Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Saeryn, Omen of Everblight vs Dr. Arkadius

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest battle report! This week my intended opponent wasn't able to make it in for our game. Luckily I managed to find an opponent from the people who'd turned up on the day. So I ended up playing my first game against Minions. Specifically against Thornfall Farrow. I'm still trying to get more competitive with my Saeryn list and so that's what I was set on using. The list's stayed the same:

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 I've really tightened my game with her recently and my latest games have been much better with her. Nevertheless I still want to keep my practice up. 

Pregame

My opponent considered his lists carefully but ended up deciding to play with Dr. Arkadius. He was playing in the new No Quarter tier list at tier 4. This included Targ, 2 Road Hogs, 2 War Hogs, 2 Gun Boars, 2 Gorax, a min unit of Bone Grinders and 6 (yes, 6) free Razor Boars. The scenario we were playing was Close Quarters. I lost the roll for the start of the game and so got to choose the board edge. I chose the side with a forest for Saeryn to lurk in near my flag, leaving a large forest blocking the Farrow deployment. 

Deployment

The Farrow deployed with the Gorax, Warhogs and Arkadius centrally with the Bone Grinders at the rear. Then a Road Hog and Gun Boar deployed on each flank. The Razor Boars set up throughout the army. On my flank I deployed with the Scytheans near my own flag and the Angels opposite the other flag. Saeryn went down centrally with her support. 

Farrow Turn One

The Minions started by having basically everything running for free thanks to the tier. The War Hogs advanced up towards the forest in the middle of the board while the flanking elements moved out further around the outskirts. The Boars ran up in a screening line across the army. Arkadius put out Aggravator on himself. 

Legion: 0 Farrow: 0

Legion Turn One

On my own first turn I had Saeryn put Respawn on the closest Scythean and Banishing Ward on herself, before putting out Tenacity on the Raek. Then she moved up and popped her feat. Following that all of the other models in the battlegroup ran up, staying within her feat bubble. Except the Shredder who moved up and put out Tenacity on Saeryn. The Deathstalkers took a couple of pot shots at a Boar but not enough to seriously damage it. The Spell Martyrs ran up the flanks. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Farrow Turn Two

On the Farrow turn things were stymied by Saeryn's feat. To manage my army the Razor Boars all moved up to jam into my battlegroup. The Road Hogs advanced up on the flanks, one of them spraying down a Deathstalker, the other spraying the Boar and Angelius, setting them both on fire. The War Hogs advanced up further, having to move through and around the large forest. The Gun Boar near the Farrow flag shot my Foresaken and killed her on an ancillary attack from Targ, taking out a Pot attendant too, helping to fill up my pot for next turn. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Legion Turn Two

On my turn I had the Raek disentangle itself with a leap to engage both of the Boars tying up my Angels. It took its attacks and bought extras but didn't manage to kill either of them. On the other flank the farthest Scythean advanced to get the Gun Boar in its range while staying close enough to the boar engaging him and not take a free strike. It then proceeded to wipe out the light, but missed the Chain Attack. The other Scythean took all of its attacks on the Boars engaging it but only managed to kill one. That gave the pot the last token it needed to spawn a Stinger to be able to engage the boar that had been engaging the Raek. Saeryn channeled Breath Stealer through a Martyr onto the War Hog, seriously hobbling the heavy. She then used Blight Bringer on the Raek, but still didn't finish off either Boar. One of the Angels then stayed where it was, finishing off the Boar engaging it, and the other charged the Road Hog on that flank, seriously hurting it. The remaining Deathstalker advanced to engage the other Road Hog preventing it from reaching Saeryn who was camping nothing. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Farrow Turn Three

On the Farrow turn all of the Boars frenzied, attaking the models they were engaging. Meanwhile one of the Gorax activated to put out his animus on the Road Hog engaging the Angel. Both of the War Hogs continued towards my army, one slogging through the forest and the other tagged with Blight Bringer meaning they could barely move. The primal'd Road Hog used all of its attacks and an ancillary from Targ to take out the Angel thanks to the animus on it. The other Gorax moved up but was just short on the Primal for the other Road Hog. Arkadius then moved up and across towards the bulk of his army and put out Forced Evolution on the Road Hog thanks to the extended range from the Bone Grinders and used Psycho Surgery to heal up the beasts. Then he used his feat. Each of the Boars frenzied into the same targets as the start of the turn. The Road Hog that had taken out the Angel frenzied up and into the Raek, the total weight of attacks managing to finish it off. On the other, heavier flank the Road Hog frenzied into the Deathstalker to clear her from its path. The Gorax on that flank then frenzied into the Scythean to soften it up. Now clear, that Road Hog charged into the nearby Scythean using all of its attacks but managed to leave it with a single box, just coming up short on killing it. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Legion Turn Three

On my turn Saeryn upkept Banishing Ward and then paid two to heal the wounded Scythean back to functionality. The Foresaken, who'd been fully loaded last turn, hopped up to the Melee and let loose with her Blight, getting 6 dice on the Road Hog, softening it up nicely, as well as doing a couple of points to the Gorax and the Boar. The mostly dead Scythean then activated and took his revenge, destroying the Road Hog and hurting the Gorax some more. The Shredder went rabid to take out the boar engaging the other Scythean, killing it to free its charge into the exposed War Hog, managing to take it out and chain attack to finish off the Gorax. The pot spawned a Stinger to move up and engage the Boar that was a little too close to Saeryn. The remaining Angel then charged up and spiked the damage on the Road Hog, killing it with the Armour Pierce. Saeryn then channeled Breath Stealer, boosting the hit, into the remaining War Hog in the forest, meaning it could barely move next turn with the cumulative penalties. Satisfied but not stupid she moved back and toe in on the forest to stay as safe as possible. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Farrow Turn Four

It was reaching a point where we'd both attritioned down with not much left on the table. Looking at the board it was clear that my Scytheans had to die or they'd get to Arkadius. Because of the speed debuffs, though, it was hard to achieve that. Luckily the Boar in the rear of the wounded Scythean frenzied and finally killed the heavy. Arkadius himself then walked into Melee with the remaining Scythean and tapped it with a mind control needle, forcing it to shamble over with its back to the War Hog. The remaining Gorax used its animus to buff up the War Hog who then managed to beat down the Scythean from almost full to very dead. The gun boar took some pot shots on the pot managing to dink it for a few points. The Bone Grinders then ran up to try and screen Arkadius. 

Farrow: 0 Legion: 0

Legion Turn Four 

On my turn Arkadius was definitely exposed. I reeved in my Fury and then allowed the two lessers to frenzy, managing to finish off the boar they were engaging. This filled up the pot who put out a Harrier to fly into the boar engaging the Angel, managing to clear it off thanks to animus and charge. Saeryn then moved up and flicked a knife into Arkadius to deny the transfers. I had the shot from the Angel to finish him off but first I blasted him with a double boosted Hellfire. The dice exploded, though, and finished off Arkadius herself. 

Post-Game

This was a fun game and a hard attrition match up with loads of dead heavies on both sides. It felt like the game swung pretty heavily each turn as each of us got a lot of work done. The tier list benefits for Arkadius are really pretty great. The primal from the Gorax helps to power up the Farrow beasts to a much more threatening level. The free run and the extra 2" mean you have pigs jammed down your face really early. Plus the free Razor Boars proved a real pain in the ass to clear off. By the end of the game I still hadn't killed them all! I feel like I made good use of Saeryn's tool box this game, using pretty much every trick at her disposal to wrangle out the win. Good thing too otherwise it wasn't looking too good for me with only an Angel and some lights left for me! Luckily I managed to pull it out though!

In another couple of weeks I'll be starting into the Journeyman League at my LGS so expect a whole bunch of reports from that soon! And more in the meantime, of course!

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

Mini Thoughts - August Errata

Hi guys! I know it's been mostly battle reports lately and hopefully that'll keep going, especially with the upcoming Journeyman League! However this week I wanted to also take a moment to talk about the massive errata that Privateer have just released. For those of you who don't know (if anyone) the latest errata is out and Privateer decided to make some pretty significant changes to help balance the game. I, for one, am pretty impressed that the guys over at privateer have had the guts to effectively admit that they made a mistake with the power of some of their models and have actually made the move to correct it to create a fairer gaming environment. It only underlines their dedication to this game. Now, on to the meat of the article. What was in the errata?

First of all I'll cover the less significant of the particulars. As with any errata the August Errata included a couple of basic clarifications on rules that weren't written clearly or didn't work as intended in RAW (Rules as written for those not in the know). These included a number of minor clarifications:

1. Altering Verendrye and the Trench Busters' Flank to 'other' so they can't flank with themselves. 

2. Durst's misprinted icon got corrected. 

3. The wording on Hayley3 was amended to clarify who in the unit could allocate focus to what. 

4. The wording on the spell Boneshaker was standardised. 

5. An actual duration was included to Thyron's feat so it would end. 

None of these were surprising or game changing and were basically just making the way the game already worked clearer. 

Now in addition to these regular realignments there were some more significant changes:

Firstly the wording on Shake Effect was adjusted to also allow models to shake Blind and Shadow Bind. Obviously this has the biggest impact on Denny2 and Gorman, though several others suffer too. This is part of the balancing, ensuring that these models can't have such a huge impact on the game, so for example a Blind colossal or Gargantuan is no longer completely screwed out of the game. Obviously many Denny2 advocates were unhappy with the change or 'nerf' as it's being called. I'm not so sure it's that terrible though. Obviously it's nowhere near as good, but that's kind of the point of the balancing. If you think about it, though, if you Shadow Bind everything that means that none of the infantry in your opponent's army is doing anything, since they can't shake. But say you're playing a warmachine army, the caster has to allocate one focus each that turn just to get his or her jacks working at all. That doesn't generally leave much left over for doing much of anything else that turn. It's still freezing half the army and then it's wasting resources for the other half. Still not a bad option. Blind does suffer on Gorman, but again it's wasting resources and there's still no way to shake it for heavy infantry or cavalry! 

Next up, and in a similar vein, Hayley2's feat was reworded to completely remove the ability to choose your opponents' order of activation. Now this is half of the feat completely gone. Obviously, again, it is a big deal but that's the point. But again: is it that bad? I don't think so. I've played against Hayley2 several times and sure it sucks that they can have your shepherd or your paingivers go at the wrong time or have the back models activate before the front ones. But if you're prepared and have a solid plan for what your models can do even out of activation it wasn't too bad. Plus for the Hayley player it requires a lot of finesse to know which of your opponent's models need to be activated when. That sort of decision making cuts down on clock fast. 

The other thing to remember is that both Denny and Hayley have had their feats kicked down a notch. But that's all. All their other abilities, spells and tier lists are just as powerful they just can't auto win with a well placed feat as easily. But I bet they still can. 

Next up there was also a change to Hayley's third incarnation to change one of her spells slightly. Temporal Flux now affects all three Hayleys, but also only affects Faction models. There's been some serious salt about this on the forums, with people even saying it's an intentional 'bait and switch' by PP to sell models. It doesn't take into account that the caster and the spell are still very solid or that buying those mercs won't still be super useful. Hell it's Cygnar why didn't you own the mercs anyway? 

Another little update was on the pack warbeasts to clear up a loophole that was being exploited. You can no longer reeve from pack models that die from friendly attacks. You can't have the Twins fuel each other by killing wasps. While this is a big change it's hardly surprising and reeving that way was clearly not intended in development. Not judging people for doing it. It was totally legal until now, when it isn't. Never mind, I guess. 

The final 'nerf' was on the Pistol Wraith who had Death Chill replaced as a critical effect with Stationary. Which is an equally powerful ability but one that can be shaken and can't affect gargalossals. It does undermine the pistol wraith but it's still a powerful and useful tool in the belt nonetheless. 

Now as well as these balancing downgrades there were also some surprising upgrades too. First off the two reputedly 'worst' gargalossals in the game got some pretty cool boosts. The Mountain King gained assault, allowing it to spray on the charge (and potentially twice with Kill Shot) this adds a new layer of playability to the huge troll and also extends its potential threat range with a charge and spray. Not a huge change but a welcome one. The other also-ran the Archangel got an updated animus. Instead of Righteous Flames which set things on fire if they ended their activation (i.e. After already hitting you) within 2", it just sets things currently within 2" on fire. I think that this ability has some real merit to it if used correctly. You can now ride-by combust people with the Archangel or have Abby2 charge in, set a bunch of infantry alight and then teleport away. Or imagine charging Thagrosh into the enemy caster for the assassination but you come up a few boxes short! But oh look, free animus to set the caster on fire. 66% of an extra roll to finish them off! Any Menoth player, myself included, will gladly tell you that any time you can get out some cont. fire is fun times for you. 

It wasn't just the gargantuans that got some love, though. In addition to the Mountain King and the Archangel Skorne's Animantarax got a helpful little boost too. It can now gain Rage Tokens from friendly attacks. Meaning that it can be part of the long standing Skorne tradition of punching your own models to make them work harder! Yay for them. But also on top of that those tokens can now also be used on any attack or damage roll too. 

So that's a round up of the changes made and their impact in my humble opinion. Feel free to comment if you disagree or want to discuss it further. 

Oh wait. There was actually one more tiny change slipped in right at the end. The oft lamented legion Grotesques had their name and sub type changed to Grotesque raiders. Interesting since that probably foreshadows a grotesque based release coming soon! But we'll just have to wait and see I guess!

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 Kreuger, the Stormlord & Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight vs Morvahna the Dawnshadow

Hey guys! Sorry about not posting a battle report from my game last week, but this week I have a double bill for you! I managed to get a game this week against one of our more irregular players who'd brought his circle to the LGS. I'm still playing with eLylyth and Saeryn as a pairing at the minute and he was playing with eMorvahna and eKreuger. We discussed the lists and I decided to play with Saeryn, since it's the list I'm most focused on playing. The build hasn't changed:

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'm still looking to get more experienced with the list and I feel like I'm making some good progress. I think my last few games with her have really tightened up and I've made some solid plays and taken advantage of her cool tricks. 

Pre-Game

Andrew, my opponent, decided he would play eKreuger against me. His list consisted of the Stormlord himself accompanied by a Wilder, a Gorax and a Stalker, Una the Falconer with a Rotterhorn, two Gallows Groves, Dahlia and Skarath two Wayfarers, two units of shifting stones, a unit of Druids and Overseer and a unit of Bloodweavers. We rolled out scenario from the 2015 packet and got Fire Support. I won the roll to go first and, since there was cover outside of kill box on both sides of the table, I took first turn. 

Deployment 

Taking first deployment I placed Saeryn near the handy wall to hide behind, with the Angels on the flank opposite the Circle flag and my Scytheans opposite my own flag. The pot went more central. The Circle deployed heavily on the flank with my flag on it, with only the Bloodweavers near his flag. The Deathstalkers went near the forest. 

Legion Turn One 

I had a very simple first turn, running all of my beasts up the board, getting the Angels into the forest on the flank with the Deathstalkers and got the Scytheans up near my own flag and within range of the Fuel Cashe for next turn. The Raek made it up onto the hill. Saeryn moved behind the wall and put Respawn on an Angel and tenacitied it too. She also had Banishing ward up on herself and got Tenacity from a Shredder. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

Circle Turn One

On Andrew's turn one he decided to enact a daring plan to kill one of my heavies. Una and her Griffon along with the Wilder, gave the front rank of Druids acceleration, allowing them to advance and pull my Scythean up as well as create a cloud wall. The next part of the plan involved having Krueger move up and Gallows the Sycthean. Unfortunately when he moved up he couldn't get LOS to it through the Druids' clouds and so he had to TK himself up to barely get the line on it. He dragged it up and then the Stalker activated and charged, only just managing to kill it after some lacklustre damage rolls. This did leave Krueger sitting on no transfers and so one of the stones and the Tharn moved up to screen. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

Legion Turn Two

On my turn two I saw a decent chance to assassinate and decided to take it. I had the Deathstalkers move up to clear some of the more 'in the way' Tharn and then had both Angels move up and shoot the warlock. Boosted hit and damage left him on fire and pretty unhealthy. The Raek then advanced and jumped into melee with him, hitting with one tail and doing enough damage to leave him on a single wound. Saeryn moved further up to the wall and feated, trying to catch Krueger in a Blight Bringer but he was just out. The remaining Scythean charged the Stalker but only got a couple of points of damage on it. I ended my turn and fire didn't go out and the damage roll was enough to finish him off. 

Since the game had been over so quick we agreed to play again using our second casters against each other!

Pregame

This time I was playing my eLylyth list:

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

I'm still not sold on the list but I gave it another try anyway. Meanwhile Andrew was playing eMorvahna which had a Gorax, Stalker and Wilder, two Gallows Groves and full Druids too, but also had a max unit of Skinwalkers and UA and max Bloodtrackers and Nualla, a single unit of stones with keeper, and then a couple of minions with the Swamp Gobbers and a Witch Doctor. We decided to keep our table set up the same and keep the scenario. This time I lost the roll for first turn and so Andrew chose to go first and took the side with the trench to deny the ranged defence. 

Deployment 

Andrew deployed with eMorvahna and her beasts opposite her own flag with her battlegroup and the Druids alongside her. Then the Skinwalkers placed themselves centrally. I had Lylyth and her Ravagores deployed with the support staff in the middle of the board. The Tharn then AD'd in a line across the deployment zone and I put my Striders off on the flank opposite the Circle flag. 

Circle Turn One

The Circle started the game running everything up the board, having the Tharn spread out across the board, with the Skinwalkers behind them. The Druids and Gobbers provided a bunch of smoke for his advance and then had the support staff walk into the clouds. eMorvahna put Carnivore on the Skinwalkers and Fog of War on herself. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

On my turn I had Lylyth put Shadow Pack up on herself and then advanced up into the trench. She took a shot on a Bloodtracker and missed. So I bought a second, killing the Tharn but missing the snap fire. The Succubus put tenacity on her, moving up to behind the trench. The three Ravagores moved up and shot up the Bloodtrackers, killing three and leaving some scathers. The Naga also moved up and finished off a Bloodtracker too. The Shredder advanced and put Tenacity on the Succubus. The Deathstalkers failed to hit anything under Fog of War so the Rangers paired off to shoot Druids with CMAs and hunter. But they managed to miss all but one shot. Luckily they were able to reform back to relative safety. My Gobbers managed to pop smoke over Lylyth and the support. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

Circle Turn Two

On the Circle turn the Bloodtrackers ran around the Scathers and up to jam into my flanking battlegroup. The Skinwalkers also ran, plodding up the board more. The Druids continued up the board, dropping another load of clouds. The Gallows hopped up and allowed eMorvahna to channel a nuke, killing four of the Rangers. The support staff continued to advance, using the cloud from the Gobbers to hunker down and using the objective and the Stalker to cover eMorvahna. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

Legion Turn Two 

On my turn two I had Lylyth aim and shoot a Bloodtracker, killing one but missing the second from snap fire. I then feated and shot again, killing another tracker and Nualla with the Snap Fire. Killing Nualla meant the new leader was right at the back of the board and so the others were out of formation and couldn't attack. The Naga was able to move up without issues after that and kill another couple of Tharn. Between them the three Ravagores wiped out all but the leader of the Skinwalkers, leaving a bunch of Scathers in the middle of the board. The combined Striders continued to take shots but got very little done, killing a couple of Druids between them. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 0

Circle Turn Three

On the third Circle turn there were very few Circle models left on the table. Not that eMorvahna two cares. The turn was littered with order of activation problems. He started by having the stones port the Stalker up, with the animus up from the Wilder. Unfortunately this left the stone in eMorvahna's way. Because of this the Gorax moved up and used three Fury to kill it off after some bad boosted damage rolls. The Skinwalker leader and Bloodtracker leader both charged the Naga. The Tracker got the other two girls back in her command but only did negligible damage to the Naga. The Skinwalker was out of range on its charge. Now freed up eMorvahna advanced up to dominate the flag and burned all but one box of health to bring back the Skinwalkers and the Druids to jam up my side of the board, camping 5. The Stalker killed one of the Rangers and then advanced back with Lightning Strike. 

Legion: 0 Circle: 1

Post-Game

Unfortunately at this point we had to call the game before I could get into my turn since the store was closing around us. I feel like I was far enough up on attrition that I could have grinded the game out with more time, or perhaps a better option: I think if I took the free strikes on the two engaged Ravagores and the Naga I could get them and the other Ravagore along with Lylyth to get six shots into her for the game, or at least burn off the transfers and set her on fire. Potentially could've got Pin Cushion on too to really increase my odds. Unfortunately we can't know so we shook and agreed on a draw. I really enjoyed these games and felt a lot less overwhelmed than the other times I've played Circle previously. I'm looking forward to playing again next week!

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. Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

Hi everyone, welcome back to the latest edition of my battle reports! This week I got my regular game in vs Hall of Legends' Jayke and his crazy experimental Cryx lists, since he's trying to diversify his field a bit more. All of which you can read on his blog! I still want to get experience with Saeryn and, unlike last week, this was actually a favourable match to drop her into. I haven't changed the list since I last played it and so it's still:

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

Pregame 

The scenario we rolled out this week was Imcoming from the 2015 Steamroller. Jayke was playing his new eSkarre list, using her Merchants of Death tier list at Tier 4. The list consisted of Skarre with a Reaper, Leviathan, Slayer and Nightwretch, and then had two max units of Satyxis Raiders with their UA, a max unit of Blood Witches with UA and two raider captains (thanks to tier). I won the roll to go first and, since I didn't want to have a bunch of fast, ADed, extended deployment, Desperate Paced raiders shoved down my throat, I took first turn. 

Deployment 

I deployed with my Scytheans opposite the opposing zones and the Angels and Raek opposite my own zone, with Saeryn, the support and the Pot central, except for the Foresaken who took a flank each. Jayke deployed Skarre centrally with the Jacks on the flank by his own zone and the Blood Witches on the other flank opposite my zone. I set my Deathstalkers up near my own zone while Jayke ADed all the Raiders in a long screen across the deployment zone, one on each flank. 

Legion Turn One

Taking first turn I had all my beasts run up the board, getting an Angel and the Raek into my zone. The Spell Martyrs and Foresaken paired up on each flank. The Deathstalkers advanced back, moving around the obstruction. Saeryn put Banishing Ward on herself and moved up before casting a defensive Blight Bringer on the lead Angel. She then threw out an early feat to mitigate the line of Raiders staring me down. The Shredder moved up and put Tenacity on Saeryn. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Cryx Turn One 

On Jayke's turn the Captain advanced and took a shot at the Spell Martyr near my zone, but missed. Starting the run of VERY bad dice Jayke had all game. Wait. Sorry. Spoiler Alert. Sorry. The green based Raiders near my zone advanced up to engage the Angels and Raek but couldn't attack because of the feat. On the other flank the second Captain gave desperate pace to the second raider unit who ran up to engage the Scythean, Saeryn and a whole bunch of stuff on that flank. The Jacks advanced up behind the Satyxis. Skarre moved up and put Death Ward on the Raiders in my zone to help them not die so easily, then she used her feat to cripple both of my Angels, my Raek, my Scythean and then put her feat on herself too. Jayke completely forgot the Witches until the last minute but they advanced into my zone behind the Raiders to jam some more. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Legion Turn Two

On my turn two I had to deal with the problem of not being able to attack anyone this turn with most of my models. I knew I was only going to be able to handle one side of the board at a time and so I decided to go for my left where the unit was further up and in Saeryn's face. I had the Shredder go rabid and it took two attacks on the Raider closest to Saeryn, killing her with the second. The feated Scythean then advanced up into a better position but obviously couldn't do much else. Saeryn then cast Blight Bringer on the Scythean, clearing out a few of the Satyxis, but failing to clip the UA I'd wanted. The now full pot activated and moved up to pop out a Harrier. The attendants moved in to attack some Raiders but failed to hit with their low MAT. The rear, unfeated Scythean activated and moved up to clear another of the Raiders, freeing up the lane for the Harrier to charge the UA. My objective let me charge for free and with animus I hit and killed, also placing the Harrier in front of the Scythean to block a pull on him. This put the unit at below 50% and since I'd taken out the rear of the unit they were no longer in Skarre's inspiration range and they failed their test. On the other flank, being unable to attack, the Angels and the Raek moved up further into the zone getting closer to the Raiders to deny charges next turn with Power Swell. One of the Angels riled for 4, which was taken by the nearby Foresaken. Finally the Deathstalkers activated. One was definitely engaged by the reach of the raider but the other might've been out. I activated the one who was in and advanced into melee but failed to hit. I decided to give it a shot with the other and stood still to aim, hoping for the best. Turns out he was just out and, with aiming bonus was able to take out two raiders on that flank and move back 2" as well. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Cryx Turn Two 

On the Cryx turn Jayke now had one flank full of Satyxis and one with most of the Satyxis dead but with his heavy Jacks in the rear. On the Satyxis-y flank the raiders got as many charges as they could, targeting the Raek, both Angels and one sneaky one on the Foresaken in the back field thanks to reach. Because of close positioning, though, most of them couldn't get the 3" for the bonus. They fired off the mini feat for extra damage, and started taking some swings. The Defence on my beasts was high enough, though, that they struggled to hit. Only a few attacks got through, and the damage was scattered enough that it only crippled the mind on the Raek and left the Angels with all their aspects. The Blood Witches activated and used their minifeat for the extra jam and did a run/charge, moving into good positions for next turn. One charged and finished off the Deathstalker that the Raider engaged but had to use her horns to do it, missing the magical benefits. Skarre moved back and away, hiding behind the Objective for some safety. She then fired a Perdition into the Scythean, doing 3 points of damage with a boost and having the Reaper move up from the spell. On the other flank one of the Captains charged the Harrier and did 12 points of damage, leaving it on one box. So this forced the other Captain to charge in too, hitting and finishing it off. The routed Raiders ran 0" and then passed their command check. Now cleared up, the Reaper shot the Scythean and pulled it into melee. It took the free attack but hadn't been loaded up with much focus and so didn't do much damage to the heavy. The Leviathan moved up but didn't have much to shoot. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Legion Turn Three

I'd lost a lot less in my turn than I'd expected last turn. I had to heal one point from the Scythean to repair its spirit. Saeryn took a blightbringer into the lead Scythean, clipping both of the Captains, killing one and leaving the other on a single box. I then had the Foresaken on the full side of the board near my zone moving up, keeping the Blood Witch engaging her into melee before unleashing her blight all over the Raiders, killing about half of the unit on her own, apart from a few lucky Satyxis who toughed it out (but not Toughed). Because Skarre had moved back the Raiders were now no longer fearless and they also failed their command check. The remaining Deathstalker took out both of the Satyxis that had engaged her partner, moving further along the flank. The Angels finished off all but two of the raiders, unable to hurt the Incorporeal Witches. On the other flank the Pot activated and popped another Harrier, and then managed to kill a couple of Raiders with lucky dice, forcing them to take another check, which they failed again. The shiny, new Harrier took its animus/free Fuel Cashe charge on the surviving Captain, finishing her off. This allowed the Scythean to advance into melee with both Jacks followed by the other one with a free charge. Between the two of them and their chain attacks they scrapped the Reaper and beat up the light. The Foresaken moved up and sucked up the four fury from a Scythean.

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Cryx Turn Three

On Jayke's turn there was a lot of dead Satyxis and not enough dead beasts. So he had the Witches charge in on the busy flank, many of them getting the charge bonus. Thanks to gang they were able to hit the high DEF but they didn't do much damage to the beasts, not managing to finish off any of them, but did kill the Foresaken on that flank. The two pairs of raiders continued to run away. On the more empty flanks everything rested on the Heavies. The Leviathan charged the healthier Scythean and managed to cripple mind but not much else. The Slayer charged the damaged Scythean in the rear and finished it off with the charge attack, leaving him with two focus and no reach thanks to his tiny T-Rex arms. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

Legion Turn Four 

On my turn the Shredder frenzied into a pot attendant, adding her to the stew. The Harrier swept into the Slayer and did a few points of damage. Last turn Jayke had very kindly bunched all of his Witches on my beasts. The Spell Martyr on that flank activated and moved up, allowing Saeryn to channel a Blight Bringer through him onto the Angel on the far flank, killing half the unit and the Hag. This forced another command check which, guess what, they managed to fail. This freed up the non blightbringer'd Angel to charge the Slayer over the top of them, using the Armour Pierce to deal a bunch of damage, boosting a second hit to put on some more damage. The Foresaken over there moved up and used its Blight to catch the Slayer, finishing it off with 4 dice thanks to the remaining focus on it. The pot killed another Raider, forcing them to fail another command check and made a new Harrier to contribute to clearing my zone. The second Angel and the Deathstalker finished off the rest of the models in my zone. The remaining Scythean had lost mind and I hadn't remembered to heal it so I just boosted hits on the Leviathan, seriously damaging him and the arc node but not clearing either. This left me in control of the board with only Skarre and two heavily damaged Jacks on the Cryx side of the board. 

Legion: 0 Cryx: 0

After Game 

With the game shop closing around us and the board state favouring me so heavily Jayke decided to call the game there. With both his Jacks heavily damaged and missing their cortexes he wasn't going to be able to clear the zone easily while I still had plenty left between my three heavies to clear his zone or go for the assassination that it was looking like my game anyway. In terms of development I think I should have deployed with my heavies the other way around. It would have been much better to have the Angels near the opposing zone so their repulse would have actually made a difference in scoring a few points!

Regardless of the final outcome this was a really fun game and I enjoyed playing with Saeryn and against Skarre who posed a lot of interesting questions in this list. Lucky Saeryn is well equipped with answers. Plus the Satyxis not passing a single command check worked in my favour! I'm looking forward to getting my next game in with her! Hopefully Jayke and Hall of Legends will be showcasing some more of his interesting list variations too!

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