Game 281: Elara2 vs Damiano

Game 281 – Vs Mark Ellis – Mercenaries – 1/12/18

My list:

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

-Siren

-Siren

-Chimera

-Aspis

Arcanist Mechanik

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

-Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Spears of Scyrah

His List:

Captain Damiano (Kingmaker’s Army)

-Buccaneer

-Nomad

-Nomad

Kell Bailoch

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Stannis Brocker

Min Greygore Boomhowler & Co.

Min Steelhead Halberdiers

Min Steelhead Halberdiers

Max Trencher Infantry

-Trencher Infantry Officer & Sniper

-Trencher Infantry Rifle Grenadier

-Trencher Infantry Rifle Grenadier

Max Trencher Infantry

-Trencher Infantry Officer & Sniper

-Trencher Infantry Rifle Grenadier

-Trencher Infantry Rifle Grenadier

First tournament of the weekend is in Southport at the new “Dice & Decks” shop. 10 people attended meaning the event ended up going 3 rounds. In the first round I was unfortunately matched up against fairly regular opponent Mark, who was back on Mercenaries for a brief Legion break. He ended up dropping Damiano, a list that used to give me nightmares, and I went for Elara. Mark won the first turn and we got moving.

The last time I played Shadows against Mark’s Damiano list I deployed like an idiot and lost half of my army to Grenade blasts top of 1, not this time! Mark still moves up and takes some shots but doesn’t deal too much damage and I have a chance to get into position properly. He puts out Sure Foot onto the right Trenchers and Road to War up on himself.

With everything dug in I can’t do too much this turn so I shoot off a couple of Trenchers and run up to jam as best I can. I need to weather this turn to have time for my ambushers to come in.

I’d like to say at this point that I hadn’t completely forgotten about the ambushing Boomhowlers, but I’d be lying. They are the least of my issues though, as I lose a lot of Mage Hunters to super-accuate shooting from the Trenchers, with the Halberdiers running past to jam my lines. Boomhowlers don’t end up doing much, as they miss quite a few attacks into my Strike Force

I counter ambush my infiltrators on and manage to push back the Mercenary lines pretty successfully. The Sirens are great at unjamming my front lines and then everything just powers through from there. It wasn’t until I was looking back at these pictures now that I realise how strong a turn I had. I score the right zone to lead 1-0

And from there Mark doesn’t think he can come back, and concedes.

VICTORY

I don’t think Mark was in as bad a place as he thought, but I get how the turnaround in my last turn could make it look pretty awful. The game would have played out to me losing more Strike Force under Damiano’s Feat, then realistically removing everything that wasn’t a Nomad in the next turn. Nice to get an event off to a winning start especially against a top player like Mark. On to the next round.