Game 271: Vyros2 vs Xerxis2

Game 271– Vs Alun Barfoot – Skorne – 7/10/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Xerxis, Fury of Halaak (Imperial Warhost)

-Agonizer

-Basilisk Krea

-Basilisk Krea

-Desert Hydra

-Desert Hydra

-Titan Gladiator

Feralgeist

Min Paingiver Beast Handlers

Min Paingiver Beast Handlers

Round 5 of the UK Nationals and once again I'm faced with something I have no idea how to play against, so I'm dropping Vyros again. As suspected I get the double Hydra list, which I must admit absolutely terrifies me. Thankfully I win the roll to go first and we get moving.

Step 1 of “having no idea how to play a matchup” is to run as fast as I can up the table, keeping out of the significant 14” threat range of the Hydras.

Hydras move up followed by the support staff, staying out of threat of more than one or two Griffons each. Between the Krea animus and Sandstorm my shooting is going to be pretty ineffective.

I have a really tough turn of positioning ahead of me, as I need to tempt the Hydras in with enough firepower left over to take them out afterwards. I can get a Griffon to the Agoniser, and if this game goes long taking that out would be vital, so I build Synergy and send it in to take it out. I Feat with Vyros, and jam, hoping that something will come up next turn.

Alun plans out his turn really impressively, coming up with a way to deliver a Hydra into my heavies. Unfortunately he makes one mistake. After slamming the blocking Aspis out of the way with the Gladiator he buys attacks to take it out, allowing me to Feat move a Griffon in the way, saving the 2 Heavies. I end the turn having lost the Aspis and 3 Griffons, which under Xerxis' Feat seems reasonable. More importantly, I'd been able to move around the scenario elements, allowing me to score 2 unanswered CPS.

All I need to do to win is shoot off the Feralgeist and run Vyros to the flag. I get it done and win 5-0 on scenario

VICTORY

This was an odd feeling victory, whilst it was great to win the game I didn't particularly feel like I'd earned it. Alun played the game really well and one mistake cost him the game. Even so, I don't think I would win this game on any other scenario, and only how live Spread the Net is saved me. Still, with one round to go I was sat on 4-1, guaranteeing me a positive result. The Best in Ret award was also hotly contested, and that was my focus going into the final round.

Game 269: Vyros2 vs Locke

Game 269– Vs Andrew Murchie – Convergence of Cyriss – 6/10/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

His List:

Aurum Lucanum Athanor Locke (Destruction Initiative)

-Prime Axiom

-Corollary

-Inverter

-Inverter

-Conservator

-Conservator

Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex

Attunement Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Reflex Servitors

Optifex Directive

Round 3 of the UK Nationals and my second against Convergence. Andrew dropped Locke who, unfortunately, I hadn't been able to get a game in against before the WTC. I won the first turn and we got moving.

I had no idea how to proceed in this game, but it can be a pretty live scenario if you can push on hard enough, so I eyed up that as a possibility. To that end, everything runs.

Redline is put up onto the Prime Axiom and everything gets up the table, but being careful to stay well out of my threat ranges.

I decide to spread out pretty severely, trying to tempt Andrew out and giving me the best opportunity to score zones next turn. The weakness of this list has always been contesting the enemy zone on this scenario, but that was a bridge to cross later.

Andrew takes out one Griffon before Warpathing the Conservator back slightly. The rest of the forces push up and he contests my zone to take a 1-0 lead.

I need to take some chances in this game, and so I decide to push hard. I shoot off the objective, contest Andrew's zone with a Griffon, and score both circular zones to take a 4-1 lead and put Andrew under some pressure.

However, in my haste to score points I have left Vyros within 16” of the Prime Axiom, so after a lucky Flare scatter lowers his defence, the Axiom runs up and takes Vyros out with Jackhammers.

DEFEAT

Whilst the Flare was a big deal (changed the Axiom from needing 8s to 6s) I shouldn't have taken my eye off the ball in that way. I really had no idea how to approach this game and was pretty please with the way I played it in general, as I got Andrew to the point where he felt he needed to go for the risky assassination. I need more practice into this matchup. Vyros isn't a perfect drop into Convergence and when I start investigating some of the new options we have, I'll be looking to see whether we have a better option into lists like this.

Game 268: Vyros2 vs Madrak3

Game 268 – Vs Joe Jephson – Trollbloods – 6/10/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

Her List:

Madrak, Great Chieftain (Band of Heroes)

-Mountain King

Fell Caller Hero

Fell Caller Hero

Horthol, Long Rider Hero

Trollkin Skinner

Max Trollkin Fennblades

-Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer

Max Trollkin Long Riders

Max Trollkin Long Riders

Round 2 of the Nationals saw me facing Joe Jephson and his Trolls. Unfortunately somehow I have lost the report for this match. I am posting this a couple of months after the game (real life can be a cruel mistress sometimes) and so rather than try and remember my way through the game I have decided to just post the pictures and give my thoughts at the end.

VICTORY

In summary, Joe just didn't have the model presence to be able to overwhelm my forces. Mountain King without a threat range extender is always sad into Vyros2 as they can never commit it without trading down significantly. Deafen was great in this match, tagging a Long Rider leader twice over the course of the game. Nice to get a second win, and Joe was a great opponent, I apologise to him especially that this game isn't being properly reported. On to round 3 and back to proper reports for the rest of the event!

Game 267: Vyros2 vs Lucant

Game 267 – Vs Rachel Child – Convergence of Cyriss – 6/10/18

My list:

Vryos, Incissar of the Dawnguard (Forges of War)

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Griffon

-Aspis

-Discordia

-Manticore

-Manticore

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

House Shyeel Arcanists

House Shyeel Arcanists

Her List:

Father Lucant (Destruction Initiative)

-Corollary

-Inverter

-Inverter

-Conservator

-Conservator

-Conservator

-Galvanizer

Transfinite Emergence Projector

Reflex Servitors

Attunement Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Elimination Servitors

Accretion Servitors

Optifex Directive

After a short Post-CID break and a bit of time to absorb the Retribution dynamic update that followed a week later it was finally time to get some models back on the table. What better way than to go straight into the UK Nationals. My lists were Elara2 in Shadows, Ravyn in Legions and my old faithful Vyros2 in Forges. I promised myself that I would play Vyros as little as possible, but I wanted a strong performance to hopefully help me onto a WTC team again next year. The first round saw me up against Rachel with her Convergence, which unfortunately meant that it was a Vyros2 drop straight out of the gate. I win the first turn and we get moving.

With no turn 1 threat Vyros just runs up with his army following as much as possible.

Rachel decides that she has to Feat this turn or have to sit so far back that she would give up too much on scenario. Lucant casts Deceleration to further increase their armour and runs everything up, staying out of threat range of my Manticores.

I don't really want to advance into Lucant's Feat, and the threat range on the Vectors is pretty limited, so I decide to back up slightly. I am going to surrender some control points next turn but I think I can afford to. I leave an Aspis contesting the central flag, in threat range of some Vectors, but Rachel would have to commit a heavy to take it out.

Instead, Rachel tried to take out the Aspis using the TEP, but under Deceleration that was always going to be tricky and the Aspis lived. She contested my scoring elements but backed off with most of her forces, scoring twice to lead 2-0

Making attacks with the TEP had left it in range of 2 Griffons, and with Synergy built up by taking out Servitors I sent 2 in to take it out, following up with Discordia into a Conservator to start off the heavy trade. I stay out of threat range of both Inverters and the score goes to 3-2 to Rachel.

With Discordia providing a juicy target in the middle of the table the 2 remaing Conservators are sent in to take it out. The Inverters are both moved to provide Watcher cover for Lucant. The score moves to 4-3 to Rachel.

There are 2 Griffons within range of Lucant, so I start looking at an assassination. The issue is Watcher so I would need to take that out of the equation first. I load up a Manticore and after Synergy is built to 2 I send it in to the left Invertor. The issue that Rachel is set with here is that she can either use Watcher to knock down the Manticore, or save it for the assassination and almost certainly lose the Inverter. She chose to knock down the Manticore. My turn was then a simple matter of taking out the left Conservator and delivering the Griffons to Lucant, with the first taking him out.

VICTORY

Some small CID tweaks in Forges has really improved this Vyros list. Essentially I have swapped out a Griffon and a free solo for Discordia, which is a great change for the list. This game was a really interesting to play, with a couple of turns of feinting and backing off before being able to play Vyros' preferred game and crushing through a flank. Had I not gone for the assassination I could have taken out both Conservators and had a very strong attrition position from there, which I am certain I would have pushed through on what is a very live scenario. On to round 2.

Game 266: Vyros2 vs Siege1

Game 266 – Vs Rudolf Edlmayer – Cygnar – 16/09/18

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:

Major Markus “Siege” Brisbane (Heavy Metal)

-Squire

-Defender

-Defender

-Triumph

Journeyman Lieutenant Allister Caine

-Ace

Journeyman Warcaster

-Charger

Lieutenant Allison Jakes

-Charger

-Defender

Max Field Mechaniks

Final round of the WTC and we are up against Hungary, with me matched up against their Cygnar player. I know that Siege has been revitalised by Caine0, but haven’t had a chance to play into him yet. That being said, against a full on gunline on Spread the Net I felt pretty confident. I won the roll to go first and got moving.

Vyros casts Deceleration and everything runs up the table in 2 groups, a pod of 3 on the left and the main bulk of the battlegroup on the right. Solos move up to prepare to dash to flags on later turns.

One Griffon if a bit too far forward and gives Triumph his Maintenance Phase shot, and the rest of the guns open up dealing some decent chunks of damage. The Journeyman puts Arcane Shield on Caine who in turn puts Fire for Effect on Siege.

I think I can start work on some of the Journeymen here to make some jacks inert and remove some of the useful upkeeps. I shoot off the Journeyman and put a shot into Caine, but leave the latter on 3 boxes. I run my 2 damaged jacks on the left to engage as Siege doesn’t have many activations with which to clear it. Vyros’ and Siege’s Feats interact in an interesting way; whilst normally I would Feat this turn with Vyros to take a few Feat moves, Siege wants to damage everything a bit with his Feat, and so mine wouldn’t do much. Holding it until the turn after where Siege will be finishing things off is far more useful.

Siege takes out the 2 engaging jacks and then Feats and opens up with his guns into my jacks, not killing any but damaging them pretty badly. A Defender charges into a Manticore, taking it out. We both score our zones to start at 1-1.

This turn was what I had been planning for all game. I score both flags and my zone, taking out the Defender and the contesting Mechanics from the central zone. I Feat to try and protect my lead and hope I can just survive the turn. Vyros takes out Caine with Lock the Target. I lead 5-1.

Rudolf continues the attrition but even though he gets Vyros knocked down, he never really has enough to threaten an assassination. I manage He contests everything and shoots Lanyssa off the left flag but can still only score his zone, as I do to move to 6-2.

I just need to contest the left zone to win, but I decide to kill Siege with Vyros for style points. I win on assassination and 9-2 on scenario.

VICTORY

Having played this matchup now I don’t think I win it on any other scenario, but with going first on Spread I was just able to score enough points and survive long enough to take the game.

The team won the round 5-0 to finish on 3-3 for the weekend. We were slightly disappointed with the overall result but the three rounds we lost were all incredibly close and could have gone either way.

I loved my first WTC experience, the whole event was incredibly well run and I met so many great people. I can’t recommend it highly enough to anybody. If you don’t make a national team, get into the Solo Masters and just soak up the atmosphere.

Thank you to my team mates Andy, Brett, Ben and Matt – it was a pleasure to be on a team with you guys and despite a few marginal results I think we can all be really proud of how we played. Congratulations too to the England Lions and Knights teams who finished 4^th and 3^rd respectively, showing just how strong Warmachine is in the UK right now.

I’ll be taking a brief break now until the CID drops, but it is the UK Nationals 3 weeks after the WTC, so I’ll need to be back up and running for that. Thank you all for reading, and if you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Game 264: Vyros2 vs Ossrum

Game 264 – Vs Timur Iakubov – Mercenaries – 16/09/18

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:

General Ossrum (The Irregulars)

-Ghordson Basher

-Ghordson Driller

-Ghordson Driller

-Ghordson Driller

-Grundback Blaster

-Grundback Blaster

-Grundback Blaster

Alten Ashley

Eilish Garrity, the Occultist

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Ragman

Horgenhold Artillery Corps

Horgenhold Artillery Corps

Max Idrian Skirmishers

-Chieftain & Guide

Kayazy Eliminators

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Round 4 of the WTC and we are up against Russia Sputnik. They have some really interesting lists but by this time patterns are forming with regards to what lists people are using. My opponent for example had used his Ossrum list in all 3 rounds the previous day (not that I can talk…) so I was expecting to see that instead of his dudespam Damiano list. That was the way it worked out and with Timur winning the first turn we got moving.

Ossrum casts Snipe onto the Idrians (who had Preyed one of the Manticores) and Fire for Effect onto one of the Artillery Corps. The army moves up with the Jacks fairly centrally (aided by Advance Move to have reasonable board presence),

Ossrum’s threat with his jacks is pretty impressive, but for him to max it out at the 13” takes quite a lot of Focus, wheras I can get the same threat on a Griffon fairly trivially. As such I feel that I can take a turn standing outside the threat of the Jacks and cast Deceleration to reduce the shooting impact for a turn. I put down Covering Fire either side of the central cloud to hold back the Idrians. I play Lanyssa pretty aggressively, but under Force Wall with a couple of Shield Guards she should be ok

Timur feels that he has to Feat defensively in order to prevent me getting an alpha strike on him, and moves up to start contesting the zones and force me into them. Shooting deals some damage to my Jacks but nothing too substantial, and one of the Eliminators charges in to cause me some issues on the left.

A full Synergy Manticore gets to POW23 with all the buffs, so with a Hunter’s Mark I think I can take one of the Drillers down. I build Synergy taking out some Idrians and putting a bit of chip damage onto the jacks before sending in the Manticore and taking it out. I keep the rest in a defensive formation around Vyros and feel pretty pleased with the early attrition. I Feat to make the next turn harder for Timur and manage to take Ragman out with Lock the Target. 0-0

I think I use Vyros’ Feat pretty well in this turn, and whilst I lose the Aspis and 2 Griffons he isn’t ever really able to get attacks onto the Manticores, who end the turn in an ideal position to retaliate. The guns are starting to take their toll but I feel strong attritionally. 0-0

I have a really big attrition turn, taking out both remaining Drillers, crippling one of the Blasters and getting a Griffon into the support staff to take out Aiyana, Holt and all but the Guide for the Idrians. Vyros has lost a bit of his protection but he is still sitting at Def19 Arm20 with transfers on a hill, so I on’t see how an assassination could come about. 0-0

Timur agrees, as after a couple of fairly ineffective activations he shakes my hand.

VICTORY

A huge part of the strength of Ossrum is his ability to take a lot of different list styles and be able to make them all work. That being said I think this style of list is weaker into me than a battle engine/Forge Guard style of list. I was able to control the threats pretty well and the list doesn’t get close to the amount of shooting needed to grind through me, so I felt reasonably in control the whole game. The team won this round 5-0, which was a great confidence boost at the start of the day. We were back to 2-2 as a team now and were really focussed on clawing back to a 4-2 result overall.