ice Witches

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

The final round of the Steamroller and I am facing one of the other 2 undefeated Legion players. Mark was running Thagrosh1 and Vayl2, and I had a bit of a conundrum about which list to run. I opted for Kaelyssa as I knew he wouldn’t be able to drop Vayl into her, and I liked Helios’ ability to pull in Thagrosh’s expensive heavies and get up early. Mark dropped Thagrosh as expected and got the first turn.

Mark runs his forces up. I’m used to seeing Legion further up the table than this but the lack of a Seraph in the theme force makes such a difference. Thagrosh puts up Fog of War to protect his forces and trigger Prowl on the Hex Hunters.

I put up the usual suite of Blur on Helios and Refuge on Kaelyssa. I decide that holding back slightly is a better option than Feating bottom of 1, and do think it was the right call, but probably not for how the game progressed. As in the first game I made sure that for the most part he could only target Sentinels, triggering Vengeance if he tried anything.

Mark pushes up into my threat ranges, trusting the combination of Unyielding and Death Shroud to keep his heavy beasts alive. Swordsmen and Hex Hunters are used to jam into my troops in an attempt to hold me back, whilst Craelix shoots off one of my Destors and deals some damage to another.

I have the opportunity for a big turn, but need to clear out some models first. The right unit of Destors charge up to take out Craelix, but the first is Counter-Charged by the Champion, and the second chooses to charge and kill him, ending the turn engaging Craelix. The second Destor unit charges through the Sentinels taking out the blocking models, and the Sentinels on the right charge and kill Typhon as well as a handful of Swordsmen. On the left the Sentinels charge in and damage both Unyielding beasts, before Helios moves in to kill Zuriel. Kaelyssa Feats to limit Mark’s response and nobody scores.

Mark strikes back, feating back Typhon an Obliterating a few Sentinels. The Ice Witches’ Sprays, remaining Swordsmen and Azrael do a good job at clearing out the front Sentinels, and the rest are jammed back with his remaining models. Thagrosh scores his flag for Mark to take a 1-0 scenario lead.

I’m in a good position so just need to keep pressing and take out what I can. The Sentinels Vengeance moves take out the first line of jamming infantry and I prepare to put Helios into one of the beasts on the left. I activate the remaining Destors who remove the rest of the blocking infantry and an assassination angle from Sentinels opened up. Kaelyssa Phantom Hunters herself before removing Thagrosh’s 2 Fury, dealing a bit of damage in the process, before 4 Sentinels charge the Warlock, killing him with the first attack.

VICTORY

This game was a real showcase for how powerful Tactician is as an ability. The amount of times I was able to push through my own lines left me able to constantly unjam myself and get a great amount of work from my Sentinels. It was great to get a first Steamroller win with Ret under my belt after coming close so many times, and qualifying for the next round of the UKISS is a nice bonus. I think my pairing for the event was strong even if it does have a bit of a Cryx problem. It is a couple of weeks until my next event, a UK Invitational event in York, so I’m hoping I can carry on this good run into that.

Game 135: Vyros2 vs Kolgrimma

Game 135 – Vs James White – Trollbloods – 20/1/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Aspis

-Imperatus

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Kolgrimma Stonetruth, Winter Witch

-Trollkin Runebearer

-Dire Troll Mauler

-Earthborn Dire Troll

-Dire Troll Brawler

-Mulg the Ancient

-Troll Axer

-Winter Troll

Northkin Shaman

Troll Whelps

Dhunian Knot

Max Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scrobes

-Northkin Elder

Round 3 of the UKISS Steamroller and I face against the only other undefeated non-Legion player; James White with his Trolls. He had a pairing of Madrak1 and Kolgrimma. I think that 2 rough long games with Madrak had a lot of influence on his decision to drop Kolgrimma, but I felt pretty confident with Vyros into her. I won the first turn and got moving.

With no shooting on the other side of the table I felt pretty happy throwing out all of Vyros’ focus to the Griffons, allowing them all to Fleet and Run up the field, taking up a lot of table space.

James tentatively advanced up the table, staying out of the considerable threat ranges of my jacks. Kolgrimma dumps all her Focus into the stone and remains central. 2 Whelps and the Sorcerer advance up to the flag on the right flank.

I know I’m in a good position and just need to bring his beasts in piecemeal to get up in the game. I move hard to the right, pushing towards James’ flag, whilst just leaving the Artificer on the left flag with Polarity Field up.

Kolgrimma feats to push my forward forces back and deny the closest Griffons Pathfinder, but unfortunately also pushes the Artificer out of range of Arcing her Spray through Mulg. Clouds are put down for the MAT drop on my forces, and the Earthborn is pushed forward as an opening gambit. We both score our zones to start out at 1-1.

My main aim this turn is just to score points and keep as safe as possible. If I keep doing that then eventually he is going to have to come into me. I try to pull the Earthborn in with the Magister but I miss, so I just block him up with an Aspis, move solos to the flags and kill the Sorcerer with a Griffon. The score moves to 4-2.

James starts on the task of killing off my jacks, the Brawler taking out the blocking Aspis, allowing a Rage powered Earthborn to take out one and a half Griffons whilst contesting the flag. Kolgrimma sprays off the Artificer on the flag and the rest of his forces reposition ready to be the next wave of attack. The score moves to 5-3.

3 unanswered points will win the game, and it isn’t too difficult to find them. A Fleeted Griffon can run though into James’ zone, an Arcanist takes the left flag, and my Magister Combo Smites the Earthborn out of contesting range of the flag. I score the 3 points to win 8-3.

VICTORY

A very favoured match up for me, but one that I still had to keep on top of to win. Again, had the scenario win not been an option I would have felt pretty confident playing an attrition game from where we were, as I could have taken 2 Heavies pretty easily and not given up much in return. As it was I could get the easy win and advance to the final round. 3 players were on 3-0 at this stage, both the others being Legion. My strength of schedule was looking really bad so I knew that I would need to win the last round to take one of the top 2 spaces.

Game 134: Vyros2 vs Rhyas1

Game 134 – Vs Andy Aleksiewicz – Legion of Everblight – 20/1/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Aspis

-Imperatus

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight

-Proteus

-Naga Nightlurker

-Seraph

-Zuriel

Throne of Everblight

Throne of Everblight

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

The Forsaken

Ice Witches

Round 2 of the Steamroller put me against Andy from Powerfist who had come up with a couple of clubmates to the event. He had a Legion pair of Rhyas and Lylyth3, and it really didn’t matter what he dropped as it was Vyros2 all the way for me. He went with Rhyas and I was suddenly relieved that I had got a practice game in against her the week before. I won first turn and got going.

I am scared enough of the shooting and magic in Andy’s list to put up Deceleration with Vyros before running all my forces up the table, making sure to threaten the entire zones in case Andy wanted to come into them straight away.

The comparison of Andy’s and my threat ranges is an interesting on, Proteus out threats everything I have, and whilst my Griffons out threat the Thrones, they have to spend 2 focus in terms of Fleet and run to do so. Knowing this Andy holds back a bit, slightly swinging his forces to the right flank. Rapport is put up on Zuriel ready for later turns, and 2 Shepherds are sent forwards to contest the zone.

For as long as I control the 2 zones I don’t feel the need to commit too much, and so back off to wait for a better opportunity. Also Rhyas scares me. Vyros fires a Twister at the 2 Shepherds, killing both before repositioning backwards.

The game remains cagey as Andy attempts to stay out of my threat ranges, but in doing so leaves the left zone uncontested, allowing me to score into a 2-1 lead. Keep going, I promise this gets good soon.

I hatch a plan to take out both Zuriel and Proteus but don’t quite play the turn right. The Magister starts the turn with a Force Bolt pushing Zuriel 3” towards me. I then had to damage Zuriel so that exactly 2 attacks from Imperatus would kill it, allowing me to Side-Step onto Proteus. I built Synergy on the right Throne before sending a Griffon onto Zuriel, but spiked damage and left it too close to death. I was able to change plan and keep Imperatus back, instead sending in an Aspis to finish the beast. Vyros Feats and camps to stay safe. I score 2 uncontested points for a 4-1 lead.

Andy thinks that he has an assassination on, and spends a while working out how to get the battle engines and Proteus into Vyros. Unfortunately he has to kill an Aspis to do it, allowing me to move a model and keep Vyros safe. He still does a lot of damage on the turn, killing an Aspis and 2 Griffons, crippling a third. Feat moves allow me to set up the next turn pretty well, but Andy still closes up to make the score 4-3 by destroying my objective.

With the Feat weathered it is time to start pushing into the game. My remaining Griffons build Synergy and take out the right Throne, before Imperatus goes into Proteus and destroys it. I score the right zone and my own to move to a 6-3 lead and a decent attrition position.

Andy knows that his turn is all about killing Imperatus, and sets about the task with the Seraph and Rhyas, killing the Warjack through Phoenix Protocol. On the left the Throne takes out another Griffon. We both score to go to 7-4.

I have what should be a pretty simple job to win the game on Scenario. Just need to kill the Seraph and Forsaken and contest his zone, but misplay the turn and whilst I kill both models I don’t have a spare model in range to contest his zone, and as a result the turn ends at 9-5.

Because of my mistake the game comes down to a 4 Focus Vyros having to tank Rhyas to the face. Due to being low on time Andy forgets to cast Puppet Master before going in, and misses his charge attack, and Vyros survives on 10 or so boxes.

My remaining Arcanist walks next to Rhyas, before the Artificer Combo Smites it into the caster, knocking her down. Vyros then put her into the dirt.

VICTORY

A really fun close game. I made mistakes as did Andy and that really added to the game. I should have wrapped up the game on scenario a turn before, and had I played the Zuriel turn properly the game would have been over pretty early on. As it was I had to be bailed out by some dice which thankfully went my way. I move to 2-0 in the event, with the other 4 unbeaten factions being Trolls and 3 Legion.

Game 133: Kaelyssa vs Nemo3

Game 133 – Vs Andy Stores – Cygnar – 20/01/18

My list:

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

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

His List:

Artificer General Nemo (Storm Division)

-Stormchaser Finch

-Thunderhead

-Dynamo

-Firefly

-Firefly

Storm Strider

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Captain Arlan Strangeways

Storm Tower

Storm Tower

Stormblade Infantry

-Officer & Standard Bearer

-Stormgunner

-Stormgunner

-Stormgunner

This weekend I played a Steamroller at my local club, the first in the North-West’s WMHUKISS qualifiers. For those not in the know, the WMHUKISS is a series of events run regionally in the UK and Ireland, with winners meeting in a Grand Final towards the end of the year. In this event the top 2 would qualify for the North-West Final, at which the 16 qualifiers would compete for 4 National slots. I wanted to get qualification sorted early, and was practicing for a big event in a couple of weeks’ time, so was bringing my A-game. My pair was the Kaelyssa and Vyros2 lists that I had taken to Blood and Oil, with minor tweaks to the former, with the event’s added change being that we were playing on a 55 minute deathclock.

My first round was against Andy Stores and his Cygnar, with a pair of Nemo3 and Kraye. Not seeing Haley3 I felt pretty good dropping Kaelyssa, and was met with Nemo3. I won the first turn and we got moving.

I run my forces up to mostly out of threat range of his guns and “run within 4”” range of his Fireflies, making sure I wouldn’t be taking too much early damage, and making sure that he would be triggering Vengeance if he did. The Destors flanked hard on either side of the table. Kaelyssa put out Blur on Helios and Refuge on herself, before advancing more tentatively than I probably needed to.

Andy moves his forces up tentatively, choosing to take the shots that he has available to him, triggering Vengeance on the left unit of Sentinels but removing 3 of the unit in return. Nemo puts up Magnetic Hold to shut down Helios’ gun, and puts Electrify onto the Stormblades.

I feel like I’m in a good position to play a scenario jam game as Andy’s forces are pretty jammed up. Helios pushes forward on the left to sit just out of 10” of Dynamo, then layers up his defensive tech to get up to DEF17. Destors on the left charge into the jacks, dealing a bit of damage, before the unit on the right remove a blocking Stormblade and reduce the right Firefly to just a handful of boxes. The Sentinels Iron Zeal and pour through the centre, dealing with several Stormblades and jamming pretty deep into the Cygnar lines. Kaelyssa feats and sits out of 4” of everything.

Nemo’s feat turn, and I’m just going to see how much I have left at the end of it. Finch is the star of the show, clearing out 2 Destors with his first activation, but Nemo unfortunately misses with his gun. The rest of his guns don’t have too much of an effect, as a combination of my feat and mini-feats really blunt the attacks (Electro Leaps need an 11 to kill a Sentinel). The worst part of the turn from Andy’s perspective is trying to his Helios with Dynamo, needing 11s to hit and only dealing minor damage to the Colossal. By the end of the turn most of my forces are still standing, and Nemo has Kill Boxed himself, giving me a 2-0 scenario lead.

From here it is a pretty simple task to finish the game off. There is nothing contesting the central or left zones so I can score both and destroy the objective for a Scenario win. I spend a bit of time taking off some stuff for tie-breaks, before ending the turn to win 5-0.

VICTORY

A reasonably comfortable start to the event, which is always appreciated. Andy just didn’t take enough board presence on his first turn allowing me to keep him back and score through to a scenario victory. Even had he not been kill-boxed, the attrition position that I was able to get into was so strong that I’m sure I could have taken the game out. On to round 2 and the most apparent thing was that there were a lot of Hordes in the winning bracket.

Game 132: Vyros2 vs Rhyas

Game 132 – Vs Mark Ellis – Legion of Everblight – 11/1/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Aspis

-Imperatus

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

House Shyeel Magister

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight (Oracles of Annihilation)

-Succubus

-Carnivean

-Nephilim Protector

-Seraph

-Zuriel

Throne of Everblight

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

The Forsaken

Wrong Eye

-Snapjaw

Blackfrost Shard

Mark is still looking for a Legion pair that he really loves and today was giving a shot to Rhyas in Oracles of Annihilation. It was an interesting list where you have to be really careful not to get caught out by her feat turn. Mark won the first turn and we got moving.

Mark gets to start with his upkeeps in play and so begins the game with Rapport on the Carnivean and Occultation on the Throne. He runs all his forces up, using Slipstreams to get an extra couple of inches. Zuriel leads the line to threaten me on my first turn.

I throw my 2 Aspis up the table to take the Alpha, keeping the rest as safe as possible behind them to retaliate next turn. I put up Deceleration as his list has a deceptive amount of shooting and magic and prepare for his next turn.

The Blackfrost Shard put Harm onto one Aspis, and Rhyas charges it, destroys it and Sprints back behind the building (I forgot she had that). Zuriel comes in to kill the other Aspis and force me to commit something serious to kill it. The rest of his forces move up to prepare for next turn.

I worry for a good few minutes about where I can keep Vyros and Imperatus safe before moving Vyros back to the edge of the Killbox and feating. I send 3 Griffons in to Zuriel to kill it, and a fourth to take out the Harm guy from the Blackfrost Shard. I pull my other Griffons towards the left and use the Magister to score my flag for a 1-0 lead.

Rhyas feats and starts the turn by charging and killing a Griffon. Some bad dice on Mark’s part mean it takes all of her focus to do it, but she is able to Sprint back to the safety of the building. The Carnivean takes out another Griffon before the Throne comes in to start its fun. It charges a Griffon before placing behind it, and then uses its other attacks and spells to take out all of my support staff apart from 2 Arcanists from a unit and Sylys. This gives me a load of Feat moves and I move as best as I can to set up my next turn. Mark scores his own flag to level at 1-1.

With no Arcanist Mechaniks left for Concentrated Power I don’t feel like attrition is going to work, but my luck with Rhyas being on zero Fury gives me a chance. My 3 remaining Griffons build up the Synergy chain before Vyros clears Imperatus’ path by killing the last 2 Shard members and Quick Working a shot to kill The Forsaken. He attempts a Twister at Rhyas but is scatters off. All that leaves is for Imperatus to go in. He has to go through the Succubus for a Sidestep before getting to Rhyas with 1 fully boosted attack. Star Crossed makes the boosted 8 questionable, but I get it and roll exactly the boosted 10 to kill the caster

VICTORY

Another tough game as my most regular club mates learn how to play into Vyros. Rhyas’ threat is insane and I don’t feel comfortable playing this defensively especially into Legion. Had Mark killed the Griffon with a Fury to spare or placed his Protector/Seraph slightly differently the assassination might have been off the table. Had I needed to play through attrition I think the biggest issue would have been the Throne, so I was glad I was able to find an assassination route out. That was my last practice game before a Steamroller next week where I have to decide whether to pair Vyros with Kaelyssa or Elara