Bloodwrack Shrine : charge or be charged

How to beat those cowardly High Elves?

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Lord Drakon
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Bloodwrack Shrine : charge or be charged

Post by Lord Drakon »

So the issue here are the D6 + 1 strength 5 Impact Hits, or the 8 magical shooting strength 4 Killing Blow attacks with target initiative as its tougness with no armour saves allowed of the Medusa.

In which cases should I prefer the charge over the shooting attacks ?

For example a unit of 10 knights, heavily armoured, but + 2 strength on the charge.

The Shrine is placed in a unit of 10 sisters of slaughter in 5 x 2 formation, so enemy has no parry saves or rank bonus combat resolution while I have 3 ranks and standard bearer so 4 static combat resolution (-1 when charged).

They have movement of 6 with banner of swiftness, so only 1 movement lower than most barded knights (or cold ones).
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Haagrum
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Re: Bloodwrack Shrine : charge or be charged

Post by Haagrum »

Make the charge, in every case, unless you would be conceding a tactical advantage by doing so.

If the target has low Initiative, high armour, low numbers, is vulnerable to Killing Blow AND you've buffed the Medusa's BS (i.e. you're using an Aestyrion or Eternity King list), it could be worth accepting the charge. However, since most enemies who have that combination of features are heavy cavalry models, charging them is probably going to be better since (1) you will struggle to hurt them with the Sisters and Shrine, (2) they probably have lances and S6 on the charge, which means they would be able to dent the Shrine, and (3) failing Terror tests against the charge might allow the Shrine & Sisters unit to deal with two units in one turn.
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Marchosias
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Re: Bloodwrack Shrine : charge or be charged

Post by Marchosias »

With penalty for stand and shoot or movement, long range and multiple shot the medusa will be hitting on 5+, meaning some two dead knights. Even against I1 you are unlikely to get more than three. Therefore, I think that the benefits from shooting should not be what you will be basing your decisions on - you should decide based on where you want to pin the unit down and what other possibilities does it have in addition to charging.
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Daeron
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Re: Bloodwrack Shrine : charge or be charged

Post by Daeron »

Another dangerous part of letting your enemy charge is that they have a magic phase to back up their charge. I once screened a unit of Black Guard with harpies against a COK bus with Hydra banner (old book), just to have the magic phase with me in the first round of combat between the COKs and BGs. The COKs were wiped out as a result.
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