Game 28: Garryth vs Butcher3

Game 28 – Vs Chris Tapper – Khador – 14/05/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

His List:

Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (Winterguard Kommand)

-War Argus

-War Argus

-War Dog

-Ruin

-Kodiak

-Juggernaut

-Marauder

Winterguard Gun Carriage

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Max Winterguard Rifle Corps

-Winterguard Rocketeer

-Winterguard Rocketeer

-Winterguard Rocketeer

Winterguard Field Gun

Winterguard Mortar

My last game at the Welsh Masters saw me face the same opponent as the first, Chris Tapper who I had played on the Friday evening as a practice game. I have no intention of playing the identical matchup, and wasn’t bothered about my final result, so I dropped in Garryth to see what he could do. Chris had no such gentlemanly instinct and dropped Butcher3 again. Chris got fist turn and the last round begun. A week on I can’t exactly remember the details from this one and my picture taking wasn’t particularly strong, so please bear with me.

Chris ran up with Silence of Death on Butcher. The jacks spread out and the Kodiak moves up aggressively. The Kodiak is in range of Helios’ gn if he tramples so the AFG knocks it down, before Helios pulls it in. With only 2 bought attacks available I don’t kill it but it is crippled and well out of Butcher’s control area. Garryth casts Mirage on the Sentinels and Sentry on the AFG

I had positioned Dahlia so badly and with no transfers she was shot off by the Winterguard, taking Skarath with her. This was a stupid mistake that I can only put down to a long weekend of gaming. Other than this he moves up and puts some shots into my army. Chris’ big mistake comes when he hits the Sentinel leader with a shot, not killing him but still triggering Vengeance.

The Vengeance moves from the Sentinels finish off the Kodiak, and between that and Mirage then move in range for some juicy charges. The AFG aims and knocks down Ruin and the Marauder, the former of which is pulled in and destroyed by Helios. The Sentinels charge in to the Gun Carriage and Marauder, killing the Carriage and doing significant damage to the jack. One Sentinel charges the War Dog, killing it and removing Guard Dog from Butcher.

Butcher’s army shoot off the Sentinels an consolidate towards the left flag, taking some pot shots at my objective along the way.

In my turn Helios charges in and removes the last 2 heavies and Garryth moves to the right flag to score and go 1-0 up (in my haze I thought that it was 2 for dominating the flags, which would have given me a real chance at a scenario victory. I am not sure what I would have done differently had I known otherwise)

Butcher charges in and kills Helios, before feating to go back up to full focus. At this point the game is kill Butcher or die for me.

The AFG slams a wardog over him, knocking him down, before Garryth moves in. I need to roll a 5 on the Gallows distance to pull him in but only push 1 inch, not even taking him out of Sac Pawn range of his Winterguard. With no way out of the game I shake Chris’ hand.

DEFEAT

I’m not taking too much from this game. Had I dropped Helynna I’m pretty sure the result would have been the same as on the Friday night but I really just wanted to play Garryth after 4 straight games with Pacific Rim. I was tired and made mistakes but it was a fun game nonetheless. The combination of AFG and Helios really shone in this game which was something I wanted to take forward into future lists.

I had a great time at the Welsh. I was frustrated by some of my bad play but it is still early days for me in the faction. The main thing was I felt extremely enthused to see what else the faction had to offer and can’t wait to try out some new list ideas.

Game 23: Garryth vs Kromac1

Game 23 – Vs Rebecca Ward – Circle Orboros – 13/05/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

Her List:

Kromac the Ravenous

-Ghetorix

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Gorax

Blackclad Wayfarer

Lord of the Feast

Max Tharn Blood Pack

Shifting Stones

Shifting Stones

Game 2 saw me up against a clubmate Bex, but who I hadn’t played in a long time due to her moving away from the game a bit. She had a pair of Kromac1 and Krueger1 but both lists were slightly limited by the models she had painted (The Welsh runs prizes for those playing fully painted). I decided to drop Garryth as I liked his chances into either list and wanted to avoid being list-locked later in the event. Bex dropped Kromac1, and after a quick read to remind me how he worked, we got to it with me winning first turn.

Standard running up from Garryth with the Sentinels gaining Mirage and Sentry on the AFG. The scenario is the pit so my force keeps very tight together. The circle forces run in response, with the Tharn flanking and the beasts hugging the forest on the right. Wild Aggression goes on one Stalker, and Inviolable Resolve goes on the other.

My main aim this turn is to kill Ghetorix, and he is within 17” of the Helios so it is definitely possible. The Sentry shot from the AFG is out of range of the beasts and so attempts to scatter onto The Lord of the Feast, missing him. The Sentinels Mirage out of the way of Helios. Aiming for 2 shots, the AFG shoots a Knockdown shot at Ghetorix, hitting and putting him on the ground, the second shot destroys a stone. Helios advances up and pulls Ghetorix up the board before punching it dead with enough Focus left to put up both Repulsor Field and Distortion Field. On the left flank Skarath sprays off 2 of the Tharn and puts up Counterblast. Garryth runs to the flag, hoping to score next turn.

Circle turn 2 sees a lot of Sentinels die, but not too much else. Inviolable Resolve is dropped and The Lord of the Feast kills the 2 that were sent to engage him. Warpath is cast and the Wild Aggression Feral is sent in. He kills 4 Sentinels, moving the other Feral, before moving himself with Warpath and killing 3 more Sentinels, finally sprinting back to the forest. The other Feral doesn’t see any need to charge in but sadly can’t get fully back into the forest. The Tharn advance up allowing Skarath to Counterblast one, and the other 3 miss their attacks. We both score our flags to go to 1-1.

This turn’s mission is to kill the non-Prowled Feral, finish off the Tharns and clear the centre zone, allowing me to go to 3-1 with nothing being able to contest my flag. On the left Garryth shoots off one of the Tharn and Skarath kills the other 2 in melee. Between Vengeance and their charges the Sentinels clear the zone, with the banner running to contest Kromac’s flag. The last turn was repeated by the AFG knocking down the Feral and Helios pulling it in for the kill. 3-1 to Retribution.

With no way to catch me on scenario Bex concentrates on points. She finishes off the Sentinels and scores her own flag, going to 4-2 on her turn and I just end mine immediately to win 5-3.

VICTORY

The combination of AFG and Helios into Circle seems really good. Yes Bex could have used Inviolable Resolve and the forest better but the list has so many good angles that it is difficult to stop them all. Garryth once again did basically nothing but upkeep spells but sometimes that’s all he has to do. Glad to be on the board and ready to press on.

Game 20: Garryth vs Amon Ad-Raza

Game 20 – Vs James Snodgrass – Protectorate of Menoth – 12/05/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker

-Imperatus

-Moros

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

-Soulless Escort

His List:

High Allegiant Amon Ad-Raza (The Creator’s Might)

-Crusader

-Crusader

-Crusader

-Templar

-Dervish

-Dervish

-Dervish

-Dervish

-Vigilant

-Devout

Max Choir

Min Choir

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

The Covenant of Menoth

Vassal Mechanic

Wrack

Wrack

James had been watching my previous game against Chris and wanted to have a practice game into Retribution. We both knew that I couldn’t really drop Helynna into Amon, and so the matchup was Garryth against Amon (his other list was Thyra and just wouldn’t have had the hitting power to kill Helios). I wanted to try out the ADR options that I had in the list and seemed like as good a time as any to not be using Helios, so he was swapped out for Imperatus, Moros and the Soulless Escort. I won first turn and we got to it.

Garryth ran up, with his usual suite of upkeeps out (Mirage on the Sentinels and Sentry on the AFG). Everything moved into position with Imperatus aggressively up the table due to him having no guns in his army. Amon ran his forces up, with no non-magical shooting on the jacks, and I was presented with the following puzzle for my turn 2.

With Imperatus in position and only the Vigilant protecting Amon I see the opportunity for an early assassination. The run involves knocking down the Vigilant, removing cover from Amon, charging Imperatus into a Cruader (with Hunter’s Mark for range increase and free charge) and Sidestepping into Amon for the kill. The Sentry shot knocked down the Crusader, but the AFG had to advance to get range for the Vigilant, but 1 shot was all it needed to knock the Vigilant down. Garryth advances within 12 of Amon and feats, attempting a couple of gun shots that do nothing. I did my turn order wrong here. Had I done Garryth first then Amon wouldn’t have been able to transfer the AFG slam damage from the Vigilant. It is immaterial in the end as Imperatus is able to get in and one-shot Amon.

VICTORY

Safe to say my first ever game with Imperatus felt good. James made a couple of mistakes that could have changed things in this game, but realistically if keep Imperatus back the assassination is going to be possible at some point. Had he prayed for no spells rather than no shooting then Hunter’s Mark wouldn’t have been usable unless I had found a Choir to target and charge. He could also have had the Shield Guards or Covenant closer to the Vigilant, but was focusing on protecting the bulk of his army. I love Garryth for the assassinations that he can set up with his feat, hopefully the weekend would bring more opportunities.

Game 16: Garryth vs Kaelyssa

Game 16 – Vs Paul Sheard – Retribution of Scyrah – 26/04/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

His List:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper

-Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker

-Chimera

-Hydra

-Hydra

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Ghost Sniper

Ghost Sniper

Mage Hunter Assassin

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

With my list pair all but confirmed for the Welsh Masters it is now just about getting games in with the list pair so that playing the lists become second nature. I also need to play games with the ADR elements of the list, but I need to get them painted first. Paul wanted to try out his assassination style Kaelyssa list, with the unsubtle tactic of backlashing my caster to death. Helios may well become a liability.

I won first turn and ran up, with Mirage on the Sentinels and Sentry on the AFG as usual. Paul doesn’t advance too strongly, flanking slightly with the mage hunters, and preparing for a devastating turn of shooting. Kaelyssa feats to protect his forces.

The AFG fires its 3 AOEs into the MHSF on the right, killing 3 and scattering onto the Ghost Sniper, killing it. Helios tramples up, pulls in the Chimera but misses the attack, he puts up Distortion Field to make the shooting more difficult. The Sentinels and Skarath advance up the left flank ready to deal with anything that comes forward. Dahlia follows up by sitting on the left flag.

Kaelyssa puts Backlash on the Helios and his force goes to town. Unfortunately for Paul his rolls to hit were not great (the MHSF needing 8s to hit was a real struggle) and his damage rolls spiked a lot, meaning that by the end of his turn the Helios had 16 boxes left, but after avoiding damage with focus Garryth had only taken around 5 boxes. In going for the assassination Paul hadn’t contested either the central or left flags, allowing me to score 1CP. 1-0 to Retribution

My game plan becomes scoring 3CPs and blocking Paul out of the left flag. With only Eiryss and the Chimera contesting the right flag, Helios moves up, boosts an attack into Eiryss, killing her, and pushes the Chimera away from the flag. On the left Skarath sprays off 2 MSHF and the Sentinels charge in, killing more and providing a solid wall. Garryth realises that he can only lose by getting killed and runs away, and I but 3 solos on the left flag to stop him sniping any out. 4-0 to Retribution.

Paul realises he cannot stop me winning on scenario but has an outside chance of assassination as the Helios has 16 boxes left, and after focus Garryth has 15HP. Unfortunately for Paul he activates Kaelyssa who hits but massively spikes damage, almost killing Helios. His Ghost Sniper finishes it off before Paul goes points fishing, managing to snipe out Dahlia and Skarath and scoring a point on the right flag. He cannot stop me scoring my 5^th point. 5-1 Retribution

VICTORY

Paul was very unlucky with his assassination run and I have no idea whether average dice would have made it work or not, but it felt like the Distortion Field was so strong here, pushing him from needing 6s to 8s. Again Garryth did nothing but upkeep spells over the course of the game but the army supports itself so well that this and providing threat is all he really needs to do. I really like the list and can’t wait to play it into more games.

Game 15: Garryth vs Rhyas

Game 15 – Vs Paul Cooper – Legion of Everblight – 23/04/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

His List:

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight

-Succubus

-Proteus

-Scythean

-Seraph

-Naga Nightlurker

Strider Deathstalker

Strider Deathstalker

Fyanna the Lash

Forsaken

Forsaken

Max Blighted Nyss Swordsmen

-Abbot & Champion

The final game of the Steamroller saw me face against Legion again, with Paul choosing to drop Rhyas without her sister. Again this is a Warlock I have no experience with but know that her feat can get models into crazy places, especially with Colossals on the table. Thankfully I wanted to get some more practice in with Garryth so only had 2, rather than 3, huge bases for her to abuse. I won first turn for the first time in the event.

I ran up with the usual combination of Mirage on the Sentinels and Sentry on the AFG. The Sentinels hold way back due to the presence of the 2 Deathstalkers, with the hope that the AFG can deal with them before they become an issue.

Paul aggressively runs up, spreading the Swordsmen out in order to mitigate the AFG’s blasts, but leaves Rhyas slightly to the side of the cloud that his Fuel Cache had put out.

I forgot to take a picture at this point due to the excitement of seeing an assassination opportunity. Not wanting to commit too soon I first fired the 3 AFG shots into the Swordsmen to see if I could thin them out. When only 1 died it became obvious that assassination was my only way out. I knew I could get Garryth within 12 of Rhyas to feat (meaning she couldn’t transfer damage) and put 2 fully boosted pistol shots into her, and Skarath could advance up 6 to get her within the 10 inch spray. This essentially meant that if I could hit 2 out of 3 boosted 10s the damage would almost definitely be there to kill her. Garryth’s first shot missed but the second spiked on damage to leave her on around 6 boxes, Skarath moved up and sprayed, getting the 10 to hit and killing Rhyas.

VICTORY

So often at the end of a 4 game day you just want to find a way to end the game quickly and I was really struggling to see what my path to victory was if the game went any distance. It would have been interesting to play it out but I think the Sentinels would have died quickly and left me with far too few attacks. Proteus with Rhyas seems a great combo to me too.

I finished the Steamroller at 2-2 which was my aim going in, and I am definitely leaning towards using this pair at the Welsh, partly as I’m running out of painting time. Still not certain that the Lys Healer is required but I know that as soon as I remove her I’ll get Garryth knocked down and killed so she’ll stay for a while at least. A fun day of games against a great variety of opponents.

Game 14: Garryth vs Makeda1

Game 14 – Vs Konrad Krolicki – Skorne – 23/04/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

His List:

Archdomina Makeda

-Basilisk Krea

-Molik Karn

-Titan Gladiator

-Scarab Pack

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Tyrant Rhadeim

Orin Midwinter

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Max Praetorian Ferox

Min Paingiver Beast Handlers

Legends of Halaak

Game 3 of the Steamroller saw me finally face off against Skorne in Mark 3. I have very little understanding of what they do and know that Konrad is a good player with them, having won a steamroller himself a couple of weeks before. I had basically pre-decided to use Garryth in this round regardless of match-up and the fact that 2 of his 3 lists had Ferox made me think that Helynna wouldn’t be a great answer.

Konrad took the first turn and ran, with Quicken going onto the Ferox to further increase their threat range. Much of his force gathers around the Krea and Makeda to make use of the Krea’s animus. I run everything, but only advance with the AFG to put out some difficult terrain. Two Sentinels are thrown forward as a sacrifice in order to attempt to trigger Vengeance.

A fairly uneventful turn from Konrad sees a sole Ferox sent out to kill the 2 Sentinels, but fails to break armour on either. The rest of his force just shuffles around waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

I start to try and get some work done but the proliferation of Shield Guards just mean that nothing much happens. The two Sentinels that Konrad failed to kill Apparition beyone it to charge 2 others, with the rest of the unit charging the forward one; but a missed attack and a Tough means that the one he sent in was the only one to die. The AFG lays down a decent blanket of rough terrain and Garryth moves up to try to threaten.

Anyone who knows anything about Skorne (I do not count myself amongst their number) knows that Garryth is far too close. One sidestep from Molik is all that is needed and with Carnage he only needs 8s to hit and trivially kills Garryth.

DEFEAT

A frustrating loss as the game didn’t really go long enough for me to learn anything of significance other than “Molik Karn can charge a billion miles”, which I suppose is still a useful lesson to have reinforced. Thankfully the quick game gave me plenty of time to get my head together an prepare for the final game of the day.

Game 11: Garryth vs Kaya2

Game 11 – Vs Paul Sheard – Circle Orboros – 15/04/17

My list:

Garryth, Blade of Retribution

-Sylys

-Helios

Arkantrik Force Generator

Dahlia & Skarath

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl

Lys Healer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer and Standard

His List:

Kaya the Moonhunter

-Laris

-Druid Wilder

-Feral Warpwolf

-Ghetorix

-Warpwolf Stalker

-Wild Argus

-Rip Horn Satyr

Blackclad Wayfarer

Gallows Grove

Sentry Stone & Mannekins

Shifting Stones

-Stone Keeper

My first game with the Retribution forum flavour of the month sees me up against Paul, a Retribution player himself who is making the switch over to Circle. As a side note, in my first 11 games with Retribution I have now played 10 different factions. The only change I made to the accepted Garryth wisdom was droppin the 3^rd Mechanik and the Soulless Escort for a Lys Healer, with the thought that it saves Garryth needing Heightened Reflexes on himself, or allows him to cast it on the Sentinels.

I won the first turn and ran my models up. Sentry was cast on the AFG and Mirage on the Sentinels. Paul responded by running his forces up and attempting a couple of Mannekin sprays on Skarath, but none of them did any damage.

My turn 2 was fairly uneventful with the huge amount of Stealth in the Circle force making it hard for me to damage anything. The AFG put a load of difficult terrain on the table and Lanyssa moved to within command of the Feral with Winter Storm up to deny it Pathfinder. Skarath sprays off the 3 Mannekins and Garryth shoots a stone like a badass.

Kaya’s feat turn strikes and is pretty devastating. The Stalker charges in assisted by Dogpile and Hunter’s Mark and killed around 6 Sentinels before teleporting back. I had misplaced Lanyssa by about 1/8^th of an inch so she met a similar fate by the hand of the Feral. A spawned Mannekin contests the left flag and sprays another Sentinel, and the Gallows Grove moves up to score on the right flag. 1-0 Circle

Despite being 1-0 down on scenario I realise that I can score 2 points this turn fairly safely and start to put pressure on Paul. His feat has probably moved his beasts too far back and as such I have a turn of relative safety. The Sentry shot kills the Gallows Grove and the Vengeance and Apparition moves put the Sentinels in position to charge. I have never played a list where there is so much to do in the Maintenance and Control phases. Skarath clears out the Mannekin, Helios charges and kills the Sentry Stone, pulls in the Argus and puts some damage on it, while on the right flank the AFG runs to the flag. In the centre the Sentinels kill the Wayfarer and generally just get in the way. 2-1 Retribution

Primaled, Forced Evolutioned Ghetorix hits pretty hard, and leaves the Helios on about 4 boxes. The Argus combostrikes and finishes it off but vitally fails to get within range of the flag. Not being able to charge the AFG is an issue for him so he opts to just run the Feral in to engage. All of my Sentinels give up their lives for a good cause. 3-1 Retribution

With Skarath sat on one flag getting my 4^th point I needed to remove either the Feral or the 2 Stones and Keeper. Either way the Feral needed to be on the ground so my Sentry shot knocked it down and did a few boxes of damage. The AFG could then aim and either put 2 POW 16s into the Wolf leaving Garryth to finish it off, or as I went with, put a shot into the Keeper and one in the stone, killing both. Garryth charged the last stone in contact with the flag and score the 5^th Control Point.

VICTORY

Well I wasn’t expecting scenario to be Garryth’s course to victory but I was pleased with how I switched up to a scenario game after Paul’s feat turn. He could and should have contested the left flag during his turn but I may still have been able to clear the 3 flags. The 3 AFG shots and 2 from Garryth would have gone into the Warpwolf (or even better, Gallows may have pulled it far enough away) and the Stones could have been removed by Skarath but it would have been tricky. I think had he not moved as far back on his feat turn I would have been in real trouble but that comes from experience. In general I really enjoyed Garryth and can’t wait to get more games in with him.