Feora, Protector of the Flame* Redeemer
* Reckoner
* Vanquisher
Avatar of Menoth
Choir of Menoth (full)
Rhoven & Honor Guard
The Covenant of Menoth
Vassal Mechanik
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Aiyana & Holt
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Gorman di Wulfe
And I played:
Ravyn, Eternal Light
* Discordia
Arcanist
Houseguard Halberdiers (full+UA)
House Shyeel Magister
Mage Hunter Strike Force (full+UA)
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
Stormfall Archers
Stormfall Archers
Aiyana & Holt
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Narn
Which, I must admit, came from Lyoss is Burning. As my first game at fifty points, and against one of the best players in our group, playing his tournament list, it seemed prudent to start with a solid list.
The lighting over our table wasn't very good and the photos have suffered. Sorry about that.
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| Gale Force 9 Alter [sic] of Flame |
Sam recently acquired some Gale Force Nine Menoth terrain kits, and I grabbed one for Patrick. We setup some hills on the edges and two small forests. You can see all this in the photos, below.
We rolled the "Close Quarters" scenario. This mission required two eight-inch diameter zones near the center point. The winner is the first to two points and more points than his opponent.
Patrick won the roll-off and went first. He setup in his traditional central turtle. Oh, and keep an eye on the altar's position as the game progresses.
Battle Plan
Patrick runs these eFeora lists with a heavy armored wall in front. The 'jacks are protected from spells and ranged attacks by the Choir and Covenant. The backfield is full of utility, repair, buff, and debuff characters. It advances at you with tons of flame AoE attacks. When it arrives, eFeora prevents the flame from going out. And her feat moves the feat to your critical infantry so they all burn to death. It's a tough nut.
In previous games (at thirty-five points) I have tried stand-off shooting, attacking with outflankers to threaten the army's squishier bits behind the 'jacks, and I've tried just dying horribly. None of these strategies have been particularly successful. The list is nimble enough to pivot so the 'jack wall is always facing you, and dangerous enough to deal with a few outflanking solos.
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| End of Setup |
Turn 1 (Menoth)
Patrick advanced his wall of armor forward. Gorman swung wide to my right to face one assassin and Menoth-Eiryss ran left towards the other. The reckoner and vanquisher killed a couple infantry on the left flank. Significantly, the Avatar ran off without getting any buffs.
Turn 1 (Retribution)
Aiyana enchanted three mage hunters' weapons, Ravyn gave them extended range, and they messed up the vanquisher. The giant blob of infantry moved forward and generally left. The mage hunter assassins moved down the board edges through the hills. Narn played a little right and Eiryss (real Eiryss) played left. I made a mistake here and failed to put Eiryss inside that forest terrain.
Turn 2 (Menoth)
On my left, Rhoven & Company's granted the reckoner the ability to see a stealthed target. He chooses Eiryss of course and dropped a bomb on her head. He tried to convince me I had put her in the forest terrain (because a skilled player would have) – but I know a mistake when I play one! If it doesn't hurt, I won't learn. Vanquisher retreated to the mechanics. Menoth-Eiryss went after my left-side assassin. I can't remember if she missed or couldn't see through stealth. Regardless, the assassin lived.
In the center, Menoth's Aiyana & Holt move into the central courtyard and shoot up some halberdiers. Rhoven & Co. advance to the altar's wall with Redeemer, who throws a few more fireballs sets a couple more mage hunters and halberdiers on fire.
On my right, Avatar runs around the wall and uses his Gaze power to ensure all my right-flank infantry can only advance towards him (it?). Gorman throws a corrosive brew at the right flank assassin. It scatters and leaves her with one box. It's the beginning of a series of rolls going against Patrick but we don't know that yet.
Turn 2 (Retribution)
Time to do some damage. Left-side assassin charged Menoth-Eiryss and kills her. Right-side assassin charges Gorman and misses. Argh! With one Menoth 'jack disabled and the other two in striking range of my entire army, I decided to gamble Ravyn's feat. If I could disable all of Menoth's 'jacks (and their flame weapons), the advantage would turn my way. So, feat!
Archers stand and pump some brutal, Brutal Shots into the reckoner and Avatar before the charging begins. The dice are nuts in my favor. The shots against Avatar were 12+4d6 against ARM 19 (?) and were simply murderous. Two of the four shots were 6,6,5,4 and 6,5,5,3. We spent a while evaluating charge lanes and eventually used sideways spray templates to check them. The halberdiers used mini-feat and CMA to finish him off.
In the middle, Discordia and two halberdiers used the free boost from Ravyn's Vortex of Destruction spell to beat the reckoner down to maybe ten boxes. Mage hunters shots crippled the redeemer's flame cannon and almost took him down. Might have also killed one of Rhoven's men here, too, but I can't remember.
Scoring starts and neither of us hold the opposite zone. Score is 0-0.
Turn 3 (Menoth)
Patrick was a bit stunned by Avatar's death, but he tempted by Ravyn's close position and pressed forward again. My memory starts getting fuzzy through here. I think he repaired the redeemer and used him to drop a bunch of flame AoEs onto Discordia, setting her, Ravyn and some of the infantry on fire. The Covenant moved up to a scoring position on his zone. Gorman swung at the right-side assassin and missed. One of choir (or maybe a vassal?) ran to engage the left-side assassin. One of Rhoven's men advanced to tie up my forward-left halberdiers. Another moved to tie up the magister and two mage hunters. And Feora camped most of her focus.
(I might be forgetting something here. Patrick, please remind me if you read this.)
Mage hunters contested my zone, and Retribution had no units near his zone. The score remained 0-0.
Turn 3 (Retribution)
Archers and mage hunters killed the damaged vanquisher. Discordia and Ravyn killed the reckoner. Halberdiers ran at the Covenant but only managed one damage. The Covenant of Menoth has a unique mechanic: it has five boxes of health, but no one attack can do more than one box of damage.
Rhoven was contesting my scoring zone. Halberdiers were contesting Patrick's. Score is still 0-0.
Turn 4 (Menoth)
Patrick repaired the redeemer again with his mechanic, then moved it around the central courtyard and flameda few more folks. Feora moves up and feats, but there is only three flames to re-organize. He kills three of the mage hunters and ends his turn.
Mage hunters still contested my zone and the Covenant and a mechanic contested Patricks. Score remains 0-0.
Turn 4 (Retribution)
Patrick is running out of models. Feora, Rhoven and one company man, two choir, and one broken-down redeemer remain on the field.
Feora's vulnerable to charges from Discordia, Ravyn, and the left-side mage hunter assassin. But somehow we both thought I only needed one more point to win, so we played that out first. Stormfall archers and mage hunters finished off the Covenant. The right-side mage hunter assassin clears the mechanic and scores the zone.
Menoth conceeds.
Hey, that's odd. If you look at the creases in the mat, it looks like the alter has walked about six inches up and to the right over the course of three hours. When the game started, the big cruciform was centered on the table. Oh well.
Final Thoughts
Fifty points is fantastic. It's a blessing and a curse to have all the units one wants. The list worked well together. Narn and the magister did very little in this game. Eiryss disappeared turn two before doing anything. Those are places where more skill can unlock additional capabilities in this list.
Mostly I learned how slow a player I am. Patrick was playing regulation timed sixteen minute turns with one five-minute extension. I had one eighteen minute turn and two over forty minutes. Must learn to play faster.
Thank you again, Patrick. As always, you taught me a ton: using forests for additional concealment; fearing Gorman's corrosion bomb; Rhoven & Co.'s anti-stealth powers; how to use levels and obstacles to affect DEF and targetability; and mostly how to play aggressively in the face of an eFeora turtle list.
Hope we can get in a couple more games before the Smackdown.
Patrick advanced his wall of armor forward. Gorman swung wide to my right to face one assassin and Menoth-Eiryss ran left towards the other. The reckoner and vanquisher killed a couple infantry on the left flank. Significantly, the Avatar ran off without getting any buffs.
Turn 1 (Retribution)
Aiyana enchanted three mage hunters' weapons, Ravyn gave them extended range, and they messed up the vanquisher. The giant blob of infantry moved forward and generally left. The mage hunter assassins moved down the board edges through the hills. Narn played a little right and Eiryss (real Eiryss) played left. I made a mistake here and failed to put Eiryss inside that forest terrain.
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| End of Turn 1 |
On my left, Rhoven & Company's granted the reckoner the ability to see a stealthed target. He chooses Eiryss of course and dropped a bomb on her head. He tried to convince me I had put her in the forest terrain (because a skilled player would have) – but I know a mistake when I play one! If it doesn't hurt, I won't learn. Vanquisher retreated to the mechanics. Menoth-Eiryss went after my left-side assassin. I can't remember if she missed or couldn't see through stealth. Regardless, the assassin lived.
In the center, Menoth's Aiyana & Holt move into the central courtyard and shoot up some halberdiers. Rhoven & Co. advance to the altar's wall with Redeemer, who throws a few more fireballs sets a couple more mage hunters and halberdiers on fire.
On my right, Avatar runs around the wall and uses his Gaze power to ensure all my right-flank infantry can only advance towards him (it?). Gorman throws a corrosive brew at the right flank assassin. It scatters and leaves her with one box. It's the beginning of a series of rolls going against Patrick but we don't know that yet.
Turn 2 (Retribution)
Time to do some damage. Left-side assassin charged Menoth-Eiryss and kills her. Right-side assassin charges Gorman and misses. Argh! With one Menoth 'jack disabled and the other two in striking range of my entire army, I decided to gamble Ravyn's feat. If I could disable all of Menoth's 'jacks (and their flame weapons), the advantage would turn my way. So, feat!
Archers stand and pump some brutal, Brutal Shots into the reckoner and Avatar before the charging begins. The dice are nuts in my favor. The shots against Avatar were 12+4d6 against ARM 19 (?) and were simply murderous. Two of the four shots were 6,6,5,4 and 6,5,5,3. We spent a while evaluating charge lanes and eventually used sideways spray templates to check them. The halberdiers used mini-feat and CMA to finish him off.
In the middle, Discordia and two halberdiers used the free boost from Ravyn's Vortex of Destruction spell to beat the reckoner down to maybe ten boxes. Mage hunters shots crippled the redeemer's flame cannon and almost took him down. Might have also killed one of Rhoven's men here, too, but I can't remember.
Scoring starts and neither of us hold the opposite zone. Score is 0-0.
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| End of Turn 2 |
Turn 3 (Menoth)
Patrick was a bit stunned by Avatar's death, but he tempted by Ravyn's close position and pressed forward again. My memory starts getting fuzzy through here. I think he repaired the redeemer and used him to drop a bunch of flame AoEs onto Discordia, setting her, Ravyn and some of the infantry on fire. The Covenant moved up to a scoring position on his zone. Gorman swung at the right-side assassin and missed. One of choir (or maybe a vassal?) ran to engage the left-side assassin. One of Rhoven's men advanced to tie up my forward-left halberdiers. Another moved to tie up the magister and two mage hunters. And Feora camped most of her focus.
(I might be forgetting something here. Patrick, please remind me if you read this.)
Mage hunters contested my zone, and Retribution had no units near his zone. The score remained 0-0.
Turn 3 (Retribution)
Archers and mage hunters killed the damaged vanquisher. Discordia and Ravyn killed the reckoner. Halberdiers ran at the Covenant but only managed one damage. The Covenant of Menoth has a unique mechanic: it has five boxes of health, but no one attack can do more than one box of damage.
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| End of Turn 3 |
Turn 4 (Menoth)
Patrick repaired the redeemer again with his mechanic, then moved it around the central courtyard and flameda few more folks. Feora moves up and feats, but there is only three flames to re-organize. He kills three of the mage hunters and ends his turn.
Mage hunters still contested my zone and the Covenant and a mechanic contested Patricks. Score remains 0-0.
Turn 4 (Retribution)
Patrick is running out of models. Feora, Rhoven and one company man, two choir, and one broken-down redeemer remain on the field.
Feora's vulnerable to charges from Discordia, Ravyn, and the left-side mage hunter assassin. But somehow we both thought I only needed one more point to win, so we played that out first. Stormfall archers and mage hunters finished off the Covenant. The right-side mage hunter assassin clears the mechanic and scores the zone.
Menoth conceeds.
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| End of Turn 4 |
Final Thoughts
Fifty points is fantastic. It's a blessing and a curse to have all the units one wants. The list worked well together. Narn and the magister did very little in this game. Eiryss disappeared turn two before doing anything. Those are places where more skill can unlock additional capabilities in this list.
Mostly I learned how slow a player I am. Patrick was playing regulation timed sixteen minute turns with one five-minute extension. I had one eighteen minute turn and two over forty minutes. Must learn to play faster.
Thank you again, Patrick. As always, you taught me a ton: using forests for additional concealment; fearing Gorman's corrosion bomb; Rhoven & Co.'s anti-stealth powers; how to use levels and obstacles to affect DEF and targetability; and mostly how to play aggressively in the face of an eFeora turtle list.
Hope we can get in a couple more games before the Smackdown.
nice batrep Jay and really do appreciate the time it takes to put in all those little doodles. It adds a lot to the pics. I'll have to do that when I get an iPhone. Do you draw the doodles in an iPhone app?
ReplyDeleteAnd 50 pts is the way to go! So fun and you have more room to bring in what you want although sometimes I still wish I had more. :)
have a great weekend!
Thanks, Mike. The photos go from Camera+ on my iPhone into Aperture for white balance, shadow, and exposure correction. Then I export them into Pixelmator to add the annotation and doodles. Finally they are color corrected for web browsers, re-sized, and uploaded to Blogger.
ReplyDeleteHehe, it looks like the alter didn't move too much after turn two... Think a one square foot thin/cheap plywood sheet would keep that from happening? Might have to get a few as it's been a problem before.
ReplyDeleteMy turns were actually all under twelve minutes, the standard for fifty points. There's one four minute extension allowed, and I did call for it, but after looking at the board and seeing that I only had a vassal left to move, said nevermind. I was pretty proud that I managed it on the first time out with this army but it did affect my play. Mentally I was much more focused on dealing with you and kept on forgetting the support.
While I did kill Eiryss before she had the chance to do anything, doing so gave you an excellent position on my Reckoner. Had she not been there I would have been free to keep he back, sniping at MHA and then getting a charge on Discordia when I wanted with my better threat ranges.
Definitely want more games in with you before SoCal Smackdown. Ret's a matchup I just don't do well against at all :/