3000 Points v. Dogs of War

Most of you on the list know Todd Thacker, and recently I accepted an invitation to go up and face his Wood Elves, 3000 pts with GT rules, special permission given to take Leonardo for the Tileans. Boy was I in for a surprise! I thought, after reading other reports of people who faced him, that I could expect to be driven off the board by turn two. Instead, I pretty much drove myself off the board on turn 6.

Selection- Todd chose 3 mages, a general on a warhawk rider, two chariots, a treeman, a unit of dryads, wardancers, waywatchers, scouts, 6 glade riders, 2 Gt. Eagles, 40 archers and 24 spearmen. Most characters had one item of modest to minimal power. I went with my tournament list, 64 Pikemen, 64 Crossbowmen, 9 Skirmishers, plus 1 cannon, 5 birdmen, 15 paymaster body guards, and of course a general, paymaster, and Leonardo. (No spellcasters)

I thought I was going to get run over by dryads, wardancers, chariots, riders, and his other quick moving force.

Setup and Deployment: 6 pieces of terrain, only one forest. (Yes!), three hills, one wall, and broken ground, all of which favored my troops. I set the hills on either side of the wall.

Todd's Deployment: He made a line of archers across his right side, and placed all of his other units behind the woods, except for the treeman and chariots, which were on his left flank.

Don's Deployment: I countered his line of archers with a line of crossbows, on the "saddle" of the hills and behind the wall. The remainder of my army sat on the right, awaiting his charge from the forest, but I placed 24 Braganza's Beseigers with Leonardo's help (re- roll any missed shots) where they could rain cross fire on his chariots and treeman. Leonardo was placed on the left flank, while the paymaster guarded the rear of the crossbow units.

Todd wins dice off, and elects to go last.

Don's Turn One: Minor alignment of crossbow units which were out of range. Birdmen fire at Treeman (2 wounds!) Braganza fires at Treemen (1 wound), pikemen move into staggered formation to accept chariot charge and then charge flank of chariots. Vespero runs towards the woods to root out Waywatchers and wardancers. Bronzino fires at Treeman.

Todd's Turn One: Out of range for shooting anything, except far left flank (3 wounds to Pirazzo), move troops into woods, Treeman runs into woods, chariots moves to far left flank, Flyers Fly High, General charges Bronzino, challenges bronzino, kills bronzino, breaks battery and pursues into Birdmen. Glade Riders run around Right Flank. Todd's magic is ineffective.

Don's Turn Two: Pirazzo fires at Glade Riders, bringing 1 down, Braganza's men fire at Mage, but fail to inflict any wounds. Vespero Charges through Waywatcher Nets, and then Beats Waywatchers in combat (3 killed to 2 Vespero's), Daddallo loses combat to General, but unit holds. Pikes mill about. Bronzino Rallies

Todd's Turn Two: Glade Riders move forward on Right Flank, while archers move and fire, killing another 5 of Pirazzo's (Hail of Doom Arrow unleashed) men. They hold. Other archers move up to fire at the Paymaster's unit, but inflict no wounds. The chariots move forward, but are out of charge range. The WE General kills Daddallo, breaks the birdmen, and runs them down. Waywatchers lose another 2 men to Vespero, Vespero loses two men to Wardancers, but Dancers have standard and win combat by one, Vespero holds. Great Eagles charge Gun Crew, which loses 1 crewmember but does not break. All units within 12" of Birdmen take a panic test, and Vespero panics (and is run down) and Fatally Braganza's Beseigers (a full 400 pts worth) panic (leadership 10 of General, rolled 11) and run off board (12", the maximum fleeing distance).
Todd's magic is ineffective again.

Don's Turn Three: Pirazzo and Marksmen fire at Glade Riders, picking off another one (Down to 3). Other Marksmen fire at Waywatchers, killing two of the remaining three. Money Lender moves to right flank to aid Gun Crew. Pikes spread out to make charging more than one unit by Chariots harder.

Todd's Turn Three: Archers all fire on Pirazzo's men, killing four, causing a panic test- they fail by one and run off the board, leaving Leonardo to face the charge of the Glade Riders. General Flies High, Treeman, Spearmen, and Wardancers move to engage pike units. Chariots both charge Ricco's Guard (unit of 20), and inflict 11 wounds. Ricco's inflicts 4 wounds, and makes a break test at 5. Mage fires Wrath of the woods (or something) which causes 4 wounds to Alcanti Fellowship, and Other Mage casts Attack of Birds on Paymaster, which is dispelled.

Don's Turn Four: Marksmen shoot at Wardancers (2 wounds) and Glade Riders, no wounds. Leonardo Runs forward and lobs Sphere at Glade Riders, causing one wound (2 left + Champion). Paymaster Charges sole Waywatcher, killing him, while General, Leopold, and Alcanti, all charge chariots and kill them outright.

Todd's Turn Four: Glade Riders charge Leonardo, and on challenge, lose combat, but hold. (down to 2 riders). General charges Marksmen, challenges Maxmillian, and kills him, Marksmen break, and run 11" and are not run down. Dryads, Treemen move forward, while Wardancers march to avoid LOS for charge from Paymaster. Woods spell dispelled, bird spell kills another 5 Alcanti Pikemen.
Don's Turn Five: Marksmen Rally and form Ranks. Pikemen form Triangle of Defense (Three Units facing different sides, no rear or flanks available). General Joins pike unit. Paymaster marches to join pikes. Leonardo Kills off Glade Rider, but unit does not break.
Todd's Turn Five: Gt Eagles charge Leonardo, Glade Rider Feign Flight away. Leonardo killed by Eagles. General Charges Marksmen, kills 1, loses combat, makes break test. Wardancers, Dryads, Mages, and Treeman move into Charge Range of Pikes. Woods Spell cast on Paymaster (Dispelled) Bird Spell cast on Alcanti, kills another 4 pikemen (down to 8).

Don's Last Turn: Marksmen again Beat general, but he does not break. Paymaster Changes formation to hide rear from Wardancers and Mage. Pikes move forward to accept charge from Spearmen and Dryads. General Charges Treeman (Inflicts 1 wound takes 1 wound) and draws combat.

Todd's Last Turn: Great Eagles Charge marksmen, General and Eagles lose combat by 2, One eagle flees. Wardancers charge Paymaster, who does not accept challenge from WE Champion. Wardancers lose by 4 (2 wounds) and break, and are run down. Dryads and Spearmen charge Pikes, take four wounds, and lose by 3, Dryads Break. General and Treeman each inflict no wounds, for a draw. Todd casts Forest Spell on General, I fail to dispel, 1 wound on general. Todd casts Bird spell on General, I fail to dispell, causing 1 wound and killing general on last play of game. Paymaster's unit panics and flees, Alcanti panics and flees.

Results: Victory for Todd by 1200 pts.
Units Remaining:
Wood Elf: 1 Gt Eagle, 1 Glade Rider, 1 (wounded) treeman, 20 Spearmen, 1 General, 3 Mages, 10 Scouts, 32 archers.
Tileans: 14 Marksmen, 22 Leopold's Leopards, 5 Ricco's Republican Guard.

Aftermath: Well, Definitely I need a rematch. To be honest, the Tileans match up better against the Wood Elves than any army I have ever faced. We match or out-shoot them, we can beat almost any of their units in HTH. Their main strength is Mobility and Magic. Both of these were very effective, but a couple of panic tests could have shifted the balance of this game pretty quickly. (Without the loss of my General on the last play of the game, it was only a 300 pt victory and if Braganza hadn't panicked, well, it would have been much closer.) Still, Todd was great fun to play, and pretty easy going about rules and LOS and such, so there's always room for a rematch.

-Don
"My name is Il Borgio Montoya, prepare to die!" Il Borgio to Todd's Treeman.