Game 152: Helynna vs Rask

Game 152 – Vs Adam Jones – Minions – 01/02/18

My list:

Magister Helynna (Legion of Dawn)

-Harpy

-Siren

-Siren

-Chimera

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

His List:

Rask (Will Work For Food)

-Gatorman Soul Slave

-Swamp Horror

-Blackhide Wrastler

Meat Thresher

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Brun Cragback

-Lug

Dahlia Hallyr

-Skarath

Kwaak Slickspine & Gun, Croak Sorcerers

Rorsh

-Brine

Boil Master & Spirit Couldron

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Every 50 games or so I seem to go back to Helynna. I like her a lot as a caster but whatever list I try always seems to be lacking… something. I haven’t tried her since the new Vyre lights came out so decided to get a couple of games in to see whether they fill the gap. The first was against Adam and his Rask list, with a bear of all things. Adam won the roll to go first and we got going.

Rask runs his forces up, and my word they are seriously quick under WWFF. Admonition is put up on the Swamp Horror and Fury on Brine. Brun puts up Stonehold on himself and sends his pet bear straight up into the zone. On the right the Meat Thresher and Dahlia combine to trigger Stealth on Skarath who takes up an aggressive position.

I feel up against it right from the start and so mainly decide to spread out and see what happens. Helynna casts Rhythm of War and Deceleration and hides in cover. Most of my guns shoot into the Battle Engine, reducing it to around 15 boxes, before moving back a little to make it difficult for Adam to deal with them easily.

Rask feats and begins to pressure on the right flank. Skarath charges in and removes 3 Sentinels before putting up Counter-Blast whilst the Meat Thresher gets up into me and kills another 5, but can’t remove the Officer. Rask Feats to protect his forces and pushes up on the left with Brun going to the flag to hopefully score next turn.

Rask’s feat is pretty nasty but Adam is spread out wide enough to leave some stuff unprotected. The Sentinels Vengeance attacks and regular charges are enough to finish off the Meat Thresher and I start to shoot into Skarath, dealing around half damage to it. I contest the zones and Adam’s flags, Feat, and hope for a better opportunity to come up later. (Note, after the below pic was taken I used Rhythm of War to move most of my jacks back 3”)

Adam commits his forces and goes at me hard. On the right Skarath takes out most of the remaining Sentinels, leaving just one contesting the zone. The forward consesting Sentinels die before Brine charges into the contesting Siren, dealing minimal damage. Lug has to come in, and throws it out of the zone with a Chain Attack. Finally the Swamp Horror charges in, using his 4” reach to pull in and kill 2 or 3 Sentinels. Adam scores the left zone and his flag for a 2-0 lead.

Counter-Attack time, and my first opportunity in the game to get into him properly. I start on the left, with Helynna casting Hand of Destruction onto Rorsh, allowing the Chimera to charge and kill it, removing Brine. In the centre Vengeance moves and Sentinel charges remove the Swamp Horror and, in an impressive feat of dice, 3 Sentinels take out Lug. The right is more subdued as I just finish off Skarath and reposition some of my jacks to the strong looking left flank. I don’t contest Adam’s flag though, and he moves to 3-0.

Adam only needs to clear my right zone to win and with the Wrastler and Overtake has the threat range to do it. He clears out the Sentinel blocking the way, before powering him up with Boundless Charge, Rage, Puppet Master and Fury. He charges in and manages to clear the zone with a couple of attacks to spare. He scores 2CP to win 5-0 on scenario.

DEFEAT

It is a long time since had a game where I lost sight of scenario like this, but I’m not entirely disappointed by the performance. I should have left Lug alone and used the 3 charges into him to contest the flag, which would have bought be another turn to possibly turn the game around. I felt on the back foot for the entire game which is not how I like to play, but the list performed pretty well; taking out 4 heavies in a turn is always satisfying. More testing needed and thankfully I had another game lined up straight away.