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.