Game 38: Kaelyssa vs Zerkova2

Game 38 – Vs Jim Gradwell – Khador – 03/06/17

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper

-Helios

Arcantrik Force Generator

Arcanist Mechanik

Arcanist Mechanik

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

Max Dawnguard Sentinels

-Dawnguard Sentinel Officer and Standard Bearer

His List:

Obavnik Kommander Zerkova & Reaver Guard

-Sylys Wyshnaylrr, The Seeker

-Marauder

-Behemoth

Koldun Lord

Min Greylord Outriders

Min Greylord Outriders

Greylord Ternion

Great Bears of the Gallowswood

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

-Koldun Kapitan Valachev

My first final with Ret saw me up against England WTC player Jim, who had come to our little one day event to club some baby seals. He was playing Zerkova1 and Zerkova2, so the list selection felt fairly list-chickeny, with one of my lists being able to deal with Zerk1’s clouds and the other being neutered by it. I feel like I got the upper hand on lists when the matchup was Zerkova2 against Kaelyssa, but had never played against her. Jim won first turn so I picked the side with the trench to hide in.

Jim ran up with everything, staying outside of AFG advance and shoot range, and cast Telgesh Mark on one of the Outriders.

I move up into threatening positions and feat. Kaelyssa casts Blur on Helios, Refuge on the AFG and Banishing Ward on herself. Eiryss shoots a Purgation shot at the Telgesh Mark Outrider, but only does 3 points of damage. AFG lays down a single difficult terrain to make life harder for the Khador forces.

And then basically Jim feated and killed me. We didn’t bother moving any models to show it but the run was put out in proxy bases and dice rolled. Essentially the cavalry and Greylords ran up, Zerkova advanced and feated, using her free spell to cast Occult Whispers and the cavalry sprayed Kaelyssa into the ground with several to spare.

VICTORY

Mistakes made that hopefully I won’t repeat. You sometimes have to play these things to see how they work. Realistically had he not killed me that turn he would have been struggling so I should have been camping far more. In addition, Banishing Ward was basically irrelevant. Because the assassination run is all in sprays Jim could just target another model and catch Kaelyssa anyway. A much better play would have been to put Blur on Kaelyssa to put her up to DEF19, leaving the sprays needing boosted 13s to hit and essentially taking the assassination off the table. It is a shame that I had to learn this on a final table but at least it wasn’t on a stream anywhere!

I was pleased with my performance in this event, going 3-1, finishing 3^rd and winning best painted model for my AFG. I am not happy with how the Vyros feels so I think I’ll go back to the drawing board on that one, but I do like the Kaelyssa list a lot, and can see that being what my pairing is built around as we build to the UK Nationals, a 3 list event in September. Other things I want to try are Rahn, some kind of Defenders of Ios list, and a Helynna list similar to the 2 I played earlier but with a Hyperion to anchor a flank. Retribution feels like a great faction to be part of at the moment with new stuff coming out very soon and so many viable casters to choose from.