5. Nerdvana Steamroller - The Dynasty Continues

This week’s entry brings us to one of my favorite local-ish stores, Nerdvana Games in Egg Harbor NJ.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/632985093478693  The ownership is top notch, they keep their shelves well stocked, and generally put on a really great show for their Warmachine Community.
A close friend of mine, Brad Park of Fully Boosted, has been running their Warmachine events since the store’s meta first began to grow.  It’s since become tradition that when I play at Brad’s events, he selects the warcasters that I need to build a pair out of to add an extra layer of fun for both of us.  This month we had Vyros1 and Ghyrrshyld4.  
I modified an early Mk3 list with Vyros1 into a Shadows of the Retribution theme since most of the models were overlapping with what I wanted to bring anyways.  I have been experimenting with Ghyrrshyld using a Nyss-based force in anticipation of a frozen theme coming out in the future.  I mostly want to jam my opponent with Reviving Spears of Scyrah and Ryssovass Defenders which causes endless frustration for my opponents and is generally quite hilarious.
Dawnlord Vyros1 - Shadows of the Retribution
- Imperatus
- Chimera
- Griffon x4
min Mage Hunter Infiltrators x2
Spears of Scyrah
- Eiryss3, Mage Hunter Commander
Arcanist Mechanik x3
Soulless Voidtracer x2
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios
Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven
- Banshee x2
- Chimera
max Ryssovass Defenders
- Soulless Escort
max Cylena Raefyll and Nyss Hunters
Spears of Scyrah
- Eiryss3, Mage Hunter Commander
Priest of Nyssor
Arcanist Mechanik x2
Round 1 - Spread the Net
Ghyrrshyld4 vs Makeda3 (Jake P)
W
Jake’s list had a Danger Turtle, Gladiator, Molik Karn, a few Cyclops things, Legends, The Goddamn Gremlins, and some other various support staff.  I went into this match fairly confident with my list choice given how live the scenario is.  We both square off and position for two turns as we appeared equally afraid of committing too much too soon.  I play very conservative with my Ryssovass so they can counter-punch the turtle if and when he comes in, and play aggressively with the Spears to hold him in place as much as I can.  Of note this game and potentially a new trend we may see in 2017 is the Stealth, Incorporeal, Royal Pain in the Ass Gremlin swarms to score flags with.  Their higher defense and protective abilities make them very problematic to remove and they will likely be in scoring position for the entire game.  I try to shoot it with an aiming Banshee shot only to have my opponent joyfully remind me that the little bastards have Stealth.  We position our forces around the flags and outer rectangle zones.  My Spears flood his side zone and laugh as his Gladiator misses them with boosted attacks for two consecutive turns.  Jake gets jammed/forgets to contest my flag for a turn and the entire game slips away from him from there.  I’m able to get ahead on scenario and make a final push to win 6 - 1 on scenario.
Round 2 - Breakdown
Vyros1 vs Terminus (Derek A)
W
Derek is one of the stronger players in my meta, known for excellent list design and good execution of popular power lists.  Today he drops a Terminus Machinations list vs me with 5 min units of mechanithralls all maxed out with Brute Thrall attachments.  I like my high defense and RFP options into him and can threaten Terminus with my own feat, so I’m confident in the matchup from the start.  That all gets washed away when Derek makes a cheeky play of running his wraith engine forward and creating a Machine Wraith with Ambushing Mechanithralls.  He then proceeds to dive into one of my Griffons and walks him directly into the awaiting thralls swarm for an early attrition swing against me.  Holding strong, I use this opportunity to put Imperatus into the Wraith Engine while using all of my infantry to start cutting down thralls.  Derek doesn’t feel super confident in his late game, so he crashed into Imperatus with Terminus himself alongside a new Inflictor helljack.  Terminus misses with his charge attack and leaves Imperatus on 3 boxes and corroded after Phoenix Protocol.  Generator, Cortex, and Right Arm remain.  I make my corrosion roll and it sticks, Derek can save himself on a 5+ column roll to cripple something that matters.  He hits a 4 and my Generator happily goes down.  We load Imperatus up on Focus and Vyros1 feats to make sure Imperatus can take down Terminus on his own.


Round 3 - Recon II
Ghyrrshyld4 vs Elara2 (James L)
W
The mighty James from Delaware has been a bit of a toxic matchup for me in that I can’t seem to beat him in the mirror!  He’s got a very nasty Elara2 Defenders of IoS list with 2x Halbs and Ellowuyr Swordsmen that I’m not sure I have a good answer for.  I’m feeling a bit playful and I’ve been having so much fun with Shade4, so I drop The King in the North without feeling 100% comfortable it’s the correct list to drop.  I make a huge mistake early on in tunneling on sniping out his Halberdier UAs with Banshee shots before he can feat and the lines connect.  I need to overcommit my Nyss to clear off intervening models and walk my Banshees too far forward reach in for the UAs and fail to kill both of them.  Shade4 feats and I bite down on the pillow with my eyes closed shut, waiting for it to be over.  Fortunately, James’ dice get a bit chilly on him and the worst feat of all time works miracles in freezing tons of James’ army during his counter-feat.  We play a miserable attrition grind from there on out that ultimately ends with him clocking out.  James was ever so slightly ahead on scenario, but I believe would have ultimately lost due to attrition had we played it out.  This was also my only game to get even remotely close to the 7 round mark.  James clocked out on bottom of his 5th turn, so we would have made it to round 6 had the game continued.
At the end of the event, the pair down lost so we were able to pack it in after three rounds.  This will likely be my last tournament with fun lists as I start to shift gears into serious WTC prep.  With Ret’s list diversity in such a good place, it’s going to be difficult for me to choose!

Until next time.

Comments

  1. Demeritus1 August 2017 at 17:54

    Thanks for the battle reports, and interesting G4 list. Do you ever feel confident playing him with a colossal and if so which one and why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Mike Ireland1 August 2017 at 22:03

      So this list was modified thanks to some input from Alex Kim who had some really fancy slam work combined with Mage Sight.

      My first build of the list had Hyperion as a direct points swap. I think both variants have some strengths and weaknesses to them. I was having trouble keeping a colossal alive and in the game. The extra problems caused by Wailing combined with the flexibility of two heavies felt a bit stronger than the colossal.

      Delete
  2. Demeritus2 August 2017 at 16:48

    Gotcha, thanks for the response!

    ReplyDelete

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