Tourney Tales - Jaunce in July

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

eLylyth +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore -10 

-Ravagore -10

-Typhon -12

-Naga Nightlurker -5

-Bolt Thrower -6

-Shredder -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Foresaken -2

Objective - Bunker

And

Saeryn +5

-Angelius -9

-Angelius -9

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Raek -4

-Shredder -2

Foresaken -2

Foresaken -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Spell Martyr -1

Spell Martyr -1

Maximum Spawning Vessel -3

Objective - Fuel Cashe

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

Round One 

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

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

Round Two

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

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

Round Three

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

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

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

Round Four

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-M

Tourney Tales - Learning Legion Fun, Quick and Dirty

So welcome back, everyone, to my latest report. This week our PG decided to run a mini hardcore tournament for us at our LGS. The rules were simple. One 20 point list. 5 minute timed turns. No extensions. Hardcore scenario. It was called Fun, Quick and Dirty and that's exactly what it was. The six people who attended had all taken the dirtiest lists they could think of. I decided to stick with pThagrosh especially since his feat can give a substantial swing at such a low point value. The list I went for was:

pThagrosh +5

-Succubus -2

-Carnivean -11

-Scythean -9

Shepherd -1

Deathstalker -2

The plan for the list was to spam Spiney Growth try and to get a powerful alpha with some Draconic Strength juggling and then feat a beast back if I lose one to maintain the attrition advantage. Because of the strict time limits and the overall rush of the night I wasn't able to get any pictures, unfortunately. That also means I'll only be able to recall a quick summary of the games I played. 

My first game was against Jayke of Hall of Legends using his Cryx. He'd decided to use Mortenebra at tier 4, which got him 4 Slayers and two warwitch sirens. This meant that he was 4 points up because of his tier, a healthy difference at 20 points. I won the roll to go first and started with my first turn strategy, which consisted of casting Spiney Growth on each of the beasts, as well as putting Draconic Strength on the Scythean then charging up the board with Thagrosh. The beasts then ran up B2B in front of him, screening him, then the Succubus moved to put Spiney Growth on Thagrosh while the Deathstalker began a wide flank. Jayke had all of his Slayers up into the zone, getting as far up as possible. This gave me the opening to get a nice Alpha. The Scythean charged one of the Slayers reducing it to only a few boxes. The Canivean charged another Slayer and wrecked it. On Jayke's turn, rushed and unused to running jacks, he forgot to allocate any focus, seriously blunting his ability to retaliate. Despite this he managed to combine Mortenebra's spells and feat to pretty seriously ding my beasts up. On my turn the Shepherd healed up the Scythean, allowing it to kill the Slayer it failed to kill the turn before as well as a second one that Jayke had moved in to engage it the turn before. The Carnivean, similarly, was able to wreck the Slayer engaging it too, leaving him with no jacks. On his turn Jayke went for the long shot assassination, trying to spell assassinate Thagrosh, but only managed to get one point on him. Dice down was called and since neither of us had any Pressure Points the second tiebreaker was Army points destroyed and so I won the first round of the tournament. 

In the second round I was paired up with a Cygnar player, Mark, who was using eCaine. Urgh. His list included a Squire, a Hunter, eEiryss, Gorman di Wulfe, Taryn di la Rovissi, Reinhold, the Black 13th and a unit of rangers. It was pretty clear what the plan was for this list. Assassination all the way. And it was looking like it was going to be very good at it. I won the roll to go first again and used the same opening gambit of charging Thagrosh up the board and using the beasts to screen him while putting out all my buffs. Mark's first turn and my second basically involved moving further up the board, though I did manage to kill Eiryss with the Deathstalker on my turn two. On his turn Mark had Taryn disappear my Carnivean but missed the Scythean. The Black 13th hit Thagrosh to rob him of concealment from Fog of War and then Caine moved up and feated, shooting the hell out of Thagrosh, forcing me to transfer to the beasts repeatedly and reducing me to only a handful of boxes before Gatecrashing back out of my threat range. Gorman also managed to black oil my Carnivean, also managing to hit the Succubus and the Scythean with the AOE.  

On my turn I was pretty hurt by the black oil. I had the Scythean advance into engage a ranger and the black 13th, locking them in and forcing two terror checks from Draconic Strength, but he managed to pass them both. The Carnivean moved up and then Thagrosh advanced and sprayed Gorman and Taryn, killing him but missing her, meaning no more Black Oil shenanigans. Mark then took some shots with his Hunter and Rangers, forcing some more transfers. Caine then moved up and reduced Thags to one box, meaning I had to transfer every following hit. He then took a whole bunch of shots, but managed to roll low on a few damage rolls, meaning that at the end of the turn Caine was sat on nothing. Thagrosh was sat on one box and no transfers. The Black 13th then moved to get a line on Thagrosh, taking free strikes from the Scythean. Two of them died, leaving Ryan with the two guns needing to do a single point of damage to win the game. But he failed the massive casualties check and fled before he could take a shot. I had managed to survive by sheer luck. The Scythean advanced into Caine and killed him with a single double boosted hit, giving me a second win. 

The third round paired me against Nick from Solid Ground Studios who was taking a break from his regular Legion to play some Khador. Specifically Butcher3. The tournament was called dirty for a reason I guess. His list included the wardog, a Devastator, an Iron Fang Kovnik, max Iron Fang Pikemen with Black Dragon UA and Madelyn Corbeau. This was the championship game for the mini tournament. I knew that luck had been a big factor in my wins while Nick is a skilled player playing a very good caster. Which spells trouble for me. I won the roll for first turn again and took turn one. I used the same opening moves turtling up near the zone. Khador advanced up, with the IFP running up the board out of Shield Wall since they were facing a sniper who wouldn't care about their high ARM. Nick, as usual, was careful to place his models just out of my threat ranges. On my turn I moved the Scythean, which was closer to the IFP, out of most of their threat ranges. The Carnivean moved across and into the nearby forest and the zone. Thagrosh then advanced up behind him and the forest hoping that the forest blocking LOS to Butcher would help keep me in the game for a little longer. The Deathstalker took out the IFP standard bearer and one of the regular troopers using sniper and snap fire. Nick had two of the IFP charge the Deathstalker (killing her easily) and two charge the Scythean (forgetting to take attacks), the rest advancing up and into the zone. Butcher sauntered into the zone, sending one of his Arguses (Argii?) to run up and engage the Carnivean. The Devastor moved up minimally to just toe in the zone. On my turn I had the Scythean move up into the zone and kill the two IFP who'd engaged him and the Carnivean destroyed the Argus engaging it, while Thagrosh moved further behind the forest, trying to keep away from the Butcher as much as possible. Nick then started his turn with a Vengence and Intrigue move with Zoktavir, moving him much closer to the forest my caster was hiding behind. He then charged my Carnivean in the forest and then paid one for an energiser move into melee with Thagrosh behind the forest. This moved him out of the Carnivean's front arc but it managed to miss its attack roll for the free strike! Butcher put up Silence of Death and then Slaughtered the Prophet of Everblight in a couple of hits. 

The end result put me in second place overall, which was pretty impressive considering these were my 2nd, 3rd and 4th games since fully starting the faction! The format was really great fun and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to get a few games in a single night. It was high pressure with the time but with the small lists it wasn't oppressive. We managed to get the whole 3 round mini tournament done in just over 2 hours, 3 including the 'awards' at the end. 

I'm still really loving Legion and I'm absolutely looking forward to playing some more games with them soon!

As always check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M