Mitsuharu on Minis - Saeryn and Rhyas, Talons of Everblight vs Ravyn, the Eternal Light

Welcome back for my latest battle report! This week I'm continuing with my test games with Saeryn and Rhyas. These guys are pretty fun to play but they are a bit of a headache on the table and it is a lot of maths. I haven't changed the list up as I want to hone my gameplay with them first. If you missed it that list is:

eTwins +2

-Zuriel -10

-Nephilim Protector -5

-Seraph -8

-Naga -5

-Shredder -2

Max Spawning Vessel -3

Max Raptors -10

Max Croak Raiders -8

Objective - Bunker

This list, as I've said, is the one used by Trevor in the latest chain attack and I haven't changed it up at all from there. I'm not convinced it's a great list and it still feels like it lacks punch but I'm still playing on. 

Pre-Game

My opponent for this week was Rik, who I've played several of my battle reports against in the past, using his Retribution. His list consisted of Rayvn with a Banshee along with Elara with a Hyperion, a max unit of Riflemen with UA and a housegaurd thane, a unit of Stormfall archers, two assassins, Narn and Nayl, an arcanist, and two Magisters. I wasn't very happy seeing a colossal across the table since I already felt I lacked punch in the list but I'd have to make do. The scenario I rolled up was Fire Support and I got the initiative, taking the first turn. Just a warning in advance I totally spaced out during this game and only remembered to take photos at the end of my own turns! So sorry about that. Hopefully I can describe it well enough to make up for it!

Deployment 

I deployed first with my Spawning Vessel centrally flanked by the twins. The protector, Naga and Seraph deployed to my right with Rhyas while the shredder, Zuriel and the raptors deployed on my left along with Saeryn. Rik placed his Hyperion in the middle of the board screening Elara, the arcanist and Ravyn. The banshee just off to the side of it. The Riflemen deployed to my right while the Stormfall archers went on my left. I then advance deployed my croaks on my right flank and Rik put his assassins out on the diagonally opposite edge. 

Legion Turn One 

On my first turn I had pretty much everything run forward to take board presence, putting out Occultation on the Croaks and Banishing ward on the twins, spamming out some Tenacities on the croaks and Raptors. The Naga got into the forest to trigger his prowl and the croaks and raptors spread out.

Legion: 0 Ret: 0

Retribution Turn One

The retribution turn was very similar with everything running up the board. The riflemen spread themselves out to get positioned for next turn. The assassins ran behind the obstruction to get some cover and the jacks ran themselves up the board. Ravyn, meanwhile, put snipe on the Archers. 

Legion: 0 Retribution: 0

Legion Turn Two

With my turn I was able to start killing some angry elves. The frogs hopped up (get it?) and threw some darts at the riflemen, but their to hit rolls were decidedly mediocre and missed most of the shots, thoroughly murdering the ones they did manage to tag, though. On the other flank the raptors moved up and killed Nayl and a Stormfall archer as well as missing a bunch of shots on the assorted assassins before light cav-ing back again. The Naga and Seraph shifted around in the forest, staying out of the way. The pot continued up the board to be a collection tool. The twins threw out tenacities on the croaks and Rhyas advanced up to the nearby wall. The protector dropped safeguard on Rhyas to round out my turn. 

Legion: 0 Ret: 0

Retribution Turn Two

The retaliation came pretty hard as Ravyn sniped the Hyperion and feated. The riflemen, who got firing solution from the Thane, then fired a bunch of shots into the croaks, killing the 4 they hit. The Magisters managed to take out one more, forcing a command check which they promptly failed. The Hyperion then fired on one of the pot attendants that I'd left clumped together and next to Saeryn. The blast killed 5 pot attendants and (with a boost) did 5 damage to Saeryn which I transferred to Zuriel. He then took his other shots against Zuriel and the protector, but missed stealthy Zuriel and only did a few points to the other Nephelim. On my left flank between the Stormfall archers and the assassins charging in 4 of my raptors died, the Banshee taking out the last one to remove the unit from the table. 

Legion: 0 Ret: 0

Legion Turn Three

That hurt! The croaks pulled back a little and then passed their second command check, getting back into the game a little late. The Naga aimed at of the Magisters but got snake eyes to hit. The Seraph pulled back, getting away from the approaching riflemen. Zuriel charged the nearby banshee but only got middling dice and so did a poor job of removing its high ARM value. The pot spawned a harrier and it animused and charged, killing an assassin. Rhyas pulled back slightly to get a marginally better position behind the wall. The rest of my models in the centre tried to spread out a little. The protector put safeguard up again on Rhyas. 

Legion: 0 Ret: 0

Retribution Turn Three

On the retribution turn the attrition game was clearly going in the angry elves' favour. The riflemen moved up again and, with the Thane, killed another pair of croaks. Hyperion took its big cannon shot on Rhyas and missed, the boosted blast rolling low again but I still decided to transfer anyway, putting it into the Seraph. His other shots didn't do a whole lot of damage anywhere. The Banshee took its return attacks on Zuriel, cranking the initial damage roll to halve his health but came up short with the other attacks. Then the combined assassins came in to take him out but couldn't quite close the deal, leaving him at the end of the turn with only a couple of boxes but alive. The stormfalls continued up the board but essentially didn't have any targets this turn. Elara, Ravyn and the arcanist moved up behind the Hyperion. 

Legion: 0 Ret: 0

I actually got a photo this turn!

 

Legion Turn Four

At this point things were looking bleak but I still had a chance since Ravyn had moved up. I did some control area maths and I felt it looked a little short. Then I had an idea. I started the turn by having the protector move up and make a push, winning (barely) to get her an extra inch forward. The seraph then moved up, using slipstream to place her another 2", butting me about 11.5" away. Perfect. The twins activated and Rhyas charged Ravyn, Saeryn moved up near the Hyperion, keeping her in formation. I boosted the initial, doing a bunch on damage on the charge. I bought and boosted a second, only doing a bit more damage, leaving her with 5 boxes. I bought the last attack and boosted again, getting the critical decaptitation which pushed my ok damage roll into being more than enough to finish her off and win me the game!

Legion Assassination Win

Post-Game

This was a fun game, even when getting my whole army murdered by shooty elves. I'm still enjoying the twins but I think if I keep playing them I'm going to change up the list. It feels really pillow-fisted as is. I might consider dropping the Naga for the Blackfrost Shard and maybe swap out the Raptors for something more powerful or maybe harder to shift. I still wouldn't want to play these guys on a clock though, there's way too much maths and too many options of what to do with them! They are still pretty fun and definitely a very different gameplay style. I wouldn't recommend them for a serious competitive event but for funsies these two are a good pick. 

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 and Rhyas, Talons of Everblight vs Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls

Welcome back to the latest Mitsuharu bat rep! This week I'm continuing my test games with the twins, Saeryn and Rhyas. I'm still using the same list with them and trying to put them though their paces. The list is the one recently used on Chain Attack with no changes as a starting point for them:

eTwins +2

-Zuriel -10

-Nephilim Protector -5

-Seraph -8

-Naga -5

-Shredder -2

Max Spawning Vessel -3

Max Raptors -10

Max Croak Raiders -8

Objective - Bunker

It's a solid list and there might be some changes worth making but I want to keep trying this version out for a bit before fiddling with it too much! However I do now have my Croak Raiders fully painted! (Check out the Mitsuharu on Minis Facebook for photos)

Pre-Game

This week I managed to get a game in with our local Press Ganger Dave. He's a damn good player and almost exclusively plays dirty dirty lists. Case in point this week he decided to play Runes of War. No big surprises in the list construction (the tier doesn't really allow it) with Doomy taking Mulg, an Earthborn, a Mauler and an Axer in his battlegroup, along with four units of Runeshapers and a max unit of Krielstone bearers with their awesome UA. We rolled out the scenario and got Recon but since this is all I ever seem to play lately we rerolled and got Incoming, which I haven't played much of, this being my third game with that scenario. I won the roll for initiative and took the first turn. 

Deployment

I set up with my battlegroup central, around the Pot and my Raptors off on my left flank. Dave then set up with his battlegroup central and his Runeshapers in pairs on either flank. The Croaks then advance deployed in the middle of my side of the table. Dave then put out a pair of walls, one central and one on my extreme left flank. 

Legion Turn One

I started the game by having the Raptors run up the flank. The twins gave Occultation to the croaks and advanced up the board before spamming tenacity onto the front rank of Croaks. The Seraph and the Naga ran to get into the nearby forest. The pot slogged its way up the board to spread its influence in the middle of the board. The Croaks all ran up into my friendly zone. Zuriel flew up and riled to get some Fury on the board. Finally the Protector stuck his Animus on Rhyas, ending my turn. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 0

Trolls Turn One 

Dave started his turn by having the rune bearers run up the board, some of them chucking stones but getting nothing done. Janissa moved up to the tier wall and used her dirt magic to make another wall in front of it, making a Mulg sandwich when he moved up into it. The other Dire Trolls chugged up the field up near the objective. Doomshaper hiked his skirts up and jogged over to the wall with Jannisa. He then put transmute on Mulg and dumped fury into the stone. The stone then moved up and pumped out their aura, adding combat warding to the mix. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 0

Legion Turn Two

On my turn I started to shoot some Runeshapers. On my left flank the Raptors shot and killed all three of the closest Runeshapers, all failing their tough checks. They then light cav moved into the zone. The Croaks then advanced further into my zone and lit up another three Runeshapers, all of them failing their tough checks too and oiling another two of them. The Seraph then shot another oiled Runeshaper, easily killing it and he again failed his tough check. The pot continued up the board with the twins who were hanging back a little. Zuriel hid behind the Croaks and the protector dropped its animus on Rhyas again. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 0

Trolls Turn Two

On the Trolls turn the Runeshapers on my left flank advanced up and chucked rocks at the Raptors, managing to kill two of them, clearing out the zone. The Axer on that flank put up his Animus and ran out into that zone too. On the other flank the two remaining Runeshapers charged the Croaks and dropped two tremors. Which both hilariously missed. Mulg charged up for free from Fuel Cashe and killed two Croaks and wrecked my Objective, scoring the first control point. Doomy activated and gave fortune to the Earthborn and then moved up behind a wall Jannisa stuck up, getting his toe in his own zone to secure the second control point with the domination before feating. The Earthborn then charged in and killed a handful of Croaks, despite missing multiple times even with the rerolls. The stones continued to make their way up the board, maintaining their bubble. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 2

Legion Turn Three 

In my turn I had the raptors polish off all put one of the remaining Runeshapers before taking their extra move into the zone to contest. The remaining Croaks oiled and chucked sticks at Mulg but failed to harm his ridiculous ARM. I was fairly hamstrung by the feat but contemplated the assassination run on Doomy. It wasn't looking very good, though. Zuriel advanced into the Earthborn but ended up doing more damage to himself from the feat than he did to the Troll. The Pot bearers moved up to get in Mulg's face. The Seraph backed away, hiding behind the forest for keep its animus in play. Rhyas and Saeryn kept out of the way of the Dire Trolls as much as possible and Saeryn put the protector's animus on her sister. The Shredder advanced into the Earthborn to prevent a charge into Saeryn. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 2

Trolls Turn Three

On the Trolls turn Mulg destroyed a ton of the pot attendants with his smashy stick. The Axer killed a Raptor but the Runeshaper on that flank couldn't get the job done. The Runeshapers on the other flank essentially just made a nuisance of themselves while the Earthborn, with the help of the Mauler, trashed everything in his zone including Zuriel, securing the third control point for the trolls. Doomy pulled back behind the wall in his backfield while the Krielstone Bearers ran to encircle him along with Janissa. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 3

Legion Turn Four

This turn I decided I needed to try for the assassination because I thought I might just have the range to get Rhyas in. I started by having the Raptors continue up the extreme flank and one managed to get a shot off on Doomy but couldn't quite clear the range of the wall and so ending up missing. The pot hopped up and spat out a stinger who moved up and sprayed the Krielstone unit, hitting three, but failing to kill any since they finally managed to pass a tough check, meaning I couldn't clear out my landing zone. I charged the Seraph anyway to slipstream Rhyas and couldn't even get the range to manage that. Instead Rhyas charged the Krielstone guys and Jannissa, flashing blade to kill them all out of spite more than anything. Essentially everything else did very little. Including actually contesting, meaning that the Trolls went up to 4 points at the end of my turn and 5 at the end of Dave's automatically winning him the game. 

Trolls Scenario Win

Post-Game

I don't feel that I played this game particularly well, especially towards the end (that last turn was just stupid, not that I had many good options at that point). Especially since Runes is such a shitty match up. I did learn some things from this game about the list, though. First off the list has very little staying power and quite easy to remove from the board. Conversely it doesn't handle high ARM very well. Overall that kind of makes Runes a nightmare match up. Yay. Still I'm still having a fun time learning to get to grips with the enigma of the twins. If you're practicing please regard this report as a helpful 'what not to do'. If you like please imagine me skipping merrily through a minefield setting off the terrible explosions so you don't have to. You are welcome. We'll have to see how I get on next time. It does feel like this list style is basically totally assassination geared, though it can totally handle infantry at any rate! Stay tuned to find out!

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, the Messiah vs Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller

Welcome back everyone! It's my latest battle report! This week I continued my test games with Thagrosh2, using the same list. If you're wondering or you've forgotten that list looks like this:

eThagrosh +3

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Shredder -2

-Raek -4

-Naga -5

Foresaken -2

Foresaken -2

Max Legionnaires -6

Incubus -5

Objective - Fuel Cashe

I think the list is really solid and does what I want it to well. The Scytheans are powerful tools in the list and the Naga and Raek answer questions pretty well for the list. I actually really like the Legionnaires and Incubus package. They're really great for jam and the Incubi can come out of pretty much anywhere with attacks. 

Pre-Game

This week I was playing my friend Mike who's recently had a bout of illness but thankfully is back in full swing again this week. Despite a brief sojourn into Khador he was back playing his 'home' faction of Trollbloods. He was trying out a new list and one of the first I'd seen him bring fully painted and they were looking pretty great. The list featured pGrissel and Mulg as the battlegroup and then was focused on infantry with two max units of Warders, a max unit of Long Riders a min unit of Krielstone, two fell callers and two Champion Heroes. This is a meaty list and there were a lot of wounds and high armour to get through. Urgh. The scenario I rolled was Outflank and I won the roll for the start of the game, deciding to go first. 

Deployment 

I set up with my Legionnaires and Naga to the left of my deployment zone, with the rest of the battlegroup to the right of centre. The Foresaken went on each flank. Mike set up a Fell Caller and a unit of Warders on each flank, the battlegroup and Stone central with the long riders spread out across the front line. 

Legion Turn One

I took the first turn and ran my Legionnaires, spreading them out and putting Dragon Blood on them for the extra armour. The Naga ran into the forest to take advantage of prowl. The three Scytheans ran up the board to take up some real estate. Thagrosh chugged up the board and put out a couple of Tenacities, getting one for himself from the Shredder. 

Trolls Turn One

On the first Troll turn the fell callers chucked out some pathfinder and let everything run slowly up the board, hampered by the terrain. 

Legion Turn Two

My second turn came around and I was concerned about wandering into threat ranges and giving away the alpha so I played very conservatively. The Scytheans on my right flank shuffled around but didn't really move too far up. On the other flank the other heavy inched up the board. The Legionnaires, though, ran up to take up a bunch of real estate in the zone to my left. They're in the list as the cannon fodder road bump so I don't care if they die anyway. Thagrosh continued his way up the board towards the safety of the nearby wall. 

Trolls Turn Two

On the Trolls turn Mike had the Warders on my left charge a couple of the legionnaires, the rest of them running up to the zone, ending up with two of them dying, giving me one incubus and Vengence. The Long Riders continued up the board, but didn't move too far into my threat. On my right the Warders continued to slug through the forest gumming up that side of the board. The stone and Grissel continued up the centre, hiding behind a nearby wall along with Mulg. 

Legion: 0 Trolls: 0

Legion Turn Three

On this turn I had a choice. I was confident that I could clear the two Warders in the right zone to dominate early and get a decent lead but it'd leave my beasts on the left out in the cold. In the end it was too tempting to pass up. I took my Vengence moves and a few attacks but did very little work, then the incubus popped up. The Naga moved up and took a shot at one of the Warders but didn't have an impact. The Legionnaires opened up a lane for the Scythean and took a couple of CMAs into the Warders and a champ hero but only did a little bit of damage. The Scythean then charged, getting on two Warders and killing them both with the animus. The Foresaken on that flank ate up the fury from the Scythean, filling her up but leaving him on one since she already had a couple on her. Thagrosh then activated and threw up Manifest Destiny before charging into the zone camping one after putting out Tenacities. The lead Scythean on my right activated and charged the two Warders in the zone. With the animus and Manifest destiny he managed to kill them both to secure my domination. I then had the Raek, my third Scythean and Shredder move up to cover my caster a little. 

Legion: 2 Trolls: 0

Trolls Turn Three

Mike opened his turn by having pGrissel use her feat, giving out a bunch of extra moves and extra attacks. In my left zone the three Warders charged the Scythean and killed it easily. A Long Rider and the Champions  managed to kill a bunch of Legionnaires, giving me three more incubus and Vengence for next turn. Mulg ran up towards the zone followed by the rest of the long riders. The Warders ran to get out of the forest they were locked in and then, thanks to the feat the Warders jammed into the zone, the long riders piled into Thagrosh and Mulg advanced into the zone. 

Legion: 2 Trolls: 0

Legion Turn Four

I was now thoroughly jammed up and needed to get some work done to free up my caster and not die horribly next turn. The Legionnaires took their Vengence but didn't achieve much and then I spat out another 3 Incubi. The Naga frenzied and chomped a warder, who passed their tough. In the heavy zone Thagrosh activated and put up manifest destiny and the Slaughterhouse animus then feated, taking a swing on the centre Longrider, missing despite the extra die drop the lowest. The big fist did some more damage and then I bought another couple of Rapture attacks, only actually killing one guy, but dropping an eruption of ash and doing a little more damage. The nearby Scythean turned to get all of the Longriders in Melee and bought until they were all dead as well as the champion he was engaging. The Raek managed to kill one of the Warders and the other Scythean cleared off the remaining Warders. On the other flank the legionnaires and Incubus managed to force a tough check on the Chanpion and killed the one wounded Warder. For my feat movement the zone was now cleared and so my two Scytheans and Raek jammed into Mulg, hoping he wouldn't be able to get to Thags, doing a reasonable amount of damage. The Shredder advanced up to block off the charge lane to Thagrosh. 

Legion: 2 Trolls: 0

Trolls Turn Four 

Mike felt that with the loss of his infantry on the right was too bad for him to come back from, (which I wasn't sure about) and then decided to try for an assassination. He had a Fell caller from the left flank to advance up and spray Thagrosh, cranking the roll for ten damage. He then had the champion clear off the legionnaires locking down the Long Rider, giving me Vengence and my last incubus. The long rider then ran to get position on Thagrosh next turn but was killed by a big roll from the Foresaken free strike. Grissel advanced up and put out Hoof it on Mulg and then sprayed the Scythean, catching Thagrosh again. She missed the Foresaken but hit Thagrosh and the Scythean, boosting to get another few points into him and doing a bit more damage to the Scythean. Mulg activated and did a throw on the Scythean, hitting and passing the check despite me rolling a 6, chucking him at Thagrosh, knocking them both down and doing some damage to them both. The final fell caller also moved up and sprayed over to catch Thagrosh, missing but killing the Foresaken and catching a few points into Mulg. The turn ended with 5 health left on Thagrosh. 

Legion: 2 Trolls: 0

Legion Turn Five 

On this turn the end was in sight. It was clear that the game was wrapping up and I had several different ways to win this turn. To start the Raek and Scythean engaging Mulg frenzied, but both did a decent chunk of damage. Like a good player I focused on the easier zone first, having the incubus clear out the stragglers, taking the control. The Naga advanced back into Thags' control and shot the Stones' UA, killing him. That done I then went for the stupid option. If I focused on clearing out the zone I win. If I throw out manifest destiny I could probably get the Scythean with animus into the zero camp Grissel and win. Instead I did neither, opting for the most cinematic approach of having Thagrosh put up the Raek animus and charging over Mulg and into Grissel. I boosted the hit on the charge with Rapture but missed. Then I took the fist attack. And missed. My final attack got double boosted and did hit but did nowhere near enough to kill her. The last Scythean activated and advanced into Mulg and the Fell Caller, the only troll models contesting, chain attacking on Mulg and killing him and forcing a game winning tough check on the fell caller. Which he passed. I'd failed to clear the zone or get the assassination and cost myself the game. 

Legion: 3 Trolls: 0

Trolls Turn Five 

The trolls turn was pretty straight forward. Grissel activated and splatted Thagrosh in the face with her hammer, winning Mike the game. 

Legion: 4 Trolls: 0

 

Post-Game

This was a great game and it felt like it swung back and forth throughout. I was a little disappointed in myself after the game since it felt a little like I'd managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Especially since I had so many better options to take the game instead of going for the assassination. I also should really have camped after missing my first two attacks and hoped to survive the retaliation. I also realised while writing this that I completely forgot the Blood Spawn rule that would've given me another lesser in the final turn and would've given me a great opportunity to finish off that Fell Caller, too! Kicking myself now! This was only a friendly game though, and in the end I went for the more dramatic, cinematic option. I'd like to think I'd play more conservatively in a competitive game! Regardless, though I enjoyed the game. For some reason I'm not really connecting with Thagrosh. It feels like his style is a little boring, though I do like having Greater Destiny Scytheans! Maybe I'll try a different warlock next, only one way to find out, though! Tune in again!

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

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