Game 182: Rahn vs Zerkova1

Game 182 – Vs Jim Gradwell – Khador – 29/04/18

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:

Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova (Legion of Steel)

-War Dog

-Marauder

-Juggernaut

-Juggernaut

Iron Fang Kovnik

Uhlan Kovnik Markov

Kapitan Sofya Skirova

Max Iron Fang Uhlans

Min Iron Fang Uhlans

Max Iron Fang Pikemen

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Great Bears of the Gallowswood

Due to some pretty heavy real life commitments I have got a little bit behind on report writing, so please forgive me if these reports are not quite as detailed as in the past, as the exact plays are starting to fade. A couple of weeks ago I played in an 8 man Steamroller in Leeds, which just happened to include 7 members of the England WTC team. It promised to be a real trial by fire. Round 1 saw me drawn agains Jim Gradwell who I seem to be bumping into with more and more regularity at events. He dropped his usual Zerkova1 list and as I couldn’t risk Vyros into it, it was Rahn’s turn to see how he managed the match up. Jim won the roll to go first and we got moving.

One of the benefits of the pretty impressive threat ranges of this Rahn list is that it forces your opponent to either make defensive plays or hold back a bit on the top of 1. In Jim’s case he opted to cloud up pretty heavily and not cast Watcher which is just fine with me. His Pikemen move up in Shield Wall with the Uhlans flanking on either side and the jacks and solos behind.

I get my forces up the table, making sure to keep out of threat ranges and keep Edrea safe as she is incredibly important in this match up to remove clouds. I TK both AFGs and put up Polarity Shield onto the left Halberdiers, thankfully remembering about Hex Blast before moving them into Iron Fang threat ranges. One AFG runs whilst the other advances up and puts down some rough terrain in front of the Iron Fangs, forcing Zerkova to cast Ghostly if they wanted to be unimpeded.

Jim doesn’t want to take too much of an alpha strike from me and so is fairly tentative this turn, clouding up again and keeping his army behind it, with a few models out to the right to keep some presence on that side of the board. He slightly blocks himself up with some of the jacks as they don’t benefit from Tactician which effects Countercharge opportunities next turn.

I can take advantage of Jim’s holding back this turn by taking a decent scenario lead. I score the right zone with the AFG, the flag with Sylys and put some shots into the objective, finally taking it out with a couple of Halberdiers. I kill off the models he put up on the right with a Force Hammer from Rahn. On the left I hold out on the edge of the zone, sending in 2 Halberdiers to contest the flag, the first being lost to a Countercharging Kovnik. I score 3 to lead 3-0.

Jim’s order of activations is extremely difficult this turn, and he ends up burning quite a lot of his clock trying to unpick it all. Zerkova Hex Blasts off Polarity Shield from the Halberdiers, allowing them to be charged by the Pikemen. I don’t end up losing too many though as DEF15 against charges is enough to protect them. Jim contests my zone with the dog and flag with a Pikeman, but is unable to clear the left zone so the score moves to 3-1.

Scoring 3 CPs to win isn’t going to happen this turn so it’s just a matter of continuing to score points and play out the attrition. I have a pretty successful turn, clearing the zone and my flag, and taking out all but 2 of the Pikemen, the whole Great Bears unit, the Kovnik and Sofya (a personal triumph…). I score 2 more but leave Jim’s flag uncontested to lead 5-2.

Jim clears out his left zone and kills off a few Halberdiers on the right, contesting my flag but not the zone. More clouds go up to protect against the AFGs and the score moves to 6-4 to me.

I’m in a good position here so just need to keep scoring, keep killing off what I can and make sure my clock doesn’t go too low. I take out a decent number of Uhlans this turn, finish off the Pikemen and disrupt a jack to reduce Jim’s impact next turn. The score goes to 8-5.

Jim attempts to take out the Phoenix but leaves it on a few boxes, and the bulk of his force is basically gone now. He ends his turn on just 18 seconds with the score 8-6.

I clear my zone and flag again, dealing what damage I can quickly to the rest of his army. The score moves to 10-7.

With little left Jim chooses to wait for the clock to tick over, ending the game.

VICTORY

Another really good game against Jim, and it is always nice to be able to grind out a victory against a player as strong as him. I really like the way this list attritions and am feeling more and more comfortable with it. I didn’t get an awful lot of work from Edrea, only removing one cloud on one turn, but the threat of her meant that Jim could never be really safe, and keeping her back to stay safe was a better decision in this cast.