Game 144: Kaelyssa vs The Dreamer

Game 144 – Vs Stephen Briggs – Grymkin – 09/02/18

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:

 The Dreamer (Dark Menagerie)

-Phantasms

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Cage Rager

-Rattler

-Rattler

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Lady Karianna Rose

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

I visited Element games on Friday evening to try some games with a couple of new lists, but ran into Stephen who was running his new Grymkin. I had been wanting to test my Kaelyssa list into Grymkin and so jumped at the opportunity. Stephen selected Pandemonium and Labyrinth as his Arcana, and with me winning first turn we get moving.

With no shooting on my opponent’s side of the table there is no need to cast Blur, so I put up Banishing Ward on Helios alongside Refuge on Kaelyssa. My forces all run up, threatening his lighter pieces with Destors should he not advance carefully enough.

Stephen advances up the table, accepting that he’s going to have to take a charge from the Destors. He puts down an Artifice of Deviation and casts Mirage on one of the Rattlers, knowing that they are by far the biggest threats to my Sentinels. The Gremlin Swarms fan out and prepare to make my life difficult in a later turn.

Without charging the Grymkin threats are relatively low, so I should be able to scalpel out a heavy and be fully protected by my Feat. Helios aims and fires 3 push shots into the Skin & Moans with one being Shield Guarded onto a Crabbit. I charge the relocate heavy with a number of Sentinels, killing it. Eiryss and Kaelyssa make a start on the Gremlin Swarms, killing one and leaving another on a single box. One Destor on the left kills a Crabbit and is knocked down by the triggered All Fall Down. My Feat protects my whole army apart from Eiryss on the left flank.

Under my Feat there is very little that Stephen can do, so he simply kills off the most forward Destor, putting a large Phantasm into play. The rest of his forces move round, using the Cage Rager to protect the 2 Rattlers who I will need to be really careful of next turn. All the zones are contested so the score is at 0-0.

I need to keep on with the attrition but need to be really careful of the Rattlers that are being well protected. Helios once again aims, pushing a second Skin & Moans towards the left Sentinels, and the Cage Rager away from the Rattlers. The Blue Sentinels charge, killing the Skin & Moans, and putting 2 in the way of the Rattler. The Orange unit is expectedly Pandemoniumed and has to settle with moving back out of charge range of the Rattlers, with 2 more blocking the light beasts up. I score the left zone with Destors to take a 1-0 lead.

Stephen’s retaliation this turn is far more significant, with the remaining Skin & Moans killing off both left Destors and a handful of Sentinels with Manifest Destiny boosted attacks. One of the Rattlers starts to push through, killing the 5 forward Sentinels, whilst the other stays back as far out of threat as possible. The Cage Rager takes out a Destor, reforming the large Phantasm. Nobody scores so I stay at a 1-0 lead.

With most of the threats to Helios off the table it’s time to get the big man involved. He charges the Rattler, killing it with one fully boosted shot, before pulling in the Cage Rager and putting reasonable damage into him. The Sentinels finish off both it and the large Phantasm, clearing the right zone. I opt to not really attack the left Skin & Moans, instead getting all models into the left zone to score it. I score both circle zones to move into a 3-0 lead.

My Sentinels are really bunched up for the Rattler to get into them, but Stephen just doesn’t have enough activations to clear out the Destors that charged into him. As a result he just has to kill the stuff nearby, the Rattler killing 2 Destors and a Sentiel, and the Skin & Moans taking out all but the Soulless in the left zone. All the zones are contested to stay at 3-0.

I just need to clear the zones to win on scenario, so Kaelyssa charges and kills the remaining Gremlin Swarm, before putting Phantom Hunter onto Helios. The Colossal aims, and uses his gun to push the last Skin & Moans out of the zones, allowing me to score all 3 and win 6-0 on scenario.

VICTORY

I still don’t have too much experience into Grymkin but felt that this list would have a decent chance into them due to the ability to both scalpel out heavies and remover Gremlin Swarms with Kaelyssa and Eiryss. Stephen played the game well keeping the Rattlers safe, as killing them is the key to the matchup, I’d feel much more confident playing into them if there was only 1 in the list. More practice on this required but I certainly feel that it has game.