Not Dead Yet vs Long Dead Asthmatics

Got a nice practice game into Gaspy3 with tons of slayers against a player who recently picked up the list. I'd seen it run before, and have been aware of it for awhile, but this was my first game into it. It is... an experience. My opponent going first meant he had to hold back to avoid getting into my charge ranges (edit: I put "with his heavies" here, I think it was just his lights) - between Mobility and the +2" deployment from the theme there is some crazy board presence here. I'll go into the round-by-round, but first, the lists!

Lists

https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201b_-0I4r4x6S4C4C6N6u6u6v6v6H5Qft5Rft5Rft5U

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] The Exalted

(Zaal 1) Supreme Aptimus Zaal [+26]

 - Basilisk Krea [7]

 - Cyclops Raider [9]

 - Cyclops Shaman [8]

 - Cyclops Shaman [8]

 - Aptimus Marketh [0(5)]

Ancestral Guardian [5]

Ancestral Guardian [5]

Extoller Soulward [0(3)]

Extoller Soulward [3]

Hakaar the Destroyer [0(7)]

Immortals (min) [9]

 - Extoller Advocate [4]

Immortals (max) [15]

 - Extoller Advocate [4]

Immortals (max) [15]

 - Extoller Advocate [4]

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

I've posted this list before and talked about it, but I think it's worth pointing out the number of ghost shot guns here. With the change to Extoller guns (Zaal1 included) now functioning against undead, they're actually capable of dealing quite the punch vs Cryx warcasters.

https://conflictchamber.com/#c4201b_-0UbY19191v1v1v1v1v1v1h3h1u2kf02Bkj

Cryx Army - 75 / 75 points

[Theme] Black Industries

(Asphyxious 3) Asphyxious the Hellbringer [+24]

 - Deathripper [0(6)]

 - Deathripper [0(6)]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Slayer [10]

 - Stalker [8]

Iron Lich Overseer [5]

 - Seether [13]

Machine Wraith [2]

Soul Trapper [1]

Warwitch Siren [4]

Black Ogrun Iron Mongers [6]

My opponent has been working out including the Seether package, and it's honestly quite impressive. Given the free charge and empower focus + jack marshal benefit and dark shroud it's one hell of an armor cracker. Interestingly this game I learned just how good of an infantry clearer it was, too, given the MAT 10 and berserk attacks it got into a pile of immortals. 

The Game

Round 1

My opponent pops mobility and runs his army into my side of the board easily. He has to keep back a bit in some spots so he doesn't run into my threat ranges. Fuuu.

I run up to try and bog him down and set up for trading in the subsequent rounds, but I've gotta take it on the chin here and hope I don't lose too much.

Round 2

A simple five slayers come in on me, killing 12 immortals. Vociferon hex blasts IR off the unit on the left. Gaspy pops feat.

Vengeance moves prove quite fruitful, as the Last Standed unit of immortals (central) lays on the hurt. My opponent immediately regretted not stripping that.

The last standed unit goes incorp and charges the stalker, chicken, and a slayer. They wreck their targets (though the slayer is still up). an AG finishes off the stalkers there, and I try and gum up the one on the far right. Looking back, I should've seen if I could kil him to score the zone/flag, but I'm not entirely sure if there was a reasonable way to do it.

Leftmost unit goes incorp and charges the Seether, taking out his arms. Hakaar, AG, Krea take down the slayers on the left.

Not sure when this happened

Bottom of 2 my opponent scores 1.

Round 3

My opponent has a pretty clear victory condition here - He needs to kill 2 immortals (on the Seether), an immortal and an advocate, and my objective. Running the math on spells dropping the objective gives him a 77% chance (he is up 6 or so focus thanks to feat). He allocates a few focus and goes for it.

Seether gets Strike True and kills all 5 immortals on him clearing the left for scoring. Slayer on the left kills Hakaar. Slayer in the right zone goes and... fails to kill either the advocate or immortal. Dice just went super cold. Gaspy goes and pops them with spells, then camps behind the building.

Checking some ranges, I can't get my Kovaas into Gaspy, but one AG can actually walk to range. Additionally, both shamans and one Extoller can get to him - Shamans even get to aim! Zaal, likewise, can get there. These 4 are of course shooting through the building.

Shaman aim, boost, miss...

Extoller walks up, boosts, hits and dice a boosted off 3.

Shaman aim, boost, hits, does a scratch.

Raider tries it and... misses (needed a 14).

Zaal goes, walks up and boosts his shot and deals some nice damage with a pow 14. Pops feat, last stands the AG. AG spends a soul for +2" movement, walks up, and swings - double boosting with the feat for 4 dice to hit 4 dice for damage. Gaspy goes down.

Victory!

Holy crap that list is good on scenario. Even knowing what it did I didn't expect to be on quite such a back foot at the start. Even with my opponents bad luck I don't know that I had an out besides the assassination, with him at 4-0 still and his far flag out of my reach. I'm fortunate that I had so much shit that could go incorp and move through his front line, and the trading power of AG's and Immortals vs heavies felt like solid value this game. I'm not sure if I should have feated a turn earlier or not, as I may have taken out more stuff and been able to turn it into an attrition slug fest. Instead the assassination worked out, and I find myself super content with the shooting this list can present. I look forward to running some variant on it at the SOO next week, and hopefully I can get some more practice in before then.