Game 54: Kaelyssa vs Butcher3

Game 54 – Vs Chris Campbell – Khador – 04/07/17

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:

Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (Winterguard Kommand)

-War Argus

-War Argus

-Devastator

-Kodiak

-Ruin

-Marauder

-Marauder

Kovnik Josef Grigorovich

Min Winter Guard Infantry

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

Max Winter Guard Rifle Corps

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

-Rocketeer

Max Battle Mechanics  

Another day, another Khador opponent, as seems to be pretty standard into my local meta. This game brought on an interesting pairing process. Chris had Butcher3 and Zerkova1, whilst I had an Issyria Shadows list to try alongside my Kaelyssa. We both came to the conclusion that Zerk1 would really struggle into the Mage Hunters list, but there was some list chicken in that Zerkova would have a really strong chance into Kaelyssa. In the end I went with what I know, which is that Kaelyssa can deal with Khador. Chris chose Butcher and won the roll to go first.

No surprises in the first turn as Chris runs up his forces (3 of the Jacks having Advance Moved). The Kodiak goes through the pond being the only jack with Pathfinder and Ruin hangs out behind it as he gains Relentless Charge from Butcher.

I move up in response, with Blur on the Sentinels opposite the Winter Guard and Refuge on Kaelyysa herself. Wanting some time to pick his army apart I Feat. Chris has moved too far up with the Kodiak so after Kaelyssa makes it Stationary Helios is able to trample up, pull it in, and between 2 bought attacks, 2 Brutal Shots from the AFG, and 2 Sentinel charges the jack goes down.

With relatively short threat ranges and my feat in play, the Khador forces can’t achieve too much and instead bunker up around the caster. The Winter Guard flank hard on the left but only 2 are in the zone. The Mortar attempts to scatter onto Eiryss but luck is on my side and it falls short.

Time to kill some heavies. Between the AFG and Kaelyssa all 4 jacks are made Stationary or knocked down. The Stationary Devastator is also Disrupted by Eiryss, leaving it useless for the next turn. Helios advances up, and uses his pushes to move the Marauder into his own melee, and push Ruin towards the Sentinels. Both do their jobs and destroy the jacks. On the left I only need to kill 2 Winter Guard to score but fail to hit 2 of my 3 attacks, leaving one alive. I am able to score the right zone though to lead 1-0.

Butcher responds by pretty effortlessly removing Helios between the Marauder and his own attacks, before feating to return to full focus. On the left, Joe gives the Winter Guard Bear’s Strength and they charge in, killing 5 Sentinels even through their Mini-feat. The game to this point has gone pretty much as expected, but I wasn’t certain how to proceed. The score remains 1-0 to me.

Kaelyssa makes both jacks Stationary again, and Eiryss continues to leave the Devastator useless. The AFG uses its new POW9 blast damage to kill 6 Riflemen and 4 Infantry. The Sentinels charge through, killing Joe and all but 1 Rifleman (I consider staying in the zone and scoring instead, but figure at this point killing the models is the better choice). On the right I send 6 Sentinels in to kill the Marauder, and back the rest of the unit up to threaten Butcher next turn.

Butcher kills all of the Sentinels in the zone and casts Energizer to move the Devastator into the zone. His remaining troops run to engage Eiryss and the Sentinels.

My Vengeance moves are able to kill the 2 remaining Infantry, removing all Sacrificial Pawn targets from Butcher. The AFG aims, knocks Butcher down with the first shot and boosts the second, only dealing 1 damage but removing the focus. Kaelyssa shoots him for 7 damage or so and the Sentinels charge in to finish the job.

VICTORY

A really fun and interesting game here. I wasn’t exactly sure how to play it after Helios went down, but think backing up half of the Sentinels was the right call. Had Chris kept the Infantry behind Butcher I would have had to kill them with Kae, making the assassination less certain, but still pretty reasonable. It is frustrating that the last 2 games I have wanted to try out a new list, but Kaelyssa has been such a strong drop, but I will play something new to test it soon.