Order of Illumination Vigilants (max) [10]

Order of Illumination Vigilants (max) [10]

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Turn 1A

Stryker gets first turn. I chose the side that looked the least congested and that had a rock protecting the flag. My opponent runs up respecting my shooting threat range, but staying within Befuddle+shooting with both Morrowan archons. The Lancer takes a very cautious position behind the forest.

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Turn 1B

I consider going for a couple of Soulfires on the clump of Vigilants in the forest, but it looks too tempting to go for a Morrowan archon. My yellow morrowan runs up and Fiona arcs a Befuddle and Veil of Mists on his Morrowan behind the obstruction. Unfortunately I have boxed in my Charger a bit so I need to commit with the Vigilants. I decide to play it safe and keep most in range. They roll hot and end up finishing the Archon without the help of the Charger. I am a bit worried that I have over extended them a bit, but it would have been a lot worse to leave the Morrowan alive.

Other than that I keep everything outside of charge ranges. I realise that Gallant has been placed in a way too passive position. I have probably measured the Charger and Vigilants’ shooting range, but they already have a decent target in my Morrowan archon, so I should have pushed Gallant harder. Similarly I don’t like my Acosta placement. I didn’t really plan out where to put him, so he just kept outside of shooting range.

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Turn 2A

Stryker tries to scatter a Lightning Storm in hopes of clearing a couple of Vigilants, but the scatter goes backwards. He shoots a hand cannon shot at the archon, which I shield guard to the Battle Priest. Then the Charger and most of the Vigilants go ahead and shoot the Morrowan archon, but only do a total of 7 damage. Realistically I should have Mad Visioned one of the Charger shots, but I completely forgot in the heat of the moment and in the end it wasn’t needed. Some shots go out on my Vigilants, but missing.

Opponent runs a Vigilant into the right circular zone. Resolutes start wrapping around the left zone obstruction.

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Turn 2B

At this point I know I am in a very good position and try to focus on just playing quickly and killing whatever is easiest to get to. The first priority is to clear the right hand zone, so the red Thamarcon walks up and rolls two shots. With Death Driver I kill three Vigilants and deal 3 damage to Glyn Cormier. Mechanics run up to claim the zone.

Throne walks up to score my flag, giving Stir the blood to my Vigilants. They charge in on Gallant, and with some help from the Morrowan Archon and some Charger shots the evil Gallant goes down. Fiona feats and kills Ragman with a Soulfire.

Alexia is sitting on one soul from the Battle Priest that died. I completely brain fart and set up to contest the left zone next turn instead of just running up to contest this turn. This was an obvious and stupid mistake.

Score 2-1

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Turn 3A

Stryker Lightning storms the Vigilants who charged his Gallant. The rest of his turn is spent finishing off the Morrowan archon. Again the rolls are pretty low and I have two shield guards. I could actually have saved the archon had I spent Mad Vision, but I half way forgot. My opponent offered me to take it back, but I didn’t care to spend the time and figure out how many attacks he would have left etc.

Resolutes and Vigilants on the left shoot a bunch at Throne, but fail to get the kill. I assume that it would have been possible for my opponent to put a Resolute within contesting range and still claim the zone, but I think he was confident that Throne would die. It looks like he had 5 Resolutes and 3 Vigilants, so it would be reasonable to expect, but I would for sure have spent Mad Visions if it came down the wire.

Score 3-2

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Turn 3B

The Thamarite archons clear the right zone and finish off the Hermit and Glyn Cormier. I Befuddle and kill his Lancer with my Toro and a bunch of Thrall Warriors. I could have tried to kill or cripple the Charger as well, but I decided to not overextend and play quickly since I am in such a good position already.

I contest his zone and score three points. I have messed up a Thrall placement so I need to spend the last one just running up to claim the flag. It would have been much better if I had been able to position for contesting the left zone next turn.

Score 6-2

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Turn 4A

Stryker casts Positive Charge on the Charger and feats. A vigilant gets a hit on the green Thamarite. He needs a 14 to get the kill, so I decide to risk not Mad Visioning it. Of course I am instantly punished and the archon goes down.

His Throne, the Charger and Morrowan archon manage to clear the Toro through Mad Visions, but a Thrall and the Hermit is still left to contest the flag.

Over on the left side the Resolutes end up killing the contesting Thrall and removing Throne from the flag. Unfortunately for my opponent he had to spend his feat attacks removing two of the Resolutes in order to score the zone. The Vigilants jam and deal some minor damage to my Charger and Gallant.

Score 6-4

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Turn 4B

I am looking for ways to clear out the Charger and remove Alexia, but I mess up the target selection a bit and have to settle for removing most of the Vigilants. I kill the Charger and the Morrowon archon, but am unable to get another attack on Throne. I think I cast both Befuddle and Veil on the Morrowan, but end up overkilling him because he had already taken a good Charger shot on a previous turn. A much better line of play for me would have been to Befuddle Throne outside of contesting range of the flag.

I end up scoring my zone, but failing to contest his zone.

Score 7-5

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Turn 5A

Alexia spawns a bunch of Thralls who kill my objective. Resolutes kill my Charger and Stryker claims the left zone. The last Vigilant contests my zone.

Score 7-8

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Turn 5B

Thamarite archon kills most of the Thralls with an eruption shot. I make a huge mistake again and choose to death driver the Vigilant in the zone. Had I just gone for the Thamar’s teeth shot Alexia could have taken the soul and spawned a Thrall to contest the right hand zone. Due to the lack of pathfinder I am unable to get Gallant within 4” of the flag, so Ragman has to run up and contest.

Score 9-8

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Turn 6A

Resolute kills Ragman and scores two points. A Thrall warrior contests my zone, but he is unable to contest the top flag.

Score 10-10

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Turn 6B

I clear my zone, put Gallant in to contest the bottom flag. Morrowan archon finishes off the objective and Acosta runs in to contest the left zone.

Score 13-10

Turn 7A

We call it at this point since my opponent would have needed to out-score me by 4 points over the last round.

Victory for the Mercenaries!

:: Evaluation ::

I think Fiona has a clear matchup advantage here and my list composition with the two Thamarite archons versus his double Vigilants makes it even better for me. I realised during the game that I am not used to play from an early advantage and made a couple of mistakes which meant that I was unable to close out the game before turn 7. For example, had I only remembered to contest the left zone on turn 2B I would have gone to 6-1 on round 3.

My opponent has challenged me to a best of three, so I expect to play this matchup again in the near future. I am not completely happy with the list, so I will try to swap Gallant for a unit of Resolutes and a second Charger in order to get a stronger shooting presence. I need to clear up 5 points somehow though, so I need to make some difficult cuts.