Battle Report 98 - May Masters Event Round 1: Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction) vs. Issyria (Defenders of Ios)

Prologue:

As those of you who regularly read my blog know, I've been on a bit of a Vindictus kick lately, so when I had a chance to go to Mox Boarding House in Bellevue to play in a Masters Event, I naturally jumped at the chance to play him a whole bunch.

The main problem was what to pair him with. I felt like my Vindictus list could handle almost everything except Deneghra 1 in Ghost Fleet and Haley 2 in Storm Division.

To that end, I got Chandler to Dojo with me and we came up with this:

Heirarch Severius (Creator's Might)
- Heirophant (free)
- Blessing of Vengeance
- Reckoner x2
- Sanctifier
- Vanquisher
- Devout

Vassal x2 (free)
Wrack

Choir
Rhoven and Co.

Main idea here is that the Sanctifier plus Severius' feat pretty much wreck Ghost Fleet, and this list has some decent game into Haley 2 just by nature of spell immune jacks with Oracular.

The event had 13 players, which meant definitely three rounds, with a possible fourth.

With that in mind, I was pretty sure I was just playing Vindictus every round and praying for no Fourth round.

The Faction Breakdowns were:

3 Menoth
3 Legion
3 Cygnar
1 Mercs
1 Ret
2 Circle

Into most of this, except the Cygnar players potentially, I was dropping Vindictus and not looking back.

Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction)
- Reckoner x2

Knight Exemplar Seneschal (free)
High Exemplar Gravus
Wrack

Vengers x2
Knight Exemplar x2
- CA x2 (free)
Choir (min)

It's fast, it punches hard, it's hard to shoot at or alpha onto.


Game 1 I got dropped into Ret. My opponent was running Issyria and Vyros, and we were on Entrenched.

I already knew I was playing Vindictus, and my opponent dropped Issyria. He won the roll off and chose side.

Issyria
- Sylyss
- Hyperion
- Banshee
- Chimera

Lyss Healer
Arcanist x3
Houseguard Thane
Ghost Sniper x2

Heavy Rifle Team
- Soulless
Houseguard Halbardiers
- Soulless
- CA

He gets his advanced move with the Halbardiers and off we go.

Menoth turn 1:

Well...basically the plan is to run up just outside of walk and smack range, Feat, and alpha next turn.

Vindictus goes first and casts Defender's Ward on the painted Vengers, True Path on himself and pops his Feat.

Everything screams up the table, claiming all of the table space I could want. Both units of Vengers are completely inside the feat, and the Knights Exemplar are behind them as a counterpunch.

I can charge into his Deployment zone from here.

Ret turn 1:

The Halbs get Inviolable Resolve put on them, and the Banshee gets Admonition. 

The Banshee whiffs a shot into the right unit of Vengers doing four damage to one, and Hyperion misses, but drifting blast damage manages to kill Venger outright and also destroy the other one.

Halbs all Shield Wall up.

Menoth turn 2:

The game plan is now to draw the line of engagement so far on his side of the table that Vindictus can take the zone and never get contested.

True Path goes up, Vindictus moves into the zone.

The right Vengers charge into Hyperion and do....like 10 damage. Impact attacks murder the Rifle Team.

Admonition triggers, preventing the left unit from charging him as well.

I send the left unit into the Banshee, getting three charges. My opponent takes a free strike, triggering Battle Driven, and at dice -3 the Banshee takes 9 damage from the three charges.

A few Halbs die to charging Vengers.

Knights Exemplar pop mini-feat and charge in, cleaving through a few guys.

The Reckoners make a bunker for Vindictus.

I set the right unit of Knights to be a counterpunch for whatever happens to the Vengers.

Ret turn 2:

My opponent loads up his jacks.

Hyperion sweeps and kills all three Vengers.

Banshee kills a couple of the other unit, and the Chimera charges in. My opponent doesn't boost anything, and all attacks miss thanks to Defenders Ward. 

Halbs move up and...kill nothing, even with mini-feat.

I get one point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Menoth

Menoth turn 3:

I upkeep Defenders Ward again, and allocate a couple.

True Path goes up, and the Reckoners move forward to shoot Hyperion a couple of times.

The Seneschal charges the Chimera, triggering Admonition again, and the Banshee moves up to block charge lanes to the Hyperion.

Knights charge and wreck the Banshee.

Gravus moves in and destroys the objective, and I can't kill the couple of Halbs in the zone (dice continue to be unimpressive), so I only score two.

Score 3-0

Advantage Menoth

Ret turn 3:

Hyperion gets loaded up.

In the left zone, Halbs flail at my models, still not taking enough out.

Issyria Ancillary Attacks Hyperion after she Feats and casts Blinding Light on the Knights, and gets the Crit, RFPing four Knights Exemplar and the Seneschal.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough fury to cast Crusader's Call, so the Hyperion can't charge my Reckoners, nor can it or anything else get in the zone (Crusader's Call wouldn't have fixed that).

In an effort to get max points, he tramples over my Knights and buys an attack into the CA.

I get a fourth point.

Score 4-0

Advantage Menoth

Menoth turn 4:

Drop all upkeeps, allocate two to each Reckoner.

I ask my opponent if he minds me killing stuff for army points, and he acquiesces.

Two battled Reckoners kill Hyperion, and I'm finally able to clear the left zone for two more points.

Victory for the Menite Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This game showcased many of the strengths of this list. Set the line of engagement in my opponents deployment zone, have wave after wave of alpha strikes, and leverage my crazy threat ranges to insure that I always come out ahead on trades.

With the turn one feat, my opponent literally had 2 guns that could interact with my army, and that's going to be the case with most factions/lists - just no way to do anything to you to prevent you from charging them the next turn.

Even with extremely poor dice rolls, I still was able to just pour enough attacks into the hard targets to 1) keep them far away and 2) kill them eventually.

On to game two!

Battle Report 72: ATC Round 2 - Wurmwood vs. Issyria

Prologue:

This round was into Tom Guan's team, which I knew was going to be very hard.

Unfortunately, Tom didn't take the Circle bait, so no epic rematch here, and I get paired into a really gross Issyria gunline, with Rahn as a second list.

I drop Wurmwood, he drops Issyria.

Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Loki
- Pureblood
- Gorax
- Woldwyrd x3

Shifting Stones x2
Sentry Stones x2
Min Bonegrinders
Bokur and Shamblers


Issyria
- Hyperion
- Chimera

Elara 1
- Discordia

Arcantrik Force Generator (AFG from now on)

Mechanic

Mage Hunter Strike Force and CA

The Scenario was The Pit, and I won the roll, going first.

My opponent straight up admitted the MHSF were there to contest

Circle turn 1:

Full speed ahead! Everything moves up and gets as much cover or LOS blockage as possible.

Ret turn 1:

My opponent runs his Chimera up and casts Blinding Light on my left unit of Sentry Mannikins. Ick.

Hyperion and AFG run up, and Discordia Imprints and sticks herself between them.

Circle turn 2:

I HAVE to kill that Chimera or the game is over. Blinding Light on Wurmwood is GG.

I have to put two Woldwyrds and a few sprays into it, but the thing dies.

I should have probably popped my Feat here, but I delay thinking that the majority of my forces are safe. I forget Issyria has Arcane Vortex, so I try and Stranglehold Hyperion before realizing my plan is doomed to fail and Dark Pathing him back to me.

I keep everything important behind the Sentry Stones.

Ret turn 2:

Issyria feats and moves back to Ancillary Attack Hyperion, who gets his crit and removes half my Shamblers.

Hyperion activates and kills both Sentry Stones and dings up my Woldwyrd.

The AFG aims and kills the left Woldwyrd.

Discordia moves over next to Hyperion after spraying down a bunch of things thanks to Elara's Speed of Death. (Or Silence of Death, whichever it is).

MHSF contest my flag.


Anddddd my opponent killboxes themself and I get to points.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 3:

I think I can probably kill Discordia with Loki this turn. I also remember I have a Gorax and deploy him at the back edge of the table.

Loki goes first, hooks Discordia and all but kills her before casting Evasive. 

The Shambler unit charges Discordia in the back and does the last few damage.

A Shifting Stone ports up, and Wurmwood activates. He casts Hellmouth on the Stone, killing a bunch of MHSF. He then casts Curse of Shadows on the AFG and Feats.

My two remaining Woldwyrds leave the Battle Enging on about 5, and the Pureblood spray doesn't quite finish the deal.

I get a third point.

Score 3-0

 Advantage Circle

Ret turn 3:

He thinks good and hard for a minute before loading up Hyperion. His plan is to slam Loki with the AFG and then to trample up and kill him with Hyperion. 

The AFG aims and needs an unboosted 7 to miss Loki in the forest. He misses, and Loki dodges away behind the wall. He shoots again, misses the 9, and Loki moves to the other side of the wall, well away from Hyperion.

Strike Force Contest again, and Hyperion shreds my remaining Shamblers with guns. 

Score 3-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

I upkeep Curse of Shadows and it's time to go to work. 

The AFG dies. Loki moves up and hooks Elara, killing her. 

The Pureblood murders the close Strike Force. I try and Hellmouth the remaining Force on the hill, but they refuse to die. 

I run the Bokur up in front of Hyperion so he can't trample without wasting his Ancillary Attack on him. 

I score a fourth point. 

Score 4-0 

Advantage Circle

Ret turn 4:

My opponent loads up Hyperion, and Ancillary Attacks after Issyria gets on the flag. The attack misses. He moves Hyperion over, and is just out of range for Starburst on Wurmwood. His little gun shots don't kill him, and my opponent ends his turn rather than contest once more. 

Score 5-1

Victory to the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I should have feated a turn earlier, and the game really came down to the unboosted seven my opponent needed. If he hits it, I think I lose. Because he didn't, I had massive threats on the table still. 

My team lost this round 1-4 sadly. 

Battle Report 29: Grayle vs. Issyria

Continuing my train of self abuse, I decided to drop Grayle into the local Ret player, little realizing that he would be playing Issyria with a mountain of angry jacks!

This is a really bad matchup in most cases since I can't kill most of his army fast enough, and his feat really negates my feat. I would have to force him to pop feat first in order to even have a chance.

My list, same as last time:

Grayle
-Brennos
-Feral

Lanyssa
Morraig
War Wolves

Max Reeves
-CA
Max Wolves
-CA
Max Skinwalkers
-CA


His list:

Issyria
-Sylys
-Hyperion
-Banshee

Elara
-Moros

Pain Knight Skareth Issyan
Eiryss 2
Nayl
Mage Hunter Assassin x2
Arcanist x3


We rolled Outlast for a Scenario. I won the roll off and opted to go first, thinking I needed to get Grayle's upkeeps out on a turn when he couldn't accidentally die. additionally, there really wasn't a table edge that I didn't want, so I felt pretty good about going first.

Also, my list is really fast and pretty much melee based, and that's a good reason to go first.

Note how I've deployed my feral - he's the more important beast here and his role is to load Brennos up with Primal one turn, and then get sent in to murder whatever kills Brennos. As such, he gets deployed behind the lines like a defensive beast.

Right away I've noticed something kind of huge here - my opponent has almost given me the right side of the table, and there's a nice big piece of LOS blocking terrain there for me to exploit. He *is* going to jam Nayl down my throat turn 1, but I can't do much about that, and Grayle can usually handle loosing fury.

Circle turn 1:

Pretty standard. Grayle puts Storm Rager on himself and Death March on the Skinwalkers before charging.

Literally everything else runs. I skew my heavy beasts and the Skinwalkers left to tie up his Hyperion if he goes for that zone. The Feral plus Brennos can actually likely take the colossal down in one activation too, so that's something.

Lanyssa is really bad in this particular matchup thanks to Arcane Vortex on Issyria and Witch Hunter on Eiryss, PLUS the Wailing on the Banshee. She's mostly going to contest.

Ret turn 1:

My opponent puts Inviolable Resolve on Hyperion and Admonition on Issyria. Speed of Death goes up from Elara (holy crap that's a good spell) and everything runs. Nayl goes to the left zone as well, leaving a lone Mage Hunter Assassin in the right zone to contest.

Circle turn 2:

I upkeep both spells.

Brennos goes first and casts Ravaging Winds at the Banshee. Eiryss shoots him back with Witch Hunter, but fails to do anything.

Brennos connects and then boosts damage on both the Banshee and Eiryss, sadly not killing the solo, but doing a little damage to the Banshee.

The Feral moves up, and then Grayle charges Nayl. Before making my charge attack, I put down two Gale Winds right in front of Hyperion so that he can't shoot his Starburst (hereforward called the Sparkleburst because that's what I call it) cannon at anything important. Grayle then murders Nayl, loses his fury, side steps, and then Sprints back behind the forest. Cheeky little begger.

Skinwalkers run and mini feat, Wolves run. War Wolves run. Reeves....yeah they run too.

Look at that awesome "no shooting" zone! :D

Ret turn 2:


His Mage Hunter Assassin in the right zone murders the poor War Wolf.

The Pain knight murders the other War Wolf.

The Banshee moves up and kills the Skinwalker engaging Eiryss.

Moros fails to kill a Skinwalker, and so does a Mage Hunter Assassin (woot!), meaning Hyperion goes in and kills them himself.

No points are scored.

Circle turn 3:

Well I was moderately expecting to be down on Scenario here, but I'll take it! Grayle cuts for six (ouch) and upkeeps his spells.

Lanyssa lands the Hunters Mark on the Banshee.

Brennos charges in and misses 3 of 5 attacks. Yay.

The Skinwalkers charge Hyperion (they Vengeanced at the beginning of the turn and killed the MHA) and Sylys respectively. Despite hitting him, my Skinwalker fails to kill Sylyss with a charge attack. Awkward.

The Feral moves back. Morraig moves through my own models to kill the MHA and then Repositions up.

Grayle casts two more Wind Blasts and backs up into the zone.

Wolves move up, whack the Banshee, and reposition, waiting for a better mini feat turn. Two 8 man CRA shots fail to dismount the Pain Knight.

I get two points!

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Ret turn 3:

We spend a LONG time trying to figure out how my opponent can contest with the Pain Knight without taking a free strike. 

Eventually, Issyria pops feat, and the Pain Knight charges in, impacting one Wolf and then killing a second, before Repositioning into the zone. 

The Banshee trivially murders Brennos. No big deal. Crippled weapon even. *sigh*

Hyperion moves up after the Skinwalkers are dealt with and shoots the Feral, doing about half it's health. *sigh*. 

Lanyssa dies to...something? Eiryss maybe? My opponent gets a point. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

Alright, he's got ONE model that can contest once the Pain Knight dies, and it's a moderately banged up Banshee.

Grayle charges the Pain Knight and pops his feat, killing the elf and moving a Wolf into the forest. He heals the Feral for a bunch. He then Sprints back to safety. Dang I love doing that.

The Wolves mini feat and charge, killing the Banshee, and then repositioning into the left zone.

Morraig runs and engages half his remaining models.

I get two more points.

Score 4-1

Advantage Circle

Ret turn 4:

My opponent knows he can't catch me here, so he opts to just murder as much stuff as he can. 

He ends his turn after killing 2/3 of my remaining models, and I get 2 more points to his 1. 

Score 6-2

Victory for the Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

Yeah this is a terrible matchup for Grayle in general. Sure, I won, but my opponent almost gave me the right hand zone, and at the end of the game I had half a unit of Reeves, a Feral, Morraig, and Grayle to his almost completely healthy Hyperion, Moros, and Eiryss. 

Not a great matchup there if the game keeps going. 

I still can't get over how much fun Grayle is, looking forward to playing him a whole bunch more in the next little while!