2300 Points v. Dogs of War
Scenario: Grudge Match - Same as a regular battle, but you gain an additional 250 points for slaying the opposing general, as opposed to 100 bonus points.
Extra Points: This game would allow the use of the extra 300 points of troops, giving me a whopping 82 archers, 32 scouts, and 18 glade rider archers on the field.
Terrain: We alternated setting up terrain. In the end, we wound up having another line of terrain between the center of my deployment zone and the center of his deployment zone. We both forests in our center-forward deployment areas, and there was a hill in the middle of the battlefield. There was also a hill in his deployment zone on the far right side. The left side of the battlefield also featured a house in near the table edge.
Armies: I fielded my usual shooting army along with my extra units:
1 General with the Hail of Doom Arrow
2 Units of 9 Glade Riders
4 Units of 8 Scouts
3 Units of 9 Archers
6 Units of 8 Archers
1 Unit of 7 Archers
2 Pegasi
Actually though, I discovered I was short an archer (forgot it at home). So I wound up having one less than that count.
Imagine my surprise when he pulled out a shooting-based army. Boy wasn't THIS going to be interesting!
1 Hobgoblin Mercenary General with the Flail of Skulls, some funky mercenary ability (always strikes first), the jade amulet, and some other item. Mounted on a Wolf
1 Hobgoblin Hero with some offensive magic weapon mounted on a wolf.
Oglah Kahn's Wolfboyz - like 20 of them. The general and hero went in the unit. Nasty!
(the wolfboyz are at BS3, but suffer no penalty for long range or firing while moving).
Lumpin Crook's Fighting Cocks - (BS4, Short bows) - About 15 of them.
Marksmen of Miraglio - A whopping 30 of them.
Somebody's Cold One Unit - 8 of them including their captain and standard.
The Giants of Albion - 2 Giants and their level 1 wizard leader.
Birdmen of Catrazza - 6 or 8 of them.
Bronzino and one of his galloping guns
A level 2 wizard
Setup: Because of the massive line of terrain running down the center board, there were really two smaller battlefields. One on the left and one on the right.
On the left, I placed a unit of scouts in the house (to prevent him from getting his halflings into it), had 4 archer units, a pegasus, and my general.
Facing them were Lumpin Crook & his merry halflings, the Birdmen of Catrazza, and the Cold One Unit.
On the right I had 5 Archer Units, a pegasus, and a Glade Rider unit. Facing them were the Marksmen of Miraglio, the Giants of Albion, their level 2 wizard, and Bronzino and his gun.
To my surprise, we each had a small army in the center of our battlelines in the forests, designed to be able to head to either side. On his side it was his wolfrider unit with his general (it was also there to avoid being shot at on turn 1).
On my own side I had 3 scout units and a glade rider unit in the forest. That was a MAJOR mistake putting them there, as we'll see later. I had "flinched" and was afraid to put the scouts out on the right flank sides of the battlefield, for fear they'd be shot to pieces. (Or on the left side against the halflings, where I knew we'd blow them away but then be miles away from the rest of the battlefield).
Strategy: His was to advance his wolfriders, giants, and cold ones up under coverering fire from his long-range guys. My strategy was to shoot out his supporting troops as fast as I can, then concentrate on his advancing troops to prevent them from reaching my line.
Spells: I don't remember his spell for his level 1 wizard. His level 2 wizard had fear and fireball.
Turn One: I won the die roll (yaaayy!) and opened fire. I didn't really move anything, as I didn't see anything to move. I was worried if I moved all the scouts out of the forest onto the center hill that they'd be charged by his wolfriders. So I kept them in the forest where they couldn't fire, but were safe.
The Wood Elven archer fire was as effective as always. The halflings were decimated, losing 10 of their number. The Cold ones took 2 casualties as well, but passed their panic tests. On the right flank, we managed to kill 5 of the Marksmen of Miraglio, but they passed their panic test. Archer fire wasn't all that effective against the Marksmen, as we were shooting long-range (-1) and against skirmishers (-1). Bronzino's Galloping Gun lost a crewman as well.
The Dogs of War responded by advancing. The Cold Ones, Giants, and Wolf Riders all marched way up to my lines. (I was shocked to see just how far 18" marching towards me is!) The Wolf Riders elected to advance on the right side of the battlefield. (He later told me that was because my general and the hail of doom arrow were facing the left - he planned to advance whichever way I was not). The Birdman flew high.
Their missile fire was semi-effective. Bronzino managed to shoot and kill 3 Glade Riders, the Marksmen killed 6 Archers, and the Halflings killed 2 Archers. Magically not much happened.
Turn Two: My general realized he'd been duped. If he moved to face the Wolf Riders, he'd have to march and wouldn't be able to fire the Hail of Doom Arrow. So he launched it into the Cold one Riders, killing them all. (Figured I might as well use it to good end while I could).
The Archers on the left also fired and killed the 4 remaining Halflings, leaving Lumpin all alone. The Archers on the Right fired, killing 6 Wolf Riders. Alas, he passed his panic test. (Later that day I realized he tested off his general's leadship, something he couldn't do! I think he would have failed, and the whole game would have been different from then on...) We also fired a couple of shots into the Marksmen, killing two more.
The Dogs of War responded by moving and charging. The Wolf Riders charged into an archer unit, easily killing the entire one (and sending another unit panicking of the board). A unit of scouts panicked as well, but only moved 2" in the forest.
The Birdmen of Catrazza charged down and entered the fray against an archer unit, killing two archers but having two of their own guys struck down in return. The giants advanced. Lumpin Crook marched over to the house and hid just out of the line of sight of my archers.
Bronzino fired again, killing another 2 glade riders. The Marksmen shot into another archer unit, killing 5 of them.
Turn Three: At this point I realized we had problems. I had 18 Scouts and 9 Glade Riders Tangled up in the forest in the middle not doing anything, but were afraid to step out for fear they'd be charged by the giants or something. The WolfRiders were ripping through my line, and were far enough ahead they were out of my line of sight for firing purposes. So I decided to pick up victory points where I could, and to slow down the wolf riders by throwing archer units in their path. My general decided prudently to walk 5" towards the nearest place of safety (the house about 25-25" inches away). He turned around and shot out a wolf rider.
The Scouts emerged from the building on the left, circled around Lumpin, and promptly executed him with their bows at point blank range...
The archer unit on the far left side marched 10" forward. (It intended to eventually get on their side of the battlefield and claim terrain points).
The Glade Riders on the right charged Bronzino and his gun (to get those points!). The combat went well, with us killing 2 horses on the gun as well as another crewman. Bronzino killed 2 of our glade riders in return. The passed their break test and remained.
The archer unit in combat with the Birdmen continued to fight. This time we killed 2 of them (to their 1), thereby winning the combat and running down Deddalo.
The remaining archer units shot at the Marksmen, killing 4 but not causing a panic test. (Or if they did he passed).
The scouts/glade riders in the center muddled around some more, still afraid to emerge from the wood. I did realize that even if the one scout unit rallied, his giant would still be able to charge them. So the other scouts moved a few inches away so if that unit broke and ran, the giant wouldn't hit them. (Pathetic, eh? They should be doing something heroic!)
The Dogs of War continued their advance. The Wolf Riders circled behind my forest in the middle and positioned themselves to start killing everything in their path toward my general. The Marksmen shot into another archer unit, killing the remaining guys.
One of their giants moved toward my remaining archers on the right. The other charged into the scout unit, killing 4 or 5 and breaking them as expected. The giant tangled in the middle of the forest, so the scouts got away.
The combat with Bronzino was pretty uneventful. We wounded Bronzino, but they easily passed their break test.
Turn Four: We needed points bad! So the archers on the left continued to march toward the enemy's table quarter. The scouts returned into the building, to away their approaching general. (I figured they'd help protect the general in the building, should the enemy charge the building). The general marched 10" towards the house. On the left, the archer units reformed to face the wolf riders, planning on selling their lives dearly to prevent the wolf riders from reaching the general.
Finally, we decided to have our scouts do something useful. All that could emerged from the forest (along with the glade riders), positioned themself on the center hill, and immediately began firing into the Marksmen of Mirglio. Alas, we had moved, were shooting at long range, and were shooting at skirmishers. Our missile fire barely had an effect, killing perhaps 1 or 2.
I also flew a pegasus into the combat with Bronzino. Reinforcements! Alas, this didn't work out too well. I had hoped we'd turn the tide and win the battle, but instead we managed only to kill the remaining horse and crewman. Bronzino did two wounds to the pegasus and killed another glade rider (leaving one remaining).
The Scouts also rallied and turned to face the giant in the forest.
The Dogs of War pressed their attack. Their Wolf Riders charged into another archer unit, easily dispatching everything within it. Horribly, the general panicked and ran (albeit it straight towards the house).
A giant charged the scout unit, killing all that was left in it. Another giant charged an archer unit, broke it, and pursued a bit.
The Marksmen fired back into the massed scouts and such in the middle of the field, killing several scouts but not breaking them.
Turn Five: Things were bad. The general rallied (whew!), but was well away from the house. The archer units reformed to prevent them from getting to the general. The other archer unit continued its advance, and reached the eneny's table quarter.
On the right, things were grim. With a miraculous stroke of luck though, the sole surviving glade rider's horse managed to strike Bronzino between the eyes, killing him and putting an end to his shooting days forever. In a fit of luck, the giant panicked and ran as fast as he could.
Shootingwise, we killed another couple of Marksmen of Miraglio, but they were still too numerous to take a panic test. We had failed in our effort to wipe them out, despite 5 rounds of archer fire. : (
In the Dogs of War final turn, Oglah Kahn's Wolfboyz charged into another Archer Unit in a desperate attempt to panic my general, but failed. The general didn't panic again, and he didn't pick up the 250 points for breaking them.
The Marksmen of Miraglio fired into another scout unit, but we passed our panic test.
In the final magic phase, their wizard lobbed a fireball into my surviving glade rider, killing him and picking up 297 victory points.
Finally death tally:
I lost:
5 Units of 8 Archers
1 Unit of 9 Archers
1 Unit of 7 Archers
1 Unit of 9 Glade Riders
1 Unit of 8 Scouts
1 Pegasus
He Lost:
Bronzino & his galloping gun
The Birdmen of Catrazza
Lumpin Crook & His Merry Halflings
The Cold One Rider Unit
We each picked up a terrain quadrant. After a bit of math, we found he picked up 1270 points to my 928. Meaning he won by 342 points.
But... wouldn't you know it, I majorly botched the math and gave him a 352 point win. I double-checked my math several times too, and found that he won the entire time. (I only found my error when I got home and did it on a calculator).
Result: We reported that he won, even though it was a draw. AAARRGGHHH!!
Analysis: This was the most fun game I played at the tournament, with the possible exception of massacring the lizardmen in game 2. That was a bloodbath though, and I felt bad about winning that much. So I have to say this game was my favorite. I deeeeeefinitely want a rematch.
So what went wrong? Lots of things:
1 - I need to learn how to do math. I had initially thought he won by 332 points, then "corrected it" by 20 points to say he won by 352. Actually though, I had made two errors. He had won by 322, not 332, so with his 20 points he wonly went up to 342. That pair of mistakes cost me 4 tournament points, which would have sent me up in the rankings even more.
2 - I didn't fire at the giants because I was scared out of my mind of them. With T6 W6, I thought they were effectively invulnerable to archer fire. WRONG! I should have been firing at them like crazy around turns 2-3. They're large targets, which means I'd get +1 to hit, which makes archer fire more efficient. And while they do have T6 (wound on a 6), they don't have armor, so the helps as well. It would have taken an average of 36 S3 hits to kill one. A lot, but hardly impossible to come by. Especially when you consider that scouts at short range would have autohit. Speaking of which...
3 - I am hereby ordering myself to be executed for my failure in the dismal playing of the scouts. I can't believe I flinched and stuck them back in a forest for the entire game where they barely did anything (and when they fired it never won me any victory points). That's hundrerds of points wasted! They should have been out there doing much more than that.
My trouble was that I "flinched" during the initial deployment. I didn't want to throw them on the enemy's left flank by the halflings, because I knew I'd mop up that side of the battle anyway. I didn't want my scouts to be stuck out there. (Which would have been better, I later realized, than being stick in the middle). I didn't set them on the enemy's right flank because then those 30 Marksmen would have been shooting at me like crazy. Which again would have been better than being stuck in the middle. Had I placed them on the far right flank, they may have died but the game would have been a helluva lot more interesting. And I certainly would have been subjecting their unit to more panic tests.
4 - I misplayed my glade riders. They spend the first two turns of the game not moving and firing like normal archers (always a mistake) because I as afraid to bring them close to the marksmen. Bad move. I should have marched them up 18" first turn, so that they could charge the marksmen in hand-to-hand combat in turn 2. They'd have been charging at their short range, so the enemy would not have been able to stand and shoot. If I had all the scouts up on that flank at the same time, there would have been one helluva titanic battle up there for control of that hill. Their unit was worth 400 points, so I really should have played my battle against them better, instead of shooting in dribs and drabs against them.
Alternately, I should have held them in a flanking position to use against his Wolf Riders. Had we charged their Wolf Riders from behind, we'd have struck first and would have had a shot at breaking them outright (might have been tough, as they had +1 CR from a standard, but is possible). At the very least, we'd have kept them in combat for an extra turn (and feigned flighted away, perpahs?) so they wouldn't have been able to charge my line. Their pursuit against my feighn flight would have thrown them out of position as well, which in turn would have allowed another round of archer fire against them (and thus another panic test).
5 - I botched it big time against the Wolf Riders. I knew the Cold Ones weren't really a threat - they had a decent armor save, but their T2 meant they'd die easily. I could have mopped them up during the game easily. But noooooo, I had to go and use my Hail of Doom Arrow on them. Wasted! I should have saved it to use on the Wolf Riders. I underestimated their strength again (a MAJOR mistake), and wound up only causing a panic test on them during one turn. Putting the general on the right flank, or alternately using the Hail of Doom Arrow as he was zooming away from the Wolf Boyz would have been an extremely useful tactic.
All in all, the game was extremely interesting to play. I've never come across an enemy with an army like that. Very tough to go up against, and it was certain to do quite a bit of damage to me. But alternately, I had an army that was well designed to go up against him. If anyone could have hurt him back it would have been me.
But hey, I gotta play decently if I expect to do well. And I royally botched it this time. But I got my just desserts when I botched the math.