Okey Dokey here's a report from my first battle with this list! Against my old enemy Jimmy with his Orcs & Goblins forces.
Nicene's Highborn Elf army arrayed for battle.
I fielded the list above.
He fielded:
Orc Warlord on Wyvern (this is a Mounstrous Beast now): T5, W4, 1+/4++, not sure what else ~300 points?
Great Green Idol (scary monster): BSB, icon of magic item nullification, T6, 2+/5++ ~400 points?
Level 4 Orc Big Shaman, 4++, extra spell ~250 points?
20 orcs with crossbows ~200 points
20 orcs with crossbows ~200 points
20 orcs with crossbows ~200 points
20 Iron Orcs, ~300 points
10 feral orc mounted 'eadbashers, 4+ armor ~250 points?
5 spider ridin' goblins, ~75 points
3 cave trolls, 4+/regen ~150 points
Git Launcher Artillery, ~100 points
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O&G, left to right: 20 xbows, 3 trolls, 20 iron orcs with L4, 20 xbows, general on wyvern, Idol, 20 xbows in building, 10 feral orcs on boars, Git Launcher in trees, 5 spider dudes
Elves left to right: 5 reavers, frost phoenix, lion chariot, 5 reavers, 5 reavers, 14 swords, 14 swords, 5 knights, 15 lancers with BSB, general on yellow sky sloop, purple sky sloop, 12 swords, mage on young dragon
Deployment and Strategy:
Last time we'd played, I got hurt pretty bad by his crossbows, so this time I decided to go for a weighted flank attack. I'd stay out of range of his shooting on my left, break through his right side, remove his crossbows from the building, and force his units to wheel to face me (with poor lanes of fire).
I thus put most of my attacking force on the right flank, and redeployed the left flank out of range of his shooting on turn 1. I think this was a poor plan. I feel that my army would have fared better with more open lanes of attack and movement; as we shall see, my swordmasters (the meat of the army) failed to really accomplish much due to the constrained area. I feel that I'd have been better served to aggressively attack the left flank, shutting down the crossbows with my flying monsters and using the swords to cover their flank. Lancers and Knights would then be available for countercharges against his monster and wyvern.
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O&G 1:
Jimmy deployed the last few of his pieces simultaneously, guaranteeing his O&G the first turn. He decided not to move any of his pieces, and instead moved straight into the magic phase.
Magic (6v4): The Big Stomp was dispelled, thanks to Book of Meladys. Bashing Fists on his general failed.
Shooting: Casualties were relatively light! The Git Launcher removed one unit of reavers, but no panics were triggered. Xbows in the building pinged off 2-3 swordmasters. Western xbows took 3 wounds off my lion chariot.
Combat (none)
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advance from elves is (too?) cautious
Elves 1:
I shifted some more to the east flank, falling back with the lion chariot in order to preserve points. The exception was the phoenix, who flapped into the trees to prepare for a combination/countercharge in the next turn. Lancers prepared to charge the building, though I was considering sending the BSB in solo to wreak some havoc. With the new building rules, he had a pretty sure shot at driving the inhabitants out. However, there was a risk he could actually be killed in that combat (with only a 3+ armor save dismounted), so I later decided to have his lancers escort him.
Mage on dragon moved to offer various charge threats, while remaining units shuffled, unsure how exactly to advance. Knights moved to provide cover to the swordmasters.
Magic (6v4): Flaming Swords went through onto my general on yellow sky sloop. Burning Ramparts also landed (thanks to the Book) on the xbows in the building! A few burned up (benefiting from the Flammable rule in this instance). Lore attribute also pinged off two or three boar riders.
Shooting: shooting went fairly well, as thanks to the flaming swords on my general, he plus his crew were able to kill a few more boar riders, leaving only four riders remaining.
Combat (none)
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O&G 2:
Western xbows, with nothing to shoot, attempted a swift reform but failed. Trolls and iron orcs marched. Other xbows held their ground, while spider dudes circled my dragon and boar riders sounded the retreat. Wyvern and Monster still held the back line, waiting for a chance to exploit any openings.
Magic (8v5): Zap went past my defenses and scored a staggering 7w on my phoenix. After 3 saves, he was left on 1w. Big Stomp then killed 13 swordmasters (we are still using the foot template, but I may have to renegotiate this). Remaining swordmaster fled as he was now outside reroll range, but no other panic tests were triggered.
Shooting: Central xbows managed 1w on the phoenix, just enough to finish it off. xbows in building picked off the fleeing swordmaster, again triggering no panic (but a couple nines were rolled; scary!). Git Launcher once again proved its worth by scoring a OHKO on my purple sky sloop.
Combat (none)
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more advances. But still too tentative?
Elves 2:
Dragon failed a charge on the Git Launcher from 15 inches away. Lancers reached the building and lined up so that they'd be able to charge central xbows after the 1" nudge back (I think we played that right?).
I'd been planning to use the purple sky sloop to shoot the spider dudes, but it was a pile of smoldering wreckage at this point. Eastern swords swung back to the center. Lion chariot swung east behind the hill, while a unit of reavers moved to counter the spider dudes. General confidently landed in the water hazard, benefiting from his ability to ignore dangerous terrain.
Magic (3v3): Smouldering Ember was miscasted onto my Lancers, with absolutely no ill effects (rolled a 4 on the chart, but failed to wound). Love the new miscast table; much more fair.
Shooting: scored another wound or so onto the mounted 'eadbashers, reducing the unit to 2 orcs. Eastern reavers' arrows all bounced off of tree trunks as they were unable to hit any of the goblin raiders.
Combat: lost a single lancer in the building, but the unit fled and lost most of its remaining models to the Burning Ramparts effect.
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Waaagh!
O&G 3:
Warlord declared a WAAAAAGH! which is a REALLY good special ability now. I really wish Elves had a power like this! All his friendly units gain Devastating Charge as well as Swiftstride.
So his trolls used swiftstride to get into my Knights (rolled the 10 he needed) and his general plus Idol charged into my lancers. Thankfully I had managed the defensive buff on them the turn before! The remaining xbows failed to rally and, still burning, fled further.
The two remaining mounted 'eadbashers continued their tactical withdrawal, while the remaining Orcish units redressed their lines.
Magic (6v5): Bashing Fists onto the general was once again dispelled, thanks to the Book. 5++ went up onto general.
Shooting was relatively uneventful as a Reaver or two fell from their saddles and the Git Launcher misfired, suffering a wound.
Combat: The trolls scored two wounds by puking (one was saved via 6+ ward), and my knights thankfully held on a 6 rerollable. The wyvern accepted my champion's challenge and managed 6 wounds on the poor fellow, while the Idol managed only one wound on my BSB. I failed to penetrate his thick armor saves, with my Giant Sword being nullified by his magical banner, and lost massively but held on steadfast.
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Elves 3:
Eastern swordmasters rushed to the aid of the beleaguered knights. Dragon finally managed to find his way through the trees to the Git Launcher, and reavers charged the goblins in the flank. They elected not to flee as doing do would have put them off the board (the playing surface in the photos is 8x4, but we only use 6x4 for the game).
The wounded lion chariot edged back to offer some kind of charging threat, while my general hopped over to prepare for a countercharge and do a little shooting. Central swordmasters repositioned themselves.
Magic (7v5): Burning ramparts went up on the xbow orcs. This would be extra effective as they were standing in a field! several died immediately, as did a single boar rider from the attribute. Smouldering Ember was dispelled.
Shooting: nothing here
Combat: The trolls broke (though not before puking on another Knight), and the knights pursued them but came up short. The Swordmasters reformed. 3 more Lancers died as well, but my BSB stayed alive. The Idol has WS 2 so he was having difficulty hitting now that his Hatred had worn off, and the general was only S5 after the first round as well. Still I failed to deal any wounds in return, but I held on steadfast.
Dragon defeated the Git Launcher and overran, trying to get in a better position. Reavers defeated the spiders but could not catch the last one.
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O&G 4:
Spider failed to rally and ran some more. Last Xbow Orc fled from the table. Trolls rallied.
Magic (6v6): Bashin' Fists was dispelled. Zap did 2w to the western swordmasters.
Shooting: not much
Combat: 5 more Lancers died, and I was no longer steadfast but held on a 5 rerollable! We had to count several times to be sure. Still no wounds in return.
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finally, countercharges
Elves 4:
General on yellow sky sloop charged wyvern from the front. Knights charged wyvern from the side (looking at the picture, how exactly were they able to squeeze past the trolls? May have made a mistake there). Swordmasters charged trolls once again. Dragon flew into position behind central xbows to look for a charge in turn 5. Reavers elected to remain stationary and fire at the last spider, rather than charge it through the river.
Western reavers moved to block the iron orcs, while western swords backed them up.
Magic (10v5): flaming swords from the dragon was dispelled. Landed Ember on the lancers (killing the last boar rider with the attribute). Finally, my BSB casted the boosted Flaming Swords, buffing the lancers, BSB, general, knights, and swordmasters!
Shooting: reavers couldn't kill the spiders. Western reavers plinked a wound off the xbows, and dragon breathed fire, killing 5 more. Might have been better to save this ability, but I decided it would be more fun to use it now in case we didn't finish the game. Unfortunately, I think the new version of fire breath isn't as cool as the template version, but that's okay.
Combat: Swordmasters cleaved through the trolls, hitting on 2+ and wounding on 2+, with only a 6+ save available. I believe I did 10 wounds with 15 attacks. They elected to overrun, a very questionable plan. I thought maybe I would be in the flank of his orcs after doing so, but I wasn't.
Then Jimmy revealed the Dragonhunter Helm on his general (actually he'd told me this earlier, but I forgot about it). So he had a 2+ ward against all of my attacks! Still, with my knights and general hitting on 3+ and wounding on 2+, I was able to sneak two wounds past his ward save. Managed another wound onto the Idol, and taking only 2 wounds on my general in return, I won by 5 and the Idol broke, fleeing through the xbows (who are cold-blooded when in horde formation).
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things have turned around
O&G 5
Iron orcs with Big Shaman charged swordmasters. I forgot that they could flee from charges; that would have been the correct move here. Actually, we weren't really sure how to resolve a charge like this, since technically the orcs were in my flank. Perhaps my swordmasters should have rotated backward to accept the charge in the side? We decided to simply have them charge the swords' front instead, with the units only touching corner-to-corner.
The burning xbows very bravely attempted a combat reform to shoot at the dragon. They failed the reform, and also lost another 6 orcs to the flames! The Idol rallied. Spider continued to flee.
Magic (8v6): Reroll failed hits went onto the general. Fists was dispelled. 5++ ward on the orcs was dispelled.
Shooting (none)
Combat: orcs broke the swords and ran them down, pursuing into the reavers.
His general couldn't KO my general and lost combat, being subsequently run down by all three of my units.
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Elf 5:
My opponent wanted to concede, but he agreed to let me charge and fight out the dragon vs. xbow battle. Thus we skipped all other charges and magic.
Combat: Between my attacks, grinding attack, and thunderstomp, I scored 6 wounds, just enough to break steadfast (monsters now count as having 1 full rank).
Result: bloody victory!
I lost:
Swords
Swords
Reavers
Sky Sloop
Phoenix
=739
He lost:
Boar riders
wyvern rider
xbows
xbows
trolls
~1,100
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Analysis:
Gameplay:
Well, as I said before, my usage of the swordmasters was very poor here. My plan against shooting should be target saturation, not cagey avoidance. I can lead with armored elements, or screen with reavers, but in general speed and numbers should be my weapons against superior ranged damage lists.
Also, I really fixated on the crossbows in the building, and much of my strategy was devoted to breaking them out of there, when I should have been aiming at his relatively thin line to the west. My monsters could have gotten across the board quickly, hopefully, and knocked out his shooting by turn 2 while the swordmasters followed up to defend against the melee counterattack. A couple other mistakes I pointed out earlier, but I think in general it was my overall strategy that was poor in this game.
I got lucky that my lancers held long enough for help to arrive, and winning that combat turned the game around. I was pretty sure I had lost right up until I rolled that "5" on the break test! Also I'm pretty sure I must have cheated to move my Knights through the trolls like that. Then again, we realized later that the anti-magic banner on the Idol was illegal, so my BSB should have been S7 that whole time, not S4. I'm sure we made other rules errors as well (hazards of learning a new game).
List:
I'm pretty happy with how the list looked and I want to give it another shot without changing much. One thing we agreed is that we'll be using scenarios from now on, so I've added standards to many of my units for next time. I really wish I'd had an eagle this game. I've always loved swordmasters (and they're now better than ever) and I want this style to work, but I need to learn how to use them properly.
Game:
This game is a lot better than WFB 8th edition. Very nice, thoughtful, and fun changes from the developers. Love it. Obviously they are standing on the shoulders of giants, but their fresh look at the game has really brought a lot of life into it.
Please write any comments or criticism! Thanks as always for reading; these are a lot of work to write up.