INITIAL THOUGHTS:
This is meant as a practice game for the current round of the Call To Arms IV Tournament. I will be playing my game on Saturday 6 June (D-Day!) Jesse Bilbija was looking for a practice run with his evil dorfs, and I gave him the opportunity to play against the foil of his particular choice of army. As he laid it out, my first thought was, yep, another evil dorf army without any evil dorfs. (In case you missed it, I really don’t like dwarfs of any variety, never have. I will continue to dislike them well into the future.) At any rate, I saw nothing but big nasty beasties in hordes, plus gargoyles for chaff, and of course, the obligatory Overmaster on big flying thing, and a half breed champ. Well, at least I should have some good inspiring all around. He also had 3 mortars, the big ones. I have less to fear than a lot of armies, but you still hate to see those things in 3s. On the bright side, I do outnumber him significantly, so maybe deployment can help.
SET UP:
I win the roll for sides, and have to think about what I want to do. Great, the game hasn’t even started yet, and already I have to think, and all before my second cup of coffee is even consumed. I consider the terrain and decide what I’d really like to have is some extra thunderous charge for my reapers, so elect to take the top half and let the center and left hill aid in my quest. Plus, the woods on the right will screen me from the mortars, hopefully.
A plan is formulating in my mind as we start the deployment. Since I have significant outnumber, I start with the scarecrow horde in the center and some more scarecrows beside them. then I put the reapers behind, good screening and depth should do me fairly well. I haven’t committed to the flank I want to build up, but him placing his mortars helps me to decide to build up the right side to hold and fight, and the left side to flank around. Jesse’s big flying thing is the last unit down for him before I’ve even set my phantoms. This plan will do very well if I get the first move, but if he gets it, I may have to re-align a bit. We’ll see.
My deployment, then, from left to right: 2 phantom troops then a scarecrow regiment. The center is set with the scarecrow horde followed by a reaper regiment. The blue horror (lightning 3, bane chant 2, aura, and conjurer’s staff) followed by a reaper regiment with Gaze of the Gods. Next is another scarecrow regiment, and a shade with Blade of the Beast Slayer (Good for killing large nasty things,) followed by a reaper troop. (When I put this troop in, I really should have angled him a bit to miss that brown swampy place, but I didn’t think about it at the time.) I built up my right side considerably with the mind screech, a scarecrow regiment, 2 stacked reaper troops followed by the pink horror (BC 2 and aura,) my dread fiend with Slashing Blade, and 2 more phantom troops.
For Jesse’s deployment, he went strong center, and strong right, with the over master to cover the left flank. 2 of his grotesque hordes were built for the right flank, one with pathfinder and the other with strider. We’ll get to those. Really a lot about this battle is going to come from who gets the first move, and who will have to react instead of act. That said, The AD are, from left to right: Overmaster on ancient winged halfbreed with mead of madness, grotesque horde with brew of haste followed by gargoyle troop, grotesque champion with inspiring talisman, grotesque horde with brew of sharpness followed by gargoyle troop, Grotesque horde with Jessie’s Boots, halfbreed champion with blade of slashing, grotesque horde with potion of the caterpillar followed by gargoyle troop, and 3 Angkor heavy mortars across the very bottom of the screen.
TURN 1:
We roll off for first turn, and I luck out and get it. This is what I was hoping for. I can set the tone of the stand off now instead of having to react to his moves.
My right flank stays all together as they advance up just behind the woods. Carefully staying out of charge range. The middle advances to behind the hill, again, just out of charge range. The one reaper troop has to skew to the left a bit to avoid the marsh, which is why I should have started him that way, now he’s just a little out of position for what I wanted. The Overmaster with 21″ charge range already in the woods presents a challenge on the left, but one phantom troop can zoom down its full movement to avoid the OM’s charge arc. The other sets on the hill just out of range, and the scarecrows move forward just a touch less than 3 inches to also not get hit. Between the mindscreech and the blue horror, I manage 2 wounds on the sharp grotesques. I really had nothing else to shoot at without getting charged right off the bat. Just have to be cautious with these guys.
The OM pivots and backs up a tiny bit to face m phantom threat. The grotesques in the center all advance very cautiously, but one troop of gars hangs back to cover the rear area threat. The right side also inches forward, but are not committed to combat yet. The three mortars all miss the reaper regiment, yay! He has reach on me, so I have to make sure I set myself up well for counter punches. Let’s face it, I’m gonna get hit, but I really want to hit back hard.
TURN 2:
The dance continues> My far left phantoms hop over the rock formation and pivot back to face the OM’s flank, again out of his arc. The phantoms on the hill and scarecrows hang back just out of reach still. The center and right pull forward to set up my counterstrikes. I do goof though, and send the one scarecrow regiment further forward than I should have. I should have put the horde and regiment on line. Oh, well. Still no combat yet, but in shooting the mindscreech manages 2 wounds, but fails to waver or kill the middle mortar. The blue horror rolls two threes and a two for his shot on the left mortar, and the conjurer’s staff turns up another 3. Nothing good there.
The OM pulls out of the woods, aiming towards the center fight. The hasty grots flank charge the scarecrow regiment and the grot champ hits them in the front. (see, I blew that, we’ll even add more in that I should also not have had the reaper regiments right behind the horde. That whole hill is a mess.) I digress. The pathfinder grots take the offered phantoms on the far right. while the j-boot ones shift right onto the obstacle. The one gar troop to the back appears drunk. I really have no idea what they’re thinking as they back up beside the mortar. Speaking of which, two of the mortar shots manage to hit the lagging reaper troop, and erase it from existence. the 3rd misses the mindscreech. The scarecrow regiment and phantom troop both die horribly. The PF grots back up 1 inch, I’m not sure why, but I think he was trying to back up enough to not take a hit from the reaper troops, just didn’t get far enough back. The gars manage 3 wounds on the horde, but it’s not going anywhere with a tap like that.
TURN 3:
Do you remember talking about screwing everything up on the hill? Well, hold my beer and watch this.With the drunk gars facing due north, the right side phantoms can hit the turbo charger and shoot into attack position. The ON is also facing away, so the other phantoms can also slide on up into position, followed by the scarecrows going an all out 8 inches forward. Because I’m on the hill with the scarecrows, they center up on the gars, and neither reaper regiment can do a damned thing. See. Next, I send the shade out to hit the grot champ, and angle the reaper regiment in a very silly way. As I look back at in now, it was just fine sitting where it was facing everything in the front. Sadly, as I’m screwing up the center, I’m getting down on the right. (I did screw something up on the left as well, anybody catch it?) The trap springs on the right. as the phantoms and dread fiend charge the J-Boot grots and the rear reaper troop smacks the PF grots. Shooting finally kills something as a combined 9 lightning including a reroll from the conjurer’s staff blow apart the middle mortar. The horde easily dispatches the gar troop, and if I had left my reapers sitting straight up and down, could have sidestepped in front of them, alas, it was not to be. The shade causes an astonishingly bad 2 wounds on the grot champ, who just laughs off the beastslayer blade. On the right, despite hindered charges on both grot hordes, they both end up wavered. That is huge!
The winner of the where I screwed up on the left is anyone that guess I was just inside of 20 inches from the drunk gars, who promptly take a hindered flank charge. The nimble grot champ disengages from the shade, and flanks the reaper regiment who so foolishly chose to pivot instead of face forward. The hasty grots charge the crow horde, the sharp grots charge the shade, and the OM charges the poor little blue horror. And just like that, it looks like my center will crumble. On the right, the J-Boot grots back up an inch, but Jesse errs this time, by not going back farther to cause me a hindered charge on the obstacle. The Halfbreed champ charges the reapers in the woods, and the gar troop takes the dread fiend’s flank. Both mortars miss the mindscreech, but it’s only a matter of time til they get the range right, I’m sure. In combat, the gars don’t do much damage because of landing in the woods. the hasty grots remove the crow horde, the sharp grots kill the shade, and the OM and grot champ both waver their targets. Neither the halfbreed nor the gars take out their respective enemies, despite some damage. The right side is still looking good for me.
TURN 4:
Despite assing up the center pretty badly so far, I finally get off a triple charge with the Reaper regiment and phantom troop n the front, and another phantom in the flank. The scarecrow regiment happily charges the drunk gars on the right, and the fight is staying tight on the right. The reaper troop counter charges the halfbreed champ, the other reaper troop again charge the PF grots, and the phantoms and dread fiend again charge the J-Boots grots. The mindscreech puts 4 wounds on the left mortar, but fails to waver or kill it. (Yep, lousy nerve rolls this turn to make up for the great ones last turn.) The scarecrow regiment rolls right on through the gars and hustles into the woods. (You all remember this scenario is invade, right. From where I’m sitting right now, I’ve pretty much invaded.) The Reaper troop in the woods chops up the halfbreed champ, and with some hope (1 in 3 chance) try to rush through into the PF grots. Unfortunately, I roll a stinking 1, and not only don’t I make it, I’m now just inside of the OM’s 21 inch charge range. A 2 would have gotten me out of it, so I had a 5 in 6 chance of not getting slammed in the ass. It was a calculated risk that fell just short. The other reapers really botch their attack on the PF grots, and fail to waver or kill them, that’s not good. we do kill the J-Booters though, and the dread fiend turns to face the gars. With this many mistakes I really deserve to lose the game,
The grot champ continues to maul the elite reapers, and the sharp grots charge the other reapers. The OM takes the hindered rear charge on the reaper troop in the woods and the PF grots will finally get to get some back on the other reaper troop. The gars re-engage the dread fiend, and the two mortars shoot. That’s literally everything left. The mortars do finally find their range, and each manages a hit on the mindscreech, Luckily, a low nerve roll keeps me happily floating along. All 4 reaper units vanish. I’m down to almost no hitting power. This is not looking good except for the fact that I do have all my remaining units south of the center line, and he has none of his north of it.
TURN 5:
What do I do now? I have 3 phantom troops, 2 scarecrow regiments, 2 horrors and a mindscreech left. Guess I better get rid of the mortars first. I send a phantoms troop into each one. I then position the mindscreech and blue horror to get some lightning shots going. and position the scarecrows so that charging them is going to be hindered charges as much as possible. The final phantom troop moves into attack position outside of the south facing grot champ. Shooting sees 3 wounds on the PF grots, but they’re fine. The 2 mortars do get smoked in cmbat though. happy for that.
(I was getting stressed out and forgot to take the pic right at the end of Jesse’s turn, so some of my moves are on here.) The Sharp grots charge the crows in the bottom left woods, the gar troop charges the mindscreech and is hindered. The PF grots and OM charge the scarecrows in the right side woods. The grot champ moves to support. Both scarecrow regiments curl up and vanish in a puff of smoke. the hindered gars, however, whiff their attacks, and fail to wound the mindscreech, who will be quite happy to use his lightning again.
TURN 6:
I’m running out of stuff quickly. I take the dual charge on the PF grots, and reposition the mindscreech to zap the gars and face the grot champ. (Here’s my math on the charge. The PF grots have 4 wounds right now, the flankers with bane chant should do 6, and the hindered should do 1 more. that puts them at an 11. I need a 5 to waver and a 7 to kill. That’s not hard is it?) After the pink horror gets off the bane chant, the mindscreech and blue horror blast the gars out of existence. Then I oll (very poorly) for the phantoms. Instead of scoring 7 wounds, they get 3. Three? well, I don’t get a waver on them, but hey, at least they can’t disengage. I’m still sitting at 4 nil going into the bottom of the 6th.
The PF grots counter charge the south phantoms, and the grot champ rear charges the others. The OM charges the blue horror who he wavered, but didn’t kill earlier in the game. I think he’s just cleaning up unfinished business. At any rate, all three units are obliterated, while the sharp grots start making their move to the north. The die for turn 7 is tossed, but comes up a 1! The game is over. Night Stalkers win 2 nil.
AFTER THOUGHTS:
Wow, I screwed up a lot in that game. I only managed to squeak out a win because I was focused on the scenario the whole time. I think Jesse realized in turn 5 that he actually had no scoring units at the time, and had to decide whether to try to score, or eradicate my scoring units. In the end he went with killing, because, as an old Army friend of mine used to say, “In an absence of orders, attack!” Or some such rot. We did discuss his lack of angry short guys in his angry short guy army. We concluded, he actually did have 7 of them, 1 on the flying beast, and 2 crewing each mortar. Th game itself was interesting. My turn 3 success on the right flank was really key, but then so was my failures of placement in the center. I didn’t see any of the dice curse in this game. The RNG kind of swung like a pendulum, both of us blowing key rolls when we needed them. I need to pay more attention tomorrow morning when I play my actual tournament game.
briohmarblog 