Scenario: Meeting Engagement
Deployment: As book with the exception that, like Dawn Attack,
characters are assigned prior to rolling for deployment.
Special Rules: None
The List:
Arch Lector, warhorse, enchanted shield, dragon bane gem
Wizard Lord, warhorse, level 4, lore of light, talisman of preservation
Grand Master, warhorse, crown of command, sword of might, charmed
shield
Captain of the Empire, warhorse, dragon helm, dawnstone, iron curse
icon, bsb
Battle Wizard, warhorse, level 2, lore of beasts
14 Inner Circle Knights, full command, standard of discipline
10 knights, full command
5 Knights, musician, banner
4 Demigryph Knights, musician
4 Demigryph Knights, musician
5 Pistoliers
Steam Tank
So first round, and there is that steam tank right up front of my ‘oh
shit’ list. And to keep it company is a
whole bunch of 1+ armor saves to go with my lovely max of strength 6.
We roll off for spells and I pick up Cloud of Corruption and Plague on
my dispel scroll caster, my other level two gets wither and bless with filth
and my level 1 gets pestilent breath.
Henry picks up Curse of Amhier and wildform on his level 2 and his
level 4 gets Banishment, Net, speed of light and Pha’s protection. That’s 2 spells that mess with my ability to
do stuff and 3 that effectively makes me -1 to hit in combat. Ugh.
We roll off and I deploy first.
Also means I will most likely go first.
Also means he will be able to counter me. To help compensate for my wanting to be
aggressive but also not wanting to get ganged up if he steals I refuse flank
with the buildings allowing me to deploy on the line but then able to devote my
chaff to protecting only one flank. I
roll and only one unit of giant rats doesn’t come in.
Henry goes to deploy and rolls 1s for all three of his knight units,
and with that all his characters. If the
mission would have been normal this would have been huge as I would have gutter
runner’d his wizards turn 1, but it also would have mean I would have had
characters stranded. It’s a good change
to the mission despite how the normal would have helped me. Henry had put all his characters but his
level 2 caster into the unit of Inner Circle knights. His level 2 when into the 5 man unit. To counter my deployment, Henry put his demis
on either side of his steam tank with the steam tank up front (close enough to
force the frenzy check but not close enough to actually let me in). He put his fast cav off on the right flank,
not sure why.
I deploy my scouts to take out his shooting (and chaff) and claim the
right board edge early.
We roll off and he does not get the steal, so I go first. I pass my frenzy check and declare no
charges. I move up to just outside 12”
on the steam tank in the hopes that he doesn’t roll high. I use his lack of wizards to cast plague and
put 2 wounds on the demis. I then take
off the pistolers and put 1 wound on the non-plague unit of demis. I leave my rat dart off the table, on
purpose, but it was probably a mistake.
I either should have brought him on right away, or kept him off longer
to chase down fleeing units. The sad
part about going first is that I had to move up my rat ogres without knowing
where those knights were going to be.
This means that the building was no longer protecting my flank. But I couldn’t just sit still or else that
cannon would just keep picking off characters.
Henry’s turn 1 the right demis charges a rat dart, which flees and
redirects into another. The other unit
of demis moves in for a turn 2 charge. I
hold to force the demis away from the rat ogres. The steam tank then rolls high and hits into
the rat ogres (dang). The knights come
on the table, with the big unit getting into position to take advantage of my
exposed flank. The 10 pack comes on to
try to deal with gutter runners and the 5 man takes center to get the wizard
into position. A 8/8 magic phase sees
Henry failing to cast Pha’s on the demis, allowing me to control the rest of
his magic. We fight combat, but I fail
to pass my fear test, putting my characters on 5s. I then stupidly forget to attack with my rat
ogres (so no big surprise I lose the combat and my frenzy) – we roll it later
and I would have done 3 wounds which would have changed the game… but no going
back after the turn ended even though it wouldn’t have affected anything.
My turn 2 and I have not charges.
My darts all rally. I get lucky,
and make a march block text on the left dart, allowing it to spin around and
chaff the knights, protecting my flank.
I roll a 3/2 magic phase and Henry scrolls my cloud of corruption. I kill a knight from each of the smaller
units with gutter runners. I pass my far
against the tank and put another wound on.
I win the combat, but he doesn’t care.
Henry’s turn 2and he charges some gutter runners, I kill 1 to the stand
and shoot and then the trees help as well (but alas, still 1 wound short of a
panic test). The Demi’s join into the
front of the rat ogres. He forgets to
charge the rat dart on the left keeping the knights blocked up. An 8PD/6DD magic phase has me dispelling
Pha’s, scrolling speed and wildform going off on the demis. He then only does 1 wound to the rat
ogres. I do 3 wounds to the demis. He then rolls to hold. The knights versus gutter runners has him
making his saves and running me down and over into a giant rat unit. Henry had also reformed his demis to try to
sneak by the rat dart blocking knights and sneak a few guys into the front.
My turn 3 and I put a rat dart into the unit of demis for the static
combat. A 7PD/6DD phase has him
dispelling both Bless and Cloud and me failing to cast wither. I put down 3 knights on the wizard’s small
unit and they flee. The rat dart dies to
the 10 (now 8) pack. I kill another
demi, win the combat but once again he passes and my leadership doesn’t matter. Because the rat dart went in, my killing the
demi meant that he had to pull the model still in base with the crown of
command from combat. With 1 wound left
this spared him from getting attacked that round. Phew!
I had also reformed my left rat dart to block both the knights and the
demis.
Henry’s turn 3 and he finally puts his knight bus into the rat
dart. The baby knight unit keeps
fleeing. The second unit of demis turns
around to start to think about gutter runners coming around behind. A 10PD/6DD magic phase has me allowing net on
a central unit of gutter runners. I then
dispel Pha’s and fail to dispel speed.
He then puts reroll wounds and flaming on his knight bus for fun. I pass my fear test against the stank. Thrott eats it. He wins combat by his musician and I fail and
run. He fails to catch me though. The chaff ides. Henry realized mid-turn that he forgot to
generate his steam points and asked if he could. I didn’t say yes or no, but simply asked if
he was going to let me get those rat ogre attacks on his tank – which he had
denied me before. He decided not to roll
his steam points.
My turn 4 and the rat ogres rally, yay.
The giant rat unit doesn’t rally.
A 9PD/6DD magic phase has me fail to cast wither on 3 dice (just needed
to roll a fricken 5). He then dispels
cloud and I fail to cast plague.
Shooting doesn’t see him roll any 1s.
Henry’s turn 4 and his knights charge and catch a fleeing rat
dart. This panics a gutter runner unit
that fails its net test and doesn’t run.
It does lose 4 guys to the net though.
The tank fails to recharge the rat ogres, but the 2 demis do go in. A 7PD/3DD magic phase has me failing to
dispel both Pha’s and Speed, off by 1 on each.
I reform 4 wide to get back my ranks and deny him combat effectiveness
on further charges. Also lets me put my
characters behind and get some higher attacks.
My turn 5 and the two fleeing darts don’t rally with 1 running off the
table. The Net Gutters do rally
though. A 7PD/4DD magic phase has him
dispelling wither. I cast cloud, killing
4 knights off the bus, a demi in combat, blowing off the small knight unit but
only wounding the wizard (an making him no longer needing double 1s to
rally). I then kill 1 packmaster and a
rat ogre. In shooting I kill a knight
off the 10 man. I add more ranks in
combat now that there is only 1 demi left (who just won’t die, damn magic
superiority).
Henry’s turn 5 and the demis charge the gutter runners in the rear,
which flee through the knights. Tank
joins Rat Ogre combat. And that dam
wizard rallies. A 5PD/5DD magic phase
has him casting Pha’s on steam tank and my dispelling curse on the rat
ogres. I drop the tank to 2 wounds and
kill off the demis.
My turn 6 and I put gutters into the rear of the knights to try to keep
them from flanking the rat ogres… but I fail.
All my darts and the gutter unit rallies. I cast plague into the knights and he dispels
cloud. I win combat against the tank but
don’t do any wounds.
Henry’s turn 6 and he puts all the knights into the rat ogres. A 9PD/5DD magic phase has me allowing
wildform and 5+ ward onto the flank knights and big bus, respecivly. I then dispel a bubbled speed of light. I get my but whooped but pass stubborn. I had challenged into the front knight unit
with a plague priest to deny that unit attacks and saved enough models to keep
my ranks.
We add it up and I’m only down by about 200, giving me a 8/12 loss.
