Empire vs. Ogres 2k 2012-05-19

Marius Leitdorf surveyed the battlefield. Off to his right a village where the Sigmarites used to worship, one of their shrines decaying on the far side. Beyond the village, a mysterious looking river rolled along and disappeared. On his left, a strange looking forest, and beyond it a tomb of skulls where the chaos horde (which had driven out the Sigmarites years ago) used to sacrifice to their evil gods. Beyond, a fence, and beyond that, more forest, a river, and a swamp.  A small lump of a hill rose up straight ahead.

Marius consulted his mount, Daisy. She had given him good advice in the past. Behind Marius, his Unusual Bearer Jorge (other Counts had Standard Bearers. But Marius found that boring) snorted derisively, wondering how he had ended up serving The Mad Count.

After consulting Daisy, Marius began issuing orders. "Steam Tank, right flank, behind that large structure. Handgunners, next to the Steam Tank. Greatswords, center with your Halberdier detachments flanking at four wide. Volley Gun, to the left of the Halberdiers. Knights of the Inner Circle, set up in the forest on the left." Some of the men looked at him askew, but the Knights knowingly regarded the Ranger Standard which would allow them to safely move through the terrain (The Ranger standard gives the unit Strider) He sent Jorge, one of the accompanying Warrior Priests, and another Captain to join the Greatswords. That should allow the center to hold effectively. The other Warrior Priest he had join himself and Daisy accompanying the knights.

The plan was to have the Greatswords hold the center line, while the Steam Tank and Knights circled outside and the shooters chewed up the enemy from afar. Even the thick skin of the Ogres will have a tough time surviving against the deadly bullets of the Empire.

Surveying the battlefield, Marius congratulated Daisy on a sound battle plan. This would be for Blood and Glory!

Looking across the field, Marius finally thought to pay attention to the approaching Ogres. To Marius left, a creature was crawling out of the river. It looked very cold. Absently Marius wondered if he should reconsider the dip in that river he had been planning after the battle. Near the creature, there were three ogres riding large pig looking things. Next to them, a group carrying what looked to be cannon barrels. In the middle of the field, a bunch of tough looking Ogres carrying all manner of fierce looking weapons, including a Butcher and a (whatever their other character type is. Help me out here Kev). On the right, more cannon-weilding ogres and a bunch of small creatures riding on what looked to be a catapult pulled behind another large pig creature.

The Winds of Magic began to swirl. A fiery cloak appeared around one of the groups of Ogres. The Ogre-Mage cursed as a great Maw opened over some of the Ogres, nicking them with its teeth.

The Ogres' center advanced in a rush, brandishing weapons and bellowing voluminously. The pig creatures on both flanks lurched forward, and the creature from the swamp crawled forward. The cannon-weilding Ogres on Marius right blew away 4 of the Handgunners before they could even bring their weapons in line. The other Leadbelchers, as the Inner Circle Preceptor informed him they were called, fired at the Greatswords. One of them fell.

Marius struggled to maintain control, but his insanity got the better of him. He flew into a terrible rage, cursing the Ogre gods and screaming that the Butcher's mother was a half-troll. (I rolled three times for Marius' Mad Count special rule. Every time I failed the leadership test, and every time I rolled Insane Bravado giving him Stubborn, Frenzy, and making it so he could not refuse challenges.)

The Steam Tank's Engineer generated steam without trying to push the boiler too hard, and managed to keep it under control. The Knights and Marius attempted to charge the Ogre-Pig-Cavalry, but were unable to catch them as they fled the charge.

The Winds of Magic swirled again. The Warrior Priests prayed and an ethereal shield (Shield of Faith: 5+ ward in close combat) materialized around the units they accompanied.

The Steam Tank attempted to fire a cannon ball at the larger group of Ogres, but something went wrong with the boiler (misfire). The Tank suffered some damage, but was still quite capable of continuing. The Engineer and the Marksmen from both Handgunner units fired at the enemy standard bearer, all failing to cause any harm. The rest of the Handgunners fired at the same unit, ripping holes through one Ogre. The Volley gun, although one barrel jammed, managed to finish off the injured monster-man.

The Ogres in the center, enraged at losing one of their number surged forward, charging the Greatswords and the Halberdiers to their right. The impact of the charging Ogres felled three Greatswords and three Halberdiers. The Halberdiers to the left counter-charged the Ogres, catching them in the flank.

The Ogre-Mage cursed once again as a great mouth opened up, this time over the pig-knights who had just regained their composure. Again, all they suffered was a nick to one of them too slow to completely escape the great Maw's teeth.

The Leadbelchers opened up again, felling 6 more Handgunners.

The great melee ensued in the center. The Warrior Priest, Jorge the Unusual Bearer, and Captain 13 (as Marius liked to call him) tore into the Ogres, dealing significant damage. The Halberdiers managed to rip a couple holes in the great monster-men as well. The Greatswords and Ogres struck simultaneously. Several times the Ogres struck what would have been crushing blows, only to have their attacks deflected by the ethereal shield the Warrior Priest had summoned. Their were still eight Plate Armored bodies that lay crushed on the ground when the blood-spray cleared. However, there were also four of the great Ogre corpses slashed to pieces on the ground. Unable to stand up to the concept of these puny humans besting them in combat, the Ogres began to flee. Jorge ordered his men to press the attack, but they were unable to catch the fleeing Ogres.

Having been abandoned by their parent unit, the other unit of Halberdiers crumbled under the might of the charging Bull Ogres. All but one of them were killed outright without doing a single wound in return. The remaining soldier attempted to flee, but was trampled to death as the Ogres continued on with the momentum of their charge (they pursued and easily caught him).

The Marksmen in both Handgunner units were just barely able to keep their men under control as they watched the nearby route of their Halberdier brethren. (Rolled 7's needing 7's for both units.)

The Steam Tank's engineer powered up the boiler without incident. Marius once again lost his senses. In a Frenzy he charged forward at the Swamp-thing, leaving the Knights no choice but to follow him. (I notice in the picture my knights are a man down, I cannot recall how that happened, although it was probably the Leadbelchers, or perhaps the catapult.) The Halberdiers and Greatswords charged the fleeing Ogres, the Halberdiers managing to run them down. The Steam Tank rolled forward into the Leadbelchers near them. (This is when I discovered how cool semi-random movement is. There is no charge, so there is no charge-reaction. Kevin wanted to flee which would have resulted in a failed charge. In looking up how far the Stank would go, I discovered that because it is technically random movement there is no charge, and no charge reaction.)

The Handgunners turned to face the Ogres now behind them. The Volley Gun crew wheeled the great gun around to face them as well.

The winds of magic swirled. Once again ethereal shields appeared.

The Hangunners were too preoccupied with their maneuvers to get a shot off, but the Volley Gun managed to get off a sizable volley (22 shots). They killed three Ogres, sending the rest running for the hills.

The Steam Tank ground two of the Ogres into the ground. The third tried to bash the armored behemoth with his cannon. Seeing it was futile he fled, leaving the great metal monster parked on the bodies of his dead friends.

The Swamp-thing and its handlers fought ferociously, but were only able to fell one of the Knights. Marius' Runefang flew about hacking bits off of the monster (3 wounds in 3 attacks with the Runefang. Forgot about Frenzy or it may have been four.) The Warrior Priest was too focused on maintaining his Shield of Faith to manage an effective assault. The Knight Preceptor managed to finish off the creature with his lance.

The remaining Leadbelchers pounded forward and caught up to the Volley Gun. They killed one of the crew on impact. The Pig-Knights charged Marius and his knights trampling some of them.

The sole Leadbelcher continued fleeing. The 3 Ogres who had fled for the hills thought better of it, and turned around to return to the battle.

The Winds of Magic swirled again, and again the Maw appeared, but this time over the Greatswords and Halberdiers! The mouth was much larger this time (cast at the higher value for the 5" template rather than the 3"). When the Maw disappeared, 6 Greatswords and 4 Halberdiers were gone too. They held their ground, but were visibly shaken by the event. (One of them failed the first attempt at the Panic test.)

The Leadbelchers easily killed the crew of the Volley gun, and set about crushing the machine before turning to face the remaining Empire soldiers.

The Pig-Knights proved deadly combatants, managing to slay four of the Knights of the Inner Circle. However, Marius and the Warrior Priest managed to kill two Ogre Knights, with the Empire Knights finishing off the third.

Marius once again began raving, and ordered his men to attack the Ogres who had destroyed the Volley Gun. However, they were unable to set up for the charge, and had to settle for facing them and waiting for an opportunity. The opportunity would not come.

The Steam Tank managed to generate steam without incident and rolled into the Pig-drawn-catapult. The remaining Halberdiers wheeled around and approached the Leadbelchers and Butcher. The remaining Greatswords went to inspect the river beyond the Sigmarite village. (I was trying to hide my standards since they would not be able to reach the enemy without getting shot to pieces.)

The Marksmen opened up at the returning unit of Ogres. They missed completely. However, the rest of the Handgunners managed to take down the unit's standard bearer. Seeing their last standard fall, the remaining Ogres observed the better part of valor, and left the field.

Survivor Shot

1 Stank
3 Knights
1 Marius Leitdorf
2 Warrior Priests
12 Handgunners
5 Greatswords
2 Captains of the Empire (including Jorge the Unusual Bearer)
8 Halberdiers

I had a lot of things go my way in this battle. From Marius getting the best possible result on the Mad Count table every turn, to the Maw misfiring 2 out of 3 times it was tried.

I tried much harder with my deployment, such that I was actually factoring deployment into my army building (I know this is basic, but I don't often do it). I think I did a good job this game. Things broke right for me several times, but I was set up to take advantage of the breaks.

I discovered I love the Warrior priests. Diving Fury (Hatred) is strong when it applies not only to the unit he is in, but also any detachments. Also, a 5+ ward in close combat is great against strong enemies. Against weaker enemies I might go for the re-rolling of failed wounds, but in this game the Shield was great. Also, innate bound spells are great! You can roll irresistible and get the benefit, but not the negative. The Volley Gun is a terror when the situation is right. It managed to fell 3 Ogres in one volley due to: short range, 22 shots, S5 and Armour Piercing.

We both did a lot of damage, and we both took a lot of damage. I had a lot of fun in this game. I think Kevin did too.

High Elf Versus Brettonians, Blood and Glory

Liam and I set up a game at 2900 points. Why 2900 you ask?

I looked at the models I had and started there. 10 Swordmasters. 17 White Lions. 5 Dragon Princes plus I could use 5 Silver helms as unit filler. 2 Repeater bolt Throwers.

Throw in some Wizards with various items to ensure a big magic phase. Figure out I needed 475 points in HERO level characters.

Decided to try the horde of Lothern Sea Guard. Had I remembered I had a chariot...that would have appeared as well.

Check out the spears poking through from the second rank. Good times.

Anyway, we rolled the scenario and three consecutive times came up with meeting engagement. That has been Liam's last two games and one of those was with me so we re-rolled until we got something different. Ended up being Blood and Glory.

I had a BSB, banners in the Swordmasters, White Lions and Sea Guard so I was in good shape with 6 points there. He had a whopping 11 banners. Unlikely to win via scenario rules...I would need points.

I knew he had double trebuchets. One of the reasons I seldom play High elfs is because they do not really suit my play style. I try to keep my casualties low, make sure the troops engaged have the capability of doing something and are therefore worth taking.

Against S5 templates I have no save and am wounded on twos. Horrible, horrible match up. On the bright side, I do have two units with either S5 or S6 so his 1 or 2+ armor saves can be hit by those, plus the RBTs will theoretically allow no armor save because I plan to penetrate ranks after I take out his Trebuchets.

Well, I set up the White Lions in a forest to my left. It was a mysterious Forest, but I thought I would play against type and not treat it as impassable terrain as I usually do.

 On the other side of the forest I planted my LSG unit (and later all my characters went in this unit) with another Mysterious Forest to the right and the Dragon princes angled to flank anyone who hit the LSG in the front.

Above this set-up were my small block of 12 Archers, then one RBT on the ground to the right of the second Mysterious Forest, another on a building with Swordmasters there to protect it.

This was a badly flawed set-up. I was thinking the RBT had S10 when they single-shot. Their assigned task was to take out his Trebuchets. The Swordmasters I set up hidden by the building, but I faced them wrong so they would take two turns to threaten any upcoming unit.

I would have been better off putting a RBT to either side of  the LSG and concentrating on the Knights. Not knowing my own stats is inexcusable.  

HE Turn 1

I march the White Lions on the left. Cannot remember the Mysterious result but it ended up having no effect.I make a lesser advance with the archers. Across the field I am looking at Knights flanked by Knights flanked by Knights...so...yeah.

Time for Magic. I get max dice. Throne succeeds. I then put Flesh to Stone and one Wyssans on the LSG. He dispels the second Wyssan. So here you see my battle plan. Now I have as many as 50 S4 attacks with re-roll to hit and T6.

Even charging Knights are only wounding on a 4. Now I have a tough, rugged army.

Of my 35 shots 5 wounded...a little low, I should have wounded with about 9. He then proceeded to save all of them but one. So about one wound light by math.

My RBTs targeted his Pegasus Knights because it was at this point I figured out the lower S thing. The first one missed, the second saw its hit discarded by the Enchanted shield.

The theme begins.

Brettonian Turn 1

His Pegasus Knights and hero fly towards my RBT on top of the building. I am not worried...I am on a building, so untouchable by fliers.

Well...actually not. Turns out I invented that rule in my own head. For some reason I was thinking Cavalry, fliers, and monsters could not attack garrisons. I was wrong. Not knowing the rules is not good.

Anyhow, he maxes out on Magic dice as well. He dispels Throne and Flesh to Stone.

Now, the clever reader instantly says Rules Error. Flesh to Stone is an Augment spell that lasts until the casters next magic phase. If it is successful it cannot be dispelled, stopped, removed, etc.

Now...I built this army specifically around having these Augments on my units. I know he will probably get all the charges based on his superior movement. No big deal...I took Okrams Mind Razor with one Wizard along with Wand of jet.

On the key turn I will be using the Power Stone, Wand of Jet, and power Scroll hiding out on my wizards to have him facing a S8/T 6 or 7 Always Strikes First mass attack unit.

And now, by not knowing my own rules, I changed my entire strategy.

Not once in the entire battle did I A) use the aforementioned magic items, B)remember to use the Lore of Life attribute or C) use the strategy I built the army around.

Anyhow, I block his Iceshard and Comet, in both cases only tying him because the High Elf Archmage adds +1 to Dispel.

The first Trebuchet scatters. So far, so good.

The second one kills 18 of 21 possible LSG when it hits.

T4 not as good as T6. Instead of wounding on 5s he was wounding on 3s.

His peasants then kill 5 of my small archer unit.

HE Turn 2

Again my White Lions march on the left. Next turn they can charge the trebuchet on that flank.

This time he dispels Throne, I get Wyssans off and I then Miscast with Flesh to Stone, putting a wound on each of my Wizards and losing the rest of my power dice.

He is moving a big block of Peasants up towards my second RBT so I weirdly break my own rule of concentrating fire and unleash everything...RBTs, LSG, at them. The RBTs kill 4 and the LSG kill 6.

The RBT never hit again in the entire battle.

On the bright side, the remaining 7 archers put a whopping 5 wounds on the Questing Knights and he only saves 4.

Brettonian Turn 2

His Pegasus Knights charge my RBT on the building. His Pegasus Hero charges the other one. Everyone else...knights, the peasant horde...advance on the LSG.

Magic all gets shafted. he again dispels Wyssans. Both Trebuchets hit, though one partially scattered. I lose another 15 LSG this turn. I have now lost 33 of them to two turns of shooting.

His peasant bowmen shoot down 6 more of the small archer unit, leaving just one who stands.

I wound the Pegasus hero once in a minor upset, he kills a crewman. I pass my test.

On the building I wound him TWICE, but he saves the first with armor and ward saves the second. But he whiffs. Drawn combat. Go-go gadget garrison!

HE TURN 3

He dispels most things, I get regrow off, put back three LSG.

The White Lions charge....the peasants. Why? Why? Why?

The Trebuchet is RIGHT THERE. It is the correct target.

Another play error. I really erred time and again in this game.

Well, the White Lions did what high WS, S models with re-rolls do and slew 9 peasant bowmen. They do none in return and break. His Treb fails LD test so will not shoot for a turn. I fail LD test to combat reform and chase the Peasants but do not catch them.

Brettonian Turn 3

He announces charges on my LSG with Grail Knights and...knights Errant? Knights of the Realm? I stand and shoot his Grail unit, wounding twice but he saves them both. He then fails both charges. His other knight unit charges my lone archer and I elect to flee. I do not want him overrunning into my LSG.

His magic is good, getting the Comet off irresistibly.

High Elf Turn 4

The unit that charged the lone archer presents its rear to my White Lions who charge it. The lone archer...rolls insane courage. Worst possible result for me.

He is now blocking my Dragon princes who, instead of charging, are now trapped behind ONE model.

Tired of playing poorly, I elect to play unbelievably badly. The idea is with the BSB and Crown of Command, I am Stubborn on a re-rollable 9. I am effectively unbreakable.

Yet for some inexplicable reason I break off my wizards and run them into the nearby Mysterious Forest. Oh, by the way...the Crown of Command was on my Archmage, not my BSB. So now my unit is not stubborn.

My shooting and magic all fail. Now my non-stubborn unit is facing 20+ S6 attacks with T3 and no Stubborn. I am probably going to need Insane Courage to stick around.

On the bright side, the White Lions kill 4 knights plus their champ, forcing him to flee and I pursue.

Brettonian Turn 4

This time his Grail Knights make the charge. He rallies everyone else.

And then the Comet hits. And r9olls 9". All my Wizards are now individual units and three consecutive times he rolls 13 hits. 3 dead wizards.

He then kills his Pegasus Hero (which had wiped out my RBT)kills 6 Grail Knights and 6 LSG. I will take the LSG/Grail Trade...

Which frees up his Trebuchets to kill 7 Swordmasters.

In the challenge his one guy kills my champ, I wound his character 5 times, he saves them all. Nobody runs.

High Elf 5

The solo archer has to get out of the way of my Dragon Princes, so he suicide charges the freshly rallied Knights as the White Lions, thinking I need to get that banner, rear-charge the unit next to them. The Dragon Princes then flank his Grail Knight/Champ.

My Dragon princes lay waste to his Grail Knight. My LSG do wound his hero 5 times, but he saves them all. Still, he breaks, I run him down.

The archer, to the surprise of nobody, dies, but the White Lions wound his Knights Errant 10 times, killing 6 of them. He kills 3 back, breaks, I run him down as well.

Bretonnian Turn 5

He begins a strategic retreat. We debated calling it, but a hasty points calculation discovered I was ahead. He would need to do lots of damage with his Trebuchets so we played it out.

12 White Lions die to Trebuchet.

High Elf 6

I do flank charge him with my Swordmasters on his peasants. He can treb me to death anyway with just 3 left. I actually win the combat, he has to test on a 6...and that is what he rolls.

Brettonian Turn 6

His Pegasus Knights charge my Swordmasters, I do a wound or so, he kills them all.

His trebuchets cannot finish off my LSG, leaving like 2...but I fail my re-rollable 9 LD test. I roll a 5, am about 5-1/8" from table edge but declare them off anyway and he gets the win via scenario rules.


Retrospect
Honestly, at this point I was pretty disgusted with the High Elf army. I built the army around Augment spells but at this point was thinking...they would never be in effect when they mattered. People would just dispel them on their turn.

Furthermore, all the shooting was very ineffective. Yes, I had 35 shots at first but just did one wound. S3 is still S3 and against armored troops with a back-up ward, that does nothing.

But after thinking about it...oh, how wrong I was. I had all the tools to not just win that game but win it handily.

With better set-up I would have gotten the Dragon Princes and Swordmasters into multiple combats. My LSG would have had 25 or 30 guys around between taking fewer wounds and using the Life attribute. My Wizards would have been alive. I would likely have had S9 on the key turn by using the tools I built into the army.

Furthermore, the shooting was much more effective than I gave it credit for. I just failed to focus my shots and it was my tactical errors that reduced the effectiveness of the shooting.

He outplayed me in set-up, in knowledge of key rules, and garnered a well-deserved victory.

And it was the best kind of game; enjoyable throughout and led to me rethinking a couple of things. Playing different armies is good...