Sunday 13 January 2019

Deep in the jank tank

Good day ladies, gentlemen and everything in-between (it's 2019, gotta starting getting inclusive around here) !!!

Now I know, it has been a very long, long, long, very long time. As such, I'm quite sorry for all my fans out there (Hi mom and dad !). Instead of pushing for a schedule that I cannot keep, I would just publish when I can, so I guess stay tune ?

In the last year, since my last post, I thought about starting Grymkin: did not happen; I thought about starting Crucible Guard: almost happen; now I'm thinking to maybe start Mercenary because I have a few 'jacks and Laellese models. But, what I did start in last year is a house. Not a household though, just a house. I bought my own place which did cut a lot of time in my schedule, and my work also took time with extra formations and frilly bits... Also went all in on Warhammer Underworld, so maybe you'll see some stuff about that too.

But for now, yesterday, I want to a Warmachine Team Tournament. There were 8 teams, including some big Canadians player like Mr McWatters. My team was lovely call CasuQuebec and we had a Protectorate player, a Retribution player and myself with my fearless Legion.

My lists were:

Oracle of Annihilation
Thagrosh, the Messiah
- Typhon
- Carnivean
- Carnivean
- Scythean
- Seraph
- Shreddy da' Shredder
Blackfrost Shard
Sorceress on Hellion (Free)
Forsaken (Free)
Forsaken (Free)
Shepherd

I had some success with this list in the past, namely an Assassination win against Nemo3 and a Scenario win against Krueger2 (ok, I playing that list 3 time total before the event). I was confident he could do something against stuff.

Primal Terrors
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
- Ammok the Truthbearer
- Blightbringer
- Ravagore
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower
Max Warspears
- Chieftain
Max Warspears
- Chieftain
Warchief (Free)
Warchief (Free)

Now before the event, I played that list once, against my Menoth teammate, and lost. But it helped me see how I should deploy and spread my army, so a very useful game. This list provides a lot of high-quality shots (up to POW 17 + Pin Cushion, against the right foe), and the Ogruns ain't bad in melee, with DEF 14 against a charge and Vengeance.

Round 1

Went against a Cryx player with either Terminus1 in Ghost Fleet or Skarre1 in Dark Host. Both lists had Incorporeal models, so I choose Lylyth.

The game went well, but the recursion was too much for my Ogruns to handle. On my Feat turn, I did kill both Barathrum and the Wraith Engine, but after that Terminus wrecked my poor little Ogruns and I got a bit overwhelmed. Lost 5-0 to Scenario.

All my teammates also lost, so we want 0-1

Round 2

This time it was against Crucible Guard. He had either Mackay or Gearhart, and I never played against Crucible Guard. Since Mackay had two Tanks and a Vulcan, I though Thag couldn't handle it, and since we were in the "Fun Bracket", why not go for Lylyth2 all day.

So Lylyth 2 is was, against Mackay. I won the roll and choose my side of the board, so I could go second and respond to his deployment. First turn, he moved everything forward, just outside of my threat range. On my turn, I move stuff forward and try to get a lucky deviation on a Dragon's Breath Rocket, but do nothing there. Lylyth cast Mirage on a unit of Ogruns, move up and try to cast Pin Cushion on a Tank (16" away) but fail... Then I realise she is just sitting there, with 1 Transfer and her Stealth, in front of a Gunline... First thought was to also move the Bolt Thrower, that hadn't activated yet in front of her, "to screen Lylyth of the Big Bad Tanks". Of course, he is so close to Lylyth that all the AOE would hit her if he is hit... On the bright side, she was in the +2 ARM aura of the Blightbringer ! Guess what, my opponent went for the Assassination. Since it wasn't planned, and because huge bases are very clunky, he had to go first with a Tank, which hit with spray and did some damage, but the AOE did nothing (thanks BB). Then a Rocket applied Withering Humour. After many looks at it, there was no way the Vulcan and Mackay could both shoot at Lylyth since there was a Forest blocking line of sight. So the Vulcan had to move first and only do his Rocket on the Bolt Thrower. Then Mackay moved in and used her Feat. Even with all those boosted damages, she left Lylyth on 2 boxes because some of her spray attacks missed. She did kill the Bolt Thrower which provides Lylyth with a second Transfer ! The second Tank couldn't help being on the other flank with the Forest in the way. A Suppressor did move in the Forest, but only hit once, using one of the Transfer.

To my surprise, Lylyth was alive, the rest of my army was intact, and Mackay had no Focus left... Lylyth kept Mirage to move the Ogruns up. She went first and feated, landed Pin Cushion on Mackay and did 11 damages with her Bow in one big hit (second arrow did nothing). Blightbringer wents second, did +2 STR aura and shot twice with the Aim bonus, both hits landed for good damages. Thirdly, the Miraged' Ogruns activated. Only 4 could get in the "2 shots, bonus Arm and in range area", but only 2 of them were actually needed to kill Mackay. Assassination win.

All of my teammates won their game too, so we were 1-1.

Round 3

Final round of the day, I faced Grymkin. It was either the King of Nothing with tons of Lights or Dreamer and heavies. My opponent went with the Dreamer, with Sacrifice, Pandemonium and All Fall Down and I was set for Lylyth again. The scenario was Stand-Off. I won the roll and choose the side with a Trench, just so I could deny it to my opponent. There was also a big house in the middle and a rubble in the right circle. Objective was Magic Attack, just in case. My opponent deployment heavily on the right side with only 2 Swarm and a doggy on the left, and 2 other doggies plus a Swarm in the centre. I also deployed heavily on the right, with Lylyth, Ravagore and Bolt Thrower more centre-right and 1 unit of Ogruns on the left with Ammok. First turn, my opponent ran everything forward, putting the 3 doggies behind the house, and the center Swarm went right. On my turn, one of the doggy was not hidden well enough and the Blightbinger plus Lylyth made short work on him. I set up myself for the next turn, making sure that only one doggy could go across the house with Ghostly.

On my opponent second turn, he moved forward, entering the right zone and charging forward with a Skin and Moans to kill one Ogruns (or maybe two, not sure here). One doggy also walked through the house and attacked the Bolt Thrower but did about 9 damages and left every aspect running. The left Swarm toed the circle zone, one even in a Forest. On my turn, I decided it was the moment to Feat. First, I ran a Warchief to toe his rectangular zone, and ran Ammok to materialize the two left Swarm. Doing an Assault order, I could only send 1 Ogruns for each, but I managed to hit both of them (needing 9 on the Assault and 8 in Melee), promptly killing them, but because I had sent one Ogruns to help the Bolt Thrower, I could score that zone yet. That particular Ogrun did a great job and left the doggy on 3-4 boxes. Lylyth then activates, used her Feat and shot the remaining two Swarm on the right side with Far Strike, boosting damage 'cause why not, too much Fury anyway (and with so many Arcane Vortex, no need to waste 2 Fury for Pin Cushion). The Nephilim Bolt Thrower then activated, and killed in melee the Doggy, using Quick Work to send a boosted bolt into the Skin and Moans that attacked my poor Ogrun. I scored a crit, knocking down the monster. Blightbinger aimed again and shot the knockdown Skin and Moans, plus a shot on a far Cage Rager outside of the Dreamer's Artifice of Deviation. My right Ogruns declared an Assault Order but the Dreamer used her "Nay !!" card and I couldn't do it... So one walked to the far Cage Rager and the other just shot the down Skin and Moans: between the BB aura and Lylyth feat, he died. 1-0 for me, for holding my own zone.

On my opponent third turn, the last Skin and Moans charged my Ravagore that I had moved too far forward (for almost nothing really) and killed him. A Cage Rager also killed the far Ogrun, another one moved toward the contesting Warchief and the third moved forward. Dreamer killed the contesting Warchief with a spell. Score 2-1 for me.On my turn, I moved my left Ogruns to be sure to take the left zone but also contest his rectangular one and threaten it. The last Skin & Moans was my right Ogruns pray, so the last three of them dispatched him with Assault and melee. A Pumpkin Snowman was killed. Score 4-1 for me.

My opponent managed to clear to right circle by killing 2 Ogruns and a Warchief, plus a new Pumpkin Snowman run in and contest my rectangular zone. He also pushes back the contesting Ogrun in his rectangular zone. Score goes to 5-3. On my turn, I know that if I can score 3 I win. So I use my Vengeance move on the left Ogruns to take position to kill the Objective, which they will manage with 5 Assault. The Blightbringer killed the contesting Pumpkin Snowman, also scoring my zone, and the last Ogrun of the right unit moved into the right circle to contest. Lylyth then ran into the left circle, scoring me the third point. 8-3, Legion victory with about 4 minutes left on the clock.

For this round, my teammates lost their matches, so we went 1-2 for the day.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing Lylyth2 again. It was the first time since Mk2, and let face it she is nowhere near the power she used to have. With Pin Cushion range of 17 inches, before moving (no-brainer and funny !) and Mirage, she is more an army support and does less personal work especially with the Reload instead of ROF 2. Most the time, I did just one shot to save the Fury actually. Her small Control also means that you can only fit a handful of models in, usually the BB, Ravagore and Bolt Thrower, which is not bad. If you can fit Spears also, that's great. She is still very vulnerable. She felt to me like a Tier B caster. With the right tool, she can do things, but Soothing Song is a dead spell (I only had Fury issue in the last game, and because she always activates first, I am not paying even 1 Fury to remove 1 Fury on a beast that has passed its Threshold check). The Gunfighter part also only served me in my first game, where some Warspears used it instead of the Charge attack because they had the 1/2" range, but it was very klunky. I would say she could safely go back to ROF 2... [Ah feck me, as I am writing this, I just saw that she had Snap Fire ! It would have changed things in game one, but nothing in the other two. Oh well...] Ok, I would need more testing now that I remember that she has Snap Fire. Nonetheless, Soothing Song really needs to go. It doesn't feel like her at all. Maybe replace it with something like Return Fire: same cost, still won't be used 98% of the time because she only has 5 Fury, but at least it would look like a reasonable option. Or even better, give her Explosivo ! Same cost, actually useful and would really bring something new that no other Legion casters have.

No comments:

Post a Comment