How to play a Meeting Engagement in the Small Campaign

I noted there were a couple of different interpretations of how the special scenario "Meeting Engagement" should be run. Since part of my concept for the campaign is to have some games played that meet the criteria for "not two equal points armies lining up and bashing straight ahead", I am going to show the way I want Meeting Engagement to take place.

I think you will find it makes a real difference in strategy and the way play proceeds and, hopefully, proves enjoyable. I would really like feedback on the presentation; if you find this helpful, I might do the same for Flank Attack, Treasure Hunt, or any other that might have visual aids helpful. Please note; photos are NOT to scale. However, if you click on them an enlarged version should appear.

First, a refresher on the rules:

) Meeting Engagement
Length:Varies. Once last unit has entered battlefield, 6 turns.
Prior to the game, each player lists the units in their army in marching order, units at the top being in front of the column and units at the bottom of the list being the back of the column. War machines, chariots, steam tanks, etc. cannot be first on the list. All characters are listed as one entry. Scouts must be placed first.


Units enter the field in from the edge of their deployment zone in the order listed on the card. They can make a march move on the first turn. The deployment zone extends 12" in to table.
Once the last unit enters the field, the game lasts 6 turns from that point.


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Okay, I "made" two sample armies. First, the Warriors of Chaos.


On this list there are no Scouts and no War Machines, so I could have placed them in any order.


Second, the Dwarfs.



Note that Rangers DO have the Scout special rule, so they MUST be placed first on the list. The Cannon can be 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, and the other items can be in any order.



Ironically, this illustration already has an error on it. Ignore the "18"" portion. The 12" in the center represents a 12" clear path. Unlike typical set-up, in a Meeting Engagement Terrain CAN be placed within 12" of the center...however, there is a 12" "window" that runs from one table edge to the other in which NO terrain may be placed. 6" to either side of the 12" middle in the picture above would still be within the deployment zone, but terrain COULD be placed there. Note that even "scatter" terrain may not be in the center 12".


Warriors of Chaos Pre-Game Turn 1
The first unit on the card is the Chaos Marauders. They must enter from their edge anywhere within the deployment zone. They may move normally and, in this case, elect to march the full 8".



Dwarf Pre-Game Turn 1
The Dwarf Rangers, due to their Scout rule, must be the first Dwarf unit. They march the full 6".





Here is a look at the completed pre-game turn 1.

Warriors of Chaos Pre-Game Turn 2

The Marauders, already entered, advance a further march move, now reaching fully 16" onto the field.
The Chaos Knights, second in marching order, advance a march move, now being 14" on the field.

Dwarf Pre-Game Turn 2

The Dwarfs bring on their cannon. Note that War machines cannot march, so they only advance 3", the movement of their crew.

The Rangers March again, advancing 6" for a total of 12" onto the field.

A look at the field after 2 pre-game turns apiece.

Warriors of Chaos Pre-Game Turn 3

General March forward.
The Dragon Ogre Shaggoth was 3rd on the list, so he moves on from the table edge.

Dwarf Pre-Game Turn 3

The Rangers March 18", the Gyrocopter flies on from the table edge at an angle; note this is legal, they simply must enter the field through the deployment zone, but then may angle as this one did.

Since the cannon did not move, it now may fire as usual. The Gyrocopter may as well since that is within the rules, so even though it is its first turn on the field, since the Gyrocopter may move and fire, it may take advantage of any opportunity to do so.

Warriors of Chaos Pre-Game Turn 4

The Knights are within range of the Dwarf Rangers, so may declare a charge.

However, the Marauders are within 8" of the Gyrocopter, so may not march this turn; they may only move 4", reform, or other normal maneuvers.

The Shaggoth is outside 8" of any Dwarf, so may still march, as may the characters who come on all together.

Dwarf Pre-Game Turn 4

As we have already seen, the units already on the table may act as normal and the Characters come on all at once.

Pre-Game Ends

Only now do we need a turn counter, as up until now we have been in the "meeting" portion.

An up close look at the turn marker.

Note; If one army had additional units, say...the Dwarf army had a unit of Warriors, the Warriors of Chaos would simply take a turn with what they had, then the Dwarf Warriors would come on and THEN the game would begin. The 6 turns only start after all units from both sides have entered the field.

Additionally, units that enter on later turns...the Ogre Kingdom Gorger, the Warriors of Chaos Wulfrik the Wanderer, the Tomb King Scorpion for example...the owning player may do so at their option or may have them enter with the other units. Just mark which way you are doing it on the appropriate card.

Let the Meeting Engagement begin!

Small Campaign Report:Wood Elf Versus Lizardmen in a Treasure Hunt

My Leaves of Asrai War banner moved into a new territory, intent on recovering a mystic item they had heard of. Unfortunately, a small Lizardman force had gotten there first and acquired it.

Springing into action, Windstar rushed to set up a battle line, intent on stopping the Lizardmen from departing with the treasure.

In his rush to get there in time, he left behind the Treeman who had joined up with him after the recent battle. Fortunately, the Lizardman general had hurried ahead of most of his forces as well and several did not show up in time to take part in the battle.

Hastily Windstar ordered the Glade guard to deploy in a line with a hill on their left and forest on their right. The Glade Riders flanked out wide right while Windstar and the Waywatchers advanced up the left flank.

Only a few skirmishing Skinks and a small unit of Skinks in tandem with their over sized Kroxigor brethren stood between the Wood Elf army and seizing the treasure.


Special Rules:

This game was fought using the rules for Treasure Hunt from the 1995 battle book. I selected a slow arrival, just a 4 needing all my units. Fullur was a bit more aggressive, selecting a 9. He would win the game by getting his General off through my deployment zone. I intended to win by leaving no opponent on the field...

Wood Elf Turn One

Windstar gestured the hard-riding Glade Guard forward and led his band of Waywatchers towards the woods on the left, even as the long line of Glade Guard advanced up the center of the field.

The Glade Riders fired first, doing heavy damage to the skink skirmishers. Windstar nodded in satisfaction as his Waywatchers and the Glade Guard concentrated their army on the unit of Kroxigors and Skinks, doing heavy damage.

Seeing the deadly bow fire of the elf army, the skirmishers had enough and fled from the field, leaving only the Kroxigor-led unit and the Skink Chief carrying the treasure.

Windstar smiled in glee. Soon he would possess it!

Lizardman Turn 1

The Lizardman force marched forward as swiftly as possible. The Skink Priest tried to cast the Portent of far, but the Wood Elf forces felt the gathering magic and dispelled it.

Wood Elf Turn 2

Windstar's battle plan showed his wisdom as the fast-moving Glade Riders circled behind the Kroxigor unit.

Again the hail of Wood Elf arrows took a heavy toll, even felling one of the mighty Kroxigor.

Lizardman Turn 2

Too late the Skink Priest realized the danger his army was in but he was caught. The Glade Riders were between him and reinforcements, the Waywatchers were pinning them down from the side, and ahead were the numerous Glade Guard. He saw no way out, so as swiftly as possible tried the one thing he had left...pushing through the Glade Guard and trying to flee the continuous fire of the Wood Elf army.

Wood Elf Turn 3

Windstar frowned. He had thought the bow-work of his highly trained and discipline army would force the Lizardmen to drop the item and flee or at worst surrender, yet here they were continuing their implacable advance. They were as resolute as Dwarfs! Despite the mighty archery of his men, he knew the Kroxigor could do tremendous damage if they were to attack the Wood Elf line in close combat.

Again the hail of arrows flew forth, cutting down the last few skinks and a Kroxigor even as the Glade Riders shot down the Skink Priest. But one Kroxigor was left. He held up his hand, ordering his men to cease fire, assuming the Kroxigor would rather surrender than die.

Lizardman Turn 3

Windstar watched in horror as the kroxigor took the opportunity offered by the cessation of bow fire to charge his lines. With mighty swings of its stone axe, the Kroxigor decapitated two Wood Elfs before one of the Glade Guard managed to finish off the already wounded Kroxigor.

Windstar looked at the field. Overall, acceptable losses, he supposed...for the loss of but two Glade Guard, he had captured a mighty magic item. With eager anticipation, he approached the body of the Skink Priest to see what the Wood Elf efforts had won...

Conclusion

This was a curious battle. I already had a points advantage, even before half his forces did not show up. It was pretty certain from the beginning I would come out victorious.

The problem came when I got overconfident that his Krox would not reach me and diverted some fire to the General instead of everyone shooting the Krox. It had long-term negative consequences, as losing two glade guard, on both of them I failed their survival rolls, so will not have them available for future battles.

At the same time, it was well worth it as I can now take a 100 point magic item and, more important, was provided a second home where I can create specials, rares, etc.

Overall, I really liked the alternative scenario. I was crushed that my Treeman did not arrive...yet I almost prevented it.

Before I rolled the dice, I had a feeling I was going to lose a unit, and almost reversed the order i rolled for my Glade Riders and Treeman. Had I done so, the Treeman would have arrived and i would not have had the Glade Riders.

As it was, the Glade Riders were awesome and in this scenario, not sure the Treeman would have been the right choice anyway.





Beware the power of Wood Elf bows!

Small Campaign report: Lizardmen versus Empire

Previously, I had faced the Empire with Chaos Dwarfs, playing as a neutral party. (Part of the reason I quit playing the C.D. list....for the way we play, they are indeed over-powered. We all like to smash into close combat which greatly negates the restrictiveness of 12" range weapons. And I would much rather have close combat based games than shooting games, which is strictly a personal preference and should in no way influence how anyone in or out of our group build their lists).

This time, he had grown his force slightly and I would be playing the Lizardmen, about 400 points worth again kindly built for me by one of my brothers. And, as mentioned in my previous post, the goal would be to inflict as many casualties as possible while losing.

Set-Up

I kept some notes on this game, but they do not include what the scenario was, so....

On my side of the field, I had a stream entering and leaving the left flank with forest about half way across the field and a hill on the far side where I expected him to place his cannon. Skink skirmishers like streams, forests do not inhibit them, seems like a good place to place them. And yep, his cannon went up on the hill.

I then anchored a block of 20 skinks with javelins and shields against the right flank of the skirmishers with a house on my right. To the right of the house I placed another block of 19 Skinks with Javelin and field. The middle of the field was wide open, so the plan was to advance 12" per turn, throw some javelins, see what happened.

My right flank saw another forest about half way across the field with rough ground almost in his deployment zone. Another nice place for 10 Skink Skirmishers with blow-guns. Last, my Skink Priest went with the left-most skirmishers.

He, meanwhile, placed a cannon on the hill on my left flank. (all position references to flanks are from my point of view, so for him it would be the opposite...example, when I say the cannon went on the hill on the left flank, for me it would be left flank, but for him it would be right flank.)

Anchored on the cannon were a detachment of archers, then a big block of spearmen with free company protecting their flank. This would allow the archers to command the field from the hill while the free company and spearmen advanced in tandem.

His Knights went on the right flank, angled toward the center with rough ground to protect their flank.

Lizardman Turn 1

I marched everything 12" forward, cast portent of Far on my skirmishers...a pointless maneuver if ever there was one. But hey, I got some magic off (he did not bother dispelling since it clearly had no effect).

Empire turn 1

He advanced the Spearmen and Free Company, trying to stay within 3" of the Archers, knowing I would charge and wanting to get the Archer stand-and-shoot by staying within 3".

Group Suggestion

I know "pre-measuring" is not allowed, but when we are specifically trying to say...keep within command radius, as he was doing here, I suggest we allow it to be measured prior to ending the move to ensure they are within command radius. I will certainly allow it, everyone else is left to their discretion, but that is my stand.

His Knights made a slight advance as well.

He tried the Conflagration of Doom with his 2nd level Battle Mage, rolling an 11. I used all 3 Dispel Dice to get a 13 and stop it. He then got Sword of Ruin off, making his Wizard a potent close combat model.

Now, against the Chaos Dwarfs, the cannon either missed or mis-fired something like 4 or 5 turns in a row. This game, it would be no different. His guess was impeccable, the ball flight perfection. 2" would hit a Skink, 4" would hit 3, 6" would go through all the ranks, as would 8 or 10. When it stuck in the mud, we knew it would be a long game.

His Archers somewhat made up for it with 5 hits in 10 attempts and 2 Skinks slain from the block of 20. I was already down a rank...

Lizardmen Turn 2

Had I known more about javelins, I would not have done this...but I did not, so CHARGE! The left flank block of 18 skinks charged the Spearmen. He had not told me why he was advancing so slowly, so I did not know he was trying to stay in range of the archers and he scrupulously refused to fire them since he was about an eight inch out of command range. He did, however, get the counter-charge with his free company.

Meanwhile, I advanced both units of skirmishers to get some shots off and slow-advanced my right flank block.

My left-most skirmishers fired at the cannon. Only one hit a crewman, and that failed to wound. 3 Blowpipe shots wounded Knights, but he saved them all. Then the Javelins were unleashed on the knights, twice wounding but he saved them both.

Poison, by the way, is awesome. Not needing to roll the wound about half the time when I hit at all was pure awesome.

He easily dispelled the Portent of Far now that it mattered.

His free company hit 6 skinks, killing 3. I hit just one Spearmen, but did kill him. The Flaming Sword of Ruin allowed his Wizard to kill a skink, the Spearmen then went ballistic; in 11 attacks, 10 hit, 7 wounded. So I decided to be ridiculous as well and, with a 5+, saved 4 of 7...

Still, I needed insane courage. No, flee...5". He kindly rolled snake-eyes to fail to catch me.

Empire Turn 2

Every now and then, there is a spirit-breaking turn in this game. Allow me to introduce you to Empire Turn 2.

His Knights charge my big block on the right, who stand and shoot. he again fails to catch my fleeing skinks.

His cannon this time over-flies the target. 0-for-2.

His archers hit just 2 skink skirmishers and kill just one.

Time to resolve the stand and shoot. All 5 javelins wound, he makes 3 saves...which means he failed 2. Time for a break test. He rolls...an 11. He flees 9"

Suddenly an easy game for the Empire just got tougher. But they should rally next turn...

Lizardman Turn 3

My skirmishers, for no apparent reason, elect to charge the Cannon. My javelins kill a couple members of his Free Company. My blowpipes put another one down. I am controlling the right flank, his Knights are fleeing, and I took the cannon out of the battle...

I put down one of the cannon crew, he cannot wound back, but passes his break test.

Also, my fleeing skinks rally.

Empire Turn 3

His archers charge the fray around the cannon, his spearmen charge the freshly rallied skink block. His Knights...roll another 11, which means the keep running, he rolls a massive 9 and flees the table.

On the bright side, for Conflagration of Doom, he rolls triple 6s. It does just one casualty, though, and I beat him in the roll-off to see if it continues. This meant I had 3 Dispel Dice for his Flaming Sword of Ruin, but he was unsuccessful in casting it anyway.

At this point, he remembered he had not ever placed his Scouts. I insisted he put them on at least far enough to shoot this turn, so he put them on my right flank and shot down a skirmisher. His Pegasus-riding General flew behind them and shot down another.

On the hill, all 4 archers hit, kill 3 skinks. the skinks kill a second cannoneer, the last one enacts a small measure of revenge by downing another skink. I flee, he cannot catch.

Lizardman turn 4

I briefly consider charging his general with my skirmishers, but elect not to. I als debate using javelins or charging the free company, ultimately deciding my 2-rank bonus makes the charge better and in I go.

My big block again rallies.

My left-flank Skirmishers fail to rally and leave the table.

My right flank skirmishers fire at the General, wounding him 4 times. He saves all of them, fortunately.

I do put down 2 members of the Free Company, in return they wound 3 skinks, only one of whom saves. His Free Company flees and outrun me.

Empire Turn 4

General charges Skirmishers, the spears charge my big block for the third time. His Archers kill 4 of the Skinks in my big block to the right.

His cannon, after firing short, firing long, and being engaged in combat, manages to...mis-fire.

In close combat, 4 skinks die to his spearmen, break, he does not pursue...and since the roll to pursue would have been the same as his try to restrain, we check and he would not have caught me anyway. Again.

His general puts down 2 Skirmishers, who break, he over-runs them and hits the back of my big block that was chasing the free company.

Lizardman Turn 5

As usual, my big block rallies. The General kills 3 skinks, I wound back one time but he saves it. The skinks break, flee, run into the 5-strong Free company which means they are destroyed.

Empire Turn 5

His spearmen do something new...engage in combat with my big block. Okay, so they have done so thrice, failed to catch them thrice...whatever. :-)

All his spearmen and the Wizard hit, 5 wound, 4 skinks die, they skinks break, flee off the table.

At this point all I have left is the Skink Priest hiding in the forest, so he flees as well and we call it.

Conclusion

Wow. It looked so bad for the Empire. The cannon was...ineffective would be a kind word, for the second game in a row. The Knights fled without ever seeing combat. He could break my Skink Blocks at will, but could never catch them.

At one point it looked like the Skinks would win by massacre, as his Cannon had a real chance of breaking which would have forced the archers to test, with his Knights already fleeing and his free company down to just 5 guys.

Fortunately, the game turned, the superior army won in the end, and the detachment system again proved its worth.

We need to get Fullur some dice, as his rolls are simply abominable.

the Skinks were a lot of fun to play, and the poison makes them potent. Sure, they are not often going to wound if it does not take effect, but you make an opponent make enough saves and some are bound to fail (see knights, 10 wounds, 8 saved...2 failed. The right amount at the WRONG time.)

All in all, I enjoyed the game and glad it turned out as it did.