Category: Battle Reports

PBEM against Dave Fanning

Lists

List Thoughts

Dave: This is almost the same as last time, I dropped mindfog on my ice queen and picked up blizzard and the EJ periscope, to free up the points i dropped the hammer of measured force on my ice naiad horde. This list should give me a little more range to pick off matts back units.

Matt: I’m running my same dwarf list from the last couple of reports. Dave insisted on trying his newer version against the same list so I was happy to line him up for a spanking again.

Deployment

Matt: When placing the tokens I first tried to have two in opposite deployment zones where I would want my sharpshooters so they could just sit on a token the whole game. This would allow this no matter which side I got. My first two drops were about controlling the back token and the token off to the left. When I saw Dave drop his two dwarf units in the backfield I was quite happy as I felt I had more US scoring redundancy than he did. I then deployed heavy center and left to protect those two tokens and just enough US to counter his frost fang for the right hand token. At the end I was pretty happy with my deployment.

Dave: I did my best to counter deploy to Matt’s force, I wanted my Ice kin to have shots at lower def stuff, and I wanted my Ice queen with blizzard to be able to back them up.

Again I went Naiads in the trees near an objective, and I plonked two dwarf regiments back on objectives to just hold them all game. (maybe sticking a snow fox on the back one could have been beneficial? But oh well).

I was happy with Hrimm and the trolls controlling the center, and my frost fangs on the edges to project some threat at Matt and stop him creeping up

My plan :

Ok so this time I need to do the following.

– Use terrain to my advantage, there is a big blocking piece in the middle and I need to use it to protect myself from throwing dogs and sharp shooter pot shots where I can.

– Aim to hold all three of my objectives, claim the center and annoy Matts back objectives to stop him from pushing up slowly.

– Not get throwing dogged into next week…. Last game I lost 8US in the 1 turn and it was mainly to dogs, If I can limit what dogs get chucked and if I can kill his dog throwing dogs before they can do damage I’ll be happy.

Dave 1

After last games over commit early I decided to hold my ground, If I can hold all of my 3 objectives and run the centre turn 5 and 6 I’ll still likely pull the win, so I decided to move my queen into range and blizzard the back sharp shooter troop…

I pull in 4 wounds and broke them easily… first blood to me, suck it Matt.

Matt 1

Losing those sharpshooters turn 1 was a blow that I didn’t quite expect, so I became determined to hide the US behind the hill to protect the left hand token. This involved some shuffling sideways. The rest of the units push forward in order to start to threaten.

In shooting I held on to my mastiffs for now even though I know Dave would love some slobbering pups to the face. Golly have did two wounds to the left frosty and the sharpies did 1 to Hrimm Job. I chose the frosty and Hrimm as I wanted to avoid regen targets and I like spreads out some early hurt to let my low CS guys have a chance of breaking later in the game.

Dave 2

I tried to continue my luck running into turn 2, I fired into the mastiff pack looking to do similar damage. If I could take them off I’d force matt to leave another scoring unit back capping the objective and force him not to over commit his force, however I only managed 1 wound and failed to break them.

I turned Hrimm and headed toward the right side of the field, as I felt a a little exposed with only a Lord on frost fang defending that edge. My lord is doing a good job projecting threat and stopping Matt’s forces from creeping up too far however I need more then just it to hold the line.

The center again just stayed there and waiting. Now for some reason I decided to leave my FFL in the forest…. I set out thinking to use terrain to my advantage… and I keep hear that a lot… but what people mean when they say “use terrain” is use terrain the block LOS, not just give cover. If I had of left it on the back side of the woods for 2 turns i’d be a few more wounds better off and could of just moved it in turn 3 and be in the same spot, and considering I have no intentions of shooting

Matt 2

A little more dancing on the bottom left. I manoeuvred the brock riders to cover the left if the foxes rushed forward. The centre contnued a slow press forward whilst staying out of range of important charges. The right manoeuvred to be controlling the right token whilst online giving the Frost Lord bad charges.

Shooting Golloch oh did a couple of wounds on the foxes and wavered them whilst the sharpshooters did 2 more wounds to Hrimm Job.

Dave 3

Well I forgot to get the screen shot of turn 3 and I cant for the life of me remember what I did. But it was probably just a display of tactical genius on my behalf.

Edit – looking at turn 4, it seam I shot my queen into his back mastiff pack and managed a waiver on it.

Matt 3

We had a double bugger up on screenshots here sorry

Bloody ice queen with blizzard has been a pain in my butt all game taking targeting my poor mastiffs.

Not much of other value happened other than a couple of dogs were put into the left frostfang causing three more wounds.

Dave 4

Shooting wise, I use my queen to finish off the back mastiffs with blizzard again, and peppered some wounds onto the forward mastiff unit with my icekin hunters. If I can take them out, I’ll force matt to keep a big ticket unit like his berserker broc riders back to cap his objective.

I’ve turn and positioned my trolls in the centre to cover if matt tries to pivot and support the centre.

Meanwhile I’ve used my lord on frost fang to chaff his shield breakers while I get ready for a double charge from trolls and hrimm. Not sure it’s the smartest play but with 5 wounds already I figure I’m best getting the first charge in as that shield breaker horde will take him off in 1 turn.

Its starting to feel like this could go 4-3 to me, maybe even 4-2 if I can snipe off another back unit of Matts

Matt 4

Ok the Ice queen has forced me to really protect that last unit of mastiffs.

Golloch and his wild charge allowed me to get into the ice kin hunters. I’m not fussed about naiads in the flank if I don’t pop them. The brocks moved forward to take out the foxes. The shielbreakers counter the frostfang and all the other units move to keep threatening objectives late game.

In shooting i get a couple more wounds on Hrimm.

Combat. The bricks take out the foxes and reform to try and force the ice queen to not be able to go around the outside due to the one inch rule, but i don’t think that will work. Golloch only does 5 wounds on the IK Hunters and fails to pop them.

The shieldbreakers rip off the frosty’s head.

At this point in time I am confident in getting the top left token, the bottom with my sharpies, the far right token and I still have plenty of US to move towards the middle. If Dave doesn’t take the mastiffs off with blizzard I’ll get bottom right too. It will be tight but I’m certainly in a position to win.

Dave 5

I didn’t expect that charge from golloch so my waivered Ice kin have just withdrawn and turn to slightly better themselves for a charge from the berserker brock riders.

My ice queen just failed to break the last mastiff hunting pack which I feel will be very costly for me, They are waivered, but will be out of LOS next turn.

For some reason I did nothing with my ice naiads, as taking the flank on golloch was probably a great idea and instead I did nothing and now I wait for a multi charge, I didn’t even move out of arc of golloch…. total brain snap.

My trolls munched into the shield breakers but I pulled yet another waiver, however I want them holding the middle objective so its not a total bust for me.

Hrimm has turned to face the centre and munch up any dwarves that try to cross the centre forest.

And the dance continues on the right, I’m kinda happy that 2 units have held the objective, even if we just sit out the whole game I’ve invested a little over 315pts to secure my objective which I feel is ok value.

From here I think I’ll need turn 7.

Missing that back mastiff pack hurt, so its 3 to matt, 4 to me and I feel comfortable enough on the centre, however like last game I feel my ice naiads won’t hold up to multi charges and matt is lurking with a few of his units to flank it.

So I need a way to take one of his last two. The waiver on the shield breakers hurt me here but cause I need them further down the board, either taking on the sharp shooters if I get a decent over run next turn or into the ironclad or berserkers if not.

Matt 5

I think Dave made a mistake by not moving his Ice Queen out of arc before trying to take off the mastiffs. Now I should be able to kill it and that leaves me with the bottom left token for sure. So all of a sudden the centre token doesn’t bother me, as I position to take the top left I will have the other bottom three, giving me a minimum of 4-3.

Golloch charges the ice kin and the brocks charge the ice queen. All other units reposition. The shield breakers fail their headstrong roll. I pop the brock lord out finally to threaten Hrimm, he won’t need a lot more damage to be at risk.

Shooting the sharpies fail to do anything.Two throwing mastiffs from the far right units do two wounds on the FF Lord.

In combat it’s goodnight ice queen and IK Hunters, allow me to reposition to likely smash the naiads next turn.

Dave 6

Well the left went a little different then expected, without my ice queen I now have no long range tools to force another check on his mastiff pack, I took the charge on the battle driller to try and get out of arc from the berserker broc riders and golloch, but unfortunately I get another waiver.

In the centre, my trolls pull another waiver (come on, this is like 5 for the game now) to hold up the ironclad and stop them from contesting the centre objective.

I charged Hrimm into the shield breakers with the trolls mainly for the reface, and now needing turn 7 should have a decent shot at cracking the right objective.

And on the far right, I charged my lord on frost fang into the ironguard, mainly just to stop any funny business from them, Matts army is all height 2 here and my lord at height 4 cant do any cheeky corkscrew manoeuvres.

Matt 6

Big multi charge on the naiads giving me a likely kill there. The berserkers were able to reach thanks to wild charge. I abandoned the pretence on the middle objective and position the right units to block the right token without a big over run. The brock lord went into the trolls to stop them contesting the right

Shooting. The sharpies did one wound on .

In combat the naiads died. A couple of wounds went on the frost and a few on the trolls. I’m pretty comfortable I’ll win here even in 7.

Dave 7

Well, its all on the wire now, matts movement game is on point today. I have 1 chance to win this now.

Here is the play, I double charge the iron clad… done

I pile on 9 wound….. done

I roll 17 for nerve….. they are gone

I roll a 4+ for the over run to claim the lower objective and win the game….. and I roll a 1…

GG Matt well played

Wrap-Up

Dave: I wanna first start by taking the positives from this game.

– I made turn 7, that’s 3 better then the last time I face this list

– I was happy with deployment, yes I could of done things a little better ( lord on frost fang behind the forest) however I can take that knowledge into more games now

– I feel I finally understand the “Use terrain” catch phrase people always throw around.

– I didn’t leave myself open for a massive volley of throwing dogs, in fact I was able to kill 2 units before they used them.

Where could I of gone better? Well I think I need to be a little smarter then just expecting the ice naiads to just sit there and hold an objective. I need to find ways to support them further, perhaps use my ice kin a little smarter.

I feel I let myself down with chaff this game, as they really didn’t make an impact on the game and I’m not totally sure how they could of, perhaps if there were alive enough to trap the berserker brock riders.

Final thoughts on the list:

Blizzard is a much more useful spell then Mindfog, so I’m happy with the change from last game. I think considering what I have painted, this is about as good as I’ll get prior to shirecon in July. So it looks like I’m taking this list at this stage, unless I totally flip out and find a way to make sylvan kin work…. Which I doubt.

Matt: Dave pushed me to the line this game. I made a mistake by having my sharpshooters on the left uninspired and too far forward during deployment they would have been useful throughout the game. Dave magically charged over my effectively mighty brock lord turn 7 but I won’t hold that against him haha.

Another PBEM game on UB2 with Dave Fanning

Lists

Thoughts on Lists:

Dave: This is just an add on from my CoK22 list I took in January. I’ve added the ice naiad horde and thegn and hopefully this list keeps the good balance of survivability and high CS to get a win as I’ll been needing lots of CS2 or more to get through these dwarves. I’ve not used mind fog before so this will be an interesting test to see if I can get much out of it.

Matt: I’m taking a list that I currently have models for as I’m getting ready for an event. The idea is not for high output in attack but more of a shooting survivability bias. It doesn’t tend to lose big which is good.

Deployment:

Dave: I’ve tried to stretch Matt out in deployment and I think with my superior movement I can pincer him up nicely. Outside of stick the naiads in terrain I haven’t thought much about precise placement.

My main concern will be moving into position while limiting his mastiff damage.

Matt: I knew I wanted to clump two of my tokens together and then basically compete for those plus the centre token. I won the roll for side and took the bottom mostly thinking about the sharpshooters stacking in a corner and getting half the board to look at. My preference was to clump my tokens to the right but I buggered it up with keeping them close together and had to end up doing that on the left. I decided not to compete strongly for Dave’s bottom two tokens or my right, put I would put enough heat over there that he wouldn’t be able to come across easily. Instead I decided to deploy more heavy centre with enough US to protect the left hand tokens and hope to win a war of attrition there.

Turn 1 Matt:

I did a staggered push forward. From left to right I moved the left ironclad their four in terrain and pushed the iron guard and berserkers forward to control the space of the frostfang more. I deliberately brought the ironguard in range of the icekin if they wanted a terrible charge. The wingbane character pushed forward to threaten the ice kin hunters also. The battle driller moved onto the hill. I kept the horde behind the hill as didn’t want to risk both units of hunters shooting them just yet. The centre pushed forward as did the mastiffs and beast slayer character. The rest held firm. I’m leaving the brock riders back as a threat to try and draw Dave towards the right with his block above.

Shooting: The sharpshooters went at the dwarfs aiming to take US off a soon as I can, only doing two wounds. Golloch hit the hunters on 6s due to moving and cover did one wound. Both nerve checks failed. As i have played the dwarfs more and more I’ve learnt the value of chipping away with the shooting to allow my lack of crushing to have a chance in combat

Turn 1 Dave:

Well, I stuff up by scouting my middle ice kin unit, so I’ve tried to chaff up his dwarf regiments and re-deploy left. I’ve piled on shooting into his berserker brock lord on the left for 2 reasons, it’s the only inspiring over there and it’s the lowest defence.

I’ve moved up across the board, looking to start engaging some units from next turn, I mind fogged the right mastiff unit, bit failed to even let the spell go off.

I’m reasonably comfortable that the naiads have locked down their objective, so I’m looking now to collect my right two tokens, while defending my left flank.

Turn 2 Matt:

I was conflicted on how I would move this turn. My plan is to basically ignore the naiads and deal with them last. In the end the left hand ironclad crept forward to shoot their mastiff. The ironguard moved forward and positioned so the more dangerous units couldn’t get into a flank. The wingbane cloak character charged the ice kin hunters. The battle driller stayed where it was with the horde moving onto the hill. The middle ironguard charged the snow foxes. I had toyed with the rionclad flanking them but the reposition would have left me exposed. The two mastiffs moved forward to continue drawing the trolls to the bottom right. The Beastslayer character backed up and the brock regiment repositioned slightly.

Shooting: The two mastiffs on the left did 6 wounds to the dwarfs who were saved on a re roll. The mastiffs from mastiffs on foxes (that’s a mouthful) did 9 wounds and killed them. A combined mastiff and golloch fire took off the twilight kin hunters. The sharpshooters did another 4 wounds and a lucky ten twice took off the right hand dwarfs. A pretty delicious turn for me.

Combat: The beserker lord did 5 wounds to the hunters and the ironguard did 8 wounds on the foxes and over ran 6 inches.

All in all Dave had lost 8 unit strength this turn he is very likely to get his two tokens on the bottom right but now the likelihood of me being able to protect the rest has increased significantly.

Turn 2 Dave:

What the hell happened…. Loosing 8 US in a turn is sucks and it is hard to come back from, but I have faith in Matt’s ability to roll double 1’s for me when I really need it. Experience all those dogs in 1 turn is brutal, I for some reason thought I was out of range of the regular mastiffs (not the throwing kind) but as usual miss read the unit entry to my detriment.

I still have my trolls and lords on FF so I can still threaten his edge. I for some reason here decide its best to charge Hrimm head on into Golloch in an attempt to 1 shot it…. 10 plus d6 attacks base, plus slayer d6 sees me pile on 11 wounds, but the inspiring reroll saves its skin….. and now is the time I realise I’ve just left Hrimm open to a shield breaker horde flank…. What the hell was I thinking…

I charged one of my trolls into an ironclad regiment as they are CS2 and if I did remove them would open a big hole in Matts line which I hope to exploit, however they manage a waiver on the re roll as well

In other events, the ice kin hunters added a few more wound but failed to break the Berserker lord on Brock

Turn 3 Matt:

I think Dave missed an opportunity to charge his trolls and frosty forward and at least claim the tokens here on the right which probably means I win comfortably from here.

11w on Golloch took me by surprise I wasn’t paying attention to Slayer. Hrimm is a god damn beast! Thankfully I survived it! I repositioned on the left so the frost lord still couldn’t complete a flank. I hoped to finish off the ice kin with my brock lord and shuffled the battle driller forward to threaten. The shieldbreakers charged off the hill into hrimms flank, golloch failed the HS roll. The ironguard turned to threaten the rear of the trolls, whilst the ironclad also failed their HS roll. On the right one lot of mastiffs charged the thegn the other charge the trolls, the brock lord charged the frosty. The brocks repositioned forward and the sharpshooters moved forward.

Shooting: The ironguard threw their mastiff into the trolls for 2 wounds.

Combat: The brock lord did 4 wounds on the icekin but rolled a 3 and failed to waver. The shieldbreakers did 30 wounds and crushed Hrimm suck it you big loser

The mastiffs wavered the thegn and both other units failed to waver their opponents.

Turn 3 Dave:

Turn 3…. Why does it feel like this game is already over…? Ah that right, because it is… So Hrimm died, my trolls are left in the open with no support…. Sounds like its time for some hail marys…..

I didn’t want Matt’s Brock rider regiment to get the jump on me so I charged into it with my lord on frost fang, piling on 7 wounds but failing to break them…. First hail mary failed.

Next, I threw my other lord on frost fang into his other ironclad regiment again racking up wounds but I missed the nerve check as well… 2nd hail mary failed…

My ice kin hunters again fail to break the berserker lord on brock standing right in front of them, doesn’t really count as a hail mary… but really…. How have they not finished him off by now? Maybe their ice blades have melted in the heat of this battle?

Both my troll units made short work of their opponents however I was chaffed up on the right and would rather be supporting my lord on frost fang, and the ironclad regiment was nearly ready to break regardless.

Turn 4 Matt:

On the left the shieldbreakers took the top charge on the clansmen. The berserkers took a hindered flank on the frosty with the countercharging ironclad. The brock lord withdrew and charged the naiads instead whilst the battle driller went into the ice kin hunters. The triple charge in the middle was too good to miss and the brocks and brock lord took on the wounded frosty.

There was no shooting this turn

In combat everything that got charged other than the naiaids and bottom left frosty died and I’m looking pretty comfortable

Actually footage of my dwarfs demolishig Dave’s army.

Turn 4 Dave:

Don’t worry… any second now Matts going to double 1 a critical combat and I’ll make a comeback… right?… right?

Well anyways, after Matts Berserker lord on brock rolled through my ice kin, I hit back with my naiads and took him off…. Then rolled a 6 for overrun and had a go at his battle driller but failed to break it, (now originally, I rolled this combat out unhindered and took it off, gloating pretty comprehensively until I realised…. Being the gentleman that I am, re rolled the combat and only managed the one wound, so this unit is toast as its looking down the barrel of a flank and multi charge into the front.)

I did manage to get mind fog off on golloch this turn, but again rolled low on the reroll.

My Trolls on the right got vengeance for their lord and turned to face the other Berserker lord on brock and also picked up the token.

Look from here its thin, My lord on frost fang on the left cleaned up the ironclad and now is facing a berserker troop, I’ll need Matt to really fluff this roll or just straight up double 1 is and then I’ll need to hit back by 1 shotting it to stand a change, Now hopefully My trolls can claim that other token on the right and potentially I’ll draw this game…. But I really don’t like my chances.

Turn 5 Matt:

I got off wild charge 3 on both the berserkers on the hill and golloch so its time to bring the pain. The naiads died to a multi charge. The thegn and trolls died. Time to call this one I think

Turn 5: Dave:

Opening the chat log from matts turn I read the first line “ok wild charge rolls…” Fark out I totally forgot about wild charge, as just over 11 inches away from his berserker troop on the hill I thought my trolls where safe, but now he needed a 2 and his hitting me in the rear… naturally he gets a 3, and the next line reads “good night sweet prince” with just 1 scoring unit left of the board I had no hope so we called it and discussed how many… and I mean many, mistakes I made this round.

Wrap up:

Dave: Mind fog is not what I need in this list, the range is cool but without lots of shooting I didn’t get it into play well enough. Outside of that, this list just suffered from user error.

I really needed to not scout, and honestly not deploy them in front of a hill (not my worst miss-deploy but close), I needed to keep the 24-inch separation to maximise time I could pepper on wounds before I hit the dog zone.

As for all the throwing dogs, I really gave Matt too many options, and he took advantage of them all.

I probably should have looked to use terrain better, actually chaff up his units and then follow through with my force to strike on the second wave

Charing out Hrimm was a mistake… no idea what I was thinking there, and yeah also my chargge into the berserker broc regiment was an unfortunate reminder of the individual rule as I really didn’t expect to get countered with his berserker lord on broc as well as his regiment.

I’d like to face his list again, but playing a lot smarter now that I’ve dusted the cobwebs off, (I think I’ve had about 1 game in a month).

Matt: I think I had a pretty solid plan from the start. If Dave had charged forward and got those tokens I am confident he would’ve still been too far out of the game to do anything so I’m pretty happy with my play on this one.

Another PBEM game between myself and Dave Fanning

Lists

Matt: After my game with sylvans I really liked the idea of berserkers as a second line so I decided to go infantry heavy with berserker second line and some combined shooting. Wth infantry heavy I need more control behind my lines and so this is the idea of the double brock lord.

Dave: I’ve gone with my battle tested high US list and added in some versatility with 2 volley guns, another grenadier unit and made 1 aeronaught regiment nimble.

Deployment

Matt: As I put the tokens out one I decided I wouldn’t be able to get to on the right so primary goal was to go to my middle two and defend his three with my resilient unit strength. The shooting would hopefully protect one side of the board. Golloch went in the centre to spread the inspiring and a brock lord on each side to protect.

Dave: Full disclosure… I’ve never played raze before, and it wasn’t until I put my 2nd token down did Matt inform me that I was placing the objectives I needed to claim. I placed my hordes in the centre to delay as I figure that’s where the bulk of matt army will need to go. I’ve put flyers on the flanks to hopefully turn him about, however Matts dog heavy list will be hard to sneak past. Lastly I placed my volley guns protecting the middle for some later game pressure but also to keep Matt off my tokens so I can swoop in.

My plan: I have a lot of flyers who can in 1 turn claim my tokens, then with the rest of my army I can delay matt and claim the win. That’s not going to be a walk in the park (see what I did there) against Matts Dog heavy list so I’ll need to pick my battle and chaff up his army with unfortunately probably a big horde.

– Edit… turns out that’s not how the game works… you actually need to have the most US within 3 inches at the end of the turn… and here folks is where I fucked up…. I realised around turn 3, so if it looks to you like I’m doing stupid moves…. Well I am

Turn 1 Matt

My most immediate concern is Dave not being able to fly over and pinch tokens on turn 2 with US. My baiting for the right token has worked somewhat so basically I plan to all but ignore my ability to get that token and try and compete for the other 2 and the centre whilst denying his. Everything positions to stay out of range of the organ guns but also be able to compete on US next turn. The two mounted brock lords reposition to be more of a threat to fliers as well as the right one to inspire the shooting.

Sharpshooters do 1 wound on the runners and none on the aeronaughts,

Turn 1 Dave

I’ve redeployed my right flank as I don’t believe Matt can effectively collect that token with his movement 4 units so with no need to protect it, I’ve moved my nimble units behind the protection of the blocking terrain and I’ll look to put pressure on his middle once he advances, my wild runners will be exposed to the organ guns for a turn but there wasn’t a lot I could do (also there wasn’t a lot they could do, putting 1 wound on some ironclad).

I pushed up slight on the left flank to stay out of dog range, I screw up and realised he has a charge on my grenadiers however I don’t think matt will claim that just yet as it’s a suicide run for his lord, if he does it will box me in and getting a double charge might be hard. Lastly my middle crept up ever so slightly

Turn 2 Matt

Dave’s movement is making me think I have underplayed the left hand side of the board. On the other hand on the right I am not sure if pivoting back towards the centre was the right move for Dave because as he brings units out slowly Ideally I’ll be picking them off with shooting.

I’m aware the EJ’s are probably bait on the left but I think I have to take it to limit his triple charge options as I need to push the horde forward to contest the objective otherwise he will just jump forward and burn it. The other left hand units move slightly to support. On the right I move the character behind the building to threaten later. And the other units shift forward. The horde to make sure it is contesting but charges are hindered. The other two units to support and throw their dogs at the horde. Golloch stays unmoved to not take movement penalties when shooting.

Shooting, all the shots on the right unleash on the dogs to kill them. On the left the dogs from the regiments do 9 wounds on the horde but don’t break them.

The berserker lord went berserk in combat and did 6 wounds. On the re roll was snake eyes. This isn’t the worst snake eyes but is frustrating none the less, Dave has a triple charge available next turn but the EJ’s will still be held up due to the board edge.

Turn 2 Dave

So Matt took that charge… dam, luckily I did get the captain in and spiked the nerve to take him off… that could of derailed my game. Thank god matts to good at rolling snakes.

I decided to burn the right token, it means throwing away some grenadiers however for this scenario I think its worth it.

My spear horde is now out in the open to catch some dogs, so lets see if matt takes the bait. I don’t know if throwing out a spear horde is the right thing to do but I want those dogs of the table so they don’t hit my softer units.

Turn 3 Matt

This was shaping up as a critical turn and I don’t think the last turn was a great movement phase for dave. I think he should have gone after my horde with his general as well in a triple charge to try and one shot it, instead the shieldbreakers have survived. Although I have lost my inspiring source over there which could be crucial.

I countered the aeronaughts with the shieldbreakers then opened up an unhindered lane for the beserkers to flank the harvester. In the centre I position to keep the stalwarts in my front but allow shooting of my dogs on the spears. 2 regiments charged the wild runners. The shield breaker horde moved forward slightly staying out of range of the aeronaughts, but still contesting the objective but allowing their dogs to be fired on the spears also. One unit of sharpshooters moved to allow sight between the organ guns.

In shooting the guns and sharpshooters took out the EJ’s. The dogs and golloch took of the spear horde.

In combat the beserkers took out the harvester and repositioned so the stalwarts couldn’t see them around the forest. The shieldbreakers did 12 wounds but then snakes on the re roll! arrrghhhh!!!

Turn 3 Dave

Snakes again Matt you are getting to good at this.

My forces on the left countered and took off the horde easily this turn, My volley guns added a few more wounds to some berserkers but really failed to do anything meaningful. Matt positioned well to only give me the one charge, a hindered charge on ironclad so I just held firm. On the right I tried to reform in the hope that matt pushes up a little further and I can pounce on him.

And…. This is about the time I realised I just threw away my grenadier unit for nothing as it turns out claiming tokens is measured in US (makes sense, would be pretty unfair for dwarves if it didn’t as turn 2 swoops with flyers would be the norm).

Turn 4 Matt

Thinks are getting tasty. I positioned the shieldbreaker horde forward on the right to still contest the above objective as well as claim the bottom one for myself. I repositioned the top left ironclad to be able to shoot their dogs over the hill and hopefully take out the EJ’s, I also made sure the general stayed in the front. Then the beserkers both went into the aeronaughts one flank, on front. Golloch came back to contest the central token and shoot at the general. All the top right shooting marched forward to be more threatening in the final turns and potentially contest if required.

The rest of the units repositioned.

In shooting Golloch did 5 wounds! I am hoping for a cheeky waver on the generla but then roll an 11 and kill him! Unfortunately he is saved on the re roll. The dogs do 3 to the Ej’s and they die.

In combat the aeronaughts are dead and both units reposition to threaten the organ guns and the horde. They are positioned so that if possible and they both survive then one will be flank on the horde and the other front.

Turn 4 Dave

What the hell was I thinking…. So now is the point where I realise, not only did I miss interpret the fundamentals for how this scenario works… but I built my game plan around that and now I’m faced with trying to pave a road out of pig shit to get out of this…. Its 2-1 to Matt and I don’t have the flying US to pull any shenanigans to creep that back. My Plan now is for Matt to just roll more snake eyes…

Look lots did happen this turn but Matts does so well to limit my options. On the left I went defensive and tried to hide the captain as best I could, preparing for a next turn swoop on gollock to flood US on the objective. On the right…. I pretty much quaked in fear and I tried to work out how best I claim that objective… so I did a few little moves to get LoS on most of his units.

Turn 5 Matt

It’s time to turn up the heat and torch this bean head. I triple charged the stalwarts and kept repositioning everything else.

Shooting the flank popped some wounds not he horde and Golloch did another 3 on the general wavering him. The triple charge did a bunch of wounds (about 12) and failed to break

Turn 5 Dave

My volley guns finally had a clear shot and removed some berserkers, and my stalwarts removed an ironclad regiment, I withdrew as my regroup, but it was just 1 inch.. I needed 2 to avoid the flank charge from his other berserker unit

I triple charged matts last shield breaker horde. My plan now it do delete it, move forward on the regroup and claim it, then next turn pivot and swoop gollock and the centre… this is pretty much my last play….. and waivered…. Brilliant.

Turn 6 Matt

My resilient dwarves succeeded their headstrong roll and charge the aeronaughts, the brock lord went into the general and the regiment went into the horde. Two units of berserkers went into the stalwarts again

Golloch finished off the general. Goodnight winged Fido.

The stalwarts took another heap damage and then my third snakes haha. The are-naughts died and I reposition to make sure Dave can’t even draw.

Turn 6 Dave

I called it, couldn’t even push a draw. Totally out of options

Wrap-Up

Matt: Dave should read the scenario.

Dave: Well… were to start…

Formulate a game plan that wont work due to miss reading the scenario… Tick

Screw up charge ranges again and get pinned down early…. Tick

Throw away units due to miss reading the scenario… Tick

Well if over committing and scrambling was my game plan I’d say I executed that pretty well, however that wasn’t the case…

If the Gatting ball was a game of kings of war… this would be it… I have absolutely no idea what im doing.

Well played Matt you cleaned bowled me.

Final thoughts on the list:

Its hard to tweak a list when its used like this, that said… I will.

I really don’t like volley guys but I think its more my deployment, I found myself continually shooting in cover so I might try howitzers before I drop them complete for the ignores cover rule.

List Thoughts

Dave: My thoughts with this list, so I tweaked my double shambler list from last game a little further to test its grind resilience. I’ve added some chaff and mixed up the mage to run veil of shadows over barkskin.

Matt: Dave’s been trying to get his Sylvan list right so we thought we’d go some proverbial sword fighting with wood on wood and I would run a variation. I was keen to see if bosks could work in regiments with having the Verdant key word could make them a real hammer. It meant that I would need to deploy in a reasonably big block to get most value however.

Deployment

Dave: Well I finally deployed in some layers, most of my army scouts so I’ve tried to make the most of it. However Matt and I did end up mirror deploying slightly and I think he may have the upper hand by pushing his glade stalkers out on the flank. Hopefully stealthy can protect my force a little and they only do a few wounds each turn which I can heal off.

My plan for the game is to pick off Matt’s weaker boskwraith regiments and win the US game through survival. He has 3 regiments at def 3 and I plan to remove them leaving him with limited scoring options. I only need to control 4 quadrant to win so I have no real interest in venturing over to the right side of the board. Fingers cross Big wood holds firm (stop giggling Matt) and The little twigs turn to saw dust

Matt: Control is not the scenario I wanted to see haha as I had a specific plan of trying a deployment where all the verdant stuff was in one big block. I decided to go with that anyway and just see what happens but left my gladestalkers off to one side with a mage for support to encourage some movement that way. If I did it over I’d maybe just stack hard with the rest even despite scenario because after the fact I felt it was a dud move leaving them a bit isolated.

Scouts

Turn 1 Matt:

I was happy to get turn 1 as I wanted to get a round of shooting off before he managed to cast veil of shadows. Also it meant that I would be able to pivot back immediately with my vanguard moved and threaten him straight away. Everything moved this way whilst the gladestalkers stayed where they were. I flung the lancers forward and pivoted back also. This should be the unit that gives him the biggest trouble.

In shooting the gladestalkers went ballistic and got 9 wounds on the shamblers. I failed to rout them by one though. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO UNKIND!

Turn 1 Dave:

Firstly, I did not expect 9 wounds from a round of shooting. I retreated back a little and repositioned to protect my self from those lancers. If matt takes either charge on my shamblers I should be able to reposition well to take it off with a double/flank.

I did screw up deployment by putting my hunters too far forward to pivot, so I’ve had to fall back for a reposition next turn. They are US4 and sitting in the zone that will give Matt the most points, so protected and hidden isn’t a total loss for me.

I managed to heal the shamblers back 4, and another 1 with radiance of life, I’ve attempted to hide them a little now for cover and hopefully veil of shadows will protect them further…. Except this is a new spell that my mage clearly wasn’t too practised in as they rolled 3 1’s… so that was a bust. My glade stalkers managed to add 3 wounds to his glade stalkers but I failed to waiver or break them.

Turn 2 Matt:

Basically I just kept repositioning the middle allowing the bosks to catch up to the tree units. Shooting barely did anything so in this turn there’s not much to write home about.

Turn 2 Dave:

Another cagey movement turn, I’ve repositioned to protect myself a little further however this time VS went off, healing was sub par only taking back 1 W and 1 from radiance of life. Mixed shooting from my glade stalkers, with another 3 wounds, however I picked up the 10 I needed twice and picked off a unit of glade stalkers earlier… haha sucked in.

Turn 3 Matt:

Damn him taking my Gladestalkers down. Dave definitely runs by this motto “it’s better to be lucky than good”. Although they are primarily there for distraction. I’m hoping he will keep a reasonable amount of US on that side of the board leaving me mostly competing for the other 4.

I started to move the mage back towards the centre to be able to move and use BC or scorched earth in later turns but leaving it in range of inspiring for now. Otherwise it was primarily all repositioning into a block to allow some flexibility in where I go next.

Shooting did 3 wounds on his left unit of gladestalkers and they survived. The green lady heal is a real problem for me.

Turn 3 Dave:

Well the dance continues. I’ve put pressure on Matt to move into my trap with the lancers by pushing my hunters up into a flank position. Also moved my shamblers up the board to close out on the gladestalkers, plinking on a few wounds to get them closer to the break next turn. Besides that, I healed back all my wound on the gladestalkers and then Radiance of life’d off another on the shamblers, so far I’m pretty happy with my heal game, as its working like I had planned. Veil of shadows also went off, however I did roll 2 1’s and a 4 to make that happen… I hope this mage is getting all the one out of its system early.

Turn 4 Matt:

I am already hating on this game a bit. For some reason I am not vibing my list even though I built for some fun with the bosks. Therefore I am getting impatient and want to start some action

I first rolled my wild charge on the archwraith and boskwraiths on the left getting a 3 and 2 respectively. This left me with multiple options. The bosks could JUST make the horde of Awoken Guardians but would need to pivot over the obstacle therefore making them unlikely to pop them. I think then that Dave would be able to withdraw them and get his troop of bosks in the flank and there would go a hammer. Therefore I charge them and the the archwraith into the regiment, I am also hoping to scorched earth wilty for some fun

I charge a regiment of shamblers into the Guardians to hold them up and I am prepared to lose them next turn. Because of my boredom I decide to take some risks, I back the lancers up and reform to take a charge from the hunters. They should take it but I have left them uninspired so is a big gamble. If Dave takes the charge that side of the board is basically mine. I leave the gladestalkers where they are to encourage that horde of shamblers to keep moving down to the back corner. The mage moved away leaving them uninspired ready to cast scorched earth on Wilty.

In shooting the GS did 2 wounds on their counterparts and they failed to break. Scorched earth I rolled 1,2,3. I am a sad panda right now.

In combat the wraiths smashed the unit of shamblers and the regiment bounced back. The character pivoted to be off the hill

Turn 4 Dave:

I didn’t want the Wiltfather in combat just yet, I think that would of left him a little too exposed and could potentially see him taken off before the end of the game, so I pulled a cheeky advance to get my last regiment of shamblers 1 inch from Matts arch wraith and surge it in from the Wiltfather.

I moved my hunters back out of charge range from the boskwraiths in a hope to keep them alive a little longer. I don’t think the lancers will take them off in 1 round, and hopefully I can move my green lady over for some healing.

In shooting my glade stalkers put shots into the wizard adding 5 wounds getting a waiver.

On the bottom of the board my shambler horde piled on the wounds but rolled a waiver and lastly my guardians (bane chanted) and boskwraiths double charged Matts shamble regiment to clean them up.

My army is holding up well and I’m happy that I comfortable hold 3 zones and can claim/contest the 4th to seal this game. I just need to see what matt throws at me next.

Turn 5 Matt:

This was a frustrating movement turn. I had a number of movement options that I couldn’t complete by millimetres. For example I wanted to double charge the regiment of bosks with strength and the regiment of shambles against the awoken guardians but the shamblers hit the building right on the line.

The quicksilver lancers charged up top, hoping for a lucky one shot as that regiment of hunters has US4 because of the item, and I may need two turns to get through it, unless they get lucky in return also. I double charged his bottom regiment of shamblers with both the bosks with strength and the archwraith, then used my regiment of shamblers to block up the Guardians. The Wiltfather moved into position to use some cloak of death. I moved the bosks off the hill so they couldn’t be shot and repositioned to be a threat if needed. Down the bottom I backed up the wavered gladestalkers in order to bring that horde further out of the game. I backed up the wavered mage hoping to either keep drawing the gladestalkers back to the left or at least encourage them to shoot at it, If he’s shooting at individuals this late instead of unit strength then that’s good for me.

Cloak of death gained a wound on the awoken guardians and bottom regiment of shamblers.

In combat the Lancers did 6 wounds only and failed to pop the hunters, they’ll be in trouble next turn potentially as I am uninspired up there, but if I can get through it they will hopefully die next turn. The shamblers did 4 wounds, box cars was the only option and they didn’t get it, let alone twice. The bosks and archwraith did a combined 10 ore wounds and killed it. The archwraith over ran 6 and now can be threat to many units unless shot off next turn. Again if he’s shooting at that on turn 5 though I’m not unhappy. I left the bosks where they were as I didn’t want them seen on the hill.

Turn 5 Dave:

Well my hunters survived. Which is excellent, I had a sub par heal (whats going on there green lady), but I feel like I’ve taken matts hammer out of the game. They will need to spend another turn chew up the hunters and that stopped the reface with a nimble charge at my army when it dashes over into matts half.

Across the board matts army turned to sawdust. Matt’s glade stalkers, mounted wizard, arch wrait, boskwraith regiment and shamble horde all poped this turn leaving him well and truly out of options. With only 4 combat units left I’ll see how well my force survives turn 6. I feel like matts stuck between a rock and a hard wood, he can go for my weaker options but leaves the wilt father and guardians to strike or attempt to crack my heavier units and leave my 20 attack bosks to feast on what’s left over.

Turn 6 Matt:

I had one plan. That was I pretty much had to take off every charge target and then hope for 7. Lancers countered hunters, Boskwraiths regiment went into Boskwraiths troop. Woke went on woke, Wilty had to choose between the GS and bosks. GS having better option of decreasing US but bosks more guaranteed to take off. I chose the bosks. Everything died except the shambles which I missed by 1. Oh well That’s pretty much game over now with the flank exposed.

Turn 6 Dave:

This was a pretty tricky turn for me as I needed to think through what could happen in turn 7, double charging his guardian horde was a no brainer, however I needed to make sure I didn’t end up too far away from my 2 point control zone. I ended up charging with the glade stalkers not the WF to give me options. My glade stalkers backed up after the combat to end up just within, and my wiltfather has both blocked Matts boskwraiths from getting a decent charge so now its 20 attacks with no crushing into my def 6 and with a disengage pivot and move I’ll end up just within my 2 point control zone.

We called it before turn 7 and Matt had no options left to win or draw. 4-2 to me

Wrap up:

Matt: As I wrote up earlier, i didn’t really vibe this list at all. After playing it there’s no doubt in my mind (as we thought anyway) that troops of bosks are superior to regiments, as is the case with a number of beserker style units. I’d want to try a completely different list next time. I don’t think at 2000 points I’m seeing a lot of variation in sylvan lists.

Big credit to Dave he played well. Didn’t take a lot of my baited options and smashed me.

Dave: Well the mighty big wood held firm (stop it matt)

Pretty happy with my game plan, I stuck to it and it work out for me. Matt played well but my dice were hotter. Very happy with how well my heal game worked my shooting target priority and my charge selection / chaff game.

So really all in all Matt… I crushed you, sucked in.

Really like this list. I think the Orb of towering presence on a def 5 US 3 unit is a good distraction carnifex for games like control and invade, for a grindy list I think I’ll keep it as is and get some more reps,

If I had to change 1 thing Id drop elite on the 2nd shambler horde and see what other options that gave me.