048 Ashlynn1 Flame vs Omodamos1 DL
I have a theory that Ashlynn in Flame could be a decent drop into Infernals since she can deal with Zaateroth. Against Omodamos I hope that the Precursors with Quicken can trade effectively into his Horrors.
https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-1H5roGlLpboToRoKoKoIoMoMoYoEp2oF
Mercenaries [Theme] Flame in the Darkness
[Ashlynn 1] Ashlynn d’Elyse [+29]
– Gallant [17]
– Toro [13]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [7]
Grand Master Gabriel Throne [7]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
Morrowan Archon [8]
Morrowan Archon [8]
Ragman [0(4)]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Order of Illumination Vigilants (max) [10]
Precursor Knights (max) [14]
– Morrowan Battle Priest (3) [0(6)]
– Precursor Knight Officer & Standard [4]
https://conflictchamber.com/?cg201b_-1yo7ococoaoaoaolosonoSotoqoqopogovogou
Infernals [Theme] Dark Legacy
[Omodamos 1] Omodamos, The Black Gate [+28]
– Lamenter [7]
– Lamenter [7]
– Tormentor [12]
– Tormentor [12]
– Tormentor [12]
– Lord Roget d’Vyaros [4]
Alain Runewood, Lord of Ash [0(5)]
Great Princess Regna Gravnoy [0(6)]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
Nicia, Hound of the Abyss [4]
The Wretch [4]
The Wretch [4]
Valin Hauke, The Fallen Knight [7]
Cultist Band (max) [7]
– Master Preceptor Orin Midwinter [4]
Cultist Band (max) [7]
Infernal Gate [12]
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Turn 1A
Infernals get the first turn. I choose the side that does not have the choke point in the middle. I have lost AD troops to Nicia top of 1 before so I take care to spread them out well. Regna summons a Shrieker in the forest. Omodamos summons a Soul Stalker who walks up to the cloud on the right hand side.
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Turn 1B
The shrieker is a definite problem for my Precursor Knights. It is within 5” of the gate, so it threatens 18”. I have a vague plan on making groups outside of 4” of each other and keeping in cover, but in the end I don’t do a very good job of it. The group on the far left is within 18”, but outside of 16”.
I risk putting two archons behind the rock. The Soul stalkers can reach one of them using a gate move, but without feat it will be difficult to avoid giving me cover. The red thamarite stays outside of 15”.
The yellow archon needs to be over on the left side and covering the PKs with Soul Ward. It is not a big problem this turn since they are only threatened by Regna’s Shrieker, but Omodamos has an ability where he collects souls when battle group models kill something. I also need the veteran leader over on that side.
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Turn 2A
The Shrieker gets placed and kills the four PKs on the far left. A Desolator is summoned next to the forest, blocking line of sight for most of my knights. Lamenter and Soul Stalker contest the central flags. The gate misses a shot at the blue Morrowan arcon.
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Turn 2B
My dice are not kind to me this turn and it takes most of my activation just to kill the Lamenter contesting the central flag even with Ashlynn’s feat up. Thamarite archons try to shoot down the Soul stalker, but only deal minor damage. Since the Soul Stalker is barely scratched I decide to keep the blue Morrowan archon back instead of going in. I position it next to the red Thamarite since I am a bit worried that the Soul Stalker can charge in with ghostly from feat and be outside of my feat and therefore want the +2 DEF. I think I would have much better off running to a more central location.
On the left side I am too far from Ashlynn to benefit from feat and end up missing most of my attacks due to being within the Lamenter aura. The Desolator cloud really screws me over here, so only 4 PKs make it into combat. I hit with one or two attacks on the Tormentor, but damage is low due to Locked Horns.
Score 2-1
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Turn 3A
The Shrieker and Desolator annihilate my PK unit on the left. A new Desolator is summoned near the central forest. It walks up to jam and contest the flag.
Score 3-2
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Turn 3B
Gallant kills the central Desolator. Vigilants charge in on the Desolator on my left, but I am still not able to deal any relevant damage due to Locked Horns.
Thamarite archons and the Yellow morrowan fail to deal with the Soul Stalker. It is down to only a couple of boxes remaining, so I spend some time considering if I want to charge in with Throne. I will have to eat a Tormentor counter charge, but I still have the Toro to activate. Unfortunately my opponent finds an angle where the Tormentor can contest the flag and still be outside of the Toro’s threat range due to the placement of my Thamarite archon who has already activated. To add insult to injury the counter charging Tormentor cranks the damage roll on Thorne and boxes him. I do pass the tough check, but I don’t get to attack. This means that I will not score any of the central flags.
In hindsight it is of course easy to say I should have planned for this, for example by charging the Toro into the Tormentor first. But on the other hand, if everything had gone well I could have sent the Toro in on the left flank to support my quickly crumbling infantry.
I still have the Toro left to activate. Considering how badly this turn is going I try to set up for a long term assassination and trample in to attack Omodamos and contest the zone.
Score 4-2
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Turn 4A
Omodamos feats and clears my entire army. The Soul Stalkers runs up to contest my zone. No summons. The left flag has been cleared, but my opponent does not have any available solos to score.
Score 4-3
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Turn 4B
Ashlynn kills the soul stalker. I try to clear the central flag with the Morrowan archon, but fall short. A Vigilant runs in to contest the square zone.
Score 5-3
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Turn 5A
Regna runs up to claim the flag. Tormentors kill all my solos and Omodamos himself finishes off the blue Morrowan. The damaged tormentor runs into the zone, engaging Ashlynn.
Score 5-5
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Turn 5B
Ashlynn is more than 5” away from the Shrieker, so she casts Flashing blade a couple of times to kill the Tormentor. Then she charges Omodamos taking two counter charges. I don’t remember how much damage I do (if any at all), but Omodamos is not really in any danger.
Turn 6A
Ashlynn is almost already dead from the counter charges, so Omodamos one-shots her easily.
Sadly, a loss for the Mercenaries
:: Evaluation ::
I don’t think Ashlynn is the solution to Infernals. The Precursor Knights are particularly useless since they are effectively just free focus for Omodamos. A Shrieker alone can kill up to 8 PKs on a good turn and they struggle to deal enough damage through Locked Horns and Lamenter aura.
We played on a scenario which can be a bit risky for Omodamos due to lack of solos. I made some play errors on my turn 3 and with some better dice rolls and better positioning of Ashlynn I could have ended up stealing the game on scenario. Attrition wise I don’t see any way that Ashlynn can come out ahead, so on any other scenario I think this would be a horrible matchup. A clubmate who was watching the game suggested cutting the Thamarite archons and adding double Resolutes. I think this is a reasonable suggestion since it makes me less vulnerable to admonisher and Hellmouths, so I will be trying that some time in the future.