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2013/08/14 19:28:49
Subject: Bretonnia vs Empire (1500 points) Flying French Circus vs Altdorf's Finest
So, the other Knight my friend Myelinated Axon thew together some fun lists for our armies and played a game. To keep things interesting we decided to do a Battle Report, since I have not actually done one before! Before we get underway, I apologize ahead of time that some of the pictures are blurry (lesson learned that I need to take a bit more time aiming my camera in the future ) also neither of the armies are finished, and the Demigryphs were being proxied with bases while MyAx is gap filling on the models.
So lets begin shall we!
Picture Key Red Arrows: Movement Blue Arrows: Charges Orange Arrows: Flee Green Xs : Units destroyed Purple : Reforms Dark Blue: end of combat moves
The Armies and Board
Spoiler:
Myelinated Axon's Altorf Empire Wizard Lord (heavens)- level 4, talisman of preservation, dispel scroll Captain- bsb, full plate, shield, biting blade, dragonhelm, talisman of endurance Captain- Lance, Full plate, Pegasus, Charmed shield, Dragonbane gem 10 ic knights- fc, steel std 12 archers 30 greatswords- fc, std of discipline 3 demigryph knights- musician
Vs akaean's Flying French Circus / Hero Hammer Bretonnian Lord- Hippogryph, Shield, Lance, Armour of the Midsummer Sun, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Foolhardiness Paladin- BSB, Virtue of Empathy, Enchanted Shield, Ruby Ring of Ruin Paladin- Royal Pegasus, the Wyrmlance, Charmed Shield Damsel- lvl 2, Lore of Beasts, Prayer Icon 9 Knights of the Realm- Full Command, Standard of Dicipline 39 Men at Arms- Full Command 14 Peasant Bowmen- Skrimishers, Braizers, Standard 3 Pegasus Knights
I really wanted to field the Hippogryph. I converted mine from an Island of Blood Griffon, and it had been a really long time since I had run him in a game. 1500 points was a tight squeeze, that build above was 374 out of 375 points. Midsummer Sun is heavy armour and -1 to hit rider and mount, If I had more points I would have bought him Obsidian Amulet (since MR confers to the mount as well, and stacks with the blessing save!), and the Other Trickster's Shard (since the Mount's attacks benefit from it as well) The rest of the list is built around the Lord Choice. I nearly maxed out Heroes (370/375) to fit in a Paladin on a Pegasus to give me a total of 3 flying threats for saturation. I also went with a heavy focus on Peasants for my core, so I wouldn't need the Hippo Lord for Leadership. The Virtue of Empathy lets peasants use the BSB's Leadership from 12 inches away, giving a Leadership 8 bubble, and the ld9 Knights also project a bubble of leadership to the Peasants within 6 inches, and if all else fails they get the Damsel's leadership 7. The list is a bit magic weak, but I've still got a total of 3 spells, for some limited presence in that phase. Also Warmachines are lame- fun fact, this is the first game I've played without a Trebuchet!
I also think its interesting that our lists are so similar. We've both got 1 Horde, Skrimishing Archers, Knights, Monsterous Cav, and Heroes on Pegs. Pretty crazy! I'm thankful MyAx didn't bring his 2 cannons today, but at the same time Lore of Heavens is very effective against my build. The Board So we've got a river running down the side, 2 Mysterious Forests, and a Fence in the middle. I'll keep you updated on what the Forests / Rivers are as we discover them!
Deployment and Turn 1
Spoiler:
Empire wins the roll to pick sides / deploy first. We take turns deploying as per usual. the end Result is MyAx has his Archers w/ lvl 4 and Great Swords w/ BSB centrally deployed, with his Captasus on the West Flank, and his IC Knights on the East Flank- on the other side of the Mysterious River. I deploy my Men at Arms w/ Damsel, and Bowmen w/ BSB, and KotR centrally with the Palasus behind them, Hippo on the West Flank, and Peg Knights on the East Flank, the Pegs Vanguard behind the building. Wizard Lord rolls up Iceshard Blizzard, Harmonic Convergence, Curse of the Midnight Wind, and Commet. Damsel rolls up Wild Form and Amber Spear.
Bretonnia prays- as per usual. So Empire gets an uncontested first turn, as per usual in games with Bretonnia
Empire Turn 1 Empire forces hold steady for the most part, the Demigryphs back up a bit, while the IC Knights circle around to the flank of the Pegs. The Captain goads his Pegasus forward, desiring to redirect the Hippogryph into front arc of the Great Swords. The Archers head into the forest for stubborn, its a Fungus Forest, but nobody fails a stupidity check all game so it doesn't matter. Winds of Magic blow 8v6 (with Empire channel), Wizard lord spends four dice on a Bubble Harmonic Convergence, which goes uncontested. Ice Shard Blizard on the Pegasus Knights is Dispelled on 6 Dice. Archery does nothing
Bretonnia Turn 1 MyMx is playing cautiously with is forces here, and I'm certain he wan't careful angeling the Captain, as it doesn't look like even an overcharge will take the Hippo into the Great Sword's Arc. Hopefully I can quickly dispatch the Captain, and enjoy full air superiority. I want to harry those Inner Circle Knights with the Pegasus Knights, and hopefully distract them. Otherwise lets get this party started and advance! Hippogryph charges the captain! Pegasus Knights fly behind the Inner Circle Knights, careful to avoid charge arc of the Demigryphs. Paladin also flies over to look at the charge on the other side of the Woods, the Peasant Bowmen also slip into their woods, which turns out to be an Abyssal Wood. Winds blow 8v5. Damsel moves to cast Wildform at the M@A on 3 dice, but fails and she loses her focus. Paladin throws the remainder of the dice at Fireball, but is dispelled by the Wiard Lord. Archery does nothing Bretonnian Lord strikes, and gets 1 wound through the Charmed Shield and 2+ Armour, Captain returns a wound to the Bretonian Lord with his blade, and the Hippogryph strikes another wound from the Captiain. Captain flees, and the Lord restrains.
Turn 2
Spoiler:
Empire Turn 2 Captain regroups, and faces the Hippogryph, while the Great Swords swing around and also face the Hippo. Demigryphs move around and angle such that they would get a flank charge on the Knights of the Realm if they attempted a long charge at either the Stubborn Archers (forest + skrimishers) or Great Swords, alternately just charge if Bretonnian Forces advanced again. The IC Knights continued wheeling around towards the East, looking at the Men at Arms juicy Flank from across the river.
Magic Blows 5v3, Wizard Lord throws 5 dice into Ice Shard Blizzard on the Hippo, and gak hits the fan. Roiling Skys rolls up 4 hits, ALL of which roll high enough to be allocated to the Lord. 3 of those wound, and the Lord fails 2 saves, sending him plummeting from his Hippogryph to the earth below! An incredibly lucky magic phase for the Empire. The Hippo passes his leadership test, and continues on as a separate unit.
Archery again does nothing.
Bretonnian Turn 2. I am reeling at this point. I just got 2 wounds stripped from my Lord by Roiling Skies! 4 hits, nothing but 5s and 6s to allocate, 3 wounds, then I failed 2 more saves. It also leaves the Hippo without the -1 to hit, and without the blessing of the Lady. I really wish I had more points to spend on Magic Resistance... At least I still have control of the Hippo, so its not a total loss. I need to go after that Wizard, and quickly! The Plan of attack is now to send a unit to guard my Flank from the Inner Circle Knights, and encircle his Arhcers to try and corner the Wizard. The Men at Arms will advance to the Fence, giving them an edge if charged by the Demigryphs. Men at Arms move up to the Fence, Knights of the Realm swift re-form and move behind them guardin the flank against the Inner Circle Knights, and keeping the Peasants in their leadership 9 bubble. I make a mistake here as I send the Lordless Hippogryph back behind my Bowmen, instead of deploying him between the Captain and my Bowmen, I was thinking about conserving my Lord points, and supporting the Men at Arms. Pegs Flight March and reform surrounding the Skrimishing Archers.
Winds of Magic blow 10 vs 5, Damsel Casts Wildform for the Men at Arms on 5 dice, and is uncontested. Damsel throws another 5 Dice into Amber Spear, the Wizard Lord fails to stop it on his 5 dice, and the spear skewers a Demigryph.
Turn 3
Spoiler:
Empire Turn 3 And Jason comes in! He was just workin on his Seraphim and spectating. He was a good sport and occasionally looked stuff up for us! He was in a *lot* of the pictures from this point on because of his seat, but I've cropped him out of most of them! Hi Jason, he plays Skaven.
Exploiting my Mistake from last turn, the Captain with 1 wound remaining attempts to charge my Archers, and maybe kill my BSB with his lance. Stand and Shoot does nothing, but rolling three '2's when needing a 6 to charge will keep him from the fray. The Demigryphs charge into the Men at Arms guarding the Fence. In other movement, the Inner Circle Knights move right up to the River banks, goading the KotR to charge while the Great Swords wheel about to face the bulk of the Bretonnian Army. The Wizard darts out of the Archers and into the Great Sword Block, while the Archers reform to face the Paladin.
Another explosive magic phase for Empire, Winds blowing 12 v 6. Bretonnia blocks Ice Shard Blizard, but Convergence on the Demigryphs, and Curse go off without a hitch.
The Archers break the Paladin's Charmed Shield, but armour stops the rest of the wounds.
Close Combat sees the Men at Arms failing their fear check despite being leadership 9 from the nearby knights, and within 12 of the BSB. Despite everything, the Demigryphs struggle against Toughness 5, the 5++ from the Prayer Icon, and -1 to hit from charging the fence. Demigryphs kill 2 Men at Arms, and take a wound in return. Although the Demigryphs lose by 2, they hold firm.
Bretonnian Turn 3 Oh man, that magic phase was not what I needed. It was great timing for Empire, as it let MyAx dominate and get a ton of spells off on what will soon be a central close combat. I absolutely need to keep wildform up if I am going to have a chance, and hopefully keep the hexes off of me during Empire's next turn as well. I also saw how dangerous it would be for my BSB to fight the Captain. If he gets killed I don't have a chance. I need to prevent them getting charged, and keep my BSB in range of everything. The Knights of the Realm take the chance and charge through the river, losing 1 to dangerous terrain. The River is a Raging Torrent granting the Knights of the Realm +3 Initiative. The Pegasus Knights charge the Archers on the Flank. The Bowmen swing from the Woods onto the hill 22 inches away from the Captain, while the Hippogryph moves next to them 21 inches away from the Captain. The Pegasus Paladin moves to the back corner of the Great Swords in preparation to release the Wyrmlance.
Winds of Magic Blow 7v5. Damsel throws 6 dice into Wildform but cannot get IF. Empire nails the coffin shut by dispel scrolling it away. The bound fireball is effortlessly dispelled by the Wizard Lord.
Archery again does nothing, but the Wyrmlance breaths into the Great Swords scoring 22 hits, 12 wounds and killing 6 of them. unfortunately I screwed up the picture (also taken after casulalties were removed)
In Close Combat, the Men at Arms start faltering now that Wildform and the Fence are no longer protecting them from the Demigryph's wrath. Harmonic Convergence is also really starting to hurt into gear with 1+ save, and 2+ to wound, Demigryphs kill 5 Men at Arms, but the hold at Steadfast leadership 8, granted by the nearby BSB.
The Pegs butcher 6 of the Archers, but they Hold thanks to the woods granting them stubborn.
The Knights of the Realm, crash through the river and into the Inner Circle Knights, +3 initiative from the River Disrupts their ranks. The Gallant challenges and strikes down the Empire Champion with his lance, while the Other KotR drag down another ICK. the ICK retaliate by killing a single KotR. KotR win by 2, but the ICK hold on Leadership 6, leaving the Knights of the Realm stranded in the river.
Turn 4
Spoiler:
Empire turn 4 Great Swords charge into the Men at Arms, and the Captain flys behind my Pegasus units. Not many unengaged units remain!
Winds of Magic blow 6v4, Wizard Lord throws everything into Harmonic Convergence Bubble, and scores IF. His miscast roll is a 9, so he takes a single wound after failing his 4++.
The Men at Arms wiff badly, and only kill a few Great Swords with their Halbreds. The Demigryph Knights and the Greatswords butcher the Men at Arms with Harmonic Convergence. The Men at Arms flee, Demigryphs run down, while the Great Swords reform to face the Bowmen and BSB.
To the East, the Knights of the Realm manage to fell 3 Empire Knights with their swords and take no casualties in return. However the Empire Knights hold firm at ld5.
The Pegasus Knights butcher all but one archer and run him down as he flees.
Bretonnia Turn 4 Oh no. Harmonic Convergence was absolutely devestating that round, and without Wildform my Men at Arms just got slaughtered. To make matters worse, the Inner Circle Knights had passed 2 sub leadership 7 checks in a row, leaving me stranded in a river without any rank bonuses. The Great Swords I cannot deal with right now with their stubborn leadership 9, but I can get all Pegs into the Demigryph rear with reasonable charges. Hopefully the Knights of the Realm can hold until I can get some support to them. Also Revenge! Lord points be Damned, my Hippogryph is gunning for the Empire General to avenge his fallen rider Bretonnia responds by charging the Pegasus Paladin who had the Demigryph's barely in arc, and the Pegasus Knights, into the rear of the Demigryphs. At the same time the Hippogryph charges into the Wizard lord in the Great Swords. The Bowmen slide over out of front arc of the Great Swords.
Magic and shooting are skipped- as the Damsel is dead, and all enemy units are engaged, leaving no targets for Fireball or arrows.
Bretonnia finally catches a break in close combat, and starts to claw back. The Demigryphs take a wound off the Paladin but otherwise wiff, lose by 2, fail leadership 6 despite the BSB, and are run down by the Paladin, while the Peg Knights reform to face the Empire Captain behind them. The Hippogryph rips the Wizard Lord apart, and Thunderstomps 2 Greatswords, while taking 3 wounds in return. Hippo loses combat by 1, but holds firm. Knights of the Realm lose a model to the Inner Circle Knights losing combat by one, but hold on leadership 8.
Turn 5
Spoiler:
Not much moving from Empire, as the Game winds down the 1 wound Captain zooms away from the fight along the board edge to the corner, everything else is locked in combat!
Come Back COWARD! Theres no fighting over there!
No Magic / Shooting as Wizard and Archers are dead.
Close Combat sees the BSB making way and cutting down the Hippogryph before it gets a chance to attack and thunderstomp the Greatswords again. They reform to face the Peg Knight's Flank.
Bretonnian Turn 5 Things are starting to wind down here. Killing the Wizard Lord and the Demigryphs did a lot to put me back in the game. I can get a turn 6 rear charge on the Inner Circle Knights with my Paladin, I just need to hope that my Knights of the Realm can hold for two more combat rounds! Pegasus Knights move to corner the Captain, hoping for a turn 6 charge against him. Paladin flight marches behind the Inner Circle Knights and hopes that the KotR can hold long enough. Archers swing back around to the hill, on the Great Sword Flank.
Winds of Magic blow 5v3. the BSB throws everything into Fire Ball, breaking the Ruby Ring with IF, and burning 2 greatswords to death The Bowmen follow suit and drag another 2 Greatswords down with a hail of arrows.
In close combat, the Knights of the Realm lose two men, and lose combat by 2, but hold on leadership 7.
Turn 6
Spoiler:
Empire Turn 6 The Great Swords reform to face the Archers, and the cheeky Captain zooms over to slip out of charge arc on the Pegasus Knights
In combat, the Knights of the Realm lose another model and lose by 1, but hold on leadership 8.
Bretonnia Turn 6 This wraps up pretty quickly. Its the last turn of the game. My goal is to finally finish off those Inner Circle Knights with a reach charge from my Paladin. With anyluck they will finally break, and I can sweep them away. Paladin charges with his Pegasus into the rear of the ICK. Bowmen move out of charge arc of the Great Swords, and the Pegasus Knights move out of the way to give the Archers a clear shot at the Captain. in Shooting the Bowmen score a single hit, which wounds the Captain. He has a 2+ armour save, and the dragonbane gem against my flaming strength 3 arrow. Okay then! the Captain is finally taken down by a Flaming Arrow of all things.
In close combat the crazyness continues. 3 Inner Circle Knights turn to attack the Paladin in their rear, and manage to strip 2 wounds- thus killing him. The Knights of the Realm again lose combat by by 1, but they hold on leadership 8. Thus ending the game.
Aftermath
Spoiler:
Bretonnia has the Pegasus Knights, Peasant Archers, BSB, and Knights of the Realm still standing for a combined total of 638 points Empire has thier BSB, Greatswords, and Inner Circle Knights still standing, for a combined total of 833 points.
Empire Wins a Minor Vicotry by a clean 195 points!
My thoughts. I took some big gambles this game (aside from taking a Hippogryph in the first place ) and they didn't pay off. I should not have brought the Hippogryph out of position after the Lord met his untimely demise, and I possibly should have combat reformed the Men at Arms to get more ranks after the first round of combat. I was overestimating their horded attacks, and counting on Wildform when I reasonably should not have been.
Empire was rolling fantastic leadership on the Inner Circle Knights, and I just could not muscle past them. If I could have swept away the Inner Circle Knights and reformed the Knights of the Realm around to face the Empire Onslaught it might have been a very different game! Them killing the Paladin in the last combat tipped the scales into Empire's favor, as if the Paladin had kept one wound I would have won combat by 3, and potentially swept away the ICK, a 300 point swing in the game.
I did catch a lucky break sniping the Captain, so I can't complain too much though! Those snake eyes are nasty! All told the game was a lot of fun, and writing the report was a lot of fun. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Myelinated Axon expressed interest in posting his own feedback and viewpoints on the battle, so stay posted for those!
This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2013/08/14 20:18:31
I was the player commanding the Empire army, so I thought I'd chime in with my thoughts.
I was extremely lucky with several key rolls, such as break tests on the IC knights and sniping the Bretonnian Lord with the heavens lore attribute. Conversely, there were a few weak rolls, such as failing a re-rollable Ld 6 break test on the Demigryphs and losing my Captasus in the very last turn by failing what was essentially a re-rollable 2+ armor save. However, considering akaean's even worse luck and that I ultimately won the game--despite my terrible generalship--I can't complain.
I was very lucky with my army selection, which I had made without knowledge of what akaean's list. The choice of lore of heavens was extremely fortuitous for me because, not only did it allow me to snipe his lord (amazingly!), it was a tremendous force multiplier in combat. Harmonic convergence was essential to winning combat against those Men-at-Arms. Re-rolling a 2+ save or a 2+ to wound saved my Demigryphs from taking any wounds for at least a turn while dishing out the pain themselves. I was also felt like I was lucky by putting a Dragonbane Gem on my Captasus. Knowing he had a 2+ ward against several of his key units (peasant bowmen, BSB, Palasus) made me feel that I could be somewhat reckless with him.
The army akaean brought was very typical of his style, with many fast, maneuverable units offering a multitude of divergent threats. When playing against him it seems that at some point you have to just decide what's most important in his army and ignore the rest. In this game I decided to target his Men-at-Arms because they were relatively easy to pin down compared to his flying units, which are almost impossible to line a charge up against. I also knew how many points he had spent on his general, so I also made it a priority to take him out.
I am still trying to figure out how to play Fantasy effectively, and one aspect I haven't mastered is the movement phase. I noticed that I was really floundering in response to akaean's movement during the first couple of turns. I didn't push up agressively with my Demigryphs and Greatswords because I was reacting defensively to akaean's flying units, which, in retrospect, I felt would have been better. Playing games with those units is teaching me how resilient and hard-hitting they can be, so I should be somewhat comfortable with placing them in dangerous situations. I was worried about taking charges from him if I moved up too aggressively, but, in retrospect, it occured to me that all that really results in is 1+ combat res, which I can account for with the resiliency (through Stubborn or great armor saves) and killiness of those two units. Ultimately, I decided by turn 2-3 to just ignore his more flighty units and go for what I can pin down and kill.
It was a really fun game, and it turned out that the Empire was the one that had the blessing of the Lady that night (Lady Luck, that is!). I look forward to more games with akaean in the future.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/08/14 20:27:53
2013/08/16 11:15:08
Subject: Bretonnia vs Empire (1500 points) Flying French Circus vs Altdorf's Finest
Thanks for the report, I enjoyed it! I liked that you had both two mobile and well-matched armies, as well as photos throughout. Photos remain the best way to take in a game, I think.
The Bretonnians definitely seemed to lack luck at moments, but unfortunately the magical battle really went for the Empire, which can be blamed on the choice of a Level 2. Those two points of casting really do hurt, especially when you can't get enough spells through enemy dispels because you have to stick to lots of dice for each spell.
A couple comments on the report: I think that it is better to take photos after the units have moved, so that your narration and your photography match up. I'd also try to avoid using the MS Paint brush tools to add the lines - the report doesn't really need them. If you want them, then I'd suggest that they be a bit cleaner (perhaps by using those Charge indicators that people get from GF9).
2013/08/16 12:46:03
Subject: Re:Bretonnia vs Empire (1500 points) Flying French Circus vs Altdorf's Finest
Nice battle report. I like the use of photo graphs. Just FYI there is freeware for generating batle reports. Battle Chronicler. Google it if interested.
2013/09/06 01:00:52
Subject: Bretonnia vs Empire (1500 points) Flying French Circus vs Altdorf's Finest
my friend 
) also neither of the armies are finished, and the Demigryphs were being proxied with bases while MyAx is gap filling on the models.
