Get the Union! (Guild Ball)

I'm back from London and it's been a wild, wild ride!
Having taking a small hobby break in exchange for the theatre, I'm now back into the Big League for Guild Ball down at my FLGS (Phoenix Games, Stourbridge).

We have entered the third round of fixtures and I'm currently sitting on 1-0-0. I know, that's only one game going into the third week but I have had a bye...so techinically 2-0-0! It's all downhill from here!

This week I'm up against Jimmy (@jimmygstar) and his Union team.
He's currently the only other player to have a bye round at the beginning of the league but he did play his first game against the Pete's Hunters Guild in which he got a 12-8 victory with 2 goals and 2 take outs.

His team for that game was as follows:
*Blackheart [C]
*Coin [M]
*Gutter
*Decimate
*Rage
*Mist

The question is, where does this put me? Well, Jimmy is an incredibly talented player - sitting at the top of the Warmachine and Hordes circuit for many years. The style of the Union and the style of the game sits well with him.

Threats?
Well, there are many threats within the team but I'd be looking to nullify the goal threat - primarilry Mist. The way to do this? Silence's activation control, Obulus' puppet master and 2" melee threat.
The constant combination of Gutter pulling players by Chain Grab will be a worrying site - particularly if it's like last game when I offered up players to get even closer to iscolate (more on that later).
Now, some of you are reading this and thinking to yourself: "Yes, but there are 4 other models who are freakishly good at what they do!" and you would be right. It's quite important that I don't get pulled into this war of attrition . I did that last time against Si (@irons1de) and it nearly didn't end well for me!
This doesn't mean that Jimmy will be playing the same team again, however the core of that team will undoubtedly feature in our match up. Averisse and Greede could be a strong possibility to try and shut out turn activation/Obulus' abilities. 

Lessons Learnt / Things to avoid 
What did I learn from last time? Don't be shit! Seriously... don't be shit...
Joking aside, I need to remember a few things:
- Look to iscolate players using turn activation and puppet master techniques.
- Hunt in pairs/threes.
- Gain momentum as often as possible. This is the part that I will struggle with in this game as the Union players have cheap access to momentum.

Tactics 
I've been thinking about ways to nulify the threat of the Union team - at least for a little bit.
It's importantly to stop Blackheart getting up his Commanding Aura alongside Rage and Gutter. Having him activate last would be ideal or have him away from the rest of the team and make him spend influence to get to the correct place.
I will need to think carefully about providing a long range threat and 'shut off' areas of the pitch. Silence and Ghast are a must in this game and working in tandem they can close down areas of the pitch in order to channel play down one side.

Team Selection
Who to pick? Well...

*Obulus [C]
*Dirge [M]
*Ghast
*Silence
*Cosset
*Tater [Hired]

I've managed to get hold of Tater for this week (thank you Steamforged Games!) and with his 2" melee he can cause some serious damage.
Despite Cosset being a liablilty in the last game, she did save my ass at the end. Her ability to go crazy isn't something which should be used every turn but can be very helpful in stripping off those last wounds or getting that extra momentum in order to get the drop on the next turn or bonus time, etc.

 

Only time will tell what will happen - Thursday actually. It will be an incredibly hard game and one which I can most certainly take a lot of lessons from!

Templates 

Before I went to London, I order a few bits and bobs from Art of War and Steamforged and much to my surprise (partly due to the fact that I forgot I ordered them) they turned up on my doormat when I returned!

Well, that's all from me for now!

Thanks for reading.

I'll see you soon!

@geekphotoguy