This is Part 2 of my Battle Breakdown. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Once I've got these initial reports written I'll try to give reports one at a time with a bit more detail, then I'll be sure to include pictures with the reports. Its worth bearing in mind that some of these battles occurred weeks ago and as my memory is a little hazy this is more of a report on the highlights and what I took away from these battles rather than any in depth analysis.
Games 5 & 6
Both of these games took place on the same games night and against the same opponent with High Elves. Not many turned up for the campaign so we never did a campaign turn on the map (a recurring theme in this campaign) however even when this has happened I have been able to get a game in against someone in the campaign and this is what happened here. So this was at the new points level of 1200 points, the first try with my upgraded characters. His army consisted of a unit of 20 or so Sword Masters, 20 Spearmen, 2 units of 10 sea guard a level 2 Mage and a Bolt Thrower if I remember correctly. He combined the Sea Guard into one unit for the second game. The first battle was Battle line scenario and the second was meeting engagement.
Not huge amounts to note in these games really, I won both. I managed in both games to gang up on his Sword Masters meaning I could soak up casualties and still hit back hard. I've learnt from my previous games that while Sword Masters hit hard they can't take punishment and crumble easily as long as you can survive those initial blows. In the second game I even managed to lure them into a trap by sacrificing my Skinks. To be fair I was lucky with his charging rolls, but it meant his unit was perfectly placed for a combined front and side charge with my Saurus and Temple Guard. He was pretty unlucky in the second game, my entire army turned up par the meeting engagement rules were as he was a couple of units short
What I learnt Once his Sword Masters were dealt with the rest of his army was pretty easy to mop up, the High Elf core really doesn't have the hitting power or survivability to deal with Saurus'. Having played 4 of my 6 games against High Elves I have a good grasp of how to play against them. Gang up and deal with the elite units and the rest is no problem. In bigger games I may not find this formula so simple.
So how did my new Characters do. Well difficult to say. My Old Blood wasn't attacked once in either game so I never had the chance to test his survivability. I don't believe his Anti Heroes sword came into effect either. To be honest I figured he wouldn't always be of use, he's there to deal with stuff the rest of my army can't and in these battles none of those were present. He didn't die and that’s really his main objective. My Priest was a slightly different story, he's become more useful in every game I've played, but I think that’s more down to me getting use to using magic. Its not that he was spectacular but I found a lvl 1 was pointless where as a lvl 2 actually does something.
Game 7
This was a campaign game, 1200pts, Battle line against Dwarfs. Based on what I've read and heard about Dwarfs in 8th (remember I was considering collecting them over Lizards) this wasn't exactly an optimised list. Not a Great Weapon or grudge thrower in sight! He had 2 Units of Dwarf Warriors (may have been as few as 15 models a piece I can't remember now), 16 or so Quarrellers, a unit of Iron Breakers (15 or 20 strong, a Bolt Thrower and a Flame Cannon. He had a Lord in one of the warrior units and a Runesmith in the Iron Breakers.
My Cold Ones Set up opposite his Flame Cannon and one unit of Warriors. My Saurus set up in the middle opposite the other unit of Warriors with his Lord in. My General set up in the Temple Guard opposite his Iron Breakers on the right flank (I figured they had the best chance of beating his armour). My Skinks also set up on the far right and his Quarrellers set up between his Lord and Iron Breakers, along with the Bolt Thrower.
On my Left the Cold Ones ran up the board swiftly dispatching his Flame Cannon and over running into his Warriors locked in combat until almost the end of the game. In the centre my Saurus and his Lord with Warriors met head on. The Dwarfs won this combat running down my Saurus. The Dwarfs then reformed and then headed back towards their lines in the direction of the Cold One Cavalry, aiming to charge them in the rear. On my right flank the Temple Guard advanced while the Skinks sped along the flank to make a nuisance of themselves. The Iron Breakers manoeuvred to chase down the Skinks, but their speed meant they could quickly move round the Dwarven flanks and out of their charge arc. The Iron Breakers soon gave up on this idea and turned to face back towards my lines although they had lost a turn in this pointless endeavour.
At this point my Temple Guard and general had a choice, charge the Iron Breakers who were closer and thus the more certain charge, or charge the Quarrellers who would have been more difficult to reach but easier to defeat in combat. I decided on charging the Iron Breakers, I would have seriously screwed my self if I had failed the charge and the same goes if I couldn't finish the Quarrellers quickly before the Iron Breakers could reform and charge my rear. In hindsight it may have been worth a shot, I can't remember the exact distance I needed to roll but I'm certain now I would have finished them quickly. As it was I charged the Iron Breakers and over a turn or two all of the Temple Guard were destroyed and my General fled. He managed to escape and rally, however, and was charged again by the Iron Breakers.
My Skinks meanwhile were at the back of the Dwarven lines. A combination of offensive magic and blowpipes destroyed the bolt thrower. The Quarrellers turned and they and the Skinks exchanged fire for a couple of turns before the Skinks eventually fled. With only one model left they managed to rally on the edge of the board and hide from any further shooting saving me the points.
In the last turn of the game my Cold Ones defeated the Warriors who fled off the board, my choice here now was to follow them off the board, saving the victory points or to reform facing the Lords unit who were by now in an easy charge range. I didn't think there was much chance of winning the combat, I only had 4 or 5 riders left and he had about a dozen Dwarfs plus his Lord. It was the Lord who scared me although he had minimal equipment. I decided to run off the board and save the points, putting my hope in the right flank. Again I kind of regret this decision, although I made the safe choice I was putting all my eggs into one basket in the other combat. Looking back I doubt the warriors would have wiped out the Cold Ones, their 2+ save would have soaked up most of their damage. I may have even won, if I was lucky, each of my models gives out 3 strength 4 attacks needing 4's to hit. If I did lose the unit however, that would have been 300pts and the game. The same goes for him but again I probably wouldn't have wiped him out and I would have been relying on a failed break test, although I would have likely caught him if I had. There were a lot of what ifs and I think I made the right decision, its just one of those situations where I wish I could have seen what happened.
So my last hope was on the right flank, my general verses his Iron Breakers with a Runesmith in the unit. I was actually a little more confidant here than I was when the Temple Guard were alive, remember my Old Blood is built to survive, with toughness 5 a 2+ Save and 4+ Ward, also even though I wasn't in base contact with the Runesmith I still got the benefit for my Sword of the Anti Heroes, meaning I had 6 Attacks at Strength 6 and needing 3's to hit. This combat lasted a few rounds, while the Dwarfs couldn't hurt me the Standard, Rank and Charge bonus meant I lost or drew a couple rounds, largely because my Lord fluffed his dice rolls. But I never lost by much, and with leadership being rolled on 3 dice, I wasn't going anywhere. I slowly whittled him down however, until he lost his rank and could only rely on his standard for combat resolution. He was however steadfast. But on the final combat of the game his unit fled, a mighty 9” which unfortunately was too fast for my Old Blood to catch.
The Dwarfs had won by about 200pts, we checked and the Iron Breakers with the Runesmith were worth around 300pts so if I had caught them that would have swung it for me.
What I learnt: Dwarfs are tough, but so are Saurus so this battle was like two brick walls colliding with each other. Still not sure about the decisions I made but I guess that's always the way when a battle is this close. I need to get my units working in conjunction more, in this battle they were all fighting their own little battles, but its not like the Dwarfs managed to gang up on me. Also worth noting my general does pretty well taking on small units by himself, something to bear in mind.
Game 7's report was a little longer than expected so I'm going to leave it there for now and bring the rest of the reports to you shortly.
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