Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight vs Major Victoria Hayley

Hi guys and welcome to the latest battle report! This week I managed to get a game with Will who's decided that his Merc army will work a lot better if he swaps out the casters for some Cygnar. Urgh. Will's been playing the Mercs for pretty much a year, and had basically decided that after taking them to ETC this last weekend he was going to switch to the swans. He IM'd me before the game to ask if I'd be ok playing against eHayley. I know I need more practice against her and her stupid evil cheating cheatiness and so I agreed to let him bring it. I was hoping to get more practice with Saeryn but I decided that eLylyth was the more sensible match up. Even so I wasn't feeling too hopeful about my chances. Since the last tournament I decided to switch out her build a little and so I ended up with:

eLylyth +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore -10 

-Ravagore -10

-Ravagore -10

-Naga Nightlurker -5

-Shredder -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Strider Rangers -6

Ranger UA -3

Swamp Gobbers -1

Objective - Bunker

For those who remember the previous version of the list I've dropped out the Bolt Thrower, Typhon and the Foresaken for a third Ravagore, the Strider package and the Swamp Gobbers. I feel like this is a more rounded list that can be slightly more adaptable. 

Pregame

Will's list included a Centurion, Thorn and a Squire in eHayley's Battlegroup, and a unit of Gun Mages with UA, a Journeyman Warcaster and then Gaston Crosse with Galleon, Raluk Moorclaw and Dougal MacNaile. The scenario we rolled out was Incoming. Will won the roll to go first and chose board edge, letting me take first turn. He set the Galleon up opposite his own zone. I put my Ravagores opposite the Galleon and the zone with Lylyth just off centre along with the support models. Hayley then went in an opposite off-centre deployment. Gaston and the Mercs deployed with Galleon and the Gun mages centrally. I then stuck all the Striders near my zone and its comfy forest. 

Legion Turn One

Taking first turn I had Lylyth out up Shadow Pack and then put Tenacity out on herself. The Ravagores all ran up followed by the Naga, getting my 4 Fury on the board. The Shredder and the Succubus all moved up around Lylyth and then the Gobbers came up behind and dropped a cloud over the support staff. The Shepherds ran up the flanks and the Striders ran into the zone and forest on my right flank. 

Cygnar Turn One

On the Cygnar turn Hayley put her spells out, Decelerating herself, putting Temporal Acceleration on the Centurion and Dead Eye on the Gun mages before running to the back of the board. The Journeyman put up Arcane Shield on the Centurion (upkeeping it all game) before it ran straight up the board towards my zone. The Galleon waddled up and rolled 3 shots on both sides, which with Double Powder Rations from Dougal was enough to scatter around my almost entirely stealthy list. He did manage to kill one of the Shepherds with blast along with two Striders and the Succubus, annoyingly taking out two of my key support solos. The gun mages ran up to start getting the Striders in range for their pistols next turn. Thorn hid behind the Galleon. 

Legion Turn Two

On my turn two I had to actually pay Fury to upkeep Shadow Pack on Lylyth. Ugh. I started with Lylyth who moved into B2B with the Bunker to get Girded and then feated, putting out Wraithbane on two of the Ravagores. Those Ravagores then advanced up, one getting into the zone, and took 4 boosted shots into the Galleon, taking out most of one side. The Naga moved up to the Objective too and put Wraithbane on the other Ravagore, who boosted a shot into the Galleon, not quite destroying the side. He then took a pot shot at Hayley with Dragonfire, hoping to light her up. The shot deviated away but did hit the UA for the Gun Mages so I boosted to remove their True Sight. The Deathstalkers failed to kill anyone but gummed up the zone. The Striders took a full unit CRA into the one gun mage in range and then reformed back behind the forest. The Gobber leader moved between the Naga and Lylyth B2B with the objective followed by the grunt and put out a cloud on all of them. The shepherd took the fury off the overloaded Ravagore in my zone and I passed the turn. 

Cygnar Turn Two

Gaston loaded up the Galleon who advanced up but couldn't get into the zone, rolling another double 3 for its shots. Almost all of the shots deviated off even with Artillerist up from Dougal. The one shot that did deviate well hit Lylyth and all her support. Luckily though they were all B2B with the Objective and so couldn't be damaged by blast damage, apart from the Gobber grunt who was blown off the table with boosted blast damage. The fully loaded (4 with the bond) Centurion charged the Ravagore in the zone, managing to miss two of its attacks leaving my heavy on a single point. Two of the gun mages started out of command thanks to the death of the UA meaning they couldn't attack this turn. The others advanced up and levelled their guns at the Striders before remembering that they couldn't see them any more. 

Legion: 1 Cygnar:0

Legion Turn Three

On my turn I went into the tank for a long time trying to decide what to do with my stuff to get to a point where I could win. Finally I decided not to have Lylyth heal the Ravagore on one point. Instead I had the shepherd advance up and medicate it, taking two points off it, re-establishing its lost aspects (phew). The Ravagore then moved up and got forced to double handed throw the Centurion out of the zone, putting some more distance on it. Lylyth then advanced up to the nearby wall and gave dragon fire to each of the other Ravagores. The Striders on the other flank managed to take out a couple of the Gun Mages despite poor to hit rolls and their high DEF. The two Ravagores each moved up and took shots on Gaston, trying to cripple the Galleon. The first deviated harmlessly away and the second hit Thorn and the Objective, setting them both on fire but not doing significant damage. The Naga advanced up around the objective and the Shredder ran into my zone to contest. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 0

Cygnar Turn Three

Fire on Thorn and the objective stayed on with Thorn taking no damage but the Objective taking a couple points. The Galleon advanced up into the two Ravagores beating one to about half health with its initials. The Centurion with its one focus advanced up and boosted a hit into the surviving Ravagore finishing it off easily. The Gun Mages continued to advance up but failed to kill any Striders. Thorn jogged up the table a bit more and finally Hayley advanced up and feated, catching my whole army apart from Lylyth and the Gobber. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 0

Legion Turn Four 

Being under Hayley's feat meant I got very little done this turn. The Shepherd advanced into my zone. The Striders took shots at the gun mages sacrificing move but didn't get much done. The Ravagores moved into the Galleon but couldn't attack. One Deathstalker advanced into the Centurion to hold it in place and the Shredder gave it Tenacity. Lylyth advanced up the wall and put tenacity on the two Ravagores engaging the Galleon. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 0

Cygnar Turn Four 

On the Cygnar turn Will realised that the Galleon had actually advanced just out of Gaston's control area so he couldn't allocate anything to it this turn. The Objective and Thorn stayed on fire but it didn't hurt Thorn and took a couple more points from the objective. The Galleon proceeded to take its initials and managed to kill one Ravagore and wound the other. The Centurion killed the Deathstalker engaging it. The Gun mages continued their duel with the Striders to little effect. Thorn continued to advance towards my zone. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 0

Legion Turn Five

On my turn I was looking like I was in pretty dire straights. So I hatched a plan. I had the Naga advance across the Galleon, boosting a shot into its right side, followed up by Lylyth taking her shots crippled the right side of the Galleon, crippling the free strike on the remaining Ravagore. It then advaced around the collosal, who missed the free strike, and double boosted a shot with animus into Hayley herself. I cranked both rolls, putting her down to two boxes and on fire. On the far flank the Striders all moved up to shoot Hayley, hoping to put her down, but failed to hit her high DEF even with CRAs. The game now hinged on the fire roll. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 0

Cygnar Turn Five

Will rolled for the fire on Hayley and it came up a '2' saving her from otherwise (probably) certain doom. Realising the danger of her situation he had her run away, charging the Deathstalker that had shot at her last turn, ending up behind a wall. She boosted the hit and pasted it with Echo. The Galleon turned to get the Ravagore in melee and used its attacks to kill the offending heavy. Raluk moved up and around the zone staying toe in on a forest. The Centurion advanced into the Shepherd and killed it, controlling my zone. Thorn killed one Ranger and engaged the others to save Hayley from more reprisals. 

Legion: 2 Cygnar: 1

Legion Turn Six

On my turn I had to switch tack again. Lylyth moved up and into the zone and boosted a shot into Gaston, killing him and shutting down the Galleon, letting me dominate the zone. Lylyth then moved back with swift hunter and shot twice at Raluk, reducing him to one box but failing to kill. Now I just needed to kill the objective, which had already been damaged by the fire earlier. The Naga boosted a shot into it, but as it was a bunker it only took a few points of damage. The Shredder went Rabid and charged it, but left it with a few boxes remaining. I hadn't managed to contest my own zone though. 

Legion: 4 Cygnar: 2

Cygnar Turn Six

On the Cygnar turn Thorn got telekinesis'd towards the zone with Lylyth in it, using the Reaction Drive to advance pretty far up. Raluk ran to get through the forest ending up B2B with Galleon. Thorn charged the Naga almost killing it and contesting the zone. The Centurion advanced towards my Objective. Meanwhile the Journeyman advanced up and took a handcannon shot into the Shredder killing it to keep the objective safer. 

Legion: 4 Cygnar: 3

Legion Turn Seven

I knew there was no way I would be able to clear an almost undamaged Thorn out of my zone and so I knew that killing the objective was the only way to win the game. The Naga moved away from Thorn to try and shoot at it but was killed by the free strike. Lylyth then advanced out of the zone and took her two shots on the objective, damaging it but not destroying it. I ran the remaining Gobber into my zone to contest. 

Legion: 4 Cygnar: 3

Cygnar Turn Seven

On this turn all Will needed was to kill the Gobber with the Centurion and run Hayley into the zone to win the game on scenario, so he did, ending the game at:

Legion: 4 Cygnar: 5 - Cygnar Victory

After game

Even though I lost this game I feel like I played one of my tightest games. I came very close to winning several times and I don't feel like there were any major issues that I should have inproved on. Having said that though there were two things I noticed in reviewing the game. Firstly on my turn three I moved both Ravagores into the zone, trying to kill Gaston. Looking at the board state, though, it would probably have been a much better idea to charge both Ravagores into the half dead collosal and destroyed it with Melee instead of going for the janky shooting. Secondly I feel like I could have utilised Pin Cushion in this game several times to great effect but I didn't. On my feat turn I could have Pin Cushioned the Galleon fairly easily to skew the numbers more and should definitely have put it on the objective on the final round. It's an easy spell for me to forget because with Lylyth's low FURY it's a pain in the ass to hit even average DEF. Objectives and Collosals do not have even average DEF, though and I could have made those damage rolls much more favourable!

I guess there's always something to learn! I don't much envy whoever gets Will next, now he's got his hand in! Hopefully next week I'll be able to report about a win and break my recent close loss streak! Regardless of that this was a really close, tense game that seemed like it was just about to end pretty much every turn after the second!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Saeryn, Omen of Everblight vs. Forge Master Syntherion

Hi guys, welcome to the latest edition of Mitsuharu on Minis! This week I'm continuing to practice with my Saeryn list which I took to Jaunce in July last week, which I'm still using without adjustment, just trying to iron out my play with her a bit more:

Saeryn +5

-Angelius -9

-Angelius -9

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Raek -4

-Shredder -2

Foresaken -2

Foresaken -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Spell Martyr -1

Spell Martyr -1

Maximum Spawning Vessel -3

Objective - Fuel Cashe

My opponent this week was a new Convergence of Cyriss player! CoC is a faction I don't have much experience against and is actually a pretty shitty match up for Saeryn. I was concerned about taking down an Axiom and his army wasn't providing any corpse tokens for the pot either. Worst of all because of the many guns he'd be able to work around my feat pretty well. I was considering that eLylyth might have been the better drop vs Cyriss robots but I needed the practice with Saeryn and so decided to just go for it with her and see what happened. The list he'd decided to run was Forge Master Syntherion and a whole bunch of Jacks in tier. The battlegroup was Prime Axiom (of course), a Cipher, a Corollary, Monitor, Diffuser, Modulator and a Galvaniser. The rest of the list was a set each of Elimination and Reflex servitors a pair of Dispersion Optifex and an Optifex Directive unit. So the list had 3 heavy Vectors, a Colossal and 3 light Vectors for a lot of meat (or metal) on the board! 

The scenario we rolled this game was two fronts and I won the roll for the start of the game, choosing to go first. The Prime Axiom set up, predeployed, in the centre of the table. I then deployed with Saeryn and the Scytheans Central, with the Angels off to one flank along with the Spawning Vessel. The Convergence then set up with all the Vectors across the front line. The Deathstalkers then AD'd to my right, followed by the Optifex solos and Servitors who went dotted to the Convergence flanks. 

I took the first turn, running up everything, putting Banishing Ward on Saeryn and Respawn on one of the Scytheans. Tenacity then went on one Angel and Saeryn. 

On Convergence turn one Syntherion put out all of his fancy robot upkeep spells, putting Hotshot on the Axiom, Reconstruct on the Galvaniser and Synergy on himself. Everything then ran up the board, inducting focus across the board to get the job done. 

On my turn the Deathstalkers managed to kill a single Servitor between them thanks to the terrible dice that plagued both sides of this whole game. The Scytheans moved up, the Respawned one taking the lead with the other just behind it to avoid towing. The Angels moved to behind the forest on my flank, trying to remove line of sight to them from the guns. Saeryn then moved up and arced a Hellfire through a Spell Martyr that had run up at the Directive unit, hoping to hurt them and hopefully cause a panic for them. Again the poor dice struck and she missed. She then feated to offer some protection for my beasts. The Shredder then hopped up to Saeryn and gave her tenacity. 

On the Convergence turn almost all of the jacks, especially the Axiom, shot all their guns into the lead Scythean, managing to kill it once despite also suffering from poor dice (missing a flared Scythean with an aiming Axiom), triggering Respawn, but leaving the reborn Scythean with two circles left unable to finish it off. Thanks to some more shoddy dice only one of the Deathstalkers was killed by the shooty jacks. Syntherion advanced behind the Axiom, hoping for a bit of protection in the rear of the army, and arced a Magnetic Hold onto the lead Angel. 

I pointed out that, as this was a kill box scenario, moving behind the Axiom had given up two control points to me. I debated between committing to the Axiom and going for the control points. In the end I decided to try for both. I started by healing the one damaged aspect on the Scythean, having it charge and do serious damage to the Axiom. The other Scythean also joined in adding on a bunch more damage. By the time the smoke cleared the Axiom was left with 5 boxes. The Raek then charged the Objective, but failed to destroy it, leaving it on 5 boxes also. Saeryn then activated and threw a hellfire at the objective to finish it off, but failed to break its armour even with the boost. Damn dice. She then moved across and put Banishing Ward on the Angel, getting rid of the Magnetic Hold on it, freeing it up to charge the Axiom, but it was just short, meaning it couldn't manage it. The other Angel then moved up to repulse the Galvanizer and Servitor out of the zone, but could only position to get the Servitor. Meaning instead of ending the turn on 4 control points I managed to not score any extra. Luckily the Angel redeemed itself by shooting the Axiom and rolling high enough to scrap it.

 

On the Convergence turn Syntherion moved into the wreck marker of the dead Axiom, getting cover and moving out of Kill Box before feating. The Vectors, with weapon platform and induction juggling managed to stretch the focus out to finish off the horribly injured Scythean, total his brother and take out the Angel in the Zone, massively reducing my board presence and leaving me exposed across the board. A bunch of junk models then advanced up and blocked landing zones for the Angel to Syntherion. 

On my turn I had to go for the long shot assassination on the stupidly survivable Convergence caster. The Raek activated and leapt into melee with the CoC caster, taking a few swipes but failing to harm him. Saeryn then moved up and cast Blight Bringer on the Raek, clearing the zone for Angel to fly in. The Angel was engaged at that point by a light Vector and I decided to take the free strike. It hit and did exactly enough damage to exactly the right column to cripple the Mind of the heavy, forcing me to boost to have any chance of hitting. I did and the armour pierce hit, but rolled very low on the boosted damage, only wounding him. I then couldn't finish him off with the remaining attack. 

Saeryn was exposed and low on both fury and beasts and, though it took a couple of turns he managed to finish her off with a pair of heavy Vectors in a Synergy chain, losing me the game to an assassination. 

My opponent played a pretty tight game thoughout despite making some unfortunate mistakes such as forgetting to create Servitors with the Axiom on any of its turns or messing up on the induction order of activation. Looking back on the game, though, there were definitely a couple of things I could have done better.

First, and probably most importantly, I didn't need to charge with the Angel who came up short. I demonstrated with the other Angel that taking shots with both of them boosted were all I needed to take out the Axiom, and I could have moved them into better positions to repulse the zone and score my third point. Even without destroying the objective that turn it would have been relatively easy to clear my zone a second time with the repulses since there weren't enough convergence models to jam that zone effectively. The objective was damaged enough that it could've been destroyed in that next turn fairly trivially. Once the Scytheans had damaged the Axiom enough I should have changed my tack back to securing the upper hand with scenario from there. That was stupid and forced me into a position where I was forced into a long shot assassination instead of playing to Saeryn's strengths and pushing for scenario. I know that's what this list is designed for and demonstrates why I need practice with this caster and list to make sure that I play it better in future. 

Secondly when it came to the assassination I realised much later that I could've significantly improved my chances if I'd used a headbutt with the Raek to knock Syntherion down. Then the Angel would hit automatically and the damaged mind wouldn't matter. My charging Angel would hit his armour pierce charge, could buy and boost a second and then buy an unboosted third all of which would auto hit. The spells I could've cast would've been much more likely to hit too! I need to start remembering the special attacks and power attacks and not just sticking to charging and regular attacks. I have a suite of sweet options and those tools are there for just those sorts of situations! 

Even though I lost this game and my opponent definitely outplayed me even with a few mistakes, I feel I played a pretty decent, if clearly flawed game, I just need to tighten it up a bit! Regardless it was valuable as a learning experience to further drive my development! Look out for more from me and Saeryn!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M

Tourney Tales - Jaunce in July

Hey wargamers, and welcome to the latest edition of Tourney Tales! As I mentioned in my last couple of battle reports, I've been preparing for a tournament, which I just finished! Jayke from Hall of Legends and I headed down to Sheffield together. The tournament was The Outpost's Jaunce in July. It was a 50 point D&C1 steamroller with ADR. The lists I took with me were the two I've practiced over the last couple of weeks:

eLylyth +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore -10 

-Ravagore -10

-Typhon -12

-Naga Nightlurker -5

-Bolt Thrower -6

-Shredder -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Foresaken -2

Objective - Bunker

And

Saeryn +5

-Angelius -9

-Angelius -9

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Raek -4

-Shredder -2

Foresaken -2

Foresaken -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Spell Martyr -1

Spell Martyr -1

Maximum Spawning Vessel -3

Objective - Fuel Cashe

I feel like these two lists cover match ups really well and have some cool tricks and tech that I can play around with. The field at The Outpost was pretty varied but had some very competitive players in the game. My goal was to field test my Legion lists and see how they played in a tougher situation under a clock. Because it was quite a frantic day with timed turns I didn't get chance to take photos of the games. This also means I don't remember the play by play and so you'll have to manage with a summary of the games...

Round One 

My first round pairing was Matt 'Golly' Golliver, an internationally ranked player and part of the England WTC, as well as the winner of the Welsh Masters this year and Tiebreaker's 4th highest ranked player in the country. On top of that he was also a Legion player! Not only had I been dreading the mirror match I was playing it against someone way more experienced with the faction and the game than myself. He was using p and e Vayl in his two lists. Looking at the two lists I was pretty certain that he was going to drop eVayl. My plan was to drop eLylyth into the mirror but looking at the eVayl list I thought that he would be more than capable of tearing my Lylyth list to pieces. I elected to drop Saeryn and, like I thought, he dropped eVayl. The list was tier 4 (of course) and contained three Angelii, two Ravagores, two shepherds, a spell martyr, max Hex Hunters and a max Spawning Vessel. 

I lost the roll for the start of the game, even without Vayl's tier bonus. The first round was Destruction and I picked the table edge with a wall just outside kill box. Golly ran his Hex Hunters up, taking a commanding position in the zone, moving all the beasties up to threaten. I followed up by jamming into the zone and using my feat. There was still a lot of shooting and magic in his list, though, and so he was able to wear down most of my beasts despite missing multiple rolls. I had some poor die rolls taking out one of the Ravagores and managed to quickly lose the advantage on the piece trade. He quickly cleared all my beasts off the table, but not before I managed to get a control point by destroying the objective. As well as controlling the zone he also managed to repulse Saeryn from he wall with an Angel and then kill her with shots, completely clearing me off the table and getting more than 100% VPs thanks to the Vessel who'd spawned a Harrier. So my first round ended with a pretty comprehensive schooling from a real veteran. Oh well, on to Round Two!

Round Two

In Round Two I was paired up against a Cygnar player. This time around we were playing Recon. His lists were an eCaine build and an eStryker list. I decided to drop eLylyth as my Cygnar drop to out threat him and go for assassination where possible. He elected to play his eCaine list which was made of a squire and Hunter in the battlegroup along with Reinholdt, Gorman, Carvolo, Eiryss, max Boomhowlers, Gun Mages and UA with two marshalled Hunters and two units of rangers. I won the roll and chose to go first, while he gave me the edge with a forest in front of my deployment zone for Lylyth to hide behind. The Boomhowlers jammed pretty hard but took a beating on feat turn. His list struggled to take out my heavies, removing an over-extended Typhon early in the game but struggling to take out anything else once his things had been whittled down. 

Throughout the game he was very cautious with Caine, taking almost no shots and not feating at all. On one turn late game he moved up towards one of the flags to dominate and put pressure on. Lylyth shot into melee to take out some Boomhowlers and free up the Ravagores the first used animus and missed a shot (he had elevation) doing a few points from blast damage and setting off the cont. fire on his low arm caster. The second Ravagore cranked the boosted hit roll and caught him, stripping almost all of his boxes, leaving him with only a handful left. Unfortunately the fire went out on his turn, saving him, and giving him chance to run away. We attritioned a bit longer and I lost all my models except Lylyth, a shredder and a Ravagore. He then felt secure enough to move up again for the flag on the other flank, getting toe in on a forest. Not that my Ravagore cared about that. Lylyth shot out the last Boomhowler in the way and then the final Ravagore moved up, threw up the animus and then took the shot. It missed but the blast clipped him, I boosted the blast damage (he was on a 0 camp) and got him down to 3 boxes. This time fire stayed up and I rolled 4 on the damage, just enough to finish him off and secure me an assassination win!

Round Three

In round three I was paired up with a local Khador player in Incursion. He was using a pairing of a tier 4 Butcher2 Doom Reaver spam and Butcher3. Khador, along with the mirror, was the one faction I'd been uncomfortable with, since my drop could go either way depending on the lists. Looking at what he had, though, I decided that Saeryn was the best choice. He picked Butcher3. The list was merc heavy and included Ruin, Beast 09, Juggernaught and a war dog, as well as eEiryss, a Gobber Tinker, Gorman, Kell Bailoch, a Bokur, Aiyana and Holt, the TAC corps with Valachev, and a unit of Widowmakers. 

I won the first turn and ran everything up the board, taking a commanding presence, and he followed up grabbing some more real estate. On my second turn I had both Angels charge the Juggernaught, destroying it. Meanwhile the Deathstalkers started pinging shots off the Widowmakers, killing a couple. The Scytheans continued up towards the central flag. Then I feated, keeping my guys safe. Despite the feat he managed to shoot one of my Scytheans to death, using almost all of his models' activations. One of the most important activations was Gorman throwing Black Oil at my remaining Scythean, missing and deviating back onto all of the TAC corp, who were the only models contesting the middle flag. 

On my post-feat turn I moved my Raek to control the flag on my right which had nothing contesting it. The pot produced a Harrier who used animus and charged one of the contesting Widowmakers on the other flank, the Deathstalker removing the other, letting me control that flag too. The Scythean advanced to B2B with the centre flag, also getting reach on all of the TAC, clearing them off to secure that flag too, giving me 3 points in one turn. On the Khador turn Butcher moved up and used impending doom and flashing blade to kill my last Scythean and both Angelii. Beast 09 moved in to contest the Raek flag and two widow makers and Eiryss moved to contest the other flank, failing to hit the Deathstalker, though. On my turn the Harrier, totally out of control and on two fury, frenzied, charged and killed one of the contesting Widowmakers. The Deathstalker finished off the other Widowmaker but couldn't hit Eiryss. The pot stepped up, killing its own guy into the pot, producing another Harrier who animus and charged Eiryss, killing her and securing the flag, putting me on 4. On the other flank a moderately damaged (two armour pierce attacks last turn) Beast 09 was contesting my other flag preventing the win. I decided to go chips in. Saeryn moved up and chucked two Hellfires at it, boosting one damage. The Shredder then went rabid and advanced into melee, taking two double boosted attacks, followed by the loaded Foresaken who took 3 boosted damage attacks on him. Finally the Raek moved into melee, using all of its attacks to just manage to scrap the heavy, netting me the 5th, winning, control point, saving the game!

Round Four

Moving into round 4 I was on 2 and 1, putting me back into a competitive position. I was the pair up this round, being matched with Adam Bell with his Menoth. Remember back in round one when I got paired with the 4th highest rated player in the country? Adam is the 5th highest and top Menoth player, as well as another England WTC player. [sarcasm] Yay [/sarcasm]. I was also knackered by this point and was pretty tired but luckily Adam's a great guy and really fun to play against, even if he's a fantastic player who definitely plays to win. The scenario was Fire Support this round. He was playing Anson Durst and (I think?) eSevvy. eLylyth was my Menoth drop so my decision was pretty much made. Adam decided to drop Durst. I was pleased with that, not because I thought I'd be any good against it, but because I wanted to see, as a Menoth player (recovered), how the new guy played. Turns out it's pretty well. The list he was running was a Reckoner, Fire of Salvation, a Templar, a Devout, a hierophant, Nicia, eEiryss (again), Gorman (again), a Vassal, Corbeau, a reclaimer, a min choir and a max unit of Zealots with UA. 

I won the roll to go first and took the first turn, giving up the board edge with the trench. The game didn't last long and was one of the first of the round to be finished. I had trouble doing enough damage with Durst's awesome spells and abilities. He took a huge chunk of board space with running Zealots under mini feat which I couldn't shift, and then I had to burn my feat to clear them out. He managed to destroy my objective and control the flag for two points. I then derped trying for a very long shot assassination and failed to contest on my turn, getting him the 3rd point and so he was able to run Durst up to the flag for the scenario win. This was a disappointing but not unexpected loss and, as I said, Adam's a really fun opponent to face across the table and he made getting my ass kicked enjoyable. 

I ended up finishing 2 and 2, and was the highest ranked in that bracket thanks to my high SoS, placing me 7th overall. Given my inexperience with the faction as a whole and my lists in particular I was pretty happy to do that well. Especially with a win for each list. 

While I was more comfortable with my Lylyth list than my Saeryn I think that the Saeryn list is pretty solid and I just need more experience with it. I think I want to adjust the Lylyth one though, to replace Typhon with a third Ravagore, since he really wants to be further up the board than the rest of my army and gets isolated and killed early. 

I had a good time, overall, even if I was exhausted by the end of the day! I'm looking forward to playing some more with these lists and letting you know all about it!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

Also check out Hall of Legends for Jayke's analysis of his games!

-M

Mirsuharu on Bat Reps - Learning Legion- Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight vs. Madrak Ironhide, World Ender

Hey guys and welcome to the latest of my Learning Legion Bat Reps. This week, following on from my practice game with Saeryn, I was trialing my other list for the tournament, eLylyth! The list I've  gone for was:

eLylyth +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore -10 

-Ravagore -10

-Typhon -12

-Naga Nightlurker -5

-Bolt Thrower -6

-Shredder -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Foresaken -2

Objective - Bunker

My opponent this week was Mike, whose Trolls have been featured in some of my previous reports and whose Khador was my first proper Legion game. This week he was also trying out something new with eMadrak. The list was mostly battlegroup and included a Pyre Troll, two Impalers, two Axers and two Bombers, two Champion Heros and some whelps. The scenario we rolled was Outflank and I won the roll to go first. I took first turn and deployed with Lylyth central, a Ravagore and shepherd on either side of her, Typhon and his Foresaken on my far right and the Naga on my left. Mike deployed with his battlegroup in a rough line, with the bombers in the rear and the Pyre troll In the middle. 

I had everything run up this turn, also putting out Shadow Pack and Tenacity on Lylyth, and having the Foresaken take one off Typhon to keep my Fury balanced. 

Mike took his turn and had Madrak put up Killing Ground and Warpath and then advance up, followed by his beasts who were able to run for free, moving up the board. 

On my turn Madrak was sat on a one camp and was exposed to my many guns. The Succubus started the turn by putting Dragon's Fire on Lylyth from the nearby Ravagore and she moved up, feated and started pinging shots into the World Ender. He transferred away his one Fury and took some damage. The Deathstalkers and the Naga used their shots to kill the Hero in 1" of Madrak, removing grim salvation and then both Ravagores took two shots into Madrak, forcing 3 successful tough checks! With nothing left to shoot him I had Typhon move up and multiple spray an Impaler. Luckily on the next turn the fire didn't go out and Madrak finally failed a tough getting me the win!

This showcased for both of us the incredible threat that Lylyth can give you on the board if you're not careful with your caster. Since the game was over so fast we decided to reset the game and try it again. I won the roll to go first again and deployed in almost the exact same way, while Mike turtled up Madrak a lot more on his side of the board. 

My first turn went pretty much exactly the same as last time, Lylyth put up Shadow Pack and tenacity on herself. The rest of the guys all ran up, taking positions near the zones. 

Mike had his front row of Trolls run up, taking board space, but having Madrak hold further back and only putting up Killing Ground and not Warpath, flanking him with both Heros in the rear to make him much more survivable. 

I took my feat at the top of turn two, having Lylyth taking all three of her shots on the Pyre Troll whose cont. fire and immunity fire were intimidating to my Ravagores and Lylyth. The Bolt thrower then moved up and also took a chunk out of the Pyre troll, pushing it back an inch. One Ravagore took out an Impaler with its two double boosted shots. The other Ravagore took shots on the Axer to my right, also double boosting but not quite killing it. The Naga moved up and into the zone. On my right flank Typhon charged the other Impaler and tore it to pieces with its attacks before putting up his animus. The feat spray nicked one of the heroes and forced a tough check. The Foresaken then moved up and gobbled up the excess Fury. 

On Mike's turn he had the Axer take some swings on Typhon, who took a bunch of damage but healed 3 back. The Bomber then moved over to him and made a two handed throw on Typhon, aiming him at the Foresaken. It was too far to hit her but scattered to one side, knocked down. He took 3 damage but then immediately healed it back again. The Pyre troll threw at Lylyth, getting a lucky deviation, clipping her (I forgot evasive) and setting her on fire, but failing to do any damage. The bomber on my left flank advanced into the zone and threw at Lylyth but it deviated off harmlessly. Each of the Heroes advanced up, one moving into the zone on my left. Madrak then went and used his feat, allowing both bombers and the Pyre troll to take shots at Lylyth, failing to hit her with any deviations. 

On my turn the fire went out, hilariously, keeping Lylyth safe. I reaved all the fury in and forced Typhon to stand up and then charge the Bomber with him, trying to clear the zone. It took all of his initial attacks and bought attacks but did manage to kill it. The full Foresaken then charged the whelp smashing its face in to clear out the zone and net me a control point. On the other flank the Deathstalkers took shots on the hero taking up space in the zone, forcing a tough check but failing to kill him. The Ravagore moved up to the other bomber, trying to clear that zone for Lylyth to dominate. He made a double handed throw on the heavy but failed the contested strength check despite having the extra die. The Bolt Thrower and Lylyth managed to finish off the Pyre troll between them. 

On Mike's turn he didn't have a whole lot left on the board. He had his Axer charge the Bolt Thrower sat in the back of the zone, but because he'd charged out of Madrak's control area he couldn't force for boosts or extra attacks, meaning he couldn't do too much damage. The previously knocked down hero in the zone to my left stood up and moved to engage a Deathstalker and take up real estate in the zone. The remaining Bomber activated and threw the Ravagore in revenge, leaving it stranded on the far side of the zone, but missing the naga he'd aimed for. The other Axer advanced up to threaten Lylyth. Madrak ended the turn by advancing up the board to get everyone back in his control. 

On my turn I decided to go chips in on the assassination. Typhon, who was out of control range, managed not to frenzy making it a safer bet. Lylyth managed to take a few shots into Madrak, forcing him to lose one transfer and take a little damage. The Foresaken went and took 3 fury off the full Typhon leaving him on one. The character heavy then turned and walked into Madrak, hitting with all 3 initial attacks at dice damage and buying a fourth to put him on no transfers, killing the lead Axer in the process. This freed up the Ravagore to advance into melee with the caster too, taking the charge in exchange for a free strike from the hero. I'd thrown up Tenacity and was hoping he'd miss or not do too much damage. I was wrong. He hit and the damage dice came up:

Ouch. Luckily the spiral (2) was literally the perfect one for me leaving the Ravagore battered but alive: 

The boosted charge attack missed but the second attack hit, forcing a tough check. He passed and I used the final fury to buy one last attack, auto hitting and auto triggering tough. This time the die came back a '4' and netted me a second assassination win. 

I really enjoyed these two games and they gave me a fun intro (less fun for Mike, I imagine) to eLylyth. She was surprisingly easier than I thought she'd be and I feel like this game has set me up to play a bit quicker on the clock. Retrospectively I should probably have gone for clearing out the zones and won on control instead of going chips in on a reasonable but not guaranteed assassination run. This'll be important to keep in mind at the tournament - not to get stuck into a single game plan. The tournament is this Sunday and I'm feeling pretty confident going in to it. I don't have any expectation of winning overall but I do think I can play competitively and hopefully win a couple of games. More importantly though, is getting practice with these lists in a competitive setting. But only time will tell how I do so stay tuned!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M