On a verdant sliver of realm the forces of Malakal and Staaren stumble on each other, as well as an ancient forest heart, spewing lifestuff into the soil. A valuable resource to those who can secure it.Played a game today against Andreas, a regular opponent, and was able to document quite a bit. Thought I'd jot down a quick report.
The Grand Sultanate of Malakal – Royalists, 350 pts
Commander – Mount, Bodyguard, Battle Standard
Royal Magician
Royal Marines x 5, Rifles, Veterans, Regimental Standard
Line Infantry x 6, Pole weapons, Regimental Standard, Musician
Royal Hussars x 6, Death’s head
Royal Hussars x 6, Death’s head
Foot knights x 6
Jägers x 6
The Duchy of Staaren – Free People, 350 pts
Knights of the Realm – The First among equals
Chaplain
Line Infantry x 5, Crossbow volley and bayonets, Regimental Standard, Musician
Longbowmen x 5, Regimental Standard, Musician
Foot Knight x 4, Muskets
Jägers x 6
Men-at-arms x 8, Line Breakers
Shock Troops x 6, Grenades
I play Malakal, in orange uniforms, and Andreas, my opponent, plays Staaren in their green drab.
I set up the terrain while my opponent was on his way. In the middle we have the forest heart itself, which serves as the marker for the sacred ground scenario, The rock and heart was also deemed impassable and LOS blocking. The rest of the base was rough ground. Besides that we had three hills, two forests, a great root and a pair of mushroom barriers. I think this was a good amount of terrain and it definitely had an impact of the game.
For deployment my opponent won the roll and picked the side that is going to be to the right in most pictures. I will try to call this the right table edge and refer to top and bottom flanks, as it fits the images. He deployed a the Jägers at the top, just inside the forest, then his longbowmen in line, with Men at Arms in column taking the centre, with foot knights and knights of the realm ready behind. Toward the bottom flank there were crossbows, a chaplain and finally shock troopers behind the hill.
On my side I deployed a unit of Royal Hussars at the top, behind the big hill, followed by Royal Marines, Commander and Royal Magician. Line infantry with pole weapons (I will likely refer to these as pikemen from now on) just below the centre, with foot knights behind, the second royal hussars below and finally jägers on the hill.
Turn 1 saw mostly cautious advances with many units staying out of threat range. Once my opponent had moved up his men at arms I decided to be a little bit aggressive and moved my Royal Marines in front of their barricade to take a shot. A very good roll saw five men at arms fall dead. The longbowmen attempted to retaliate but Andreas unfortunately rolled a 1 on his combat test. Once most of the ranged units had activated I moved up my hussars into more forward positions. The Staaren chaplain does what she is going to do for the rest of the game: cast Faithfull Intercessor and position herself to cover the whole army. Chaplain and Knights of the Realm is a solid combo.
Turn 2 started with a Hussar charge into the longbowmen on the top side and some pretty decent rolls saw a base removed and another almost destroyed. Andreas then activated his shock troopers who climbed the hill and were able to charge down into the forward hussars. Another 1 on a combat test and he had to back off! The bottom hussars return the charge into the shock troops with a focus order, and I believe I rolled a crit here, wiping them out.
The crossbowmen received the warcry order and obliterated the bottom hussars with another critical hit. Staarens foot knights were then able to charge the hussars locking up the longbowmen and taking them out as well. The Longbows were able to shot and hit the Royal Marines this time, but not too much damage. Finally, the men at arms who had moved up to block took another two casualties to Royal Marine rifles and the Staaren Jägers moved up to the barricade on the top flank.
In the nerve phase my pikemen failed a roll, landing on two stress, and the final man at arms for Staaren ran off the field. I believe the longbows and foot knights also picked up a stress each.
Turn 3 and things start to get bloody. I win initiative for the third time. I believe the Royal Marines shot out a couple of bases worth of Longbowmen, but were then badly battered by a critical hit from Jägers with Warcry on them (impressive getting 18 dice out of 6 jägers). My foot knights, almost forgotten until now, had shuffled toward the top flank, but changed their mind and started shuffling down the bottom side of the forest heart.
On the bottom flank the crossbowmen scoot back and shoot at the pikemen, killing one base, but a critical success on the nerve test allows me to remove all their stress. They then activate and focus regrowth with the great root. The magician scoots them just outside 5” of the massive gore pile by the bottom hill, and within 9” of the crossbows.
Turn 4. Andreas wins initiative for the first time since deployment, and his Jägers finish murdering my Royal marines and his crossbows kill four Jägers. The Malakal Foot Knights get Go at them from the commander and are able to focus charge the crossbowmen. I think another crit, and after endurance saves I did exactly the 12 wounds needed to wipe them out. Staarens foot knights get warcry as well, and kill two or three of the Malakal foot knights with a round of musket fire. The Knights of the Realm shuffle around a little bit closer to the objective, but we are starting to notice that I have a massive lead in wounds on the table.
Turn 5 is a brief affair, the only highlight being my foot knights charging, hitting and failing to wound the knights of the realm. 4D6, hitting on 4+ and I roll four 3’s.
In the end, the pikement secure a solid victory for Malakal by hogging the spot between the objective and the great root. Final points 66 to Malakal and 34 to Staaren.
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June 16, 2008, 07:15:38 AM