Another test for the Star Dragon: The dreaded Ogres!
.::. Battle Report - 2400 vs Ogre Kingdoms (ETC comp) .::.
My list:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble BSB on Barded Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Dragon armour, Shield, Lance = 178
Noble on Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
Mage L2 on Steed, Scroll = 155
Mage L2 on Steed = 130
Characters = 1195
16 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 398
5 Reavers = 80
5 Reavers, bows (swap) = 85
5 Reavers, champ = 90
Core = 653
3 RBT = 210
Frostheart = 240
2 Eagles = 100
Rare = 550
Army total = 2398
His list:
Slaughtermaster: General, Lvl 4, Heavens, Earthing Rod, Crown of Command, Warrior Bane, Charmed Shield, 355
Bruiser: BSB, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Rune Maw, 205
Butcher: lvl 2, Great Maw, Great Weapon, Hellheart, 194
9 Ironguts: FCG, Look-Out Gnoblar, Standard of Discipline, 437
3 Ironguts: Musician, 139
10 Gnoblars: 25
3x 1 Sabertusk Pack: 3x 21
5 Mournfang Cavalry: FCG, Iron Fist, Heavy Armour, Dragonhide Banner, 430
6 Maneaters: Musician, Brace of Ogre Pistols (x6), Sniper, Poisoned Attacks, 382
1 Ironblaster: 170
Total: 2400
// Pre-battle thoughts and deployment //
I specifically requested this matchup to see how this Star Dragon setup would fare against a normal (read: non-shooty) ETC OK list. This was a direct copy of what Poland took this year. Prior to the game, I anticipated -1 to 0 for High Elves.
Engaging Ogres head on is impossible. I will get stuck and no amount of chaff in the world can help me. Besides, it`s too risky seeing as a couple of good IB shots will devastate me and it will be hard to disengage. The idea then was to sweep wide, obtaining complete board control and see if an opportunity would arise. This would allow me to better control his support elements, keep my own out of dangerous-things-range and strike, if possible.
Deployment went very well as I realized in time (barely!) that he would take the opposite corner. I had a back-up plan had he gone for the other corner (close to me), but this is super-risky for the Ogres to do, given how we`d deployed chaff thus far. 5 Mournfang have an absolute huge footprint so the OK player needs space.
With deployment done I was very happy with our positions. Magic gave me Tempest, Hand of Glory, Soul Quench and Apotheosis. I rolled Tempest and Hand of Glory for my first L2 but I had to keep both to maximise my chances of getting a free spell and this was actually what gave me Apotheosis. He got Iceshard, Convergence, Curse of the Midnight Wind and Thunderbolt, along with regen and magic missile.
He had mournfang on the extreme flank, Maneaters with characters in the center and Ironguts towards his refused flank. Maneaters used Gnoblars as counts-as models
With +1, I went first.
// HE T1 //
Flyers shuffled behind the hill, getting a bit closer and taking care to stay outside of Ironblaster range. Bus moved up max, Reavers went around towards my center. I am playing to the long charge here so first order of the day is killing all his chaff. To this end Tempest proved to be a decent spell, taking out 6 Gnoblars. I also got off Hand of Glory for M10. Shooting killed all cats bar 1.
// OK T1 //
He went into the corner and shot down a couple of Helms.
// HE T2 //
I cleared the last chaff and moved into position.
// OK T2 //
BOOM! L4 miscasts and goes down the drain. Finally not my turn to suffer a dimensional cascade. My opponent kept casting with quite a few dice for fairly little gain and this can quickly happen. Ironblaster killed a couple more Helms.
Time to move!
// HE T3 //
Everything moves up, SD behind wall for IB protection. I had all Eagles and Reavers still alive, this was looking good.
// OK T3 //
He tries to go even further into the corner but his footprint is so large it`s hard to get away. He does force me to wait one more turn though.
Shooting sees Maneaters fail and Ironblaster kills a wall.
// HE T4 //
I land Reavers to block off everything and Eagles to lock down his Mournfang. Bus moves to charge whatever I need T5 with SD + Frostheart moving towards Mournfang along with champ-reavers to eat the challenge. Magic sees IF Soul Quench take down 3 Maneaters (they had suffered 2W previously from RBTs). I survived the result.
// OK T4 //
He charges blockers. Ironblaster puts 5W on the Star Dragon but Prince is saved by Atrazar. In combat blockers die, panic is passed across the board.
// HE T5 //
I charge his small Ironguts off table, bus redirects into Maneaters and monsters + Reavers go into Mournfang. Magic sees him forget to activate Hellheart, I get Apotheosis +3W on the Dragon. Regardless it didn`t matter as I murdered the mournfang hard in combat, he barely stood with only the champion left. The Maneaters died but I failed my 8+ overrun to flank the Guts.
Ironguts charged Helms, I fled because I would need 8+ to get past the Phoenix and I would not survive a flanking charge by them. I escaped and rallied. The Mournfang died and my Frostheart killed his Ironblaster. His Ironguts survived.
Counting up points he had 4 units of chaff: 2 Eagles and 2 units of Reavers. I had everything except for BSB, L2 and Ironguts. Roughly 1400 in my favour, a
19-1 win for the High Elves!
// Evaluation //
First things first: Rusty is not used to playing Ogres like this. His over-defensive deploy surrendered his board control before we had even started, the Maneaters hardly got to make their presence felt and the Ironguts and Mournfang were never in a position to dual-threaten a charge or anything. The Mournfang absolutely crush the Silver Helms and the ironguts will too, full strength. I`m not sure how he should`ve done it given the map and the side he had, but utilizing his footprint`s ability to force my bus would be a good place to start: probably off-center West of the impassable.
So, onto the game. I was looking for an opening. One of 4 things can create an opening: L4 dies, IB misfires and either dies or loses a turn of shooting, he goes too aggressive with one unit or he boxes up completely, to the point where he is basically blocking himself on all fronts. 2 of these things happened and I had to grab the opportunity to see what would happen. With the IB hitting the wall (50-50 for hitting the dragon vis-a-vis the wall), I was in a very good position. I perhaps could`ve gotten away with using less redirectors, I should´ve saved one or two to force the IB to keep out from my SD and block the Ironguts T5. Lesson learned!
Lastly I believe this matchup is slightly in favour of the Star Dragon actually. The OK surely have some strong elements available, but once those monsters double down... Boy do they hurt! This is a refreshing revelation as most HE variants struggle with OK.
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment if you have any thoughts about the game