End of Term Report to Seredain's School of Generalship
Hail Seredain,
I've just had my first WFB game since 5th edition, plus my first game with High Elves. I used your latest version of the Cavalry Prince list against an Orc and Giant horde.
And it was a lucky thing I did, because the scenario we rolled was ... Blood and Glory. The extra banners added to the list were the difference between victory and defeat. I had a Fortitude of one higher than my opponent, and that was enough for me to seize victory before two giants and block of Big 'Uns closed in. (In any case, we flubbed the calculation of the Breaking Points by 1, but we were nonetheless consistent with our reduced target.)
It was a bit of a plodding game on my part as I was struggling to remember all the rules and dealing with first game adrenaline, but my opponent was a real gentleman about it. After seeing my opponent place the two giants and Big 'Uns on his right flank, I promptly refused that flank and deployed hard to my own right. One booboo was to cage my Dragon Princes behind my infantry as I was trying to avoid getting them stuck between two giants with no standards.
Note: Giants are the smiley faces. Fluffy shapes are forests. Three-quarter circle in the bottom right is a hill. Top right is a river and bridge.
I had five standards, whilst he had 4 spread amongst his Savage Orcs, Black Orcs, and Big 'Uns (w/ BSB). My spells were Awakening, Shield of Thorns, Dwellers Below and Regrowth. His were Ere We Go, Brain Busta, Fist of Gork and Hand of Gork.
He got the first turn due to the Cavalry Prince List's awesome number of troop drops. All units surged forward, while one Giant moved between the house and table edge (perhaps fearing the RBT or needing to pee). The Boar Boyz (BB) moved up to the forest by the river bend. Hand of Gork surged the Savage Orcs (SO) forward toward my lines, but just short of my Sword Masters.
On my Turn One: my Silver Helms (SH) charged into the front of the BB, whilst the White Lions (WL) charged through the forests into their flank. The Sword Masters (SM) charged an inch into the front of the (SO). Spears moved up in line with them to face the impending Black Orc & Warboss charge (rather than offer a flank or rear). Left flank eagle swooped up to distract the giants. Right eagle went past the BB to threaten the SO rear. Dragon Princes (DP) and Archers #2 and Archmage were trapped behind the lines. Sigh. He dispelled my Shield of Thorns with double 6's.
The SH and WL turned ten BBs into mulch. SH overran in order to get more flankage while the WL reform 180 degrees to get stuck into the SO. The SM carved up the SO but the latter held on steadfast.
His Turn Two: a giant turned my eagle into a snack, but not before losing a wound. The other giant continued to meander behind the house. They certainly weren't advancing as fast as I'd feared.
The Black Orcs and Warboss charged into the Spears, killing seven plus the champion (EDIT: nullifying two ranks and removing steadfast), leaving them needing snake-eyes for their Break test, which of course the failed even with the Pennant. 23 spears fled off the board. Their defeat sent panic across my tightly packed lines. The RBT panicked. Worse still, the Archers #2 and Archmage panicked and fled clear off the board! No more magic! The Prince and BSB were too far away to offer any help with Ld or re-rolls. The store owner noted that I shouldn't have used my "good dice" for the Ld test.
(This must be the reason why you have the Gleaming Pennant, and a weakness in the refused flank that needs to be avoided, right?)
In one fell swoop the Orcs seized one standard whilst I lost another. The White Tower was definitely going to post my Archmage to Nagarythe for some toughening up!
The Black Orc pursuit brought them into base contact with the Dragon Prince's flank.
My Turn Two: White Lions chew into Savage Orc flank. I finished off their Shaman with my SM Bladelord (If I wasn't going to have magic, then neither was he!). SO were whittled down to five models. I pursued with my WL (hoping to eventually carry them towards the looming giant on the horizon). SM reformed 180 to bear down on the Black Orc (BO) menace.
The Silver Helms just barely pulled off a long charge past the SO rear and into the Black Orc flanks. The proverbial cavalry was coming. My 14 Archers #1 tried to charge into the rear of the BO, but were blocked by the cowering RBT crew!
I promptly remedied this by having the cowardly RBT crew drag their machine out of the way of the Archers, also clearing the way for the Tiranoc Chariot to squeeze through the gap for a charge into the BO flank next turn.
His Warlord challenged my general. At this point I wasn't sure if victory was possible with the Big 'Uns and giants bearing down on me. There was hope, and honestly I wanted to see how the Prince would fare against the Big Git. Throwing caution to the wind and embracing courage I invoked the Talisman of Loec, but scored only two hits and getting only one wound through.
In return I took one wound from the Warboss and one from the Talisman. Oh well, my Helms and DPs still cut down swathes of BOs, (EDIT) after which my opponent made an illegal combat reform to face away from the DPs to the SHs. (We were assured by an observer that it was legal and my objections went unheeded ("Its been FAQ'd" - Nope) and my failure to thumb thru the BRB let it through. Never mind, it was a friendly match anyway. However, I distinctly remember this being debated on this thread and my later BRB check settled it.)
His Turn Three: The central melee continued. My general perished under the Warboss assault although my units managed to score enough kills to leave us at a draw. (EDIT) The illegal combat reform in the previous turn helped boost his combat resolution. Furthermore, the reform allowed him to whittle down my SH to the point where they couldn't contribute a rank bonus. His other units advanced slowly.
By rights, if we had calculated the Break Points correctly this would have been it for me, but then, I probably would have sacrificed my BSB to the Warboss rather than my Prince. (Prince to Noble: "I say, old chap, you wouldn't mind taking on that slavering Warboss, would you? Duty and honour and all, you know? Capital!")
My Turn Three: The Sword Masters crash into the central melee. The Archers sally into the flank and the chariot runs into the rear of the BOs with a grand total of ONE impact hit. Close combat goes well, however, even after the Warboss challenges again and slays my Bladelord. The Sword Masters, Dragon Princes and Silver Helms manage to reduce the BO numbers to just five plus the Warboss. In fact, my elven steeds did better than their riders! The chariot crew weren't too successful ("Get a Lion Chariot" people later said). The BOs need snake-eyes to hold, and they fail. They break for the table edge.
Bearing in mind the two giants and Big 'Uns drawing in, I decide to restrain with all my tough units and let the Archers pursue. I forgot that finishing off the Warboss at this point would have netted me the game. The Archers fail pursuit by 1". Everyone else reforms.
Orc Turn Four: His General fails to rally, the BOs sail off the board (after my spears, archers and archmage, no doubt). The game, as it was, is mine.
Anyway, hopefully things will get sharper with more games, but I have to say that following your thread over the last few months leading up to my 8th edition debut has really helped me get stuck in. Its interesting that my opponent and other observers were surprised that I was fielding so much cavalry, the players at my local seem to favour the infantry block approach. Here's to hoping that I can prove them wrong in time!
Comments and criticism welcome.
Btw, sad to hear that you may not have much time to play, but congrats on the move and I hope it leads to greater and better things for you!