One small step...

So with a tournament under my belt I return to my happy place, the internet. So heres a breakdown of the day for me!

Two lists was an option but I only have one caster so one list it is! I spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of this list to prepare myself for the tournament and was feeling pretty comfortable with it. Here it is my 50 point tournament list!

Kaelyssa
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr
- Banshee
- Phoenix
Arcanist
Arcanist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Stormfall Archers
Dawnguard Sentinels
- Sentinel Officer & Standard
Mage Hunter Strike Force
- Strike Force Commander

GAME 1
 
PSorcha
Behemoth
Sylys
Kell
Alexia 1
Reinholdt
Cylena and nyss
Aiyana and holt
Dougal
Greatbears
Widowmakers
Widowmaker marksman
Eiryss 19
Gorman

Loss via assassination

I went into this game knowing there was going to be alot of shots against me and knowing Sorchas feat would be painful. What I wasn't ready for was Sorchas threaf range! Top of turn 2 she windrushed forward and charged my phoenix then popped feat. The rest of the turn was spent shooting a stationary Kaelyssa off the table. Apparently this list is called "Oceans" and I won't lie it was really interesting and really effective. I'd love to try my hand against Oceans again and lucky for me the guy I played against is in my area! 

GAME 2

Kaelyssa
Hydra
Hydra
Manticore
Phoenix
Invictors w/UA
-Griffon
MHA
Arcanist
Ghost Sniper

Win via assassination

The awkward mirrored caster game. Turn 1 was a standard move into position. Turn 2 Eiryss kills the ghost sniper Aiyanna harms the Invictors, Sylys whispers some secrets to Kaelyssa and she drops the nastiest rift on the Invictors (Ouch). Stormfalls take out the rest and mage hunters sit just outside of reach of his line of jacks. A few die but not enough and turn three Banshee knocks down Dark Kaelyssa and all guns point at her for the victory.   

GAME 3

Issy tier4
-Phoenix
Sylys
Sentinels max ua
Sentinels max ua free
Invictors max ua
Riflemen max
Arcanist
Arcanist
Houseguard thane

So Ret v Ret again dark days for the elves. Some Goreshade voodoo at work here no doubt. This game was really scary for me and my opponent chose to go second making my feat somewhat useless. Turn 1 run. Turn 2 I feat and try to  trim down alot of his ranged threats and not touching his sentinels knowing he at least cant charge. Issys feat hits back and ouch my infantry is not in good shape but I have some threats left and some incoming Sentinel Vengeance. Everything that can blasts a hole through some screening infantry guns at Issy cant do it so holding the banner high my 4 remaining sentinels charge and manage to get the job done.

GAME 4

Pskarre
Helldiver x2
Deathripper
Skarlock
Necrotech & scrapthrall
Full bloodwitchs + ua
Full raiders+ua
Raider captain x2
Full bane knights
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol wraith x2
Warwitch siren

All the marbles for a possible third place for my opponent and I. Now throughout the day my opponent and I had been chatting about gaming during breaks and his girlfriend and I bonded over our love of cats so I have to say that this game was totally unavoidable and I had been looking forward to it. Well here we go! Turn 1 Raiders well past the middle of the board with banes and bloodwitches on either side. Spooky ghoooosts! I lob a bunch of shots into them and a few into the bane knights and pop feat turn 1. Turn 2 Skarre feats, the surviving Raider jam my sentinels up and minifeat killing a good number of them. I retaliate as hard as possible killing a large number of bane knights having my banshee gum up a whole flank with his wailing (which is a beautiful ability) but the war of attrition is lost so I go for a hail mary assassination attempt leaving Skarre on 5 health but Kaelyssa now in the middle of her army. RIP Kaelyssa

Loss via assassination!

Well at the end of the day I left 2-2 which is much better than the 0-4 i had been expecting. I would say seeing the opportunity to place top 3 and losing it had a strangely positive effect on me becuse now I just cannot wait to try again. Thank you to everyone who came out to play and hang out you all made my first tournament a memorable experience and I look forward to seeing you all in the future!

What I learned:
Knowledge is power! I have my factions units memorized and at least have a vague idea of other factions units do. I think the two games I won being against other Retribution players says a lot. I'm very familiar with our units and how our casters affect their use. I am not nearly as comfortable sitting across from other factions. Learning how other casters affect units use can only help win you games. Play against things you know the least to broaden your pool of knowledge!