Battle 6: Brewhaha Brawl

My typical list has been “take a ton of dudes, giggle at the amount of units I am fielding, and see what happens.” It's been fun, but not terribly successful. If I am being honest, the huge number of drops in my previous lists have probably tripped me up more than my opponent, particularly with deployment. So, I wanted to mix it up a little. Let's jump into the new list, and then I'll blabber about my goals and strategy.

TastyBagel's 2000 Point Kingdoms of Men List:

2x Regiment Knights

1x Regiment Berserkers

1x Regiment Spear Phalanx

1x Regiment Foot Guard (Scrying Gem)

1x Regiment Pole-Arms

2x Troop Mounted Sergeants

2x Troop Mounted Scouts with Carbines

2x Troop Pole Arms

2x Ballistae

1x Beast of War w/ Light Ballista

1x Army Standard Bearer (Healing Charm)

1x Tooled-up Wizard (Lightning Bolt replacing Fireball, Bane-Chant, Inspiring Talisman)

Overall, the list has fewer troop choices that my previous lists. I had really embraced having a large number of troops, but I am starting to rethink that approach for my Kingdoms of Men, as most of the troops I was taking weren't doing all that much besides bleeding points. These 6 troops should give me some flexibility, and be expendable, without giving too many points away. I am also taking a more even split of troops/regiments this time around, and more offensive regiments too, like the Berserkers. I saw them recommended on the forums by Sceleris (though I am running them without Fire-Oil). Intrigued, and proud of the unit filler I did for them back in the day (2014), I dug them out of their box (they have not been touched up for Kings of War), and put them on a base. We'll see how the crazies perform.

In the first draft of this list, I wanted to run a General on a Winged Beast along with the Beast of War... but the general is taking his time getting to me (2 weeks in transit), so that wasn't an option. After subbing in a Hero on Pegasus in a second draft of the list, I realized that I absolutely could not be trusted to use him responsibly. So ultimately the flying General was replaced by pretty two typical sources of Inspiring, the Wizard and the ASB, because I had them readily on hand. The wizard got the typical, ubiquitous wizarding kit, but the ASB got the Healing Charm this time. The Charm should hopefully get more mileage than the War-Bow, and help keep my regiments healed up and in the fight long enough to grind out a difference on the field.

The gang. All dressed up and ready for action!

So, with more regiments and a monster, my overall goal for the game is to deploy back a bit more (like, probably the back half of my deployment zone) and to play conservatively. I still have a lot taking the field, and if I refrain from charging stuff out one by one, I figured I could put up a good fight.

My opponent picked up the proxies again and ran the same list as last game. It did work great for him last time... His list was:

Regiment of Kindred Archers
Regiment of Palace Guard
Regiment of Palace Guard w/ Brew of Strength
Regiment of Drakon Riders
2x Troops Hunters of the Wild
2x Troops Stormwind Cavalry
Dragon Kindred Lord
Tree Herder
Elven Mage w/  Bane Chant
Elven Mage w/ Lightning Bolt and Inspiring Talisman

Thanks again to Sean for pointing out last game that the big scary reptile is a Dragon not a Drakon. The Dragon Kindred Lord is a behemoth... Since it is the same list, the same things scare me, namely the Dragon Lord, the Drakon Riders, and the Tree Herder. I think I have enough other things to handle the rest of his army. I should be able to trade Pole-Arms for the Hunters of the Wild, and hopefully use my nimble Scouts and Sergeants will be able to control the flanks...

An annual festival of drunken revelry is fast approaching, and both the Elves and the Regnum Aeterum are keen to stock up on some potent brews rumored to be hidden in the surrounding hills...

We rolled up the Loot Scenario for the very first time, and I broke out my special counters, and placed the token in the center of the field correctly. I somehow missed the whole "center-line" bit for the other two, so my opponent put one in his back field, and I placed the other more accurately, but still incorrectly.

Pictured: Lack of reading skills.

We even missed this important "center-line" bit on a re-read. My bad. We did think it was strange, as in our interpretation, only the center token would really be in play, and so why even have the other two? But since the re-read failed to enlighten us... and so we just rolled with it. We won't make this mistake again...

I decided to place my token up (mine was the one of the left) to hopefully split my opponents attention. He had a lot of strength concentrated in a few units, and I figured if I only left the center one up for grabs, his speedier list and flyers would get the better of me, as everything would be gunning for that one objective and I would trip myself up with all my units. If I gave him two targets, I reasoned, he might try to hedge his bets, and either deploy more spread out, or make plays for both, at which point I should be able to isolate, surround and pounce with my superior numbers. So I deployed the token near enough to the center line to hopefully tempt him, but close enough that my infantry should hopefully be able to contest it.

My opponent had chosen the far side, which was fine by me. I was wary of his Tree Herder, and figured if he wanted to vanguard and jump forest to forest and make use of Pathfinder a bit, that was fine by me. I would just avoid that side of the field. I wanted my supporting lighter cavalry on the left to try and sweep that side and use the hill for probable cover from his Archers. My Ballistae would also be on the left of the board in order to try and get some good fields of fire in between the hills and cover the center hill, which we decided to call Pincushion Peak (after the game was finished and despite the lack of an actual peak). The Beast of War would be in the center, and Knights on the right to threaten the hill and anything that showed up on my right flank. That was the plan.

I won't get into the back and forth of deployment. Suffice it to say, my opponent placed a strong center, but he felt he crowded himself a bit. The Drakon Riders showed up as one of the last drops, and did not have enough space to deploy right on the line, which ended up confounding my opponent's plans a bit.

Pic is after the Vanguard move. The Hunters of the Wild are apparently keen to "get some."

I deployed largely as I intended. I wasn't sure what to do with my infantry. The Berserkers went on the right, to protect the flank of the knights and to hopefully pick a fight with the Tree Herder. The rest of my infantry went on the left, to try and cap that objective. 

Turn 1: Elves

My opponent had some vanguard moves, and aggressively moved his Hunters of the Wild up, though the Tree Herder was cowed and hid in the forest. Then he won the roll for first turn. My notes stopped here. I wrote "T1: Elves - UP" and then my pen cracked, oozing ink over my hand, and getting nice inky thumb prints all over my note pad and also on one of the shields on the rear of my Beast of War.

The elves moved up aggressively... and that was it.

His Archers stayed back, and simply picked up the Loot counter near them, and we agreed that they didn't need to move entirely off the field to count as leaving the field; just getting a portion of the unit off the edge would be enough. After pondering what he should do... my opponent decided to leave them on the table, figuring they may come in useful later.

Turn 2: KoM

On the right, my Pole-Arms pivot and move, aiming to become a nuisance in the coming turns. The Berserkers mostly stay put, and the Knights scootch back a bit, not wanting to give the elves charges next turn. The Foot Guard move up to try and bait a charge from the Stormwind Cavalry on my left, the the Pole-Arms troop also advance, looping to be a nuisance, and the regiments of Spear Phalanx and Pole-Arms move to cover/threaten that token. The Mounted Scouts move up, but do nothing of consequence. The Mounted Sergeants skip up the left side of the board, one baiting a charge, the second ready to pounce.

The left wing of the Regnum springs into action!

The perspective is a bit awkward, but the left ballista does actually have a very clear shoot at the towering, monstrous Dragon Lord, shoots, and scores a lucky 4 wounds against it.

Turn 3: Elves

On my left, one of the troops of the Hunters of the Wild move up to threaten/delay my Mounted Sergeants, the apparently charged the pole arms, though my opponent forgot to roll that combat. I though they were just getting in my face as chaff (like he did with his one troop of Stormwing Cavalry blocking both of my Knight regiments). It had apparently been a long day for both of us.

Well... Shoot. Knights are all gummed up... Well played. And the Drakon Riders are about to make a break for it...

Injured, the Dragon Lord withdrew out of the line of fire.. The Drakon Riders flew up and landed awkwardly on the token on Pincushion Hill, ready to run for it. My knights are taken out of the equation for the moment, with the Tree Herder moving onto the hill to cover for them. The Foot Guard ate a hefty 5 wounds from one of the mage's Lightning Bolts, and because my opponent forgot to roll the combat... Kingdoms of Men were up.

Turn 4: Kingdoms of Men

On my right, the Pole-Arms and Berserkers moved up to threaten that side of the field, and my Knights crashed through the Stormwind troop, though did not overrun that far.

My opponent now realized that he forgot to do the combat which I did not know was a combat, so we backtracked, rolled that, the Pole-Arms troop was destroyed, and the surviving Hunters of the Wild were combo-charged by my Spears and Foot Guard, and routed. The Foot Guard would reform, and the Spears overrun.

My center starts trudging forward, and the wings of my force start encircling Pincushion Peak.

On the left, my Sergeants decide that the Hunters are not worthwhile of a charge, and nimbly give them the slip, leaving them to be dealt with by the regiment of Pole-Arms. The Scouts canter up a bit, and fire ineffectively at the other troop of Stormwind Cavalry.. maybe dealing a wound. This turn, I forget that my ASB has Heal, and so fail to top off the Regiment of Foot Guard.

The Drakon Riders on the other hand, are towering and exposed. Both ballistae could actually see them,  as well as the light ballistae on the Beast of War, and I put my shooty plan into action. Lucky hit rolls, then lucky D3s are rolled, the the unit accumulates a ton of wounds (11?) and is routed! 

Turn 5: Elves

On my left, the Hunters of the Wild smash into the Regiment of Pole-Arms, wavering them. Oops.

The elves move to protect the Stormwind Cavalry as it prepares to haul the casks in the center away.

Near Pincushion hill, some iffy charges are declared (unit interpenetration was messy and potentially not viable based on the order of charges, but we rolled with it. It was too hard to figure out on the edge of a hill). The regiment of Palace Guard crash into the Spear Phalanx, and deal 5 damage to it. The other Regiment of Palace Guard charge my Foot Guard, and rout it.

Their plans foiled by the human war machines, the last troop of Stormwind move and pause to pick up the loot token. The Dragon Lord is healed, from 4 down to 2, and again spends a turn repositioning himself to try and cover the escape of the Stormwind Cavalry troop.

Turn 6: Kingdoms of Men

On my left, the wavered Pole-Arm regiment sits still, as they are cowardly and wavered. Guys, you're fighting trees. And you have halberds. C'mon. A troop of Mounted Scouts changes facing, grabs the Loot, and together with the left ballista, scores some damage against the Hunters of the Wild, and routs them, saving the regiment of Pole-Arms. The left ballista did great work this game. The right ballista spends the turn reforming.

At the end of the turn, everything worthwhile is starting to converge on Pincushion Peak.

One troop of Mounted Sergeants zip up in an attempt to cut off the enemy retreat, while another, along with the Spear Phalanx, charge one Regiment of Palace Guard. The Beast of War and one Regiment of Knights slam into the other Regiment, routing them, and the second regiment of Knights slam into the flank of the Tree Herder, routing it. I apologize for not taking as many pictures this game.

A few lucky carbine shots find elf flesh in the shooting phase, and the Stormwind Cavalry unit carrying the loot on Pincushion Hill is wavered!

Turn 7: Elves

On the back foot, the Dragon Lord eschews the obvious trap of the troop of Pole-Arms and regiment of Berserkers, and charges the regiment of knights on my right, proving that his performance last game was no fluke, again dealing 9 damage off 10 attacks, and again routing my unit easily. The Lord then reforms to face the hill. I forgot to take a picture this turn. You'll have to use your imagination, and also forgive me. I was a little shocked by the carnage the Dragon Lord can consistently inflict.

The elven mages move onto the hill. The one wielding the hooked staff was Inspiring, and zapped the Pole-Arms troop with a Lightning Bolt dealing 1 damage. The other healed the Dragon Lord to 2 - the lord was back to full strength!

In the back field, the Archers decide it's time to do something, and they advance, loose, and waver my outriding unit of Mounted Sergeants. The Lone regiment of Palace Guard push against the Spear Phalanx, and slip a few more wounds through, though the Phalanx held.

Turn 8: Kingdoms of Men

After weighing my options, I elect not to charge into the wavered Stormwind. Whatever would charge in would almost certainly rout the Stormwind unit... but would almost certainly be charged and routed next turn by the Dragon Lord. Instead, I pelted it with the Light Ballista, and the two units of Mounted Scouts, and the Wizard's Lightning Bolt, and barely waver it again. The knights reform, and the Beast of war stands still.

And after a brief period of mourning... back to the show.

On my right, the Pole-Arms charge the Inspiring Mage, and the Berserkers go into the healer... only the healer is routed, and the Berserkers move to face the Dragon Lord, aiming to bait a charge... in reality, this was a foolish thing to do against a flyer. I should have pivoted to face the knights more and cover my bases...

The Mounted Sergeants and Spear Phalanx again push against the regiment of Palace Guard, but it remains in place. The Spear Phalanx is healed again by the ASB.

Turn 9: Elves

As my opponent starts his turn, we again realize that we have lost track of turns. I will find some kind of counter for the next game. We enter into a gentlemen's agreement that this is the last set of turns... no possible extra turn... this is it.

This turns out to be quite unfortunate for me, as I should have then: 1) reformed my Berserkers to face Pincushion Hill to threaten the Loot, and 2) moved my Beast of War up, to also threaten the Loot.

The Dragon Lord swoops in to block box me off of the hill with his huge (oversized) base, and unleashes a devastating breath attack against my Mounted Scouts. The Archers again loose into the Mounted Sergeants, and both those troops are routed.

Not Pictured: some supporting units. Pictured: a regiment of lazy Pole-Arms. They haven't moved in a long time.

The Palace Guard continues to push against the Spear Phalanx, and routes it this turn.

Turn 10: Kingdoms of Men

Unfortunately, despite having a ton of units, my options are limited for this most gentlemanly of last turns. I forget that carrying a Loot token reduces speed to 5, and my absent-minded, rules-breaking Mounted Scouts gleefully canter away. Not a big goof, but a goof nonetheless. Read the scenario rules carefully folks!

The left ballista, far out of frame, actually does have a clear lane into the wavered Stormwind Cavalryand and fires into it, along with a Lightning Bolt from the wizard. And the elf cavalry is finally routed!

A dragon vs a dinosaur! If only 5 year old me knew what 30 year old me would be doing...

The Mounted Sergeants charge the Palace Guard, and we start measuring. If they can rout the Guards, and roll a 6 on the overrun, they would land atop the loot. They DO rout them, but only roll a 5. The Beast of War smashes into the Dragon Kindred Lord, and manages to waver it.

The elves and the Regnum Aeternum must grudgingly make due with a single cache of casks each for their festivities. 

RESULT: TIE, with one Loot Token apiece!  Though my opponent admitted at the time (turns played still unknown to us, and also before I reread the scenario rules the following morning) that it was a tie in the most technical of technicalities. His archers were far back safe, safe, but his Lord was not looking great, and I had my choice between 3 units able to pick up the center token next turn.

One of these days Dragon Lord! One of these days!

Bah! If only I had kept better track of turns!! Unfortunately, rules goofs and forgetfulness seemed to run rampant through this game from the start. It had been a long day for both of us. Still, it was wonderful to get another game in so quickly after the last one despite the plethora of errors. Many thanks to my opponent for the game!