Game 107: Kaelyssa vs Thexus

Game 107 – Vs Mark Ellis – Mercenaries – 18/10/17

My list:

Kaelyssa, The Night’s Whisper (Legions of Dawn)

-Helios

Arcanist Mechanik

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

Min Dawnguard Destors

Min Dawnguard Destors

Dawnguard Sentinel Scyir

His List:

Exulon Thexus (Operating Theater)

-Warden

-Warden

-Warden

Cephalyx Agitator

Cephalyx Agitator

Alexia Ciannor & The Risen

-Cehalyx Dominator

Max Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges

Max Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges

Max Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges

Min Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges

Min Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges

Min Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges

Cephalyx Overlords

Cephalyx Overlords

With minimal time available for gaming at the moment I am grabbing whatever opportunities I can. This Wednesday I faced off against Mark again, trying out a new version of his Thexus list, featuring Alexia & The Risen to further increase his ridiculous number of models. I only had Kaelyssa with me, so despite feeling that it would be a pretty bad match up, we went for it. Mark won first turn and got moving.

I don’t often take a picture of deployment (maybe I should, if it’s something you want then let me know) but did here because my word that’s a whole lot of dudes. I have enough experience of Cephalyx to know the important stuff to kill, but getting there may be a different matter. Either way, Mark does a whole load of running and casts Deceleration to protect against any cheeky shots I might take.

I don’t think I can afford not to feat this turn. I am going to suffer a lot of pain whether I do or not but at least I can stop Adrenal Flood charges if I feat. I move up, mini-Feat with both units of Sentinels, and keep the Destors behind ready to charge through with Tactician next turn. Refuge goes on Kaelyssa and Blur on a unit of Sentinels.

Mark Feats, pushing a lot of my Sentinels towards his line, and splitting them up out of Wall of Steel range, reducing them to Arm18. Thexus casts Hex Blast on the Blurred Sentinels, stripping their Defence boost, before his army unleashes the sprays. Needing 6s to hit (5s on the Overlords) and 7s to kill Sentinels makes it not trivial to take them out, but the sheer quantity of dice that Mark has to throw at it means that in the end around 10 Sentinels are removed, leaving only 2 that had been pushed into range. The rest of his forces run through and flank round to protect the important pieces and an Agitator runs to the flag to score next turn.

I am usually a player to plan out a full turn and they play it out in order, but in this game I just couldn’t see where it was going to go. So much depended on Tough rolls and the success of Impact Attacks so I decided just to take the turn one activation at a time. Vengeance moves cleared out the front few Drudges before the left Destors earned MVP status, by taking out a full unit of Overlords, the unit leaders from the 2 leftmost units, and the Agitator on the flag. The Sentinels charge up, taking down a handful of Drudges and the Warden on the left. On the right it is a similar story, the Destors charge though to cut out a hole for the Sentinels, who charge the Monstrosity, failing to kill it but taking out the Brain. Only one Overlord is taken out on this flank as the leaders were better protected. Helios charges through, leaving the objective on 3 boxes and wrecking the 3^rd Warden. For a turn I wasn’t certain about, it worked out pretty well, but not having an overall plan took a huge chunk out of my clock. I have the Scyir on my flag and contest his, leading 1-0.

Mark goes deep into his clock trying to find a solution to all the Dawnguard and a colossal right up in his face, whilst also starting to lose on scenario. He starts with Alexia, who after my rampage of last turn is joined by the full 20 Risen. The Risen make some ineffective CMAs, before Alexia starts spending them on attacks on Helios, taking it down to slightly more than half boxes before all her risen are gone. At this point Mark realises there is no way he can kill Helios, and with it sat right in his face there is nowhere safe to go, and concedes the game.

VICTORY

I think that Mark possibly conceded this one a little prematurely, but I understand it after taking an attrition turn like my list was able to put in. Most of his left flank was useless without Cephalyx support, and the right was folding pretty quickly to the Dawnguard. His ambushing unit would have bought him a turn or so on scenario but with basically no Shield Guards or Sacrificial Pawn targets left he was definitely struggling to keep Thexus safe. Another strong game for this list, but after a 4^th game of having nothing to do with Eiryss2, I’m starting to look at switching her up for either Eiryss1 or Lanyssa.