Two weeks after the Midlands Steamroller I'm back in Walshall to play another 50 point tournament. This time I'm planning on practising the Skarre1 with the Kraken list.
Game 1, Chemical Reaction vs Gavin Wilkinson, Cygnar
Gavin had Haley2 and Caine2 to use against me. Not bad for me as the Skarre list has been built for Cygnar, so lets see how it goes. Gavin picked Haley2 with plenty of warjacks. She had a Centurion and Lancer, the Journeyman had a hunter and the Gun Mages had a defender with them. There was also the Black 13th, rangers and Eiryss2. Neat list but too warjack centric for my liking. The terrain was there on the board but I can't remember it taking much part of the battle.
Gavin had the first turn and moved up with the warjacks in the centre, gun mages and rangers on the right and the black 13th on the left. I ran forward in response with a couple of bane knights out in front to threaten long charges or trigger vengeance but not too far as I was expecting Haley to feat. I wanted to pull her forward enough to be in major danger.
Gavin triggered vengeance for the knights with the rangers and gun mages and shot a few points off the kraken with the hunter and defender whilst the centurion moved forward and stopped any charges targeting the warjack. Most importantly however, Haley didn't feat. Time to punish Gavin for clumping the gun mages together with the rangers. The kraken moved up and took a shot at the gun mages it scattered off but still killed a couple. Together with vengeance, death ride and Tartarus' curse the knights charged and ran into engage the gun mages and rangers to stop the infantry killing shots and I also engaged Eiryss at the same time. Finally the centurion was taken over by my machine wraith.
Gavin did a good job of attempting to clear off my engaging troops with a Time Bomb from Haley and Dead Eye cast on the gun mages but because of some dice rolls not beating my armour and my positioning he couldn't totally clear the gun mages. Gavin did feat with Haley though to cause me a couple of issuese. My turn couldn't amount to much with Gavin in control but he did mess up slightly allowing me to turn his centurion around and into melee range of the Kraken's claws.
Gavin again attempted to clear up the Bane Knights from the Gun Mages but I'd made it as hard as I possibly could. Gavin did manage to destroy the objective on my side though. Now this was worrying as we started slightly later than everybody else and the clock in my head was saying dice down is a possibility. The Kraken takes some shots at the objective whilst Skarre feats, casts Dark Guidance and charges forward. Tartarus now charges the objective and destroys the thing putting us even on CPs. Finally I take my time over getting the bane knights to charge into Haley and put her down.
Things Learnt:
Don't leave an easy objective kill for a shooting army. I could have easily lost due to dice down and being one CP down. Try to stay ahead next time, unless its a deathclock game that is.
Game 2, Supply and Demand vs Martyn Furnival, Cygnar
Cygnar again, I would be happy with that except Haley2 is part of his lists along side Caine1. I stick to my plan of playing Skarre and he chooses Caine with a Stormwall, gun mages, Nyss hunters and some rangers. Again, terrain didn't play that much part in the battle.
I took first turn and ran forwards with everything, kraken slightly right of centre and either side was a bane knight unit. Martyn sent the Stormwall up the direct centre with Nyss on my right, rangers in front and gun mages squished between the stormwall and a forest with Caine in the mix there.
Second turn and I want to put some damage on Caine, so the Kraken boosts a shot into the gun mages killing four and putting minor damage on Caine from the blast. The really good news was that the gun mages failed their command check. Rather than run straight onto Caine's guns the bane knights reorganised and spread out ensuring it was going to be really hard for a feat turn to kill everybody. Martyn then carefully measures his control and gives out three focus to the stormwall. Oh bugger, the kraken is too close to the stormwall. Caine moves up first and feats but only kills 3-4 bane knights due to some bad rolls. Caine then disappears via Teleport and the Rangers and Nyss shot at the right hand unit of banes but left it mostly intact. The Stormwall then declares a charge against the Kraken but Martyn has misplaced a Nyss hunter and the charge lane now isn't open. Stormwall moves up and is about half an inch out.
Right then. Lets get rid of that Kraken and do some damage else where so Tartarus charges the stormwall first to get Dark Shroud on it and curse the rangers. Skarre feats and casts Dark Guidance so I can hit the high defence guys and the Kraken wails on the stormwall but fails to kill. So the knights on the left finish it off as well as the rangers on that side. The right hand unit charges in and kill all but one of the rangers (who fails his command check) and heavily engage the Nyss. Martyn shoots a couple of the knights and manages to totally clear off the left hand unit of banes. Whilst the Nyss charge in and do a fair job on the right hand unit.
What I realise now is that the Nyss are Martyn's only source of armour cracking so I concentrate on killing as much as possible whilst dealing with stuff in the zone. The objective on his side is destroyed but I fail to clear the zone. Martyn gets the bane knights down to a couple of members with the Nyss and kills Tartarus with gun mage and Caine shooting. My fifth turn and Skarre hides in the wreckage of the stormwall to be defence 20. The zone gets cleared and the Nyss get down to two members and I score two CPs for dominating. Martyn clears off my solos who were preventing easy access to the zone but fails to contest. So I automatically win as he ends his turn after a really long shot assassination attempt fails.
Things Learnt:
Judge the threat range of the heavy hitters better next time. Stormwall shouldn't have been within 10" at all. Oh and remember that some scenarios are killbox. It's likely that Caine was outside the line most of the game but neither myself or Martyn realised to record those CPs.
Game 3, Outflank vs Graham "the Wise" Keen, Retribution of Scyrah
Hmm, Ossyan or Kaelyssa. Ossyan is probably the worse match up here as I really rely on my armour to survive. I again stick to my plan and Graham chooses Ossyan with Hypnos, hyperion, battle mages, strike force and two units of stormfall archers. There was terrain but, again, I can't remember it taking part of the game.
I'll ignore much of what happen during the first couple of turns. My right hand unit of knights had a couple of members shot out of it and then vengeance and charged into the strike force to tie them up. Where the battle really gets started is when Ossyan feats to kill my kraken. Plenty of shots went into it and suddenly I was left with a large wreck marker and plenty of bane knights, time to feat in return then. Due to vengeance moves and death ride I managed to get a charge lane to Ossyan so Skarre feated and cast Dark Guidance whilst charging forward to end in the centre of the board. Tartarus charged into hyperion and forgot to curse Ossyan as the bane knights then activated to destroy Hypnos and hyperion. Unfortunately the two I managed to get onto Ossyan missed by one or two points but I did run my Captain into engage four out of the remaining six stormfall archers whilst the right hand knights engaged as much as they could.
With hyperion and Hypnos gone Gavin didn't have much to kill Skarre with and the infantry killing part of his army was mostly tied up. Battle mages did a good job of clearing a couple of strike force but Skarre only suffered one damage point from shooting. He tried to clear out the area surrounding Ossyan with Ossyan's sword but some major dice fail left most of them alive. After that I just cleared a route for Tartarus to charge in and finish off Ossyan.
Things learnt:
Though this list isn't built for attrition it can do it if I feat at the right time, stopping the counter attack from having any teeth. I need to ensure I'm not wasting the kraken though. It didn't really do much this game as it was shot off the table. It's a survivable jack in Cryx which is awesome I just need to position it better.
Game 4, Close Quarters vs Brian Clarke, Legion
Throughout the day I've been chatting to Brian and watching him do well throughout the tournament. I thought I would have to face him again and this time it's in the final. Brian had Saeryn and Lylyth2 again and I really wanted not to play Skarre against either of those two. Saeryn can really kill bane knights easily and Lylyth will shoot Skarre very easily. However, I stuck to my plan again and played Skarre vs Lylyth. Two ravagores, min unit of striders and UA, bolt thrower and a scythean made up Brian's list.
I had first turn and ran forward as normal. Except Skarre. I was really scared of the assassination threat so she moved forwards a couple of inches at most. Brian moved a ravagore either side of the battlefield and the striders took a shot or two at the bane knights. Unfortunately for Brian he only killed one.
My second turn and I decide to be slightly aggressive. Skarre camps as much as possible and moves right up behind the kraken who has moved forward and shot at the striders killing one or two. The two necrotechs move to either side to block line of sight and the striders get engaged by vengeancing, Death Riding bane knights. Brian decides to go for it and Lylyth feats and shoots at a bane knight. Doesn't kill. With the feat attack he attacks the left side necrotech. Doesn't kill. He then stops making attacks with Lylyth saving three fury. The right hand ravagore then takes a shot at the right hand necrotech killing it and setting Tartarus, the kraken and Skarre on fire. Bugger. Its second shot takes out a stitch thrall and sets it's brothers on fire. The bolt thrower takes out the left hand necrotech and that leaves a lane open for the last ravagore to get to Skarre with direct shots. Two boosted attacks and one boosted damage later and Skarre is on 6 health and burning.
I think I might have been too aggressive. To see if I manage to get another turn I see if fire goes out on Skarre. It doesn't and the resulting damage takes her down to one health. So that takes my feat out of the question. Looks like it's kill or be killed in this turn. The bane knights that can vengeance and set up for charges on Lylyth. Tartarus curses Lylyth and Skarre moves out side of the scather templates to cast Dark Guidance and heal for one but now is on no focus. The necrosurgeon heals up a few more points but not enough for me to feel safe. The right hand bane knights charge in and four get there. Needing eights to hit (without Dark Guidance) three of them manage it and take her down to six health remaining and one transfer. The left hand unit also charge in and two make it this time. Fortunately Dark Guidance covers them and Lylyth goes down for the count.
Things learnt:
Be very scared of Lylyth's assassination run if you are a squishy caster. Fire is no joke. Next time I'll have to put a couple more models in the way it seems. Right at the end I was also planning to kill Lylyth with the kraken if the bane knights failed but I screwed up Tartarus' positioning and the huge base wouldn't have made it into combat. So I need to ensure that I don't do that again.
All in all every one of the games was a challenge and against a great opponent. Looking back at the games there was always terrain but I really don't remember it taking much part in the battle. As for the Skarre list, it worked well. Only time will tell if it can stand up to Menoth as I'm yet to face them in battle.
Monday 2 September 2013
Sunday 1 September 2013
Midlands Steamroller - Heat 2. Tournament Report
I'm probably writing this too late for any sort of detail as the event happened over two weeks ago. But hey, it'll be fun for me at least and that the main point of writing this blog :D
So I went to the Midlands Steamroller Heat 2 in an effort to test my lists for Master style events and qualify for the Midlands final. There was a load of these style events last year but this year London is missing theirs (booo). Most of the time the top 4 players from each heat get to go to the final and battle it out for the top place in their local area. Lets see if I can qualify again this year.
I took my Deneghra1 and the Pirate Boat list together with Gaspy3 and the Satyxis to keep a wide range of match-ups available to me.
Game 1, Chemical Reaction vs James Brown, Cryx
James is a great laugh to play against and chat to as well. He beat me in the expo masters this year with the Witch Coven who he had brought today, as well as (somebody else). Looking at his lists I think Deneghra has the best chance to hide in a midst of small bases and deal with his army. James decided upon the Witch Coven and two full units of Soulhunters with Bane Knights and plenty of arc nodes. Oh crap, that's how he killed me last time. The board had a hill on my left, mostly outside the zone there, shallow water in the bottom right that would stop me from moving up that way and a wall or two in the center to add a bit of fun.
He took the first turn and moved one unit of soulhunters far on my right and one just to the right of the center. Arc nodes up both sides and Bane Knights were attacking the left zone. I respond with the Sea Dogs center left, Press Gangers center right and the solos up the middle. Deneghra hid behind the objective and that's about it.
James' soulhunters come in and kill a couple of Sea Dogs but not much else happens as everything else moves up again. I feat and kill about 6-7 of the bane knights with the sea dogs, a fair chunk of the second unit of soulhunters with venoms and some good damage on the front unit with press gangers. End my turn and feel fairly happy. Until I notice this nice little channel for an arc node to run along, straight to Deneghra.
James had apparently been willing me not to look in that direction and his Jedi mind tricks worked. So little things here and there happened like Puppet Strings going on one of the witches and an arc node running into position before the assassination happened. Two fully boosted Stygian Abyss spells later and Deneghra is on one health. That was really close. My turn and James has one arc node left that I cannot reach. So I concentrate upon blocking line of sight to that bone chicken (including engaging it with a warwitch siren) and continue killing the rest of his troops. Bane Knights are pretty much down for the count now and the soulhunters left are busy protecting the Coven from charge lanes, so I kill as much as I can lay my hand upon. Meanwhile, Deneghra is camping every single bit of focus she can.
James is now losing the attrition battle and scenario is about to come into play as I have plenty of solos around. He goes for an assassination by moving up Egregore and clears a good portion of the area around Deneghra but the Witch making the attacks couldn't get LoS to cast the Stygian Abyss at me. So I just shoot Egregore with everything I can to kill the Witch Coven.
Things Learnt:
Stop leaving lanes for things to attack my caster. I didn't even make James work for that assassination route. I just got tunnel vision about what was happening in the centre of the battlefield and lost track of the rest of the tabletop.
Game 2, Incursion vs James Stark, Khador
It seems that a couple of the Birmingham guys have made a deal to never use the same casters at any of the Midland Steamroller heats. So that day Jimmy was borrowing Mike's Khador using Butcher1 and Karchev. I chose Deneghra again as the best to match up against those two and Jimmy randomly rolled Butcher1. From memory there was a building on my right just beyond the flag there, a wall or two in the centre of the board and a forest on my left. I had first turn and after deployment I was facing against shocktroopers and demo corp on my left, boomhowlers in the centre, conquest on the right with support from a drakun and a min unit of Greylords on horses.
I move forward with each of my Pirate units in-between the centre flag and their side flag ready for whichever of the flags disappears and an arc node on either flank as well. Jimmy runs forwards with the Men-o-war and boomhowlers but only moves the Conquest to shoot its big gun at me and lay down some of the blast damage templates in my way. We then roll for the disappearing flag and the one on my left is removed. This is pretty good for me as the Men-o-war have to travel through a forest to get to the centre flag and that's going to take a couple of turns.
So I run up an arc node to infront of the conquest and Crippling Grasp it. Now that I don't have to deal with that for a good few turns (SPD 2 with no running) the sea dogs move up on my right to just outside the blast damage templates and take a couple of shots. The press gangers take postion around the centre flag to ensure that Jimmy can't score there and that's about all that happens. Jimmy moves up the Greylords on my left to spray a couple of my guys removing the Machine Wraith from the table and then backs away. The Drakun attacks the arc node on that side but misses and Boomhowlers shoot at the Press Gangers taking a couple of them off the table but I've also got a pistol wraith in there to stop Jimmy scoring. Conquest moves up and again lays down the templates of blast damage whilst the Men-o-War are almost outside the forest.
My third turn and I better start scoring some scenario points before the Men-o-War arrive to mess up the centre of the board. So Deneghra moves up and feats upon the Boomhowlers, Drakun and Greylord Horsies. I missed the rest of Jimmy's troops for two reasons, I couldn't move Deneghra up because of all the pirates and also I didn't want her too far up the board. Dougal shoots off a couple of the Greylords whilst the sea dogs shoot off the rest. My warwitch moves up to base the right flag and power booster the arc node. The nightwretch then moves out of the Drakun's melee range (the free strike missed) to base the flag as well. One boosted damage later and the Drakun is dead clearing the flag for me to score. Press gangers then go in and mingle with the boomhowlers to jam up that area further. 1 CP to me.
Jimmy has finally cleared the forest with some Men-o-War and the demo corp charge my left hand arc node which has been doing nothing. But only one got there and no damage was caused. Boomhowlers attempt to fight back against the press gangers but under feat they couldn't do much at all. Finally the conquest lays the blast templates over the flag and in the way of the sea dogs again. 2 CPs scored. My turn and I'm fairly confident now. The Warwitch moves first and shadow binds the conquest preventing it from stopping me scoring. The sea dogs and press gangers clog up the centre area making sure that nothing can get to the right hand flag whilst Deneghra moves to the right to be closer to the flag but far enough away from the conquest to not be threatened by his guns. 3 CPs to me.
Jimmy finally gets the Butcher into the centre and an Obliteration is cast but the Pistol Wraith, who has done nothing at all except stand there, survives. Boomhowlers and the Men-o-War smash into the centre in full force now but nothing moves up to the right flag at all. 4 CPs and the win as I just end my turn straight away.
Things Learnt:
In total only 15 points of both our armies where killed. This wasn't a bloody battle at all because I was able to control his movements on the board. So if I'm facing something like Deneghra, Haley or any other the control casters I need to make sure that the scenario isn't going to be a cake walk for my opponent.
Game 3, Ammunition Run vs Brian Clarke, Legion
Brian has got Saeryn and Lylyth2 at his disposal. Crap. Both are very scary to me as Gaspy is melee centric so doesn't really want to see Saeryn and Deneghra is really scared of being shot by Lylyth ignoring her stealth. Oh well. Time to see how Gaspy does against hordes again. Brian chooses Saeryn, bugger. The only pieces of terrain that seemed to have an impact was a forest directly in the centre of the board and a building close on my right flank between my board edge and the objective that side. That forest is going to be an issue for me.
Ok, so yes, I'm over egging the match-up. Gaspy3 is fine versus hordes and though Saeryn has many tricks her average list can't really outlast my current build. Brian got first turn and moved forward aggressively. So aggressively that Saeryn used up all her fury and charged the objective. This gave me a real pause. She had Tenacity up but I could get a boosted Hex Blast, boosted Bone Shaker and two hand cannon shots on her very easily (Deathjack with Mobility, Vociferon to arc for Gaspy and the Raider captains have hand cannons). Rather than risk the Deathjack in an all in manoeuvre I decided to move up a captain to shoot Saeryn. If it work then I'd do the rest, otherwise all I've lost is a 2 point solo. Due to force barrier and Tenacity I needed a 12 to hit and I wasn't that lucky. So I moved up in my normal manner with Ashen Veil on the Raiders out in front and my heavy hitters protected behind their lines.
Brian brought a couple of feralgeists with him and I soon found out the reason. They moved into position and the Scytheans charged into the back of them to trigger Bloodbath against the infantry. Which would have worked very well against the average infantry but Ashen Veil helped a lot. Brian also moved his Hex Hunters far off to my right, ready to charge into my flank next turn, or possibly the objective there. Saeryn feated this turn preventing the counter attack but I can't remember much else happening.
My turn and there's not much I can do. So I choose my best option, bait out the attacks on my stuff. Gaspy camps all his focus and moves forwards as far as he can to feat. Deathjack casts Ashen Veil on the Raiders who spread out to cover most of my army, the Ogrun Bokur filled in the whole between the house and objective and that's about everything I could do. Oh, I think I took a couple of hand cannon shots at the objective but I only dinged it for a couple of points.
My bait worked and Brian moved his scytheans in to attack Gaspy but he survived with a little damage. An angelius armour pierced Deathjack and a feralgeist moved very close to Erebus who was inside the zone. The Hex Hunters charged the objective and the Bokur but didn't kill either, which was a shame as Vociferon could have claimed a couple of souls from them as the objectives explode. Saeryn also made a charge, this time against the central objective. She killed it,setting herself on fire and one of the scytheans attacking Gaspy. 1 CP to Brian.
Rather than prolonging the game I decided to go for the assassination. Gaspy goes first and with mobility moves next to Saeryn and a shepherd. I did take a couple of free strikes from the scytheans but even on triple sixes they couldn't get through my boosted armour. One boosted hit against the shepherd and Carnage was cast due to Blood Boon. I could now attack Saeryn quite a few times. So she died.
Things learnt:
Never charge your Warcaster/Warlock forwards on the first turn of the game without serious protection. But then I can't remember the last time I did that. From what Brian did with charging the objective I need to remember to check the scenario over just to ensure that I haven't missed anything.
Game 4, Into the Breach vs Dean Hubbocks, Legion
On to the final game and I'm facing my club mate. Somebody who I chat to a lot about my games and strategies and vice versa. Dean had Saeryn and Lylyth2, same as Brian, so I chose Gaspy3 again as I was sure he would pick Saeryn. The terrain didn't play any part as far as I can remember but I had first turn.
Into the Breach is an interesting scenario, pretty much everybody piles into the zone as it's where you can score the most control points whilst keeping your caster slightly safe. I was ready to send in both units of Satyxis and I manoeuvred Gaspy slightly off to my right towards the flag in case I could score a cheeky CP. Dean had other plans and an angelius and scythean moved in that direction as well. Bugger that plan then. Saeryn feats and kills a few Satyxis. I feat and gain a few souls but not that many to make much of a difference as Dean played safe with Saeryn.
The battle rages on after both our feat turns but with Scything Touch, Ashen Veil and Carnage I had the tools to survive and kill Dean's warbeasts and clear the zone once to dominate especially with the Deathjack to help out as well. Dean moved a couple of solos into the zone to stop the total scenario loss but my blood witches charge in to the solos and Saeryn herself. I kill absolutely everything with Saeryn dying last. Win via assassination.
(sorry for the scatter remembrances of the final battle. I really can't remember that many details unfortunately)
Things learnt:
This wasn't really part of something that happened in the game but came out of the chats on the way home. 1. Watch out for Saeryn chucking her deathspurs at Gaspy. They have Grievous Wounds and really can stop my feat turn working as it has done in the past. Of course this leads to her being within 10" of Gaspy and Brian can attest to how well that works out. 2. If the legion player has Vayl2 it is probably going to be a really different game. Dean and I think that's the only Legion caster that can give my Gaspy list a run for its money. I must try that out before Rotterdam.
After all of the battles have ended I was given a shiny first place coin and Dean got second place. I've also got an invite to the finals of the Midlands Steamroller on the 26th October. Looks like I've got a bit of planning to do before then. As usual Mike ran a smooth tournament with varied terrain and great people to play against.
James had apparently been willing me not to look in that direction and his Jedi mind tricks worked. So little things here and there happened like Puppet Strings going on one of the witches and an arc node running into position before the assassination happened. Two fully boosted Stygian Abyss spells later and Deneghra is on one health. That was really close. My turn and James has one arc node left that I cannot reach. So I concentrate upon blocking line of sight to that bone chicken (including engaging it with a warwitch siren) and continue killing the rest of his troops. Bane Knights are pretty much down for the count now and the soulhunters left are busy protecting the Coven from charge lanes, so I kill as much as I can lay my hand upon. Meanwhile, Deneghra is camping every single bit of focus she can.
James is now losing the attrition battle and scenario is about to come into play as I have plenty of solos around. He goes for an assassination by moving up Egregore and clears a good portion of the area around Deneghra but the Witch making the attacks couldn't get LoS to cast the Stygian Abyss at me. So I just shoot Egregore with everything I can to kill the Witch Coven.
Things Learnt:
Stop leaving lanes for things to attack my caster. I didn't even make James work for that assassination route. I just got tunnel vision about what was happening in the centre of the battlefield and lost track of the rest of the tabletop.
Game 2, Incursion vs James Stark, Khador
It seems that a couple of the Birmingham guys have made a deal to never use the same casters at any of the Midland Steamroller heats. So that day Jimmy was borrowing Mike's Khador using Butcher1 and Karchev. I chose Deneghra again as the best to match up against those two and Jimmy randomly rolled Butcher1. From memory there was a building on my right just beyond the flag there, a wall or two in the centre of the board and a forest on my left. I had first turn and after deployment I was facing against shocktroopers and demo corp on my left, boomhowlers in the centre, conquest on the right with support from a drakun and a min unit of Greylords on horses.
I move forward with each of my Pirate units in-between the centre flag and their side flag ready for whichever of the flags disappears and an arc node on either flank as well. Jimmy runs forwards with the Men-o-war and boomhowlers but only moves the Conquest to shoot its big gun at me and lay down some of the blast damage templates in my way. We then roll for the disappearing flag and the one on my left is removed. This is pretty good for me as the Men-o-war have to travel through a forest to get to the centre flag and that's going to take a couple of turns.
So I run up an arc node to infront of the conquest and Crippling Grasp it. Now that I don't have to deal with that for a good few turns (SPD 2 with no running) the sea dogs move up on my right to just outside the blast damage templates and take a couple of shots. The press gangers take postion around the centre flag to ensure that Jimmy can't score there and that's about all that happens. Jimmy moves up the Greylords on my left to spray a couple of my guys removing the Machine Wraith from the table and then backs away. The Drakun attacks the arc node on that side but misses and Boomhowlers shoot at the Press Gangers taking a couple of them off the table but I've also got a pistol wraith in there to stop Jimmy scoring. Conquest moves up and again lays down the templates of blast damage whilst the Men-o-War are almost outside the forest.
My third turn and I better start scoring some scenario points before the Men-o-War arrive to mess up the centre of the board. So Deneghra moves up and feats upon the Boomhowlers, Drakun and Greylord Horsies. I missed the rest of Jimmy's troops for two reasons, I couldn't move Deneghra up because of all the pirates and also I didn't want her too far up the board. Dougal shoots off a couple of the Greylords whilst the sea dogs shoot off the rest. My warwitch moves up to base the right flag and power booster the arc node. The nightwretch then moves out of the Drakun's melee range (the free strike missed) to base the flag as well. One boosted damage later and the Drakun is dead clearing the flag for me to score. Press gangers then go in and mingle with the boomhowlers to jam up that area further. 1 CP to me.
Jimmy has finally cleared the forest with some Men-o-War and the demo corp charge my left hand arc node which has been doing nothing. But only one got there and no damage was caused. Boomhowlers attempt to fight back against the press gangers but under feat they couldn't do much at all. Finally the conquest lays the blast templates over the flag and in the way of the sea dogs again. 2 CPs scored. My turn and I'm fairly confident now. The Warwitch moves first and shadow binds the conquest preventing it from stopping me scoring. The sea dogs and press gangers clog up the centre area making sure that nothing can get to the right hand flag whilst Deneghra moves to the right to be closer to the flag but far enough away from the conquest to not be threatened by his guns. 3 CPs to me.
Jimmy finally gets the Butcher into the centre and an Obliteration is cast but the Pistol Wraith, who has done nothing at all except stand there, survives. Boomhowlers and the Men-o-War smash into the centre in full force now but nothing moves up to the right flag at all. 4 CPs and the win as I just end my turn straight away.
Things Learnt:
In total only 15 points of both our armies where killed. This wasn't a bloody battle at all because I was able to control his movements on the board. So if I'm facing something like Deneghra, Haley or any other the control casters I need to make sure that the scenario isn't going to be a cake walk for my opponent.
Game 3, Ammunition Run vs Brian Clarke, Legion
Brian has got Saeryn and Lylyth2 at his disposal. Crap. Both are very scary to me as Gaspy is melee centric so doesn't really want to see Saeryn and Deneghra is really scared of being shot by Lylyth ignoring her stealth. Oh well. Time to see how Gaspy does against hordes again. Brian chooses Saeryn, bugger. The only pieces of terrain that seemed to have an impact was a forest directly in the centre of the board and a building close on my right flank between my board edge and the objective that side. That forest is going to be an issue for me.
Ok, so yes, I'm over egging the match-up. Gaspy3 is fine versus hordes and though Saeryn has many tricks her average list can't really outlast my current build. Brian got first turn and moved forward aggressively. So aggressively that Saeryn used up all her fury and charged the objective. This gave me a real pause. She had Tenacity up but I could get a boosted Hex Blast, boosted Bone Shaker and two hand cannon shots on her very easily (Deathjack with Mobility, Vociferon to arc for Gaspy and the Raider captains have hand cannons). Rather than risk the Deathjack in an all in manoeuvre I decided to move up a captain to shoot Saeryn. If it work then I'd do the rest, otherwise all I've lost is a 2 point solo. Due to force barrier and Tenacity I needed a 12 to hit and I wasn't that lucky. So I moved up in my normal manner with Ashen Veil on the Raiders out in front and my heavy hitters protected behind their lines.
Brian brought a couple of feralgeists with him and I soon found out the reason. They moved into position and the Scytheans charged into the back of them to trigger Bloodbath against the infantry. Which would have worked very well against the average infantry but Ashen Veil helped a lot. Brian also moved his Hex Hunters far off to my right, ready to charge into my flank next turn, or possibly the objective there. Saeryn feated this turn preventing the counter attack but I can't remember much else happening.
My turn and there's not much I can do. So I choose my best option, bait out the attacks on my stuff. Gaspy camps all his focus and moves forwards as far as he can to feat. Deathjack casts Ashen Veil on the Raiders who spread out to cover most of my army, the Ogrun Bokur filled in the whole between the house and objective and that's about everything I could do. Oh, I think I took a couple of hand cannon shots at the objective but I only dinged it for a couple of points.
My bait worked and Brian moved his scytheans in to attack Gaspy but he survived with a little damage. An angelius armour pierced Deathjack and a feralgeist moved very close to Erebus who was inside the zone. The Hex Hunters charged the objective and the Bokur but didn't kill either, which was a shame as Vociferon could have claimed a couple of souls from them as the objectives explode. Saeryn also made a charge, this time against the central objective. She killed it,setting herself on fire and one of the scytheans attacking Gaspy. 1 CP to Brian.
Rather than prolonging the game I decided to go for the assassination. Gaspy goes first and with mobility moves next to Saeryn and a shepherd. I did take a couple of free strikes from the scytheans but even on triple sixes they couldn't get through my boosted armour. One boosted hit against the shepherd and Carnage was cast due to Blood Boon. I could now attack Saeryn quite a few times. So she died.
Things learnt:
Never charge your Warcaster/Warlock forwards on the first turn of the game without serious protection. But then I can't remember the last time I did that. From what Brian did with charging the objective I need to remember to check the scenario over just to ensure that I haven't missed anything.
Game 4, Into the Breach vs Dean Hubbocks, Legion
On to the final game and I'm facing my club mate. Somebody who I chat to a lot about my games and strategies and vice versa. Dean had Saeryn and Lylyth2, same as Brian, so I chose Gaspy3 again as I was sure he would pick Saeryn. The terrain didn't play any part as far as I can remember but I had first turn.
Into the Breach is an interesting scenario, pretty much everybody piles into the zone as it's where you can score the most control points whilst keeping your caster slightly safe. I was ready to send in both units of Satyxis and I manoeuvred Gaspy slightly off to my right towards the flag in case I could score a cheeky CP. Dean had other plans and an angelius and scythean moved in that direction as well. Bugger that plan then. Saeryn feats and kills a few Satyxis. I feat and gain a few souls but not that many to make much of a difference as Dean played safe with Saeryn.
The battle rages on after both our feat turns but with Scything Touch, Ashen Veil and Carnage I had the tools to survive and kill Dean's warbeasts and clear the zone once to dominate especially with the Deathjack to help out as well. Dean moved a couple of solos into the zone to stop the total scenario loss but my blood witches charge in to the solos and Saeryn herself. I kill absolutely everything with Saeryn dying last. Win via assassination.
(sorry for the scatter remembrances of the final battle. I really can't remember that many details unfortunately)
Things learnt:
This wasn't really part of something that happened in the game but came out of the chats on the way home. 1. Watch out for Saeryn chucking her deathspurs at Gaspy. They have Grievous Wounds and really can stop my feat turn working as it has done in the past. Of course this leads to her being within 10" of Gaspy and Brian can attest to how well that works out. 2. If the legion player has Vayl2 it is probably going to be a really different game. Dean and I think that's the only Legion caster that can give my Gaspy list a run for its money. I must try that out before Rotterdam.
After all of the battles have ended I was given a shiny first place coin and Dean got second place. I've also got an invite to the finals of the Midlands Steamroller on the 26th October. Looks like I've got a bit of planning to do before then. As usual Mike ran a smooth tournament with varied terrain and great people to play against.
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