So I actually had the opportunity to play into Vlad1, rockets, 5 jacks, at the tail end of UK masters last week. I had the pleasure of playing
drnorbert in the final round, the scenario was Recon2.
If I'm remembering correctly, his list was this;
War Room Army
Khador - Vlad1 rockets
Theme: Winter Guard Kommand
2 / 2 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Prince - WJ: +28
- War Dog - PC: 3
- Juggernaut - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
- Juggernaut - PC: 12 (Battlegroup Points Used: 12)
- Marauder - PC: 10 (Battlegroup Points Used: 4)
- Marauder - PC: 10
- Marauder - PC: 10
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich - PC: 4
Winter Guard Rifle Corps - Leader & 5 Grunts: 8
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
Winter Guard Rifle Corps - Leader & 5 Grunts: 8
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
Winter Guard Rifle Corps - Leader & 5 Grunts: 8
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
- Winter Guard Rocketeer - PC: 2
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew - Gunner & 2 Grunts: 0
Winter Guard Mortar Crew - Gunner & Grunt: 0
THEME: Winter Guard Kommand
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GENERATED : 09/16/2017 09:05:22
BUILD ID : 2040.17-05-19
I must admit, it was the end of a seven round tournament, and I know I wasn't in the best of shapes going into the game, but I was determined to play my army perfectly (I had lost a previous round because of mis-reading a card and was absolutely kicking myself for it).
I dropped Vindictus in this list into it;
War Room Army
Protectorate of Menoth - Vinny S
Theme: Exemplar Interdiction
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Vice Scrutator Vindictus - WJ: +29
- Vigilant - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Sanctifier - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 14)
- Guardian - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 6)
Knights Exemplar Seneschal - PC: 5
Exemplar Errant Seneschal - PC: 4
Wrack - PC: 1
Vassal of Menoth - PC: 0
Exemplar Errants - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 4
Knights Exemplar - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Knights Exemplar Officer - PC: 5
Knights Exemplar - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Knights Exemplar Officer - PC: 0
Knights Exemplar - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Knights Exemplar Officer - PC: 0
Choir of Menoth - Leader & 3 Grunts: 4
THEME: Exemplar Interdiction
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GENERATED : 09/16/2017 20:00:37
BUILD ID : 2040.17-05-19
The errants were a complete jam screen, with the knights advancing behind. A turn of no charges allowed (Vindictus feat) was an opportunity for my opponent to
RUN his jacks 16 (!) inches up the board... and about an inch and a quarter away from Vindictus who was cowering behind the objective. I had an idea that this was a tactic, but seeing it in practice was rather scary. Meanwhile of course, the rest of his army is stoically sitting waiting with many many guns and rockets. If you go back to kill jacks, you run the risk of getting shot to death. If you ignore the jacks... well Vindictus was quietly calling for help.
I used the knights under mini-feat as best I could spreading amongst the jacks in an effort to cripple systems, cortexes, anything (one knight missed a juggernaut under mini-feat WHAT THE HELL). I took off two jacks with the knights and a smattering of errants. I then started the work of continuing to jam out my opponent of the zones as best I could. I had learned in the tournament that Vindictus loves a scenario victory. I just had to hold out long enough to do it. I think I scored two points that turn, a vassal on my flag and guardian in the left zone.
His next turn was Vlad moving forward, a juggernaut trampling with pathfinder from his objective and ending within reach of my caster. He hit him but couldn't kill with two focus, and contested the zones. His rockets and rifles didn't really have a lot to do - I was engaging where I could - he used them mostly to snipe out errants to sort out a trample path for the juggernaut. I lost almost all my errants that turn, self-sacrificing to try to keep the lanes shut.
My turn came around, and ultimately, I got a scenario victory, but it wasn't without some real head-scratching on my part to squeeze everything out of my army to do it. If I couldn't win that turn, I remember thinking that I would auto lose on assassination. I had to clear the area around my flag, clear my left zone, and then clear everything within 4" of his flag to score with a knight seneschal solo, to gain 3 points. I must admit, initially I miscounted and thought I would only score two rather than three, and was busy trying to work out how to kill thejuggernaut
on top of Vindictus when
drnorbert looked and me and asked "why don't you just clock over?" - I facepalmed internally when I realised my error.
drnorbert was a fantastic opponent, and I was really glad to have gotten the chance to face him. The list is properly scary, but if you can keep a win condition in mind you can just keep beelining for it. The way that I saw it played was very much splitting the army in half - hardy warmachines almost right on top of you, with artillery/guns behind. I was lucky in that I could jam really hard - pushing outwards, absorbing and rebutting with self-sacrifice, powering up my army whenever he kills stuff.