Game 126: Vyros2 vs Saeryn

Game 126 – Vs Chris Ferguson – Legion of Everblight – 28/12/17

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:

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight (Children of the Dragon)

-Succubus

-Azrael

-Zuriel

-Nephilim Bolt Thrower

Spell Martyr

Max Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters

-Bayal, Hound of Everblight

Max Blighted Nyss Legionnaires

-Captain Farilor & Standard Bearer

Max Blighted Nyss Raptors

Ever since switching to Retribution earlier this year I have had more problems with Legion than any other faction. I think this is largely down to the fact that there is so little consistency in terms of what they’re fielding, and this game was no different, with Chris playing what was on paper a very odd Legion list. I drop Vyros as he will be my most common Legion drop. Chris wins first turn and we get moving.

Chris runs up his forces. With the Legionnaires on the left, Hex Hunters down the middle, and Raptors flanking hard on the right. Respawn is put out onto Zuriel and Banishing Ward onto Azrael (which is soon dropped).

I run my forces up the table and put up Deceleration to protect against the large amount of shooting and magic that was likely to come my way next turn. I stay out of threat ranges as much as possible, but have to move up far enough to be in threat of the Hex Hunters. I throw up an Arcane Secrets boosted Twister, taking out 3 Hex Hunters.

Now for the side of Chris’ list that I just wasn’t ready for. 4 of the Hex Hunters charge my forward 4 jacks, Shadow Binding them all, before the Spell Martyr runs up, and Saeryn casts Blight Bringer onto the central one, catching all 4 (and the Griffon behind) in the AOE (Chris gets unlucky and kills all 4 Hunters that had charged). The result is that all 4 are Shadow Bound and unable to spend the focus to shake it, effectively locking them in place in front of my army. The rest of Chris’ forces take advantage of this by advancing up in relative safety. Shooting puts some damage into me and 2 Raptors charge an Aspis, dealing decent damage to it.

This is a tricky turn to unlock, but my list usually has a way around these things. I build up Synergy with a few disposable jacks, removing 3 Raptors along the way. 2 Griffons on the left combine to kill 6 Legionnaires, reducing the impact of their Vengeance, before Imperatus goes hunting for Zuriel. I get to him after a single Side-Step and remove it with the 4 remaining attacks, but forget about Respawn, leaving the beast alive. Nobody scores as all the zones are contested.

Saeryn starts her turn my feating and throwing a Grievous Wounds knife into Imperatus, removing his ability to come back with Phoenix Protocol. His beast then come together to take the heavy out, with some addition damage being put into my right Griffon. The Legionnaires use both their Vengeance and regular attacks to attack my leftmost Griffon, but their need for help is shown by the fact they do barely any damage. They do mini-feat though, and with Saeryn’s feat as well the remaining models get up to an impressive ARM23. Nobody scores again.

We lose track of turns here, believing this to be the bottom of 4, when it was only the bottom of 3, resulting in our ending the game a turn early. Scoring starts here as I clear out the left zone and put models in place to contest the others. I put some damage into the Bolt Thrower but have no way to finish off Zuriel. I take a 1-0 lead.

On the left Azrael finishes off a wounded Aspis, and the Bolt Thrower walks around to contest the zone. On the right the Legion forces finish off both of my jacks in the zone and Zuriel allows him to score it. We move to 1-1.

I contest the right zone with a Mechanic and prepare a few more to contest in later turns. My Artificer charges into one of the Raptors, Combo Smiting it into the other, taking both out. My forces on the left take out the Bolt Thrower and the Succubus, leaving him only the 2 heavies left to contest. I take a 2-1 lead.

Chris goes for a long shot assassination with Azrael onto Vyros, but comes up very short. He once again clears the right zone to move to 2-2.

Between all of my forces I am able to take out Azrael (how many boxes does that guy have…) with Vyros doing most of the work. I contest his zone again to move to a 3-2 lead.

Between losing track of turns and the room closing we had to skip through the last bit, but with only one contesting model left on 3 boxes there was no way Chris was going to be able to stop the scenario win.

VICTORY

A really fun game against somebody I’ve met a load of times but never played. The trick with Blight Bringer and Shadow Bind was really tricky to play around and turned the game into a really tricky attrition battle, but I was pleased by the way I unpicked the puzzle and ground out a win. Chris was a pleasure to play against and it is always fun to see people (why is it always Legion players) trying something different that really works.