The Learning Curve

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SpellArcher
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Re: The Learning Curve

#61 Post by SpellArcher »

I feel your opponent’s army (whether in 9th Age, 8th edition, 7th etc) is powerful but it doesn’t cope well with bad combat dice. Whereas your list 20phoenix seemed to have enough about it to regroup and win through. Would you change much about how you approached the game?
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Re: The Learning Curve

#62 Post by 20phoenix »

I'm still undecided about divine icon v charm of Cursed Iron on prince and the BSB loadout - ToSS seems better overall but that one turn of 1+ 5++ is great for tanking stuff for a turn.

I was happy with deployment but I think I rushed into combat a turn early. I could have stood off for another turn giving me another turn of magic and shooting. I misplayed my right most sloop, putting him round a building to get a shooting angle but trapping myself in the process. In the end I had to sacrifice it in a way that kept two of his units away from the fight for most the game. In that respect I'm happy.

This felt like a good match up for me and we are planning on replaying it although he's dropping his wrath priest for a two spell alchemy sorceror
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Re: The Learning Curve

#63 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:I could have stood off for another turn giving me another turn of magic and shooting.
Often a good idea when you are stronger at range. There are exceptions of course.
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Re: The Learning Curve

#64 Post by 20phoenix »

Been a bit quiet recently due to holiday and the Blood Bowl Euros. Had four more games using the dragon list and it's done pretty well, tabling SE and EoS (rookie player), tabled by DL (top ranked in UK) and a close 11-9 loss to KoE on objective. It seems to lack something to deal with secondary objectives so I'm looking at tweaking it a little bit.

The changes i'm considering:
Dropping the Giant Sword and Charm of Cursed Iron for GW, Divine Icon and BoE on Prince
Dropping SGR and 5 spears for 9 QG and musician
Dropping one lancer dart, 2 SMs and 2 spears for 2 X reavers (at least one with champ, can't decide between bows and second champion)

Will be trying them out to see how they do.

On another note I'll be popping my tournament cherry after Christmas! There's a 4k tournament in MK which is ideally timed during the Xmas break. Not your average tournament - one day, custom objectives and TPs for taking lesser used units (or a dragon :D). HbE units include Flame Wardens, Reaver Chariot, Griffon Chars and Grey Watchers. I'm trying to get my list sorted early so I know what I need to get painted. Im not sure how much of the bonus stuff I'll take as GW and reavers are weak, FW are not strong enough for the first objective (TP for oppo killed rather than point difference). The griffon may make it in as BSB but would have to sacrifice magic if he's going alongside a dragon. I'll post some options soon
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Re: The Learning Curve

#65 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:Dropping the Giant Sword and Charm of Cursed Iron for GW, Divine Icon and BoE on Prince
Not finding the S7 that important?
20phoenix wrote:On another note I'll be popping my tournament cherry after Christmas!
Have a great time! If the 9th Age scene is continuing the long-established Warhammer vibe, it should be a good experience.
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Re: The Learning Curve

#66 Post by Prince of Spires »

I personally wouldn't go with BoE (assuming Bow of Elu here) on the dragon. His whole purpose is to end up in combat and kick some serious ass when being in combat. Going for a shooting weapon is kind of the opposite to that. It's a nice choice, but you will either not shoot a lot and in which case it's better to spend the points on something else. Or you will be shooting, in which case the dragon isn't all that useful and you'd be better of spending those 500+ points on something else.

You did find out the weakness of the dragon. He's very good at combat. But he can only be in one place at a time. And with his points cost he ends up being the focal point of the army, which means the rest is mainly there to support him. Which makes it more difficult to claim secondary objectives.

Enjoy the tournament! And let us know how it went. It should be fun. Getting in a room full of WH players is always great.

Rod
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Re: The Learning Curve

#67 Post by 20phoenix »

So the base of my list is this:


++ Highborn Elves (BS2.0 Highborn Elves) [3649pts] ++

+ Characters +

Lords of the Seas [1140pts]
. High Prince
. . High Prince: Light Armour, The General
. . . High Prince Dragon mount
. . . . High Prince Dragon mount: Ancient Dragon
. . . Magic Items: Divine Icon, Giant Sword, Lucky Shield

+ Core +

Citizen Spears [422pts]: 24x Spearman
. Champion
. Musician
. Standard Bearer
. . Veteran Standard: Icon of the Relentless Company

Highborn Lancers [290pts]: Champion, 5x Highborn Lancer, Musician

Highborn Lancers [290pts]: Champion, 5x Highborn Lancer, Musician

+ Elder Service +

Queen's Guard [272pts]: Musician, 9x Queen's Guard

+ Special +

Giant Eagle [100pts]: Giant Eagle

Sky Sloop with Sea Reaper [240pts]: Sky Sloop with Sky Reaper

Sky Sloop with Sea Reaper [240pts]: Sky Sloop with Sky Reaper

Sword Masters [655pts]: 21x Sword Master
. Champion
. Musician
. Standard Bearer: Stalker's Standard

++ Total: [3649pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

The spare 350 points are going towards an ambushing BH giant :D

The three missions are:

Kill as much as possible (points for what you kill not points difference)
Claiming objectives of different values at end of game (one 6pt, two 3pt, one 1pt)
Claiming objectives each turn (four points assigned each turn)

With this in mind I wanted something killy, mobile and that I could feasibly paint before the tournament. Sadly this meant no KoR which would have been ideal.

If 2.0 drops in time I'll be running with something along these lines dependent on pricing:

OotFH Mage on Dragon
BH Giant
Block of Spears
2 X Lancer Darts
2 X Sloops
FW Block with Ryma banner
Grey Watchers
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Re: The Learning Curve

#68 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:If 2.0 drops in time I'll be running with something along these lines
Which likely rules changes are leading you to these revisions 20phoenix?
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Re: The Learning Curve

#69 Post by 20phoenix »

OotfH - cheaper, alchemy access, successful casts give dragon +1M/+2A, access to paired weapons and hero's sword enchant means mage can hit a little too, hereditary spell and shield providing better protection for dragon.
Dragon also has flaming attacks now so with alchemy gets rerolls to wound on CC and breath weapon attacks.

Grey watchers - -1 to hit on failed resilience tests synergises well with dragon protection

FW Block - Ryma banner giving swiftstride and +ST in first round means they'll hit a bit harder on the charge. SMs are still better at aggression especially without the MoCT to give awaken the beast as well but FWs get me that TP I lose by putting magic in the list
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Re: The Learning Curve

#70 Post by 20phoenix »

Played a game last night against gunline Ogres. List was much the same as I have been using but went back to 4 x Druidism and changed out the bolt thrower and some swords for QG. Spears switched to triple march banner.

He had 3 X 6 bombardiers, 15 Scraplings with throwing weapons, 12 bruisers, great khan with a lot of toys, BSB and a pyro shaman.

Rolled frontline clash and breakthrough. Hit the jackpot on spells as I got everything I wanted (regen, toughness, regrowth and entwining roots)

I had a wall in my deployment so I put swords and QG behind there. Dragon took the right flank where his shooting was, spears on the left.

He got first turn and marched the bruiser deathstar right at my lines while the bonbardiers poured fire into the Sloops, killing one and leaving the other on one wound. Enveloping embers on my spears was dispelled, nothing of note went through. I moved the pine wound sloop to chaff the big block, marched the swords and dragon forward and shuffled the spears slightly to prepare to triple march them past the big block if it came forward too far. Shooting took a couple of bombardiers off the unit bunkering his shaman and I got through - BS on the bonbardiers nearest the dragon.

He charges the two characters out the Bruisers, BSB into spears, general into the sloop. It was 50/50 whether it was flank or front so we rolled off and ended up flank so he could join the spear combat after finishing the sloop. Enveloping embers on swords was dispelled again but flaming swords got through on one of the bombardier units. He unloaded 40 shots into the dragon but only one made it through and the lucky charm did work. The third bombardier unit routed my left lancers, leaving one alive. My champion challenged and got accepted by his BSB who splatted him with impact hits. General poured attacks into BSB but only one wound made it through and the D3 wound roll was 1. (A relief as I forgot to use bronze breastplate!). The stomp bounced so we lost by 2 but stuck. My lancers charged his Scraplings (auto), swords needed a swiftstride 10 to get into the mage bunker bombardiers, (he forgot to stand and shoot) and my dragon charged the right most bonbardiers who fled. I redirected into mage bunker who also fled. Both SMs and dragon stumbled forwards 6. Eagle flew to redirect his bruiser block while QG left the cover of the wall to start sniping the non fleeing bombardiers. I got 5+ regen up on the spears but everything else dispelled. In combat my BSB stuck a wound on his general but the breastplate and ward bounced his attacks. The spears started to take some punishment from the BSB but we tied combat. The lancers lost two to DTs and a third in combat to the Scraplings but enough survived to rout them and chase them down.

Bruisers charged the chaffing eagle, the yetis bizarrely charged the dragon, the fleeing bombardiers rallied and the non-fleeing ones swift reformed to face the swords. He then had a shocking magic phase as enveloping embers failed and everything else got dispelled. Bombardiers took off some swords then his general and BSB bounced (comparatively) in combat and the spears won a round! He then failed a rerollable 9 with his general who ran! BSB held though so couldn't chase. The prince and dragon didn't do enough to the yetis to make me comfortable making them break test for it so the breath weapon came out which burned them to a crisp.

The swords charged the bruisers who were being semi chaffed by the fleeing general. However it also meant he was chaffing any countercharges so this was my big chance to break the bruiser unit, knowing I had two rounds to slice them up. The dragon charged the right-most bombardier's again, QG shuffled forward to get in range of the mage bunker and the decimated right lancers went and hid behind a forest for the rest of the game to provide breakthrough scoring. The single left lancer had enough and fled the field. In magic his three dice attempt to dispel oaken throne burned half his dispel dice which meant I got two spells off this turn. Regen on the swords was dispelled but toughness on the spears and -2WS on the bruisers were unopposed. QG continued to chip away at the mage bunker during shooting. In combat the dragon broke the bonbardiers again but caught them this time but as an added bonus, panicked the mage bunker! Swords did 8 wounds to the Bruisers and lost 6 in return, edging the combat but they held. He chose to reform to get max ogres in combat the next turn. Spears finally broke and ran down the BSB (T6 finally stemmed the flow of wounds).

His general rallied and turned to face the swords flank, mage bunker rallies again and the left bombardiers swift reform to face the dragon. Flaming swords went off on his bombardier's who unloaded into the dragon taking off three wounds. Yowch. The reform of the Bruisers turned out to be an error as the swords hit with everything they had, putting 14 wounds on and taking 8 back. The bruisers fled and were caught by the swiftstriding swords.

The dragon charged the remains of the mage bunker, I wasn't keen due to the wounds but he would just get shot up otherwise. S&S took another wound. The swords moved out of his generals arc and the spears marched to get in regrowth range of them. The rest is a bit hazy but the mage bunker took the dragon down to 1w before fleeing. The final bombardier unit shot him down the following turn. They got spooked by something (QG?) and ran off the board. I got regrowth off in one of the last two turns to restore swords to over 25% and his general charged the spears who just fed him a champion.

Bloody game but great fun - He rolled seriously out the box on number of bombardier shots (T5 before he rolled below average with a unit!) but then failed some critical panic tests. I had batches of bad dice, lancers rolling 1s for fun and my BSB hitting on 2s on his BSB then rolling three 1's :lol: but boy did my saves pull through at some critical times.

I had this down as a loss as his list murders T3 AS5+ troops but I managed to take advantage of a couple of openings. With that much shooting I don't think he needed to shove the bruisers in my face T1. Sit back and let the shooting rip me up then pick up the pieces of what's left. I think Druidism is better for this list, it needs the buffs as it has the capacity to melt when facing high damage lists. I think I prefer the QG to a bolt thrower too, loses 1AP but 3 extra shots that hit on 3s, not 4s. An extra scoring unit is also useful.

Release date for 2.0 has been set for a week Sunday so I'll post in a bit about some things I'm looking forward to.
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Re: The Learning Curve

#71 Post by 20phoenix »

So 2.0 is imminent and I wanted to air views on some of the HbE changes. Going to work through the army book in order

Racial Trait spell - Grants two Veil tokens so potentially extra magic dice is good. When spell is up can discard veil tokens to prevent wounds on something within 18" once a phase. Standard infantry can ignore two wounds. Pretty useful spell - little bit of monster protection and great for swinging tight combats. Probably high on dispel list allowing you to get other stuff through

MoCT - Now has access to #1 spell in 5 paths - Alchemy, Druidism, Witchcraft, Cosmology and Shamanism. All spells have Druidism attribute. Amazing change - we don't know which spells some of them are but +ST is one and flying movement another. This guy is amazing - double swooping fire phoenixes and ST4 spears? Yes please.

Prince of Ryma - Extra attack on the charge. When on a monster changes AA and character allowance to allow double dragon. All chars have to be monster mounted though. No Sloops or sgr if on monster. A lot of my early builds are going to centre around this guy. Double dragon was high on the list until I saw the new lance for HbE which has given me an awesome looking Ryma bus build idea I want to try (points dependent)

OotFH Mage - Access to alchemy and pyro although only molten copper can be cast into combat when taking Alch. Can take paired weapons now. When on a dragon the dragon now has flaming attacks. Successful spell casts grant +1M and +2Att. Great changes and he's much improved in combat. Alchemy access opens some interesting combos.

Ancient Dragon - Losing a pip of toughness smarts, especially as our other tanky build has reputedly got hit. Extra 2" of march doesn't plug the gap especially with the massive base.

Seaguard - New rule stolen straight from the EoS playbook allowing them to SnS when units within 12" get charged. Seem situational and ST3 bowshots don't really scare anyone. Unless crazy price gets dropped I still won't touch these.

Spears - Reputedly cheaper and with changes to spear rules (AP2 and +2I when charged have made these better. Using them in 1.3 currently and find them usable. Changes to them are good especially with +1ST spell and access to Ryma Banners


Reaver Chariot - lose a wound and vanguard but can march and take command group. May test them out as anti-chaff chaff or cheap champions to take challenges for dragon but overall not keen. Reputedly cheaper but doesn't fix it's problems.

Grey Watchers - -1 to hit on failed resilience tests make these interesting. I'll be trying them out for sure but it remains to be seen how well the rule works.

Sky sloop - loses storm pennant upgrade. No drama, never used, would rather have the bolt thrower than the spell in all lists

Phoenixes - Can no longer be mounted by char but gain optional upgrade of a warden champion to ride it which will grant the 3+ rebirth (5+ otherwise). Fire phoenix loses 5++ but becomes 4+AS. Gains a D6 grinding attack in combat . Frostie can wake units for -3AG, -1AS and -1AP. I like the fire phoenix change, it needed something else for combat even if he is a bit more fragile and he gains massively from MoCT access to Ravens Wing. I'm not sure about frostie, twin fire and ice birds look potent but I can see twin fire still being the strongest setup especially in MoCT lists. Not fussed about losing the mount options - HbE have too many as is and some thing of the herd was required.

Spear of the Blazing Dawn - +1ST, +2AP magical attack spear that doubles your hits. Footslogging chars just got a new best friend. I loved the previous incarnation and I love this too. Hope that it still fits in an MoCT build.

Nova lance - Divine Attack, Lethal Strike, Magical Attack lance that grants an additional attack on the charge. Has a one use only activation that activates all your charging bonuses again. The Ryma Princes wet dream. A griffon riders wet dream. I have a list detailed below that is designed to maximise this weapon points permitting #1 on the playtest list!

Armour of the Forgotten Kings - +2AS, +2 DS. Basically access to 1+ on foot. Designed with foot princes in mind, not sure how keen I am on foot princes which might limit my usage of it. If I do, I suspect this is what I take

Starmetal shield - Halves multi-wounds. Auto include on ridden monsters.

Gleaming robe - 3++ for mage on foot or horse. Max 6+ AS. Reduces some miscast outcomes. Might see some use especially if I need to take a mage on foot that needs to be shoehorned into a combat unit. Miscast less likely now so that portion is more of a cherry on top

Shimmer and Shine - Hard target for cavalry models. Griffon and YD models get some extra shooting protection. Pretty useful if you have the points allowance (I'd guess only mages and prince will have that)

Overall I'm pretty enthusiastic about the changes although assessing them in a vacuum is tough. Full BRB access and weighing it up against other armies options are the acid test.

What I really like is list building just got a lot harder and in a good way. Our range of choices just got much wider. I'm seeing a few things I want to try out, double dragon, double griffon, double fire phoenix with MoCT for triple waking fun. The main one I'm excited to try is an OotFH mage on a dragon with alchemy, prince of Ryma with Nova lance and BSB with paired weapons and hero sword enchant in a Ryma unit with the Ryma banner. BSB carries flaming standard (I assume this will be the cheaper standard). OotFH makes something flammable with Alchemy then combo charges with the Ryma bus. 7 ST6 attacks from dragon, 6 ST7 attacks from Prince, 5 ST6 attacks from BSB and 12 ST7 attacks from unit (assuming unit of 8 ) all with rerolls to wound. Second round of combat the rerolls are lost except on dragon (flaming only use now) but prince and dragon still hit at same power level, BSB and unit lose 1ST due to Ryma and units attacks drop to ST4. It sounds glorious but I need to see if those chars can fit in the points.

Other option is OotfH on foot with the bus but makes it a little less mobile.

Looking forward to playing around with the army lists when it gets released!
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Re: The Learning Curve

#72 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:Played a game last night against gunline Ogres.
List looks similar to one I played at an 8th edition tournament, though I’m sure it works a bit differently in 9th Age.
20phoenix wrote:He then failed a rerollable 9 with his general who ran!
:)
20phoenix wrote:had this down as a loss as his list murders T3 AS5+ troops
Ogres have always been a tricky foe for us but Ancient Dragon vs no cannon helps a lot.
20phoenix wrote:managed to take advantage of a couple of openings.
You seemed to use elf manoeuvrability really well 20phoenix.
20phoenix wrote:Ancient Dragon - Losing a pip of toughness
This sound bad, in 8th at least T7 is one of the best things about the Star Dragon.
20phoenix wrote:Basically access to 1+ on foot.
This sounds awesome! 1+ is way, way hard to get on foot characters.
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Re: The Learning Curve

#73 Post by 20phoenix »

SpellArcher wrote: This sound bad, in 8th at least T7 is one of the best things about the Star Dragon.
20phoenix wrote:Basically access to 1+ on foot.
This sounds awesome! 1+ is way, way hard to get on foot characters.
The AD change provoked a strong response, they've added +2 march distance and a couple of wound protection mechanisms. Apparently the reason was it was too rock, paper, scissors. The other major nerf in the book, the omipresent chariot lord, is having its rules announced today.

The changes to the spear means you can build a quite killy prince who is also very survivable on foot. HWotF lords with 1+AS, possibility to hit 8 times in combat with huge AP (AP4/5) and Divine attacks will be fearsome but as is always the case the challenge is getting him in the right combat
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Re: The Learning Curve

#74 Post by Prince of Spires »

The whole point of an ancient dragon is it rock paper scissors nature of course. Just make sure it's balanced enough and you should be good to go. I agree that the extra point of T makes a difference on him. Still, he probably needs to be viewed in the perspective of the whole list and rule book.

Some of the changes sound interesting. It should lead to some fun battles I think. Let us know how it goes.

Rod
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PS: Bring cookies!

Check out my plog
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Check my writing blog for stories on the Prince of Spires and other pieces of fiction.
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Re: The Learning Curve

#75 Post by 20phoenix »

Played my penultimate game of 1.3 earlier this week against the ogres again but with a lot of changes to his list. General was out, bombardiers out to be replaced with Merc Vets with ogre pistols and a frost mammoth. Pyro was gone, replaced with shamanism

For spells I got all the buffs and the forest spell, he had swarm of flies, frenzy, totemic beast and something else I can't remember. We rolled diagonal deployment and capture the flags. He chose sides and took the one with all the terrain so I couldn't have it. I figured he'd drop for first turn again so deployed my two infantry units out of 30" away so he couldn't shoot them first turn. Queens Guard deployed in a forest, one sloop hid behind a hill on the left flank, the other, the dragon and a lancer unit on the right. There was a big piece of impassible in the centre and he deployed everything to the left of it. For scoring I'd normally choose his trappers but they were so far back it wasn't worth it so took the bruiser unit and the Merc Vets.

He vanguarded two units of yetis and one of the Merc vet units round the left hill my sloop was hiding behind and the whole battle line advanced. The sloop shrugged off the shots from the Merc Vets thanks to cover bonuses, nothing else was in range. Swarm of flies was dispelled. The left sloop repositioned behind the hill out of sight of the yetis, my combat units moved up and a unit of lancers marched up the right to set sights on the trappers. Oaken Throne and toughness on swords were dispelled, Healing Waters went up on the spears. Left sloop and Queens Guard put a couple of wounds on one of the yetis, right sloop put a wound in a Merc Vet.

He moved to the edge of my charge range with all units except a unit of vets who continued to chase the left sloop round the hill. One unit of yetis moved to intercept the lancers heading for his backfield. The other two pushed past my lines making a beeline for the Queen's Guard. Swarm of flies put a wound on my right sloop, left sloop takes another wound by the Merc Vets, other Merc Vets shot off four swords. I flew the dragon next to the impassible facing the space the Bruisers would move next turn. Spears marched up to a wall to bait a charge from the ogres. Swords move up to left of spears giving options to flank any bruiser charge or charge Vets who I chaffed up with the one wound sloop. Right lancers continue to move towards trappers. Left lancers reform to threaten counter charge to any Yeti charges. Oaken throne goes up restoring right sloop to full wounds, everything else is dispelled. QG and right sloop combine to put three wounds on the wounded yeti unit.

He charges with both yeti units on the QG. The undamaged one needs a 9 so I stick and SnS the wounded unit who was more likely to make it, killing it. Left vets continue to hunt the wounded sloop, Bruisers shuffle around mostly, the threat of flank charges from dragon and swords enough to pin them in place. Other vet unit continue to advance. Right yetis charge my lancers - for some reason I completely failed to see that as a possibility so I elected to flee. He puts frenzy on the bruiser unit and swarm of flies kills the eagle, everything else is dispelled. Vets take off some spears with shooting. In combat the QG kill one of the yetis but lose the combat and stick on a 6. I fly dragon behind the impassible to give me charging angles on the flank of the mammoth and the rear of the Bruisers. Infantry mostly hold their ground. Left lancers charge flank of QG combat, right lancers rally. Single wound sloop chaffs Merc Vets but in a place where a failed frenzy check means bruisers charge there. I get regrowth on QG who go back to full numbers. Sloops continue shittling Merc vet.s Lancers and QG win combat easily and reform to face the battle again.

Bruisers charge spears who hold, right vets charge the chaffing sloop. Bruisers snake the charge. Mammoth moves out of dragons arc but prepares to counter charge. Totemic beast is summoned next to right lancers and frenzy goes up on Bruisers again. Left vets unload on right sloop who dies. Right vets crush single wound sloop on impact hits and reform to face swords again. The snaked charge left me in a bind. I couldn't combo charge the Bruisers as the infantry charge ranges were too risky and dragon ending up by himself was suicidal. Couldn't charge flank of right vets as Bruisers obstructed landing spot but there was a charge available on the left vets who I could reasonably get to so he charged there and made it. Infantry continued to hold station. Regen went up on spears and QG shot into unengaged Vets. In combat the dragon ate the vets were broken by the dragon and fled off the board. Dragon reformed to threaten vets and Bruisers again.

Bruisers charged spears again and made it this time, vets and mammoth moved out of dragon charge arc. Totemic beast charged right lancers. A second totemic beast is summoned next to QG, vets shoot at swords but do little. Bruisers tear off 3 ranks of spears losing a couple in return. Spears hold steadfast. Lancers tie combat with totemic beast. Swords charge into front of bruiser combat, dragon flies to give T6 charge options on Merc Vets, mammoth or rear of bruiser combat. I get T6 on spears but miscast losing a couple. Swords get regrowth on them but regen is dispelled. Shooting is just QG taking a couple of wounds off vets again. In the big combat the swords do their thing and with help from the spears peel off most of a rank from the ogres. Everything that could hit a sword does and they take some heavy losses but we win combat by 2. Opponent then fails a huge rerollable break test for the second game in succession, the Bruisers flee and are caught by the swords who overrun into the vets.

T6 sees the vets wipe the remnants of the swords but get killed off by the spears who killed a unit of yetis too. Mammoth is taken down to one wound by the dragon but sticks on a 3. Trappers survive having never left their ruins!

A much cagier affair than the last one but more convincing. I found his last list harder to deal with as the increased combat power of this one came at the expense of ranged power. The zoning power of the dragon really allowed me to control the centre of the board and pin the Bruisers especially. This brought me the time to get the dragon into his backlines and force the engagements.

My last 1.3 fight is tonight, facing a SE list that might have a dragon. Should be fun!
20phoenix
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Re: The Learning Curve

#76 Post by 20phoenix »

Prince of Spires wrote:The whole point of an ancient dragon is it rock paper scissors nature of course. Just make sure it's balanced enough and you should be good to go. I agree that the extra point of T makes a difference on him. Still, he probably needs to be viewed in the perspective of the whole list and rule book.

Some of the changes sound interesting. It should lead to some fun battles I think. Let us know how it goes.

Rod
Forgot they have increased AD wounds to 8 as well
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Re: The Learning Curve

#77 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:the omipresent chariot lord,
As someone who ran this guy continuously from 7th, under the 7th book in 8th and then with the 8th AB, I find this interesting! I’ve finally dropped him in 8th for Cavalry Prince because the last incarnation just doesn’t work well. I guess he was due his day in the sun in 9th Age but all good things come to an end!
20phoenix wrote:the challenge is getting him in the right combat
Getting the enemy to fight your Infantry block is indeed often half the battle. It’s an art!
20phoenix wrote:I stick and SnS the wounded unit
Makes a lot of sense.
20phoenix wrote:The zoning power of the dragon
He’s always been a killer against armies who aren’t good at range. In 8th double cannon keeps him somewhat honest. But massed small arms is an issue for him in 9th Age?

Hope the next game went well!
20phoenix
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:48 pm

Re: The Learning Curve

#78 Post by 20phoenix »

The final game was a cracker - 10-10 draw v a Sylvan Elf list my opponent confessed afterwards was built to directly counter mine. I lost my dragon in turn 3 after a treefather survived on one wound in a fight v a unit of lancers and the dragon. I didn't know about crush attacks which hurt my dragon enough in the first round that the rear charge from his Jack's Pickaxe toting lord on an elk the following turn was enough to lose the dragon. However the swords and spears recovered enough points by killing his dragon, as well as the lord on elk, wild huntsman, treefather and thicket shepherds. That was enough to put me 13-7 on points but no chance at the objective so a 10-10.

The HbE army book dropped a couple of days ago so I've been gleefully drafting up some initial lists and since you know I love dragons, double dragon is my starting point.

The list is:


++ Highborn Elves - Queen's Cavalier (Highborn Elves 2.0 Beta) [4500Pts] ++

+ Queen's Bows +

Grey Watchers [190Pts]: 5x Grey Watcher, Scout

Grey Watchers [185Pts]: 5x Grey Watcher, Paired Weapons

Queen's Guard [272Pts]: Musician, 9x Queen's Guard

Queen's Guard [244Pts]: Musician, 8x Queen's Guard

+ Core +

Citizen Archers [429Pts]: 18x Citizen Archer, Musician, Standard Bearer
. Banner Enchantment: Banner of Becalming

Citizen Spears [360Pts]: Champion, 20x Citizen Spear, Musician, Standard Bearer
. Banner Enchantment: War Banner of Ryma

Citizen Spears [360Pts]: Champion, 20x Citizen Spear, Musician, Standard Bearer
. Banner Enchantment: War Banner of Ryma

+ Special +

Giant Eagles [100Pts]: Giant Eagle

Knights of Ryma [360Pts]: 5x Knight of Ryma, Musician

+ Characters +

Commander [845Pts]: Battle Standard Bearer, Dragon, Great Weapon, Light Armour, Queen's Cavalier
. Special Equipment: Dragon Staff, King Slayer, Potion of Swiftness

Mage [1155Pts]: Alchemy, Dragon, Order of the Fiery Heart, Paired Weapones, Shield, Wizard Master
. Special Equipment: Book of Arcane Power, Hero's Heart, Starmetal Alloy, Talisman of the Void

++ Total: [4500Pts] ++

Created with BattleScribe

What that equates to is a mage who can reliably cast two spells a turn with an aggressive lore and can also fight, a BSB kitted out to hunt characters, two spear blocks to take charges or counter charge, plenty of shooting to draw opponents forward and an eagle for chaff. It's designed as a counter charge list but can push in the right circumstances. I'll be playing my first game with the list tomorrow
SpellArcher
Green Istari
Posts: 13834
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Otherworld

Re: The Learning Curve

#79 Post by SpellArcher »

20phoenix wrote:10-10 draw v a Sylvan Elf list my opponent confessed afterwards was built to directly counter mine.
=D>
20phoenix wrote:Queen's Bows
Substantial archery.
20phoenix wrote:20x Citizen Spear
Are 20’s decent in 9th Age?
20phoenix wrote:It's designed as a counter charge list but can push in the right circumstances.
Presumably vs gunlines you have to attack 20phoenix?
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