Post by twity on Sept 17, 2017 13:56:22 GMT
Alright, so right off the bat I went 3-0 with this list and ended up winning.
The tournament format was a little different, as it was for the end of a JML. Essentially it was a single list 75 point steamroller where each part of this list had to be added in roughly (+/- 5) 15 point increments. The practical outcome of this is that there were no gargossols or expensive character jacks/warbeasts. Additionally it would be tricky to include 19 or 20 point jacks and beasts as the previous 15 point addition would need to be short 4-5 points, with being short 6 points not an option. Honestly, to me each list looked tournament competitive with some people saying they pulled theirs directly from a list used to do well at a masters. I think the single list aspect was more limiting, and people seemed to play lists that could handle a wider spectrum of threats.
My list (listed below) was a very fast Ravens of War Fyanna list I had built last week and tested twice. I was a little worried it would struggle against armor spam, but that ended up being not a huge deal. Mainly I wanted to stress test the list and find some weaknesses. The list is off center for standard Legion, but I like it a lot. It relies on its speed to put extreme scenario pressure on the board, and the feat to hold their army back for at least a turn. The loss of AD on my opponents side lets me advance far up the board while still being able to hold my feat. Against a gunline I pop it early and advance as far as possible. Additionally the loss of AD on their side lets me ensure a positive matchup for my strider scouts. I always have the grotesques ambush, and they either initiate onto someone who has flanked too far or run behind enemy lines and provide a threat that forces the enemy to pivot and deal with. The backline prescience can often provide a huge boost to my ability to control scenario.
As always I would love to hear peoples thoughts on the list.
The list is
Legion Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Ravens of War
(Fyanna 2) Fyanna, Torment of Everblight [+28]
- Angelius [17]
- Angelius [17]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Naga Nightlurker [8]
Spell Martyr [1]
Strider Deathstalker [0(4)]
The Forsaken [0(4)]
The Forsaken [0(4)]
Blighted Nyss Raptors (min) [11]
Grotesque Raiders (max) [12]
Strider Scouts [9]
- Strider Scout Officer & Musician [4]
Round 1- Malekus running The Creators Might
Scenario- Patrol
His List- Malekus was anchored by two battle engines, two reckoners, and The Eye of Truth. Additionally he had Tristan Durant running a redeemer and a support line made up of choir, vassals, and mechanics. I was not thrilled about this matchup for a number of reasons: 1) it was all armor 2) he flanked his army with the battle engines, making ambush less effective 3) The battle engines could murder most of my army 4) Tristan’s redeemer could lob powerful AoEs and prevent gallows shenanigans.
The game- I lost the roll and ended up going first (he later ended up regretting this but I think I would or preferred second). I blitzed up the board and sat most of my army just out of reach of his reckoners and battle engines. He advanced, with one flank center right with a battle engine, a redeemer and a reckoner protecting the caster and some support. The Eye came up center camping focus and a reckoner and battle engine advanced center left. First up the grotesques ambushed deep (almost in his deployment) and ran behind his army, threatening everything I pulled in the center left reckoner with gallows and feated with Fyanna. I scrapped the reckoner with the Angels and jammed the rest of my army down his throat (making sure the battle engines could not just auto pow 12 too many units). Also I picked off a chunk of his support, including both vassals, with my speedy scouts and cavalry. He did not have the volume of attacks to clear enough of the high defense army, and this allowed me to score two points at the end of his turn, effectively ending the game. He also devoted some resources to killing most of the grotesques (who were not under feat) but given they were so far back this may have been a mistake.
We talked about some stuff he could of done differently, but it may have just prolonged the inevitable. He might of needed to ignore the backline grotesques, but they would of done some serious damage the following turn. There wasn’t a great way for his to stop me from capping both zones, and I could of cleared at least two the following turn. He wished he had gone first, and simply tried to hold zones with his tough army instead allowing me to get so far up the board before feating.
Round 2- Butcher3 running Legion of Steel
Scenario- Recon II
His list- He had two full units of IFP with UA, backed up by a kovnik and markhov. He had 4 jacks on butcher, 3 Juggernauts and a Decimator. The list was also backed up by mechanics. Again I was not thrilled about playing into butcher 3 armor spam, but was hopeful I could catch him on the backfoot with my speed. Still, Butcher could present a serious problem on my feat turn as defense 16/17/18 is less impressive when staring down Mat 11 and jamming is not always effective against flashing blade.
The game- I lost the roll again and ended up going first. One unit of IFP got the advance move, which my theme did not stop. This ended up being not so bad as the strider deathstalker/raptors picked apart the shield wall and the scouts managed to kill a solid chunk the remaining unit. I then blitzed down the field, avoided critical threat ranges, and passed the turn to him. He advanced down the field, got the jacks close to the zones, formed up the IFP in the center, and placed Butcher behind them. On my turn I feated, removed the remaining IFP from the first unit as well as the kovnik and markhov. An angel also got fury and destroyed a juggernaut. Fyanna feated and placer herself near a house out of butchers threat range. The rest of the army jammed. On his turn he went for an angel with a juggernaut, and crit froze it in place with his first axe wing. The angel had admonition but I was planning on using that on the decimator I had dinged up the previous round (I was more worried about the sustained attack). Still in hindsight I should have simply admonitioned the juggernaut and gone for dodge with the dodge on the sustained chainsaw. Needless to say the angel died. The rest of his army controlled zones with the IFP coming up center, but nobody was left to control his flag so I got up on scenario 1 point on his turn. More importantly while clearing wasps with the Butcher he left me an opening to get the Fury Angel on him. I led this assassination run with raptors plinking him with their poison bows, and the angel finished him off hitting at a brutal dice +8 on the AP tail. Also I completely forgot about the Grotesques all game.
Afterwards, he wondered how he could untie his army without leaving butcher exposed. He could have feated, but that would have made me much bolder given the reduced assassination potential. He got the lucky crit and tagged the angel, so he might have been able to attrition me before scenario got him. If I hadn’t gone for the assassination I would have been up to three scenario points to his zero. This means he needs to control a zone or contest my flag to not just auto lose on the following turn (both very difficult to do given the state of the game). Overall I was very happy with the list and to have survived a run in with Butcher 3 armor spam.
Round 3- Gaspy1 with Dark Host
Scenario- Spread the Net
His List- This list had gaspy running two arc nodes, a desecrator, a reaper, a slayer, two stalkers, and cankerworm. He had a unit of bane warriors with UA, tartersauce, three machine wraiths, and some other cheap solos that collect souls. I was pretty happy with this matchup, it was what I had in mind when I built the list (though a little more jack heavy then I was prepped for). Also, stalkers losing AD was great.
The game- I finally won a roll and went second (which I love in spread the net). He advanced outside of my angel/scout shooting and passed the turn. I kept out of most of his threat ranges and target saturated the stalkers. I gave him too many valuable targets in this saturation though, and I needed to be more careful with valuable pieces. The scouts picked off some banes and the strider deathstalker with the nagas animus killed the machine wraith coming to contest my zones (this was huge). On his turn he used a stalker to kill the scout UA and a forsaken (oops, I put them too close together) and the other stalker to kill the Naga (super oops, now I cant get the machine wraiths out of zones). On my turn Fyanna feated, gave herself Iron Flesh, and killed a bane warrior to clear up some charge lanes. A unit of wasps easily devoured a stalker and an angel took out the second. The grotesques ambushed and scrapped the reaper, with some positioning themselves behind his lines for annoyance. A spell martyr capped my flag and I got the close zone as well. I then jammed his army with high defense wasps and raptors, leaving him no good options for retaliation. He felt the game was over unless he got an assassination (I agree) but I blocked off a lot of good angles to Fyanna with a house and other models. Also, an admonitioned angel was sitting near by to tie up arc nodes. He tried to get an arc node near to Fyanna and then hit her with the pow 12 AoEs by shooting his own banes, but the angel managed to just barely scoot into melee with it, ending the run. I won on scenario.
We talked about it afterward and it would have been very difficult for him to get the kill regardless given that Fyanna had the feat up with two transfers and +2 armor (negated by the banes). I really wished I hadn’t given my Naga away.
Over the course of the day I was very happy with my list, it did great and responded to a wide range of threats with tons of options.
The tournament format was a little different, as it was for the end of a JML. Essentially it was a single list 75 point steamroller where each part of this list had to be added in roughly (+/- 5) 15 point increments. The practical outcome of this is that there were no gargossols or expensive character jacks/warbeasts. Additionally it would be tricky to include 19 or 20 point jacks and beasts as the previous 15 point addition would need to be short 4-5 points, with being short 6 points not an option. Honestly, to me each list looked tournament competitive with some people saying they pulled theirs directly from a list used to do well at a masters. I think the single list aspect was more limiting, and people seemed to play lists that could handle a wider spectrum of threats.
My list (listed below) was a very fast Ravens of War Fyanna list I had built last week and tested twice. I was a little worried it would struggle against armor spam, but that ended up being not a huge deal. Mainly I wanted to stress test the list and find some weaknesses. The list is off center for standard Legion, but I like it a lot. It relies on its speed to put extreme scenario pressure on the board, and the feat to hold their army back for at least a turn. The loss of AD on my opponents side lets me advance far up the board while still being able to hold my feat. Against a gunline I pop it early and advance as far as possible. Additionally the loss of AD on their side lets me ensure a positive matchup for my strider scouts. I always have the grotesques ambush, and they either initiate onto someone who has flanked too far or run behind enemy lines and provide a threat that forces the enemy to pivot and deal with. The backline prescience can often provide a huge boost to my ability to control scenario.
As always I would love to hear peoples thoughts on the list.
The list is
Legion Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Ravens of War
(Fyanna 2) Fyanna, Torment of Everblight [+28]
- Angelius [17]
- Angelius [17]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Blight Wasps [8]
- Naga Nightlurker [8]
Spell Martyr [1]
Strider Deathstalker [0(4)]
The Forsaken [0(4)]
The Forsaken [0(4)]
Blighted Nyss Raptors (min) [11]
Grotesque Raiders (max) [12]
Strider Scouts [9]
- Strider Scout Officer & Musician [4]
Round 1- Malekus running The Creators Might
Scenario- Patrol
His List- Malekus was anchored by two battle engines, two reckoners, and The Eye of Truth. Additionally he had Tristan Durant running a redeemer and a support line made up of choir, vassals, and mechanics. I was not thrilled about this matchup for a number of reasons: 1) it was all armor 2) he flanked his army with the battle engines, making ambush less effective 3) The battle engines could murder most of my army 4) Tristan’s redeemer could lob powerful AoEs and prevent gallows shenanigans.
The game- I lost the roll and ended up going first (he later ended up regretting this but I think I would or preferred second). I blitzed up the board and sat most of my army just out of reach of his reckoners and battle engines. He advanced, with one flank center right with a battle engine, a redeemer and a reckoner protecting the caster and some support. The Eye came up center camping focus and a reckoner and battle engine advanced center left. First up the grotesques ambushed deep (almost in his deployment) and ran behind his army, threatening everything I pulled in the center left reckoner with gallows and feated with Fyanna. I scrapped the reckoner with the Angels and jammed the rest of my army down his throat (making sure the battle engines could not just auto pow 12 too many units). Also I picked off a chunk of his support, including both vassals, with my speedy scouts and cavalry. He did not have the volume of attacks to clear enough of the high defense army, and this allowed me to score two points at the end of his turn, effectively ending the game. He also devoted some resources to killing most of the grotesques (who were not under feat) but given they were so far back this may have been a mistake.
We talked about some stuff he could of done differently, but it may have just prolonged the inevitable. He might of needed to ignore the backline grotesques, but they would of done some serious damage the following turn. There wasn’t a great way for his to stop me from capping both zones, and I could of cleared at least two the following turn. He wished he had gone first, and simply tried to hold zones with his tough army instead allowing me to get so far up the board before feating.
Round 2- Butcher3 running Legion of Steel
Scenario- Recon II
His list- He had two full units of IFP with UA, backed up by a kovnik and markhov. He had 4 jacks on butcher, 3 Juggernauts and a Decimator. The list was also backed up by mechanics. Again I was not thrilled about playing into butcher 3 armor spam, but was hopeful I could catch him on the backfoot with my speed. Still, Butcher could present a serious problem on my feat turn as defense 16/17/18 is less impressive when staring down Mat 11 and jamming is not always effective against flashing blade.
The game- I lost the roll again and ended up going first. One unit of IFP got the advance move, which my theme did not stop. This ended up being not so bad as the strider deathstalker/raptors picked apart the shield wall and the scouts managed to kill a solid chunk the remaining unit. I then blitzed down the field, avoided critical threat ranges, and passed the turn to him. He advanced down the field, got the jacks close to the zones, formed up the IFP in the center, and placed Butcher behind them. On my turn I feated, removed the remaining IFP from the first unit as well as the kovnik and markhov. An angel also got fury and destroyed a juggernaut. Fyanna feated and placer herself near a house out of butchers threat range. The rest of the army jammed. On his turn he went for an angel with a juggernaut, and crit froze it in place with his first axe wing. The angel had admonition but I was planning on using that on the decimator I had dinged up the previous round (I was more worried about the sustained attack). Still in hindsight I should have simply admonitioned the juggernaut and gone for dodge with the dodge on the sustained chainsaw. Needless to say the angel died. The rest of his army controlled zones with the IFP coming up center, but nobody was left to control his flag so I got up on scenario 1 point on his turn. More importantly while clearing wasps with the Butcher he left me an opening to get the Fury Angel on him. I led this assassination run with raptors plinking him with their poison bows, and the angel finished him off hitting at a brutal dice +8 on the AP tail. Also I completely forgot about the Grotesques all game.
Afterwards, he wondered how he could untie his army without leaving butcher exposed. He could have feated, but that would have made me much bolder given the reduced assassination potential. He got the lucky crit and tagged the angel, so he might have been able to attrition me before scenario got him. If I hadn’t gone for the assassination I would have been up to three scenario points to his zero. This means he needs to control a zone or contest my flag to not just auto lose on the following turn (both very difficult to do given the state of the game). Overall I was very happy with the list and to have survived a run in with Butcher 3 armor spam.
Round 3- Gaspy1 with Dark Host
Scenario- Spread the Net
His List- This list had gaspy running two arc nodes, a desecrator, a reaper, a slayer, two stalkers, and cankerworm. He had a unit of bane warriors with UA, tartersauce, three machine wraiths, and some other cheap solos that collect souls. I was pretty happy with this matchup, it was what I had in mind when I built the list (though a little more jack heavy then I was prepped for). Also, stalkers losing AD was great.
The game- I finally won a roll and went second (which I love in spread the net). He advanced outside of my angel/scout shooting and passed the turn. I kept out of most of his threat ranges and target saturated the stalkers. I gave him too many valuable targets in this saturation though, and I needed to be more careful with valuable pieces. The scouts picked off some banes and the strider deathstalker with the nagas animus killed the machine wraith coming to contest my zones (this was huge). On his turn he used a stalker to kill the scout UA and a forsaken (oops, I put them too close together) and the other stalker to kill the Naga (super oops, now I cant get the machine wraiths out of zones). On my turn Fyanna feated, gave herself Iron Flesh, and killed a bane warrior to clear up some charge lanes. A unit of wasps easily devoured a stalker and an angel took out the second. The grotesques ambushed and scrapped the reaper, with some positioning themselves behind his lines for annoyance. A spell martyr capped my flag and I got the close zone as well. I then jammed his army with high defense wasps and raptors, leaving him no good options for retaliation. He felt the game was over unless he got an assassination (I agree) but I blocked off a lot of good angles to Fyanna with a house and other models. Also, an admonitioned angel was sitting near by to tie up arc nodes. He tried to get an arc node near to Fyanna and then hit her with the pow 12 AoEs by shooting his own banes, but the angel managed to just barely scoot into melee with it, ending the run. I won on scenario.
We talked about it afterward and it would have been very difficult for him to get the kill regardless given that Fyanna had the feat up with two transfers and +2 armor (negated by the banes). I really wished I hadn’t given my Naga away.
Over the course of the day I was very happy with my list, it did great and responded to a wide range of threats with tons of options.
