4000 point fight for the hill featuring Hawks, Dead, Tree-huggers, and Tribesmen

[RushAss]

WARNING!  Lots of images ahead

It’s been too long dammit!  Brook, Chris, Tim, and I got together at Brook’s house for some hardcore gaming and I’m happy to bring you at least part of the action.  You see, I forgot to bring my camera so I asked Tim if he could take the pics on his phone.  The pics are of various qualities.  Some decent, some atrocious.  I did the best I could with what I had, and to his credit Tim did take an awful lot of pictures.

We first started off with a pair of one-on-one games with opponents decided by die-rolls.  My High Elves defeated Chris’ Undead on a map featuring a large forest and a Hill at 2000 points each.  The deciding factor was that the High Elves only failed 1 courage check the entire game and that failure was towards the end when it didn’t matter.  Yeah, that Oathbound card sure was awful that game I tell you!

Tim’s Orcs defeated Brook’s Lizardmen at 1500 points each on this map:



Either of those 2 should feel free to fill us in on how that dandy little thing worked out.  I know that Tim had Marauders at full health with a Healer Mage vs. a half dead Raptor Pack at the end of that one.

We then decided to do a 4000-point-per-side big game and rolled to determine the teams.  Why not?  The terrain card we wound up using was an interesting one.  Big hills in the middle of maps always make things interesting, but we also had deployment zones that went all the way to the edge of the map!  AS usual in our big games the map was widened.  We had given Chris the Hawks for his (belated) birthday, so he took them out for a test drive here.

I am quite happy to report that all games played that evening featured terrain!  We used Kevin’s 3 Kingdoms terrain card veto system.  Basically, we have 3 randomly determined cards set on the table.  Player/Team A vetoes one of the cards and them Player/Team B does the same.  The remaining card is the map we use.

Brook and Chris – help me out with this one because I am really shady on the details for your side of the battle

And as usual, correct any mistakes I’ve made here.

Set Up

Most of these where taken from where Tim sat.  He was across from me with Chris to his left.  Brook was across from Chris.  Each pair of pics seem to have been taken at the same time, so you are going to have to piece the entire thing together for each segment. 


Left side


Right side


It was critical that Tim let us know what his main terrain objective was

Chris playing Hawkshold, Tim playing Undead
From left to right:
Swordsmen backed by Light Cavalry (We don’t like wolves, no Siree!)
Heavy Infantry backed by Peasant Mob
Greatswordsmen backed by Longbowmen
Heavy Infantry backed by Peasant Mob
Militia
Militia backed by Zombies (actually backing both Militia units)
Death Knights
Zombies
Abomination
Abomination backed by…. Is that a Healer Mage you see?!?  Why yes it is!
Death Knights (We want The Elephant!  We want The Elephant!)
Zombies backed by more Zombies

Brook playing Ravenwood, Yours Truly playing Umenzi
From left to right as per the photos:
Wolf Pack with another Wolf Pack way behind it
Brownies backed by the Trampling Engines of Death… er… Centaurs
Wolfkin
Wolfkin backed by Ravenwood Archers
Wolfkin
Brownies backed by More Centaurs
Umenzi Javelineers
Umenzi Warriors backed by Possessed backed by High Priests
Worthy (We don’t need no stinkin’ backup units!)
Possessed backed by Possessed (Sandbag Brigade)
Spearmen backed by Shamans
Possessed with Warriors way behind them
Giant War Elephant (Mumakil Bringer of Death and Flatness)
+1 Command card for the Umanzi

Standing Orders:
You are going to have to forgive me here because aside from my own standing orders a lot of this is guesswork due to the photos.  It looks to me that Brook and Chris had their guys set on a standard close.  I know that Brook capped his Wolfkin at 3.5.  I know that the Ravenwood Bowmen where firing on the Greatswordsmen.  I also know that Chris’ Longbowmen where firing on the Wolfkin directly in front of the Ravenwood Bowmen.  The entire Undead line was capped at 2.5 and Tim’s Zombies to the far right where set to close on Mumakil.  I didn’t want him to get sandbagged by a stack of Zombies, so I ordered the Possessed next to Mumakil to back up with a close objective behind them and ordered Mumakil to charge the Death Knights.  The Warriors next to Mumakil where assigned to scoot around the rear of the Elephant (never a good place to be!) and engage the Zombie stack.  That may take them out of leadership range for a bit, but I wasn’t afraid of no stinking Zombies.  I set my Spearmen to hold at a point close to the halfway point between to two lines. 

Early Turns





We got the first turn, so I started hexing stuff.  By the third turn I had hexed both Death Knights, The Greatswordsmen, The Heavy Infantry, and the Light Cavalry.  I also blessed my Worthy.  I was liberally applying Faith Armor to my troops.  Tim’s Healer mages started dumping Auras on The Death Knights and Abominations.  I was able to have Mumakil turn in while the Possessed and Warriors did their little dance to get into the correct places.  I had to change the Follow target of my Shamans to those Possessed to provide some leadership on that area of the map.  The High Priests where also switched over to follow The Worthy so I could center up the leadership in that region.

The archery went to work on the Hawk/Ravenwood front with the Greatswordsmen taking a few hits while the Longbowmen where able to force an early courage check on Wolfkin.  While the Wolfkin failed, the resulting disruption didn’t hurt too much because of the Wolfkin’s special reform ability and thusly Brook was able to maintain his line for the cost of a single command action.  Neat!  There was 1 engagement in this phase where a Wolf Pack ran off from the Light Cavalry.

Mid Turns


Both images taken after movement on the Undead/Hawk turn


Both images taken after movement on the Undead/Hawk turn

On the Umenzi/Undead front we’ve got some real fighting going on! I had direct Controlled Mumakil for 1 turn to have it stop short of the Death Knights.  If I would have let him charge on in there he would have been pinched by Zombies and that wouldn’t have been much fun.  No Sir.  Let me take a moment to point out that Tim had been letting me know just how much the Death Knights where going to mess Mumakil up and he was rather confused by my lack of worry.  Then they charged into the elephant and this conversation occurred:

Me – Roll your terror check
Tim – WHAT?!? Why am I supposed to do that?  My guys are awesomer than your guy and they even cost more points!
Me – uh, no on both counts.  523 and I’m colossal.  Roll please.  At a -2 if you will.
Tim (failing the check) – oh MAN, are you kidding me?

So the Knights only did 2 or 3 damage on the charge.  Sadly, Mumakil also rolled like poop and only inflicted 2 damage.  Next attack turn Mumakil totally whiffed again and this conversation occurred:
Tim – See?  You suck!
Me – Yeah, you’re right.  Just take 1 point of damage.
Tim – What do you mean?  You missed!
Me – Uh, I’m still colossal and will always do at least 1 point per turn
Tim - …I won’t repeat what he said otherwise I may get myself kicked off of the YMG board.

Elsewhere we had standard stuff.  The other Death Knights blasted my Warriors into the yellow despite Faith Armor and a Hex, but the brave Warriors held.  The Worthy started hacking away at some Zombies and this would prove to be an important fight.  My Javelineers really put the smack down on a Hawk Militia unit and these unfortunate individuals blew their courage check.  Curiously enough, Chris had not applied Bravery to any of his troops by this point.  Chalk it up to being a Hawk rookie, I expect to see lots of little circles on his units the next time he plays Hawks!  Brook was able to get the Centaurs in the middle of the map into the action.  I don’t recall if it was due to direct control and fancy maneuvering or simply because one of the Wolf Kin blew a courage check.  The Light Cavalry got smashinated by the Centaurs on the far side.  I suspect that a Wolf Pack pinch was involved since another Wolf Pack had run off.  Note that Tim had sent a Zombie unit over to help.  (In creepy voice) Nuuuuuhhhhhh……

Endgame





I’ll start with my side of the fight again because I can actually remember that one.  My Warriors on the outside got into the fray and dispatched the first Zombie unit in the stack relatively quickly.  Mumakil was stomping on the Death Knights who where healed once and reanimated as well.  These courage checks where passed.  However, Mumakil blew his first one and off he ran!  I was fortunate that Mumakil passed the 2nd check when the return attack put him into the red.  Fortunately that occurred on the Undead turn and I was able to reform him, where the Death Knights charged them again.  Here’s the conversation that occurred here:
Tim – I am so going to whoop this guy’s ass now!
Me – Maybe.  Roll your terror check.
Tim – WHAT?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?
Me – laughter and other inaudible stuff
Tim (after failing the terror check AGAIN) – You have GOT to be kidding me!
Mumakil stood fast while the Death Knights failed their courage check when put into the red and the Knights where stamped out.  I was dying to charge Mumakil into the Healer Mages for the sheer comedy of it, but the game ended before I had the opportunity to do that.

Both Abominations where doing their job, but the Zombies to the left of them finally succumbed to the Worthy and the Worthy where able to pinch the left-most Abomination and inflict some lasting harm.  The other Death Knight unit dispatched some Warriors when they blew their courage check in the red and was immediately sandbagged by the Possessed that where backing them up.  Then the Javelineers that had run the Militia off pinched the Death Knights and they eventually fell.  There is another Militia unit running away behind the hill (lots of glare in the pic) and I’m not quite sure how that happened.  The Hawk line itself was holding reasonably well aside from the Milita, but the Centaurs and Wolf Pack on the fringe where beginning to blow stuff up and they where going to be able to get to the Longbowmen soon.  At this point our opponents graciously surrendered.  It was only a matter of time before the Centaurs rolled the Hawks and the Undead where steadily being hacked down as well.

Final Thoughts 

First and foremost, Tim learned the lesson that you should NEVER expect any cavalry unit to stand up to a colossal unit.  They just have too many hit boxes.  The Knights vs Colossal movie never ends well for the Knights.

I tried to keep an eye out for the final rushing with a 1.25” flank thing thinking that surely it would pop up in a game of this magnitude, but it never did.

In the final pic you will notice a unit of Possessed routing.  I think this is from the same turn that the 2nd unit of Death Knights mailed it in.  Possessed don’t route, they just die.  So my bad on that, but it didn’t make a difference and I never reformed them anyways.  Woops!

We did use the updated command cards for the Undead and Hawks.  Everything worked out fine.

We also used the pitch and play thing on the Wolfkin (pending approval from Chad) and again, everything seemed to work out fine on that one.  I recall Brook playing Accuracy on a Wolf Pack charging the Hawk Light Cavalry early in the game.  Unfortunately, he rolled like poo on that attack

Heroes of the Game
Undead – Nobody really stood out, but I’ll give it to the Death Knights that stood in there against Mumakil for so long.  They where able to put the elephant into the red despite facing a superior opponent and blowing both terror checks. 
Hawks – I really can’t tell you.  I hope Chris can shed some light on this.  My best guess would be the Greatswordsmen for killing Wolfkin and absorbing the wrath of the Ravenwood Archers.
Ravenwood – The Centaurs on the fringe seem to be the logical choice to me.  Brook can hopefully clear this up if I’m wrong.
Umenzi – Need I say it?  Mumakil the Bringer of Death and Flatness!  It’s been a week and we’re still prying squished horse parts from between his mighty toes!


Taken during the first game against me – Chris tries to figure out how in the World he can convince a High Elven unit to route.


Taken in the first round.  Brook and I would switch seats for the big game.  Note that my winning strategy while drinking beer is to start off with coffee.  It worked perfectly!

Bottles of beer consumed:
Tim: 12
Me: 4
Chris: 1 or 2
Brook: 0

Clearly Tim was tonight’s winner!

As we trundled out of Brooks home late that evening (or early Saturday morning if you like) the living room TV was still on and Braveheart happened to be playing.  Tim takes a look at the screen and uttered these gems of wisdom:
“Man, f*ck Robert the Bruce!”

Thank you and good night.

[Kevin]

Great report!   And I hear you about dry spells.      Makes the next game that much sweeter, though.   

The pics aren't bad, apart from the third-from-top.  More detailed commments on the battle later.


One thing, though...

However, Mumakil blew his first one and off he ran!  I was fortunate that Mumakil passed the 2nd check when the return attack put him into the red.  Fortunately that occurred on the Undead turn and I was able to reform him, where the Death Knights charged them again.  Here’s the conversation that occurred here:
Tim – I am so going to whoop this guy’s ass now!
Me – Maybe.  Roll your terror check.
Tim – WHAT?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?

I think Tim is right on this one, assuming you're using the latest rules.  You only take fear/terror checks when charged by something scary, and if Mumakil had just been rallied it would've been on Hold.

[gull2112]

Great report! The replays are always a good read. I was wondering about that second fear check, but I wasn't sure that rule was official yet. Oh well, James and I are famous for getting the rules wrong, but if you don't catch it you play it where it lays (Spacklers 3rd law  ).

[RushAss]

You know what?  I totally forgot about the terror check rule the second time around.  Tim got totally hosed there!  For some reason I keep thinking that no matter what, fearsome and terrifying things force fear checks when engaged on the front.  Sheesh.

[gornhorror]

In my first game against Tim I wanted my Raptor packs on my left to dispatch his goblin spearmen and then start sweeping across his right flank.  How ever it was not to be.  The outermost raptor pack had an initial good charge turn but Tim made his rout check at an 11.  Then there were 3 turns in a row where I didn't do a single point of damage because of defensive card play and very poor dice.  The inner raptor pack did a little better and took about 3 turns to kill it's first victim but routed on the same turn, hence delaying my plan further.  This gave Tim time to position his other units(spearmen, raiders) so they couldn't be flanked.  This also bought him time on the other side of the battle where his marauder unit was doing at least 3-4 damage per turn to anything it faced.  Unfortunately I coudn't get my tyrants to face that unit initially and his healer mage was keeping his other units alive longer than expected.  The battle was still close, but I needed my flanking raptor packs to perform much, much better to win this one. 

As far as the big game was concerned, I'm a bit fuzzy.  That being said, I'm really loving the  Centaur units.  If played correctly, they are truly devastating and worth their weight in gold.  Two things were confirmed in this game.  One is that without a doubt, Ravenwood is my favorite faction. Two is that the proposed rule that allows cards to be played on the wolf packs and the bear packs just feels right. During this game my wolf packs still didn't perform greatly but it was nice to play a card or two on them.  Didn't feel overpowered at all. 

On a side note, I have made the proxies for my Gnome faction and will be playing them the next time we play.  I still think that this faction has merit and will be a faction that people will consider playing.  Long live the Fey!!!!!!!!!

[GoIndy]

I know I sent two spearman and one Oakland Raider against the two Toronto Raptors.  One of my spearman exploded immediately, and I moved the Raiders up try and hold that side of the world.  That Raider is the dude that in essence hung around forever.  The other spearman actually did ok, making his rout check, and ended up doing enough damage to cause both to rout.

However, the key of the game was.....anything my marauders attacked....anything....Tthey absolutely hammered the living bejesus out of the opponent.  I remember thinking my die rolls were a little substandard for all the spearman, but the marauders were absolutely blowing it out the box.  My marauders were totally marauden. 

The big game....I can't remember anything, other than the collosal doing one free point all the time and me freaking out.  Oh, I remember making zombie noises all the time as well.  uuuuhhhh----uhhhhh

[gull2112]

However, the key of the game was.....anything my marauders attacked....anything....Tthey absolutely hammered the living bejesus out of the opponent.  I remember thinking my die rolls were a little substandard for all the spearman, but the marauders were absolutely blowing it out the box.  My marauders were totally marauden. 

There is something magic about marauders, I always take me three.

[gornhorror]

Hey Gull, don't forget about my 4 Hawk Militia with bravery that held off 3 of your Maurauders in the tournament.  Not every day that 460 points holds off 1100.

[gull2112]

That happened? Seriously, I don't remember that. I'll have to go over the reports. I'm not doubting you, I just can't remember such an epic stand. You must have been bleeding blue cards.

Okay, I just went and checked, there it was, round three on Saturday. I really don't remember that game. I'm assuming you kicked my candy-ass. I believe I beat Marcus in round two and he owned me on our sunday rematch. I did win only once saturday, so I must have lost v. you. You obviously were playing a good game, and were then pushed over the top by your heroic militia. 

[gornhorror]

It was an archery build.  I had 3 heavy infantry guarding one long bowmen and two bowmen.  One flank was protected by 4 militia. The game had hidden deployment and I was sad to see that you put your 3 marauders on the same side as my militia.  My first 4 command actions was to put bravery on all of them.  It was a good move because they needed it bad.  It was my most fun game of the tourney. 

[RushAss]

After this game I'm thinking of tossing around a house rule for limiting the range of Umenzi Hexes to 21" from their front center point or something like that for large games only.  I was hexing enemy units on the far side of the map and I remember that everybody was uneasy about it.  Even I think it seems a bit wacky.  Just for ha-has here's a argument for this as well as an argument against.

For limiting Umenzi hex spells to a range of 21- It seems strange that a unit can hex another unit waaaaaaay over yonder when there are so many other targets available.  Just look at the image below to see what I mean.  Note that 21 inches is just an arbitrary number.  24 or even 28 inches could also be good.



For not limiting the range of Umenzi hex spells - The spell casters are summoning the will of the gods to curse their enemies and the will of the gods knows no maximum range.  This may sound silly at first, but if you really think about it within the context of the faction's flavor it makes sense.

This may blossom over into another thread, I was just wondering what people's initial reaction to this would be since the game in question is right there at the top of the page.

[gull2112]

Wait, you can label and arrow your photos??!!! WTF, everybody should do this as it would be way cooler.

How did you do that?

As for the range question, I totally see your point, but it happens rarely, and people would be arguing for exceptions for this unit or that, also spell range is difficult to draw historical references to. I think it would best be left to home rule. The unlimited range assumes that people are playing on a standard size battlefield, so I would measure the diagonal across a 30 x 36 map board and call that maximum range. This is almost 47" if my math is correct, so I would say for  gameboards large than 30x36 maximum range is 48". I suspect that even the situation shown in the foto may have been within 48".

[GoIndy]

Well, I've said the hex/bless shouldn't last over the turn break.  How much attention are these gods actually playing to these clowns anyway?

And heck...if this is a god thing, than like 90% of these calls for bless/hex/whatever shouldn't even be granted.  The Umenzi god would be like, "Look dude, I'm watching the Colts play the Patriots, fight 'em yourself".

Heck...the 21 inch is way too lenient anyway.  Healer mages got to be within 7.5.  7.5 sounds like a solid range for the umenzi dudes to me.

[RushAss]

Wait, you can label and arrow your photos??!!! WTF, everybody should do this as it would be way cooler.

How did you do that?

Fireshot, which is an extension for Firefox.  It's basically a screenshot editing tool that you can use to add text to images, crop them, etc...

[gull2112]

Well, I've said the hex/bless shouldn't last over the turn break.  How much attention are these gods actually playing to these clowns anyway?

And heck...if this is a god thing, than like 90% of these calls for bless/hex/whatever shouldn't even be granted.  The Umenzi god would be like, "Look dude, I'm watching the Colts play the Patriots, fight 'em yourself".

Heck...the 21 inch is way too lenient anyway.  Healer mages got to be within 7.5.  7.5 sounds like a solid range for the umenzi dudes to me.

Well now, if you're going to do that then those clowns will be even cheaper and they are practically BOGO as it is.