Mortenebra & Deryliss (Infernal Machines Tier 4)
Slayer x 4
Reaper x 2
Corrupter
Seether
Warwitch Siren x 2
Scrap Thrall x 9
Scenario was Outflank and Nigel (my Cryxian opponent of the day at Tanelorn WGC) won the roll off and chose to go first, from deployment:
Deployment was OK for me, had a building to anchor one flank and I started off on the right thought, keeping everyone nicely compact as the Cryx force brought few AOE's.
Unsurprisingly, Nigel raced everything he had forwards. With an extended deployment zone and AD'ing Scrap Thralls they were already more than half way across the board as the elves advanced. The Invictors picked off six Thralls and the myrmidons smacked another two and little could be done against the helljacks owing to having Stealth during the first round. Big mistake number one: Eiryss activated after the Halberdiers after a great deal of um-ing and ah-ing over whether or not to plink Spectral Steel off one of the Reapers (pro-tip... should've!). Kae feated forcing the Cryxians to back off a little, and they did so, while still maintaining a presence in both control zones, while one raced forward to tie up the Phoenix.
Managed to Backlash the running Slayer mid-combat and was left with four damage after the Phoenix, Artificer and a few of the Halberdiers smacked it, while the rest of the Halberdiers charged another Slayer and the second Reaper. Their reform move, though, was big mistake number two. They're not Sentinels (clearly!) and gain little from being base to base. Punishment duly followed when they were trampled next turn leaving only a small handful left alive, no thanks to Terminal Velocity. Mortenebra's battlegroup continued a leisurely advance, tying up the Invictors who, even with their Flank bonus barely managed to wreck the already damaged Corrupter. The less said about the Stormfall Archers' performance the better... :|
A sorry state indeed:
And that was basically it... Nigel won comfortably on scenario, but gaining only 19VP (all the Halberdiers, even if the Standard Bearer was still alive(!), the Artificer, half the Archers, Eiryss and the Thane) while I won 28 (I think... from two Slayers, one Corrupter and all the Thralls). My battlegroup was untouched though the Invictors were about to get swiped if the game continued further into Nigel's fourth turn, even if another trio of his helljacks were scraped and moderately beaten.
In fairness to myself, had I won the first turn, the integrity of my battleline would not have been so easily disrupted and with his Scrap Thralls a minimum of 3" away, and in prime position to be picked off by the Invictors, Myrmidons and even the Archers, setting up feat turn nicely. But, dreaming isn't always a good idea.
Anyway, once again, AD'ing seems to cause me more headaches than it should as Eiryss did little and achieved less. In general, attrition seems to be what I'm alright with, but boosting key-rolls passes me by (the Banshee missed both its shots on 6's to hit, rather infuriatingly). As for those that can't be boosted, well, here we go:
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper... and Stormfall Archers:
While most factions have a dedicated light artillery weapon team unit (or something equivalent), Retribution's Heavy Rifle Team is on the bad side of "meh" in terms of quality, and the prevailing consensus is that they have a home in a total of zero caster's lists (with the improbable exception of Ossyan, and even he includes them with great reluctance), thus, Retribution's real go-to artillery piece is the Stormfall Archer unit. Toting compound bows with superb range, they bring ranged flexibility to the table. If you know anything about Ravyn, then you don't need me to tell you this... so why did I take Stormfalls with Kae yesterday?
I did so before, in a rather strange 40pt game against, Iain, another journeyman level player at Tanelorn, and they performed admirably... taking down one Bonejack and knocking out a few Thralls here and there. But during the game against Mortenebra, with Kae... getting the Stormfalls to hit isn't that much of a problem, there are four of them and with a threat range of 21", at least a couple will hit what you point them at, but hitting reliably and when you really want/need them to is a problem. Kae does little, if anything for the Stormfall Archers, and my original idea of having them soften targets up for the other units to charge into became flawed as Nigel's game developed (hardly mine, for all I was involved in it). Or rather, it was flawed from the start. Granted, taking it against a helljack heavy list isn't the brightest idea, but carpet-bombing an area of low-ARM units makes them a great unit. Still, with a decidedly mediocre RAT, and no way of boosting it, their inclusion in a Kae list was problematic from the start as reliably hitting is necessary.
With Ravyn, they have feat to be completely and utterly devastating as Firestorm mitigates their inability to hit particularly well and four Brutal shots at most things has them bleeding from the ears. Rahn can use Force Hammer or Telekinesis to make life a little easier for them. Ossyan's Gravity Well makes their damage output close to obscene (even AOE damage under this feat can make heavy infantry worried) while Quicken lets them race into a prime firing position early on and aim the entire time. Issyria buffs them with feat as well, letting them Starstrike Stealth'd high-DEF units and smell the barbecue later, and even away from feat turn, Blinding Light makes things easier too. Even Garryth, who has little affinity for the Archers, could give them Apparition to increase their threat range and aiming potential. Both incarnations of Vyros are too much of a pair of elitists (Dawnguard or get lost!) to favour the Stormfalls. And that leaves Kae. Her spells can protect them from... well, other spells, and feat still leaves them vulnerable to straying blast damage, owing to their mediocre ARM. So in general, there's little there to help, except one combination: Arcantrik Bolt & Brutal'ing the stationary 'jack. But this is very situational. Strangely, I didn't use Arcantrik Bolt at all against Nigel, given how many juicy targets there were, but he successfully presented me with too many threats to deal with at the same time, I ended up following a familiar path (piecemeal commitment), and besides... Jump Start. Alternatively, in that game: Banshee's Momentum & more Brutal'ing. But the need to effectively deal with multiple threats is too great to have fifteen points (with another three in the Artificer, for support) absorbed in dealing with six or seven points.
Thus, I return to a basic 42(+7)pts (basically my list minus the Stormfall Archers and the House Shyeel Artificer). The balance of ranged & melee combat is fine, I think, as the units now have the right role and the battlegroup is dominated by two utility pieces.
For the remaining 8pts, the ideal would be elements that have high hitting power without the need for support. Though Kae is a support caster, making things easy (whether through spells or otherwise) is quite situational, so at the moment, I'm looking at high MAT/RAT stuff... Within the 42pts are elements that can either boost their own hitting reliability/damage output or it's already relatively good anyway. Everything is 6+ on the stat that counts and those with less than 8 can Combine, boost or get another bonus (i.e. Flank). As much as I'd like to bring the Mage Hunter Strike Force back, they can take advantage of Backlash but little else (yes, I know I'm wrong, and why I'm wrong is the reason I'm still a comparative noob at the game). So 8pts... the Destor Thane is tempting, but its utility might be a bit of a trap given its average stat weapon. My initial thoughts were Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen & Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios as hard-hitters for the alpha strike, but another gun wouldn't go amiss...
But for all this... I learn. Lesson to be taught: how to sell an element dearly in battle. That and learning how to use Eiryss, Angel of Retribution properly.
Or, alternatively... I could pack in this whole game and continue learning Godslayer! -__-
Woohoo! -.-
Bubi
