Anthony and I played a 35pt game last night with Saeryn facing off against pDenny. The scenario was Process of Elimination from Steamroller 2011. In this scenario there are two parallel areas in the centre of the board that each player can score one control point off of, the first player to two points wins.
The Armies
My force consisted of Saeryn, an Angelius, a Ravagore, a Raek, a max unit of Warmongers, a Warchief, a Shepherd, a Deathstalker, two Spell Martyrs and the Swamp Gobbers. I’ve wanted to field the Ravagore and Raek since I painted them. The rationale behind the whole list is survivability – the multi-wound Warmongers make a great screen and allow Saeryn to operate forward if needed and here feat coupled with the Swamp Gobbers make her hard to kill. The Angelius and Raek are great Blight Bringer targets. The Ravagore can either operate forward or back of the main line – it’s decent in melee and has one of the best ranged attacks in the game.
Anthony’s force was made up of pDenny, a Ripjaw, a Deathripper, max Bane Thralls plus UA, max Satyxis Raiders plus UA, Banelord Tartarus, two Warwitches, a Pistolwraith and a Skarlock. That’s a very competitive list and everything in it can fulfil multiple roles. Thankfully I’m familiar with most of the list, so I knew what was facing me across the table.
The Battle
I won the starting roll and opted to go first. Probably a mistake as the scenario kicks in on the 2nd Player’s 2nd Turn, but I pushed the army forward and cast Respawn on the Ravagore. Already I started to get into caught up in the terrain. This generally isn’t a problem for Legion, but we were fighting in an abandoned mining town. Pathfinder and Eyeless Sight weren’t a whole lot of use and my medium based infantry began tripping over each other. I needed to move my army up to contest the control areas, so a flanking deployment wasn’t really an option.
Anthony moved up aggressively, launching the Deathripper forward in order to arc Crippling Grasp onto the Warmongers. The Satyxis flew up my right flank as the Bane Thralls came up the left. Anthony moved the key solos up, safely hidden behind a building that sat between the two control areas.
On the next turn I charged the Deathripper with the Angelius and totalled it. Next I used Banishing Ward to clear Crippling Grasp, cast Blight Bringer on the Angelius and feated. Blight Bringer on the Angelius was a defensive move as I didn’t want the Satyxis moving into the middle of the board. I moved the Ravagore up to take a pot shot at a Warwitch, but missed. I made a mistake here as I should have moved it into the other control zone (rather than beside the Angelius). The Warmongers continued tripping over themselves, but managed to move into the middle of the board. The Raek moved to make things awkward for the Satyxis. The Gobbers dropped a cloud on Saeryn and everything else repositioned.
Anthony used Tartarus’s Ghost Walk ability to move through the building and placed Curse on the Warmongers. Two Banes made contact and that was enough to kill two of the blighted Ogryn. A Warwitch moved up to Venom spray two more. All of a sudden the left flank was looking very weak as I only had the lone Deathstalker contesting it. The Ripjaw ran close to her and one arced spell later Anthony had secured a control point. Things were a little more promising on the right flank – the Satyxis had a lot of shuffling to do in order to manoeuvre around to obstacles I’d put in place.
On my turn I went after the Satyxis and Banes. On the left the remaining Warmongers (unit leader and Warchief) cleaved through three Banes; on the right the Raek leapt into the middle of five Satyxis while two Gobbers ran to block off a potential Satyxis charge. Saeryn charged another raider, but failed to kill her. She cast Blight Bringer through the Raek killing those five Satyxis. The Angelius took out Tartarus but missed a Warwitch, leaving finishing her off to the Ravagore. Amazingly a Spell Martyr managed to kill a Satyxis in melee!
Anthony feated this turn and decimated the remaining Warmongers on the left. He shuffled around the back of that central building (lining up for his next turn). The Skarlock dropped Crippling Grasp on the Ravagore. The Satyxis did nothing on the right, but Saeryn was still pinned in melee.
Deneghra’s feat caught most of my army apart from the Saeryn, the Gobbers and the Raek. Saeryn used the Raek’s animus to move out of melee with the raider, turned and killed her with a thrown knife. She then cast Blight Bringer defensively on the Angelius. The Raek moved to block line of sight to her (as much as was possible) as did the Spell Martyr. The Ravagore moved back slightly (it had an effective SPD of 2″!) and dropped a surprisingly accurate AoE killing three Banes.
Anthony saw his chance and went for it. He moved Deneghra out to drop a Scourge on Saeryn doing a good amount of damage, but importantly knocking her down. The Skarlock cast Venom doing more damage, but it was left to a Pistolwraith to take the final shot. Game over.
That was a great game. I haven’t played my Legion in a while – they are such good fun and I really enjoyed the Ravagore and Raek.
Owen