Most of 2014 has been dedicated to my Cygnar. However it is Autumn now, and my other Warmachine army needs some love. That’s right folk, I’ve been playing with elf army lists again and methinks it is time for the Retribution of Scyrah to return!
This move has been prompted by a few things. Firstly, amongst the guys I play with, we only have one other Retribution player, but we have a lot of experienced Cygnar players. And secondly, I have rather rashly decided to enter the Iron Gauntlet next year at Smogcon. While I don’t expect to do particularly well, it would be nice to use a faction I’m more familiar with.
This also gives me some opportunities to look at more ‘complete’ army lists. This requires some explanation. My Cygnar lists tend to be made up of specific models that enable specific synergies. This is all good, but it means that these lists acts as bunch of a single things on the battlefield, and do not necessarily work together as a whole. My elves on the other hand, because I have been using them longer, tend to perform more like complete army package, where different units complement each other as well as providing direct synergies.
The amount of abuse is down to taste
A good example of this is Epic Vyros, Incissar of the Dwanguard. He has a couple of army builds that work, however my personal favourite abuses his Synergy spell. The amount of abuse is down to taste, however I’m working toward five light myrmidons and one heavy to deliver the killer blow to somethnig important. Houseguard Halberdiers and Invictors complement this, adding bodies for Vyros’ feat and other kinds of threats. This army has a definite mode of operation where different elements complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
When the package goes together, it looks something like this at 50 points…
Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard
Apsis
Griffon
Griffon
Griffon
Griffon
Imperatus
Houseguard Halberdier (10)
Halberider Officer & Standard
Soulless Escort
Arcanist
Arcanist
Houseguard Thane
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceeress
And at 75 points, a full complement of Dawnguard Invictors will in to add some shooting, plus an Eiryss, plus some other stuff.
RAHN!!!
With Vyros out of the way, my other lists can be a bit more traditional, or not as the case may be. Warcaster number two is going to be Adeptis Rahn, because I like pushing things about. However because I also like discounted myrmidons and advance deployed Stormfall Archers, I am going to use his No Quarter Theme Force, Fires from On High.
Why? Well to start with, pairing two Phoenix heavy myrmidons with Hyperion provides a big amount of threat saturation, not to menition two arc nodes for Rahn to do his thing.
Thankfully Rahn’s battlegroup isn’t too shabby at removing infantry either, but as backup two units of advanced deployed Stormfall Archers stand ready to carpet bomb any parts of the battlefield the big guys haven’t touched.
Adeptis Rahn, Fires from On High Tier 4
Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
Hyperion
Phoenix
Phoenix
House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Magister
Arcanist
Arcanist
Stormfall Archers (4)
Stormfall Archers (4)
Souless Escort
My final list will probably be Ravyn. I say ‘probably’ because I haven’t decided yet, however as the eVyros and Rahn lists are quite armour heavy, I wanted something different, and very shooty. That means Kaelyssa, Ossyan or Ravyn. Out of the three, Ossyan does similar things to eVyros (but at range), and Kaelyssa is a bit of a generalist. So that leaves Ravyn!
The first obvious question with Ravyn is teir or not. In teir, she can take a silly number of Mage Hunter Strike Force, but she becomes a one trick pony, even if it is a very good trick. Outside teir, things are more sensible so the first question is Discordia or Hyperion?
As I want to design in some options for 75 point lists, and I like Discordia with eVyros, I think Disco is the way to go. This in turn synergises well with Mage Hunter Strike Force and Stormfall Archers, so in they go! At this point we are all in with infantry, so this is where my Invictors also go in, together with Aiyanna & Holt.
The final list has a lot of models, at least from my perspective. Considering the number of ranged weapons, this is inviting death clock problems. Still, this is how it looks…
Ravyn, the Eternal Light
Discordia
Mage Hunter Strike Force (10)
Strike Force Commander
Dawnguard Invictors (10)
Invictor Officer & Standard
Stormfall Archers (4)
Stormfall Archers (4)
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
Arcanist
Ghost Sniper
Lady Aiyanna & Master Holt
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
This list adds a lot of useful options and answers for any potential 75 point lists. This is good, however as it is extremely unlikely I’m going to get as far as the last four in the Iron Gauntlet, it is largely pointless. The best thing here is that I have to paint relatively little to field all of these lists. At the moment I’m only missing Imperatus, a Magister, and a Griffon, and I have the Griffon ready to build (by the time I publish this article, that Griffon might even be undercoated).
Anyway, that is the plan, such as it is. So far I’ve played the Ravyn list and it did exactly what it is suppose to, however I think it has too many bodies so I will probably come back to it and do something to make it hit harder in melee and does not leave me struggling against any clocks. As always, some fine tuning required…
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