January 2012
Jaime and I went with a "vanilla" 2000 game, Wuxing (me) vs. Orcs (Jaime).
Set up and Strategy:
Note: we each had 8 units, but I had fewer points (1989 to 2000), so I got to place each of my units after Jaime had placed one.
Orcs, left to right:
Goblin Wolf Riders behind Orc Swordsmen, Orc Swordsmen, Orc Axemen, Orc Crossbowmen, Orc Axemen, Orc Swordsmen, Orc Swordsmen. A solid army with 3 power-6 units in the center.
Wuxing, left to right
Guardians behind Salvaged Warriors, Swordsmen, Swordsmen, Swordsmen, Jade Nobles, Swordsmen, Guardians.
An all-construct army with 3 "heavies."
My original plan was to put both Guardians on one flank, but once the Wolf Riders came down I had to alter my plans less the Wolf Riders quickly destroy my Salvaged Warriors and roll my line.
On the left, my line has bent back. This was his stronger flank, though not by too much. I judged that the Terra Cotta units are very command-action hungry--needing them to fix breakdowns in addition to fighting, so my army would function better if I could engage with part of it rather than all at once.
Notice his Orc Swordsmen & Wolf Riders on the far left have switched places. This left his Orc Swordsmen considerably behind his line, and burned up 2-3 command actions (between lashes and direct controls).
A really nasty effect of my sloped-back line: Jaime has to spend a command action to hold his Orc Axemen back from my (weaker) Terra Cotta Swordsmen! If he'd let the Orc Axemen final rush they'd have been pinched on my turn. Any time your opponent has to waste a command action to delay a match up which (if straight up) he'd win is a happy game for you!
On the right, battle is joined!
Orc Crossbowmen v.s. Terra Cotta Swordsmen was the scary fight. I played "Beyond Defeat" (which is basically the opposite of Orc Frenzy) to prevent much from happening.
Jade Nobles are slightly advantaged vs. Orc Axemen--I hoped for a quick breakthrough here, as was very liberal with command cards (cards Jaime couldn't afford to match).
Terra Cotta Swordsmen as somewhat disadvantaged vs. Orc Swordsmen, but a quick kill is unlikely, and the orcs are likely to go into the yellow before the fight is over and if they rout they're in trouble.
Terra Cotta Guardians have not quite engaged Orc Swordsmen, but when they do the Orc Swordsmen will likely lose, tough a quick kill will be tough, as my unit averages about 1.5 damage without cards. I'll be lavishing red cards on the Guardians.
Neither of us did too impressively in the first turn of combat.
On the left, Axemen have gone into combat. I play blue cards on my unit facing them, but they're still hurting. Some incredible dice rolling by me means the Axemen take almost as much damage! I repair the Breakdown in the hope that I can put them in the yellow (Removing an attack die will help my unit live longer, and if I'm really lucky they'll rout.)
Swordsmen, also getting blue cards, are slowly losing to the Crossbowmen.
The three Orc units on the right have to make rout checks, and, predicitably, one of them fails. The Guardians were broken down that turn, so only had 2 dice to do the free attack, so the orcs survive.
More routs! On the left, I get lucky and the Axemen rout when they go into the yellow; so much for a quick kill.
Swordsmen continue to stand firm vs. the Crossbowmen.
Jade Nobles own their Axemen opponents, knocking them down to 1 red box and killing them when they run.
Guardians pinch the Orc Swordsmen, who rout and disintegrate. They'll be hit in the flank next turn; I'm not too worried.
On the far left, my Guardians have plowed into his Swordsmen, while my Salvaged have slid forward to protect their flank from the Wolf Riders.
Orc turn! Not much happens here. Left to right....
On the far left, Swordsmen go into the yellow, but hold.
I have a nice blue card which keep the Wolf Riders charge damage down to 3; I do one back (about average). Orc Swordsmen on their right engage my Terra Cotta Swordsmen, and not much happens.
Crossbowmen fail to put a dent in my Terra Cotta Swordsmen.
On the far right, Orc Swordsmen engage my Guardians in the flank. My unit has a 3 toughness and a lot more hit points--and another unit coming in to help, so I'm not too worried.
Final turn. Left to right:
Guardians put the Orc Swordsmen almost into the red.
Wolf Riders fail to do much damage.
I repair the Breakdown of my Swordsmen who are in the red, but are getting a pinch on the Orc Swordsmen. The pinched Swordsmen take one last swing, but go into the red, rout, and disintegrate.
Jade Nobles also get their Breakdown repaired, and pinch the Orc Crossbowmen out of existence.
Before my Swordsmen can arrive to help, a red card and some nice dice help my Guardians put the Orc Swordsmen into the red; the Orcs rout and die.
At this point, Jaime threw in the towel.
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Conclusions
Tactically, this was a blowout victory. On the other hand, I'm confident that (barring terrible morale dice) I'd have won this game with another faction. The bent-back line is NASTY, insofar as the opponent has to spend command actions to hold his units back. Also, he wasted a few more command actions on direct controls, new orders, etc, especially on the left flank. In other words, if it looked like my units were doing better than their stats indicate, that's because Jaime was outcarded almost 2-to-1.
Another aspect of bad luck for Jaime, in addition to lame morale dice, was that he drew a total of one faction-card all game (an "I Kill You Meself" card later in the game, which prevented a rout.) Most of those Orc cards are very offensive; a Frenzy in particularly could have really helped him vs. one of my outclassed or broken down units, but it was not to be.
The Orc army was an interesting match. Orcs don't put out much damage for their cost, as they're rather "Tanky." Which meant that neither side was likely to get a quick breakthrough. (Unless the orcs rout when they go into the yellow...which is likely to happen somewhere).
I repaired Breakdowns in the yellow about 3/4 of the time, and breakdowns in the red about 1/3 of the time, which is about right.
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I'm increasingly nervous that the Terra Cotta units are a bit underpriced, but want to get in another game or two (and/or see some reports from other folks) before changing anything. The Wuxing Command cards seemed to work well. One thing about them is that Wuxing is the most defensive-oriented command card set, with 6 blue cards and 4 red (though 2 of the blue cards double as green). Most armies have 4 blue cards; some has 2 or even (like orcs) 0. This was a deliberate choice of mine--with the generally poor 1/3 defense the Terra Cotta units need a way to stay alive, but it does lead to "grindy" combat.
Jaime commented that the current "Feign Inferiority" Card is "Very good. Not broken, but very good." I agree. Of course, most factions have a very good card or two, and it is worth keeping an eye on. Ditto "Beyond Defeat."
That's it for now.
