Game 260: Vyros2 vs Dreamer

Game 260 – Vs Mat Hickling – Grymkin – 14/09/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon      

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

The Dreamer (Dark Menagerie)

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

For a number of years every Friday night at the WTC has seen the Ashes grudge match between England and Australia. This year it was an 11 vs 11 event, with matchups drawn at random on random tables. I was drawn against Mat with his Grymkin pair of Dreamer and King of Nothing. Despite trying to psyche each other out, I think we both knew the matchup would come down as Vyros against Dreamer, and with Mat winning the first turn, we got moving.

Mats army runs up with Dreamer putting Mirage onto one of the Gorehounds on the left flank.

Vyros moves up and throws out a couple of Twisters in the general direction of the rightmost Gremlin Swarm, with neither scattering onto it. The rest of my army moves up, staying out of threat of the heavies, but within range of the Gorehounds to tempt them in.

Mat does commit with a couple of Gorehounds, sending a third on a hard flanking manoeuvre to threaten my support. The 2 charges to a bit of damage, but nothing too serious. The rest of the Grymkin forces line up behind, and Dreamer puts down an Artifice of Deviation to make it more difficult for me to counterattack.

I look at an assassination run on zero-camp and corporeal Dreamer, but at the time couldn’t find a way to go it without giving the Dreamer transfers. I’m looking at it again now and think it might have been possible by casting Easy Rider with Vyros, then using Beat Back from the Aspis to open up a charge lane for the front Griffon. Instead I went for some attrition, hoping my Feat would blunt the retaliation I take out both Gorehounds and a Cage Rager, leaving a second on relatively few boxes. Nobody scores

Mat begins his retaliation, taking out a Manticore and 3 Griffons. He activates the Gorehound pretty late on in the turn, killing 2 support models and allowing Vyros two Feat moves to get into position to attempt an assassination. He takes a Free Strike on a Phantasm, and since I know I’m all in on the assassination attempt I kill it, triggering Sacrifice on the Cage Rager. Mat scores the left zone to lead 1-0.

I opt for going for the assassination with Vyros’ gun rather than spells, and so need to clear him a landing zone. I manage to do so with a Griffon and send Vyros in. I need 9s to hit with dice-4 damage, so really need a miracle. I roll exactly a 9 on the first hit, rolling a 15 on 3 dice to leave her on a handful of boxes, the second shot comfortably hits and finishes her off.

VICTORY

We shake hands, look at the table and comment on how lucky I was. Then we look at the table again and realise that Vyros is stood next to a Gremlin Swarm. With Annoyance factored in we could easily know that the first show would have missed, and so it was a simple act to reverse the result, giving Mat the deserved win.

DEFEAT!

Disappointing to lose the game in this manner but these things happen, and I’m glad that we spotted it quickly enough to get the right result. Had I not started my turn 2 looking to assassinate I think I could have played a better attrition turn and possibly swung the game my way a bit, but it is a very tough game. Mat was a great opponent and despite him winning this game England ended up as Ashes winners 8-3. I retired with my team to discuss some pairings options and got a good night’s sleep ahead of the main event.

Game 248: Vyros2 vs The Child

Game 248 – Vs Chris Young – Grymkin – 30/08/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon      

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

The Child (Dark Menagerie)

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

My pair doesn’t have a particularly good Grymkin drop, but having looked at a few matchup possibilities with the team there is a chance that I will end playing into them. My best hope is knowing the matchup better than they do, so more practice it is. I win the roll to go first.

Everything including Vyros runs up the table.

Grymkin go into a big bunch, with the Swarms and Gorehounds hard on the flanks.

I move around, staying out of threat of most of his forces, trying to tempt something in.

Chris commits with a Cage Rager and 2 Gorehounds, taking out a Griffon and spreading around some additional damage. 1-0 to Chris.

With plenty of targets in range its time to get some work done. I manage to take out one of each heavy and the three Gorehounds, 2-0 to Chris.

Chris takes out both Manticores and 2 lights leaving me in a pretty rough spot. 3-0

I need to take out the Skin&Moans on the left to have any chance of coming back into the game, so I throw everything at it, leaving it on a handful of boxes. I concede.

DEFEAT

-      I was asking quite a lot to take out that Skin& Moans but if I had I think I could have ground the game out.

-      It is a tricky matchup but doesn’t take much of a slip from my opponent to tilt it in my favour

Game 245: Vyros2 vs Dreamer

Game 245 – Vs Ben Hampshire – Grymkin – 25/08/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon      

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

The Dreamer (Dark Menagerie)

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Gorehound

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

All Grymkin practice is good Grymkin practice. Grymkin practice against one of the best Grymkin players in the world is even better. I go first.

Everything runs

Ben bricks up, puts down an Artifice for cover and moves up the table.

I stay out of threat of all but the first Gorehound, and position to force Ben to make a move soon.

Ben charges a Gorehound, kills the Artificer and Sprints away. The brick pushes on. 1-1

I deal what damage I can with my guns and push up slightly on both flanks, holding a number of jacks back. I score to lead 3-1, but considered sacrificing an Arcanist for another CP. I decide against it as it is vital for the long attrition, but it may have been an error. 3-1.

Ben takes out an Aspis, a Manticore and a Griffon. 4-3 to me.

I strike back, taking the models I can. I remove a Sking & Moans and a Cage Rager 5-4 to me.

I have overextended Vyros. Dreamer moves up and makes him Stationary, before a Skin & Moans moves up and takes him out.

DEFEAT

-      I lost this game on T3 where I gave Ben too much, I should have held back further, or pushed on, scored 3 and gone for the early scenario win.

-      This matchup is much harder on this scenario, as there is no objective to help against Gremlin Swarms

Game 232: Vyros2 vs Old Witch3

Game 232 – Vs Ben Hampshire – Grymkin – 28/07/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon      

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Artificer

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Zevanna Agha, the Fate Keeper (Dark Menagerie)

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Crabbit

-Frightmare

-Gorehound

-Rattler

-Rattler

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Final round (for me, the event went to a 4^th but I always had to drop) saw me up against fellow England WTC player Ben Hampshire, and his Grymkin. I was really glad to get the opportunity to try Vyros2 into Dark Menagerie, and he OW list was an ideal test. I won the first turn.

Everything runs. Including Vyros. He is right up there, like a champion.

Ben moves up in a classic brick formation, with Reconstruct on one of the Skin & Moans.

I decide to back off a bit, out of threat ranges on the right, but threatening the entire zone so that I can react as soon as Ben comes in to contest. I shoot around half the boxes off the front Cage Rager.

Ben commits fairly heavily to take out 2 Griffons, with the Cage Rager, Rattler and Gorehound. Ben scores his own flag to lead 1-0.

I counterattack hard, taking out the Gorehound, both Cage Ragers and unfortunately leaving the left S&M on around 5 boxes. I feat and score 2 to lead 2-1.

The 2 S&Ms take out my 2 Manticores and Ben contests my scoring elements. 3-2 to Ben.

I finish off the injured S&M, the left Rattler and the Frightmare, again scoring 2 CPs retake a 4-3 lead.

Ben takes out 2 Griffons and levels at 4-4

OW has had to spend down to 0 to stay even in the attrition game, so I have a pretty good assassination on the table. Vyros clears the models in the way and I build Synergy by accidentally killing the Death Knell (OW wasn’t in the bubble). Hunters Mark is cast on OW and the Griffon goes in. Without Concentrated Power it is a 70% chance to kill but she is left on 3 boxes. 5-5.

Ben plays well to unpick the counter assassination, moving through the Griffon with Curse of Shadows, removing the blocking Artificer and getting the S&M in to take out Vyros.

DEFEAT

-      This was an amazingly fun game, and I was surprised at how much game Vyros had into Grymkin. More practice needed but the Gremlins weren’t as much of an issue as I’d feared they would be.

-      Rough day results wise but really useful in terms of experience.

Game 194: Kaelyssa vs Dreamer

Game 194 – Vs Laurens Tanguy – Grymkin – 19/05/18

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper (Legions of Dawn)

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Dawnguard Destor Thane

Dawnguard Destor Thane

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

Min Dawnguard Destors

His List:

The Dreamer (Dark Menagerie)

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Cage Rager

-Crabbit

-Gorehound

-Rattler

-Skin & Moans

-Skin & Moans

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Gremlin Swarm

Lady Karianna Rose

Death Knell

Round 1 of the Welsh Masters sees me drawn against Laurens, one of the Belgian contingent that had come over for the event. He was using Grymkin which, as I decided against Elara2 Shadows, pretty much meant I was going to drop Kaelyssa for her ability to deal with Gremlin Swarms. He dropped The Dreamer, and with me winning first turn we got moving.

This is a fairly dead scenario in my view, especially with Laurens having 4 Gremlin Swarms to effortlessly contest with, so I settle in for a protracted attrition game. Refuge goes onto Kaelyssa and Banishing Ward on Helios to protect against Weaken before everything runs up, with the Destors flanking hard on the left.

The Grymkin move up in a brick, with one of the Gremlin Swarms taking up a position to contest the right zone straight away. Dreamer puts down an Artifice of Deviation and casts Mirage onto one of the Skin & Moans.

Time for a fairly standard Kaelyssa Feat turn. She puts up Phantom Hunter on Helios who walks up and pulls the Cage Rager into range of the Sentinels who charge and kill it. Eiryss has little to do in this matchup so just charges and kills a Gremlin Swarm. The Destor Thane has an amazing series of dice rolls to almost kill off the Rattler, but he survives on a few boxes. The Destors flank even more.

Laurens kills what he can under my Feat with the Destor Thane and Eiryss both going down to Manifest Destiny attacks before a Cage Rager Tramples up to kill off a couple of Sentinels from the right unit. The rest of the battlegroup holds back in what was developing into a fairly cagey game.

This is the turn where I need to get a lot of work done so I take a bit of time to make sure I get it right. One of the Destors on the left can get a charge on the wounded Rattler, but has to take a Free Strike from the jamming Gorehound, which sadly takes it out, the rest of the Destors fight the light beast in a battle that goes on basically all game. That leaves me with no chance but to give Laurens an option on Arcana; Helios goes in and kills the Cage Rager, meaning that he can either Sacrifice to heal the Rattler, or save it for Pandemonium to stop the Sentinels charging. Recognising the importance of the Rattler in the matchup he goes for the former, allowing the Sentinels to charge into the right Skin & Moans, but some attacks missing means that it is left alive. Nobody scores.

Laurens retaliates by taking out most of the remaining Sentinels from the right unit, moving the second Skin & Moans over to do so. He was hoping to clear a way for the right Skin & Moans to get to Helios, but doesn’t quite manage to do so. Nobody scores.

I start the turn with 2 Gremlin Swarms base-to-base with Helios so need to clear at least one off to give Helios a chance at getting work done this turn, so Kaelyssa charges in and kills one, getting to Refuge to safety before All Fall Down triggers. I have to commit Helios, and unfortunately Laurens hits the -2 to attack rolls on Helios, the one thing I wanted to avoid, so I don’t get a lot of work done on the Skin & Moans. On the left we continue to play with threat ranges and nothing much happens.

Fairly predictably Helios goes down to the 2 Skin & Moans and my right flank is starting to look a bit quiet. But still, nobody scores.

At this point Laurens has very little time left on his clock, and so can really only win by getting 5CPs clear, so the left unit of Sentinels just spread out to contest zones as annoyingly as possible. The Destors kill the Gorehound!

Laurens kills the objective to take a 1-0 lead, but is going to clock before the end of the game.

I run some models to contest more, ensuring that I will win the game, and take out his objective with Destors to level at 1-1.

With only seconds left Laurens manages to clear my right zone to score, but then loses on Deathclock.

VICTORY

This was a really fun game against a great opponent, but absolutely not the 2 hour grind you want at the start of a 4 game day. There were definitely things I did wrong in this game; I should have moved at least some of the right Sentinel unit over to assist in the centre and maybe abandoned going in with Helios once he got the -2MAT. Still, nice to get off the mark with a win, and ready to go into round 2.

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.