Hey all, this one has been sat in my drafts for a while but we’re getting through the backlog slowly… I played a game with Chris last week against his spicy out of theme Shade3 list. I wanted to practice Bethayne some more so we didn’t bother with a pairing process and set straight to it.
Bethayne1 – Oracles of Annihilation
– Belphagor
– Archangel
– Naga Nightlurker
Thagrosh0
– Typhon
Virtue Champion x2
Yssylla
Spell Martyr x2
Hex Hunters (min)
– Bayal
Blackfrost Shard
Ice Witches
Goreshade3
– Kraken
Darragh Wrathe
Eilish Garrity
Hermit of Hengehold
Warwitch Siren
Misery Cage
Necrotech
Bane Riders
Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders (min)
Soul Hunters
Dirge Seers
We got Spread the Net for scenario and I won the roll off. I decided to go second as I have a lot of shooting to limit how far forward he’ll come, and because this scenario is very live I wanted to have the first scoring opportunity. I did underestimate how fast Chris’ list was though!
Shade and the Bane Riders deployed centrally Darragh with the Hermit to the left and the Kraken and Soul Hunters on the right. The obstruction in the centre and the building forced the Kraken to play less central than he might have liked. I deployed the Archangel, Belphagor and a Champion centrally and Thagrosh and Typhon to the left. The Naga, BFS and the other Champion took the right flank to threaten the Kraken with Kiss. The Hex Hunters deployed centrally taking risk that the Kraken wouldn’t drift too favourably if it shot.
Cryx Turn 1 – Shade put up Infernal Machine on the Kraken, Scything Touch on a Soul Hunters, Occultation on the Bane Riders and advanced up behind the obstruction in the centre. The Bane Riders pushed up behind and around the left side house, one hanging back as a Mockery of Life target. The Kraken rushed up aggressively whilst respecting the Archangel’s threat. The Soul Hunters flanked hard on the right, wrapping around the trees. The solos ran in amongst the centre mass.
Legion Turn 1 – I was comfortable with the left flank but wary of the Soul Hunters on the right side who could wrap up my flank. I cautiously spread out the Hex Hunters and moved up the Archangel, wary of being charged by the Kraken. I drifted some shots and some very hot dice did a solid 6 damage to the Kraken with a drifted AoE! Thagrosh put up Fog of War and the free animus mutation for Excessive Healing and Typhon ran up. I was very cautious on the right flank, only putting the Naga in the zone using the objective to screen. I ran a Spell Martyr to the left behind a cloud to take the flag next turn.
At this point we realised Chris had forgotten to deploy his Blackbanes! Easily done, he just deployed them centrally into the mix of bodies as it wouldn’t have changed my turn anyway.
Cryx Turn 2 – Shade upkept his spells and moved across to the left zone to force me to contest. The Warwitch Siren gave the Kraken a focus and took the flag, whilst the Dirge Seers handed out Guidance too. The Kraken moved up to toe the zone whilst being out of threat of the Archangel before shooting into the Hex Hunters and killing three with its cannon shot. One of the Soul Hunters charged to kill another before repositioning next to the forest and spreading the remainder out for the next turn. Darragh moved behind the forest and applied Mortal Fear should I charge in. The Bane Riders continued to shelter behind the building, waiting for a tasty Vengeance trigger. A couple of Blackbanes moved into the back of the circular zone to finish the turn.
Legion Turn 2 – Some quick measurements showed I could get both Typhon and the Archangel onto the Kraken and I figured I could shoot it down this turn without giving up anything significant. After upkeeping Blood Thorn on the Archangel, Bethayne arced a Disintegrate through Belphagor onto the Kraken for good damage. The Archangel cast Draconic Aura and moved up to put three boosted shots into the Kraken at effective Pow 20(!) for massive damage. The Hermit used Mad Visions to block one of the shots. I took a cheeky pot shot at a Blackbane with the central Champion to kill it and get a Scather down, but then blocked my lane for Typhon to finish off the Kraken, oops!
The remaining Hex Hunters charged the Bane Riders, one crucially toeing the zone. They got their best scenario of hitting both riders, doing no damage and Shadowbinding them both in place to block anyone moving through them, ideal! The Spell Martyr on the left took my flag, Thagrosh put up the rerolls mutation and the right side Champion killed the Soul Hunter and contested the Cryx flag.
Bottom of 2, the score is 2-0 to Legion.
Cryx Turn 3 – After taking some withering shooting it was time for a Cryxian fightback. Shade upkept his spells and the Kraken again received a focus from the Warwitch. Deciding this was the feat turn, the Blackbanes ran to engage both Champions before Shade used his feat to stationary both Champions and the contesting Hex Hunter. He popped his Shadowbound Bane Rider to clear it out the way to get the Hex Hunter, opening the line of sight up to my flag. He then cast two Mockery of Lifes to bring back the Bane Rider and a Soul Hunter and contested the back of the zone.
The Kraken easily took out the frozen Virtue Champion and used its Kill Shot on the other Champion, just missing out on killing the second one. The Bane Riders charged through the building and killed both Hex Hunters and the Spell Martyr thanks to Ghostly. The Soul Hunters took out my objective and contested my zone with the Hermit and some Blackbanes moving to contest the centre zone.
Cryx scored three points this turn bringing the score 2-3 to Cryx.
Legion Turn 3 – Cryx had pulled ahead on scenario and was pressuring both flanks hard, something that’s often game winning on this scenario. I could either finish the Kraken and try to bully the board with the Archangel but I was running out of models to contest with so I figured I’d try the assassination. Belphagor ran into the Quicksand to get the line to Shade, Bethayne, Typhon and Bayal got Puppet Master. The plan was to put two feated Disintegrations in, clear the blocking Blackbane and put in two Typhon Sprays. However both Disintegrations got high damage with the Puppet Master reroll, enough to take out Goreshade, giving Legion Victory by Assassination!
A relatively quick game here but enough to see some of the workings of both lists in action. The Bethayne list has some pretty monstrous damage output and had I not messed up with Typhon I could take taken the Kraken at the bottom of two and punched a huge hole through the centre. Had the assassination option not been on I think I could have cleared the middle zone, left flag and my zone to equalise scenario and been in a strong place anyway, but with the Hermit and Scything Touch I may well still have lost the Archangel.
When we discussed our lists before the game both Chris and I felt this was Bethayne’s advantage. With plenty of Magic attacks for the Blackbanes and RFP from Ysylla there had answers for most of what Goreshade would like to do. That being said we played it out and I think there was more to the Goreshade list than we first thought. His speed and hitting power overwhelmed my flanks pretty effectively and I couldn’t get the RFP as relevant as I’d like. Its a great lesson in trying out “bad matchups” for your lists. You might be surprised.
It was really cool to see a non-theme force on the table, and Goreshade3 is one of the casters than can really benefit from pulling across a whole faction. The combination of Blackbanes, Soul Hunters and Bane Knights is pretty brutal backed up by a potent gun platform. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some non-theme lists popping up with specific casters than really want a big toolbox, such as Sorscha1, Deneghra1 etc.
Thanks again to Chris for the game, I’m told he’ll have some spooky Cryx articles to talk about his projects. Until next time!