Hey all, last week I got to try out Lylyth4 against a local legend Barry running his Trolls. Lylyth4 is definitely going to be a popular Legion caster which you’ll either want to consider in your pair or have a good response to if you’re going to a big event. Barry had a janky Kriel Company list he wanted to try so we decided we’d have a shoot out! The lists are as follows:
Lylyth4 – Children of the Dragon
– Azrael
– Ravagore
– Ravagore
– Bolt Thrower
Blight Archon
– Naga Nightlurker
Ysylla
Craelix
Hermit
Forsaken
Shepherd x3
Spell Martyr x2
Nyss Archers with UA
Ice Witches
Spawning Vessel (min)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Grim2 – Kriel Company
– Runebearer
– Bomber
– Dozer and Smigg
General Brug
Braylen Wanderheart
Highwaymen
Boomhowler and Co
Sluggers x2
Barrage Team x2
Thumper Crew x2
So two casters with shooting feats, shooting lists and Mortality. What could only make this more exciting is a really dead scenario so we played Invasion! Barry won the roll off and deployed first. I took the side With the closer house so I could contest the centre zone effectively.
Grim deployed centrally with the battlegroup, flanked by a unit each of Sluggers. A Barrage Team and Thumper crew took each flank. with the Highwaymen on the far right side. Boomhowler and Co kept central just behind Grim2.
I deployed Lylyth and the Ravagores centrally with most of the support staff. Azrael, the Blight Archon and Craelix took the left flank whilst the Archers and Spawning Vessel took the right. I scattered the Spell Martyrs across the line and lined up the Ice Witches at the back.
Trolls Turn 1 – Grim cast Mirage onto the Highwayman and advanced up, staying just outside of Lylyth’s 25″(!) threat. Everything else basically ran up to just outside of my threat ranges, less a group of Sluggers on the left who jumped into the Trench. Amusingly the highwayman who hung back to receive Mirage ended up out of command because Barry had been spoilt with Tactician from Madrak1 and couldn’t run him around to catch up!
Legion Turn 1 – A common challenge in Warmachine is what to do when you know you’re about to take a very painful alpha that you have to accept is happening to you. Which is basically this game in action. I have to leave my deployment zone but I want to minimise what he can do if he feats next turn. After some Puppet Masters from the Witches I decided to advance the Ravagores and scatter a scather each towards the Bomber and Highwaymen. One clipped a Slugger who toughed the blast damage.
Lylyth moved up using her Arcane Machinery to make spells cost two, cast Snipe and put three shots into the Bomber for some chip damage. She then used Broadside to shoot again, as well as drift two more scathers out from the Ravagores. Finally she cast Deflection, camping 1. The Archers spread out near the Spawning Vessel and kept back from the Highwaymen whillst the Swamp Gobbers put up a cloud for the Naga to hide in and Craelix to sit behind. The Blight Archon put up Dragon’s Blood on Azrael and moved into the Trench.
Turn 2 Trolls – Grim upkept Mirage allowing the Highwaymen to move forward slightly. He feated and shot Azrael for a little damage, cast two Lucky Shots onto the Bomber and Dozer then repositioned back to the edge of the kill box. The left-side Barrage Team fire AoEs into the Swamp Gobbers, managing to take them both out and do some damage to the Naga in the process. The Thumper crew took a shot at the Blight Archon but at Def 20 they unfortunately missed. The Sluggers moved up and piled shots into the left side Ravagore, with enough shots hitting the Def 14 to take out its body and spirit.
The Bomber moved up and threw some attacks into Azrael for a little more damage, one scattering and taking out a Spell Martyr and a Shepherd. The right side Sluggers moved up and put some decent damage into the right side Ravagore, but not taking out any systems. Dozer and the Barrage team took out the Spawning Vessel and two Archers, with the highwaymen taking out another two Archers. Finally Boomhowler and Co Ran around the scathers to get into the left zone slightly.
Legion Turn 2 – Having weathered the initial storm it was time for some payback! After reaving in and upkeeping Dragon’s Blood, the Ice Witches gave Puppet Master to Azrael, Lylyth and the right side Ravagore. A Shepherd healed the left Ravagore before Lylyth activated. I considered putting Mortality onto Dozer or the Highwaymen, but I wanted to utilise the Broadside AoE’s more and needed Deflection to get work done. Lylyth feated, used Snipe and cast Deflection and Broadside, putting an Azrael spear into the Bomber, a Scather into the sluggers and Boomhowler, and the same on the right side. Rerolls from the feat meant that most broke armour even at dice off 7 for Blast damage, taking out big chunks of trolls. Lylyth herself put her shots into the Bomber doing more chip damage before Azrael did big damage with his own spears.
Craelix took out two of three Barrage Team on the left and the Naga took out another Slugger. The Blight Archon used Crimson Ballet and charged for a tasty assault spray down the line of Sluggers, killing a few then sprinting back from melee into the Trench camping two. The centre Ravagore finished off the Bomber and the Bolt Thrower moved around the building to shoot into Dozer, getting the crit to knock him down. The Archers cleaned up all but three of the Highwaymen on the right, as well as finishing a couple of knocked down sluggers from the Ravagore’s Broadside shot. The Ravagore advanced up and shot at the Thumper crew, leaving one knocked down after toughs.
Nobody scored this turn, leaving the score tied at 0-0.
Trolls Turn 3 – A brutal response from Legion had taken out swathes of infantry, but the Legion beasts were hurting. Grim dropped Mirage, electing to cast Mortality on the Bolt Thrower but unfortunately missed due to Deflection. He repositioned behind the objective to let Boomhowler usef Reville to stand up the Barrage Team, Weapons Crew and Dozer whilst his remaining Co shot into the Bolt Thrower for some more damage. The last Slugger aimed and took out the body of the Bolt Thrower but not quite able to finish it.
The Highwaymen and Braylen cleared the archer contesting the zone whilst the Barrage Team and Dozer took out the centre Ravagore. The thumper crews remaining both missed their shots to take out Craelix and the remaining Ravagore.
The Highwaymen scored the right zone to make the score 1-0 to Trolls!
Legion Turn 3 – The Blight Archon upkept both spells, then recieved Puppet Master along with Craelix and Lylyth. Craelix cleared up the Thumper Crew whilst advancing into the rubble on the left, then the Blight Archon got a great assault spray on the last Slugger, killing Muggs, Krump and three Boomhowler members before sprinting to the rubble. I tried to be cute with the Bolt Thrower by advancing into a knocked down Boomhowler grunt to finish him and quickwork into the objective. Unfortunately I forgot to heal the body and failed all his damage rolls to kill him, oops! The Naga fixed this by taking him out, then Azrael took out the objective. Lylyth arced Mortality through the last Spell Martyr onto Dozer, then put three further shots into it for some chip damage and a Broadside for good measure. The Archers cleaned up the rest of the Highwaymen, less Braelyn who toughed before the Ravagore charged into Dozer and comfortably finished him off.
I scored the objective and centre zone bringing the score 2-1 to Legion.
Trolls Turn 4 – Grim started by casing Mortality on both the Ravagore and Bolt Thrower then taking a shot into the Ravagore. Though the Thumper crew missed their knockdown shot, Backstabs from Braelyn and the last Highwayman (the one who had been out of command the entire game!) managed to finish it off! Boomhowler finished off the Bolt Thrower and the Barrage Team cleared the right zone again, putting the score tied at 2-2.
Legion Turn 4 – Lylyth received Puppet Master and moved up to within 12 of Grim and used Target Lock for three fully boosted shots. I spiked the second roll which took Grim down, leading to a Legion Victory by Assassination!
A pretty brutal game of shooting! Two lists with long ranges and powerful feats was always going to be a brutal match. Deflection was the biggest factor as without it I would have easily lost a Ravagore, maybe two on Grim’s Feat. Not having anything forward enough for Mark Target also hurt the output, as well as an unlucky drift on Turn 2 not taking out a chunk of Archers on the right. I know Barry’s list has changed now to include some Bushwackers who can threaten from AD and be effective Mark Target models which only makes this gunline scarier! I was also impressed by the Sluggers, you get a lot of pow 13s from that unit which take buffs like Mortality and Snipe really well.
Lylyth4 feels very strong though I have to say. She’s like a modern Lylyth2, and even though you don’t get an extra shot on the feat, the rerolls for everything means you’re consistent on damage throughout. The fact you can stack this with Puppet Master or Thagrosh0 is crazy and she has the same ability as Lylyth3 to do consistent work every turn. Combined with Legion’s first Mortality caster and its easy to see the appeal.
She does feel Fury starved, but not in a bad way. It forces you to make decisions about which spells to cast and how much you want her to be doing work. She’ll often only be camping 1-2 every turn and 15/16 with no other tech is definitely vulnerable. We didn’t play on clock, but I spent ages on Lylyth’s feat turn due to all the rerolls. One to be mindful of. Overall she’s probably one of the top 5 Legion casters, but not likely to bend the meta because she doesn’t change what Legion gunlines do fundamentally.
I like really enjoyed this list in Children. Azrael is excellent with her (and Arm 22 in melee with Dragon’s Blood) as is Craelix and the Archers. I’ve seen people building lists with her in all themes so I’ll definitely be trying her in the other options.
Thanks again for reading, and to Barry for the game!