Last in my Triptych of Tuesday games, I played the current incarnation of my Ossyan list against Caleb's Khador and eVlad.
I played:
Lord Arcanist Ossyan (+6)
*Banshee (10)
*Manticore (8)
10 Dawnguard Invictors (10)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
10 Houseguard Halberdiers (7)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
*Soulless Escort (1)
10 Mage Hunter Strike Force (8)
*Strike Force Commander (2)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4)
Arcanist (1)
Arcanist (1)
This is my current 50pt Retribution list, but with Ossyan as the caster. It has good jamming potential in Quickened Halberdiers, and can put out a lot of damage at range, especially on Ossyan's Feat turn. The Invictors are a decent backup melee unit, and shouldn't have too much trouble Flanking since the two Myrmidons will be in the second line with them. I'm not 100% sold on the Manticore, but it does have 3 shots to pile damage on for the Feat turn, as well as some defensive tech with Covering Fire and a solid, if not spectacular, melee presence.
This list has decent potential against a high Arm opponent with Ossyan's Feat, and it has some ability to slow an enemy down with Ossyan's gun and Covering Fire. It will struggle a lot against Stealth and opponents with a strong anti-infantry game.
Caleb played:
Vladimir, the Dark Champion (+5)
*Conquest (19)
*War Dog (1)
10 Ironfang Pikemen (8)
*Black Dragon Officer and Standard (2)
3 Iron Fang Ulahns (7)
6 Doomreavers (6)
4 Widowmakers (4)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4)
4 Battlefield Mechaniks (2)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2)
This list looks like a solid, if bricky, Vlad 2 list. I've never faced Vlad 2 before, but I do know his Feat makes a few of his models spectacularly nasty, and that he has a solid spell list too. I wasn't sure before the game how this list all fit together, but at the very least, I'd figure it out as it happened to me.
Deployment
We set a building on the far left, a stone pillar on the far right, and a few forests, walls and hills spaced out around the table center. The Scenario was Chemical Reaction. Two 12"x6" rectangular zones spaced 12" apart in the table center. One was slightly closer to each players side, and players can score by dominating their own zone, or score 2 or 3 points for controlling or dominating their enemy's zone respectively. There are also 2 destructible objectives just in front of each player's AD zone in the table center. Destroying your opponent's objective is worth 1 point.
Caleb won the Roll-off, and decided to go second. He predeployed the Conquest right in front of his Zone on the right. I deployed most of my heavy shooting and Halberdiers to oppose the Conquest, but put my Banshee and Aiyanna and Holt as well as an Arcanist to hold down my left flank and contest my zone.
Caleb deployed the Iron Fangs and Kovnik on the left to claim my zone. Vlad, his dog, and the Ulahns went in the center with Aiyanna and Holt where they could offer support to anyone.
For Advance Deploy, I placed my Strike Force opposite the Conquest, and Caleb placed his Widowmakers behind a low wall in front of the Iron Fangs, and his Doomreavers opposite the Mage Hunters.
Turn 1: Retribution
Ossyan held on to his Focus. The Arcanists moved out and used Power Booster. The Banshee ran forward. Ossyan advanced, and put Quicken on the Halberdiers, Shatter Storm on the Invictors, and Admonition on the Banshee. The Halberdiers ran 16" (yikes!), and the Invictors ran up behind them. The Mage hunters ran conservatively, trying to stay out of reach of the Doomreavers. The Manticore advanced, and put a Covering Fire template on the lead Halberdiers just in case Caleb decided to sucker punch me with 14" charging Doomreavers with Vlad's Feat. Aiyanna and Holt advanced toward my zone and Stealthed.
I was in a pretty interesting position, and it wasn't one of my best deployments. The Banshee, Aiyanna and Holt, and one Arcanist were the only models capable of contesting my zone quickly, and I didn't think they could hold off the Iron Fangs for long. Ossyan was pretty out of position for a good Turn 2 Feat due to deployment mistakes. My next turn would largely be dictated by Caleb's moves.
Turn 1: Khador
Vlad held onto all of his Focus. He cast Hand of Fate on the Uhlans, then advanced, and put Transference on himself, and Assail on the Conquest. The Uhlans cantered up, trying to stay outside my Halberdiers' threat range. Conquest ran into Caleb's zone. The Doomreavers ran at an angle to force a Command check on my Mage Hunters, which they passed. The Widowmakers advanced to their wall, and shot 2 Halberdiers. The Kovnik used Shield March on the Iron Fangs and ran forward. The Iron Fangs used Shield Wall, and advanced 8 inches, which put them just short of my zone.
Caleb had advanced predictably and relentlessly. He'd also left me with an interesting choice. On the one hand, I could use my second turn to reposition, eliminate the Doomreavers, and jam Caleb's forces down. On the other, I could see if Ossyan's shooting game really can take out a Colossal in 1 round. Hmm.... I wonder which way is best...
Turn 2: Retribution
I decided to go after the Conquest. Ossyan upkept all his spells, and allocated 3 Focus to the Manticore. Then he activated, popped his Feat, Gravity Well to get an extra die on ranged damage rolls targeting enemies in his CTRL, and charged at the Conquest to put it, by the barest of margins, within range. Then Halberdiers charged the Conquest, did some damage, and got in the Uhlans' way if they tried charge me next turn. Then the Invictors moved up and shot the Conquest. Then the Manticore moved up and shot the Conquest. Finally, the Mage Hunters moved up and shot the Conquest, destroying it. Horay! One remaining Mage Hunter also killed a Doomreaver. The Banshee tried to slam some Iron Fangs, but was just out of range. Holt shot at a Widowmaker engaged by a Halberdier, and ended up killing the Halberdier. Nice going round-ear.
Anyway, Caleb was up, and this was going to be painful. A lot of my army was exposed, and I'd spent all my resources downing the Conquest. If he had some bad rolls, enough of my army might survive to keep me in the game.
Turn 2: Khador
Caleb wasn't too pleased to lose his Conquest, but he was far from out of the game. Vlad upkept Transference and Hand of Fate. His Widowmakers aimed, and killed a few of the Halberdiers jamming the Uhlans. Then the Doomreavers advanced, and killed a few more Halberdiers. Then Vlad advanced, and attacked one of the last two Halberdiers between the Uhlans and Ossyan. Then he popped his Feat, and turned the three Uhlans, the Iron Fang Kovnik, and one ordinary Iron Fang into super soldiers by giving them +3 to every stat. Two of the Uhlans declared a charge on Ossyan. Uh oh. One of them used its impact attacks to kill the Halberdier between it and glory, and easily made it to Ossyan. The second raced up to the leading Invictors, and killed one with its Impact attacks to make it to Ossyan. It needn't have bothered. The first Uhlan pasted Ossy with a single thrust of his lance.
Victory to Khador!
Thoughts
I made a bunch of mistakes this game. First, I deployed badly. Ossyan was way out of position, and I wasn't defending my own zone adequately. Second, I should not have gone after the Conquest on turn 2. Yes I killed it, and yes it was a pretty awesome feeling, but the Conquest wasn't in a position to do too much damage to me on the next turn. It was pretty thoroughly engaged by the Halberdiers. What I should have done was focus on eliminating the Doomreavers and Uhlans. The Mage Hunters would have made quick work of the Doomreavers, and my Invictors almost certainly had range on the Uhlans, and I could probably have killed 2, or maybe all 3 with medium CRA's. Then I would have been in a decent position to nab the Conquest on my next turn, and Caleb would have no good targets for his Feat on that turn. Third and finally, I'm pretty sure Admonition just goes on Ossyan all the time. He isn't pMorghoul, who will be sending beasts in first and camping transfers. He's much squishier than that, and Myrmidons play much more support-oriented roles than Skorne heavies.
I found my list pretty effective. I certainly had more options than I used all game, and I had a lot of fun with it. I feel that every model has a good place except the Manticore. It's done alright for me so far, but I'm really interested in using an Arcantrik Force Generator, which has more shooting versatility, and doesn't use up any of Ossyan's Focus. Quickened Halberdiers were fantastic, and all the other elements in the list worked well.
Caleb didn't really have a chance for much tactical play, but he set up his assassination very well. He cleared out the Halberdiers blocking his Uhlans, and ran them right into a sadly exposed Ossyan. He may have left a little too much of his army vulnerable on turn 1 - he certainly left the Doomreavers hanging - but I chose to focus on the Conquest instead, so it ended up paying off.
Caleb's list, though dangerous, didn't seem to fit together quite right. I'm not sure how I would change it, but he discussed some possible improvements with Nigel and Casey after the game. He ended up deciding to drop Aiyanna and Holt, and changing the Iron Fangs to a minimum unit with the regular UA instead of the Black Fangs. In their place, he'd squeeze in some Kayazy Eliminators to get horrific potential benefits from Vlad's Feat, and epic Eiriss to give the list a little more control against upkeeps like Admonition.
Thanks for a great game Caleb, and thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment