The Mission: Tectonic Flux
Deployment: Battleline, player with fewest magic levels decides who
deploys first
Special Rules: Roll a Die to determine a number. Ignore any rolls of power or dispel dice with
that number. Assign the Divining Rod
(one use only, bound spell 8). Destroy a
random magic item on a chosen model.
Irresistible Forcing this causes the user a ST 10 hit.
Bonus Points: 2 points for killing a caster. 1 point for destroying the most expensive
item. 1 point for having more casting
levels at the end of the game.
The List:
Lord, general, sword of swift slaying, gromril great helm, potion of
foolhardiness, virtue of heroism
Prophetess of the Lady, warhorse, level 4, lore of heavens, silver
mirror, crown of command
Damsel of the Lady, lore of beasts, prayer icon of quenelles, ruby ring
of ruin
Paladin, dragonhelm, dawnstone
10 Knights of the Realm, full command, standard of discipline
9 Knights of the Realm, full command, banner of swiftness6 Knights of the Realm, champion, musician
11 Peasant Bowman, musician, stakes, braziers
11 Peasant Bowman, musician, stakes, braziers
40 Men-at-arms, full command
3 Pegasus Knights, musician, champion
Trebuchet
9 Grail Knights, full command, banner of eternal flame
Ah Rex. Rex and I play often, nearly
every other tournament we both attend it seems.
We’ve had our ups and downs as well; usually with Rex getting some
horrible luck on the last turn. One
year, when he was still playing his dark elves he fled from an 11 inch
charge. He needed to roll less than an
11 to stay on the table. He figured that
the odds were the same, so he would put his fate into his own hands instead of
letting me roll. He however had missed
the second unit lined up to charge, and I recharged him off the table. There was also me forcing him to accept a
plague each turn in order to prevent me from withering his unkillable lord to
zero toughness (I killed him anyways with massed attacks). The next time was at a doubles event, where he
and his ally had successfully turtled for a draw until the last turn when an
Ironblaster misfired, blew up and panicked two units off the table, handing us
the win.
Rex had received a 9.5 judge comp score, and I can see why. Not having life magic, the large unit of
peasants, only one trebuchet and for playing Brettionians which normally get a
bad rap (though I think that ALL the armies are competitive, even if those
competitive options are limited – but that should probably be another post and
one that I likely won’t ever do). But
Rex knows his stuff, so I was sure that his lower composition was only allowing
him to club seals – and I was to be next?
Rex’s magic item for the mission was the silver mirror, and he gave his
destroy item to his general. I gave my
destroy item to my caster and my magic item was also on my caster. This made each of our level 4 casters with
the bonus point, and probably all 4 points.
Killing the little casters was worth 3 assuming one didn’t also lose
their little caster. This left me with a
rough decision. I didn’t really want to
get too many bonus points, and killing his little caster could be worth 3. The only way for me to get a 2 would be to
kill his little caster and have him kill one of mine. I wasn’t sure how to approach it, but decided
I wouldn’t go for his casters early and would see how the game went.
For spells Rex took Flock of Doom on his level 1 wizard who also had
the fireball ring. His level 4 took
Harmonic Convergence, Iceshard Blizzard, Thunderbolt and Chainlightning. Interesting factoid, heavens magic does an
extra D6 S4 hits to a flyer when cast on them.
Something I should have known, but didn’t. At least Rex was kind enough to mention it
the first time he cast a spell at me, so I wasn’t surprised after the cast and
after my dispel options.
For Spells I rolled Searing doom and golden hounds on my metal
caster. My death mage took Spirit Leech,
Caress, Soul Blight, Doom and Darkness and Purple Sun. This was the third game in a row for the
exact same spells on my death caster.
While I am rarely able to go through all my spells, unless I get off a
massive purple sun and get lucky otherwise, I think that the extra spell gives
me some really good consistency on spell selection. Also for this mission, it was a magic item
that could have been destroyed instead of my reverse ward save. While I had no interest in denying him his
bonus points, I did have interest in keeping my general alive and therefore did
not want him losing his ward save.
For deployment I expected Rex to pick a corner, put his trebuchet in it
and bunker up. Put a unit facing every
angle and then slowly push out, keeping me away from his trebuchet and hoping
that it and his archers would do my damage than my ST3 pew-pew to his 2+ armor
saves. But it seems that Rex had put a
little more thought into what he planned to do the next time we played. He deployed his army without any ranks
(beyond the first) with the exception of the peasants. The Knight unit into which he put his three
mounted characters had 2 models in the back rank upon deployment, due to their
not being needed to block up the entire table, leaving no gaps.
From left to right Rex put a unit of 11 archers, 3 peg riders, his ITP
rare grail kights (with treb behind), his character bus, the peasants, the
small 6 pack, the other archers and lastly the banner of swiftness unit. First, I love the 11 pack. Most people take 10 because it’s minimum and
shooting efficient. But Rex, being
smarter than your average player (no sarcasm), saw that 11 is actually the most
shooting efficient as the last guy still gets to fire due to volley fire. Very clever (for example I always hear now
how high elves should have units of 15, as they fire in 3 ranks – but Rex would
put 16 since the last guy could still fire).
I had never played against the line of models before. I have a friend, whom I’ve mentioned here
before, who plays skinks. While trying
to figure out how to play him, a group of us hypnotized that going out in a
line would work well. We tried it, but
found the salamanders created gaps from far enough away, fast enough that the
skinks could flood through. Also, that
secondary units were required behind to catch anything from just flying over. While I had never played against the tactic
myself, I had an understanding of what I needed to do – fly over and open
holes… very, very quickly. I also needed
to perform my normal tactic – kill what can hurt me, basically the peg riders,
the archers and the treb.
To help accomplish this I still did my normal deployment. Dark riders on each side, three in the
center with harpies spaced between and
characters fairly center. Once again,
couldn’t just start in the center or else Rex would split his center and push
me into the two corners. I decided that
my first efforts would go towards the Pegasus riders on the left, and gave them
some shades and the metal caster for this.
My second efforts would go towards the banner of swiftness unit, and I
gave them a unit of shades as well.
Everything vanguarded enough to get in shots, but not enough to give up
any charges – the exception being on the right for the swiftness unit (or
perhaps that was only after my first move – they didn’t make it into the pic
but it looks like only after move is likely).
Lastly, before I go into the game itself, I have one critique for Rex’s
deployment. Well, at least the
order. I would have put the peasants on
a flank. Rex’s deployment required his
entire line to move at 8 inches, otherwise he would make holes in the
center. But if he had placed them on the
flank then his other flank would have been able to move faster, roping off a
side and even further restricting my safe world. This may have meant his general and BSB were
not in the center but I think that would have still been ok. Also, I would have helped compensate for this
by putting the ITP unit on the far flank instead of the Pegasus riders. With the scouts and the number of vanguards I
had, Rex shouldn’t have relied on them even getting the option of moving
forward pre-game. Instead I would have
put them center, behind the actual line as a gap filler and to catch flyers
from hoping over. The peasant horde
could have gone out 20 wide and still maintained its full steadfast to make up
for the difference and as they would only be walking straight forward parallel
to their board edge while the rest of the army hooked I don’t think it would
have hurt him. Then, as the other side
came around, they could stop while the knights pushed in from the side. There my readers is what I believe the key is
to beating my army… please don’t use it against me should we play. Ok, enough strategy, on to the game.
Rex decides to pray and allow me to go first. I’m conflicted if this was the right call for
him, though choosing to roll and losing would have sucked. But his goal should have been to get to me
before I shot him, and going first couldn’t hurt in that, right? So I move up just with the shades and
characters, leaving the dark riders at their vanguard fire points. I start off with an 8/5 magic phase and power
of darkness for 3 dice (9/5). I then
spirit leech and kill of a peg rider, getting 1 die for my trouble (10/5). I then double 6 Power of Darkness for my
metal wizard. I always seem to do this
for Rex. She takes a wound and I lose 5
dice without getting any back. I then
fail to cast big searing doom with my last 2 dice, but no big deal, if I didn’t
roll the 6s his 5 dice would easily have dispelled my spell. For shoot I take off the Pegasus riders with
the shades, assassin and general. Even
needing 8s to shoot I manage to get a wound on the treb with some dark
riders. My other assassin kills 1 knight
on the right swiftness unit (I was hoping for more because I knew the charge
was coming on turn 1).
Rex’s turn 1 and the swiftness banner unit charges the shades. I manage to take 2 off, which is now enough
to cause a panic test thanks to the 1 I killed last turn. Amazingly, Rex fails his test and then rolls
high enough to run off the table. Just
like that, the flanks are open for some fun and I’m up about 300 points. Rex tries to move and reform to keep his line
as intact as possible, including moving his BSB and General out of the unit to
try to cover angles and put pressure. In
the center his knights do fail charge against some harpies (both in fact after
a redirect). A 7/4 magic phase has me
allowing flock of doom off on my metal caster.
He then rolls 3 6’s, which would have killed her even if she hadn’t
wounded herself. Sucky, but on average
she should have lived this turn. Oh
well. I then dispel the ruby ring and I
then fail to dispel thunder bolt on the BSB.
It knocks off his charmed shield and does 2 wounds. His shooting is ineffective.
My turn 2 and no charges. I put
a unit of dark riders into treb charging range, and into charge range
themselves of the 11 archers. I put the
shades up to shoot said archers (and the ones on the other side as well). 1 harpy unit rallies. I roll a 8/5 magic phase. He dispels spirit leech with all his dice
(3/5). I then fail to do any wounds with
caress. A both thrower knocks his
general off his horse. Finally, I only
kill 2 archers on one side and 3 on the other, for a very disappointing
shooting phase (and leaving those treb charging dark riders in the wind).
Rex’s turn 2 and the peasants flank the dark riders lined up to charge
the treb. The BSB charges the harpy unit
that rallied, they flee. A knight unit
pushes the fleeing harpy unit off the table.
A 6/5 magic phase sees a failed cast of ruby ring followed by an irresistible
casting of ice shard on my BSB. The
results kills 2 knights and takes away the rest of his dice. The archers then take down the BSB’s last
wound. The dark riders whiff and get run
down by the flanking peasants. Just like
that I’m no longer winning (and possibly losing) and no longer in a good
position to charge the treb.
My turn 3 and the shades on the right charge the peasants to which he
flees. They do not catch them. A 9/6 magic phase has me lined up to purple
sun some knights and into the unit of peasants.
I FAIL to cast with 9 dice… really?
In shooting I kill 6 knights with the two both throwers. Ironically, the big bolt in the flank only
kills 1 but the rapid fire kills 5. I
then kill 2 knights on the 6 pack, causing a panic and 2 more die due to the
flight through my unit.
On Rex’s turn 3 his BSB charges dark riders. The 2 knights rally but the peasants don’t,
running through the big unit and failing to cause panic. The grail knights fail to march, keeping them
from closing me in much more. A 6/4
magic phase has me dispelling ruby ring.
Flock of doom kills 1 dark rider and thunderbolt fails to cast. The BSB kills the dark riders.
My turn 4 and I have no charges.
I move around to get shooting, including the treb and the 2 knights. A 5/3 magic phase has me irresistible casting
a small purple sun with all 5 dice. I
kill 17 peasants, 5 knights and both units passing panic tests. I get 6 dice from the casting but lose 4 due
to the miscast. With only 2 dice against
his 3 I don’t bother casting another spell.
My assassin takes out the treb, and I blow away the 2 remaining
knights. I also kill another knight off
the center unit and a grail knight.
Rex’s turn 4 and he has no charges.
He moves around some to try to pin me in. A 6/4 magic phase has me allowing iceshard
and thunder bolt at my general who takes one wound total. I then dispel flock at my general.
My turn 5 and I move around to try to take out what has quickly become
a few very small units of knights. A
mighty 11/6 magic phase becomes disappointing when Spirit leach at the level 4
does nothing (I decided to make a try at both her points and the bonus points)
and the mirror cancels out purple sun but fails to wound my caster. In shooting I fail to take out a knight unit
and only knock the right peasant unit to 1 model (so close!). It does do the kindness and panics, running
towards the edge. Also, two single shots
from the bolt thower fails to even wound the BSB.
On Rex’s turn 5 his BSB charges the first both thrower. Neither of the peasant units rally and both
stop only inches from the board edge (damn!).
An 8/5 magic phase has ruby ring doing nothing but my failing to dispel
it. I then allow iceshard which does a
wound to my genral. I then dispel
flock. He gets off thunder bolt but it
fails to cause a wound. The bolt thrower
dies to the BSB.
The game ends with 2 knights left in the former character bunker, 3
knights left in the grail knights and that damn BSB lined up for another bolt
thrower shot. Also those damn peasants
not having run off. Another turn would
have either seen the BSB or the bolt thower die, and probably both units of
peasants run off the table. I might have
also picked up one of the units of knights or a caster. Then he might have killed my general. After totaling up points we came to a draw,
with me up 70 points. If he had rolled
just 2 higher for either peasant flee I would have had that game. Oh well, it was tight through and ended
probably as it should have, very close.
Rex got 3 bonus points, failing to kill my most expensive item and I got
none as I decided to late to go after the wizards – and probably wouldn’t if I
didn’t feel I needed the points. It was
a good, close game and I appreciated the opportunity to try my hand at that
deployment strategy.
And a big congrats to Rex for coming in second place Overall.
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