Sunday, September 30, 2012

How not to play


I played a few games today at my LGS, and I wanted to write up an aftermath for one of them because I felt like it was really challenging, and while I did a lot of things well I also screwed up royally at points. I may end up putting together a full battle report later, but I just wanted to get my ideas down since I think it'll help me learn from the experience  The list I was playing was my typical Saeryn list with one exception: I was proxying my Carnivean as Proteus. I really want to like this guy since he's a character version of my favorite beast, and I thought he might do well in my Saeryn list since I have the Blackfrost Shard to help with the normal complaint that he's pillow fisted. For reference, here's the list:

Saeryn
-Proteus
-Scythean
-Shredder
-Shredder
Striders + UA
Blackfrost Shard
2 Spell Martyrs

My opponent was playing Cryx, and I'm starting to understand why everyone hates playing against them. While they don't have anything crazy powerful, each caster seems to be able to layer buffs in a way that makes fighting against them truly painful. This game against Epic Goreshade was no exception:

Goreshade the Cursed
-Leviathan
-Skarlock Thrall
Full Bane Knights
Min Bane Thralls
Min Bane Thralls
Min Bane Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus

Hordes of infantry, my worst match up  Worse still, I know from the get-go I'm not going to be able to test out Proteus against heavies as there's only one. The Blackfrost Shard is also going to struggle to pull their weight since Ice Cage and Kiss of Lyliss  aren't going to be effective on single-wound infantry. Still, at least I have Blightbringer and Saeryn's feat, and it seems like a good chance to try to figure this match up out.

To the right side directly in front of my deployment zone is a hill with a forest on it, so I decide to do try a refused flank strategy by setting up my entire force in the right corner, causing his army to come at me piecemeal as the units directly across from me show up before the ones on the opposite side of the board. The forest should also help me block charges while I pick off a few guys from range. Or at least that was the plan until he put Occulation on the Bane Knights so everything but Goreshade, the Leviathan, and the Skarlock Thrall had Stealth. So much for my Striders making their points back... All told about 25 points of my army is functioning at half strength or less off the bat. Really wishing I had my Carnivean right about now!

Despite how horrendous the match up looks the Refused Flank worked pretty well. I Blightbringer the units that clump up near the right edge of the board to get around the forest, and keep my Striders up front so I can take shots and Reform back if he wanders too close. His Leviathan shoots out one of my Shredders, and though Tartarus wanders close to Proteus I can't punish him thanks to Sudden Death, an upkeep that grants him Countercharge. Since it triggers from 6" away, getting close enough to shoot him means eating a 4 dice blow, definitely not worth it. Have I mentioned I miss my Carnivean yet? I'm so flustered about what to do with Proteus now that he can't kill Tartarus that I forget to rile him when he ends his movement, leaving me short on fury and forcing me to cut.

Overall though things aren't that bad. He uses Vengence and walks a few Bane Knights through the forest to attack my Striders, but struggles to hit their high DEF. Meanwhile the forces from the far side of the board are reaching me by running, but they are close enough to Proteus that he can take several of them out. On the upside, my opponent moves Goreshade up to take advantage of his Elite Cadre ability, bringing him close enough for me to trample or charge the Scythean into him. To make things safer I feat first, but despite using Blightbringer and charging Saeryn in I can't quite clear a charge lane. Here's where I make my massive blunder. Rather than settling for a trample and using my feat to protect me, I try to Hellfire the last enemy out of the way, which fails to hit on snake eyes, leaving me with no fury. I end up trampling my Scythean, and he manages to seriously injure Goreshade with one fully boosted hit. I'm actually in great shape here: I'm all but immune to his army and his badly injured Warcaster is in melee with one of my heavies. Or at least I would be, except his Leviathan as Phantom Hunter and can see me through the forest. Though he boosts and rolls well I should be able to take the damage from the first shot - if I hadn't had to cut for 4 because I forgot to rile Proteus.

The loss doesn't feel any better in hindsight. Yes, it was a bad matchup, but the refused flank and my opponent's attempts to break it by playing aggressively gave me a great opportunity to win, and thanks to my mistakes I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Ah well, there's always next time...

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