Here's the other game I played this past Friday:
I played my Ossyan list:
Lord Arcanish Ossyan (+6)
*Banshee (10)
*Manticore (8)
10 Dawguard Invictors (10)
*Officer and Standard (2)
10 Mage Hunter Strike Force (8)
*Strike Force Commander (2)
Arcanist (1)
I've only used this incarnation of my Ossyan list a few times. It hits extremely hard from a deceptively long range with the Mage Hunter Strike Force, and Dawnguard Invictors. The Manticore and Banshee give it some good support with their abilities. It is vulnerable to fast jamming units, however. Neither the Mage Hunters nor the Invictors are great at melee, and will tend to struggle with a jam just long enough for opponents to capitalize with their second wave models.
My opponent, Ben, decided to break out his Durgen list for more explosions:
Durgen Madhammer (+6)
*Ghordson Driller (6)
Sylas Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2)
Cylena Raefyll and 5 Nyss Hunters (7)
10 Kayazy Assassins (8)
*Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4)
Kayazy Eliminators (3)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2)
Saxon Orrick (2)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2)
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (2)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1)
This list seems to be a core of exceptionally strong Merc units (the Nyss Hunters and Kayazy Assassins) surrounded by a whole lot of support. Durgen has a dangerous ranged game, and a very good spell list to make those units as troublesome as possible in a slugfest. He handles units, especially low-Arm units well, and the list can take down heavies with concerted effort. I would worry about facing a beast brick with a list like this though. It doesn't have great tools for taking on a lot of heavies at once.
Deployment
I won the roll-off, and decided to go first. I deployed my Invictors in two clumps of 6 ready to march around a small forest in the center of the table. The Banshee went between the Dawnguard clumps, and the Manticore went on the left. Ossyan and the Arcanist deployed behind the Invictors and 'Jacks.
Ben Deployed the Kayazy (both the Assassins unit and the Eliminators) in the center-left to jam my Invictors and Jacks. The Nyss went on my right flank. Durgen, MacNaile, Reinholdt, and the Driller went in the middle near a hill they could climb on. The other support solos went behind the Kayazy.
Finally, I put my Mage Hunters opposite the Nyss.
Turn 1
I ran most of my models. Ossyan put Shatter Storm on the Mage Hunters and Quicken on the Invictors, who stayed in Defensive Line formation as they sprinted upfield.
Ben ran the Kayazy Assassins and Eliminators toward my troops. Reinholdt put Reload on Durgen, and MacNaile used his mini-Feat to give nearby Mercs +2" of range on their ranged attacks. Finally, Durgen advanced, put Explosivo on 3 Nyss, and Carpet Bombed the Mage Hunters, killing about 4. The Nyss fired explosive arrows at the Mage Hunters, and killed 1 more. The Driller ran to screen Durgen from my leftmost troops.
First blood to the Mercenaries, but Durgen was pretty far forward, and I might have a shot at him. Hopefully I hadn't misplaced my Invictors so badly that I couldn't capitalize.
Turn 2
I started off by upkeeping Quicken from the Invictors, and dropping Shatterstorm. Then Ossyan Feated and charged a Mage Hunter in the back. He didn't quite make it, but did toe into that central forest, which protected him from a lot of what Ben could throw his way next turn. More importantly, it put Durgen in his CTRL, so I'd get With the Feat adding to their damage rolls, the remaining Mage Hunters advanced, and shot the Driller, hoping to destroy it to open line of sight to Durgen for my far group of Invictors. They damaged it heavily, but didn't get rid of it. The Invictors used Extend Fire to get range to Durgen, and all those who could see him blasted him with 2-man CRA's, taking him down to 3 hit boxes. Three of the remaining 5 Invictors finished off the Driller, but the last 2 couldn't CRA Durgen, because one was out of range, and the shot missed. Last, I ran the Banshee forward to stop a lot of the Kayazy from charging, and advanced the Manticore, which put a Covering Fire template on my Invictors (still in Defensive Line) to keep the Kayazy from killing them.
Ben was locked down pretty well, and Ossyan's Feat was preventing him from doing much ranged damage, so he decided to do what he could to the models he could reach, and jam the rest. Durgen lurched into the Driller's Wreck for Cover, cast Primed on the Kayazy Assassins, and camped the rest of his Focus. The Eliminators charged into the Mage Hunters, killing 4 and causing the remaining 2 to flee, and Side Stepped into the front Invictors on their side. The Kayazy had no good charge targets, but ran to engage both Myrmidons, Ossyan, and one other unengaged Invictor. The Nyss charged into the last remaining Mage Hunters, and killed the only one besides the Commander. Saxon killed the Arcanist, and Holt took some shots at an Invictor in the Covering Fire template, but didn't kill him on 1d6. Rhupert gave the Kayazy +1 Def and Terror, but the Invictors weren't scared.
I had a few options at this point. I could try to play attrition against Ben's Kayazy and Nyss, and maneuver the warjacks around for another shot at Durgen, or I could ignore most of Ben's infantry, and go after Durgen again. Fortunately, the start of both plans was the same, so I wouldn't have to choose right away.
Turn 3
I allocated 2 Focus to each Myrmidon, and dropped Quicken. The Manticore Trampled over a few Kayazy Assassins to free up the Banshee, which actually lost a column to the resulting explosion. The Banshee then Trampled over a few more Kayazy, killing one to free up the Invictors who had been protected by the Covering Fire template last turn, and ended up engaging Aiyanna, Holt, and Gorman. :D Then, I decided to go for it. Durgen was only at 3 hit points, and even at Def 20 (for being on a hill and in Cover) and Arm 19, it seemed worth the risk. The Engaged Invictors managed to kill off the two Kayazy Eliminators to free up one of their brethren, and the far Invictors carefully advanced around all Kayazy melee arcs in a sort of Conga Line until they looked to be with 10" of Durgen. Then I did a 4-elf CRA. It hit thanks to the Combined Arms reroll, and did just enough damage to kill Durgen.
Victory to the Retribution!
Thoughts
Well, I definitely lucked out on that last assassination run, but I basically played an ok game. I made some mistakes in Deployment. I should have deployed all my Invictors together to coordinate them a little better. I played pretty solidly otherwise. I used the Myrmidons well this game. Running up, and trampling through the lines with them was a good move that kept the Kayazy from jamming as effectively as they usually do. I also put the pressure on in my second turn with the almost-successful ranged assassination. On turn 3, the smart move was definitely to play attrition, and get the Myrmidons into Durgen when I could. Trying for a ranged assassination against Def 20 Arm 19 was a long shot, even with the Combined Arms reroll, could easily have been a waste of my only remaining unit's activation.
I like this list pretty well, but it is definitely vulnerable to jamming. Invictors just have trouble clearing models out, and part of the reason I went for the assassination on turn 3 was that I wasn't confident they'd fight their way free of the Kayazy. They are amazingly effective with Ossyan's Feat though. Their guns are very accurate, and can threaten a long distance between Quicken and Extend Fire. If just one more Invictor had been in range to CRA Durgen, I'd have killed him on the top of turn 2. Mage Hunters aren't an ideal jamming unit/tarpit either, since they'd like to be shooting and hiding. Lots of people have been touting Halberdiers with Ossyan, and I'll definitely give them a try (possibly instead of the Manticore) as soon as I pick them up.
Ben made a mistake early on by overexposing Durgen. He was too interested in stopping the Mage Hunters before they could do serious damage, and misjudged the threat range and accuracy of the Invictors under Quicken. He started to recover well on his second turn when his list's superior attrition game against mine started coming into play, but Durgen was already badly damaged, and that was enough for me to win.
Ben's list seems effective, but it does invest heavily in support solos. I'm not sure what Merc option would fit the bill, but it seems like a dedicated ranged unit would fit well in the list. Alternately, the Driller could be upgraded to a 'jack with a more imposing gun. Durgen's personal ranged threat is pretty significant, and I feel like he'd benefit from having a few more models to back him up in early game shooting.
Thanks for a great game!
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