Took me a while to get the motivation to finish the third and last game report, writing theses kind of made me feel like a raving lunatic talking to himself.
But eh, hopefully it will be useful forsomeone along the way , maybe even to myself. Been a while, so I apologize in advance for some lack of details.
Let’s get on with the show!
The Third game saw us escalating to 2500 points, which would enable me to field my beloved dual cavalry bus (Althought reduced to 10 strong).
So same army as in earlier report, adding 10 helms + noble with a few more sisters.
My ally this time was my friend and his Empire army, same one you saw in a couple of earlier reports. He is improving, and this time around surprised me by bringing
a solid 40 strong greatswords unit and more chaffs than he usually do.
Empire( what I can remember) : 1 Lord on foot, 1 lvl2 mage, BsB, priest, 40 greatswords, peg captain, 1 canon + ing, 1 hellblasters + ing, 4x 20 state troops, 2x 14 riffles, 20 riffles, 8 horse pistoliers.
Facing us would be a High elf and Dwarves alliance. A strange battle, with no forces of destruction in sight. Hard to come up with a epic prologue here.
Let’s say that this unholy alliance was seeking to marry an elven princess to a dwarf, keen on getting her family gold, and none of us wanted such an heresy. Ya…
Our enemy:
Elves: Archmage, BsB on foot, 20 PG, 2x 5 DPs, 2x 14 swordmasters, 17 silverhelms, 2 eagles, 2 RBTs and 30 LSG
Dwarves: Rune Lord, Thane, BsB, 35 hammerers, 40 warriors 2H, 35 miners 2H, 2 canons, 1 catapult ( most had runes and fire )
DEPLOYMENT
Deployment did not involve much strategy, as it was hidden from each opponent. We knew we were badly, I mean very badly, outgunned.
Our expectation was that the dwarves would somehow castle in the left corner with the high elves screening them and harassing our flank should we assault it.
We still deployed center with heavy infantry, my dragon Princes and chariot, aiming to crush the high elves first.
2 empire detachments and missiles troops backed up by the silver helms bus made our left flank. Our right flank was made up of our fast cavalary with the goal of
sweeping back behind enemy lines in a pincer movement.
Our opponents deployment did not looked anything like we thought it would be. No castle in sight, their deployment looked pretty much like a standard battle line
with heavy artillery backing it. I was not too happy at first, since it meant we could not isolate the high elf player from his more static dwarf ally.
Our left flank looked in trouble and It would also be a though deal to try to break their center. Our lack of firepower meant we had to go in. There was some hope for our fast cavalry however.
We rolled spells, I can’t even remember what we had, but as you guessed: magic would be almost inexistent for us, having to face dwarves and a High Archmage.
I had some solace knowing that Alarielle passive abilities would still get to work. Besides my Ally did not have a lvl 4, so she would at least be able to dispel.
However, I still could not help during all tourney to feel I’d rather have an extra elite unit than 350 points sank in disappointing magic phases. The ennemy Archmage had High magic, including fiery convocation.
HIGH ELVES TURN 1
Anyways, we were lucky enough to get turn 1. On the left, we decided to wait, the helms made a cautious advance while insuring a wide charge arc,
covered by the pyramid ( I also moved the noble on the outside of that unit ). In center, I saw some matchups for my units but it would all depend on getting the charge turn 2.
I could see my spears taking on the High elf swordmasters and I reckoned my dragon princes bus probably could break the seaguard in two close combat phases.
Throwing in the chariot should help with that. I marched aggressively into charge range, counting on my ally greatswords to keep the stunties in check. The White Lions stayed in reserve.
On the right, all our fast cavalry spurred into action backed by the Pegasus captain. However, the Empire advance got confused, greatsword losting precious time while
rifles tried to get into firing positions.
Our Magic was uneventful, as expected. Empire Artilley and missiles units were plagued by misfires and bad positioning. However, the sisters magical shooting
proved murderous to the swordmaster in front of them, inflicting heavy casualties. Light cavalry shooting did not do much against the armored stunties.
DWARVES TURN 1
The enemy High elves seemed constricted by their slow moving ally from the get go, and opted for a static defense. I would have expected at least 1 of the
eagles messing my charge lines but our opponents opted to set up pretty obvious traps, confident in the fact that we had to get in or be reduced to pulp by
their war machines. They also were counting killing enough dragon princes to dent the charge. It was not totally false. I had to charge the seaguard and take
a flank charge with the dwarves main battle unit, or stay under heavy fire. The empire greatswords would not get in there in time and I certainly did not intent to get shot to pieces.
Worth noting, the phoenix guard and a dragon prince unit pressed forward against our weaker left flank and one of the two blocks of dwarves broke the battle line to
face our light cavalry on the right wing. What in the nine hells did the dwarf hoped to do?
Magic saw the Anvil ring… and ya, that hammerer unit got to free charge our light cav, forcing akward flee actions. High elf also got fiery convocation to hit my helms,
not cool. Then artillery opened fire. A magical stone hit the white lions, to no effect thanks to the BOWD. He now knew it was not on the Dragon Princes but we also
got to know their machines were also flaming, which pretty much meant my dragon cavalry was safe. The next shot dropped on the greatswords, killing a score.
Then the Seaguard and high elf bolters took out some sisters with a few Dragon Princes.
HE TURN 2
Looking at the situation, I was still in a good shape but that left flank worried me while our light cav had failed to make an impression on the right flank.
This game would be played in the center, and it implied that I broke their line with a direct “shock and awe” cavalry charge. Nothing guaranteed with already some casualties sustained.
However, It really looked like the High elf thought his swordmasters could take on my spears but having played some High elf civil war scenarios, I was quite aware of the contrary.
I probed him, asking if the rough terrain would disrupt my ranks, and he said yep with a grin. Not that I cared, I expected enough losses for it to not matter but I now had the info I needed.
Still a risky medium charge range. On the other hand all my charge lines were clear.
On the left flank, with my helm bus in danger of melting with fiery convocation, I decided to commit them on a long charge against his own helms. Once they made it,
they would be out of the PG charge arc, yet still exposed to the remaining swordmasters ( which I planned to shoot again ).
I waited and started by calling the dragon princes charge, to which he elected to stand and shoot. Then I charged the chariot. Now, my idea here was to help that charge CR with that chariot ,
but more importantly, place it between my bus and the stunties if I failed to break the seaguard. The spears now charged the swordmasters. It was an all out attack.
The trumpets sounded as the whole massive charge went home!
Fiery convocation was dispelled with our scroll, sisters took out another score of swordmasters but yet, with all that black powder, the empire did not made a big impression.
Making that matter worse was that the hellblaster was still out of position despite it’s crew effort to haul the thing. Yet, the Empire battle line was starting to look better now.
Greatswords and white lions marched forward, the left wing empire companies did the same to threathen the Phoenix Guard and enemy Dragon princes.
I was not too keen on my ally move, I did not see how his 2 state troops unit could win theses match-ups on the left flank. On the right wing, Light cavalry units
tried to march past the stunties but most failed their test, except for my unit of reavers who pushed toward the warmachine. I noticed too late how badly my empire
ally had left 2 of his light units so close to the table edge.
And then came the onslaught. My helms took almost no casualties but the charge went poorly, failing to break steadfast. The Dragon Princes and chariot crashed
into the seaguard, killing droves but barely just not enough to remove steadfast. This was semi-expected, It was actually doable to break them on the charge
and my actual wish, but I did had planned to be stuck in that second round of cc.
The Spears fared way better, killing a lot of swordmasters. The Hoeth elites returned the favor by felling 1 spear elf for each of their fallen,
but they were still badly losing as the spears ranks weren’t disrupted anymore.
Spears break trough!
Forced to flee under the pressure of the Phalanx, they got overrun by the spears who ended their pursuit in an assault against the RBT.
DWARVES TURN 2
The dwarves attempted to salvage his elven ally crumbling in the center, charging the chariot flank to get into that battle. I was still a bit worried, with his ranks,
charge, flank, two things were needed. The one I had planned for, the other one through brute force. More on that later.
High elves still reeling, aggressively charged the empire detachments on the left wing. Remaining swordmasters charged the flank of my helms.
Warriors reformed to face the Empire light cav, and you guessed, the Anvil rang again, enabling a free charge on the doomed empire Peg captain and pistoliers.
Dwarf canon manages to destroy our only canon. All remaining war machines focussed on the greatswords, killing a lot of them.
Close combat saw all 3 compromised empire units wiped off… however the helms were unable to scratch each others, while I dedicated all my noble
attacks against the swordmasters before they could strike. Remaining ones failed to kill him. Yet, the grind was still on.
In the center, brute force did happen but I would have needed to kill all remaining seaguard. A few were still standing despite horrendous losses.
My bus was still stuck in that combat. Now the second thing I hoped for was for the bloodthirst of that dwarf. Should the dwarves not commit enough to kill the chariot,
they would get to add all that CR plus any wounds. But with both his Lord and BsB against that chariot wide flank, I was pretty sure it would die. And it did. Why I wanted that?
Because it left the stunties out of that combat stuck between greatswords, white lions and my Dragon Princes that now got free reign to run down the LSG remnants.
HE TURN 3
Spears, having taken out the RBT went in against the catapult and reavers went against a canon, making a medium charge.
Remaining reavers charged the eagle. In the center, white lions attempted an easy charge but rolled snake eyes... leaving greatsword alone to fight it out.
Dragon Princes lost a bit of momentum and reformed to prepare for a rear charge on the main stunties unit.
Magic was lackluster, but a few buffs from the warpriest made it on the greatswords. Sisters and handgunners fired away on the Phoenix Guard that had
pursued and catched the hopeless free company, but barely scratched it with a 3+ ward.
CC saw helms still locked in a wet noodle duel while the last swordmasters were slain by the Noble. In face of the stubborness of the dwarves machine handlers,
the noble leading the spears had to destroy the catapult himself while the the reavers were tied in a bloody affair with the canon crew.
The eagle was chased from the battlefield while a free company was slowly winning against the remnants of the enemy dragon princes lance.
More importantly, the main battle dwarf unit of hammerers was actually matched blow for blow by the greatswords, infused by the warpriest power, while some hardfought duels were going on.
DWARVES TURN 3
High elves Dragon Princes and Phoenix Guard both attempt a long charge on the hand gunners, met by failure and a lead shower.
Warriors try their best to get back into the action. Remaining eagle move to block the spears from charging the helms rear.
Already In a dire situation, the Hammerers are about to charged from all side. A glimmer of hope suddenly comes as Miners reinforcement appear behind
my dragon princes. Soon , the cursed Anvil ring again and the miners attempt a charge which force the surprised riders of Caledor to flee. Despite easily outrunning
the short legged beardies, matters are only made worse as they end up blocking the White lions charge line...
Shooting sees something rare, the remaining dwarf canon misfire, losing next turn.
In CC, Hammerers and Greatswords drop left and right with the battle hinging on duels having already claimed champions, BsBs and priest alike.
HIGH ELF TURN 4
Shaken by the sudden turn of events, High elves forces are frustrated as they can`t find a way to support ongoing combats.
Only Sir Lorik, still bloodied and wounded from 3 close combat, is able to spot an opening as he charge out alone right past the Eagle blocking his troops,
ending in the enemy silver helms back lines.
White Lions reform 3 wide to enable a wheel on the Dragon Princes flank, with the goal of preventing miners from a clean charge. Rest of the Empire army tries to advance,
too little too late while reavers and hand gunners harass the dwarf warriors.
Magic does see a good score of miners killed by a powered up soul quench, enough to give the unit something to think abou, yet they are still a menace.
Alarielle, now in range of the empire lord, healed him up a bit, to the dwarves despair.
Big combat in center is not yet decided, I am not sure what was going on but it was pretty intense as now both Lords were locked in a last duel
among fallen heros. Ennemy Helms were starting to fall here and there between both nobles. Unfortunately, they still held on steadfast, barely.
DWARVES TURN 4
PG and Princes on the left were too far off, warriors attempted to charge reavers then redirect in hand gunners only to get shot. Yet they still held their grudge.
In a last bid, hoping to win the center battle, miners and eagle moved up to block all High elves units. Repeater Bolter tried to finish off the sisters but lacked accuracy.
In CC, the helms were finally disbanded and the runelord, upon who the battle still hinged, finally fell under the Empire General repeated blows.
With him, the remnants of the stunties were routed and all hopes lost.
Decisive victory for The Elven-Empire alliance!
|
), and that unit would have been better off not going off the board. 
