Round 1

Yesterday, there was a  local tourney that comprised of 3 rounds with six 5 man teams where you could bring one or two 42 point lists.  If you decided to bring 2 lists then both had to be played at least once during the tournament.  I decided to take down my camera to take some pictures with the goal of doing write-ups after the tourney if my opponents had no objections.  Being the good sports that they are, none of them had any objections and some of them even reminded me that its picture time or automatically paused the clock (65min games) at the end of the turn so that I could comfortably take a picture.  So, here we are now after the tourney and here I am writing up my match results.

In the first round I got picked by an opposing Cygnar player.  He was running eHaley and another caster that I unfortunately dont recall.  My two lists were Tier4 Absylonia and pVayl so my decision was pretty simple for what I would use against him.

The scenario: Incursion
The lists:

Cygnar
Points: 42/42
Major Victoria Haley (*5pts)
* Lancer (6pts)
* Centurion (9pts) *bonded
* Squire (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard (3pts)
* 3 Stormblade Infantry Storm Gunner (3pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Journeyman Warcaster (3pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)
Stormblade Captain (2pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)
Stormsmith Stormcaller (1pts)

Legion
Faction: Absylonia - Winds of Change
Casters: 1/1
Points: 42/42
Tiers: 4
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (*5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Proteus (10pts)
* Seraph (7pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

I think I won the roll off but decided to go first seeing as Absylonia is a rush list and its good to jam them up into his face right away.  Deploying first, my thoughts were to put Proteus on the far left side due to herding and then going up the middle with Absylonia from where I could go left or right depending on the situation that unfolds.

The deployment

After seeing his deployment and that he went really light on the left side with only the Gun Mages and his Thorn while putting all his heavy hitters on the right side I quickly formulated my plan of pushing hard on the left side to dominate there while delaying on the right.  With this plan I started my first turn with my heavy advance moves...

End of turn 1 for player 2

Not much happened during the first turn other than movement and a couple upkeep spells for both of us so I just took a picture at the end of his turn.  Though for a quick breakdown of our first turns I put out Forced Evolution on the right side Angelius which ran into the right zone.  Carnivore went on the left Angelius, which, ran into the left zone along with Proteus.  The rest was just the shredders putting out Tenacity and advancing a bit forward along with the forsaken which siphoned off the excess fury that I riled on the heavy beasts.  My opponent put out Arcane shield on the Centurion with his Journeyman warcaster, cast Deceleration with his warcaster along with perhaps something else (don't recall) and just ran/moved up everything.

End of my 2nd turn

So time to put my plan into action to push hard on the left while playing delay tactic on the right.  I moved the right Angelius into the cover of the trees and as far as I could get him away from the enemy while staying in the zone.  Unfortunately, the trees that we were using for terrain couldn't be removed... meaning that I couldn't just tippy toe the zone and was actually sitting like 1.5" closer than I had to be.  Absylonia cast slipstream on herself and advanced towards the left zone to be able to dominate next turn and to move Proteus 2" closer to the Lancer.  She also cast Playing God on a shredder and finished up with putting Tenacity on herself.  The PG Shredder went rabid and ran into the Gun Mages to tie down 2 and to force a terror check which they easily passed.  The Seraph came across to the left to slipstream the left Angelius forward a little bit, which then charged the Gun Mages killing two and overtaking to tie down another 2 (one being hard to see due to the wings).  Proteus walks over the wall and shoots his tentacles at the Lancer, boosting both to hit and damage the Lancer gets pulled in and dinged up a little bit with his remaining bought attacks.  I didn't do as much damage as I would have liked but was confident that it wouldn't survive another round.  I had another Shredder run in and tie down the nearest Stormcaller and to act as a speed bump should he try to reposition towards the left.  Forsaken siphon off as much fury as I can but there is more fury out that I can siphon off for next turn though I expect a couple beasts to die anyways.

End of my opponent's second turn

He siphons off a focus from his squire and puts 3 focus on the Centurion in his Control Phase (shocker I know).  Stormblades assault the Angelius in the right that is sitting in the forest and has Forced Evolution on it.  He hopes for a lucky double sixes with the Stormblade Storm Gunners but everything misses.  He puts out Temporal Acceleration with eHaley on the Centurion, feats and Telekinesis the Shredder tying down his Stormcaller.  The Centurion activates and charges the Angelius from 11" + 2" reach.  If I could have been farther back in the forest than I'm not sure if he could have reached me but there is no need to go into that now.  Needing 10s to hit he boosts his first attack... 9... phew... he gets a free attack from Temporal Acceleration... grrr... boosts... 9... phew... he buys an attack and is about to roll but I mention he is better off boosting seeing as there is another focus beside the Centurion so he boosts and hits.  He rolls double sixes or a five and a six for damage and knocks out my spirit... that's what I get for opening my big mouth.  Oh but wait, as I type this I just realize that he used too much focus... 1 for charge, 2 boosted attacks and then another boosted bought attack which comes out to 5 focus.  Arrrggh, he forgot to remove focus from his jack during all the boosting/charging/etc.  Oh well, I'm 100% sure that it was just an accident that sometimes unfortunately happen in the heat of the moment.  So lets continue... the Lancer takes his swings at Proteus but only does about 4-5 damage.  The Gun Mages tied down in melee try to do their best but only one manages to hit the Shredder but that one does like 7-8 damage.  The Stormcallers and Gorman with an Acid Bomb kill the Shredder that was tying down one of the Stormcallers.

All in all, things are going according to plan for me.

End of my 3rd turn

I siphon off the one fury from Proteus and two off the Angelius thanks to herding but that still left it with 1-2 fury.  It passes its threshold check but the Shredder tying down the Gun Mages fails it.  It also fails to kill anything with its frenzy attack so ended up being a total failure.  Seeing as my opponent feated and all my models except the bottom left corner 4 figures (2 Forsaken, Absylonia, Shredder) were out of feat range he got to pretty much activate most of my army in the order that he wanted.  First he started off with my Angelius, which sacrificed its movement to take an armor piercing attack at his Centurion which missed with a 3 or a 4.  Great.  Next came my forsaken nearest the Angelius, which also sacrificed action to move forward a bit to contest the zone seeing as I felt that the Angelius wouldn't be able to hold it for much longer.  Next came the Seraph, which sacrificed movement to shoot his Stormblade Captain to death.  I only rolled a 1 or 2 for the strafe shot but in the end I only needed one shot to kill the solo (boosted the damage).  Next Proteus trashed the Lancer and then the Angelius killed another 2 Gun Mages.  Now, I could activate whatever I wanted but didn't have much left but no matter seeing as Ive already cleared my zone and was contesting his so mission accomplished already.  With Absylonia I put out a new Playing God on the Shredder that was by her side, moved into the zone to dominate and cast a Tenacity on myself for some extra protection and to lower my fury count.  The PG Shredder was run in with rabid to the right zone to tie down some of the Stormblades and so there was another contesting model.  Unfortunately, due to the Piper constantly giving out Heroic Call the Stormblades were immune to the terror check.  For good measure I ran in another Forsaken to contest his zone while moving up my last one so that it will be in position to kill his remaining infantry/solos on the left side.  I score 2 points.

End of my opponent's 3rd turn

 He once again hands out 3 focus to his jack.  I think he started with his warcaster, which did another boosted Telekinesis on the Shredder that was run into his zone to tie down some of Stormblades.  Cast Deadeye on the Stormblades, walked into the zone and then shot the Shredder in the back for some damage.  To my surprise he used his Centurion to kill the 2 nearest Forsaken though I would learn a few seconds later that this was a much wiser move than attacking the Angelius as I thought he would.  The now freed up Stormblades assaulted my Angelius and with the additional die rolls the first or second Stormblade Storm Gunner hit the Angelius allowing the whole unit to easily fry it to a crisp.  One from the unit ended up assaulting the 3rd Forsaken that was in the area and standing in the zone.  At the time I thought this to be a risky move and was to be vindicated when the Stormblade was unable to kill the Forsaken.  Leaving the Shredder and the Forsaken still there to be contested while there wasn't much left that he could use against them.  The Junior warcaster ended up shooting the wounded Shredder to death leaving me only with the Forsaken and some hope that I might be able to contest him for another round.  Unfortunately, his Stormcaller was to negate my hopes with a single lightning strike that fried the Forsaken.  His other Stormcaller went into my zone to contest and tried to fry my last Forsaken but his luck had run out.  His Gun Mages ended up missing all around but he was able to move one more into contest.  Gorman black oiled my Angelius and the nearest Gun Mage with a missed attack.  My opponent scores 2 points so its now 2-2.

End of my 4th turn

Absylonia siphoned off the 3 fury off Proteus and I'm forced to take 2 threshold checks.  One for the Angelius and one for the Seraph.  The Angelius proceeded to fail the check and skewered the Gun Mage that was also black oiled (mat and def penalties canceling each other out).  The Seraph however passed its check which was a good thing since I would need it to contest the enemy zone.  I moved the forsaken into position and used Blight Shroud on his remaining Gun Mages, Stormcaller and Gorman.  Killing all 4 with some nice rolls.  Absylonia cast Forced Evolution on the Seraph, Carnivore on Proteus and put out a Tenacity on herself while also feating to heal the heavily wounded Shredder.  Proteus then advanced on the remaining Gun Mage and Stormcaller and ripped them to pieces, which healed Absylonia back to full.  Thus clearing out my zone once more.  The Seraph charged the nearest Stormblade, which it killed thanks to some boosting through Proteus's herding.  My last surviving Shredder was also tossed into the enemy zone and engaged his Squire.  I score another 2 points... 4-2.

End of my opponent's 4th turn

Another 3 focus gets handed out to the Centurion.  The Squire attempted to run towards my zone but gets destroyed from the Shredder's free strike.  During eHaley's activation a boosted Telekinesis on the Seraph gets it put out of the zone and turned around.  Then he proceeded to shoot the Shredder for some damage.  The Journeyman Warcaster ran into my zone to contest while the Centurion walked over to the Seraph and killed it.  His Stormblades finished off the Shredder earning him another 2 points.  4-4

End of my 5th turn

Okay, so game is in the bag... all I need to do is kill his junior Journeyman Warcaster and Ive won.  I siphoned off the fury and choose Absylonia for the killing blow.  She spontaneously mutated wings and charged the Journeyman Warcaster.  I missed, but no worries, that's why she has a second hand.  Killed.  Okay game over... lets go for some kill points so I put out Forced Evolution on the Proteus.  Proteus activates moves forward and pulls in the Centurion with a ranged attack and starts pummeling.  Activation ends... and I go OMFG!!!!!  I'm not contesting either!!!  Proteus was supposed to run over and contest for the win.  AAARRRGGHHHH!!!  Okay, nothing to do now but to fly in with the Angelius.  I do a quick measure and find it to be in but just barley.  We do some more closer measurements and no the Angelius is just short by about 1/4".  DAMN IT!!!  I know Ive just completely blown the game.  Forsaken runs towards his zone.  Turn ends with both of us scoring... 6-6.

End of my opponent's 5th turn

Focus handed out to the Centurion... long story cut short the Stormblades and Centurion killed the Angelius, Proteus and the Forsaken.  Neither side is contested so another 2 points for 8-8.

Absylonia runs to the far edge of my zone for another round of scoring.  10-10.  He contests and its over 10-12.

Quite frustrating to lose like this seeing as the game was in the bag and had I not lost my concentration for just that split second and run in with the Proteus I would have won.  Cant blame anybody but myself for my loss and was kicking myself about it for the better part of the day.

As for the match itself.  It unfolded pretty much as I had planned and I wouldn't have changed much, except for my obvious HUGE mistake towards the very end.  However, outside that one glaring mistake, I think that my game plan of delaying his scoring on the right flank while dominating the left worked wonderfully well and should have in all reality (except apparently this one :D) brought me the game.