Deadzone Session Report

I played my first games of Deadzone last week. Deadzone is Mantic's Sci Fi skirmish game (like Necromunda, but heaps different). It was a lot of fun. The rules did not take long to pick up, and I was confident enough to write my own list. Rounds take between 30-60 minutes, you could easily slot 3 games in an evening. Not a lot to argue over in the rules, and the lists are all in the one book so it won't take long to get familiar with whatever you might be facing.

I really like this game, and I think it will be my next project after the big Kings of War tournament I'm attending at the end of January. If you are after a miniatures skirmish game with a low barrier to entry, quick, entertaining matches, but with enough depth to keep things interesting, check it out. Decent sculpts too. The Forge Fathers and Veer-Myn especially look great.

Anyway, on to my report.

My list: Veer-Myn 150 points

Progenitor with Chem Thrower. My leader unit with a quite rubbish flame-thrower. The plan was to keep this guy as safe as possible, I hate that such a fragile unit is worth so many points. Next time I'll definitely change this guy up. His Chem thrower is fine when he uses it, but if I'm that close to the enemy I'm fighting them in melee. I'll try and give him the Grenade thrower next time. The Broodmother is a cool model but she seems to have an absolutely useless special rule and just not fit well with the rest of the army.

2 x Crawlers with Frag Grenades. Very rubbish marksmen with crappy rifles and very useful grenades. The idea of these guys was to use Fire for Effect to pin enemies, so I could get the extra dice in melee. But they are rubbish at shooting! It was nice having them as slightly-more-reliable Grenade chuckers. But next time I'll swap them out for Malignusi with rifles. If my progenitor has the grenade thrower I can afford to drop the frags from these guys and just use them to Fire for Effect.

8 x Stalkers. Fast moving rats with knives. These guys are the bomb. Fast and cheap. A couple of them can take down most enemies if given enough support. They melt to ranged fire though, so expect to lose most of them each battle. I ran them in two packs of 4. It's very important to keep them out of enemy LOS at all times.

Team tactics: Use Fire for Effect or grenades to pin enemies then charge them in melee. Repeat until enemy is dead or I run out of grenades/bodies to throw into melee. In practice the grenades were great, but Fire for Effect was less so (from the Crawlers anyway). 6+ shooting just isn't reliable enough. Will try the tactic with the 5+ Malignusi before I make a call on it.

Game 1 vs Enforcers

His list was like 6 enforcers, a couple with rocket launchers, one with the combat blade thingy.

Scenario: Breakout

The scenario suited me to a tee. His list had a lot of points sunk in AP weapons, while none of his units had any more than 1 Armour. 

He took up firing positions along the buildings just outside his deployment zone. I moved up as far as I could, taking some risks as I did so. The first couple of activations went rough for me, with his superior shooting picking off the rats that were foolish enough to not be completely out of LOS. 

But my plan began to work in the mid game as my stalkers were able to sprint and catch some of his Enforcers who were uncovered by allies. If I make sure the enemy is pinned before I charge, it's my 5 dice hitting on 4s vs his 3 dice hitting on 4s (if he attempts to Survive rather than Fight). Them's good odds. If he survives the first charge, I almost always had another Stalker ready to go in to the same combat, same odds.

But the key turning point of the game came down to sheer luck. He had moved two of his Heavies on top of a platform with an almost crippling field of fire. I couldn't close on them without losing at least 4 rats in the process, and I had already lost 4. You can see them in the picture above, up the top left.

But one of my rats managed to pop a crate and find a smoke grenade inside. He pegged it at the heavies and covered them in smoke. Then they had the choice of staying where they were but being unable to fire, or moving and still being unable to fire.

Losing ~half of his firepower at that point was crippling for him, and I was able to safely flood across the gap and mix it up in melee. I had a hard time with his combat  enforcer, but the rest I was able to gang up on and stab stab, and then run off the board.

Luck played a large role in the outcome of this game, but I think my opponent's critical mistake was placing units in positions where they were isolated, not covered by friendlies. This meant I was able to charge 2-3 stalkers into melee and take down the isolated unit, and then skitter off into cover before the counter-attack came. In the situations where his forward elements were covered, I had a much harder time of it. I took down the exposed unit, sure, but then the stalkers themselves were killed in turn. I can afford to lose ~1.5 rats per enemy killed. I can't have too many fights that cost me 2-3 rats.

Game 2 vs Rebels

His List:

Yndij Infiltrator Commander

3 x Rebel Trooper

Rebel Yndij

Sphyr Loader

Judwan Medic

Rebel Grogan

Rebel Teraton

Rin Nomad

Rebel Specialist with Missile Launcher

Second game was against an interesting Rebel list. A mix of all sorts of stuff. I was immediately worried about his Teraton. I had ~no~ idea how I was going to get through its armour, with no AP at all. 

We played the scenario with the VP tokens. The 2VP token was in the open, in the middle of the board in an open square with very little cover. He chose his side, and deployed all along his edge, clearly aiming to take advantage of the high ground and cover just outside.

I deployed in tight packs, crammed into the squares that he had no LOS to.

Early on he used command dice to charge his Teraton forward, sitting him on the 2 VP token. His plan obviously was to take control of the important centre location early, and move the rest of his squad up behind. 

I had one plan to beat the Teraton, and I had to try it before any of his support arrived. I ran one of my shooter rats up a building and had him peg his grenade at the teraton. Fortunately the blast threw the Teraton towards my side of the map. This put the pinned Teraton within charge range of my 8 stalkers. My progenitor moved next, hitting the teraton with his chem-thrower. The 1 AP and a good roll were critical in doing 1 wound to the Teraton. Then one by one I sent stalkers charging into the square. They got extra dice for charging, for having allies in the same square, and for the victim being wounded. He got extra dice for being huge and he was a good fighter. It took a round of shooting, 4 charges and one extra fight dice but the teraton eventually fell to the knives of the stalkers. 

That was huge. I was also able to get 2 of the 4 stalkers out of the square alive, as Glen had no way to bring his serious guns to bear on it. They mostly fled into the long building, or the basement of that central tower. In those rooms they were safe from all ranged attacks (no LOS with the holes in the walls being so high up), and Glen did not have any weapons that would have really helped (like grenades, flamers, or blasters). He tried sending a couple of guys on suicide missions, charging into melee in the dark rooms full of rats with knives. Yikes. 

From there it was just a matter of waiting patiently for him to move his units into vulnerable positions and then striking with the stalkers I had stashed in the central buildings. I was tempted to try and park units on the VP tokens, but they were all exposed to the Rebels' fire, so I just waited. I had my remaining Crawler on top of the central tower taking a couple of pot-shots at his dudes each turn, so I could afford to sit tight. He had no choice but to move up and try and counterattack, and I was able to just pick him off one by one. I got very lucky with my survive rolls in the later phase of the game, with one of my stalkers managing to survive being shot at from above, while completely in the open. But even if all my rats who were shot at had died, I had so many I could afford the losses.

The key turning point of the game was Glen moving his Teraton up early, without adequate fire cover or support. If his Grogan had a decent fire lane down that centre alley, or if the Medic had been close enough to do her thing, things would have been very different. If Glen had taken another big gribbly, or my grenade had thrown the teraton the other direction, the game would have gone very differently (although I did have 2 grenades).

But overall I'm really happy with the way the Veer-Myn played. I reckon they will be my primary faction, although I'll be painting up a squad of Forge Father Steel Warriors first.

Battle Report: Push! Trident Realms vs Dwarfs

Played a casual game against my mate Matt. We wanted to test out our lists for Clash of Kings Australia (aka CanCon), and to practice the new scenarios added in the CoK pack.

Matt usually plays Elves, but is building a Dwarf army for CoKAU, using the absolutely stunning range from Scibor. Neither of our armies are much more than MDF templates and sticky notes at this stage, so no photos this time.

We had a lot of fun this game. My talk of salt and rage below is more dramatic license than anything else. The FLGS we play at (Three D6) has a pub attached to it (The Loaded Dice), and let me tell you, drinking and toy soldiers is just a fantastic way to spend an evening. However, the excellent mead MAY have contributed to us forgetting a ton of rules. Maybe. Many thanks to Matt for taking a lot of notes during the match. Makes the report-writing process way easier when you have 2 people working on it.

My List:

• Horde Placoderms
• Horde Gigas
• Horde Naiad Wyrmriders
• 2 x Regiments Tidal Swarm
• 2 x Leviathan's Banes
• Coral Giant
• Kraken
• Placoderm Defender with Wings of the Honeymaze
• Siren
• Trident King

This is the same list I've been running for a while now. I love it. I'm considering dropping the Kraken for another Coral Giant and some magic items, but I dunno.

His List:

Very much a work in progress:

• Regiment Berserkers
• Troop Berserkers
• 2 x Regiment Berserker Brock Riders, one with Caterpillar
• Horde Ironclad with Mastiff
• 2 x Regiments Ironguard
• 2 x Ironbelcher Organ Gun
• Jorrun Bombard
• Warsmith
• Army Standard Bearer
• Mounted Berserker Lord
• King on a Large Beast with Blade of the Beast Slayer

I have only played one game against Dwarfs before, and I'm not very across them at all. But at first glance the list seemed a bit odd. A mix of war machines for shooting, heavy infantry as an anvil, and Zerks for hammers. Apart from the war machines, no can-openers. The Warsmith was interesting. He gave elite to the organ guns, but is he more useful than another war machine?

Scenario

We rolled between Push and Control, and Push won. Push is a new scenario from the CoK pack. You set up, and then place one loot token in the dead centre of the board. Then you distribute D3 extra tokens in your own deployment zone. At the end of 6/7 turns, you score 1 point for each token you control, 2 if the unit carrying the token is completely in your opponent's half of the board. It's fun.

Deployment

Deployment

On reflection this was a weird terrain setup. Matt won the roll and chose the north edge. That's a hill in the centre, another hill off to the right. The thing at the top centre is a forest, and in the bottom centre is a swamp.

I deployed in a slightly modified version of my usual Dark Tide formation. Front rank of my Def 6+ Placoderms and Gigas plus Tidal Swarm chaff, reserve rank of my Coral Giant, Wyrmriders, Trident King and Kraken. My war machines were tucked away in the swamp to get cover and to hopefully put some dents in the Ironguard. My Siren and Winged Defender were ready to disrupt his war machine battery from Turn 2.

He deployed in a more spread formation, with Brock Riders on each flank. He had a very obvious anvil in the centre with his Ironclad + Ironguard, but all of his hammers were out on the flanks.

We rolled off, and Matt gave me first turn. He wanted me to advance into his Organ Guns. 

Turn 1

Trident Realm Turn 1

I placed my two loot tokens on my Trident King and Kraken. My thinking was that the Kraken hangs around forever, and that my Trident King would always be well protected in the centre-back of my main force. Matt placed one on his Pathfinder Brock Riders on the left, and the other just behind his Ironguard in the centre.

I moved my force up pretty uniformly, shooting my Siren and Defender off to threaten his warmachine battery in Turn 2. I aimed to take hold of that vital centre token early, and force him to take it off me. My war machines missed all their shots (at the Ironguard Regiment screening his token), but it's early days right?

Dwarfs Turn 1

He shuffled his centre around slightly, but moved his flanks in aggressively. We forgot an absolute ton of rules this game, but this was the first one. Carrying the loot token reduces speed to 5, his Brock Riders on the left shouldn't have been able to do what they did. Didn't effect the outcome though.

But this was all fumbling foreplay. Like a teenage boy he was all about the shooting phase. His Bombard and one Organ Gun fired on my Winged Defender, doing 1 wound, steady nerve result. His other Organ Gun fired an optimistic volley at my stealthy individual Siren. 15 attacks hitting on 7s (so 8 elite dice on 6s). He managed 3 fucking wounds out of that roll. Three. As in one plus one plus one. And then he rolls 11 for the nerve check! And just like that my poor lovely Siren who never did no-one any harm was killed. My internal sodium levels spiked at maximum salt, let me tell you.

this guy. look at him. that's a filthy smirk if you ever saw one.

Turn 2

Trident Realms Turn 2

I was rattled and salty, so I made a pretty critical mistake. I charged his Bombard with my Winged Defender, but we both forgot about the triple attacks. So I rolled 6 attacks instead of 18. 5 hits, but no wounds. Def 5+ war machines hey. This meant that the Bombard was not disordered. I was pretty crabby at not scoring a single result of 5+ off 5 rolls. I wouldn't twig to the forgotten triple attacks until Matt attacked one of my war engines. It sucked. 

I moved the rest of my forces up, taking that vital centre token with my placoderms. So despite some terrible dice rolls, at least I was in a winning position. I left my Coral Giant behind to defend my war machines. Which missed again. Come on that's 8 rolls now and not a single result of 5+.

Dwarfs Turn 2

This turn nearly broke me. His Bombard fired at point blank range at my Winged Defender, and managed to hit and waver her. His Organ Guns landed an impressive 10 wounds on my Kraken, which got a bit lucky and held steady.

His Zerk Troop barely made a dent on my tidal swarm, a hindered charge into a unit with ensnare will do that hey. His Zerk Lord made a similar hindered & ensnared attack on my Leviathan's Bane, only landing 9 hits (despite the 3x attacks). But thanks to 4 vicious re-rolls those 9 hits translated to 9 wounds, and the Lord overran out of the swamp and more importantly out of charge arc of my guard Giant. FFS.

Overall he continued to hold in the centre and creep in on the flanks. I might have been holding 3 of the 5 tokens now, but I couldn't see that situation lasting long.

At this point I felt like basically nothing was working for me. I was enjoying the mead and the company, but internally I was pretty down on my list. Stupid toy soldiers. Civ 6 is coming out soon...

Turn 3

Trident Realms Turn 3

But I played on. My Kraken did his party trick and schlurped back 6 wounds, leaving him with 4. He then charged into the Brock Riders, hoping to knock off Thunderous and soften them up a bit. If I had looked more carefully at this list I might have reconsidered this move. 24 attacks is not something you really want to face tank if you can help it, even if you have ensnare.

My main block of units continued to advance. Things were a bit congested in the centre, so I decided to reform my Wyrmriders to support my Coral Giant and address the growing threat on my left flank. I had wanted to get them into the Ironclad Horde, but I couldn't make things fit. I double charged his Zerk Troop and killed them with my Placs and Tidal Swarm. The Swarm did an impressive 5 wounds, you go little fishies! My Trident King moved forward and used his breath attack to waver one of his Organ Guns on a re-roll. My remaining Leviathan's Bane missed because of course it did.

Dwarfs Turn 3

His Bombard managed to hit my Winged Defender AGAIN and waver her AGAIN. He reshuffled some units in his centre, trying to get his other war machines firing lanes. His Zerk Lord took out my final war machine, and in a very nasty surprise his Brock Riders routed my Kraken with a single ensnared charge and stole the token he was carrying. 24 attacks on 5s. 14 hits. Yikes. 11 WOUNDS WTF. Despite the Very Inspiring presence of the Trident King, my Kraken was not able to roll <4.

My Tidal Swarms continued to be excellent chaff, holding off a Regiment of Iron Guard comfortably. Right now he had 3 tokens, I had 2. It just keep getting worse.

Turn 4

Trident Realms Turn 4

I danced my Defender around, using the good old nimble + backwards trick to take it out of firing arc of the Bombard. For all the good it did.

My Plac horde went on on his Ironclad horde in a long-awaited clash. I did some wounds but I was never going to pop them in one go. My Trident King wavered his organ gun again (thanks to another inspiring re-roll). My Gigas decided to try and chase the Brock Riders on my right. I don't know why I thought a Speed 4 unit could possibly catch cavalry, but I really didn't want to give them a flank so that's what I did.

My Wyrmriders took out his Zerk Lord and reformed to face the King, Brock Riders and Zerk Regiment. At this point I just wanted to kill stuff. The game might be lost, but hopefully I could make up some theoretical points on attrition.

Dwarfs Turn 4

He finally shot my Defender off the table. Even though she didn't do any damage (at all), she did tie up 4 rounds of shooting, and that's not nothing. His Bombard missed my Trident King thank fuck. My tidal swarms routed, but his infantry really struggled to put a dent in my Def 6+ Placoderms, only doing 3 wounds total.

On my left flank he shuffled his token carrying Brock Riders back, screening them with his Bear King.

Turn 5

Trident Realms Turn 5

This was the turning point. I managed to get a filthy filthy charge on his token-carrying Brocks with my Wyrmriders, bypassing his screening King and Zerk Regiment. At first glance, it looked like his Brocks were out of charge range. But they were in arc, and from my leader point to a corner of his base they were just in 16" (the line passing over the Bear King). With a pivot and an effective charge range of like 20" I got in. I've had this same maneuver pulled against me and let me tell you it sucks.

My Coral Giant managed to sneak past the King and Zerk Regiment too, setting up for a follow-up flank attack into the Brocks if necessary and avoiding all arcs. My Wyrmriders managed an impressive 13 wounds, but the Brocks held.

His Ironclad Horde routed under combined attacks from my Plac Horde and a flank from my Trident King.

All of a sudden the situation changed. I held 2 tokens, he held 3, but I was threatening 2 of those hard. Did I dare to dream?

Dwarfs Turn 5

He countercharged and reformed generally. He kept his Brocks on my right flank out of the fray, setting them up to easily score the 2 points by crossing into my side of the board turn 6. Again he struggled to make any dent in my Plac Horde, only doing 1 more wound. Rather than charge my Trident King (he wanted to shoot at him instead), he moved one of his Ironguard regiments in a position to rear charge the Placs next turn. This was one of those situations where I denied the flank he was in because he couldn't fit in there (due to my king). It's one of those rules that I understand, but don't really like.

He managed to land 5 wounds on my Trident King with his Organ Gun, and I got a bit lucky to get a steady result. He needed a 7 to waver me.

His King and Zerks reformed to face my Giant and Wyrmriders. His countercharging Brocks put 6 wounds on my Wyrms and wavered them. Was going to go down to the wire.

Turn 6

Trident Realms Turn 6

My Wyrmriders regenerated 1 wound and reformed, giving up flank charges instead of rears. Not a great alternative, but I didn't have much in the way of options. My Coral Giant got in the flank of the Brocks, popped them, stole the token, reformed to face the Zerks and Bear King. Now I had 3 out of the 5 tokens and was in a winning position!

My Trident King charged into and finally routed that damned Organ Gun, reforming to move his arse out of the Brock's line-of-sight. My Gigas got a flank charge into his Iron Guard Regiment, but didn't even manage to waver it. My Placs put 8 wounds on his other Ironguard, but they also held.

Dwarfs Turn 6

We were set up for a very tense final turn. He double charged my Giant with his Zerks and Bear King. He double charged my Placoderms with one Ironguard Reg in the front and another in the rear. He fired at my wounded Trident King with an Organ Gun, Warsmith and Bombard.

But it was just not enough. He wavered my Giant and Trident King, but all his attacks on my Placs only resulted in 1 wound. Def 6+ against naked attacks is just crippling.

The Trident King was wavered by the remaining Organ Gun, and my Coral Giant was wavered from a double charge by the King and Zerk Regiment.

We rolled for Turn 7, but the game ended there, with me winning 5 points to 3.

If we had gone to turn 7, I was reasonably confident in picking up one more of his tokens, even if I lost the one on my giant. That would have put the final score at 6-4 to me, so no change in outcome. However if the dice had rolled a little differently on his final turn he could have ended up with like a 6-0 victory.

This was a very strange game. Between massively skewed rolls and us forgetting basic rules, I'm not sure it means a lot. Like sure, I like to win, but we forgot SO MUCH STUFF. In the end I think the absurd rolls and forgotten rules balanced out. Still.

Thoughts

I need my Leviathan's Banes to actually hit. 4 attacks on 5s each round should get me at least one hit right.

My Kraken cannot hold a flank by itself. Considering dropping it for another Coral Giant and a couple of magic items. But regen 4+ and ensnare does make for a great mobile tar pit, so I dunno.

This was only the second time I'd played the Push scenario. Grabbing that centre token first is a huge advantage. I understand why Matt gave me first turn, he wanted to be able to use his 24" range Organ Guns, but giving up that centre token is a huge price to pay for a single round of shooting.

I probably should have placed a token on my Plac horde instead of my Kraken. But I don't want to overreact, 11 wounds in one round from a disordered & ensnared charge of Brocks is... let's say an outlier outcome.

Scibor models are gorgeous. I mean they'd want to be for the price, but they really are spectacular even unpainted. I am very excited to see what Matt does with these. He insists that he hates painting and doesn't like hobby and isn't very good, but anyone who's seen his elves will know he's no slouch with the brush.

Berserkers are ridiculous. High Nerve and unwaverable. Ridiculous.

The Zerk Lord on a mount is a mongrel of a thing to deal with. Like the Abyssal Halfbreed Champions, has a massive threat range.

Kings of June Game 2 - Kill & Pillage! vs Goblins with Orc Allies

Trolls, trolls, and more trolls

For Game 2 I drew Tony & his greenskins. I've played Tony at every tournament I've attended so far, with a record of two losses and one extremely narrow draw (seriously, I needed a roll of 2+ to win the game). This time he was running his army as Goblins with Orc allies.

His List:

3 x Regiment Rabble

3 x Troll Hordes, one with Brew of Sharpness, one with Blessing of the Gods, one with Brew of Strength

Regiment Fleabag Riders with Maccwar's

4 x War-Trombone

2 x Big Rocks Thrower

Flaggit with the Boomstick

Wiz with Bane Chant and Inspiring Talisman

2 x Mincer

Giant

Orc Allies:

Regiment Gore Riders with Brew of Haste

Krudger on Winged Slasher with Medallion of Life

A fairly elite list, as far as Goblins go. Those troll hordes were going to be tough to deal with unless I could get into their flanks. 4 war trombones and 6 rolls of lightning bolt each turn were another headache. And then there was his flying Krudger. My main reaction on looking at this list was 'gross'.

Deployment 

Deployment

He chose sides. I had 2 more drops than he did, much to his surprise. With the terrain and placement of the pillage tokens, we were effectively playing on a 4'6" wide table. It lead to some tight deployment. Learning from last game, I made sure I had my spears matched up against his TC cavalry. I was mostly worried about his 3 hordes of trolls, 4 war-trombones, and his Krudger on a Winged Slasher. So a lot to worry about. Instead of using his Rabble as chaff, he seemed to be setting them up to take pillage markers. I thought he would put the allied Krudger near his allied Gore Riders, to inspire them. Instead he used his last drop to put it out on the far flank, where it would ultimately cause a lot of headaches.

Turn 1

Goblins Turn 1

He moved up, his Big Rock Throwers trying to snipe my knights.

Westhaven Turn 1

I also moved up, hoping to get my second wave perfectly positioned to counterstrike when he inevitably crushed my first wave. I backed my General up, nervous about getting charged by his Krudger. Took out one of his rabble units with some shooting, and put some wounds on his War Trombones. They were inspired by that flaggit though, so they held steady.

Turn 2

Goblins Turn 2

Oooofft. When the charge came it came hard. My halberd troops routed on my left, as you'd expect. My shield wall took 15 wounds but were only wavered, thanks to my very inspiring Wizard. To be honest I would have rather they routed. My Greatswords took 9 wounds, also holding thanks to inspiring. My spearmen couldn't hold against the double charge from the Krudger and the Fleabag riders. His war trombones took out my Hero as well.

Westhaven Turn 2

My wavered Shield Wall really gummed things up here. All I could do was shift my knights about in what was the most frustrating stage of the game. My spears were also wavered from the previous rounds shooting (thanks to the tromboners). It wasn't all bad. I double charged his giant and took it out, I put some hurt on his Fleabag Riders and Gore Riders, I put more wounds on his war trombones with my rifles, taking out one finally. But it wasn't the devastating counter that I needed. If my purple knights, swordsmen horde, and spears could have charged maybe it would have been enough.

Turn 3

Goblins Turn 3

He predictably routed my swordsmen horde and greatswords. He put a ton of wounds on my steam tank but it held. His Krudger ignored my General to go for one of my rifle troops in the backline. His war trombones peppered my purple knights.

Westhaven Turn 3

I double charged his center troll horde with my two knights regiments and routed it, thanks to getting a flank in. My rifles finally took off a couple more of his war tromboners. I thought I'd play funny buggers with my General and fly into his backlines instead of going toe-to-toe with a couple of mincers.

Turn 4

Goblin Turn 4

This was basically it for me. His trolls charged my Steam Tank and purple knights, routing them. The knights had a bunch of existing wounds from the war trombones so they didn't need much. In the biggest stinker of the day though his Big Rock Throwers ~both~ hit my orange knights, put 9 wounds on them, and they popped. His Krudger continued to clean up my rifle troops, and his remaining war trombone and lightning users took out my spears.

The rest of the game was basically to see if I would get completely tabled or not. We went to turn 7, and I was. 20-0 to Tony.

Result

This was the only time I've ever been completely tabled in KoW. It was pretty brutal. I got a little unlucky with my swordsmen wavering in the absolute worst place, and losing a regiment of Knights to his rock lobbers was just rude as hell.

But I also played pretty poorly. I wasted my greatswords and both spear regiments. I should have held in place Turn 1, letting him come all the way across the table to me. It would have given me at least 2 full turns of shooting before he inevitably charged me. Instead I made it a easier for him. My General did his job ok, tying up a lot of points of troops in a pointless game of ring-around-the-rosy. 

But in the end it was his 54(!) Piercing 1 breath attacks that sunk me. I just had no answer to it.

Kings of June Game 1 - Pillage! vs Abyssal Dwarfs

The resolute men of Westhaven clash with the Legion of Desolation

I drew Tim N & his Abyssal Dwarfs for Game 1, playing Pillage with 6 tokens. Tim is a regular in the Canberra KoW scene, and usually finishes at or close to the top of tournaments when playing his Abyssal Dwarfs.

My List:

Discussed here.

His List:

Horde Blacksouls
Regiment Immortal Guard with Diadem of Dragon-kind
Regiment of Decimators with Heart-seeking Chant
Horde Lesser Obsidian Golems with Brew of Courage
Regiment of Abyssal Halfbreeds with Maccwar's.
Horde of Abyssal Grotesques with Blessing of the Gods
2 x G'rog Mortars
Dragon Fire-team
Overmaster on Great Abyssal Dragon with Medallion of Life
Slavedriver with Healing Charm
Abyssal Halfbreed Champion
Supreme Iron-caster on Great Winged Halfbreed with Surge (10) and The Fog
Greater Obsidian Golem

This was his 'softer' list, for more casual games. Usually he runs three heavy mortars and two dragons.

Deployment:

Deployment

He chose sides, and deployed his units in a modified version of his infamous 'Cube of Despair' formation. The large amount of blocking terrain made things difficult for me to find firing lanes, but otherwise I thought I did ok. I had 6 extra drops, putting down my tank, knights, general and shield wall horde after he was all out.

Turn 1

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 1

He moved his cube slowly forward, and his mortars landed 5 wounds on one of my knight regiments.

Westhaven Turn 1

My shooting didn't do much, a wound here or there. I moved forward, hoping to secure better position to flank his cube as it moved forward. My hero rode off hoping to get into the war machines or Decimators maybe.

Turn 2

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 2

His Cube held in the centre, his flanks advanced, and his shooters put a few wounds on my right-flank spearmen, as well as my wizard. His halfbreeds routed my halberds on my left, but his champion was only able to wound the other troop. His dragon only managed to waver my mounted scouts on the charge, but we was able to move out of my horde's charge arc, the diagram is slightly wrong. The charge on my scouts suprised me, for some reason I thought he'd either charge my shield wall horde or back off.

Westhaven Turn 2

I continued to advance on the cube, shooting heavily at his Abyssal Grotesques. I double charged his Abyssal Halfbreed Champion on my left, hoping to overrun him and get my general to charge into the halfbreed regiment. Alas we were only able to waver the blasted thing. I pivoted my shield wall on my right, setting up a rear charge on his dragon. At this point I thought that I'd definitely be able to get into his flanks.

Turn 3

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 3

This turn I really got to see some innovative maneuvering. On my left he backed his wavered halfbreed champion out of the way, and then charged my General with his Halfbreed Regiment, landing 4 wounds on me. In the centre his blacksouls continued to advance, as did his Greater Golem. His wavered Grotesques gummed up the works though. But on my right he really surprised me. I was expecting him to charge my wavered scouts, kill them, and then reform to face my shield wall horde. Instead he pivoted and backed up, landing beside my shield wall (well out of charge arc). Then he used his breath attack to finish off my scouts.

Westhaven Turn 3

My shooting went pretty well and I managed to take off his grotesques. It really was death by a thousand cuts, my rifle troops just kept peppering away at it, and I think my cannon managed to hit it for 4-5 wounds as well. His healing was very unlucky, I think he healed 1 wound out of 9 rolls.

On my left my General and halberds troop did a few wounds to the halfbreeds, but not enough to waver them. I sent my mounted ASB over there to start healing up my General.

On my right my shield wall pivoted, setting up a flank attack on the dragon. This time, surely. My spears charged his Greater Obsidian Golem, and I think they did one wound.

In the centre I decided to engage his blacksouls. I knew this was probably a mistake, but I felt that with the grotesques gone, I might have a chance. I did 15 wounds to his blacksouls, but they held steady thanks to an inspiring re-roll.

Turn 4

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 4

He shot my spears to pieces on my right, hitting them with his dragon fire team, the diadem of dragonkind from his Immortal Guard, and lightning bolt. I had moved my spears out of inspiring range and they popped. This allowed his Greater Golem to get a flank charge on my Steam Tank ._.

His dragon continued to play funny buggers with my shield wall horde, again flying just out of charge arc and this time fire breathing on my wizard. My wizard is a tough little dude though and he only took a couple of wounds so sucked in dragon.

In the centre his golems charged my greatswords and crunched them, his blacksouls charged my knights and did a couple of wounds, disordering them. His halfbreed regiment routed my halberds troop on my left, and his champion slapped a couple more wounds on my General, wavering him. Things were getting dicey.

Westhaven Turn 4

I continued to chase his dragon with my shield wall. I was parked on an objective, so I didn't think it was a ~total~ waste of time. My General was wavered on my left, so I pivoted and backed him up, out of arc of the halfbreed regiment at least. In the centre I double charged his golems with my greatswords and a knights regiment, while I triple charged his blacksouls with the other knights, my spears, and a steam tank in the flank. That was wasteful overkill, I should have sent the tank into his immortal guards.

I took the blacksouls off, but the golems held. Def 6+ is tough hey.

Turn 5

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 5

Things just started to get ugly now. His halfbreed champion routed my wavered General. His Halfbreed Regiment took out one of my rifle troops, and pivoted to face the rear of my units. His golems crushed my greatswords, his shooters finally routed the wounded knights, his greater golem took out my silly steam tank, and his dragon decided it wanted some of the action too and flanked my spears.

I was expecting Tim's counter, I really was. I did ~not~ expect to lose damn near a third of my army in a single round though.

Westhaven Turn 5

I did what I could. I charged his Immortal Guards, but couldn't pop them in one go. My Shield Wall did their favourite thing and pivoted and sat on an objective.

In a pleasing turn of events my cannon managed to hit his halfbreed regiment for 6 more wounds and they popped so take that.

Turn 6

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 6

He just mopped up from here. We went to turn seven, by the end all I had left was one standard bearer with 4 wounds, my wizard with 5 wounds, and my shield wall with 6 wounds. 

Result

He held 3 objectives to my contested half of one, 17-3 to him. I never expected to beat Tim, even with his softer list. The dude plays his Dwarfs like a fiddle. But I had hoped to make a better showing of myself. I should have placed my shield wall in the centre, and left the flanks to my more mobile spear regiments. I should have made him engage with his blacksouls instead of charging them. I should have backed the halberds troops on my left with something more substantial than a single General on a Winged Beast.

I did notice how patient he is. He could have moved his cube forward quicker (for dorfs lol), but he calmly waited for me to make mistakes. He did the critical damage to me in Turn 5, instead of trying to get in earlier. I could probably learn from that.

My shooting did pretty well, the 4 troops of rifles are a lot more effective than the single horde.

Any suggestions on how I could have won this game (other than 'roll better') would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading, Game 2 should be up later this week.

Battle Report - 2k Pillage! League of Rhordia vs Abyssal Dwarfs

I played Christo again this week, this time at 2k.

The Men of Westhaven face off against the Abyssal Dwarfs

Lesser Obsidian Golems.

Abyssal Halfbreeds. My photos don't do them justice.

My List: League of Rhordia

This is my current 2k tournament list that I'm looking to take to the Sydney Game Championships at the end of July. It's as MSU as I can reasonably make it.

2 x City Militia Troops
4 x Musket Block Troops
2 x City Militia Spears Regiments
1 x House Guard Regiment
2 x Household Knights Regiments
1 x Halfling Iron Beast
1 x Baron, mounted with Mace of Crushing
1 x Duke on an Ancient Winged Aralez
1 x Army Standard Bearer, mounted with Healing Charm
1 x Halfling Sorcerer with Inspiring Talisman

His List: Abyssal Dwarfs

As you'd expect, his 2k list was quite different to his 2.5k list. He dropped the Iron Caster and Mortars, and brought in some Abyssal Halfbreed Champions.

4 x Immortal Guard Regiments
2 x Slave Orc Regiments
2 x Lesser Obsidian Golem Hordes
2 x Abyssal Halfbreed Regiments
2 x Abyssal Halfbreed Champions
2 x Slave Drivers

A lot of Def 5 & 6 units. The Golems are a helluva anvil, and the Halfbreed Regiments and Champions would be tough to avoid. No shooting or flying though. Also his anvils are slow af.

We rolled Pillage! with 6 objectives. I won the roll for deployment and chose the south edge.

Deployment

 I only had 2 extra drops on him, stacking my two Knight Regiments on my right flank. My plan was to desperately hold the one objective on my left, and take the three on my right.

Turn 1

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 1

Dwarfs won the roll for first turn and elected to go first. He moving up, taking control of 3 tokens and making a strong claim on a 4th. His army had no shooting so nothing going there.

League of Rhordia Turn 1

On my left flank I moved up to take control of the objective, and prepared myself for an assault. I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the golems if they charged in. I shifted my Duke around preparing to bring him over for a flank maybe. My leftmost rifle troop managed a couple of wounds on his Immortal Guards. On my right flank I rearranged my forces, positioning them to take the anticipated charge from the two halfbreed regiments and the champion. My two rifle troops put 8 wounds on his Slave Orcs and wavered them, while my Sorcerer managed to windblast the other Halfbreed Champion back into the forest. I didn't realise this at the time but this was a critical success, delaying the charge of that Champion by a turn.

Turn 2

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 2

On my left he took firm control of the two objectives. In the centre he took another two, covering them with hard-to-shift Immortal Guard units. On my right he charged. One of his Halfbreed Regiments wiped my militia troop, the other combo charged my Iron Beast with one of his Champions. They put an impressive 11 wounds on the Def 6+ Iron Beast, but it held steady.

League of Rhordia Turn 2

I held steady on my left flank. I wasn't going to be able to get my muskets in a better position to shoot his Golems, and the muskets were all I had to counter them. I charged his lefthand Halfbreed Regiment with my Orange Knights, while my Iron Beast and Baron counter-charged the other Regiment. I thought about throwing the Duke into the fray as well, but I thought I'd set up a flank instead. He healed a couple of wounds on the Iron Beast.

My Muskets destroyed the wavered slave orcs, and it turns out I wouldn't need the flank from my Duke, as my Knights routed the halfbreed regiment in one turn. The Baron and Iron Beast did 6 wounds then stepped back.

Turn 3

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 3

He held steady on my left, happy with the two objectives he was holding there. He continued to move forward in the centre, securing another objective and trying to get his Golems in the fray. On my right his Halfbreed Regiment counter-charged my Iron Beast and destroyed it, and then pivoted to face my other Knight Regiment. His Halfbreed Champions both charged, one going into my Duke, the other getting the jump on my purple Knights critically disordering them.

League of Rhordia Turn 3

The standoff on my left continued. I was slowly chipping away at the Immortal Guards on my far left, but they had cover so I was only putting on 0-2 wounds a turn. My halfling sorcerer windblasted the Golems into the forest, while my two musket troops started to put some serious hurt on his Immortal Guards in the centre.

I combo charged his remaining halfbreed regiment with my baron, orange knights, and Duke. They routed the halfbreeds and reformed to face the incoming Golems. My purple Knights countercharged the Halfbreed Champion, but without TC had a hard time getting through the Champion's armour.

At this point the Dwarfs were holding four objectives quite firmly. I only had three guaranteed turns left to wrest at least one from his control.

Turn 4

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 4

He continued to hold on my left flank. His Immortal Guard units on my right sat on their objectives. His golems shambled forward. His two Halfbreed Champions charged my two knights regiments. I stuffed the diagram up here. In reality the orange knights routed while the purple ones were only wavered (but they have fury, so NBD).

League of Rhordia Turn 4

My left flank continued to hold. My muskets continued to pepper his Immortal Guards. My Duke managed to just get over the golems and set up a rear charge on them, while avoiding the charge arcs of his Guards regiments. My spears charged the Golems in the front, hoping to pin them so the Golems could not avoid the rear charge from the Duke next turn.

Turn 5

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 5

He continued to hold on my left. By now I was convinced this was a mistake, but his army couldn't have really gotten anywhere in the 2 guaranteed  turns he had left. His golems countercharged my spears and crushed them handily. He tried to move forward out of my Duke's charge arc, but missed it by an inch or two. His Immortal Guards in the centre started to move forward, hoping to avoid a flank by my duke maybe, or perhaps set up a charge into my troublesome muskets.

League of Rhordia Turn 5

I finally decided to change the dynamics of the situation on my left flank. I moved one musket troop into the forest, so I'd now have two musket troops plinking away at the covered Immortal Guards instead of just one. My right flank muskets wavered this Immortal Guards in the centre.

My Duke charged the rear of the Golems, supported by my Baron in the side and a hindered charge from my knights into the front (my diagram's been a bit off, IRL my purple knights were in the southern forest). Critically and surprisingly to us both, this was enough to rout the golems. My units reformed to face the two Immortal Guard units.

At this point the Dwarfs were still in a winning position, but I was confident I'd at least snatch the draw in turn 6.

Turn 6

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 6

Forgive my pants diagram. There wasn't much he could do in turn six. His Guards in the centre were wavered, the one on my right was holding an objective, and his units on my left flank were too far from anything now to make a difference.

League of Rhordia Turn 6

I charged his Immortal Guards in the centre with my knights and baron, and routed them, the knights reforming to face his remaining Guard unit. My Duke took the centre objective and healed up my knights a little. My muskets on my left continued to pepper his guards, who had about 6 wounds now. Consecutive 10's on a nerve check would be enough to rout them! What fun. My rightmost muskets moved forward to claim that objective. My sorcerer went for it, and windblasted his Guards off the objective. Despite a handy roll, they were still within 3 inches of it.

So at the end of turn 6 the game was a draw, each of us holding 3 objectives. We rolled, and went to turn 7.

Turn 7

Abyssal Dwarfs Turn 7

He moved his Guards forward to sit over the objective.

League of Rhordia Turn 7

I moved my muskets forward to sit on that objective, and combo charged his Guards with my Knights and Baron. The charges were hindered so they did sweet FA damage, but they ended the game within 3" of the objective, and that's all that mattered.

Result:

The League of Rhordia held 3 objectives, the Abyssal Dwarfs held 2, and the final objective was contested. A narrow win to the League!

I was expecting a bigger push on my left flank. I deployed defensively, hoping to weather the storm. Didn't have a real answer if he had charged my House Guard with his Golems, my House Guard had CS (1), but that was it. Even if my spears got a flank on the golems naked attacks against Def 6 suck. Anyway, I hoped my healing could keep them up a bit. I should have moved my very leftmost Rifles into the forest earlier.

The right flank was a congested mess. Destroying his half-breeds in one charge from my knights was unexpected and lucky. His Golems popped quicker than they probably should have too.

He suffered from a lack of chaff. Getting the first charge in is so important with heavy cav. His half-breed champions were excellent, but I was able to delay the arrival of one with my windblast. That was critical.

My Rifles did well. His army had no shooting which really helped me. I could sit in place and dictate terms of engagement.

During the game I felt I wasn't getting the most out of my Sorcerer, but on review I can see that he was critical in disrupting the enemy offence. An extra few wounds from bane chant would have been less useful.

His Immortal Guard Regiments are good anvils, but without shooting or flying pressure I didn't have to engage them at all. Slow and lacking any CS, they aren't a huge threat.

Despite this, I got lucky. The lack of Pathfinder meant my knights were largely stripped of TC. If my Iron Beast had popped in one turn and his Golems or half-breeds had lasted one more, I would have lost. If we had rolled for fewer Pillage tokens I would have lost. If we had ended at turn 6 it would have been a draw.

I need to work on my Deployment and movement in the first couple of turns.

For Christo, I'd consider dropping a regiment of Immortal Guard for an Iron-Caster or a heavy mortar.

A fun game, looking forward to getting better at the movement phase. Thanks for reading.