Journeyman League 2 - Week 2

Hi everyone! It's week 2 of the journeyman league! Unlike last time (somewhere in the bowels of the archive) we're just playing with the standard JML schedule. That means that this week we went up to 15 points including the starting battlegroup. So I had a total of 4 points to spend. So I added some support models:

pVayl +6

-Scythean -9

-Seraph -9

-Shredder -2

Shepherd -1

Spell Martyr -1

So basically I added the Shredder to be a fury and transfer battery as well as including Tenacity in my list. The shepherd was a given since it's such a utility piece. That left me with a single point to spend and I lumped for a spell martyr. I'm really glad I did. 

Anyway once I had my list prepared I got down to the game store and managed to get myself another three games. Here they are:

Game One

My first game of the night was against Jayke, my long time gaming buddy and Hall of Legends writer. He's been interested in Skorne for a while and so he was using the JML to shift into them, for a while at least. His list was Morghoul with a Gladiator, a Brute, a Savage and had added a minimum unit of Paingivers and an Agoniser. A pretty solid list. We decided to play Outflank, since Jayke had some fancy zones. I took the first turn and we both moved up the board. On my turn two I managed to run the spell Martyr up the board to near the Gladiator and then boosted a Rampager into it, pulling it out and turning it backwards, away from the Scythean. With Incite up I managed to one round the heavy and then used the feat to pull back. Without the Rush animus the wall that Jayke was using to cover his models became a real impediment to his beasts. Despite this, one of the Cyclops managed to get in on the Scythean, doing loads of damage but failing to get the kill. Morghoul moved up and managed to get both of my beasts in his feat. Luckily I was able to pull them both back and clear off the Cyclops and the Agoniser. I'd also managed to secure one zone for two turns to take the scenario lead. Jayke decided that this was a bad situation and went for an assassination. He measured Morghoul's control and it was going to be close. He ran one Cyclops up to block off the Seraph and the paingivers ran to surround the Sythean so I couldn't use dark sentinel. Unfortunately when it came to the charge Morghoul was just short and so decided to call the game since he felt that there was no way to bring the game back in his favour. So I managed to get myself another win with Vayl! 

Game Two

My second game was against Luke, who had shifted back into Circle for the JML and was using pKaya with a Feral Warpwolf and a Pureblood in the battlegroup and had added a unit of Shifting Stones with UA for 15 points. Again I took the first turn and after we both moved up I was able to repeat my sneaky performance from the previous game, running the Spell Martyr up to get Rampager on the Feral, dragging it up to the threat range of the Scythean who, with the help of a few shots from the Seraph, managed to one round it and then pull back with the feat. Luke then went to dominate one of the zones (we were still playing Outflank). The Feral failed to spray the Shepherd that was contesting the zone, forcing Kaya to zap her. Between that and two Spirit Doors (to bring Kaya up and then pull the Pureblood back) even with the feat Kaya was only camping one. On my turn I had Vayl slipstream the Scythean up and then incited, catching a stone, Kaya and the Pureblood. With Chiller as well the Scythean charged into Kaya and managed to kill her after hitting both initials at dice plus 6 and then clearing her off with the chain attack, using my last fury to get the final hit. This was another fun game, and got me another win with this pretty broken list!

Game Three

My final game of the night was against Ben, who's always given me a good run for my money when we've played. He was also playing Skorne, but with a completely different battlegroup to Jayke, featuring Xerxis, an Aradus Sentinel, a Savage and a Krea, and had added a min unit of Paingivers and a feralgeist to bring his list up to 15 points. I took first turn again, and we both shuffled forwards (and the Sentinel cranked a damage roll on a blast on my Scythean). I then ran my spell martyr up again and pulled out the Aradus, turning it backwards again to give my Scythean the +2 and then I put up Incite. Unfortunately, though, despite the charge my damage rolls were so poor that I left it with a few boxes. I was still able to pull back with the feat, though. Next turn the Aradus turned around and got a nice shot off on the Scythean, directly hitting and getting more damage on it. The Cyclops managed to trash my Objective, clearing a line for the Krea to advance up and also shoot the Scythean, paralysing it. On my turn Vayl moved right up and slipstreamed the Scythean, giving it enough movement to get all three of Ben's warbeasts in its Melee range. With incite and chiller I managed to kill the Aradus, then the Savage and then reduce the Krea to a single box. The Skorne retaliation featured Xerxis taking out the Scythean with two attacks under the feat, freeing up a lane for the Krea to charge Vayl. The paingivers moved B2B with Xerxis for the armour buff and then healed the Krea. It charged Vayl but my Shredder advanced up with Dark Sentinel and managed to do just enough damage to finish him off before he could attack. On my turn I had Vayl boost a Hoarfrost into Xerxis, hitting and getting the critical stationary. This allowed me to clear off the two paingivers giving the armour buff. I then used my last two fury to throw a Malice at Xerxis, doing a touch more damage. The Seraph moved up and rolled for four Strafes, easily hitting the stationary target and boosting all 4 damage rolls, taking down his health gradually. The Shredder then went rabid and advanced into Xerxis, taking both attacks but managing to spike the damage rolls just enough to finish him off. Another win!

Wrap-Up

Another successful week, getting me another 9 journeyman points for my wins. I'm consistently impressed with what Vayl brings to the table with her impressive array of buffs and boosts. Considering the Spell Martyr was in the list as a throw-away point filler he more than made his inclusion up, getting me three seperate, critical rampagers off that let me capitalise and take a heavy off the table! I'm less certain about what I want to include in my list next week, when we go up to 25 points. More beasts? A unit? Only time will tell! Stay tuned for more!

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

Journeyman League 2 - Week 1

Hi everyone and welcome to my first week of the Journeyman League at my LGS. At popular request from a few members of the community our press Ganger decided to run a new JML. I decided that I didn't want to switch factions since I'm really into Legion at the minute. Besides I don't want to play Menoth and don't have money to buy a new faction! I have only played a couple of casters in the faction, though, namely Saeryn, Thagrosh and eLylyth. So I decided this was a good opportunity to play someone new. One of the casters I've been interested in but hesitant to play is Vayl. Obviously she's a good caster but I didn't want to start with such a finesse caster when I was just getting a hold on the faction as I've discussed previously. But with the incremental system of the JML I thought I could get a good grip on her. The fact that she's one of the new alternate JML warlocks is perfect. Because I'm an evil bastard I had my battlegroup as:

pVayl +6

-Scythean -9

-Seraph -8

This is a variation on her standard JML battlegroup allowed by our local rules. This would really let me play around with some movement tricks and awesome threat extension. So with that decided we  had the first day of gaming this week. I managed to get five games done in one night, which I was pretty happy with. I played Tooth and Claw/Mangled Metal in all of the games. 

Game One

My first game was against a player who had opted to play circle for the league, taking pKaya with two Argus and a Feral warwolf. This game was fairly quick, which would set the trend for the games at this low point level. I managed to get the Scythean into the Feral and kill it before pulling back with Vayl's feat. The Argus weren't able to take out the Scythean's high ARM without the heavy. I used a boosted rampager to move the Arguses next to each other and with a back facing the Scythean who, with Incite and Chiller tore them to little pieces, meeting the Tooth and Claw win condition to net me the game. 

Game Two

My second game was against a Troll player who had moved into hordes from Menoth for the JML. He was playing the standard pMadrak battlebox of two Impalers and an Axer. He moved up pretty far on his turn two and that let me get my Scythean into an Impaler and the Axer. With the Chiller/Incite combo it got both of them killed before pulling back with the feat. The Seraph strafed into the other Impaler, cranking the dice and putting plenty of damage on it. Next turn he was able to stranglehold the Scythean and put a couple of points of damage on him. I then slip-streamed the Scythean into Melee with Madrak but the second strafe from the Seraph finished off the last Impaler to score the win before I needed to assassinate. 

Game Three

My next game was against Will, one of the more experienced players in the meta who always gives me a tough game when we play. He was taking the shift into Cygnar and using the JML to do it. He wasn't too happy with the restrictions for the starting options and was grudgingly playing pStryker with a Grenadier and a Centurion. I moved up threateningly turn one and he decided to run up and feat. Because of the lack of Scenario I just waited him out, sat back on the board. The next turn he moved up and threw up Polarity Shield to prevent charges. Luckily with Slipstream I was in range to walk up and smack him with the Scythean. I didn't boost properly though and did very little damage to him, pulling back with the feat to sit near Vayl. Will charged the Centurion into the Scythean, fully loaded, but triggered Dark Sentinel allowing it to move out of Melee. The free strike hurt but not as much as dying to the multiple attacks. Since he had focus to spare he put the Polarity back up. Next turn the Scythean was able to kill the Centurion but got killed by Stryker next turn. The Seraph charged the exposed Stryker to get the assassination but only managed to reduce him to four boxes. Next turn Stryker failed to kill the Seraph after burning all of his stack, missing three attacks, leaving him with nothing to protect him from the Seraph next turn, winning me the game on an assassination. This was probably the closest game I'd played and was great fun, coming right down to the wire at the end. 

Game Four 

My next game was against regular opponent and all round nice guy Nick of Solid Ground studios who was playing Cryx in the JML. He was playing at a huge deficit so he'd be able to squeeze more infantry in next week so he only had pDenny with a Slayer and a Nightwretch. He took first turn and we both advanced up the board. He went for a turn 2 feat and put Crippling Grasp on my Scythean. With a combination of Leash/Slipstream I was able to move up far enough to get Denny in my reach with the Scythean. With Chiller and Incite I was able to hit her three times with boosted attacks and do just enough to assassinate and win the game. 

Game Five

My final game of the night was against Andy, who I've played a few times in the past but who always manages to beat me. He was playing Circle in the league and had gone for pBalder with a Pureblood and a Woldwarden. I took first turn and, despite Andy staying pretty far back, I was able to get the alpha on the Pureblood. I didn't quite manage to destroy it in one turn and so used the feat to pull back. The Pureblood charged into the Scythean but I was able to use Dark Sentinel again to pull back, taking the free strike instead of the full battery of attacks. After that the Seraph was able to finish off the Stalker with shooting and the Scythean got into the Warden, killing it in one turn with Incite and Chiller, scoring me another win. 

Wrap-Up

I had a pretty great start to the JML, especially since I managed to use my broken battlebox to get 15 points right off the bat. All of my opponents were great and it was just as fun as I expect from a journeyman league. Anyone who's hesitant about joining one should definitely give it a go! Next week we move up to 15 points and I've got my eye on a Shredder/Shepherd to top me up! Should be fun! I'll tell you all about it when you tune in 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 - Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight vs Captain Phinneus Shae

Hi all, and welcome to the latest installation of my battle reports. It's been a little while since my last one since my LGS was being renovated and expanded last week and there was no gaming! As of next week my local community (including me) will be participating in a Journeyman League. Since, for the next few weeks, I'm going to be locked into low point games I decided to have a big blowout fun 50 point game! In this spirit I got my Archangel painted up and built a list for it with pThags:

Thagrosh +5

-Succubus -2

-Archangel - 20

-Carnivean -11

-Naga -5

-Shredder -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Max Spawning Vessel -3

Max Legionnaires -6

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Objective - Fuel Cashe

I thought this would be a fun list. With the animuses available in this list and the Succubus and Thagrosh's free casting each turn I feel it can get some cool stuff on the board. Plus with the Archangel and Carnivean getting to ARM 20 with Spiney Growth they're hard to shift!

Pregame

The game I had this week was with Will, which usually means a fun, solid game. He decided to use some of the models that he hadn't tried out before, ending up going for a Tier 4 Pirate's Life Shae Tier List. This was made up of a pair of Nomads and a Vanguard in the battlegroup then two units of Press Gangers, a unit of Sea Dogs, the Commodore Cannon, and the full raft of pirate Solos. A pretty standard Shae list. The Scenario we rolled out was Two Fronts and Will won the roll to go first, taking the first turn. 

Deployment 

I placed the Archangel just off centre, closer to my zone. The Pirates then deployed their solos and battlegroup centrally. I put most of my battlegroup either central or to my left with the pot and the Legionnaires to my right to jam his zone. The Sea Dogs then deployed centrally with a unit of Press Gangers on either flank. I put my Deathstalkers in front of the pot. 

Pirates Turn One

Will opened the game by having all the Pirates run up the board, taking full advantage of the free run and pathfinder from the tier. This set the line of battle pretty far forward for my turn. Shae put Phantasm on himself to keep safe. 

Talion: 0 Legion: 0

Legion Turn One

On my turn I had the Legionnaires run towards the zone in roughly two lines. The Deathstalkers took pot shots at the Pirates but they got tough with No Sleeping on the Job so achieved nothing. The pot shuffled up. Thagrosh put out Spiney Growth on the Archangel for free and then cast Draconic Blessing on it and put Fog of War on himself, before charging to end up behind a wall. The Carnivean and Naga ran to get into better positions. The Archangel flew up to toe in on the zone and took a couple of shots at the press gangers with its strafe but it didn't do a whole lot. The Succubus put Spiney Growth on the Archangel and the Shredder put Tenacity on Thagrosh. 

Talion: 0 Legion: 0

Pirates Turn Two

Will started the turn by having Shae upkeep Phantasm and allocated two to a Nomad. Shae went first and cast Coup de Main and then feated, allowing everyone to shuffle forwards, before nudging himself back. He then had Rockbottom give the Press Gangers in his own zone boosted attacks and the Sea Dogs got Tough. Will then had the Press Gangers charge the Legionnaires after Holt shot a couple of them to soften them up. Thanks to hang they managed to kill the whole front row, but only one was in range to Shanghai anyone. On the other flank the Press Gangers moved across my zone and around the hill, generally jamming and being in the way. The Sea Dogs activated and charged using Wall's mini feat to get fearless, spreading themselves out but getting 3 on the Carnivean and two on Thagrosh. The two on Thags got some damage on him but not enough to be worth transferring. The three on the Carnivean couldn't break his high ARM. The Nomad then activated, using the free Coup De Main charge to get into the Carnivean, seriously beating it but not managing to take out any aspects. The various Solos got their respective auras into position for next turn. We realised at the end of the turn that Shae had used his feat to move just into position to net me an extra 2 control points from Kill Box. 

Talion: 0 Legion: 2

Legion Turn Two

I started my turn by upkeeping Draconic Blessings for free and dropping Fog of War. My remaining Legionnaires took their Vengence, killing a couple of the Press Gangers. I started my turn by having Thagrosh thwack the two offending Sea Dogs who'd got to him last turn, putting out a couple of clouds. The pot dropped a harrier and advanced up and the Legionnaires moved deeper into the press Gangers. Between them they caused a huge number of tough checks but they passed all of them with no Knockdown thanks to Grogspar. The Harrier, Shredder and a Deathstalker took attacks on the rear Sea Dog engaging the Carnivean, since I was afraid of taking a free strike when I moved to engage the Nomad. But he survived everything I threw at him! Luckily when the Carnivean did move up he was ok and managed to scrap the Merc Heavy and have enough left over to pop animus onto the Archangel. The Archangel then went and took some shots, managing to kill Dirty Meg, a Sea Dog and put some damage onto Grogspar before using his animus to light up the engaging Press Gangers. The Naga engaged a Sea Dog but failed to hit it with its bite attack. 

Talion: 0 Legion: 2

Pirates Turn Three

On Will's turn he had the various Pirate infantry jam further into my army, targeting everything he could at the Carnivean but failing to kill it. The second Nomad charged in to avenge its brother, hoping to finish off the heavy beast but had terrible dice rolls leaving it with a couple of boxes remaining. The Commodore took a shot on Thagrosh but missed, accidentally hitting Walls instead, splatting him. Shae managed to get his toe on the friendly zone to secure a friendly domination point. Three of the press Gangers took attacks on the objective, doing minimal damage and setting themselves on fire. 

Talion: 1 Legion: 2

Legion Turn Three

On my Turn three the Archangel completely failed to hit any of the press Gangers in Melee thanks to crappy dice, using its animus to set them on fire instead. The healed up Carnivean was able to scrap the second Nomad. The pot dropped out a Harrier that flew in to kill Holt, using sprint to get up and contest the zone while the other harrier advanced into the zone too, taking a free strike from the Vanguard that left it on one box. One Deathstalker advanced away from Melee to take shots but got killed by a lucky free strike doing exactly enough damage to kill him. Thagrosh used his Spray to kill the Doctor, removing the 4+ tough bubble. 

Talion: 1 Legion: 2

Pirates Turn Four

On Will's turn, determined to finish off the Carnivean finally, he allocated a bunch of focus to the Vanguard. Between that and the remaining Sea Dogs they finally managed to clear it off the board. The remaining infantry continued to jam into me, locking me out of the zone. The last couple of attacks finally destroyed my objective too, netting Will another point. The Devil's Shadow Mutineers managed to kill both of the contesting Harriers freeing up the zone. 

Talion: 3 Legion: 2

Legion Turn Four

On my turn I had the Archangel consume one of the Press Gangers and move up further into the zone, using its animus to set all of the Pirates on fire. The Naga killed a Sea Dog to free up a space for Thagrosh to feat back the Carnivean, placing it between him and the Vanguard.  The pot spawned another harrier who flew in to contest the zone, denying the extra point for Will. Leaving him with very few models not on fire. 

Talion: 3 Legion: 2

After game 

This game was a bit of a grind and Will was unfamiliar with his rules, meaning he needed to double check the cards a lot. So by this point the store was closing and Will forfeited, since he felt I was in a much stronger position than him and would shortly be able to fully jam his zone  and pick him to pieces. I really enjoyed this game and it was fun to play some Pirates. I liked having the Archangel on the table and it was a good piece in this list. I'll definitely look at using it again in the future. 

Tune in next week for the opening of the Journeyman League to see what I've decided to go for and how the opening games went!

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