SmogCon: Masters D #4 (#430): Nemo3 vs Lylyth3

:: Prologue ::

I was hoping to face a faction which would allow me to drop Haley2 for the 4th game so as to not be list-locked in my very last game. Legion however is not a Haley2 game in my experience. Far from it. I decided to go with Nemo3 and just take whatever in the last game because I can hardly imagine more tricky matchups for Haley2 than Lylyth3. Mateusz, my opponent, had travelled from Poland and was more than happy to drop Lylyth3 into Cygnar.

:: Lists ::

Cygnar:

Theme: Storm Division
(Nemo 3) Artificer General Nemo [+25], Bunker
- Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
- Squire [0]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Firefly [8]
- Dynamo [18]
- Lancer [10]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Storm Lances (min) [12]
Major Katherine Laddermore [8]
Journeyman Warcaster [0]
- Firefly [8]

Opponent:

(Lylyth 3) Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight [+29]
 - Carnivean [19]
 - Naga Nightlurker [8]
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower [11]
 - Seraph [14]
 - Typhon [24]
 - Succubus [4]
Strider Deathstalker [4]
The Forsaken [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]
Strider Scouts [9]
 - Strider Scout Officer & Musician [4]
Blighted Nyss Shepherd [1]

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The scenario was Take and Hold. Terrain was terrible. I won the dice-off and at least got to go first. With no-where to hide though this would be a very aggressive game.

:: Game ::

I spread out the Lances and run stuff up. I am hoping I'll be able to skew Lylyth over to the right.

The right Lances received Electrify. Lylyth however got greedy and wanted a kill. She spent her entire fury stack killing off a single model and casting Windwall + Battle Host.

Looking at the picture above I think Lylyth is about as good as dead. She has 0 fury. That is completely crazy against Nemo3. Furthermore the Carnivean has put up its Animus -and- Lylyth is the closest model to it. This means I can hopefully leap off of it without killing it. The only downside is that I cannot get a Firefly within Ionization range of Lylyth. I run the numbers in Odds Machine:

I pretty much gotta take that shot. The only downside is that one of my Fireflies is outside of 16" of the Carnivean (its shot was not included in the calculation above). I was just sure I'd be able to get something else within 4" of it when the time came. Out of habit I upkept Magnetic Field and ditched Electrify. What I realized into my run was that getting a model within 4" of the Carnivean was actually very, very difficult. I had to run the Lance on the right flank, but he was engaged by the Deathstalker. Deathstalkers aren't known for being particularly strong in melee but this guy knew what the stakes were and managed to kill the Lance, just barely. As I'm sure you've probably guessed by now the assassination run failed. Dice simply did not co-operate. Had I upkept Electrify instead of Magnetic Field the last Firefly would've gotten its shot off. I rolled the dice for it and Lylyth would've died.

Sadly, a Loss to the Swans

:: Evaluation ::

Failing an 86% assassination run feels bad. It's a game of dice though and it swings both ways. I have survived similar runs myself from time to time. At least this time there was something else I could've done to up the chance even more. I failed to do so. When going for an assassination run like this it's important to consider absolutely everything. Unfortunately I missed the last piece of the puzzle this time around and Mateusz took home the win.

I dropped out of the tournament after this loss. My only goal was to qualify for the Masters top 8 on Sunday. I felt I came pretty close both in Masters A and Masters D, but this time it was not to be. I played 2 more games at SmogCon but they were both outside of tournaments, in the Iron Arena.