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March Scrum 2018 - Round Five

Round Five:  vs Kat Royer
Scenario:  Breakdown

So, before we get started I am going to go ahead and say that I once again failed to take pictures.  However, this time it was on purpose!  This game was recorded by Forget Flashing Blade, a new battle report You Tube channel that is recording games from our scrum.  They have each player review their list choice and then narrate over the recording of the game.  The game is played at 4x speed, so if the game goes its max of 2 hours it's only 30 minutes to watch.  I think the format works really well, so please head on over and check it out.  Here is the link to the game that I played against Kat:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN4ZCKizJU0&feature=youtu.be


Coming into this round, I have not had much experience with Retribution.  In fact, my only game against them may have been round two of this scrum.  I hit up Conflict Chamber to see Kat's lists and really only looked at one of them.  I saw Vyros1 with seven jacks and figured she would be crazy to drop that when I potentially have two units of satyxis raiders hitting the table.  Due to this, I spent too much time at work that day on Battlecollege looking up the rules for her Helena list.  I kept wavering on what would play better into that.  Eventually, the double battle engine pushed me into my Coven list.  If it was only one battle engine, I probably would have dropped Denny2 again, but I figured the kraken would need to devote a round to killing one of the battle engines and I would have to figure out how to handle the other.

Naturally, this means Kat dropped Vyros1 into me.  I figured this meant I was in for some good times and a feedback assisted assassination was all lined up.  Those of you who know what Vyros1 does probably already know how that's going to go for me.

(Vyros 1) Dawnlord Vyros [+28] - Shadows of the Retribution
 - Griffon [8]
 - Griffon [8]
 - Griffon [8]
 - Griffon [8]
 - Harpy [9]
 - Imperatus [22]
 - Siren [8]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios [0(6)]
Soulless Voidtracer [2]
Soulless Voidtracer [2]
Mage Hunter Infiltrators (min) [8]
 - Eiryss, Mage Hunter Commander [6]
Spears of Scyrah [9]
 - Soulless Escort (1) [1]


(Coven 1) The Witch Coven of Garlghast [+26] - Scourge of the Broken Coast 
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Kraken [36]
 - Nightwretch [7]
Ragman [4]
Satyxis Raider Captain [0(4)]
Satyxis Blood Witches (min) [8]
 - Satyxis Blood Hag [0(4)]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
 - Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
 - Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]

Deployment:  Kat deployed Vyros and Imperatus centrally.  Two griffons were placed to either side and the harpy and siren went to either side of this grouping.  The infiltrators were placed on the right, with Narn and the Spears to the left.  The arcanist mechaniks were behind her battle group and the voidtracers were near the spears.

I deployed the Kraken in the center with a unit of raiders on either side.  An arc node was also placed on either flank.  Ragman was behind the Kraken and a little to the left, while the raider captain went with the raiders on the right to oppose the infiltrators.  The witches waited off the board for their moment to ambush.

Top 1:  Vyros cast mobility, put inviolable resolve on Imperatus and then charged forward.  Vyros's battlegroup all ran forward, but most sat behind a forest that was positioned in the center zone, so I had no line of sight.  One griffon ran into the right zone, but outside the charging threat range of my raiders.  The infiltrators ran forward and positioned to be ready for the ambush.  The spears moved up and Narn sat just on the back edge of the left circle zone.  The support solos moved up behind Vyros's battlegroup.  At this point, Kat passed turn and I was a little uncomfortable with how far forward her jacks were.

Bottom 1:  My turn starts with me trying to figure out where my safe line is to move up.  Given how far forward everything already is, I know that I have to feat this turn in order to even be in the game.  I start measuring out the walking threat range for the griffons and it's about this time that I realize my raiders do not out threat her jacks.  I cast infernal machine on the kraken and occultation on the right satyxis.  The kraken moves up a little, staying outside all her threat ranges and lobs a shot at her infiltrators.  They are super spread out, so I know I won't get more than one or two, but the massive five inch template drifts into a pocket in the middle of them all and nothing dies.  My right raiders move up.  I put one or two within threat range of her rightmost griffon and the rest hang back.  The left raiders move up towards the left zone, but stay behind it except one brave raider who put the front edge of her base in the zone.  Both units of raiders put up whipping winds for force barrier.  Both my arc nodes hang back, but run a little farther out to each side.  The egregore moves up into position and a coven member pops my feat.  I know I am safe for this turn, but need to figure out how to put pressure on an opponent who out threats me by this much.

Top 2:  Kat already knew that outside of a satyxis or two, I had held everything out of her threat ranges, so she did the logical thing and pulled back.  Most of her jacks behind the forest stayed in position, but Imperatus made sure to move back to be outside the kraken's 14" trample threat range.  Narn.  Her infiltrators repositioned and pulled away from the board edge to make sure my blood witches wouldn't have any charge targets if I ambushed on that side.  One infiltrator moved to be between my raiders and the griffon in the right zone.  Narn took a shot at a Satyxis on the left side, but missed.  He continued to sit on the very edge of the zone with an acid pit between him and the board edge.  The spears run towards the left zone, putting the soulless ua in the zone and one just on the edge with the other two hanging back.  All her solos behind the battle group pulled back.  Vyros cast hallowed avenger on the siren and moved back.  One griffon remained in the center zone and the rest moved back a bit.  The siren remained in the zone and close enough to the one forward infiltrator that hallowed avenger would trigger if I killed it.

Bottom 2: I ambush the blood witches in on the left side in the hopes that by not putting them in combat with most of Kat's infantry, they could sweep across and into her back ranks.  The right raiders get the charge order and kill that one infiltrator that was put forth.  One raider charges the infiltrator, another runs forward to get the infiltrator and the griffon into melee, a third runs to get a couple jacks into melee and the rest move into the back of the zone.  A few raiders and the raider captain make a nice home in the trench overlapping the back edge of the right circle zone.  After all my movement, it is pointed out that the third raider that was moved to get some jacks into melee is out of formation and irrelevant.  The kraken moves forward a little, staying outside Imperatus's 13" threat.  It takes a shot at the griffon in the right zone, putting a little damage on it and killing three infiltrators with the blast damage.  The arc nodes remain back.  The egregore runs toward the right and positions so all three witches can get into perfect conjunction position and be just inside the killbox.  I activate my blood witches and declare their intent to charge.  It is at this point I am reminded they don't have pathfinder and they have to run instead of charge.  They run to get Narn and a couple of the spears into melee, hoping they survive to do something next turn.  The left raiders pray for pathfinder and get the press forward order.  They run into the zone, but avoid attacking the soulless ua so the spears won't get vengeance.  At this point, I know I just need to start getting some things into threat range and a few casualties needs to be acceptable.  The witches run into position around the egregore.

Top 3:  Hallowed avenger was triggered and the siren kills the one raider on the right that was out of formation.  Narn walks back a little bit into the back arc of two blood witches and kills them.  He sprints into melee with the blood witch hag.  A griffon on the left kills a couple more of the witches.  The spears kill another blood witch and a couple satyxis raiders.  The harpy takes a shot and kills another witch, leaving only the blood hag from that unit.  Imperatus shoots a raider on the left, killing it and setting 3 more on fire.  The siren shoots and kills a satyxis raider that turns around and kills a friend before dying.  The infiltrators reposition a little, with one in the zone and Eyriss takes a random shot at the raider captain in the trench and kills her.  The griffon on the right pulls back outside of raider charge range.  Vyros just pulls back.  This leaves one griffon in the center zone along with the siren, but both are still behind the forest.  Kat scores one for controlling the center zone, putting her up 0-1.

Bottom 3:  One of the burning raiders dies and the other two put the flames out.  This turn I know I need to start getting real work done with the Kraken.  My hope is that it can kill the griffon and siren, as they are within walking threat range at this point.  I run an arc node and put curse of shadows on the siren.  The kraken moves up and starts swinging.  It misses one of its initial attacks, but only needs to connect twice to kill the siren.  The remaining two attacks only land one hit, so I put some damage on that griffon, but not nearly enough.  I then move ragman up behind the kraken, noting that my order of activations was all wrong there, as I didn't get dark shroud up.  The blood hag kills Narn.  My right raiders charge the infiltrator and Eiryss, killing just the infiltrator and the rest just run into position in that right zone.  The left raiders get one charge on Imperatus that does no damage and puts 4 onto two of the spears.  Due to duelist, none of the spears get hit.  I score one on the right circle zone, tying the score at 1-1.

Top 4:  This is going to be feat turn for Vyros, as that is how the kraken will die.  Vyros pops feat and a soulless solo charges the kraken to apply that flank bonus for Vyros's feat.The infiltrators charge, killing one of the raiders but Eiryss fails to the kill the second.  A griffon on that side charges in to kill the second raider, getting into the zone.  The spears kill several raiders, one of them being the one that charged Imperatus.  Between the damaged griffon, Imperatus and the healthy griffon hanging back a little, the kraken is killed.  Due to positioning, Imperatus is unable to get attacks onto the arc node that put curse of shadows on the siren last turn.  The griffon on the left kills the remaining raiders in that zone.  The harpy takes a shot at the nightwretch, knocking it down but failing to push it far enough to get out of the zone.  The turn ends with Kat in control of the center zone again, going up 1-2.

Bottom 4:  This turn I know things have gone very badly for me.  I figured the kraken would die, but also losing all my raiders on the left means my scenario game is very bad at this point.  I figure that my best chance is for an assassination.  Vyros is camping one focus, which hurts my chances, but the attrition game is quickly spiraling out of control.  After some deliberation, I allocate one focus to the nightwretch that is knocked down in the water in the left zone, which it uses to shake being knocked down.  I am hoping that the deathripper in melee with the griffon can withstand the free strike and just run into position to arc stygian abyss.  This leaves me with enough focus for two casts of stygian abyss and I can boost both damage rolls.  I still need my dice to spike a little, but I also have five raiders on the right in charge range of a griffon and that feedback damage could be what puts me over the top.  I start my turn by giving the griffon the free strike and it crushes the deathripper, taking out the arc node and then some.  The little arc node ends up just moving back to contest the zone.  Ragman attempts to spell the one spear that is blocking the nightwretch's path to Vyros, but misses the bone shaker.  This means I need to activate a coven with to put ghost walk onto the nightwretch.  It runs into position and at this point I can no longer boost any of my stygian abyss attacks.  The first one lands and does four damage and the second fails to break armor.  The raiders on the right do some charges, but we are basically in end game mode at this point.  Kat scores on the left circle, going up 1-3.

Top 5:  Kat enters cleanup mode.  Her battlegroup kills both my arc nodes.  Ragman dies and the spears move back into the left zone.  A few raiders on the right are killed, leaving me with two.  Vyros runs away to the far corner of the board.  Kat scores on the center zone and the left circle, going up 1-5.

Bottom 5:  All I have left at this point is two raiders in the right circle.  They take their attacks, which do nothing to the griffon they are already engaged with.  At this point I end my turn, as the coven cannot do anything of relevance, even to try and score army points.  Kat scores the center zone and the left circle again, winning with a score of 1-7.

Kat is an excellent player.  She took what was presented and kept important stuff out of threat ranges.  I probably ambushed the blood witches onto the wrong side of the board.  They would have been better off running into the infiltrators so the raiders could position for better charges the following turn.  I don't believe doing that would have changed the outcome of the game, but it's always good to look back and see where you could have made better plays to at least give yourself a better chance. 

List selection was an issue for me, since I didn't even bother to look at what Vyros could do.  Dark Host probably would have been a better drop, but threat ranges would have still been horrible to deal with.  The biggest issue I had was that once the kraken was off the table, I couldn't deal with Imperatus at all and that limited my ability to really commit or get work done.  The forest in the middle of the table was also a big advantage for Kat, and she made sure to make excellent use of it.  Overall, this was a good game and a solid learning experience for me.

This scrum may end up having another round, as going into round five we have three undefeated players.  The SOO has kinda messed up a lot of schedules, meaning our round five games have not yet all been completed, so I probably won't have a battle report next week even if the scrum does extend to a sixth round.  I will try to continue to post something each week, even when battle reports don't happen, but I have no clue what it will be about.  As always, thanks for reading and remember to check out Forget Flashing Blade for more battle reports!  Here is the link to the FFB channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO7IJVPmMMMsBKI5cann3Ew

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