Game 181: Rahn vs Lylyth3

Game 181 – Vs Mark Ellis – Legion – 26/04/18

My list:

Adeptis Rahn (Defenders of Ios)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Chimera

-Phoenix

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr

His List:

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight (Oracles of Annihilation)

-Succubus

-Carnivean

-Carnivean

-Naga Nightlurker

-Ravagore

-Ravagore

-Seraph

The Forsaken

The Forsaken

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Feralgeist

Blackfrost Shard

Mark is still searching for a pair for his Thagrosh list and is currently looking at Lylyth3 in Oracles, so we decided to see how that would go into Rahn, as it definitely couldn’t have dealt with Vyros2. I won the roll to go first and we got moving.

A pretty standard first turn for Rahn; Polarity Shield on the central Halberdiers, TK on both AFGs before they run up into position, and the Chimera flanks hard on the left. Both Halberdier units Shield Wall and advance up the table, forcing the Legion beasts to come up the table aggressively if they want to get shots off.

The 2 Ravarores move up and take shots into my Halberdiers, killing a handful and leaving a couple of reasonably well placed Scather templates. Lylyth herself moves up and shoots off another 2 Halberdiers before Repositioning back slightly. The rest of Mark’s heavies move up, with one in front of Lylyth to make any assassination attempts harder.

I look at the table and don’t think that he has done enough. Rahn Feats and TKs the blocking Carnivean out of the way, Lylyth forward and the closest AFG further up. Eiryss shoots off Lylyth’s single Fury, before the AFG shoots into her, leaving her on 6 boxes. I still have a seceon (non-aiming) AFG and a Phoenix gun to shoot into her, but a single charging Halberdier is able to get her, and with Gang is able to finish her off.

VICTORY

Whilst this list is not as assassination focussed as a Forges list, games like this prove that if my opponent makes a small positioning mistake it can still be punished for a quick win. I don’t know how the attrition would have gone, but with Lylyth having to play much further back all game I was confident I could play it out. I like this a lot and am looking forward to playing it and Vyros more this weekend.

Game 180: Rahn vs Thagrosh

Game 180 – Vs Mark Ellis – Legion – 26/04/18

My list:

Adeptis Rahn (Defenders of Ios)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Chimera

-Phoenix

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Lynus Wesselbaum & Edrea Lloryrr

His List:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (Primal Terrors)

-Blightbringer

Spell Martyr

Spell Martyr

Warmonger War Chief

Warmonger War Chief

Feralgeist

Max Blighted Ogrun Warmongers

Max Blighted Ogrun Warspears

-Chieftain

Max Blighted Ogrun Warspears

-Chieftain

Min Blighted Ogrun Warspears

Hellmouth

Hellmouth

With a Steamroller coming up in Leeds at the weekend I wanted to get a couple of games in with Rahn in Defenders to get back up to speed with a list that I think has a lot of promise. Mark dropped his standard Thagrosh list, albeit not yet bolstered with the new solos. Mark won the roll to go first, and we got moving.

Thagrosh puts up Fog of War and Draconic Blessing onto the right unit of Warspears. Both max Warspear units have Preyed the Halberdier units, and run up to put pressure on my positioning. The Blightbringer buts up the Armour and Strength bubble and runs up behind the main forces. Hellmouth tentacles move to annoying spots.

The left Hellmouth has been badly deployed and is within 18” of one AFG. I TK both forwards and put up Polarity Shield onto the central Halberiers. The AFG in range aims and puts 2 Brutal Damage shots into the Hellmouth, leaving it on a couple of boxes. The second walks up and is able to finish off the inexplicably free unit. Elara shoots 3 points of damage into the other Hellmouth and the rest of my forces move up, staying out of charge threat.

Without being able to charge anything Mark starts working on me with his guns, killing off a handful of Halberdiers. A single Ogrun contests the left zone and the rest of his forces reposition and prepare to take attacks next turn.

Mark’s forces are pretty bunched up so there are a number of decent Momentum angles for my AFGs to play with. The first priority is to clear the left zone, and the remaining shots kill off around 6 Ogrun, with a Force Hammer from Rahn knocking down a couple more to restrict vengeance opportunities. Some Halberdiers move up to jam with the rest holding back to go in on a later turn. Eiryss shoots another 3 points off the Hellmouth, and I score 2 to lead 2-0.

With a number of his models knocked down Mark doesn’t have a lot of options for Vengeance and so has to unjam himself with his regular activations. He runs into the usual medium-base spam problem though as his units quickly start tripping over each other, and so he doesn’t get much more than my front line. I positioned Edrea too close to my Chimera last turn, and so an Obliteration arced through a Spell Martyr takes her out. Mark scores 2 CPs himself to draw level at 2-2.

Mark has done a better job of denying me good Momentum shot lanes this turn, but Rahn Feats, and with a combination of Force Hammer and TKs is able to make some good shooting lanes for the AFGs, who take out the unit in the left zone and knock down the remaining Warmongers. I don’t want to trigger unnecessary Vengeance so don’t touch the right unit of Spears, continuing to hold back with the Halberdiers on the right to threaten later in the game. Eiryss finally takes out the Hellmouth. I score 2, but don’t contest Mark’s zone so the score moves to 4-3 to me.

Mark again struggles to untie himself, and ends up clocking during his turn. We play the turn out but he doesn’t get a great deal done, so I would have been able to grind out the attrition in the next couple of turns.

VICTORY

I have played this list into medium based infantry before, and it is continuing to look strong into this type of list. The combination of control and powerful guns lets the list take control pretty effectively whilst the opponent is dealing with Halberdiers. The assassination threat keeps casters honest as well. Mark changed his army and we got a second game in.

Game 179: Vyros2 vs Goreshade3

Game 179 – Vs Glen Wareing – Cryx – 15/04/18

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

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Goreshade, Lord of Ruin (Dark Host)

-Kraken

Wraith Engine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Darragh Wrathe

Machine Wraith

Machine Wraith

Necrotech

Max Bane Riders

Max Bane Warriors

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Unfortunately having driven down from Manchester for the event the final round saw me up against a fairly regular opponent in Glen. More Cryx practice can’t hurt though. His pair doesn’t have Vyros’ Scourge of the Broken Coast Kryptonite, so I drop him, and we have a cavalry caster off as Glen drops Goreshade3. I win the roll to go first and we get moving.

Vyros’ first turns feel very pleasingly automatic at this point. Arcanist units power up Griffons, Griffons Fleet and Run, other 3 jacks get up the table behind them and Vyros casts Deceleration and gets into range of a load of Shield Guards. The only difference in this game is that the Artificer puts up Force Barrier, when I normally don’t bother turn 1, but I wanted to protect Sylys and the 3 Arcanists from any rogue blasts from the Kraken.

Glen puts out Infernal Machine onto the Kraken before it moves up and shoots its gun, dealing decent damage to an Aspis. The rest of the forces move up, Glen offering me a single Bane Rider to force me forwards and positioning the Bane Warriors fairly aggressively, with Occultation on the unit to prevent my minimal shooting.

Glen has made a minor error with his positioning and it gives me an opportunity to get Imperatus to Goreshade. I build Synergy with 3 Griffons before sending him in, Side-Stepping twice off a Bane Warrior and taking the caster out with 3 bought attacks.

VICTORY

One of my favourite things about Vyros is that the smallest mistake can easily lose my opponent the game, in this case it was a single Bane Warrior giving me a route in, and there aren’t many casters in the game that can take Imperatus with 3 Focus. I finished the event 4^th on 2-1, which I was pretty pleased with after a rough round 1. I likes Elara as a pair, but need to get a feel for the meta in terms of what I need to cover most

Game 178: Elara2 vs Old Witch3

Game 178 – Vs Paul Jordan – Grymkin – 15/04/18

My list:

Elara, Death’s Shadow (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Chimera

-Siren

-Siren

-Aspis

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Mage Hunter Assassin

Min Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Spears of Scyrah

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Zevanna Agha, The Fate Keeper (Bump in the Night)

-Cage Rager

-Frightmare

-Gorehound

-Rattler

Glimmer Imp

Lord Longfellow

Witchwood

Eilish Garrity, the Occultist

Max Hollowmen

-Lantern Man

Max Hollowmen

-Lantern Man

Murder Crows

Max Neigh Slayers

Twilight Sisters

Round 2 of the Steamroller saw me face off against PJ and his Grymkin. After the success the last time I played Elara into Grymkin I decided to drop her again, with PJ choosing Old Witch over The Dreamer. I won the first turn and we got moving.

With a decent amount of Eyeless Sight shooting I again have to be careful with my initial advance, staying out of the 17” total threat of the Hollowmen. Scything Touch is put onto Narn and the rest of my forces join the line, with gaps left as well as possible to potentially allow the Infiltrators to charge in first (Side note: one of my greatest wishes at the moment is for a solo with Tactician: Mage Hunter)

The Witch moves up and casts Windstorm to reduce my Mage Hunters’ gun ranges, before using the Frightmare’s Animus to give her Eyeless Sight to shoot her Blind gun into my Mage Hunters, but I am able to Shield Guard it onto an irrelevant solo. The rest of the Grymkin forces run up, remaining outside of my new gun ranges.

A quick measure and it is clear that PJ has moved Old Witch a bit too far forward. With Apparition and her Feat Elara can get to her with 6 Focus and Scything Touch applied by Narn. Eiryss shoots off her remaining Fury with a Disruptor Bolt before Elara charges in and leaves her on 4 boxes. The Mage Hunter Assassin then charges in and finishes her off.

VICTORY

With a fair time before the next round starts we reverse my assassination run and see how the attrition plays out. I take out the Gorehound and 9 or so Hollowmen (all RFP) before PJ strikes back killing a load of other Strike Force. Early in my next turn the table is knocked, ruining the game state, so we call it, but I don’t feel too bad about how it would have gone. Definitely a game I’d like to play again. Elara’s assassination threat is legit though, so that’s a bonus. On to round 3.

Game 177: Elara2 vs Strakhov2

Game 177 – Vs Rob Mcormick – Khador – 15/04/18

My list:

Elara, Death’s Shadow (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Chimera

-Siren

-Siren

-Aspis

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Mage Hunter Assassin

Min Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Spears of Scyrah

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Assault Kommander Strakhov (Legion of Steel)

-Marauder

-Torch

Iron Fang Kovnik

Kapitan Sofya Skirova

Uhlan Kovnik Markov

Great Bears of the Gallowswood

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Stadard

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Stadard

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Stadard

This Sunday I went down to Powerfist Gaming in Stafford for a 3 round Steamroller using my new pair of Elara2 and Vyros2. Round 1 saw me up against Rob’s Khador, the faction that I think my pair is weakest into. He dropped a caster that I haven’t seen before, Strakhov2 in Legion of Dawn, and I drop Elara, knowing how badly it would go if Pikemen charge Griffons. I win the roll to go first and we get moving.

With the potential of Quicken the central Advance Move unit of Pikemen threatens a pretty impressive distance, so I have to be careful with my positioning on turn 1. I run everything up out of threat ranges and put out Scything Touch onto the Mage Hunter Assassin.

Rob is very aware of the threat ranges of my units, and so decides that he has to Feat this turn to prevent losing too much from my alpha strike. He takes Torch’s shots, getting a scatter onto one of the Spears, killing her and triggering Vengeance. The rest of his army Shield Walls up and skews towards the left, pushing further into my Mage Hunters on that side. The Solos sit behind, ready to Counter Charge next turn.

I decide this is the turn for my Feat, partly for the increased threat range on the right, and partly for the Ghostly aspect to move into the back arcs of Pikemen to negate the Shield Wall bonus. I take out a decent number of Pikemen, losing a few Mage Hunters in return to Counter Charges. On the right I charge 3 Strike Force into a Dark Shrouded heavy, leaving it on around 9 boxes. The rest of my forces move into position for next turn.

Rob keeps his units in Shield Wall and makes a start on my infantry, killing off most of the front line that went in as well as taking out around half the boxes of my Chimera. Markov gets a lot of work don, killing 2 Mage Hunters with Impact Attacks before taking out 3 more including the Assassin with his AOE blast on his Lance. Rob can’t quite clear the left zone but does contest the right, so nobody scores.

I feel pretty good about the attrition game on the right flank, but less so on the left. Scything Touch is recast and the next wave of Mage Hunters charges in, finishing off the Marauder and taking out more Mage Hunters, especially on the right flank. I am concerned by how quickly the left flank is falling apart, but do at least score the right zone for a 1-0 lead.

Rob again manages to unlock my lines and gets a lot of work done into my infantry, before taking out my Aspis and the main weapon on my left Siren. I lose a lot of Mage hunters this turn, and feel that the game has swung away from me. Rob score the left zone to level up at 1-1.

I make a few attacks to score some additional points and a CP, before conceding.

DEFEAT

I would like to think that playing this matchup again would go a lot better than this game did. I am trying to work out how the game would have played out if I had just backed off on his feat turn, but having played with the Tactician rule myself I know how easy it is for a list like this to unjam itself. Instead I should probably have swung harder to the left flank, and hopefully been able to overpower him on that side. It was a really interesting game, and certainly doesn’t put me off the list.

Game 176: Vyros2 vs Vayl2

Game 176 – Vs Mark Ellis – Legion – 09/04/18

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

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight (Oracles of Annihilation)

-Succubus

-Scythean

-Scythean

-Naga Nightlurker

-Seraph

Throne of Everblight

Throne of Everblight

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Blackfrost Shard

The second game against Mark saw me drop my more usual Legion answer of Vyros2 into her. The Thrones are a bit of a concern as they can scrap Griffons very easily and outthreaten them in melee. Mark wins the roll to go first and we get moving.

The Orcales theme means that Mark is able to start with Admonition on a Scythean and Occultation on a Throne, though the latter is quickly dropped. Mark runs his forces up the table using the building for protection.

I can take up a position where I threaten the zones without being in threat range of Mark’s pieces, and he will have to commit next turn, so Vyros puts up Deceleration and my jack line moves into position.

With my forces out of threat ranges Mark just repositions and takes a position to try and stop me getting too much work done next turn. He contests the right zone with a Hellion and a Throne and has the majority of his forces in the centre, leaving the left zone contested by only his objective.

A small positioning error with the Shredder gives me a way in to get some decent work done this turn. I build Synergy with an Aspis and a Hunter before applying Hunter’s Mark to the Shredder. A Concentrated Powered Griffon takes out the objective to start the scenario scoring before Imperatus goes in, charging the Shredder and Side Stepping in to take out the Throne. I score 2 CPs to take a 2-0 lead.

Mark attacks back taking out Imperatus with a Grievous Wounds Scythean, dealing some damage into my other Jacks. The remaining Throne takes out a Griffon on the right, but isn’t able to take out the objective as well, and so can’t start his own scoring. I score the left zone again to move to a 3-0 lead. We switch the lights on.

I would love to remove both Scytheans this turn as it would probably allow me to clear the centre zone and win the game, but the one with Admonition up was going to be an issue so I keep my options open when allocating Focus. I remove the left Scythean first whilst building up Synergy before moving a fully powered Griffon up to the second, but Mark uses his Admonition move to get the perfect spot where he could contest the zone but not be killed, so I take out the Throne on the right instead with 2 Griffons. Finally I hit some massive dice spikes to take out the Seraph and leave him with little left. I lead 4-0.

Mark realises the game is over, so spends a couple of minutes taking out 2 of my Griffons before ending his turn with the score moving to 5-0.

VICTORY

Had Mark not mispositioned the Shredder on his turn 2 this could have developed into a pretty tricky game, but as I was able to get in first and do some decent damage it was always going to be difficult for him to claw it back. I have a Steamroller coming up next week and another at the end of the month as I get more practice games in for the Welsh Masters in May. It is a 3 list event so I will have to work out what I want to do for a third list.

Game 175: Elara2 vs Vayl2

Game 175 – Vs Mark Ellis – Legion – 09/04/18

My list:

Elara, Death’s Shadow (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Chimera

-Siren

-Siren

-Aspis

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Mage Hunter Assassin

Min Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Spears of Scyrah

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight (Oracles of Annihilation)

-Succubus

-Scythean

-Scythean

-Naga Nightlurker

-Seraph

Throne of Everblight

Throne of Everblight

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Blackfrost Shard

Another couple of homemachine games against Mark this week saw both of my lists go up against his Vayl2 as he attempts to find an off-list for Thagrosh. The first was the Elara list I tested at the weekend, and with me winning the first turn we get moving.

Elara’s first turns are not a particularly exciting affair. Scything Touch goes onto a central Infiltrator and everything runs up to just outside of threat ranges.

Mark puts Admonition up onto one of the Scytheans and Occultation onto one of the Hellions, before both Hellions advance and put up Wind Ravager. The rest of the Legion forces get up the table and threaten pretty deep into my forces.

Not too much is in threat this turn, so the main task is to remove the two Hellions to allow more freedom next turn. This doesn’t go particularly well though as I miss a lot of attacks, meaning that only one of the Hellions go down. I reconsider my plan and decide to just run up into his face and jam as deep as possible, putting the onus onto Mark to sort the mess out.

Mark starts making attacks into my forces, but Def14 holds up reasonably well against the MAT7 attacks. The Scytheans get a load of work done with Murderous but even they aren’t able to get through the Spears. All in all I lose around 12 models. I score the right zone to take a 1-0 scenario lead.

I vaguely eye up an assassination with the Spears this turn but can’t get Marked for Death onto her and so abandon the plan. Instead I play for attrition, taking out one Scythean and rolling slightly under average to leave the other alive on 3 boxes, as well as dealing decent damage into the left Throne. I score the right zone again to lead 2-0.

Mark feels that it is assassination time and it is what Vayl does best. He can get the Throne attacks and Vayl’s spells onto a 2 camping Elara, and despite a slight miscalculation in attack order (casting Deadly Storm too early in the run) he takes her out with his last attack.

DEFEAT

A pretty rough match up for me I think, but I could have done things better. The Thrones aren’t any harder to kill than the Cage Ragers were a couple of games ago, and yet I looked at them as unkillable monsters. Had I committed to them I would have removed a lot of the damage output of his list and could have played a much safer attrition game with Elara never leaving cover. I still like the list a lot though, and it doesn’t need to be able to play into Legion as I have Vyros for that.