We had 5 folks playing Battleground last Saturday, so we decided on having 2 players play a 1-on-1 game and 3 players playing a 2-on-1 big game. Die rolls where made and it was determined that Tim and Chris would play each other while Brook and I would team up to take on Rob. 4000 points per side, so Rob got 4000 while Brook and I got 2000 each. Deployment zones where widened to allow for 10 units in width with the usual additional 5 inches on the outside. We where trying an experimental set of ranged attack rules that Brook proposed and it went like this:
Long Range (-1) -0/-0
Extreme Range (-1) -1/-1
Move and shoot (-1) -0/-0
No bonus for firing at Large units
I think we kept the “M” move and shoot modifier for move and shoot at 2.5” MC
Even though this was the first of 2 big games I played in that night, I am having a tougher time remembering the details of this one than of the second one which is odd because it’s usually the other way around. My apologies if I miss a few things.
Set Up
Forces of Virtue! High Elves played by RobTop to Bottom:
High Elven Spearmen backed by Chariots
Elder Blade Swordsmen backed by Scorpions
Swordsmen
Cygnets backed by Elder Blade Swordsmen
Cygnets backed by more Cygnets
Swordsmen
Elder Blade Swordsmen
High Elven Spearmen backed by Scorpions
High Elven Chariots
What do we have here? Another symmetrical deployment? Well it sure looked pretty. It turned out to be more effective than I thought it would be.
Of 14 total units, 12 where Core!
Forces of Evil! Undead played by Brook, Lizardmen played by yours trulyGhoul Pack backed by Death Knights
Ghoul Pack backed by another Ghoul Pack
Zombies backed by Death Knights
Zombie Trolls backed by Skeleton Archers
Zombies backed by Swarmlings
Trog Warriors
Trog Warriors backed by Swarmlings (really backing both Trog Warriors)
Tyrants
Trog Spearmen
Ancients backed by Raptor Pack
I wanted to give Rob something big to shoot at since where trying out these new ranged rules. Since T-Rexes and Triceratops Herds could easily be jimmied with, I decided to go with Ancients even though I was never wild about that unit. I remember that Brook and I had an awkward time deploying our units and he wound up placing a Death Knight behind some Zombies in the middle of the line which would make it very difficult to get them into play quickly.
Early Turns
Standing orders – Rob had one of his Scorpions fire on the Zombie Trolls and the other one targeting my Ancients. Brook had his BowSkelis shoot at some Cygnets. I had my Ancients on a close objective close to the edge of the map to keep them away from those mean Spearmen and you can see a tiny part of the blue bead that was cut off in the pic. I also wanted to draw the Chariots out with the maneuver, which would allow my Raptor Pack to flank pinch the Spearmen lined up across from my Trog Spearmen.
The lines move towards each other and the Scorpions start kicking after a turn was spent wheeling them forward. Rob played a Might or something on his first shot at the Ancients and actually inflicted 3 damage! I was fortunate to draw a regeneration card early and had to use it. Rob put Precision on a few units and I marked Fury on both Trog Warriors, The Raptors, and the Ancients over 2 turns.
The lines clash and stuff happens. Starting at the top – Ghoul Packs route early as expected and one of them dies outright in a vicious Spearmen/Elder Blade Swordsmen pinch. Death Knights are milling around looking for something to do. Zombie Trolls are trying to scare away Cygnets and failing. Zombies backed by Swarmlings are put into an awkward position by the adjacent engagements. Trog units engage their enemies and don’t do a whole lot of damage which isn’t terribly surprising, but my Tyrants are getting housed by Elder Blade Swordsmen. Rob decided to have the Chariots ram the Raptor Pack in hopes of a quick breakthrough, which didn’t happen. The Ancients where about to have some fun…
Mid Turns
Here’s where my memory fails me a bit. I really don’t know many of the details of what went occurred on the Undead front. I do know that the Death Knights on the fringe housed the Chariots and that Brook was finally able to get the other DK unit into play as some Zombies and another Ghoul Pack where eliminated to clear up space. I vaguely remember Rob taking direct control of his Spearmen up top and Sprinting them backwards to protect his Scorpions from Death Knights. The Cygnets facing the Zombie Trolls fell when the Zombies (regular version) pinched them, so Elder Blade Swordsmen stepped in to fill the gap and start hacking away at the big, dead stinkies.
My Trogs where getting housed by Cygnets, the other Trogs where holding on vs. Swordsmen, and my Tryants got torched by Elder Blade Swordsmen (they are in the dead pile in the pic). My Ancients had pinched the Chariots to blow them up, then I direct controlled them to have them head towards the relatively unprotected Scorpions in the rear. My Trog Spearmen routed from the Elven Spearmen, then my Raptor Pack flanked the Spearmen and where run off after a terrible attack round.
Endgame 
Things are falling apart here for us at this point. From the top – Death Knights have charged the Spearmen and both units are taking a hurting. I believe the other Death Knights where flanked and killed by the Elder Blades that had previously been harvesting Ghouls like Charlie Sheen harvests top-shelf liquor. The Zombie Trolls have fallen and the Undead line is a scattered mess. Things where not any better for the Lizardmen as my own Trog Warriors are now dust with my only consolation being that one of the Cygnets routed from Swarmlings that had pushed in to replace one of them. I finally got the pinch on the Spearmen, but both pinching units where in horrible shape and the Elves didn’t run. My Ancients rammed the Cygnets in front of the Scorpions and both units started hacking away at each other. The Scorpions where no longer doing much damage to the Ancients because I was playing a ton of defensive cards on them.
And here our sad tale draws to an end. Or perhaps it’s a happy tale if you are on the ever-sickening side of virtue and good. Bah I say! The Death Knights and Spearmen had killed each other off, leaving the Scorpions up top alone. The Undead are reduced to 3 units, the only undamaged one being the Skeleton Bowmen. I had Swarmlings winning a fight against Cygnets that had already been softened up by Trogs, but that was small consolation. The Spearmen killed the Raptor Pack first, then the Trog Spearmen on the following turn and only had 4 total damage to show for it. The Ancients where bogged down with the Cygnets and while they would finish them off soon, the big guys where nearly dead themselves and they where sitting right in front of those Scorpions.
Final Thoughts In the end, Rob had a solid victory which I didn’t totally expect based upon his initial deployment. Having his backline troops not pressed directly into the rear of his front line units allowed them more versatility in reaching trouble spots on his line. Not that I recall there being too many “trouble” spots during this game. I can’t speak for Brook’s side of the fight much, but man where those ice blue dice of Rob’s hot on me! My line guys also performed pretty weakly over all.
Thoughts on the ranged rules modificationsI for one didn’t really notice much of a shift in actual damage from expected damage from the ranged fire units. All 3 ranged units in this game still seemed averagely productive and the only reason the Scorpions didn’t maul my Ancients further was because I played a bunch of blue cards on them as well as a regeneration. The new rule set works fine, but I’m unsure if it’s an improvement over what we’ve already got.
Heroes of the GameUndead – The Death Knights on the far left (top) that took out HE Chariots rather easily and then took HE Spearmen along with them to the netherworld.
Lizardmen – The Ancients for getting the pinch on Chariots and drawing fire from Scorpions all game long. Nothing really heroic to be truthful, but they where the “best” performing unit I had all game.
High Elves – Quite a lot of these guys did well, but I’d give it to the Spearmen on the HE left (bottom) that single handedly routed my Trog Spearmen, killed those Spearmen, and finished off the Raptor Pack while enduring a pinch and still only taking 4 damage the entire game. Those guys where like a wall and my units kept bouncing off of them!
I hope to have game #2 up later this week. Stay tuned!
