SpellArcher wrote:
Overall I think the problem here was not having played much! So much of the game is getting used to the rhythm of it, which plays follow which etc.. The more you play, the more fluid and easy your moves become and the better you do. Thanks very much for this elendor, looking forward to the next one!
Thanks for the comments and glad that you enjoyed the report!
I am planning to attend a gaming club nearby my town (the local club has moved to AoS apparently) whenever I am free from deadlines from work, but I think they play The 9th Age more than 6ed. In any way either I try T9A and learn or find some old school fan, so win-win.
I have already prepared a list for T9A and all.
Btw on light of the tournament it got me thinking that perhaps my current army list for 6ed, while not bad, could use some tweaks.
Current list:
Archmage, level 4, Ring of Corin, Jewel of Dusk, Dispel Scroll, Seer
Noble on elven steed, ithilmar barding, dragon armour, great weapon, Helm of Fortune, Guardian Phoenix
20 Spearelves, full command, Lion Standard
10 Archers
5 Silver Helms
5 Silver Helms
5 Dragon Princes, full command, Banner of Arcane Protection
5 Ellyrion Reavers
11 Swordmasters, Bladelord, Blessed Tome
1 Tiranoc Chariot
2 RBTs
2 Eagles
Some things I noticed from the games were that nobody was directing any spell against my Dragon Princes because they were either too far from the enemy Wizards or there were other juicy targets (in fairness my second opponent didn't run any magic).
On the other side the Swordmasters are a desirable target for enemy magic so if I include extra magic defense in a unit it should be on them.
Besides, the Blessed Tome was sort of helpful but not that amazing and 6 inches is pretty short range which forces the SM to be close to the Spears most of the time.
Finally, having one Noble is nice because it allows for more troops but I missed having some extra combat power in the centre, perhaps I am biased because my Chariot always rolled low hits.
So I decided to swap around some stuff and make this one
Archmage, level 4, Ring of Corin, Jewel of Dusk, Dispel Scroll, Seer
Noble on elven steed, ithilmar barding, great weapon, Armour of Protection
Noble on foot, Helm of Fortune, Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield
19 Spearelves, full command, Lion Standard
10 Archers
5 Silver Helms
5 Silver Helms
5 Dragon Princes, full command, War Banner
5 Ellyrion Reavers
15 Swordmasters, Standard Bearer, Banner of Ellyrion, Bladelord, Amulet of the Purifying Flame
2 RBTs
1 Eagle
The Spearelves are joined by a shiny new Noble on foot with S5 due to the magical sword and a 2+ re-rollable armor save.
Since the Noble on foot needs the Helm of Fortune to get his protection, I decide to give the mounted Noble the Armour of Protection for 40p (light armour which provides a 4+ ward save) and get rid of the Guardian Phoenix.
This removes the need for the Blessed Tome so I gave the Bladelord the Amulet for 15p (spells targeting the unit suffer from a -3 to the cast value).
The Dragon Princes don't need the Banner of Arcane Protection (40p) so I give them the War Banner to help them win combats harder.
The price for the Noble is paid by removing the Chariot and the savings from reorganizing the magical objects.
I could have stopped here but I was thinking on the wonderful Banner of Ellyrion which allows a unit to ignore difficult terrain for movement for 15p, and I think it can be pretty neat for the Swordmasters since it allows you to seek cover but move freely (terrain in 6ed limits movement a lot since you move at half your value) and appear from unexpected places.
As a last thought I decided to remove one Eagle to get an extra rank of SMs, making the unit 15 models strong.
The new list has the same core (4 small cavalry units, block of Spears and shooting) but the support for the Spears is stronger due to the Noble (Leadership and S5 attacks) and the bigger Swordmaster unit which is more flexible due to ignoring difficult terrain.
The shooting and magic are the same as before, with the magic defense slightly better placed (although I still carry only 4 DD and one Scroll, forcing me to depend on High Magic against some armies).
As a disadvantage I have less redirectors (only 1 Eagle and the Reavers) and no Chariot, which can be used as a tool to support infantry or cavalry due to the long charge range. This means that sometimes I may need to use the Helms as redirectors.
Also the mounted Noble is less protected due to giving the Helm of Fortune to the Noble on foot, but hopefully a 4+ Ward Save compensates for the low AS (only 4+ now). I noticed that most opponents don't direct attacks to the mounted Noble because they assume he has a lot of magical protection so it is only relevant for challenges.
Edit
I was thinking that although the Banner of Ellyrion on the SM might increase their flexibility, in the end they are still slow, and probably the Dragon Princes (whose barding does not decrease their M) can use it more effectively to maneuver and get advantageous charges,
At the same time, the SM are more vulnerable to the autobreak from Fear+Outnumber than the Spearelves.
So I swapped the banners around giving Lion Standard to SM, Ellyrion to DPs and War Banner to Spears.
Now I am considering if downsizing from 15 to 12 SM (6x2 instead of 5x3) and removing the Musician on the DPs is worth to include a second Eagle.