Game 305: Garryth2 vs Old Witch 2

Game 305 – Vs Jonny Jennings – Khador – 10/02/19

My list:

Garryth, Eye of Vengeance (Defenders of Ios)

-Harpy

-Harpy

-Moros

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Lys Healer

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Heavy Rifle Team

Max House Ellowuyr Swordsmen

-House Ellowuyr Swordsman Officer & Standard

Max House Ellowuyr Swordsmen

-House Ellowuyr Swordsman Officer & Standard

His List:

Zevanna Agha, the Fate Keeper (Wolves of Winter)

-Rager

-Ruin

Greylord Forge Seer

Koldun Lord

Koldun Lord

Doom Reaver Swordsmen

-Greylord Escort

Doom Reaver Swordsmen

-Greylord Escort

Doom Reaver Swordsmen

-Greylord Escort

Doom Reaver Swordsmen

-Greylord Escort

Doom Reaver Swordsmen

-Greylord Escort

Min Greylord Outriders

Second game with Garryth2, and my first against the new reworked Doom Reavers, played by Jonny and led by Old Witch 2. Jonny won the roll to go first and we got moving.

Witch puts up her 18” Wind Wall and the everything runs up the table. It is a pretty daunting sight to be honest.

I am far more scared of the Outriders than I am of the Reavers due to their magical sprays, so I push up on the right flank whilst holding back on the left, hoping that things would look better over there next turn. Garryth casts Road to War allowing him to kill on Doom Reaver and a Harpy to kill a second. It’s a start I guess. The Ellowuyr on the right use their Mini-Feat.

I was so pre-occupied with the sprays from the Outriders that I completely forgot that UAs have them as well. I lose 8 Ellowuyr from my right unit to the mistake. Aside from that Jonny pushes up, not wanting to commit too much into my guns, and the Outriders run hard up the left flank, putting my in real danger next turn.

I have to deal with them, so the left AFG turns to see two of the unit, hitting one of the 8s required to kill them. My Ellowuyr go pretty crazy this turn, Cleaving through a lot of Doom Reavers, and (along with shooting from the Harpies and right AFG) removing 3 of the UAs to reduce the incoming sprays. Garryth Feats to make it very difficult for Jonny to deal with my forward models. I don’t score the zone I cleared, because I’m great at this game. 0-0.

My Feat stops most of Jonny’s retaliation on the right with Garryth even shooting off one of the Doom Reavers. Ruin is pushed out of the zone by a Harpy but still kills a couple of Ellowuyr. On the left Jonny casually reduces the armour of the AFG by 4, and reduces it to 7 boxes with a couple of attacks. Nobody scores 0-0

Doom Reavers are one of those opponents where it is difficult to see how well the game is going, but I definitely feel that I’m in a good position at this point. I take out the Rager, making Witch very scared of Eiryss, and keep everything important out of range of Ruin. On the left I continue to grind through the infantry, and in the centre Moros does great work working through the support solos. I score the right zone to lead 1-0

Jonny clears the left zone by finishing off the AFG, and runs his last Outrider into my backfield to threaten my support next turn. Ruin continues killing what he can, but Jonny’s momentum has gone now. 1-1

The game is really a clearup from this point. Garryth and the AFG take out Ruin, my HRT turns round to finish off the Outrider and the Harpies shoot the objective. At the end of the turn I have a 4-1 lead and Jonny has the Witch, a Koldun Lord and one Doom Reaver. He concedes.

VICTORY

Going into this game I thought the matchup was pretty good, but then when Jonny started pulling magical sprays out of every orifice I realised I was in real trouble. But the list worked, you don’t need a lot of Ellowuyr to survive in order to grind through the Reavers and Cleave is almost equivalent to Berserk once you have two players spacing properly. The difference was that I had enough guns to make the difference, and Road to War was huge in making up the range deficit created by Wind Wall. I definitely don’t think that this list is the finished article, Ellowuyr just aren’t worth 21 points in their current state, but as a framework I’m really happy with the list.

Game 301: Issyria vs Vlad3

Game 301 – Vs Jim Gradwell – Khador – 03/02/19

My list:

Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn (Legions of Dawn)

-Imperatus

-Phoenix

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

House Shyeel Artificer

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Min Dawnguard Destors

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard Bearer

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Vladimir Tzepesci, Great Prince of Umbrey (Jaws of the Wolf)

-Devastator

-Devastator

-Juggernaut

-Juggernaut

-Marauder

-Marauder

Greylord Forge Seer

-Berserker

Greylord Forge Seer

-Berserker

Ragman

Yuri the Axe

Kayazy Elinators

Round 3 of the UK Invitationals took place the next morning, and I was drawn against Jim, who I seem to meet at every event we both play in. Jim was very hungover in this game, and definitely not at the top of his game. I was expecting him to drop Vlad1 with Doomreavers, but instead he went for his “safe place” of Vlad3. Either way, it was going to be an Issyria drop, and with Jim giving me the first turn we got moving.

After a failed experiment last game I go back to putting Admonition onto the Phoenix and, as ever, Inviolable Resolve on the Sentinels. Everything runs up.

Vlad puts up Hand of Fate on himself and casts Wind Wall, moving up a bunker of heavies all completely within 3” of him to be protected from my Tridents. One Jack takes each flank to protect the bunker.

There’s no real way in here, but even with Infernal Machine his Jacks don’t threaten far, so I move up to prepare for a Feat next turn, being aware of Vlad’s personal 14” threat. I take a couple of shots into some jacks, but make sure that my Tridents will be guaranteed 3 Power Tokens for Feat turn. I don’t contest the right zone at all, because I’m great at this game.

Jim accepts my gracious offer of a free CP, also moving a Forge Seer to his flank. The bunker continues to walk up the table. 2-0 to Jim.

Having checked the rules on the Devastators (they can be slammed, they just stay standing) I realise I can deliver Imperatus to Vlad. The Phoenix takes out the Juggernaut behind the Devastator, allowing a Trident to Slam it over Vlad, knocking the latter down. Eiryss strips him of his Focus and a single Side-Step delivers Imperatus, who takes him out.

VICTORY

I think that this Issyria list is extremely difficult to bunker against, with the huge non-linear threat of Imperatus. We discussed the game afterwards as Jim’s hangover was fading and looked at ways he could have stayed safer, and had this game gone long it could have ended up difficult for me to grind through. Either way, I’ve made it to 2-1 and in a decent position for a positive result.

Game 296: Goreshade4 vs Vlad2

Game 296 – Vs Jonny Jennings – Khador – 12/01/19

My list:

Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven (Defenders of Ios)

-Chimera

-Harpy

-Harpy

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Ghost Sniper

Ghost Sniper

Heavy Rifle Team

Heavy Rifle Team

Min Houseguard Halberdiers

-Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Ryssovass Defenders

-Soulless Escort

Max Ryssovass Defenders

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion (Armoured Corps)

-Devastator

-Kodiak

Man-O-War Kovnik

Man-O-War Strike Tanker

Man-O-War Strike Tanker

Man-O-War Suppression Tanker

Man-O-War Suppression Tanker

Kayazy Eliminators

Kommandant Atanas Arconovich & Standard

Max Man-O-War Demolition Corps

-Sergeant Dragos Dragadovich

Max Man-O-War Shorctroopers

-Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer

Man-O-War Siege Chariot

The final round of day 1 is agains Jonny's Khador. In terms of qualifying for the top pod of day 2, 2 2-1 players would make it, so at 2-0 I was in a good position. I didn't think my D&C was going to be strong though, so this did feel like a must win game. It was an onvious Goreshade4 drop for me, despite getting destroyed by Rob's Man-O-War list a month ago. I learnt a lot from that game and was confident I could take this down. Jonny wins the first turn and we get moving.

With 8 Advance Move units on the table its a fair while until we even get to turn 1, and the lines are already closing pretty quickly. For Jonny's part, he runs everything up, putting Assail on the Devastator and Hand of Fate on the Shocktroopers.

I can get use out of clouds this game, but with Vlad having Wind Blast I have to be clever with their placement and use them essentially as a defence buff for my troops. I place 2 down, making sure they can't be removed by a single spell, and put Dauntless Resolve on the Max Halberdiers. I get up the table, staying out of threat of all but the guns and Chariot.

Jonny makes an ill considered charge with his Chariot into my Halberdiers, forgetting about Set Defence and thus only killing one. IT is compounded by bad luck as he fails to hit my Harpy with the cannon. Everything else continues it's slow trudge up the board, with the Suppression Tankers putting down Covering Fire to protect from my Ryssovass.

It is Feat turn for Goreshade4 as I definitely want to Feat first in this matchup. I plan how to get an Alpha and spot that I can get a few guns onto one of the Suppression Tankers. I take it out, put Hand of Ice on the Shock Troopers, and charge the Ryssovass and Halberdiers into them and the Chariot. I don't roll superbly on the Men-O-War, but take 3 out and damage others, but the Chariot goes down with a bit of help from the Ryssovass on the right. I walk Goreshade to the flag to start scoring at 1-0.

Jonny has a tough decision to make this turn. He has some bits on the left flank that he can kill without being effected by my Feat, but little in the centre or right. He does opt to Feat defensively, and runs both Eliminators up into Goreshade to threaten next turn and give an awkward DEF20 to worry about. I tough quite well on the Ryssovass, preventing him from scoring his flag. I stay 1-0 up.

I have the opportunity for a second alpha here, but the Feat makes some targets extremely difficult to deal with. I get lucky on the Eliminators, hitting a boosted 13 from Goreshade on one, and an unboosted 7 from Halberdier CMA on the other. I switch Hand of Ice onto the Kodiak, and remove it and the Strike Tanker on the right in melee, with my guns taking out the final Suppression Tanker. Some good dice in this turn for sure. I score my flag again to lead 2-0, and my attrition lead is growing nicely.

Jonny feels that the attiriton game has completely gone, and he has lost all real ways of contesting the right flag and zone. He kills what he can but can't even clear his flag (Ryssovass have been so good this game) allowing me to move further into a 3-0 lead.

I nudge Goreshade into the zone to score 2 and win 5-0.

VICTORY

It was difficult to sum up in the report but I can't understate how good the Sniper package was in this game. Their constant damage was great to finish off damaged Men-O-War and along with the Harpies and Rifle Teams provided the constant damage the list needed to swing the attrition. At 3-0 I qualified for the top pod on day 2, which also contained my Cygnar opponent from today along with Circle and Cryx.

Game 287: Goreshade4 vs Zerkova1

Game 287 – Vs Rob McCormick – Khador – 2/12/18

My list:

Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven (Defenders of Ios)

-Chimera

-Harpy

-Harpy

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Ghost Sniper

Ghost Sniper

Heavy Rifle Team

Heavy Rifle Team

Min Houseguard Halberdiers

-Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Houseguard Halberdiers

-Houseguard Halberdier Officer & Standard Bearer

Max Ryssovass Defenders

-Soulless Escort

Max Ryssovass Defenders

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Koldun Kommander Alexsandra Zerkova (Armoured Corps)

-Marauder

-Spriggan

Man-O-War Kovnik

Ragman

Kayazy Eliminators

Max Man-O-War Bombadiers

-Man-O-War Bombadier Officer

Max Man-O-War Demolition Corps

Max Man-O-War Shocktroopers

- Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer

Max Man-O-War Shocktroopers

- Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer

Second Steamroller of the weekend sees my second final, which means I must be doing something right despite my lists hardly being an optimal pair. This time I was up against Rob McCormick and his incessant puns. He writes a blog himself and his thoughts on the event and our game can be found HERE. I didn’t feel like I had a great answer to his Man-o-War list, but Goreshade had brought me this far through the event so off we go! I won the first turn and we got moving.

Its another super-live scenario so I just need to get up the table as quickly as possible. Dauntless Resolve goes on the max unit of Halberdiers.

Rob runs up all his forces, with Zerkova moving up and beginning a “cloud wall battle”. Some of my min unit of Halberdiers are shot off by the Bombadiers.

I am able to sneak Eiryss around the building and through the clouds, landing a Disruptor Bolt on Zerkova (needing an 8 to hit). It takes both Rob and I by surprise and to be honest I don’t really know how to best capitalise on the situation. I put some shots into the Khador troops but don’t achieve too much. Goreshade Feats.

With no focus Zerkova’s options are fairly limited, and a large part of Rob’s turn is spent making sure she survives the next turn. She Feats, significantly limiting my options and the Khador army removes a portion of my army. Rob doesn’t want to kill too much and give me a huge stack of focus, and instead concentrates on the scenario game, scoring his own zone and contesting mine to move 1-0 ahead.

None of my pictures show this well, because of an unfortunate building in the way, but I have a pretty decent assassination run on Zerkova. I can fire off 3 Light of Dawns at models next to her, catching her with blast damage at dice -8, before putting in a Mini-Feated 4 man CMA form the Halberdiers (48% according to Oddsmachine after the event). After the first 2 spells I had done no damage and so abandoned the whole plan. Instead I did what damage I could, and scored my zone and flag to level at 2-2.

In response, Rob killed a lot of stuff, and pushed really deep into my army, killing a lot and pushing the line of battle a long way up the table. He only scored 1 more point, but I knew the game had gone, and conceded.

DEFEAT

It is strange what writing these reports does sometimes. I don’t like to make excuses in them at all, but I was very tired during this game. 9 tough games and a lot of driving over the weekend had really taken it out of me and as a result I did not play this well. Even looking at it now I realise that the game was far from over. I had enough on the right flank to take that next turn and with Eiryss could have at least postponed the issue of the Spriggan in the centre, pushing it out of the zone to keep scoring myself. I think I would have lost on scenario in the end, but still had a lot of fight left in the game. I think part of my reasoning in going for the assassination was that I was tired and had the opportunity to end the game quickly. I finished the event in 2^nd, which is still something to be pleased with in an extremely strong field. More importantly, I have found a list that I am really enjoying playing. My issue is that it doesn’t pair with Vyros, but I’ve been wanting to drop him for a long time. So now the new search begins for a Goreshade pair, and it will probably involve Tridents. Thanks for reading.

Game 276: Elara2 vs Vlad2

Game 276 – Vs Jonny Jennings – Khador – 21/10/18

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:

Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion (Armoured Corps)

-Devastator

-Juggernaut

Man-O-War Kovnik

Man-O-War Strike Tanker

Man-O-War Strike Tanker

Man-O-War Suppression Tanker

Man-O-War Suppression Tanker

Kayazy Eliminators

Kommandant Atanas Arconovich & Standard

Max Man-O-War Demolition Corps

-Sergeant Dragos Dragadovich

Max Man-O-War Shocktroopers

- Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer

Man-O-War Siege Chariot

Back to my Elara list for a game into Khador. Can Man-O-Wars be taken down with pow 9 melee attacks. As suggested in my last Elara report I’ve made a few tweaks to my list, dropping Moros and Narn for an Aspis and the Spears of Scyrah. Having 3 Reach models in the list gives me some great targets for Scything Touch and some shield guards for the turns where I overcommit. I win the first turn and after Jonny’s Advance Moves we get going.

Scything Touch goes onto the Leader of the Spears and everything presses up the table, being careful to stay out of the threat ranges of the Advanced Moved troops.

Jonny mainly moves up and takes a few pot shots into my army. He puts down a Covering Fire in front of my infiltrators. After doing this to other people for around a year I am finding it pretty annoying.

Ambush time. I switch Scything Touch onto an Infiltrator and between a couple from the AD unit and most of the Ambushers I am able to take out both of the tankers on the right flank and the Chariot. It was a pretty good turn.

Jonny Feats and manages to dig pretty deep into my army, setting me a tricky puzzle to solve with surprisingly high defence Demolition Corps.

I counter this by putting out Marked for Death onto the unit and proceed to deal as much damage as possible. I got pretty luck removing the Eliminators, one of which required a hard 9, and was pushing up pretty well until a huge swing of luck for me. I had removed 4 of the Demo Corps which was pretty decent, but a last minute Siren shot into the Kovnik rolled the boosted 14 to kill him, allowing the Kovnik to walk up and take out another Demo Corp. It was a huge swing on a dice roll. I had crushed the right flank at this point and was just trying to retain control on the left. Nobody scores.

Jonny pushes up as much as he can to stop me turning my attrition advantage into a scenario one as well, but isn’t able to do too much damage to my forces. The Shocktroopers are down to a 9 inch threat now which it pretty sad. Jonny scores the left zone to lead 1-0.

I continue to push hard on the right, taking out the Juggernaut and last Demo Corp. I deal some damage to Jonny’s objective and generally spread around the zone to make it difficult for him to score. 1-1.

Jonny goes through a handful of activations before deciding that the game has gone and conceding.

VICTORY

This list plays so nicely when you can crush a flank like this. Yes, Jonny played into my ambushers too much, but even if the Infiltrators had just come on and run he would really have struggled to deal with them with so few meaningful activations. I think the change to the Spears was a great move, as it allowed me to cover say, the whole unit of Demo Corps rather than just a couple of models with Scything Touch. There is a real weakness in terms of scoring flags in the list now, but if you can take the table and attrition game the scenario will tick over through other means.

Game 249: Vyros2 vs Vlad1

Game 249 – Vs Marc Williams – Khador – 01/09/18

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:

Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Prince (Winter Guard Kommand)

-Juggernaut

-Marauder

-Marauder

Winter Guard Gun Carriage

Winter Guard Gun Carriage

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Gobber Tinker

Min Winter Guard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Min Winter Guard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

Winter Guard Field Gun Crew

Blood an Oil was an event where I finished 5^th last year, and really put myself on the map in terms of the national scene. This year it and the Nationals have essentially swapped places on the calendar, avoiding the Nationals feeling like WTC prep. I took my WTC pair, and was at a slight disadvantage with it being a 2 list D&C event. Round 1 saw me up against Marc with Khador. I won the first turn.

Deceleration and run.

Vlad moves up, casts Signs & Portents and starts shooting, spreading a bit of damage around my jacks. I probably should have held a bit further back to avoid this turn 1 barrage.

With Hunters Mark I can get 3 Griffons into the right gun carriage, so I build up Synergy on the left before charging in, with some spiky dice meaning that the second Griffon takes it out. Vyros Feats.

More guns and Vlad Feat powered Heavies power into my lines, and som clever use of knockdown guns prevent me from using my Feat effectively. I do move Vyros up late in the turn after the jacks had activated though, forcing Marc to desperately try to protect Vlad from assassination. 1-0 to Marc.

In order to get into range of Vlad I have had to move out of pathfinder range of the objective, so Vyros will have to cast Easy Rider to get to the caster. The Manticores and Aspis work to clear out the line for Vyros, who charges in and despite some shaky dice is able to take Vlad out.

VICTORY

-      I shouldn’t have been in range for the turn 1 shooting, which would have left my jacks in much better shape for Marc’s next turn.

-      I was pleased with how I used the Feat though, waiting until the last model was going to die to reveal the Vyros threat, which ultimately won the game.