Game 125: Elara2 vs Abby2

Game 125 – Vs Karl Morgan – Legion of Everblight – 28/12/17

My list:

Elara, Death’s Shadow (Defenders of Ios)

-Siren

-Siren

-Siren

-Chimera

Arcantrik Force Generator

Houseguard Thane

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eilish Garrity, the Occultist

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters

His List:

Abyslonia, Daugter of Everblight

-Angelius

-Angelius

-Scythean

-Seraph

-Raek

-Naga Nightlurker

The Forsaken

The Forsaken

Strider Deathstalker

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Hellmouth

With a big event coming up in February it is time to pick a 2 list pair and really hammer it down to get completely comfortable. My staple caster is still Vyros2 as he has been so strong for me this year, but I want to find a way to pair him with something that isn’t Issyria Shadows. I am currently trying Elara2 as a pair, and the first run out for the list was against Karl with his Legion. Karl is a player returning to the game and was running Abby2. He won the first turn and we got moving.

Karl runs up his forces, the Hellmouth protecting the right zone. He focuses mainly on the centre and right parts of the table, with just the Deathstalker near the left zone. Bracer is put on the Scythean, really limiting the tricks I can play with the AFG.

I want to force Karl to work hard if he wants to get a lot done this turn, so I stay out of his threats unless Abby can trigger Pack Hunter. Both Halberdier units advance under Shield Wall to increase their armour against his shooting. Scything Touch is put out on one of the left unit of Halbs ready to reduce armour next turn.

Not wanting to give my alpha strike too much Karl just moves up and puts some shots into my army, but some bad dice means that he only removes a few Halberdiers. The Raek moves up on the right, but he has no presence at all in the left zone.

Elara feats and I push forward to take what I can. The left unit of Halbs Mini-Feat for Gang and charge into the Angelius, with 2 others going after the Deathstalker. A combination of indicidual attacks and CMAs take down the Angelius under Dark Shroud and the Scything Touch Halberdier Repositions over to engage the second Angelius. The other unit of Halberdiers gain Gang and charge into the Raek and second Angelius, taking out both. Shooting throughout the turn takes out the support staff and puts some damage on the Scythean. With a Siren running to score the right zone to lead 1-0, and with a huge attrition play, I feel like I’m in a very strong position.

With his depleted forces Karl works on taking out what he can. The Seraph, Scythean and Abby herself taking out a decent number of Halberdiers and Nyss, but he is still in a really tough position in the game. He is unable to contest the left zone, so I move into a 2-0 lead.

Being well up in the game I just need to keep taking off his important models and keep my caster safe from Abby’s impressive threat ranges. Some bad dice on this turn mean I leave the Naga alive, but I am still able to safely take out the Seraph, reducing the threat range on all his forces. I again score the left zone to lead 3-0.

Karl attempts to clear the right zone but despite taking out my Chimera he can’t remove the last Halberdier, leaving him unable to score. The rest of his forces take out some more infantry, but again can’t contest the zone. I move to 4-0.

I simply end my turn to win 5-0 on scenario.

VICTORY

This felt like a relatively routine win against a returning player with a sub-optimal list, but it was useful to see just how strong Elara’s alpha is with Halberdiers. I am not at all sure about the AFG in the list, and thing that those 17 points could be used better, so this is something I will have to think about going forwards.