Game 311: Helynna vs Terminus

Game 311 – Vs Becky Red – Cryx – 22/02/19

My list:

Magister Helynna (Forges of War)

-Chimera

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Lich Lord Terminus (Dark Host)

-Barathrum

-Slayer

-Nightwretch

Wraith Engine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Machine Wraith

Machine Wraith

Max Bane Knights

-Bane Knight Officer

Max Bane Warriors

-Bane Warrior Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Bane Warriors

-Bane Warrior Officer & Standard Bearer

It isn’t long now until the York event where I have to play Helynna so I wanted another practice game or two to get back into Rhythm with her. Bex wanted to try out the new Bane Knight Officer and so the leftmost unit of Bane Warriors are Knights. With Bex winning the first turn we get moving.

Terminue casts Malediction on himself and everything runs up, pushing over to the left flank under the protection of the forest and the theme benefit clouds.

The sheer number of Banes in this list is pretty intimidating, but right now I can afford to get up the table aggressively to try and exert some scenario pressure. I don’t have any cheap throwaway pieces to contest with so I need to take a strong opening position.

Becky pushes up further through the forest, moving her Machine Wraiths over to the right flank to contest and score the flag and my zone in later turns.

I want to start scoring as much as possible, and so concentrate on clearing the Banes out of the central zone. A Manticore and Discordia get the job done, allowing me to put down 2 Covering Fire templates down, before moving out of threat with Rhythm of War. I score to lead 3-1.

At this point Becky commits her force en masse, running through to engage my lines with the Bane Knights and some of the Warriors, holding back with others to charge into me next turn. One of the Machine Wraiths runs to the flag to contest, and so we both score our own zones to move to 4-2

I need to score 3 uncontested points to win, which realistically means m own zone and flag, and either the flag or central zone to win. The flag would be easier, so I arc a Force Strike from Helynna, taking out the machine Wraith. From here it is a matter of clearing out the Banes around my flag, which I manage before moving into Becky’s zone with Rhythm of War. I win 7-2 on scenario.

VICTORY

Becky was probably a bit slow to move towards the scenario elements in this game, and underestimated how easily I would be able to remove the Machine Wraiths. From there it was a matter of keeping the pressure on and killing the Banes as they came forward, which was honestly pretty satisfying

Game 309: Helynna vs Borka2

Game 309 – Vs Gary Stewart – Trollbloods – 17/02/19

My list:

Magister Helynna (Forges of War)

-Chimera

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws (The Power of Dhunia)

-Trollkin Runebearer

-Earthborn Dire Troll

-Earthborn Dire Troll

-Mulg the Ancient

-Rok

-Storm Troll

-Troll Axer

Troll Whelps

Troll Whelps

Max Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes

-Stone Scribe Elder

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Another practice game with Helynna and I’m up against Borka2 again, but this time in the Beast theme. My game plan will be much the same as it was against Rob, but with three differences. Firstly, the beasts threaten a bit further as Gary has a Troll Axer for Rush. Secondly, we are on a much more live scenario than before and thirdly, I don’t win first turn this time. With some issues to play around, we get moving.

Borka puts up Counter-Charge and Snow Shroud and fuels the stone before everything runs forward.

I get up the table as far as safely possible. Neither Earthborn has a speed boost at the moment so the threat ranges are fairly manageable.

Gary Feats with Borka and moves his battlegroup up, putting the Earthborn animus on himself (as he would for the rest of the game). He moves a Whelp to the right flag to allow him to score in my turn.

One of the weaknesses in this list is not really having anything to score flags, so I have to take an Arcanist out of the right to do so. This turn is a lot of awkward positioning. I largely back off to avoid having to Feat, giving up some scenario presence in return for a turn of safety. To counteract this, I am able to charge a Trident up on the left, take out the Gobbers and a couple of Whelps before repositioning out of range of the Earthborn. I lead 2-1.

Gary is uncertain how to play this turn, as I don’t think he expected me to back off so aggressively. He charge the Axer into my left Trident, leaving it on 8 boxes, before pushing up with the rest of his battlegroup, hoping to overwhelm me with targets. 2-2.

This is the turn where I need to get work done, and I don’t do particularly well. The Earthborn on the right being Defence 16 against my shooting means the Trident doesn’t get much damage on it, and the Manticore I commit can’t finish it off due to having to boost to hit. On the left things go better, the Trident takes out the Axer, and Discordia and the Manticore combine to take out a Hand of Fated Mulg. 3-3.

Gary does what he can into my feat, but struggles to get too much damage done. The right earthborn gets Primal and reduces the Manticore to around 8 boxes, the left tickles Discordia a bit, and Rok walks through the forest to kill the Chimera. 4-4

Here we go, its been a long time since I had to write up a turn I played this badly. It should have been simple, kill 2 heavies, leave just Rok alive and stroll to victory. Instead I triggered Counter-Charge on Borka, who hit the Crit-Smite on my fully fuelled Manticore, as a result the left Earthborn survived to threaten me next turn. Then some pretty bad dice (Trident midding a boosted 8) meant that the right Earthborn just wouldn’t die, taking my entire right flank to remove it. I do clear the top left zone through to at least pull ahead 6-5 on scenario.

Time to see if I get away with my mistake or not. Helynna is behind a wall with 3 Focus so essentially a 17/20 caster but this could still easily go wrong. Gary plays it well, clearing out the blocking Manticore with Rok before putting Primal on the Earthborn and sending him in. He rolls pretty well on the assassination, hitting 2 of 3 unboosted 9s to hit, but some slightly under average damage rolls mean I survive with a single box, for the second time in a weekend. The game is over here, as I would go 2 CPs up in his turn (the assassination was his last activation) and would just need to clear my right zone to win.

VICTORY

I played a lot of this game really well, before completely falling apart at the end. I could easily have got both heavies onto the Earthborn without triggering Counter-Charge but just forgot about it and nearly threw away a really strong position. I really enjoy playing Gary, and he’s becoming a really strong opponent in what is a great Merseyside meta. I won’t have too many more games before the York event, and then after that I will be building towards the Welsh and then the WTC. Garryth2 coming out means it’s a really exciting time for the faction and there seem to be so many options at the moment. Its now been 40 games since I last played Vyros2, I feel like I need one of those Alcoholics Anonymous badges.

Game 307: Helynna vs Borka2

Game 307 – Vs Rob Brown – Trollbloods – 15/02/19

My list:

Magister Helynna (Forges of War)

-Chimera

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws (Storm of the North)

-Trollkin Runebearer

-Earthborn Dire Troll

-Pyre Troll

-Rok

Fell Caller Hero

Valka Cursebor, Chieftain of the North

Max Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes

-Northkin Elder

Northkin Bear Handlers & Battle Bears

Northkin Bear Handlers & Battle Bears

Northkin Fire Eaters

Northkin Fire Eaters

Max Northkin Raiders

Second practice game with Helynna and I’m up against Borka2 played by my clubmate Rob, who inexplicably had avoided being on this blog up to now. I win the first turn and we get moving.

Helynna puts up Deceleration and everything gets up the table, with Rhythm of War allowing everybody to get into Discordia’s Kinetic Field bubble for some extra armour.

I’ve kept my support far enough back to be out of the Fire Eater’s threat (as much by luck as by judgement) and so they get lit up by the Pyre Troll and set some of my Jacks on fire. Other than that he gets up the table, with the Bears taking the snow drift to give themselves Stealth. Borka Feats.

Much like the last game, I don’t want to Feat this turn. If I can hold back just out of threat I can then take a strong attrition position next turn. I shoot off the Fire Eaters that had come forward, and Discordia sprayed down the conga line of Bears and Handler, killing one bear and Deafening the leader. She was then Slipstreamed and Rhythmed back to safety. I shoot off a handful of Raiders.

I had left both Tridents just within range of the ambushing bears, doing rough maths to work out that they shouldn’t kill it. And I was right; the unit ambushing on the left and rolling fairly well to leave me on 7 boxes. What I hadn’t calculated was Rob killing the Deafened leader, allowing the last Bear in the unit to charge and finish it off. Rob then turned to an attempted assassination, with my caster being on zero camp (probably an error). 2 Fire Eaters could get sprays on her, but one was killed by Covering Fire and the second missed. Rok’s spray made contact and left her on a handful of boxes, so Rob went all in and went for Borka’s Sprays. The first hit and left her on a single box, with the second (unboosted and needing a 10) thankfully missing. I survive the turn. 0-0

Despite Borka being right in front of my with no Fury, this still isn’t a trivial assassination as he ran up with everything he had to jam me. Eventually I solve the problem by smiting the Earthborn at Borka with a Chain Attack from Discordia, knocking him down and clearing a route for a Manticore to finish him off.

VICTORY

My mistake this game was thinking I needed Hand of Fate to take out the Fire Eaters. This cost me three focus on Helynna, but my jacks would still have easily been able to remove them. With 3 extra Focus (and ideally being in range of Kinetic Field) the assassination would never have been on. As it was, I had to rely on a bit of good luck to survive. Rob was a great opponent and we have a lot of fun in this game, Helynna isn’t as bad as I feared.

Game 306: Helynna vs Harbinger

Game 306 – Vs Nick Hancox – Protectorate of Menoth – 15/02/19

My list:

Magister Helynna (Forges of War)

-Chimera

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

-Manticore

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

-Soulless Escort

His List:

The Harbinger of Menoth (Exemplar Interdiction)

-Hierophant

-Reckoner

-Sanctifier

Exemplar Bastion Seneschal

High Exemplar Gravus

Scrutator Potentate Severius

-Dervish

Min Choir of Menoth

Max Exemplar Bastions

Max Exemplar Cinerators

-Exemplar Cinerator Officer

Max Exemplar Errants

-Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard

At the recent UK Invitationals two things came to light. The first was that my 3-2 performance was enough to get me a place on England Roses for the upcoming WTC, and I am delighted to be back on the team for another year. The second was that I lost a bet, resulting in my having to play Helynna at the next 2 day event I play in, which will be in York in early March. Not wanting to go in completely unprepared I wrote up a list that is similar to her old style, but with the additional tricks that we can pull now that we have the Trident and Discordia in the Forges theme. My first practice game is against Nick with his Menoth, and with me getting the first turn we get moving.

With Rhythm of War starting in play from my theme benefit, and Deceleration being pretty much useless due to all the Blessed weapons I don’t need to do anything with Helynna this turn, so everything just runs up the table, with Discordia putting out her Kinetic Field.

Harbinger also doesn’t have much to do with her Focus on turn 1, and so just gets up the table. Nick takes a few shots with Errants into my lines but gives up when he realises they are going to be pretty useless following my Feat.

I really want to hold my Feat for a turn, and so I decide just to hold back and shoot, putting some Covering Fire in front of the Errants. A number of the Bastions are out of Martyr range, so they go down quickly, with Nick choosing to save health on Harby rather than overly Martyr the rest. I Rhythm back to relative safety and hope that I survive the next turn in reasonable shape. On the left my Trident shoots off the Dervish.

The reasoning for Nick not Martyring the Bastions much was so that he could use his health resource to charge the Errants through the Covering Fire before my Feat was up. He does so and between them and Gravus they take a huge chunk out of one Manticore, and chip some damage onto another. The Cinerators move up on the left but it doesn’t feel that that will be where the game is won or lost. Harbinger ends the turn on around 10 health and with the score at 0-0.

The key for me this turn is to clear out the front line, take out the objective and Feat to really blunt Nick’s response. I know how much Nick wants to keep Gravus alive, so punch him down until he can’t afford to Martyr any more. I move the Reckoner in closer with a push from Helynna and a Smite from the left Trident, who also rolls some hot dice to take out the objective. The rest of my Battlegroup clear out the Errants and the right Trident pushes up to deal some damage to the Sanctifier. I score 2 to lead 2-0.

Nick now has the unpleasant task of playing an uphill attrition game into Helynna’s Feat. He puts every attack he can into my Tridents, but can only reduce both of them down to 5 boxes. In realisation that the game is lost, he tries to see if Harbinger can finish them both off. He rolls the boosted 12 needed to take out the right, but cant get close enough to get the Pow needed on the left, and leaves it on a couple of boxes. With Harbinger on no camp and 2 boxes in front of my army, Nick concedes.

VICTORY

Nick is new to Harbinger and probably didn’t play a perfect game here, but I was still really pleased with how I dictated the pace of the game and held my Feat back an extra turn. Doing do would have essentially given me two full turns of attrition, which was more than enough to win the game. I really enjoyed playing the list, which is a real change form how boring I found her pre-CID, so I was looking forward to getting in some more games.

Game 153: Helynna vs Venethrax

Game 153 – Vs Brian Russell – Cryx – 01/02/18

My list:

Magister Helynna (Legion of Dawn)

-Harpy

-Siren

-Siren

-Chimera

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

His List:

Lich Lord Venethrax (Black Industries)

-Kraken

-Deathjack

-Slayer

-Slayer

-Leviathan

-Ripjaw

-Ripjaw

-Ripjaw

Soul Trapper

Soul Trapper

Warwitch Siren

Game 2 of my retesting of Helynna and I am up against Brian using his Venethrax list. A lot of Counter-Charge means I would have to be pretty careful with positioning but I should be able to grind through the jacks with sheer weight of Weapon Masters. Brian wins the roll to go first and we get moving.

Venethrax puts out Lamentation and the Jacks run up the table, with Deathjack holding back a bit to avoid being taken out early.

I run up as far as I can whilst staying out of his charge threats with Terminal Velocity. Helynna sets up Rhythm of War and casts Deceleration to reduce the impact of his shooting.

A Ripjaw is able to get a Terminal Velocity charge off onto the furthest forward Manticore, but without rolling a Crit he does pretty minimal damage. The Leviathan shoots into my Sentinels, killing 2, before Brian takes advantage of a positional mistake by me and is able to walk up, toe the forest, and put 4” reach attacks into the Manticore, killing it. The Kill Shot removes another Sentinel from the right unit.

Time to clear out some Cryx jacks. The Chimera runs up to allow Helynna to cast Hand of Destruction onto the Kraken, before using her gun to push the left Slayer towards more Sentinels. I start charging Sentinels into the Kraken, followed by the Manticore, who is unfortunately Counter-Charged by the Slayer, but deals no damage under Helynna’s Feat. The left Sentinels take out an Arc Node and leave the Kraken on 2 boxes. The right Sentinels take out the charging Ripjaw and leave the Slayer with just it’s right arm. My last activation is shooting a boosted Pow12 from a Siren into the Kraken, but dice fail me and it does no damage. I score both outer zones to lead 2-0.

Brian continues to grind through my forces, but can’t do too much to ARM23 Sentinels. The Leviathan charges in and kills 3, contesting the right zone, whilst the remaining heavies also remove a few from the blue unit which had been Mortalitied by Deathjack. Venethrax moves up to get aggressive and nobody scores.

I need 3 points to score and with just 4 models across the zone’s I think I can do it. Vengeance finished the Kraken and the blue Sentinels move carefully to all be able to charge the Slayer, leaving Deathjack unengaged but unable to Countercharge. They destroy the Slayer. Helynna aims and uses her gun to push Deathjack out of the left zone, leaving just the Leviathan scoring. A Siren and 3 charging Sentinels are enough to destroy it, allowing me to score 3 and win 5-0 on scenario.

VICTORY

After a couple of practice games back with Helynna I am quickly coming back round to why I dropped her in the first place. She delivers Sentinels pretty well but not as well as Kaelyssa, she has some good battlegroup buffs but not as good as Vyros2, leaving her in an awkward spot. She is great with the new lights and I am seriously considering a list with double Sentinels and then 7 or so lights instead of the Manticores, but then that just feels like a Vyros2 list to me, so I suspect I will be trying that with him pretty soon. Rhythm of War is an incredible spell and the rest of her tools are situationally great, but it just doesn’t add up to enough for me, so I will be looking elsewhere.

Game 152: Helynna vs Rask

Game 152 – Vs Adam Jones – Minions – 01/02/18

My list:

Magister Helynna (Legion of Dawn)

-Harpy

-Siren

-Siren

-Chimera

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Officer & Standard Bearer

His List:

Rask (Will Work For Food)

-Gatorman Soul Slave

-Swamp Horror

-Blackhide Wrastler

Meat Thresher

Bog Trog Mist Speaker

Brun Cragback

-Lug

Dahlia Hallyr

-Skarath

Kwaak Slickspine & Gun, Croak Sorcerers

Rorsh

-Brine

Boil Master & Spirit Couldron

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Every 50 games or so I seem to go back to Helynna. I like her a lot as a caster but whatever list I try always seems to be lacking… something. I haven’t tried her since the new Vyre lights came out so decided to get a couple of games in to see whether they fill the gap. The first was against Adam and his Rask list, with a bear of all things. Adam won the roll to go first and we got going.

Rask runs his forces up, and my word they are seriously quick under WWFF. Admonition is put up on the Swamp Horror and Fury on Brine. Brun puts up Stonehold on himself and sends his pet bear straight up into the zone. On the right the Meat Thresher and Dahlia combine to trigger Stealth on Skarath who takes up an aggressive position.

I feel up against it right from the start and so mainly decide to spread out and see what happens. Helynna casts Rhythm of War and Deceleration and hides in cover. Most of my guns shoot into the Battle Engine, reducing it to around 15 boxes, before moving back a little to make it difficult for Adam to deal with them easily.

Rask feats and begins to pressure on the right flank. Skarath charges in and removes 3 Sentinels before putting up Counter-Blast whilst the Meat Thresher gets up into me and kills another 5, but can’t remove the Officer. Rask Feats to protect his forces and pushes up on the left with Brun going to the flag to hopefully score next turn.

Rask’s feat is pretty nasty but Adam is spread out wide enough to leave some stuff unprotected. The Sentinels Vengeance attacks and regular charges are enough to finish off the Meat Thresher and I start to shoot into Skarath, dealing around half damage to it. I contest the zones and Adam’s flags, Feat, and hope for a better opportunity to come up later. (Note, after the below pic was taken I used Rhythm of War to move most of my jacks back 3”)

Adam commits his forces and goes at me hard. On the right Skarath takes out most of the remaining Sentinels, leaving just one contesting the zone. The forward consesting Sentinels die before Brine charges into the contesting Siren, dealing minimal damage. Lug has to come in, and throws it out of the zone with a Chain Attack. Finally the Swamp Horror charges in, using his 4” reach to pull in and kill 2 or 3 Sentinels. Adam scores the left zone and his flag for a 2-0 lead.

Counter-Attack time, and my first opportunity in the game to get into him properly. I start on the left, with Helynna casting Hand of Destruction onto Rorsh, allowing the Chimera to charge and kill it, removing Brine. In the centre Vengeance moves and Sentinel charges remove the Swamp Horror and, in an impressive feat of dice, 3 Sentinels take out Lug. The right is more subdued as I just finish off Skarath and reposition some of my jacks to the strong looking left flank. I don’t contest Adam’s flag though, and he moves to 3-0.

Adam only needs to clear my right zone to win and with the Wrastler and Overtake has the threat range to do it. He clears out the Sentinel blocking the way, before powering him up with Boundless Charge, Rage, Puppet Master and Fury. He charges in and manages to clear the zone with a couple of attacks to spare. He scores 2CP to win 5-0 on scenario.

DEFEAT

It is a long time since had a game where I lost sight of scenario like this, but I’m not entirely disappointed by the performance. I should have left Lug alone and used the 3 charges into him to contest the flag, which would have bought be another turn to possibly turn the game around. I felt on the back foot for the entire game which is not how I like to play, but the list performed pretty well; taking out 4 heavies in a turn is always satisfying. More testing needed and thankfully I had another game lined up straight away.