Game 312: Ravyn vs Deneghra3

Game 312 – Vs Duncan Harradine – Cryx – 22/02/19

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Fane Knight Guardian

-Hyperion

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcantrik Force Generator

Dawnguard Trident

Dawnguard Trident

Arcanist Mechanik

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Lys Healer

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

His List:

Deneghra, the Soul Weaver (Slaughter Fleet Raiders)

-Satyxis Blood Priestess

-Nightmare

-Nightwretch

-Scavenger

-Deathripper

Axiara Wraithblade

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Ragman

Max Black Ogrun Smog Belchers

Max Black Ogrun Boarding Party

Max Bloodgorgers

-Jussika Bloodtongue

Sharde Dirge Seers

The Devil’s Shadow Mutineers

Game 3 on a Friday evening and I’m up against regular opponent and former Pressganger Duncen. I decide it is the perfect time to try out the silly list I’ve had planned for a while. Ravyn with 5 huge bases and a load of solos designed to keep her alive. It isn’t subtle, but I love the way it looks on the table. If you’re looking for high level tactical play, this battle report isn’t for you. Duncan won the first turn and we got moving.

Deneghra puts up Grave Wind on herself and gives the Bloodgorgers Ghost Walk to get them through the water in front of them.

Ravyn casts Snipe on herself and walks up to shoot into a group of bunched up Trolls with a Blaster shot, killing 3 and Swift Hunting back. She switches Snipe onto a Trident which moves up and kills another. Everything else just runs up to take board position.

Duncan puts out Mortality on the right Trident and Hyperion. He charges a Bloodgorger into the former, dealing minimal damage, and shoots into Hyperion, rolling well to deal 25 points or so. Nightmare runs through the building to engage Eiryss. Deneghra Feats to give herself a big next turn.

Ravyn Feats, and the shooting begins. She starts things off herself by walking up to kill a Bloodgorger before firing a Blaster shot into the rest of the unit. This is the first time I’ve used Ravyn since the rules change and she is so much fun now, as she Sprints back to safety. The rest of my army deals decent damage into the Cryx, taking out Ragman and decent chunks of the infantry, including all of the Dirge Seers at the back. I knock down and Disrupt Nightmare, dealing with him for a turn. 0-0

Duncan has a strong turn, putting Mortailty back out onto the right Trident and Hyperion, before throwing attacks at them until both were dead. He scores the left zone to lead 1-0.

I shoot more stuff, finishing off Nightmare and almost clearing the right zone, but Jussika just wouldn’t die, but thankfully isn’t in the zone to stop me scoring. 2-2

Duncan keeps pushing up, this time taking out my left AFG with the Boarding Party. He scores twice again to lead 4-2.

I remove most of the Boarding Party and move my Trident over to the left to help out, clearing the right zone with the two Fane Knights. Unfortunately I don’t move either of them to the flag, or Ravyn into the zone, and so I don’t score and Duncan goes 5-2 up, winning easily next turn.

DEFEAT

This game wasn’t really about the result and was an absolute blast to play. Some real errors from me all over the place including completely forgetting about Swift Hunter on my Feat turn, and not scoring any points in my last turn. I want to play this list more, but don’t think it’s particularly competitive. I might take it to York alongside my Helynna list and have a lot of fun through the event before concentration on competitive lists from there. I’ll just have to not tell my WTC captain…

Game 146: Ravyn vs Skarre2

Game 146 – Vs Duncan Harradine – Cryx – 09/02/18

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Banshee

-Manticore

Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber

-Harpy

-Harpy

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Spears of Scyrah

His List:

 Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast (Slaughter Fleet Raiders)

-Kraken

-Corruptor

-Deathripper

-Nightwretch

Lord Rockbottom

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

Max Black Ogrun Boarding Party

The Devil’s Shadow Mutineers

Max Bloogorgers

I haven’t played a Shadows list for a long time, and wanted to test whether the age old list of Ravyn plus Mage Hunters was still viable, as well as trying out some Harpies on Elara1. Duncan was using the same list as last game and this time he took the first turn and got moving.

The Cryx forces run up. Duncan chooses not to bother with Death Ward due to all the blessed weapons, but we later consider this to be a mistake. The Bloodgorgers move up the right flank with the Boarding Party on the left. The Kraken presents an imposing threat centrally.

I figure that the best thing to do is go for the first turn Feat and clear out what I can. Ravyn starts and takes a Blaster shot into the Bloodgorgers, killing 2 and knocking down a third. The rest of my forces shoot into the Cryx forces, largely ignoring the Kraken. I kill off 3 of the Boarding Party, the Corruptor and one of the Mutineers. I am satisfied enough with the turn.

I have positioned the Banshee really badly, allowing the Kraken to get into it. Through a combination of Black Spot (cast onto the Mage Hunters), regular attacks and Kill Shot the Kraken is able to put out an incredible amount of damage, killing the Banshee and a whole load of Mage Hunters. On the right one Bloodgorger gets into the Mage Hunters, killing 4 before his Beserk spree ends. Skarre Feats to protect herself, both Arc Nodes, one Boarding Party member and the Kraken. I look at the table and it looks pretty grim.

I continue to chip away at the Kraken on the left, but his Feat makes it difficult, By the end of the turn it is about half dad though, and engaged by the difficult to remove Spears of Scyrah. Mage Hunters on the right charge into some Bloodgorgers, thinning them out further before protecting myself with Covering Fire. I contest all the zones so nobody scores.

The Spears of Scyrah do their job as it takes the Kraken’s full activation to kill the unit. The remaining forces on the left leave me with just 4 Mage Hunters. On the right the Cryx forces can’t quite clear the zone, leaving a single Mage Hunter alive. Duncan still scores the left and central zones for a 2-0 lead.

It is time for Ravyn to get involved, using her impressive personal suite of Blaster, Quick Work and Swift Hunter to clear the zone with a little help from the remaining Mage Hunter and the Manticore, though it takes all her Focus to do so. On the left the Harpies to great work shooting at the Kraken, leaving it weak enough for a single Mage Hunter to finish it off with a charge. The rest of the Mage Hunters finish off the Boarding Party. I score the right zone and Duncan the central to move to 3-1.

With the attrition game having suddenly swung in my favour and my caster on zero Focus Duncan realises that he has to go for a relatively long odds assassination. Rockbottom has a shot on her which misses, blast damage from the Nightwretch deals some damage before Skarre arcs 2 Blood Rains into her. The dice don’t go as he needs and Ravyn is left on 8 boxes. The Deathripper kills another Mage Hunter and Skarre scores the central zone for a 4-1 scenario lead.

With Skarre camping nothing I go for the counter assassination, shooting at her with the 2 Harpies and killing her.

VICTORY

A really tough fun game, and I actually quite like the list. The strong shooting has just enough melee presence to back it up and had I not thrown away the Banshee early on I may have been able to deal with the Kraken sooner. It was great to be able to do some of Ravyn’s trickery without getting her immediately killed. I don’t think the list would ever make it into a competitive pair, but it gives an interesting option with her being on ADR.

Game 98: Ravyn vs Coven

Game 98 – Vs Brian Russell – Cryx – 27/09/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

The Witch Coven of Garlghast

-Egregore

-Deathjack

-Reaper

-Slayer

-Nightwretch

-Nightwretch

Soul Trapper

Warwitch Siren

Bane Lord Tartarus

Max Bane Warriors

-Officer & Standard Bearer

One of my relatively new but quickly improving club mates had been watching my game against Mark, and asked to play into the double colossal Ravyn list. I agreed and then realised why he was so keen when he dropped Coven into me. Always good to practice casters into bad games, so here we go. I won first turn and got moving.

Again nothing unusual for my first turn. Snipe goes onto the AFG, and a Veil of Mists is put down next to the central building. Everything else ran in order to force a first turn feat from Brian.

As predicted, the Coven feat comes out, but some of his flanking forces move up too far. The Bane Warriors gain Occultation and the Egregore runs into an aggressive position to catch as large an area as possible. Deathjack moves behind the building ready to charge through next turn.

Coven’s feat turn is always a tricky one to unravel, but I don’t feel confident in just waiting it out so need to find an avenue to attack. By moving the AFG out of Coven’s aura I am able to shoot at the Reaper, knocking it down and putting a decent chunk of damage into it. The Stormfalls move up and with Brutal Damage shots destroy the jack. The rest of my forces just take up positions ready to take the attack. I stay out of threat of the Banes and put up Repulsor Field on both Helios, ready for Deathjack to come in.

Putting 2 Helios with Repulsor Field next to each other leads to some pretty interesting interactions. Deathjack charges through the building such as that hitting one colossal pushed him back so that he could hit the other. After 2 attacks on each he had finally been pushed out of melee with both but by then boosted damage rolls had done 20 or so damage to each. The Banes continue their advance and the jacks on the left move into aggressive positions.

Having survived the feat turn relatively unscathed it was time to get ahead on scenario and attrition. Ravyn feats to help out the AFG, which knocks down both the Slayer and Deathjack, before both are destroyed by the Helii. I set some Banes on fire, and kill a couple, whilst the left Stormfalls start on the ach node. I score my flag with an arcanist to lead 1-0.

On comes the swarm. The Banes power through into my zone, killing all of the Stormfalls on the right flank. The Soul Trapper picks up a couple of Souls before moving to his flag to start scoring. On the left and in the centre Brian rearranges his forces to make my scoring as difficult as possible. We both score our flags to move to 2-1 to me. Note: The Stormfall on the right shouldn’t be on the table at this point.

You know those tricks that some casters have that are great fun but you know that you end up dead whenever you do them. Ravyn is probably the poster girl for that. On the left flank I clear out the zone, and the AFG shoots towards the Banes, killing the one directly in front of Ravyn. Then she gets to work. If anyone hasn’t seen the interaction of Thresher, Dual Attack, Swift Hunter and Quick Work it is great to see. Ravyn surfs through Banes, shooting Blaster shots each time she kills one, racking up 8 kills before retreating back to her cloud, camping 4. I score my flag and the left zone, and Brian scores his flag to push the score to 4-2.

15/16 statline, in Concealment with 4 Focus, should be fine. NO. The Soul Trapper starts off the assassination by giving the souls to one of the Withershadow, who puts a fully boosted Stygian Abyss into Ravyn, getting the Crit to Blind her. The Coven then fire 3 more in, leaving her on 6 boxes and no focus. The Bane Officer is in range to charge in and finish the job.

DEFEAT

It is a shame that Ravyn dies after doing anything cool but I regret nothing. This was a great fun game with a load of fun moments. Once the first Crit hit (Why does Stygian Abyss always Crit?) the deal was done, and Brian managed the assassination very nicely. I really enjoy playing Ravyn, and just wish she had…. Something else. Coming soon to a CID near you?

Game 97: Ravyn vs Magnus2

Game 97 – Vs Mark Ellis – Mercenaries – 27/09/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

Magnus the Warlord

-Gallant

-Nomad

-Nomad

-Nomad

-Nomad

-Nomad

-Renegade

Anastacia di Bray

Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Harlan Versh, Illuminated One

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

Dannon Blythe & Bull

Still waiting for new themes to land I decided to try a list I enjoyed in the lead up to the Nationals, but didn’t feel was quiet up to making my pairings. Ravyn can catch people out and with her feat and double Helios can get a pretty strong alpha strike. Mark was trying out his Magnus list again, which on paper feels like a pretty good match up for me. I win first turn and we get moving.

If there were such a thing as a standard first turn for Ravyn this would be it. Snipe out on the AFG and everything else runs up into aggressive positions, with the Stormfalls flanking to potentially score on the circular zones later in the game.

Mark does Magnus things. Escort on Magnus to speed everything up and increase his armour, and Bullet Dodger on Gallant to improve its already impressive Def. Everything runs up taking positions granting Cover where possible.

Time for Ravyn’s Alpha. She feats and tries to land a Blaster AOE on Ragman, but scatters away. The AFG knocks down Gallant on the second shot, before the right Helios advances, pulls it in and destroys it. On the left, Helios pulls in a Nomad with boosted shots, but fails to kill it. The Stormfalls finish it off before Repositionning to safety.

Ravyn’s threat ranges are impressive enough that even with Escort Mark is unable to get too much onto me. One Nobad can get onto the left Helios, and with a combination of Rust Bomb, Hunter’s Mark, and Calamity does an impressive amount of damage, leaving me on roughly 20 boxes. Mark also makes a play for scenario, Feating to stop me moving towards his flag and killing all the Stormfalls in the right zone. He scores both to take a 2-0 lead.

With Mark’s counterattack blunted it is time to start cleaning up. I consider moving Ravyn up into a position to use Vortex of Destruction but quickly forget the idea. Between the AFG’s shooting, and the attacks from both Helios, 3 Nomads go down, leaving me in a very strong attrition position. I am able to score the left zone but cannot contest Mark’s flag, so the score moves to 3-1.

Between being so far down on attrition and my having the AFG in the right zone, Mark knows he needs something significant to happen to get back into the game. He takes a chance and the Renegade goes into the AFG, hoping to do enough damage that some spikes on other shots can take it out to clear the zone. Unfortunately the dice don’t go his way and the Battle Engine lives on around half boxes. Despite moving to 4-1, Mark realises that he has no way to get back in the game and concedes.

VICTORY

A rough one this for Mark, as the matchup is very against him. Ravyn is by no means a top tier caster, but this list into a jack spam list with no way to stop Pushes is always going to be extremely strong. I feel like I played the game pretty safely, and other than not contesting his flag earlier (I should probably have sacrificed an Arcanist to stop him scoring a point) I don’t think I made any mistakes. I wish this list were available around November 2016, where Jack spam was everywhere. In the current meta I fear there are just too many counters around.

Game 78: Ravyn vs Aiakos2

Game 78 – Vs Stephen Briggs – Cryx – 25/08/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

Captain Aiakos (Infernal Machines)

-The Withershadow Combine

-Deathjack

-Deathripper

-Stalker

-Stalker

-Kharybdis

Bloat Thrall

Bloat Thrall

Hellslinger Phantom

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

Min Mechanithralls

-Brute Thrall

-Brute Thrall

-Brute Thrall

A second game against Stephen’s Cryx, and both of us trying one of our more “out there” lists. The forest in the middle of the table was always going to make life difficult with Ravyn but I needed to get games in to work out whether she was where I would land for my 3^rd Nationals list. I won the first turn and got moving. Apologies for the lack of pictures in this one, not really sure what happened.

I run up with Snipe on the AFG, and cast Veil of Mists to make it feel like Ravyn’s spell list is worth anything more than Snipe.

Stephen runs up his forces, positioning most of it behind the central forest, and covered by as many of his 3 shield guards as possible.

I figure that if I can scalpel out and incapacitate Deathjack then he will quickly run out of things that can kill Colossals. Ravyn activates first, Feats, and kills the Hellslinger with a Blaster shot. She moves up her Veil of Mists to increase the forest wall in the centre. The left Helios moves up, and shoots Deathjack 3 times, the first 2 being Shield Guarded and the third pulling it out from behind the forest. The AFG and Stormfalls then open up on it, leaving it knocked down with no Cortex and only a handful of boxes. On the right the Helios advances to increase the size of my forest/cloud wall further.

Unfortunately in my turn I had left Ravyn within 17” of Kharibdyss with an upkept Assail, which meant that she was in danger of assassination. Aiakos advances up, Feats, casts Carnage and Scything Touch on a Stalker. The Stalker advances and leaps to Ravyn, dealing 3 damage with its attacks as well as removing both of my focus. Kharibdyss Tramples through the forest before buying the 2 attacks needed to kill my caster.

DEFEAT

Not an ideal game, but it did show up a real weakness in my Ravyn list, in that any medium to large piece of terrain centrally can scupper her game, especially if my opponent can take advantage of it such as by Trampling with a Pathfinder model. Back to the drawing board for my 3^rd list I think, but I was certainly glad I had 

Game 75: Ravyn vs Heretic

Game 75 – Vs Matt Harris – Grymkin – 19/08/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

The Heretic (Bump in the Night)

-Gorehound

-Crabbit

-Crabbit

-Skin & Moans

Death Knell

Glimmer Imp

Lord Longfellow

Witchwood

Max Hollowmen

-Lantern Man

Max Hollowmen

-Lantern Man

Max Piggybacks

Max Piggybacks

Round 3 of the Steamroller and I was delighted to be drawn against the one Grymkin player at the event. I had planned my Ravyn list out as a potential Grymkin drop and was glad to be able to try it out especially as I had really enjoyed my previous game with her, even in defeat. Matt was playing in ADR and switched out the Weaponmaster Dread Rots for the Piggybacks, and I was interested to see how they played out on the table. I won the roll to go first and we got moving. Matt chose the Shroud and Ill Omens Arcana to go with The Heretic’s Reckoning.

Ravyn puts Snipe on the AFG and puts up a defensive Veil of Mists. The colossals and AFG run up the centre and the Stormfalls head towards the walls on the flanks, hoping to use them as defensive positions for shooting.

Matt runs his forces up the table with the Gorehound on the left flank. He puts out a Wall of Fire to use up Fury. The lines are set.

The 2 Helios run up to form a wall with the building whilst my Stormfalls and AFG start with shooting. The AFG leaves the tree on 3 boxes and I can’t finish it off, and slams down the Gorehound. The left Stormfalls finish the Light Warbeast and kill a couple of Hollowmen who had strayed out of The Heretic’s control. The right Stormfalls used Star Strikes to set many of the Hollowmen on fire so as to not trigger any Arcana. This is the basis of the list into Grymkin: The Stormfalls and the Helios can get so much work done without killing a model, giving him no opportunity to trigger an Arcana until I allow him to. Then his options are either -1,-1 or Stealth by which time the turn is over, or to start the Reckoning chain on a model like the AFG, which even at -2DEF and ARM is far enough back to stay safe.

Matt is not in a position to attack the Helios so continues advancing and attempting CRAs into the Stormfalls, but at DEF17 he needs huge numbers to hit and doesn’t manage to take any out. The Skin & Moans is given souls and hangs back hoping to attack later. We both score our zones to go 1-1

This was the turn where I had to get enough work done to win the game, and so order of activations was vital in not triggering any Arcana before I was ready. The Stormfalls on both sides set most of the remaining Hollowmen on fire, catching Lord Longfellow in the process. The left Helios pulls in and kills the Skin & Moans, removing one of the biggest threats from the table. The right Helios killed off the Tree, before pulling in and killing 2 of the Piggybacks on the right, triggering the Reckoning Arcana. The AFG finishes off a load of the Hollowmen on the left flank with a POW 9 AOE shot. We again both score our zones to make it 2-2. (The below picture is taken after fire rolls)

Fury is upkept on the right unit of Piggybacks, who charge into the Reckoned Helios, followed by the Battle Engine and a Crabbit, leaving it on around 20 boxes. Fury is switched to the full unit who charge and roll very well on the left Helios, leaving it on around a dozen boxes. The Hollowmen continue trying to kill Stormfalls, but with limited success. We continue scoring defensively and go to 3-3.

Time to start tidying up and getting ahead on scenario. The left Helios does a sweep to kill 3 Piggys and tough the other 2, buying 2 further attacks to finish off the unit. The other Helios takes out the Battle Engine and a Crabbit. The Stormfall Archers shoot at the objective but can’t finish it off. We both score our own zones but I have been able to clear the left to finally take a 5-4 lead.

With very little left Matt knows the writing is on the wall. The Heretic casts Fury on himself and finishes off the last Helios. Very little is happening in the right zone as our last remaining models are trapped in melee with each other. I score 2 to Matt’s 1 again, to lead 7-5.

All I need to do is destroy the objective and contest his zone to win. The Stormfalls deal with the former, and the last damaged Helios runs up to finish the game 10-5.

VICTORY

There is little more satisfying in this game than having a plan going into a game and seeing it perfectly play out on the table. This was a great fun game against a top opponent, and it was fantastic to see Ravyn be able to have an impact. Even if she does nothing else, moving Snipe around and feating is a strong enough toolbox to look at. I really enjoyed playing the list again and it took another step towards making my final tournament pairing.

Game 74: Ravyn vs Haley3

Game 74 – Vs Glenn Wareing – Cygnar – 19/08/17

My list:

Ravyn, The Eternal Light (Defenders of Ios)

-Helios

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Stormfall Archers

Stormfall Archers

His List:

Major Prime Victoria Haley

-Centurion

-Thorn

Captain Arlan Strangeways

Journeyman Warcaster

-Charger

Arcane Tempest Rifleman

Arcane Tempest Rifleman

Ragman

Gun Mage Captain Adept

Max Trencher Infantry

Max Storm Lances

The second list I was wanting to try to fill out my three lists for the Nationals was a Ravyn list I thought about some time ago. Playing with Garryth back at the Welsh showed me what a strong combo the AFG and Helios are, so I looked at turning that to 11 with this list. Glenn was playing Cygnar and dropped Haley3, which didn’t feel like a disaster, as whilst I would strggle to shoot through the cloud wall, he would potentially not have enough armour cracking to grind through 2 colossals. Glenn won first turn and we got moving.

Glenn brought out the Past and Future versions and put Tactical Supremacy onto the Trenchers, who advanced, clouded and Repositioned back. The junior put Arcane Shield on the Storm Lances who ran up the flank.

Glenn has set up the cloud wall in such a way that I can just about see Future Haley. The AFG gains Snipe and sends some AOEs in her general direction, getting lucky with the scatters and killing a Trencher, toughing another, and reducing both Riflemen to 3 boxes each. Rough terrain was also put down to impede his advance. The rest of my forces ran up ready to contest the zones next turn.

There is not much for Glenn to do this turn unless he wants to basically throw away his Storm Lances, so he just continues advancing behind the smoke cloud, and casts Temporal Distortion to increase his defence further. He makes a mistake and there is a gap in the cloud that gives me a way to get into his lines. The Storm Lances wait for their opportunity to attack.

This is the turn where Ravyn needs to get work done, I spot a possible assassination run and realise that I can go for it without risk, and play out a strong attrition turn should it not work out. Ravyn starts by firing a Blaster Round at a Trencher, deliberately missing to hope for a good scatter. I get lucky and it floats onto Ragman, killing him. Ravyn then feats. I go for the assassination run by charging the right Helios into a Storm Lance. If I can hit Haley with 2 out of 3 boosted 13s I can drag her forward enough to kill her. I miss the first one and switch to attrition, killing 2 of the Storm Lances. The AFG kills a further lance, before taking on a cheeky shot needing a 13 onto Haley Future, in cover under Temporal Distortion. I make the roll and kill her. On the left the Helios advances up, pulls the Centurion out of DEF boost range and kills it. A strong attrition turn leaves him with very little to threaten the colossals.

But Haley 3 always has an assassination angle. Thorn runs up to the gap between Helios and building, Haley 3 feats and between 3 Force Hammers hitting Ravyn into the wall, takes her down.

DEFEAT

A disappointing loss as getting to 2-0 is always my benchmark of success at a Steamroller, but I liked the list a lot. A bit more understanding and I would have been in a strong position. I didn’t realise that I could Swift Hunter from killing anything, not only the shot target, so had I moved back 2” and put up a Veil of Mists I could possibly have been safe from assassination, which was Glenn’s only way out of the game. Unlike my game with Thyron, I really liked the feel of this list, and really want to try it out again.