Game 103: Vyros1 vs Gaspy3

Game 103 – Vs Duncan Harradine – Cryx – 13/10/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Magister

Max Cylena Raefull & Nyss Hunters

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer (Scourge of the Broken Coast)

-Vociferon

-Kraken

-Cankerworm

- Deathripper

Satyxis Raider Captain

Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Max Satyxis Raider

-Sea Witch

Min Blood Witched

-Blood Hag

After a very quick Rahn game we both switched lists and re-racked, with my Vyros1 matching up against Gaspy3 in the new Satyxis theme, with the list based around how difficult it is to remove Ashen Veil Satyxis under Star-Crossed. This time Duncan won the roll to go first and we got moving.

Duncan puts up Ashen Veil on the Satyxis along with their own Whipping Winds before running up. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw both Submerge and charge, getting up the table behind the Satyxis. The Jacks run up under Mobility getting aggressively up the board.

I consider the position, but with Duncan’s high threat ranges I decide that the best course of action is to just get up in his face. 2 Griffons run up to get in the way of the Kraken, Imperatus takes up a defensive position behind the building and surrounds himself with Nyss to die and trigger Righteous Vengeance. The 3 remaining Griffons on the right run up aggressively to prepare for the Satyxis.

The Cryx forces come into me for pretty impressive damage. The Kraken destroys one Griffon, and leaves a second with only a single box. On the right 3 or so Nyss are killed along with one Griffon, with significant damage being put into a second. Gaspy feats ready to take advantage of whatever focus I use next turn.

I don’t usually reveal the result of a game until the end, but I am going to do so on this occasion. I go for an assassination, fail, and lose next turn. The reason I went for the kill is the same reason I won’t be using this list again, it is SO reliant on Imperatus for damage that if, as in the game state now, I can’t see how to keep him safe, then going for a long odds assassination is the only play. On this occasion the run is based on Vyros killing the blocking Arc Node, Nyss running through taking free strikes from the Kraken, and Imperatus using a single Side-Step to get to a Flanked Gaspy. Unfortunately all 6 Nyss die to free strikes (needing 6s, so it was likely that one might get through) and the Imperatus run becomes very long odds (it was only 32% with Flank), and inevitably fails. By the end of the turn Gaspy has around 20 souls from his feat,

No point messing around here. The Raider Captain knocks Vyros down and the Kraken destroys him.

DEFEAT

Yep, interesting experiment. I was really excited to see that Nyss might open up Vyros1 in Forges but this version of the list doesn’t work. I might go back to the drawing board in the future with it but with a major event coming up this isn’t the time. The third list slot is narrowed down to Rahn or Kaelyssa.

Game 101: Vyros1 vs Vlad1

Game 101 – Vs Chris Campbell – Khador – 12/10/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress

House Shyeel Magister

Max Cylena Raefull & Nyss Hunters

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Prince (Winterguard Kommand)

-Destroyer

-Destroyer

Kovnik Joe

Min Winterguard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Min Winterguard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Max Winterguard Infantry

-Officer & Standard Bearer

Winterguard Gun Carriage

Widowmaker Marksman

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

-Koldun Kapitan Valachev

Winterguard Mortar Crew

Oh Vlad1, it has been a while. The moving meta had forced Vlad out, at least locally, due to a lack of magical attacks in his favoured theme, but now with Mercanary options open to him, Aiyana&Holt have brought him back to the fore. Chris was using a version of the list with the Gun Carriage, and despite winning the roll to go first, opted to choose sides. So I got moving.

The theme allowed me to start with Hallowed Avenger on Imperatus and Inviolable Resolve on the Nyss to protect them against blast damage, which makes Vyros’ first turn so much easier. He casts Mobility and runs up the table, followed by his Jacks. The Nyss take positions where they can be killed by Shield Guarding an AOE onto one of the Griffons to trigger Hallowed Avenger. The support staff follow.

Chris advances up and starts shooting into my forces, dealing scratch damage to some of the Griffons, and killing 3 Nyss, triggering Righteous Vengeance. A lucky scatter vitally drifts perfectly to take out one of my Arcanists, reducing me to just one source of Concentrated Power for the rest of the game.

Losing an Arcanist made me panic somewhat, as with only Imperatus able to take out his heavies I felt I had to go for the assassination. Vyros feats and uses an Eliminator to clear some Winter Guard before casting Mobility to give Imperatus threat range to Vlad, who was camping 1. I would have to get lucky to get a Nyss to Vlad but I felt it was worth the attempt. I messed up my implementation though and wasn’t able to get a Flanking model there, but did take out the axe and Cortex of one Destroyer. Imperatus went in, intending to fully boost both initials. The first rolled only a 5 for damage, doing a single point after focus, so I switched to trying to hard roll 8s. I failed them all and ended my turn in a bad position.

Almost all failed assassinations like that end up in instant losses, but I was still in the game here. Chris pours all his resources this turn into removing Imperatus (Vlad walked away with Parry, who knew he had that…). The Gun Carriage moved in to knock him down, before the Winter Guard Rifles opened up on him. Some huge Signs & Portents damage rolls meant that he went down quickly, even through Phoenix Protocol and Chris had enough attacks left to kill 5 Nyss and reduce a Griffon to a single box. Now I was in a bad position, but did move up 1-0 on scenario.

With the game essentially over (I looked for a scenario angle, but decided there was nothing there) I decided it was time to see what Vyros’ melee potential. With full Focus and Flank being provided by the crippled Griffon, he charges the untouched Destroyer, and through some spikey dice of my own, destroys it with 3 bought attacks. Awesome. This opens up a Griffon to get to Vlad but the dice would have needed to be insane, and he is left on a handful of boxes. I score again to lead 2-0.

At this stage Chris only has around 8 minutes on his clock, but it is more than enough to get the job done. The Gun Carriage slams a Griffon into Vyros, knocking him down before sealing the deal with Rockets.

DEFEAT

Ok, so I don’t like the list. I keep trying to make Vyros1 work but since I have seen the light with his Epic version I just can’t justify it. Mobility is an amazing spell that I loved in Mk2 with Amon, but Ret jacks are quick enough to not need it in the same way that Menoth do. The list is SO dependent on Imperatus getting the work done that it falls apart once he goes down or is neutered. That being said I did not play this game well. The assassination that I felt pretty good about turned out to only be 38% once I used Oddsmachine after the game, so I should probably have just played an attrition game for another turn and see how the game played out. The turn after Imperatus went down I pretty quickly declined the scenario play once I realised that I couldn’t win that turn. Had I committed my resources to clearing the left zone and destroying his objective I could have gone 4-0 up with Vyros safe, and only needed to find a point or 2 in the next turn. Lots to learn, and I’ll decide at a later date whether to keep going with this list.

Game 47: Vyros1 vs Bart

Game 47 – Vs James Hockney – Mercenaries – 18/06/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

-Soulless Escort

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

His List:

Captain Bartolo Montador

-Reinholt, Gobber Speculator

-Galleon

-Nomad

-Nomad

-Rover

Master Gunner Dougal Macnaile

The Commodore Cannon & Crew

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Dirty Meg

Last game of the weekend saw me matched up against James with his Bart list. He had been playing double Galleon the day before but switched it up for the Sunday. I didn’t like the idea of playing Rahn into Batten Down the Hatches and so gave Vyros one last chance to impress me. The +1 helped me to go first and off we went.

I run up with Mobility up and Hallowed Avenger on Imperatus. I want to be ready to punish James if he doesn’t feat bottom of 1. Narn hides behind the central building with Imperatus and Eiryss flanks hard on the right.

James advances up with his forces and starts peppering me with AOEs. He kills a few Mage Hunters but doesn’t trigger Hallowed Avenger or kill anything important. Bart feats and starts moving towards his flag.

His feat takes my assassination off the table this turn so I sit back on my position and shoot into his forces. The mage hunters kill one Nomad, do a decent chunk to the other and take a handful of boxes off the Nomad. A manticore shoots at the cannon but leaves it on a few boxes. Narn just runs to engage Eiryss.

James continues shooting into my forces, killing a decent number this turn and he does trigger Hallowed Avenger. The cannon shoots and knocks down the left Manticore and the Griffon, and the remaining Nobad tramples up to engage a load of Mage Hunters and finish the heavy jack off. Dirty Meg hard rolls the 9 needed to hit and kill Narn.

Assassination time for Imperatus. I spend some time moving my models away to clear a path for Impy, and do some good damage to the Galleon whilst I’m at it. Eiryss runs to engage Bart and trigger Flank. Vyros feats and casts Mobility, setting up the assassination. Imperatus charges the Galleon, Side-steps off into Bart and then has 4 attacks, needing 5s to hit and doing straight Weaponmaster damage. First attack hits and rolls good damage, the second misses, the third misses, the 4^th hits but Bart toughs. He is on fire though.

The fire continues. Bart toughs again. Lame. Galleon drags Vyros in and punches him to death.

DEFEAT

Not a game that I felt I deserved to lose but it is why we play with dice. Oddsmachine puts the assassination at 96% before fire so I don’t think I was wrong to go for it, but every 1 in 20 times that will go wrong. I have a great time playing James and this game was no different.

On the event as a whole I feel pretty mixed. I was pleased with how I played most of the games but on some tables (my 1 and 2) the terrain was unplayably bad. I even bought Vyros on day 2 to be able to play on them really well. I learnt a lot about my lists though and came away even more enthused to try different things out. I am very happy with the Kaelyssa list and feel I’m getting closer to finding a good pair for her.

Game 46: Vyros1 vs Ossyan

Game 46 – Vs Retribution of Scyrah – 18/06/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

-Soulless Escort

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

His List:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Manticore

-Hypnos

Arcanist Mechanik

Mage Hunter Assassin

Mage Hunter Assassin

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Commander

Max Mage Hunter Infiltrators

-Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander

-Soulless Escort

Spears of Scyrah

Game 2 in the mediocre tier Steamroller put me in another Retribution mirror match. With both of us having a Shadows theme list, and another list that would be destroyed by it, the eventual matchup was pretty obvious. He had a more significant Mage Hunter presence but I had a larger battlegroup. My opponent won first turn which felt pretty important and we got moving.

My opponent runs up, staying out of advance and see through stealth range of all my models. Quicken goes on the Infiltrators, Shatterstorm on the left unit of Mage Hunters and Fortune on the right.

With no better ideas as to how to play this turn and matchup I just run everything up to engage as much as possible. Narn has a route into an awkward spot but missed the 6 needed to hit twice and is stuck in the middle of his army. The 2 Manticores advance and put down covering fires.

My opponent has no need to feat and so backs off with Ossyan and starts working on my front lines, killing more than half of each unit as well as Narn. He puts down his own covering fire to deny me some response charge lanes.

I am pretty certain I know how the game plays out from this point. I kill a handful of his Mage Hunters, then he feats to remove my battlegroup, and the game meanders towards a victory to him. I have an out though, both Manticores are within 20 inches of Ossyan who is camping 2. I clear out the route for them, fully power them up and send them on an assassination run. Of the 4 shots I manage to roll 2 hit but do nowhere near enough damage and I shake his hand.

DEFEAT

This feels like a matchup where first turn is key. With so much Advance Deploy the first player gets to set up an aggressive line and force the second player in. I am sure I could have played this better if I had thought about it more, possibly by loading one flank with all the Strike Force, but it feels like a really rough position. I’m not sure how many more chances I can give this list, I like a lot about it but I feel let down by it so often. Onto the last game of the middle Steamroller and a win would put me 4-2 over the weekend which would be pretty acceptable.

Game 35: Vyros1 vs Deneghra1

Game 35 – Vs Lee Dillon – Cryx – 03/06/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Hydra

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

His List:

Warwitch Deneghra

-The Withershadow Combine

-Desecrator

-Desecrator

-Nightwretch

-Nightwretch

Machine Wraith

Hellslinger Phantom

Ogrun Bokur

Satyxis Raider Captain

Max Satyxis Blood Witched

-Satyxis Blood Hag

Satyxis Gunslingers

Min Bane Warriors

On Saturday I played a 16 man Steamroller event at my local club and saw it as a good opportunity to test my two current list, Vyros1 with the Mage hunters, and Kaelyssa with the Sentinels. We were using the proposed SR2017 terrain rules so each table had a line of sight blocking terrain piece in the centre. My first opponent was Lee with Cryx, who was using a Terminus Ghost Fleet list and a Denny1 gunline. I felt that my Vyros list would have enough speed and Remove From Play abilities to be able to handle the Ghost Fleet, and clearly Lee felt similarly as he dropped the Deneghra list. I won first turn due to the +1 benefit and Lee picked the side with a wall to hide behind.

I run up the table, fuelling up the Hydra with 3 Focus so that he can keep hold of 2 for a later turn after running. Vyros casts Mobility to speed up the jacks and puts Hallowed Avenger on Imperatus in the hope that a Mage Hunter within 5 will be killed and allow him some threat extension.

Lee is slightly taken by surprise by the speed of my list and realises that he has to feat this turn to stop me removing a lot of his army. Deneghra moves up to include a lot of my force in the feat but crucially does not include either Imperatus or Narn. He moves up with his guns and fires into my army, killing 5 Mage Hunters from the left unit and one from the right, and leaving awkward Scather templates in front of my army.

Between a Hallowed Avenger move and Mobility Imperatus is within range of Deneghra so I start to plan out an assassination. I can’t get a warrior model in to trigger Flank even with Narn getting a Sprint move, and so the run is likely to come down to hitting 2 boosted 9s. Unfortunately I mess up the run as there isn’t a proper landing spot for Imperatus, so I switch plans and take out a Desecrator and most of an Arc Node instead, before running up with the Hydra as well and moding up to put pressure on the right Flank. An Arcanist runs to the flag hoping to score on my opponent’s next turn and Narn charges the Machine Wraith, kills it and sprints into an awkward spot within my opponent’s lines.

Lee spends the turn attempting to unjam himself but it unable to do so. On the left he just doesn’t have enough armour cracking to get through the heavies with the Satyxis and on the right he struggles to kill Narn, who survives a lot of 8s and 9s to hit to be still standing at the end of the turn. Things go from bad to worse for Lee as he backs Denny out of the killbox and is unable to contest my flag, allowing me to go 3-0 up in his turn.

With only one Satyxis contesting the left flag it is fairly simple for the remaining Mage Hunters to remove it, and the Arcanist on the left runs to the flag, allowing me to score 2 more points and win 5-0.

VICTORY

I think this was an example of Lee panicking a bit when faced with the speed of my list. His first turn was played pretty well other than not finding a way to get Imperatus in the feat but again I don’t think he understood the threat range with Hallowed Avenger. In terms of the list selection process I’m glad that it managed to scare off Ghost Fleet but will have to see how that particular match up will go. A quick win in the first round of a Steamroller is always a good feeling, as you can have a nice relaxing hour before moving into round 2.

Game 32: Vyros1 vs Vlad2

Game 32 – Vs Jonny Jennings – Khador – 27/05/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Champion

-Conquest

Man-O-War Kovnik

Kovnik Josef Grigorovich

Saxon Orrik

Max Man-O-War Shocktroopers

-Man-O-War Shocktrooper Officer

Kayazy Eliminators

Kayazy Eliminators

Max Winter Guard Rifle Corps

-Winter Guard Rocketeer

-Winter Guard Rocketeer

-Winter Guard Rocketeer

Min Battle Mechanics

My second game of testing for my Vyros1 Shadows list saw me play against Jonny with his Vlad2 list. I am very familiar with Vlad1 but less so with his second form so it would be interesting to see what he did. I won 1^st turn due to the theme benefit and got on with it.

Vyros starts by casting Inviolable Resolve on Imperatus, and Mobility to speed up the battle group. Everything runs up but stays back slightly to avoid the worst of the Khador AOEs.

The Khador army walks up slightly, not getting too close to the zones. Vlad casts Hand of Fate on the Rifles and the Rocketeers take pot shots into the left MHSF, killing a couple. The Shocktroopers advance in Shield Wall and in the centre the Conquest fires its AOE, killing one Mage Hunter in the right unit and getting a lucky scatter to kill Narn.

I measure out what might be a possible assassination run but the closest Rifle is about 13.5 inches from Imperatus, avoiding his charge range by just half an inch. Instead I feel like I can put a lot of scenario pressure on by charging in and jamming him out of the zones. The issue for this plan is the Eliminators but they are both on the right flank behind the Man-O-Wars. My plan is to jam him out of the left zone and then make a 3 point play next turn. To this end Vyros casts Mobility and moves to the centre behind a building, and everything else runs or charges forward, with the left Mage Hunters killing a number of Rifles and leaving Joe on 1 box.

Jonny spent a while considering his options for the next turn before finding himself an assassination route. He used the Rifles first, clearing out some of the Mage Hunters on the left, and then Conquest activated, leaving the Griffon I had run up to him on a single box. Vlad advanced and finished off the Griffon before feating and switching Hand of Fate onto the Eliminators. The eliminators with feat and Hand of Fate then charged Vyros and managed to kill him through his 2 transfers.

DEFEAT

This was a typical case of me not respecting the threat ranges of feated Eliminators. I got greedy with Vyros in my turn 2 in terms of moving him forward but I wanted the possibility of a Feat assassination on my turn 3. In hindsight I should have left him in my zone and tried to grind the game out on scenario though. I am still not convinced by the list, especially the Manticore. I think that I will switch it and the Escort for a Hydra for some stronger ranged presence and the ability to store focus until feat turn.

Game 29: Vyros1 vs Fiona

Game 29 – Vs Mark Ellis – Mercenaries – 17/05/17

My list:

Dawnlord Vyros (Shadows of the Retribution)

-Imperatus

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

Max Mage Hunter Strike Force

-Mage Hunter Strike Force Commander

-Soulless Escort

His List:

Fiona the Black

-Galleon

Gobber Tinker

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Ragman

Kell Bailoch

Anastaia di Bray

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Max Cylene Raefyll & Nyss Hunters

Kayazy Eliminators

Kayazy Eliminators

The Commodore Cannon & Crew

Min Press Gangers

After playing Helynna and to a lesser extent Garryth to death in the 2 months leading up to the Welsh Masters I was understandably needing a change. Being motivated for the game I went down to the club the following Wednesday with a pairing of Vyros1 and Kaelyssa to try out. My first game was against Mark who was using his Fiona list that he had learnt a lot about at the Welsh, and was keen to keep playing. She wasn’t a caster that I knew anything about so dropped Vyros to see what would happen. His Anastacia and my theme benefit cancelled each other out but I won first turn on a reroll.

Turn 1 I put Inviolable Resolve onto the left Mage Hunters to try and protect them from blasts (probably a mistake, as Vyros seems too focus strapped to switch it to Imperatus or himself mid game), cast Mobility for extra speed and ran everything up. Between 16” running jacks and Advanced Deployed Mage Hunters, the list gets a very long way up the table.

Mark considers his options for his next turn and lands on a choice that I just didn’t see coming. He allocates to the Galleon, feats and charges up into the middle of the table, before the rest of his army advances up and shoots at Mage Hunters, killing 2 from the left unit and 4 from the right. His scatters didn’t particularly work in his favour but he was borrowing my dice so what did he expect…

I am set a tricky puzzle to unlock, which isn’t easy when you’re using a brand new caster. My options seem to be try and find an assassination, back off for a turn, or jam further up the board. I spotted an avenue that allowed Imperatus an amazing 5 man Flame Burst if I could hit 2 unboosted 7s; but it would involve committing him pretty deep, so I decided to commit and jam in deep. Vyros casts Mobility again and moves Inviolable Resolve onto Imperatus. Imperatus tries the Flame Burst play but misses the second 7 to hit and remains in a far from ideal spot. The rest of my army jams forward apart from the Mage Hunters on the right who kill off a couple of Press Gangers.

Mark spends some time trying to unjam himself and be able to get Fiona out of trouble. Unfortunately he can’t do so without “wasting” his Galleon killing a Griffon, and even then can only back so far off. The Nyss and infiltrators kill a load of Mage Hunters and the second Griffon, but Mark doesn’t concentrate hard enough on getting models in the gap between Imperatus and Fiona.

In my turn I am clearly playing for assassination. I have some clearing out to do but have a handful of Mage Hunters, Narn and the Manticore to do it. Vyros casts Mobility again for Pathfinder on Imperatus, advances to get his landing spot in his control, and Feats. Eiryss lands her shot on Fiona, stripping her 3 Focus, and my remaining models clear out Imperatus’ land to the caster, leaving him to take one free strike to move in. I hit the first attack and boost for 4 dice damage, killing Fiona in one shot.

VICTORY

Not too much to be said for the first run with a list but it felt good to play. I think that between the shooting options, the feat based damage output, and the potential to jam if all else fails, there are a lot of options in the list. I hadn’t appreciated just how focus starved Vyros would be though, turn 1 I was camping 1, and then turns 2 and 3 he was sitting naked. I certainly want to try this list again though and see what it can do.