Game 151: Kaelyssa vs Zerkova1

Game 151 – Vs Jonny Jennings – Khador – 24/02/18

My list:

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

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

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:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova (Legion of Steel)

-Marauder

-Juggernaut

-Juggernaut

Iron Fang Kovnik

Iron Fang Kovnik

Uhlan Kovnik Markov

Kapitan Sofya Skirova

Min Iron Fang Uhlans

Min Iron Fang Uhlans

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Standard Bearer

For the second Steamroller in a row I am drawn against Jonny in the last round, though sadly not in a top table final like the last time. This time Jonny had remembered how bad a match up Vlad1 is into Kaelyssa, and wisely dropped Zerkova instead. I dropped Kaelyssa, won the roll to go first, and got moving.

I run up the table, with only Refuge cast on Kaelyssa. I spread out as wide as possible with the Destors on the flanks in order to make it difficult for Zerkova to cover her entire force with a cloud wall.

Jonny pushes up with his forces, also flanking with his Uhlans, and keeping the Jacks behind the main forces, with the Marauder pressing forward on the left. Zerkova puts out 4 clouds, leaving her camping nothing just behind her objective.

I quickly measure and it turns out Zerkova is within 18” of Kaelyssa, so I look at going for an assassination. I upkeep Refuge so that at least I wasn’t going all in, and plan my angle. Kaelyssa goes first and deals around 8 damage with 2 gun shots, before Helios advances to start pulling her in. Unfortunately I only hit 1 out of 3 10s (2 would have pulled her into range of a lot) and so the other guns I can put into her can only reduce her to 8 boxes. Kaelyssa Feats and I just run everything into his face under Mini-Feats and leave Jonny to work it all out.

A significant part of Jonny’s turn is spent working out how to get Zerkova safe. She is engaged by 3 Sentinels and a singly Free Strike could easily kill her, so they have to be removed, triggering Vengeance on both units. The Uhlans on the left flank very aggressively, whilst the unit on the right hold back a bit more. The Pikemen grind against Sentinels, killing a decent number of them. Zerkova Feats and Jonny scores his flag to lead 1-0.

My Sentinels press through and kill a huge amount of Jonny’s forces. Vengeance allows the left officer and 3 grunts to move out of Zerkova’s Feat, allowing them a Charge order to get into and kill the 3 Uhlans on the left. The rest of the unit and the blues just kill Pikemen, removing a huge number of them from the table. Kaelyssa Stalls both the Marauder and central Juggernaut. The former is Disrupted by Eiryss, whilst the latter is smashed to bits by Helios, who also destroys the objective. I don’t contest Jonny’s flag so the score moves to 2-2.

Jonny continues the grind and it is looking pretty close. He kills a number of Sentinels including clearing out the left zone to score 2 more CPs. The remaining Juggernaut charges Helios and deals pretty significant damage, but without removing any systems. The score moves to 4-3 in Jonny’s favour.

Time to complete the assassination that I started 2 rounds ago. Helios pushes up Zerkova into range of Kaelyssa and Eiryss, with the latter being surplus to requirements as Kaelyssa fires Siphon Bolts into her until she died.

VICTORY

Having played this match up twice now I feel that it is a pretty decent one for Kaelyssa. Feating first doesn’t feel as crippling as it usually does when 2 control feats play into each other, as my list if far more capable of getting work don under his feat than he is under mine. I finished the event with a respectable record of 3-1, but my strength of schedule was pretty poor putting me in 9^th place out of 26 (I think). I’m going to put these lists to one side for a bit as I know what they can do now, and need to test some other bits and pieces for future events.