Re: Sturens Painting Log (updated July ‘21 – the 7 Year Update)
Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2021 1:40 pm
A brief battle report from my 2000 points against a fun balanced Dwarf list. In the end I changed out the list above, dropped 10 Phoenix Guard and some Swordmasters to squeeze in a basic Archmage with a bound spell and the +1 power dice Jewel of Dusk. Made the list really magic heavy and troop light, but against Dwarfs it didn't feel overwhelming.
He was fielding three fighting units: one of about 20 Slayers with a hero Slayer, one of 20 Hammerers with a fighting King, and one of 20 Warriors with a Runesmith. He had two small units of dwarves with guns, a Cannon, a Flamecannon, and a Gyrocopter. Not overly shooty, and some really great old school dwarves. And everything painted to put me to shame!
I deployed in cover, with my Dragon Princes on the right flank lined up against his Flame cannon and Gyrocopter, Dragon behind a hill in the center and my other infantry on the left. Shortly after I explained my +D6 combat resolution, he plonked down his unbreakable Slayers to meet the Dragon Princes.
I don't have as many photos to do a full battle report, but the summary is that my Dragon Princes charged and gradually hacked their way through all the Slayers - including the champion surviving and ultimately killing his character in a duel. I think he misplayed by using extra hand weapons to try three S4 attacks rather than two huge great weapon S6 swings. Even a unit of Handgunners making it into the flank couldn't save them, but unbreakable did successfully take my Dragon Princes (and the Dragon, the Mage promptly killed off the top) all game to kill. The Dragon ultimately killed about one dwarf in three combat rounds so maybe that was a mistake!
A small subplot involved the Gyrocopter swooping up my side of the board to burn the Archers and hopefully cause a panic test. Luckily between actually putting a wound on with the Archers, and my Bolt Thrower, I knocked it out the sky before it could roast more than a couple of Archers. His Flamecannon also killed a couple of archers before misfiring and destroying itself. His actual Cannon, despite getting a couple of clean shots at the Dragon, mostly got stuck in the mud, and between that and my casting a spell to disable the cannon, it only ended up killing a couple of Spearelves later in the game, so not as bad as it could have been!
Over on my left flank, the Swordmasters took a battering from gunfire and panicked, leaving the spears exposed against the Hammerers and Warriors. Luckily my Archmage toasted 14 Warriors in two magic phases with some lore of metal on that Gromril Plate, and then he and his Phoenix Guard entourage bravely flank charged the Hammerers to let the spears fight the remaining six Warriors and Runesmith without backup.
Weight of numbers in my Spears broke the Warriors, but my Archmage and Phoenix Guard paid the price: rubber halberds and the Dwarf King overkilling the poor champion. They were promptly run down. This left his block poorly placed, with the freshly rallied Swordmasters to their front and a grumpy Sun Dragon, finally clear of Slayers, to the rear. The Swordmasters bravely charged the front, and the Sun Dragon failed his stupidity test (dead rider), and decided not to help. The champion triggered his Talisman of Loec, straight into a well armoured Dwarven King. I rolled surprisingly well and put a wound on him, but unsurprisingly his Hammerers broke and ran down the unsupported Swordmasters.
Fortunately, the Spears now had a clear chance to ransack his artillery line, and charged into the enemy Cannon. Meanwhile, the Dragon Princes, having finally wiped out the Slayers, wheeled around to assist in bringing the pain to his second unit of Handgunners. Things were looking grim for the dwarves as his Hammerers and King too far away to assist, and with turn 6 wrapping up with both those backline units destroyed, it looked to be somewhere between a minor and solid victory for the elves. Almost his whole army except the General and Hammerers destroyed, while I'd lost my General and his unit, but almost nothing else.
Fun game! I was underwhelmed by Slayers, they died in droves, but I also think he didn't capitalise on tying up my Dragon Princes well enough. I actually felt too magic heavy - especially the first two turns I was struggling to use all my power dice. The Dragon Mage was certainly fun: very lucky to dodge so many cannonballs, and although the Sun Dragon didn't actually do much damage, the mobility and casting power felt good. Of course, both of us played a bit of rule of cool when it came to the Dragon, so he didn't get too much light arm fire to snipe him off the back - and ultimately he died. I suppose in combat he is just 2 T3 5++ wounds so it doesn't take much. On the other hand, he "shouldn't" have been in a protracted combat so that's my fault, unbreakable dwarves and all that.
Anyway, great to get a proper sized game, and next time I'll have something painted to show, promise!
He was fielding three fighting units: one of about 20 Slayers with a hero Slayer, one of 20 Hammerers with a fighting King, and one of 20 Warriors with a Runesmith. He had two small units of dwarves with guns, a Cannon, a Flamecannon, and a Gyrocopter. Not overly shooty, and some really great old school dwarves. And everything painted to put me to shame!
I deployed in cover, with my Dragon Princes on the right flank lined up against his Flame cannon and Gyrocopter, Dragon behind a hill in the center and my other infantry on the left. Shortly after I explained my +D6 combat resolution, he plonked down his unbreakable Slayers to meet the Dragon Princes.
I don't have as many photos to do a full battle report, but the summary is that my Dragon Princes charged and gradually hacked their way through all the Slayers - including the champion surviving and ultimately killing his character in a duel. I think he misplayed by using extra hand weapons to try three S4 attacks rather than two huge great weapon S6 swings. Even a unit of Handgunners making it into the flank couldn't save them, but unbreakable did successfully take my Dragon Princes (and the Dragon, the Mage promptly killed off the top) all game to kill. The Dragon ultimately killed about one dwarf in three combat rounds so maybe that was a mistake!
A small subplot involved the Gyrocopter swooping up my side of the board to burn the Archers and hopefully cause a panic test. Luckily between actually putting a wound on with the Archers, and my Bolt Thrower, I knocked it out the sky before it could roast more than a couple of Archers. His Flamecannon also killed a couple of archers before misfiring and destroying itself. His actual Cannon, despite getting a couple of clean shots at the Dragon, mostly got stuck in the mud, and between that and my casting a spell to disable the cannon, it only ended up killing a couple of Spearelves later in the game, so not as bad as it could have been!
Over on my left flank, the Swordmasters took a battering from gunfire and panicked, leaving the spears exposed against the Hammerers and Warriors. Luckily my Archmage toasted 14 Warriors in two magic phases with some lore of metal on that Gromril Plate, and then he and his Phoenix Guard entourage bravely flank charged the Hammerers to let the spears fight the remaining six Warriors and Runesmith without backup.
Weight of numbers in my Spears broke the Warriors, but my Archmage and Phoenix Guard paid the price: rubber halberds and the Dwarf King overkilling the poor champion. They were promptly run down. This left his block poorly placed, with the freshly rallied Swordmasters to their front and a grumpy Sun Dragon, finally clear of Slayers, to the rear. The Swordmasters bravely charged the front, and the Sun Dragon failed his stupidity test (dead rider), and decided not to help. The champion triggered his Talisman of Loec, straight into a well armoured Dwarven King. I rolled surprisingly well and put a wound on him, but unsurprisingly his Hammerers broke and ran down the unsupported Swordmasters.
Fortunately, the Spears now had a clear chance to ransack his artillery line, and charged into the enemy Cannon. Meanwhile, the Dragon Princes, having finally wiped out the Slayers, wheeled around to assist in bringing the pain to his second unit of Handgunners. Things were looking grim for the dwarves as his Hammerers and King too far away to assist, and with turn 6 wrapping up with both those backline units destroyed, it looked to be somewhere between a minor and solid victory for the elves. Almost his whole army except the General and Hammerers destroyed, while I'd lost my General and his unit, but almost nothing else.
Fun game! I was underwhelmed by Slayers, they died in droves, but I also think he didn't capitalise on tying up my Dragon Princes well enough. I actually felt too magic heavy - especially the first two turns I was struggling to use all my power dice. The Dragon Mage was certainly fun: very lucky to dodge so many cannonballs, and although the Sun Dragon didn't actually do much damage, the mobility and casting power felt good. Of course, both of us played a bit of rule of cool when it came to the Dragon, so he didn't get too much light arm fire to snipe him off the back - and ultimately he died. I suppose in combat he is just 2 T3 5++ wounds so it doesn't take much. On the other hand, he "shouldn't" have been in a protracted combat so that's my fault, unbreakable dwarves and all that.
Anyway, great to get a proper sized game, and next time I'll have something painted to show, promise!