Lost colony in 9th age - 2500 vs. VC

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Calisson
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Calisson »

Thraundil wrote:Terrorgheist screams are, as I recall, treated as actual shooting attacks... I believe it was discussed somewhere on the forum but I forgot where. The cloak works against it. Basically, the cloak will work against anything that is not specifically melee attacks.
That was FAQ and Druchii.net recommendations, but that thread concluded otherwise:
CoT protects from shooting attacks and spells and the screams are neither.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Rowena »

The pegasus master is indeed awesome, so much so that I think he (or in our case probably she) deserves a proper model. :D
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Marchosias »

Thank you for your comments!

Setomidor:
You offer some good thoughts.

I did not want the witches to fight alone, as they would suffer quite a few attacks in retaliation. At this stage of the game I wanted to just play it quickly and safely, without thinking about how much wounds I would actually suffer in return. In hindsight I see that the girls are really well able to vaporize such a unit in one go.

I will try to keep an eye on the BSB bubble once I field one - I am sure I will forget this many times before I learn to take care. In this battle, I spread out because it allowed me to hide behind terrain and the magic missile from casket was not able to jump too many times. It is true that forfeiting Inspiring Presence was bold, though, given that the magic missile is resolved against targets leadership. Hiding everything behind the same hill would probably work, too.

Thraundil: The master is indeed very powerful. I am going to experiment for a while with him to find out if he is terribly overpowered or just strong. If I come to the conclusion that there are too many enemies without a proper answer, I will try to come up with a more friendly build. I think he is not that bad, though. He can hardly survive a charge from heavy cavalry, for example.

Rowena: Our enemies will surrender just from seeing her sheer awesomeness! :)
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Thraundil »

The cloaked pegmaster is certainly not any more "unfriendly" than chaos heroes and stuff. In fact, you have to remember that in close combat he only has his 1+ armor save to go by, and zip else. So if he charges a monster, and fails to outright kill it, theres a good chance he will take some pain for it. And probably also die in the following round of combat.

So yes, he is super powerful. But, you should very rarely charge him into anything he wont break or kill in the first combat round. He is, imo, best used as a hunter of; weakened monsters (think bolt thrower synergy), chariots, lone characters OR characters in units without a champion (foolish to do, but hey!). And of course war machines. It might seem suboptimal to send your 180 point master after a cannon, but keep in mind he is almost guaranteed to wipe it off the face of the earth in one combat round, freeing him up to do the same thing to the next cannon in the next round.

My favorite prospect however. Shoot a monster just a few times with a bolt thrower to chip a wound or two off. A 3-4 wound monster should be instantly killed by a cloaked up pegmaster.

Re: screams, alright. I never played vs ppl with gheists yet so I actually dont know how they work for sure. However, it should be trivial to just keep your super mobile master away from such nasties.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Marchosias »

Lost Colony vs. Bretonnia (1000 pts)

Same opponent as before - he starts to learn how to fight me, dammit. Second test of my character-heavy army. We played closed lists.

Lost Colony
supreme sorceress lvl 4, metal, ruby ring of rhuin: 245
master, dark pegasus, HA, SDC, cloak of twilight, lance, shield: 188
19 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 216
10 witch elves, FCG, razor banner: 185
5 shades, AHW: 90
5 harpies: 75

Bretonnia
Prophetess of the Lady on steed, lvl 3 life
paladin on steed, BSB, 1+ armour, 2+ ward against flaming attacks, adds +D6 inches to first charge
2x knights (a small unit and a big one, but I think there were actually six knights in each and the big one was only beefed by the characters)
11x peasant bowmen, musician
3x pegasus knights
trebuchet


Bretonnia is a tough army for me to crack, even though I did my best to sneak as many anti-armour options into the list as possible. The fighty units are fast and armoured and shooting cannot be undervalued. And as I have found out, they can stack decent ward saves as well.

The main battle plan was easy. Harpies or shades should hunt the trebuchet as quickly as possible; the master could do that, too, if need be. The master should be able to kill the pegasus unit or pin something in place. The knights have to be slowly and patiently brought down to a manageable number.

I was a bit lazy with the diagrams, so take them with a pinch of salt.

Deployment


Image

Given that I had only a few drops and had to go first, I could hardly wait to see where the important units were going. I started with the harpies, my opponent responded with his bowmen. I then decided to occupy the left flank: my important units were far out of bowrange and the forest could potentialy help me against cavalry. In hindsight, I could have maybe spread a bit to minimize the losses from his trebuchet. Definitely I should have used a wider formation.
In case someone should be confused: the trebuchet is labelled “catapult” on the diagrams.

The shades were placed 20 inches from his big unit to tempt an unlikely charge. The Bretonnians prayed and so have I begun.

Magic:
My metal sorceress had Searing doom, Gehennas Golden Hounds, Transmutation of Lead and Enchanted Blades of Aiban.
His life sorceress had Flesh to Stone, Throne of Vines and Awakening of the Wood.

Warning: crazy dice rolls ahead!

Lost Colony, Turn 1

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Shades stood their ground to have a better aim. Warriors escorted the sorceress in spell range, witches advanced to keep in touch with them. The harpies flew right for the trebuchet and peg master stayed in reserve to hopefully frighten the small knights or pegasus knights from nearing my footslogger units.
In the magic phase I managed absolutely nothing. Searing doom was ineffectual as the prophetess had MR(3) from her innate ability (which gives an automatic resistence of 2) and obsidian trinket and I managed to roll two ones out of four for wounding. The rest was dispelled. Shooting did nothing, either.

Bretonnia, Turn 1

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The big knight decided to charge my shades. I have found out that the it had the baner of swiftness and +D6 inches for first charge on the hero, which meant they had actually a fairly good chance on completing. Luckily for me, they did not manage. Shades, thanks to their -1 modifier for stand and shoot, aimed better than before and scored a kill. Seven models to go (or how many actually).
The other knight unit raced forward very near to my troops, as did the pegassi. Does it mean that the Bretonnians are actually becoming brave?
In the magic phase, throne of vines went through and flesh to stone probably as well. To the end of the game, I never remembered at the right time that I could actually dispel the throne, and flesh to stone was on the big knights most of the time.
In the shooting phase, the bowmen (after wheeling a bit first) did not even scratch the harpies (hitting on 7s). The trebuchet made it up, though, as it placed its small template right in the centre of the warriors unit. Only five models survived - the four in the corner and the champion who was quicker then the others and escaped the falling rock (standing in the first line probably helped, too). My sorceress was unharmed and the unit passed panic, that is something.

Lost Colony, Turn 2

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I declared a charge with the pegasus master against the pegasus knights who fled. I redirected into the small knights who held, but after I joined with the witches they fled as well. So no Bretonnian bravery after all. I did not catch them and ran just a bit forwards with both units. The harpies were not able to complete the charge against the trebuchet (I needed a five and rolled a 2 on all three dice), and because they were now blocked by the fleeing knights they did not move at all.
The warriors, given their current number, fled to the table edge. The sorceress left them and moved to the side so that a potential overrun in case the witches got charged and routed would not hit her.
Transmutation of Lead went throught on the big knights and I think one more fell to the shades.

Bretonnia, Turn 2

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Big knights successfully charged witch elves who had to hold. No dangerous terrain test failed (the first rank ended in a forest). Both fleeing knights rallied and the pegasus ones flew back a bit west.
In magic, I dispeled flesh to stone and then found out that direct damage spells can be cast out of combat, which means my sorceress was suddenly the targed of D6 S6 hits. Luckily, she suffered only two wounds.
In the combat I did another mistake by challenging with my champion. The BSB than killed only one witch instead of two, which was the goal, but due to the positioning of our fighters, my champion in the middle and his BSB on the flank, four witches had no one to attack as they were only in base-to-base with the hero. Anyway, the witches managed to score some wounds (two I think). On the other hand I was told that charging Brets make supporting attacks from all knights and horses on the sides of their lance formation. This were a lot of attacks and five witch elves were slain. The girls then broke and the knights elected to reform facing west.

Lost Colony, Turn 3

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Harpies made another attempt at charging the trebuchet and were successful this time. Hurrah! The master once again charged the pegasus knights who once again fled to safety. I am not sure about this move - I succeeded in chasing off the knights and could then deal with the big unit alone, but it meant my master did not use his charging potential. Maybe I could have placed him right next to the right flank of the big knights: he would than be able to retaliate should the big knights charge either of my infantry units. The question is if I could have positioned him in such a way that he would be safe from charges himself. Something worth considering next time I play.
There was little action otherwise. The witches rallied and reformed facing the big knights, shades went into short range of them, sorceress circled around and warriors fled right to the table edge.
Then I painted a huge marker on the big unit of knights. I was only partially successful - I should have known the BSB would have a 2++ against flaming attacks. Anyway, after this turn, only the standard bearer, champion and two heroes were still alive.
In combat, only one peasant manning the trebuchet survived and fled. The harpies overran to the right.

Bretonnia, Turn 3

Image

The formerly big knights charged my warriors while the others were closing in. Peasant bowmen turned to face the harpies but failed their swift reform test, despite the pegasus knights rallied, closed to the peasants and supported them with their leadership.
There was no shooting and my poor spearelves were unsurprisingly wiped out. The knights reformed facing east.

Lost Colony, Turn 4

Image

My harpies were able to charge the peasants. They were even close enough to deny stand and shoot. Sorceress hid from possible charges and master tried to deny the intact knights good positioning options. In a bold maneuvre, I sent the witches right before the formely big knights (I have mathammered before that witches with AP banner are quite likely to do two or three wounds to a unit of knights. I have forgotten that this time there was no frenzy but a possibility of a boosted flesh to stone in the equation, oops). Shades closed in to pepper the knights with some bolts. Having no look out anymore, the unarmoured prophetess was likely to get some attention, too.
But the shooting produced no kills. Damn flesh to stone. The sorceress was able to down one knight from the other unit, I think.
In combat,the harpies killed only two peasants who then held on steadfast. Luckily, no lowborn was able to hit back.

Bretonnia, Turn 4

Image

The big knights took the bait and charge my withes. Pegasus knights spurred their steeds to help the lowborns, but luckily they were in the front of the harpies and only one could get into base contact. The remaining knights contented with shuffling a little - now they got outside of the master's charge arc and threatened him themselves.
In combat I had a huge chunk of luck. First, my witches unhorsed both remaining knights while suffering only one wound in return - this was actually enough to win the combat on musician. In the other part of the battlefield, the harpies went nuts and hacked off five peasants while the pegasus knight killed two of them. Soon after the knights left the table and peasants were fleeing with harpies in hot pursuit.

Lost Colony, Turn 5

Image

We were running out of time, so we only rolled for the combat between witches and bretonnian command. The girls scored only two wounds on the prophetess and were all killed in return.

The result was a minor victory for the dark elves, brought most of all by crazy harpies who routed the pegasus knights.

After battle thoughts
I should have used the Gehennas golden hounds differently. If I had cast it while a look out was still possible, the majority of hits would get resolved against the unit. This would shrink have a similar effect to a searing doom. Besides, I should have attempted to snipe champions. This would allow my master to attack without wasting the power of his charge in a challenge.
The master had a big impact on the game despite never fighting at all. Thanks to him, only one unit of knights out of three got into an important fight.
Withes with AP banner are awesome. They are actually better against 2+ bretonnian knights than executioners, if only by a small margin.
It was nice how I was able to slowly hunt down the big knights. None of my actions did a big difference, I never killed more than two in one go and even that was an exception, but every knight is expensive, and despite the unit looked big and scary in the beginning, there were actually not many wounds hidden there. Now I understand better why it is dangerous to field a death star of cold one knights, for example.
And trebuchets are overpowered but we already know that. I should adjust my formations more.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Rowena »

Thanks for the report. :)
I would just like to add that this was the player for whom I made the Arthurian lake and it was present on the table as moving terrain (because we were shifting it away from anything that could damage it all the time :D ). During some of the crazy rolls we joked the lake was giving the Brets bonuses, but it all worked out in the end anyway. :)
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points)

Post by Marchosias »

Lost Colony vs. Ogre Kingdoms (1000)

Lost Colony
supreme sorceress lvl 4, metal, ruby ring of rhuin: 245
master, dark pegasus, HA, SDC, cloak of twilight, lance, shield: 188
19 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 216
10 witch elves, FCG, razor banner: 185
5 shades, AHW: 90
5 harpies: 75

Ogre Kingdoms
Firebelly lvl 2
7 ironguts (or six?)
3 mournfangs
stonehorn (or thundertusk? I will call it mammoth ;) anyway, it was the one with a harpoon on top)


This one was short. The initial battle plan was quite easy: witches destroy mammoth with their poison, mournfangs are the job of sorceress and/or master and then everything combo charges the ironguts. In deployment, it was able to wait till the big beast is placed and put the witches right across.
In the first turn, the firebelly is kills one harpy and some warriors with a fireball and burning head but blows himself up in the process and falls into the Realms of Chaos.
In my first turn, I manage to inflict six wounds on the mournfangs with one single searing doom and panic them. I redirect the mammoth into an impassable terrain with the harpies and prepare withches to countercharge. Shades are even able to get one wound off the beast.
In the Ogres second turn I realize that my placement of harpies was bad as they are outside of the generals bubble and so flee from the terror causing monster charging them. The mammoth redirected into the warriors but failed that charge (it had some 50% chance to achieve this). The remaining mournfang continues his flee.
In my second turn, I charge with everything. Witches into the mammoth's flank, shades in the back, master in the back of ironguts, warriors in their front. The big beast is poisoned to death, master inflicts only three wounds but warriors make up for that and the ogres do no damage at all in return. They flee and here we call the game.

Not much more to say about this. I should watch for terror as a LD of 6 is not that reliable.


Lost Colony vs. Warriors of Chaos

Finally, we get the chance to trash our most hated enemy! And the minis were obviously excited about this opportunity as my rolls were sometimes insane.
The opponent was the same as in the previous battle against Ogres. The first match did not use a lot of time, after all.

Lost Colony
supreme sorceress lvl 4, metal, ruby ring of rhuin: 245
master, dark pegasus, HA, SDC, cloak of twilight, lance, shield: 188
19 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 216
10 witch elves, FCG, razor banner: 185
5 shades, AHW: 90
5 harpies: 75

Warriors of Chaos
exalted hero of Khorne on juggernaut, 1+ AS, 2++ against flaming attacks
20 chaos warriors, mark of Nurgle, halberds, 4+AS, standard of discipline (6 wide)
Chaos chariot, mark of Slaanesh
6x Forsaken, mark of Slaanesh (one wide line)
7x Forsaken, mark of Slaanesh (one wide line)

My opponent did not have his WoC army in the shop so he composed the list from what he could scrape somehow. This is how the exalted hero got in, even though normally he would only use him in a one one one hero match. The Forsaken were there in the role of chaff, which is a bit weird, too, given their frenzy - on the other hand I was using squads of five witches in this way and it worked, too. There were neither hounds nor hellstriders available at the place.

So there were a few things to be worried about. A charging chariot can be devastating, the warriors could not be fought to victory in these numbers and I had nothing that could hope to scratch the exalted hero save the master (and even he would have to be a bit lucky to wound and very lucky to kill).
On the other hand, my opponent had neither magic nor shooting which meant reducing his numbers before a fight would break out was not that unlikely. Lore of Metal is quite useful against an army this heavily armoured.

Magic: searing doom, plague of rust, glittering scales, final transmutation

Deployment


Image

In hindsight I really do not understand why I did it this way. Given that I had magic and some shooting on my side while he could only harm me in close combat, I should have delayed fighting as long as possible and to this end,deployment behind the impassable terrain would probably be the best way. I could not go through, it was too thin, but why would I want? And he could charge through with a chariot, hero or three-wide forsaken, but this is still far better than having to deal with his whole line.
Anyway, my two combat units stayed together to support each other.
For terrain, there was a marsh to my right and two impassable terrains with a gap some six inches wide - it was narrow enough so that five elves or four Chaos warriors could not go through outside of charging.

Lost Colony, Turn 1

Image

Harpies moved exactly at the maximum range from both the exalted hero and left forsaken; they were some fifteen inches from the chariot, but I thought I had to risk something if I wanted to delay the frenzied Chaos worshippers. The master flew to the side to threaten the whole flank and my sorceress left the warriors and went in range for searing doom on chariot and final transmutation on warriors. This moves I understand. What I do not get is why I have shuffled my combat units a bit forward. But it gave them a bit more space for maneuvering, at least, as they got further away from the rocks.
The winds of magic blew quite low. I sniped two wounds off the chariot and reduced the armour save of warriors by one, with 5+ remaining.
Shades tried to shoot at the chariot with no success. T5 is rough.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 1

Image

The exalted hero passed his frenzy check but the forsaken did not and ended running astonishing two inches forwards. The chariot turned to face shades and the rest of the army raced forwards at full speed.
There was neither magic nor shooting and so the turn ended very quickly.

Lost Colony, Turn 2

Image

The witches were unable to charge, being blocked by my sorceress. This was probably a good thing as I would need a relatively high roll for the charge to succeed. Therefore, my center stepped back a bit, making all charges quite unlikely. The sorceress hid behind rocks. Harpies attempted a new frenzy bait; their movement is not shown in the diagram. Shades danced around the chariot and faced the forsaken.
In magic the armour save of warriors was once again reduced. Shades claimed three forsaken.
I was really worried about the exalted hero as the only thing in my army that could potentially scratch him was my pegasus master. There were two possibilities: either try to avoid him and hope his rampage proves not too costly (but with so many other threats to consider, this could be quite challenging), or to charge with the master and hope for the best. I decided for the latter; shortly after, the master failed his fear check, scored no wounds and found himself facing something like six S7 attacks which killed him outright. The Gods of Chaos smiled upon their champion and he was given... and extra attack! *facepalm* !lol!

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 2

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I am not sure what had failed its frenzy check, what charged intentionally and what just contented itself with a slight move for some tactical reason; anyway, the center blocks advanced, but the only unit marching at full speed were the left forsaken. The chariot continued its dance around shades.

Lost Colony, Turn 3

Image

Shades proceeded running around the chariot, harpies repositioned in case they were needed.
My centre was now pressured hard, with two units plus exalted hero in a threatening range and another forsaken unit nearing the gap between the impassable terrains. The witches decided to break through, attacking the forsaken and running out of the exalted hero's charge arc. The warriors swift reformed and moved backwards to the table edge.
The sorceress managed a new final transmutation on the warriors, killing four of them. Shades shot at the chariot and achieved nothing.
In combat, all but one forsaken were slain before they could strike, the remaining one scored no kill at all and was then caught on the flee. The pursuit move brought the witches right on top of the hill, in charge range of the chariot. As a bonus, chaos warriors failed their panic check and fled a bit away.


Warriors of Chaos, Turn 3

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Chariot tried a rather long charge on the witches and failed. The remaining forsaken went to the gap and reform to three-wide so that they could go through, and warriors rallied. The exalted hero only moved a little - I think he ended facing the sorceress, actually, but am not exactly sure anymore - it is the only good reason for moving a short distance this short I can think of, though.

Lost Colony, Turn 4

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Witches had a chance to attempt a charge on the chariot, but given that it would be quite a long distance, they decided to hide behind the hill instead and attack the warriors who were still too numerous for the spearmen alone. Sadly, the girls failed their swift reform test and ended offering their backs to another charge attempt. Warriors continued to flee the exalted hero with a successful swift reform. Sorceress escaped away from all charge arcs and shades moved to shoot some forsaken.
The sorceress managed to cast a new final transmutation on the warriors and this time she turned eight of them to gold (out of sixteen!). Shades managed to kill two forsaken.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 4

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Chariot was now able to complete the charge against witch elves. Exalted hero finally passed his march block and as now very near my spearmen. Chaos warriors rallied again and forsaken circled around the rock.
Impact hits killed four witch elves. From their 12 attacks, the girls were then only able to inflict one single wound and the crew made short work with them. Only the champion fled and drowned in the marsh in my next turn.

Lost Colony, Turn 5

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The thirty seconds of harpy glory came as they moved to redirect the exalted hero. Spearmen wheeled to face the chaos warriors they were so long fleeing from, shades went to the center and sorceress continued her dance around rocks.
Chariot was slain with a searing doom. Shades managed to pick four chaos warriors (maybe with the help of a fireball or something, but as I have said my rolls were insane sometimes and there was no armour save on the chaos worshippers remaining).

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 5

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Exalted hero gloriously killed all five harpies and overran out of the board. Desperate chaos warriors attempted a charge at my spearmen but failed (all dangerous terrain tests passed). Forsaken circled around rocks, looking for an opportunity to kill the sorceress or generally annoy me.

Lost Colony, Turn 6

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Sorceress escaped the forsaken once again. Spearmen charged the warriors of chaos, aided by glittering scales. Shades were unable to move out of the forsaken charge arc and so they just shot at them (I could have hidden them behind the hill probably, but with ten shots, then ten more in stand and shoot and ten close combat attacks before the forsaken could do anything I had a very good chance at killing them). The shots accomplished nothing, but spearmen slew all of the warriors (insane rolls, remember?)

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 6

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The remaining two forsaken charged shades and were both shot down. The exalted hero returned on board but was unable to save his army from defeat.


After-battle thoughts:

First and foremost, I should start taking a camera. When more interesting things go on, it starts to be difficult to remember everything exactly. For example, there was a magic phase where I did not roll high enough for a searing doom on the chariot with three dice and so attempted a fireball with some all remaining dice which got dispelled, but I am unable to figure out when this could have happened.
As said before, I rolled quite well in this battle (my troops were obviously happy having the chance to finally slay some Chaos scum). On the other hand, I got quite unlucky with the witches: first a shorter overrun would leave them hidden behind the hill, then the failed swift reform and even in the fight they had a 78% chance to kill the chariot outright with their 12 attacks so the luck was not entirely one-sided. But the chaos warriors fleeing twice in a row despite having Ld9 was of a much bigger impact.
The exalted hero is very mean. Everything the cloak master cannot kill on the charge is. :D Frenzy means he can get out of position easily, but one has to dedicate (and possibly sacrifice) a significant amount of resources to this end. Of course, a couple of bolt throwers would probably force him to hide behind a hill all game.
I think I should have deployed both witches and warriors as far from the enemy as possible and only the sorceress to the front. It could have given me an extra turn to prepare for combat. I am still not sure if I shoud have placed them separatedly - but probably not as there were enough units on the enemy side that could easily destroy any one of them.
I am not sure about the usage of shades, I should have probably tried to shoot some forsaken or warriors the whole time. It was a far safer bet to destroy the chariot through searing doom (and in the end shooting did nothing but magic saved the day, indeed). On the other hand, the sorceress cannot blast everything.
Last edited by Marchosias on Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rowena
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by Rowena »

Thanks for the report and I'm very glad to hear the Chaos scum was wiped. :)
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by Marchosias »

Lost Colony vs. Empire (1500 pts)
There were actually two battles as we had quite a lot of time. For the second, we just swapped sides and left everything as it was.

Last time my opponent complained that even at 1000 points the battles are too random with no BSB and such, and so I tried to beef up the list a bit more to land in some reasonable format, fully aware that the army is by no means optimal anymore. This is what I ended with:

Lost Colony
Sorceress, lvl 4 metal, ruby ring of rhuin

master on pegasus, lance, full mundane, cloak of twilight
death hag BSB, obsidian blade, rune of khaine

20 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline
10 witch elves, FCG, razor banner

5 shades, ahw
5 harpies
4x bolt thrower

Bolt throwers are there for both chaff clearing and can opening. The BSB is a fun build, an armoured master would probably be stronger, but this army is so vulnerable that an unprotected BSB does not make it much worse. I cannot bring myself to speak about the competitiveness of this army as it is far above such lowly human concerns. :D

Empire:
captain, 1+ armour (general)
fire wizard lvl 2, ruby ring of rhuin, dispel scroll

10 knights, FCG
5 knights, musician
2x 3 demigryph knights, musician
30 spearmen, FCG, 2x 5 skirmishing huntsmen detachment
steam tank


In both battles, I tried to: First, hide everything important (i.e. the master) from canonballs. Second, hide from fireballs. Third, hide from his armoured units and deal with them one at a time. Hiding is a new national sport, obviously.

In the first battle, the spearmen with fire mage occupied a building while I was hiding behind some rocks in the opposite corner. The Empire knights pressed forwards while I was trying to defend my corner. Highlights from the battle would be:
- The unit of vanilla knights was lazy and stayed in the backpack of my opponent.
- One bolt thrower went nuts and scored two three wound hits in the same game, killing two demigryphs by its own and panicking the unit twice. This helped a lot.
- Master accomplished almost nothing as he was hiding all the time behind terrain. I had an opportunity to charge a full unit of demigryph knights in the front which I forfeited in the fear that if I would fail to break the unit I would probably get grinded me down.
- I had an opportunity to charge witches + BSB into his full unit of knights but decided to wait one more turn and redirect using harpies to soften them up a bit. From ten knights, five could be attacking back, which would mean a dead BSB. In the next round, there were no witches left to charge because of a fireball.
- Shades fulfilled their job as attractors of all shooting, but I should have placed them out of the range of the smallest fireball.
- Steam tank destroyed three bolt throwers, never misfired and never was scratched (from the one single shot I attempted).
- In the end, I was able to panic the knight unit with general off the board and shoot down both demigryph knights while I lost three bolt throwers, witches and harpies, which resulted in a 11:9 in my favour.

In the second battle we switched sides but played with the same armies and terrain. This time even the vanilla knights arrived. Highlights:
- I was hiding behind the building most of the time.
- I have placed shades near his wizard bunker in an attempt to assassinate him. Unsurprisingly they got fireballed away from the table. Would it be better to place them far away and attempt to shoot at the knights? I doubt it.
- One unit of demigryph knights was panicked with shooting and magic, the second one weakened at least.
- In the second turn, only one bolt thrower was left.
- Master managed to charge a four-wound unit of demigryph knights this time and destroyed it.
- I lost my harpies in a stupid manner. I wanted them to fly behind, eat some skirmishers and maybe threaten the mage, and made a charge from the knight unit possible, reasoning that if they charge, it slows their advance. It turned out that the charge was in the direction he was advancing in anyway and slowed him down only marginally if at all.
- I elected to flee with the harpies hoping for a failed charge but rolled three ones for the flee distance. This is some insane courage!
- My witches with BSB charged the vanilla knights unit. From 19 witch elf attacks, one human was unhorsed. The BSB killed the remaining four.
- I tried to get aggressive with the witch elves – everything on the table was weakened enough for them to have a fighting chance, except maybe the steam tank – but the enemy fled from my charges. Soon after, the girls were turned to ashes. Again.
- Huntsmen hit nothing the whole both games with one exception – one extremely lucky sniper rolled 8+ to hit and 4+ to wound when aiming at my wounded death hag and killed her. I think he will brag about this accomplishment for his whole life.
- I almost managed to destroy the steam tank, but it survived with one wound remaining. Sure, I never attempted a big searing doom (or maybe once) as I did not want to blow up my general. The machine was of Swiss production, obviously, as it only misfired once during the two games and that was when it had almost no wounds left (and so the guarantee was no more applicable).
- My master died in a stupid manner, too: I forgot that the tank not only shoots canon balls but can move into close combat as well. The poor hero could have hardly survived 10 S6 impact hits.
- My spearmen spent quite a long time in the building. It gave the sorceress a nice view for blasting but endangered them (fireball + reroll wounds = bad). But leaving the building would mean accepting defeat and I can save this for tourneys. The spearmen successfully defended against the first charge from knights and even killed one. In the second assault, the sorceress was killed as there were only six spearmen left.
- But one bolt thrower survived the whole game!

After-battle(s) thoughts:
- I think that maybe I should have tried to charge the wizard bunker with my pegasus master. I would probably lose the combats but at Ld9 the master would hopefully stick there anyway, preventing fireball from being cast. And if I got extremely lucky, I could have even routed the unit. Being steadfast on Ld7 without reroll is far from failproof. Knight units would need some time to turn and charge should they decide so which would lead them away from my bolt throwers.
- I am saying this because the main weapon my enemy had was actually his wizard. I was able to deal with his units somehow, but at such a low model count, every fireball hurts badly.
- I am still not sure what can be done with the steam tank. It can be destroyed with patience and combined effort of several bolt throwers, wizards or masters, but one has to dedicate a lot of resources to this end. In the second game, the tank swallowed something like two searing dooms and three single shots and it was still not enough. Maybe ignoring it is the way to go?
- Bolt throwers can be awesome with a bit of luck (helped by enchanted blades – single shot hitting on 2+ is very nice) but they disappear very quickly. They probably have to be in an army that can intercept enemy fast cavalry or something, otherwise they give free points to the opponent. On the other hand, even one round of shooting can be devastating, but one has to rely on luck then.
- A unit of witches with obsidian blade death hag can defeat anything save the few enemies that have both high toughness and armour or that are just too numerous. On the other hand, paying 400 points for 12 wounds with no protection is a bold investment. Maybe in a larger army where every unit is a dangerous hammer and where there are plenty of harpy screens, archer hunters and such. In any case, I am bringing the obsidian blade death hag to my next battle against Bretonnia just for the lulz.
- If my army is this vulnerable, I should really bring a dispel scroll at least.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by T.D. »

Thanks for the write ups! Good battles.

Winning the match against the Bretonnians was quite something!

Winning against the Warriors even more of a something!!!

Btw, what happened to your master vs WOC? Did he evaporate? :P
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by Marchosias »

Thanks for the kind words! I am quite happy with the results, but I have to admit there was a good portion of luck involved.

But with even more emphasis, thanks for reminding I have actually forgotten to write about the master. He pretty much evaporated, indeed: charged the exalted hero, failed his fear check, did no wounds and then found himself facing something like six S7 attacks. :burns:
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by T.D. »

Ouch :P
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 - 1500 points) - 29.1. Empire

Post by Marchosias »

Novice tourney

On Saturday I attended a novice tourney, which was actually rather an occasion where beginners could come and play a few games even if they did not own a lot of models (let alone painted ones) and did not understand the rules properly. A very praiseworthy initiative by the organiser!

The following comp was used:
- 1500 points
- no lords, no special characters
- max. 190 points for a single model
- max. 15 models with as 2+ or better, max. three monstrous cavalry models including characters
- max. 2 warmachines / template weapons, max. 35 models with range exceeding 20 inches
- max. 4 dice per spell, look out allowed for instant kill spells

Surely it was possible to break this comp, but the hope was the attendees would not do so, being either too inexperienced or reasonable enough.

I have used the following army:

Master, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, shield, lance, cloak of twilight: 188 (general)
Sorceress, lvl 2 metal, ruby ring of ruin, dispel scroll: 165

10 witch elves, musician: 120
20 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 225
5 dark riders, shields, crossbows, musician: 110

14 executioners, FCG, gleaming pennant: 203
5 shades, ahw: 90
5 harpies: 75
2x bolt thrower: 2x 70

2x bloodwrack medusa: 2x 90


The aim was to make a close combat MSU army, able to weaken dangerous units before engaging a little. Some choices might deserve commenting:
- No BSB: The master cannot get the upgrade as his cost would be too high. I would have to let go either the Cloak of Twilight or the sorceress. But Cloak of Twilight is too awesome against chariots and such and while I have some other anti-armour options beside the sorceress I am not sure I can count on them.
- 2x medusa: I just wanted to see if I can make them work. A frenzied Ld2 model is just hilarious and this was a fun tournament, after all.
- Master promoted to general: He has to be one as his Ld is bigger than the sorceress'. Apart from that, a flying general is more easily able to keep medusas and harpies in his bubble. If he flies away from witches and bolt throwers the difference is not that huge.
- Metal sorceress: As mentioned before, I thought I could still face some solid armour spam where she would be handy. And metal buffs and hexes are not that bad, either.
- No warlocks: They are just ungentlemanly and I have no models for them. If I wanted a hard list I would definitely include some.


Game 3: Lost Colony vs. The Empire

Empire:
Warrior priest
Captain BSB
2x engineer
2x block of 20 halberdiers
Block of greatswords
2x hellblaster
Ton of detachments
5 outriders

I am starting with the last battle of the day as it was the only one where I did not make pictures and therefore have to rely on memory. This also means I am not able to tell how many detachments the enemy actually had, let alone reproduce their movement accurately. I will notify where this could have been important.
This also means I do not know anymore what detachments were of which type. There were some musketeers in two rows of three and some swordsmen and halberdiers in three rows of two. Actually I think there might have been one detachment of each type with each unit but I am by no means sure.

The main dangers in this army were of course the two hellblasters which were able to vaporize any of my units on a single turn each. Otherwise, there was not that much shooting and I was quite confident I could defeat the infantry units in combat, maybe even without combo charges. Though I am not so sure about greatswords – as long as the priest is alive they have hatred and can reroll to wound thanks to a prayer.

One more warning: the battle ended prematurely, right before the best action could start. Do not be disappointed. :D

Deployment

Image

I started by forming a medusa commando and hiding harpies behind the pillar so that they could fly quickly where needed. By then I had a good idea about the nice symmetric formation my opponent was building. I have stuck everything on the left flank, realizing that the hill could provide me with cover against his shooting.
Shades were used as screeners for my combat units. Medusas started with their backs turned to the enemy to avoid unnecessary frenzy checks.
I was thinking for a while if placing the central bolt thrower so much to the front was a good idea. It gave me a better selection of target but the enemy could close more easily. With so many detachments to choose from, though, I should have maybe stayed as far back as possible.

Empire, Turn 1

Image

The whole battleline moved towards me. The hellblasters had no targets, so no opportunity cost to this – on the contrary, it was made clear that if I want to shut them down I should do it quickly. One musketeer regiment turned to protect the eastern flank.
The outriders were able to kill three shades thanks to their multiple shot (x3). The scouts panicked but no one else cared. The priest prayed for some close combat buffs just to stay in shape.

Lost Colony, Turn 1


Image

Shades rallied. I advanced on the left to use the hill as much as possible, hoping I would be able to charge the medusas and Pegasus master somewhere into the Empire backfield. On the other flank, dark riders tried to encircle the enemy to get an open path to the nearer hellblaster. My intention was that when they and harpies both step into range simultaneously, next turn one unit will be dead but the other will charge the warmachine and destroy it.
I managed to kill three outriders with the left bolt thrower (and maybe a fireball) and get one wound off an engineer. Maybe I should have rather targeted the musketeers in regiment D6, but one dead shooter would make little difference, anyway.

Empire, Turn 2

Image

The whole line moved once more. The detachment movements seem a little weird, it is because I know where they were standing at the end of this turn but not how they got there.
Some musketeers opened fire, killing one dark rider and leaving the medusa in the front on one wound.

Lost Colony, Turn 2


Image

Time for many charges. The sad thing was, I did it wrongly.
First, I charged the unwounded medusa into musketeer detachment D2 and they chose to stand and shoot, accomplishing nothing. This was very fortunate as the charge was a rather short one and it was likely the detachment will be destroyed in my opponent's turn. But I spoiled it by adding the second medusa to the charge, allowing my opponent to flee. In the end, I chased away outriders and three detachments but advanced only a little. And the pursuit roll brought my master in range of a hellblaster.
My infantry units spread out a little, preparing a due welcome for the Empire soldiers that were closing but not crossing the border of hellblaster threat area.
On the right flank, I devised some very clever plan with my dark riders leaving cover. I probably thought I can kill so many musketeers that there would be only laughable retribution. In the end, only one of them was shot down.
I have at least killed some musketeers from D3 with my western bolt thrower. The eastern one finished off the engineer.

Empire, Turn 3


Image

My opponent promised to show me how charges are done – and promptly failed to reach the bolt thrower with both his swordsmen and musketeers (D3 and D5). He managed to attack my uninjured medusa with halberdiers. He protected their flank with the other halberdier unit and closed with greatswords.
Then he managed to pick off a wound from my Pegasus master and panic my dark riders. It is of little good having a 4+ fast cavalry when facing S4 AP shooting.
In combat, the medusa killed a few while taking no wounds in return and probably held on generals leadership – beating two ranks, a standard and a charge bonus purely with kills would be quite a feat, I don't think she really did it.

Lost Colony, Turn 3


Image

To win the combat quickly, I charged both the other medusa and warriors into the flank of halberdiers (the picture is weird, it was a clear and nice fit). Harpies moved to redirect the greatswords, pegasus master was finally able to charge a hellblaster and remaining units moved into hopefully clever positions.
To support the combat even further I enchanted the warriors' blades. It went off irresistibly and the halberdiers were all killed before they could strike, but only at the cost of a detonation resulting in eight dead spearmen and a wounded sorceress. What a perfect trade, changing half of a unit for a buff that I did not really need.
Pegasus master, unsurprisingly, destroyed the hellblaster. His overrun was too short to get him into another combat, unfortunately.

Empire, Turn 4

Image

Greatswords charged my harpies and this time the two detachments were swift enough to reach my bolt thrower. Both targets were destroyed without a single human dying.
The hellblaster took advantage of the master's position in the open and sent 26 bullets on him. Only one of them wounded, however, meaning he was surviving with the last wound.
What the picture shows about greatswords is how the situation should have looked like. The strong unit overruns away from my troops, I close with mine staying out of his charge arc (maybe the witches could charge halberdiers or a medusa could be used to redirect them), he has nowhere to hide and next turn I combo charge with three units.
Sadly, the reality was not that great. Due to bad positioning of the harpies, greatswords overrun into the flank of the nearer medusa. I would be able to send witch elves to their flank and warriors to the front (with three models in contact), but the executioners were too far and had the other medusa in their way – not a fight I would rely on winning. This was caused partially by me not preparing for the medusa's overrun, partly because in this critical moment I did not pay enough attention to what I was doing.

Luckily, this is where we called the game. As we managed to kill almost nothing, the result was a nice 10:10.

After-battle thoughts


I should learn what make sense to think about. In the Turn 2 charge declaration phase I was able to predict that the musketeer detachment is going to flee should I add one more charge, but I weighted different possibilities so much that I forgot it. On the other hand, when placing a redirector, there is surely enough time to avoid being careless.
I think this game shows nicely how crowded the table can be when there are many small units around (execs unable to reach the greatswords because of being blocked by the medusas). When the general misses the opportunity to clear the way as I did it can stall the advance for quite some time.
Originally I considered the Empire army to be a gunline and wanted to approach it that way: staying out of range, sending fast units down the flanks to destroy hellblasters, then engaging. I have underestimated the combat prowess of the greatswords, though. Still I think my general plan was not that bad. Had my redirecting be right, I would be able to destroy all three infantry units one by one.
What I am not sure about is the deployment of witches. The idea was to protect them against shooting and failed frenzy checks, but maybe I have crowded the flank a bit too much. I could have placed them behind the medusas instead and then back away should the need arise.
I am not sure what should I have targeted with my bolt throwers. Most shots went into detachments as they can be annoying as speed bumps. Killing the engineer was not a big win as I was staying outside of hellblaster range anyway, though.
All in all an interesting game. Hellblasters are a different kind of threat than I have encountered so far. I think I like them more than steam tanks. :D
Last edited by Marchosias on Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 and 1000 points) - 22.12. WoC

Post by Amboadine »

Nice write up thanks. Very crowded table on that left flank, shame you couldn't get the Executioners into combat, but that is always a risk when running that many units. I know I have fluffed my charges and blocked myself on more than one occasion.
First time I have seen the solo medusa's run in a battle report. Would you run them again?
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 - 1500 points) - 29.1. Empire

Post by Marchosias »

Thanks for commenting!

I would run the solo medusas again just for the hilarity of it. If they have place in a "hard" list, I do not know. Dark riders are only a tad more expensive, but medusas have a smaller frontage and an interesting anti-armour attack. They foiled my plans twice with overruns (one example you can see here, one wil come in the next report) but managed not to get frenzy baited once per three battles and drawed fire from my other troops. I think they have another kind of maneuverability than dark riders which might come in handy: In this battle, a medusa could have squeezed in the opponents backfield had I not declared the additional charge against the musketeers. Dark riders would either have too wide frontage for this or would lack the attacks to defeat the humans quickly enough. I think at least.
And medusas can be nicely added to an ongoing fight. They only need to touch their target with the corner to get the full effect out of them (well, full effect except Avert Your Gaze! where you want as many enemy models in base contact as possible).

I am definitely going to test them some more.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 - 1500 points) - 29.1. Empire

Post by Thraundil »

Marchosias wrote: In this battle, a medusa could have squeezed in the opponents backfield had I not declared the additional charge against the musketeers. Dark riders would either have too wide frontage for this or would lack the attacks to defeat the humans quickly enough.


Keep in mind dark riders (and indeed any fast cavalry) have free reforms. You can reform during the movement phase as many times as you like, so as long as there is a 1"+25mm+1" gap between units, dark riders can get through. On the other hand, a medusa needs 1"+40mm+1" ;)

Nice battle. The blocking you did with the harpies, judging from the diagram, could have been done with a better angle to force the enemy to overrun in such a way that he cant hit any of your units. I cant see if this was what you did do, just worth mentioning :) Empire can be tricky to play against with all those detachments.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 - 1500 points) - 29.1. Empire

Post by Marchosias »

Thraundil wrote:Keep in mind dark riders (and indeed any fast cavalry) have free reforms.


They have no reforms while charging, though. When charging dark riders, you either have them wide and need quite some space, or you have them narrow and lose attacks. This is a slight advantage for the medusa.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by Marchosias »

Game 2: Warriors of Chaos

Lost Colony (copied from previous post for easier reference):

Master, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, shield, lance, cloak of twilight: 188 (general)
Sorceress, lvl 2 metal, ruby ring of ruin, dispel scroll: 165

10 witch elves, musician: 120
20 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 225
5 dark riders, shields, crossbows, musician: 110

14 executioners, FCG, gleaming pennant: 203
5 shades, ahw: 90
5 harpies: 75
2x bolt thrower: 2x 70

2x bloodwrack medusa: 2x 90

Warriors of Chaos:

Fighty general
Fighty BSB
19 Chaos warriors of Tzeentch, FCG
19 Chosen of Nurgle, FCG
2x Warshrine

And that was it. Two big blocks that can defeat almost anything in combat – provided they can get into combat at all. Two heroes that can do enormous harm alone (I think they start with five attacks at S5 and their defences are not bad, either). Two warshrines that can fight decently as well (4 + D6 attacks in total at S5, though only two of them are at WS5 and the rest on WS3; add to that T5, 4+ AS and 3++ ward; lucky they do not get impact hits at least) and can buff nearby heroes and champions permanently (it is a bound spell and the results are random so the hero can end up with an increased ballistic skill, but other results include getting higher strength or changing into a demon prince).

On the other hand, no ranged presence, no fast units, no means to control the battlefield. It was clear to me that I would have to evade engagement, shoot as much as possible and hopefully lead one warrior block away and defeat the other one.

As my opponent did not show any aggressiveness and I did not play too well, either, it was a rather boring game.

Deployment

Image

The advantage of MSU showed in that after I dropped my medusas, dark riders and harpies, I was able to see the whole enemy's army and react accordingly. The Chaos general placed his units on both sides of the obelisk (impassable terrain) which meant he would likely be forced to split his army into two halves or advance only very slowly. I chose to redirect the chosen and try to defeat warriors as they were a slightly easier prey.

For magic I got searing doom and transmutation of lead. And I even managed to get the first turn.

Lost Colony, Turn 1

Image

I flew my harpies behind the obelisk which I consider a good spot where they were near to everything and not blocking my own troops too much as the obelisk was impassable, anyway. Fast units advanced to shoot, march block, redirect and generally annoy while my infantry only moved cautiously, knowing that even all three units combined could have a hard time fighting the warriors.
Most of the game all shooting and casting targeted the warriors, reducing them one at a time. This turn, for example, with the combined effort of shades, dark riders and RBTs as well as magic, one warrior was slain.
(To comment the magic phase in short: searing doom got always dispelled, once I hexed a warshrine and fireball got usually through but scored only few kills as one would expect.)

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 1

Image

The warriors reformed to face my shades, warshrines moved a bit forward in something resembling a battle line and Nurgle chosen turned a little. Was the army trying to go around the obelisk at the western side? If so, the chosen should have wheeled earlier as they could hardly squeeze next to it after their manoeuvre.
I dispelled one warshrine buff but let the second one through, fearing there might be some bound spell surprises. The general, BSB and one champion got upgraded.

Lost Colony, Turn 2

Image

Considering the pace of three upgrades per magic phase quite dangerous (Chaos heroes are dangerous enough as they are), I decided to gamble and charge my twilight master into the nearer warshrine which held. The western medusa baited a charge from the other warshrine, the eastern one closed to the chosen to force a march block test (unlikely to fail with BSB but who knows). Sorceress left the spearmen and let them prepare for battle, which means shuffle some ten inches away from the medusa so that an overrun was unlikely to hit them but they would be in a nice distance to countercharge. Executioners and witches walked forwards with caution, knowing the time for confrontation is far away, and shades left the chaos warriors' front arc.
If you do not understand why I have not moved the dark riders, well, neither do I. Maybe I thought some redirecting might be needed in the centre but in the end they too often ended intercepting with the shooting of my western bolt thrower.
In combat, the warshrine was destroyed (quite lucky with the 3++ ward) and my master overrun. This move was so perfectly planned that both of my medusas ended in his leadership bubble.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 2

Image

The remaining warshrine declared a charge against my baiting medusa but fell short. The smart monster even managed to sneak a wound in with stand and shoot. Both infantry blocks reformed, for reasons I am unable to comprehend, to face my flying pegasus master.
From now on, every attempt at casting the shrine's spell was stopped. I had quite a lot of dispel dice and a +2 to dispel on top of that.

Lost Colony, Turn 3

Image

Thanks to the proximity of her general the western medusa passed her frenzy check and stayed in place. The eastern one tried to box the chosen together with my master. Executioners advanced a little so they hopefully could get a flank charge on the warshrine. Other units were waiting.
There was some shooting and magic but fourteen chaos warriors plus hero were still standing.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 3

Image

This time the warshrine completed the charge and managed to kill the medusa for no wounds in return. Chosen followed, hoping it would break through and allow them to slaughter something. Warriors had the possibility to charge my general, actually, but they would need a high roll and so decided to reform instead facing south.
By the way, the image of a medusa crazy with bloodlust wondering where the enemy might be while right behind her she hears heavy footsteps and jingling of weapons sounds quite hilarious.

Lost Colony, Turn 4

Image

As planned, my spearmen attacked the warshrine. I did not dare to send in the execs, though, as it would allow the Chaos warriors to join the fight. The warriors were aligned as far to the east as possible: the chosen could not squeeze between the warshrine and obelisk and the chaos warriors could not wheel to come into contact.
Because the executioners were staying out of combat I sent the second medusa to prepare for a flank charge. As the Chaos warriors numbers were lowering I advanced with witch elves in case it would be possible to get into a favourable fight.
In the combat a few spearmen fell, the shrine lost combat due to static combat resolution but refused to flee.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 4


Image

Nurgle Chosen, thinking they are jammed forever and can never advance south of the obelisk, turned to face my general. Otherwise, almost nothing happened.
Now I see that the Chaos general could have charged out of the warriors unit and joined the fight. The picture is off, he would have ended on the western side of the warshrine, open to retaliation from the executioners. If he did I would be steadfast but unable to win the combat anymore. I think he should have done so. There was still a powerful unit of chaos warriors in reserve, killing the general would not be easy.

Lost Colony, Turn 5

Image

Medusa charged the warshrine, hoping that the bonus for charge + flank would be enough to break the chariot finally.
Then I tried to prepare a position for a final charge. The harpies attempted to protect the spearmen from retaliation and lead the Chaos warriors in a trap where they would get assaulted by witches, executioners, peg master and possibly even the spearmen themselves. The flaws of this plan will be discussed below.
The shrine got broken, indeed. The medusa had to pursue and was able to run it down while the warriors restrained.
However, the pursuit got the medusa in base contact with the Chaos warriors.

Warriors of Chaos, Turn 5

Image

First, I was informed that the general can actually get charged by Chosen, something that did not occur to me before as charging round the corner is weird but is surely possible according to the rules. Not wanting to risk anything I elected to flee.
Second, the medusa failed to hit his general and was subsequently beaten in combat but not killed. As she was on Ld2 now she fled and was run down. In pursuit, the warriors missed the harpies and stopped one inch from the chosen regiment.

This was the end of the game as my general rallied and neither of us had the tools to accomplish anything significant during the last turn. I lost only the two medusas and destroyed two warshrines which meant another 10:10 draw.

After battle thoughts:

I would like to start with me setting up the last turn charge. If I wanted to fight, I should have taken into account that the warriors were in fact protected by the medusa who had to overrun. I should have reformed the warriors facing the north-east corner and brought both executioners and witches nearer. The warriors would then charge the medusa, defeat her and overrun into warriors but not fight until my turn in which I would be able to bring both executioners and witches in. And the pegasus master if I positioned him correctly.
And even not accounting for the medusa overrun there was no need to stay cautiously far away from the warriors. If they would overrun into one of my units, so what? The fighting would only take place on my turn when help would come. The difference in charge bonus could be significant but it seems a risk worth taking.
In the last turn, the Chaos warrior unit counted 11 warriors plus the hero. This was too many for executioners and witches to take care of reliably so the medusa might have actually saved me here with her suicidal charge. However, with the setup described above I would have a very nice chance of winning.
I should have probably placed both bolt throwers at the left flank if my aim was to reduce the warriors as much as possible before engaging them. On the other hand, table was quite crowded there and I was quite often shooting through hard cover caused by my own units. But I guess it could have been done with a bit more care. I could have placed a bolt thrower in the forest, for example, avoiding its soft cover penalty.
Charging the warshrine with my master might have been an unnecessary risk. Had he not destroyed or broken it on the charge he would probably stick around for quite a time and get a flank charge from the Chaos warriors. On the other hand I am really not sure what should I have done instead. The shrine si very durable and requires a considerable commitment to reliably bring down. A combined charge of witches + execs could probably rout it but it would allow for the warriors to join the fight. And there would be no guarantee the shrine would not rally next turn.

On a side note, I feel a bit sorry for my opponent as he did almost nothing during the whole game. His turns lasted five minutes at maximum most of the time while I was constantly measuring something and weighting possibilities. On the other hand, he could have hardly expected anything else with the army he fielded. I hope someone gave him a few tips along the line of “bring some dogs”. I could have hardly done so as he was clearly displeased with the game.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by Amboadine »

I am sorry, but I wouldn't feel too sorry for him. If you bring that sort of list, then you should know you aren't going to be doing much.
Nice report. Thanks.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by T.D. »

Loving the solo Medusa's :P

Nice play in the WoC battle particularly :)
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by Marchosias »

Game 1: Tomb Kings

Finally, the first game of the tourney and the last one to write about! And I can promise there will even be some combat!

Lost Colony (copied from previous post for easier reference):

Master, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, shield, lance, cloak of twilight: 188 (general)
Sorceress, lvl 2 metal, ruby ring of ruin, dispel scroll: 165

10 witch elves, musician: 120
20 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 225
5 dark riders, shields, crossbows, musician: 110

14 executioners, FCG, gleaming pennant: 203
5 shades, ahw: 90
5 harpies: 75
2x bolt thrower: 2x 70

2x bloodwrack medusa: 2x 90

Tomb Kings:


Hierophant lvl 2
Prince (general)
Large block of tomb guard
3x 10 skeleton archers
4 chariots
2x casket of souls
2x tomb scorpion

There was almost the maximum shooting allowed by the comp. There was a large block with good fighting capabilities (tomb guards have WS6 as long as the prince is alive). The enemy had two caskets with their nasty bound spell (roll three dice, take the two with the highest results, substract your leadership and suffer that many wounds) – elves have mostly good leadership but since the spell can hop between units on 3+ it can still cause considerable damage. And chariot impact hits are always nasty, of course. I was not that worried about scorpions as they only have four attacks at a low WS but they could provide strong flank chargers.
One more nice touch to this army was that should the hierophant be destroyed the army would start to crumble but would be able to use the generals leadership, greatly reducing its losses.
I have also noticed I hate facing tomb king shooting. It is actually not that powerful, hitting on 5+ at all times, but I can in no way actively reduce its effectiveness, all I can do is to hope the arrows are as clumsy as they seem. I feel more under pressure than I would be facing normal archery.

Deployment

Image

The battle was fought on the same table as the one against WoC.
Unsurprisingly, my opponent placed his caskets as close to the table edge as possible, his two big units centrally with both characters in tomb guard. He did not care about my scouts who managed to get to the north-eastern corner; still, there was not much chance of getting to the caskets easily.
I placed medusas for some flanking, warriors and witch elves across his big unit to hopefully defeat it or destroy his characters at least, executioners to the other side of the obelisk to counter chariots and pegasus master in the middle to provide leadership bubble to as many of my units as possible.

Tomb Kings, Turn 1

Image

He shuffled his shooters in positions. Most notable was the turn of chariots who wanted to fire at shades, other units did just small moves if any. One of the scorpions threatened my shades.
Then two caskets fired at me, both starting with the general. One was stopped, the other one I let through in fear of worse things (bound spells on items and such). Luckily, I rolled quite well, and so only a bolt thrower and one harpy fell victim to the ancient magic. Shooting did not much else, killing one shade and two dark riders.

Lost Colony, Turn 1

Image

Seeing a beautiful overrun path to the western casket I bravely charged my dark riders against the skeleton archers. Warriors brought the sorceress in range for some spells (not that magic did something significant during the game), the eastern medusa with pegasus master and executioners advanced in a flanking manoeuvre. Witch elves and harpies stayed in reserve as I did not want to engage the tomb guard just yet. I managed to position my units six inches apart, ensuring the casket bound spells would not spread.
Shades, afraid of the big monster, retreated near the house.
I think I might have done a mistake with the western medusa. It raced on the flank to attempt some flank charge but left the generals bubble in the process, making it an easy prey for the caskets. Had I kept it near the general, the worst thing that could happen would be a charge from the tomb guard which I would welcome as the unit would then be overextended. Additionally, I would have threatened with a suicide charge against his hierophant. On the other hand the charge into skeletons would then be a bit longer.
There was not much shooting. Bolt thrower missed the chariots and shades killed a few skeleton archers.
In combat, the dark riders did not manage a single wound and suffered a casualty in the process (a failed fear test might have been involved). Luckily, their musician blew on his horn with such a force that a particularly decrepit skeleton crumbled. Still, not what I have hoped for.

Tomb Kings, Turn 2

Image

The army was largely remaining stationary. Chariots faced the flanking forces and a scorpion moved to help against dark riders.
Medusas then served as perfect fire magnets. The western one was completely destroyed, the other was left surviving on the last wound. There were no casualties otherwise, though.
In combat, the dark riders fared slightly better than before but the combat was still protracted.

Lost Colony, Turn 2

Image

Pegasus master attempted a charge against chariots and failed.
Because of this, I had to move my harpies in chase the chariots would try to charge my executioners. With impact hits, they would have a very good chance at winning. (The other possibility would be to just stay outside of charge range but I wanted to get the executioners into combat.) In addition, I moved my shades closer to combats, preparing a flank charge against some skellies.
On the western flank, I got a marvellous idea that I will lure his tomb guard block to charge spearmen, hold on steadfast, then countercharge with witch elves and smash him. Obviously, I cannot count ranks.
Dark riders finally managed to destroy the remaining archers. It was too late, though.

Tomb Kings, Turn 3

Image

The scorpion charged my dark riders, they elected to flee and were run down. The tomb guard then charged spearmen who held. On the eastern flank, the tomb kings were waiting: they only backed a little with chariots and shot down the medusa finally.
In combat, spearmen did not manage a single wound while suffering a few, did not pass their leadership at Ld 5 or something and were ran down, together with the sorceress.

Lost Colony, Turn 3

Image

To put it short I charged everything I could and completed it every time. The pegasus master into chariots (his arrow should be red, sorry for that), shades into archers in the wood and harpies into the remaining ones. Executioners had to stay in reserve and so they closed to the enemy a bit at least.
On the western flank I obviously had no idea what could I achieve and so I basically shuffled the witch elves at random. Or maybe I was hoping they could attack the tomb guard and assassinate the characters, I do not know.
My bolt thrower finally did something and killed the eastern scorpion.
I started to resolve the combats from east to west, which was probably not very tactical. Shades managed to crumble all of the archers and overrun nearer to the battle. Pegasus master passed his fear test but then scored an amazing one wound. The charioteers squeezed one wound on him in return, which meant he lost combat on musician. And then he fled, was run down and the pursuit brought the chariots right into my shades.
In the remaining combat, harpies passed their fear test even at their own leadership value but achieved very little and the combat went on to the following turn.
Had I resolved the combats in the opposite order, the harpies would test for fear (and possible break) on general's leadership and the chariots would not be able to reach my shades with their pursuit.

Tomb Kings, Turn 4

Image

There was not much to do, actually. Tomb guard reformed to face the witches (witch characters in the safe corner of course) and a scorpion moved so that a charge at the tomb guard would inevitably bring some flanking.
Caskets somehow failed to do anything significant. In combat, both shades and harpies were destroyed. Chariots reformed facing the nearing executioners.

Lost Colony, Turn 4

Image

Having not many choices, I charged with executioners against the chariot unit and with witch elves against the scorpion. Both units managed to chop down the enemy without suffering any losses.
I was hoping the witch elves might overrun so far that the big unit would be unable to catch them but that would have to be a really high roll. Possibly even higher than 12. The execs were able to overrun into the casket, though.

Tomb Kings, Turn 5

Image

Witch elves were charged by the big unit, defeated and ran down. On the other hand casket had no chance of surviving as well.

After that no one of us was able to get some points. The last casket spell did not suffice. In the end my executioners managed to get a considerable amount of points from the enemy and so I only lost 6:14.

After-battle thoughts:

My deployment was too crowded given what the caskets are capable of. In this regard I was very lucky as I only lost a bolt thrower and maybe some odd warrior here and there despite rolling at least six times during the battle.
I have the feeling I have not pressed enough against either the caskets or the characters. A suicidal medusa charge against the hierophant might have been nice. Flanking with medusas was good but I could have flown with the harpies in charge range of the further casket instead of charging the skeletons. Skeletons were neither overly dangerous nor expensive.
I feel bad about the mistakes on the western flank. First, offering a charge against warriors was a bad decision. But what might be even more important, I should have then devised a new plan, advanced the witches far from the tomb guard and formed a new task force with the executioners. Instead, I have moved them without thought, unable to adapt to the new situation. In the end I have exchanged witch elves for the scorpion which was not that bad but my opponent could have denied me that.
There was the unlucky charge of my pegasus master. I am still not sure if I should have sent him. It was very probable he would win the combat and crumble a few wounds but not that likely that he would really destroy the unit in one go. He would have to inflict six wounds and suffer none which is possible but outside of what I would like to count on. In subsequent rounds of combat he would not do much and be open to countercharge from the scorpion. On the other hand, there were executioners waiting in reserve so it was maybe not that much of a risk. Tying the chariots up with something they should not defeat is better than trying to get a charge on them with an infantry unit.
Which reminds me, the twilight master as a monster hunter has one drawback: he is susceptible to fear. He should not fail the test with Ld9 but it can happen. And he might be under the influence of some leadership debuff such as the one from shrine. The best solution I have come up with so far is making him a BSB but then he cannot flee from lost combat.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by Amboadine »

Interesting read. Thank you. I have never had the opportunity to play against Tomb Kings so I will use this as a case study.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 31.1. WoC

Post by Calisson »

Thanks for an excellent report & post combat analysis.

Marchosias wrote:Tomb Kings, Turn 3
The scorpion charged my dark riders, they elected to flee and were run down. The tomb guard then charged spearmen...

Strange.
DR flee 2 best of 3 dice, they actually move as soon as they declare their reaction. The scorpion does not move yet.
Then other charges are declared before any charge roll is made.
Only after all charges are declared and all reactions are made, and only then, the charging units roll to see if they complete the charges.
For the scorpion, that means to cover the initial distance plus what DR have fled.
Viewing your graph, it seems unlikely that the scorp caught the DR, unless DR rolled triple one and scorp double six or something close.
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 3.2. Tomb K

Post by Marchosias »

@ Amboadine: This is a great honour for me! :) It is probably worth mentioning that the Tomb Kings are quite slow: they can never march (no matter if the general is near) and although they have one spell that grants them additional movement, it only provides affected units with one more movement phase (minus the possibility of charges). On the other hand, each augment spell from their "lore of Tomb Kings" ressurects some of them automatically.

@ Calisson: Thanks for the compliment!
I have checked my photos just to be sure and yes, dark riders must have rolled crap for their flight. On the other hand, DR fled for what they rolled while scorpion pursued for what it rolled plus its movement value. I think the movement value was enough to cover their initial distance and then it was only a question of who rolls higher. Scorpions might even have swiftstride, too.
(The scorpion actually ended behind the hill which I unfortunately forgot to show; this is also why it was capable of blocking my witches in turn 4. The diagram might be misleading as it seems from it the dark riders were destroyed on spot. Next time I will try to be more precise.)
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Re: Lost colony chronicle (500 to 1500 points) - 3.2. Tomb K

Post by T.D. »

Thanks for the write up.

When I lose the initiative vs TK I get picked apart. They have a lot of threats and are durable due to resurrection and decent combat units like TG.

With the benefit of hindsight I would have used the harpies to go for the western Casket immediately, supported by the DR. TG I would have tried to avoid...though it would have been difficult to do given the troops you both had. If I couldn't have avoided I would have tried to multicharge with Warriors, Witches and Execs, sacrificing Medusas and Shades to slow down the chariots. But there is no guarantee I would have been able to pull any of that off! Your opponent played very well, and taking two caskets was clever at this points value -- the bound spell is ideal vs MSU opponents.

These type of defeats are the best learning experience in the game. You will find TK much easier to play against in future.
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