Heart Of Darkness - Game 5

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mkragh
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 12:17 pm

Heart Of Darkness - Game 5

#1 Post by mkragh »

Hi All,

Heart Of Darkness II is over and I have been looking through my photos and getting them ready for my blog. Will do the games 1 by 1 but with minimal text as it will take too long to write them all otherwise.

Enjoy!

Game 1 vs. Dwarfs
Game 2 vs. Dark Elves
Game 3 vs. Dwarfs
Game 4 vs. Lizardmen
Game 5 vs. Warriors Of Chaos

Mikkel
Last edited by mkragh on Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:05 am, edited 4 times in total.
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jsg2295
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Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:41 pm

Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 1

#2 Post by jsg2295 »

Your game looked painful...4 gyros? He thinks he's playing 40k? A gunline isn't fun to play...one of the reasons people use white lions to try to combat so much firepower. Look forward to reading about more of your play.
mkragh
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 12:17 pm

Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 1

#3 Post by mkragh »

To be honest, it was the runes of forging on the 4 war machines that really did it. Basically to win against this army I would have needed first turn and strong magic phases.
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jsg2295
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 2

#4 Post by jsg2295 »

Another tough battle...would be nice to know the army lists.
mkragh
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 4

#5 Post by mkragh »

I am trying to add the army lists to the photos, hard as I only managed to get home with a single print of a list.
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Swordmaster of Hoeth
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 4

#6 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi mkragh!

Just letting you know I keep checking your reports and I will do my best to comment in more detail as soon as you post all the games (so that you can read it all in a single post!). Great models indeed! I always liked your photos and they make the reports even more alive!

Keep them coming! =D>
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Asuryan_
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 4

#7 Post by Asuryan_ »

Congratulations for your painted army, it looks awesome! =D>

Besides than that, i don't really like your list. It could be improved a lot.

1) You need more chaff, 3x Reavers are mandatory and maybe one or two eagles.

2) You lack also Bolt Throwers, you have lots of core shooting, but our best shooting is on the rare slot.

3) If you go competitive you have to choice between that:

1 Frostheart + 4 BT / 2FHeart and maximum BT possible.

4) Your regiments have to be 5 wide, you can go 7 wide with White Lions because they are Stubborn, in any other case they have to be 5 wide for Steadfast purpose. If I were you I will split your Archers in two units and swap the Seaguard for two Reavers units with bows.

5) The Phoenix Guard needs two things: Shadow Archmage or Prince with Giant Blade and High Magic Archmage. PG doesn't have a lot of damage output so they need help, and these are IMO the best ways to achieve that.

Cheers!
Loremaster Avarael
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 4

#8 Post by Loremaster Avarael »

You have a really nicely painted army with striking colors! Thank you for posting all the BatReps.
mkragh
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Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 12:17 pm

Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 5

#9 Post by mkragh »

Thanks for the comments. A lot of my unit choices are based on what I have painted, only have 5 Reavers and no Eagles.
Asuryan, you are right about the ranks, reason I go 7 wide is to get maximum attacks and then I can reform if I come up against something like a Carnosaur.

My armies are always a compromise between what I have versus what I like, which is big ranked units. Ultimately I would like to have so much painted that I can build any kind of army, both very soft / fluffy and more optimised lists.
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Swordmaster of Hoeth
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Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 5

#10 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi mkragh,

Thanks again for taking time and providing another nice write up of your games! As always I am jealous of your great quality photos. I think I should hire you next time I have the opportunity to go to the tournament. :)

I am going to add some comments to your games as I promised to do so once you have them all finished.

Game 1 - Dwarves

Pretty compact Dwarven force but it seems the case with stunties all the time. I found it interesting to see many gyrocopters as they can be very helpful for a Dwarven general and quite annoying for the opponent. Your opponent didn't deploy in the corner but I think two terrain features had something to do with it!

Looking at your deployment I wonder if you considered positioning your phoenixes on your right flank and use the opportunity to move around that flank using the building as a cover?

I sometimes try not to move fast cavalry forward during vanguard phase because it may put them in danger. In this game, your opponent had +1 to roll off to determine who is getting the 1st turn. Hence, moving reavers towards the crossbows was very risky and unfortunately they died too early.

Did you try to focus your fire on a single target such as gyrocopter? They are tough but can be shot down and focusing fire is obviously a way to ensure they are dealt with.

It was tough game to start the tournament for sure but I also wonder if you deployed your army differently after that painful experience. There is always something to learn from each defeat and I think the first to re-consider is deployment.

Game 2 - Dark Elves

Quite a few monsters to deal with this time!

DE are known for their shooting and even in relatively small numbers they can be deadly. Did you consider positioning your bolt throwers behind your troops for additional penalty to shoot at them? You can always move with your regiments forward and reveal the targets for them while at the same time make these pesky scouts more careful where they go.

DE seemed to have the edge in close combat here while you had better shooting due to longer range of the archers. I think you could deploy further from the enemy thus giving yourself more time to shoot at them.

Your counter charges seem to look desperate, I know it was hard to resist the temptation but I think phoenixes could do better if they charged other targets than stubborn Black Guard. For example, I wonder if charging the small hydra were not a better option. Instead of getting into combat that favored your enemy you could keep your troops moving and attacking the targets they could defeat.

Game 3 - Dwarves

Two organ guns is already quite a tough problem to solve! All Dwarven units are very good at combat and Firedrakes can inflict significant casualties to any unit.

I like the way you moved Flamespyre this game, it did some damage and it is just a pity Anointed didn't survive that cannon shot.

Great job with Phoenix Guard! I thought they are not going to make it but they did and even broke the enemy general. Well done! I wonder if you considered teaming them up with Swordmasters. PG would go first, protecting Swordmasters from shooting so that they can arrive in better shape to combat and could protect flanks of PG?

Well done on the victory!

Game 4 - Lizardmen

Matt has a beautiful army too and it would be great to observe that battle just for the sheer joy of seeing two beautiful armies on the table. I hope he is going to finish that painting soon and we are going to be able to admire it in its full glory.

Two Carnosaurs are great looking models too although I am not surprised you felt they needed to be treated with respect!

Great early charges! These ripperdactyls can be pain in the back if they manage to fly over the rear. They hit reasonably hard with their frenzy, not to mention against the units they "curse" with the toads. So it was great to get rid of them.

I like the team work of the phoenixes too, a pity your enemy once again saved his skin on insane courage but that is also adding to the story!

Well done on another victory, was good to see these big models clashing.

Game 5 - Warriors of Chaos

The combination of the monstrous infantry and cavalry made this army quite hard hitting and resilient to your shooting. Great to see some Dragon Ogres as they are not that popular among WoC armies.

Well done on breaking the Skullcrushers. I believe ASL (to strike after Swordmasters) and -1 to strength played an important role here. It was risky but it paid off!

I obviously like the fact that Swordmasters held against Dragon Ogres and timely counter charge of PG dealt with that threat, great!

That was tough though when your units broke! Especially PG! And it is a pity that you didn't have enough time as it looked like the last word should have been yours. But another bloody game, punch for punch so it was great to find out that in the end it was a draw!

Summary

I think your army can do well as it is. Of course, it is always better to have all the units you would like to include but at the same time you can test the less popular choices. I think every single one of them can be used to great effect. And it would also make you one of the few players who actually used units such as Lion Chariot in a tournament! :)

The most important goal was achieved though - you had 5 enjoyable games against great opponents! =D>

Thanks again for your reports!

Cheers!
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mkragh
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 12:17 pm

Re: Heart Of Darkness - Game 5

#11 Post by mkragh »

Hi Swordmaster,

Forget the time it took me to write the blog post, thank you for taking the time to write such an in-depth review of the games.

As you pointed out there are several things I have (I hope) learnt for next time, or at least I know I need to work on them.

- I don't use fast troops very effectively, or at the very least I need to learn to get more out of them. More often than not I move my Reavers around as if they were Silverhelms.
- I tend to deploy my army the same way every game, usually with the goal of having the maximum number of units in BSB range. In some of these games I could have used terrain and the board edge better to protect my army.
- Carrying on with deployment, it is a good idea to use that to better effect, such as trying to protect my bolt throwers.
- I always deployed my Phoenixes central behind my main units, my thought was that with the high movement they have I would be able to redeploy them quickly to wherever they were needed the most. This is something I might continue doing, but there were times where they would have been better on the flanks.

Next time, at Downfall, I shall have to see if I can apply these lessons. I feel I use my army a bit as if they were Orcs or WoC, point them towards something and hope for the best. The games where I did well were generally those where I managed to use each unit to the best effect by getting combo charges in, and making sure everything could support the overall game plan.
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