4. List Focus - Vyros2, The Incissar of the Dawnguard

One of my most played and all time favorite warcasters has seen competitive play since his release, and shows no signs of slowing down in Mk3.  He is the poster boy of House Nyarr, born into privilege and leveraging that hard for both his personal gains and that of the Retribution.  Vyros2 is defined by his Synergy spell which allows you to ramp up the attack and damage rolls of your battlegroup to +3/+3 and high base stats that make him durable and capable of getting work done even towards the later turns of the game.

Here’s a look at the list in it’s present form:

Theme: Forges of War

Vyros2, Incissar of the Dawnguard

- Helios

- Imperatus

- Griffon

- Griffon

- Griffon

- Griffon

- Aspis

House Shyeel Arcanists

- Soulless Escort

House Shyeel Artificer (free)

Arcanist Mechanik (free)

Arcanist Mechanik (free)

This list has been freshly modified to adjust for the changes in SR17 with the addition of the Shyeel unit. Early playtests have been overwhelmingly positive and this is likely the list I will be playing moving forward.  A few FAQ regarding the list itself:

Why is there an Aspis in the list?

The Aspis is 6 points.  After building the rest of the list, you have 6-7 (soulless escort) free points left over and that’s not enough to buy another Griffon.

Griffon spam seems boring, what else can I add to the list instead?

Short answer: Nothing.  Long answer: Griffons are the highest armored, cheapest, hardest hitting, reach, and pathfinder light myrmidon we have access to.  It has all of the bells and none of the whistles.  Vyros2 wants targets to build Synergy off of, plain and simple.  The Pathfinder on Griffons works really well with Bird’s Eye seeing through forests, and their Heavy Shield stacks on top of Shield Guard (theme) and the Deceleration spell to make this list incredibly resilient to shooting.  There really just aren’t better options available to us yet.

What should I drop this list into?

Matchup preference is a really complex topic and individualized to some extent on a player to player basis.  I generally like this list into Cygnar, Khador, Menoth, Circle, Skorne, Legion, Minions.  You want to avoid large troop swarms and in particular weapon masters or hard armor cracking lists.  You love gunlines and should fear no amount of shooting be it Caine3’s chargers or Vlad1’s Rockets.  All of them are going to bounce off your list and find themselves struggling as the game drags on.

What should I pair this list with?

My personal preference is any kind of troop swarm.  I really enjoy the dynamic of presenting my lists to opponents with the option of 30+ infantry, or a small, battle-group focused, list.  You can sometimes predict their drop based on lack of answers in one of their lists.  Previously I was running it with an Ossyan gunline, but am currently exploring new options.  Elara2 Defenders of Ios Halberdier spam is looking really strong, as well as anything Issyria can bring.  Having a colossal in both lists can be strong in dictating which list your opponent will be forced to play, but keep in mind it also gives them a slight edge in selecting the best tools to deal with it.

When do I feat?

Your feat is only ever used to move Vyros2 himself and Imperatus.  Typically you are extending their threats and moving them closer towards hard targets/the enemy warcaster/warlock to threaten an assassination run.  On rare occasions you can use it to to shuffle around your models to mitigate losses during a painful alpha strike onto your forces.

Can I run him with Dawnguard instead?

I don’t think so, and I don’t think you ever will be able to.  Vyros2’s kit is incredibly linear and does very little outside of “run robots and don’t shoot me”.  The only thing he would be offering a Dawnguard force is Easy Rider for Pathfinder and the Sentinels already have Relentless Charge.  ARM 19 just isn’t high enough to protect them in a meaningful way from the ranged threats out there.

Now with the FAQ over, how on earth do I play it?  I’m running out of models too fast….

Carefully!  Any low model count list is going to be incredibly delicate and this one is no exception.  It’s a really nice list for being easy to play, but difficult to master.  There are a million and one little layers and corner case uses for all of your models that you really need to see and explore for yourself simply by grinding games in.

- The core of the list is to play aggressively with Imperatus and Helios together to provide an impossible puzzle for your opponent.  They aren’t going to be able to handle both in the same turn and you can place them in threatening areas that you gain a huge swing in attrition when they can’t kill them.  Helios’ gun is something most players have figured out how to play around, but the threat of it still exists and forces them to contribute thought and resources.  Increased complexity in the match is always a good thing as it gives them more opportunities to make mistakes.

- Griffons exist to pump up your Synergy and to get in the way.  They Shield Guard incoming fire to spread out damage and can start putting damage onto harder targets.  They max out at POW 18, so you’re unlikely to be killing things with them on their own, but they threat really far and can make for a great alpha strike when you don’t want to commit the rest of your forces.  Vs lists containing multiple huge bases, you can simply run Griffons into base to base contact with them to lock them down for a turn and buy you time to score extra points towards a scenario victory.

- Pay very close attention to things that threaten Vyros2!  Despite his big beefy stats, he’s relatively easy to kill since your opponent should be expecting to be able to crack armor and remove hard targets.  He needs to be pretty far up the table to stretch his Synergy and Deceleration, and with a low model army, he’s going to need to do some work himself more often than not.  This is a warcaster you need to move with meaning and purpose.  Always be thinking about what can be attacking him and where he can go the following turn if you need him to.

- Board positioning is ubiquitous across lists, but in this case, your static threat ranges make some decisions easier.  Helios and Imperatus are typically centered, with 2 Griffons on either side and the Aspis following Vyros2.  Griffons base threat is 11, so you want to park them 1” into zones or near objectives so they can threaten to clear out and score the following turn if your opponent doesn’t contest in a meaningful way.  Be mindful of Imperatus’ 11” and look for Side Step opportunities whenever possible.  SR objectives make great targets as most people will want to put their most important models near or around those objectives.  Helios can also help!  Don’t be afraid to drag around unimportant enemy trooper models simple to line them up into perfect Side Step targets for Imperatus!

Vyros2 is a great caster and really fun to play no matter how you build him.  His fiction is really neat and paints him as the perfect golden boy that continues to succeed no matter how much you want to see him falter.  On release, he brought a new direction to our faction with previously-unseen levels of durability and hard hitting brute force.  If there are any burning questions or points you feel I’ve missed, feel free to comment and I’ll be happy to discuss further!