New
To recap, we’d so far gotten a draw against the Russians, two big wins (Canada and Mexico), and a small loss against the Italians. The field being very tight, this performance had left us on table 3 with a clear shot at the podium! Standing between this goal and our team were the good folks from team Frozen Lions (Team Finland and friends). They are no strangers to international events, and regularly vie for the same spots as team Belgium.
Once again my dwarves had a pretty comfortable pairing matrix, especially considering that the final secondary objective was Hold the Ground, something a Dwarf King on a Warthrone is normally well suited to. And I say normally, because I was drawn against Pyry @Byybel and his Dread Elves:
So basically a list based around three big combat blocks, with decent shooting and magic support, an AP6 cowboy and then a couple of Assassins threatening to pop out where they’re least expected. That’s a lot of bodies to go through with shooting, and a lot of close combat attacks for the Shieldwall to deal with. The issue these kind of lists seem to have is that Black Cloaks can be zoned out and kept from approaching their prime targets quite easily, and the Forge Wardens seemed like the perfect unit for that job.
The battle plan here was simple: keep the black cloaks honest, forego the objective on the first couple of turns to get a maximum number of cannon shots into the Altar, then force the combats wherever possible; I was expecting the Dwarves to get battered, but figured that through steadfast and good grinding ability I’d be able to come out on top in terms of points.
The deployment was Encircle, and I was fortunate enough to win the roll for sides: while this meant that the DE would get the first turn, I was more worried about not having good lanes of fire or of the DE blocks deploying too close to my lines. So I gave Pyry the big flanks, and then deployed in a denied flank manner, using the Hold Guardians (who got +1 S/AP) and the Forge Wardens as anchors in the center. The black cloaks deployed near the hold guardians in the weak flank, as there were no good scouting positions on the left side of the board. The Rangers occupied the left flank, with good lanes of fire to close to half of the board. Using Vanguard, I reformed the Forge Wardens and sent them to the north, careful to stay more than 34” away from the Outcast: they would be important in keeping the Cloaks at bay, and I couldn’t risk them taking any early casualties!
For magic, the Temple Legate picked Word of Iron and Glory of Gold, the Outcast Altered Sight, Ice and Fire, Perception of Strength and Unity in Divergence. I got double rune of Revocation, Resilience and Gleaming for the runic spells. The Dread Elves grabbed the initiative and the game was on!
(disclaimer: apologies, a PrtScn mishap meant that for the first couple of turns I copy-pasted the deployment picture instead of the correct turn picture. I tried my best to reconstruct that using paint!)
TURN 1 – Dread Elves
The elves moved up to claim the center of the board, a comfortable distance from the king’s block. The black cloaks had to respect the 21” bubble around the Forge Wardens, which meant that they couldn’t get close enough to the Hold Guardians to shoot them. In a surprising move, the Acolytes with Prince moved up and stood right in front of the Hill, tempting my Hold Guardians to charge them.
In the magic phase the Warlock Outcast forced through a highly cast Unity in Divergence on the Dwarf Warriors, which prompted the use of my Rune of Devouring. The spell thankfully only killed three dwarves after a below average roll. I also had to let a small Word of Iron through on the Acolytes, giving them all the nice spell-related bonuses. Shooting put a single wound on the Hold Guardians.
TURN 1 – Dwarven Holds
After some thought, I decided to decline the Acolyte bait. While they were a lot more points to be had for me if I managed to break them on the charge, the 4++ save and the incoming attacks meant that they would probably be able to stand their ground, and I’d be… [Read More]
Once again my dwarves had a pretty comfortable pairing matrix, especially considering that the final secondary objective was Hold the Ground, something a Dwarf King on a Warthrone is normally well suited to. And I say normally, because I was drawn against Pyry @Byybel and his Dread Elves:
byybel wrote:
450 - Dread Prince, General, Elven Horse, Shield (Dusk Forged), Basalt Infusion, Hand Weapon (Shield Breaker), Obsidian Rock
430 - Temple Legate, Battle Standard Bearer (Aether Icon, Aether Icon), Blades of Darag, Mask of the War Crow, War Smith
420 - Warlock Outcast, Cosmology, Sceptre of Power
180 - Silent Assassin, Paired Weapons
180 - Silent Assassin, Paired Weapons
473 - 23 Temple Militants, Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer (Rending Banner)
392 - 23 Dread Legionnaires, Standard Bearer (Rending Banner), Musician, Champion
260 - 15 Legion Auxiliaries, Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer
410 - 10 Warlock Acolytes
300 - Divine Altar, Crucible of Slaughter
230 - 10 Obsidian Guard, Musician
175 - 5 Shadow Riders
280 - 8 Black Cloaks
160 - 5 Black Cloaks
160 - 5 Black Cloaks
So basically a list based around three big combat blocks, with decent shooting and magic support, an AP6 cowboy and then a couple of Assassins threatening to pop out where they’re least expected. That’s a lot of bodies to go through with shooting, and a lot of close combat attacks for the Shieldwall to deal with. The issue these kind of lists seem to have is that Black Cloaks can be zoned out and kept from approaching their prime targets quite easily, and the Forge Wardens seemed like the perfect unit for that job.
The battle plan here was simple: keep the black cloaks honest, forego the objective on the first couple of turns to get a maximum number of cannon shots into the Altar, then force the combats wherever possible; I was expecting the Dwarves to get battered, but figured that through steadfast and good grinding ability I’d be able to come out on top in terms of points.
The deployment was Encircle, and I was fortunate enough to win the roll for sides: while this meant that the DE would get the first turn, I was more worried about not having good lanes of fire or of the DE blocks deploying too close to my lines. So I gave Pyry the big flanks, and then deployed in a denied flank manner, using the Hold Guardians (who got +1 S/AP) and the Forge Wardens as anchors in the center. The black cloaks deployed near the hold guardians in the weak flank, as there were no good scouting positions on the left side of the board. The Rangers occupied the left flank, with good lanes of fire to close to half of the board. Using Vanguard, I reformed the Forge Wardens and sent them to the north, careful to stay more than 34” away from the Outcast: they would be important in keeping the Cloaks at bay, and I couldn’t risk them taking any early casualties!
For magic, the Temple Legate picked Word of Iron and Glory of Gold, the Outcast Altered Sight, Ice and Fire, Perception of Strength and Unity in Divergence. I got double rune of Revocation, Resilience and Gleaming for the runic spells. The Dread Elves grabbed the initiative and the game was on!
(disclaimer: apologies, a PrtScn mishap meant that for the first couple of turns I copy-pasted the deployment picture instead of the correct turn picture. I tried my best to reconstruct that using paint!)
TURN 1 – Dread Elves
The elves moved up to claim the center of the board, a comfortable distance from the king’s block. The black cloaks had to respect the 21” bubble around the Forge Wardens, which meant that they couldn’t get close enough to the Hold Guardians to shoot them. In a surprising move, the Acolytes with Prince moved up and stood right in front of the Hill, tempting my Hold Guardians to charge them.
In the magic phase the Warlock Outcast forced through a highly cast Unity in Divergence on the Dwarf Warriors, which prompted the use of my Rune of Devouring. The spell thankfully only killed three dwarves after a below average roll. I also had to let a small Word of Iron through on the Acolytes, giving them all the nice spell-related bonuses. Shooting put a single wound on the Hold Guardians.
TURN 1 – Dwarven Holds
After some thought, I decided to decline the Acolyte bait. While they were a lot more points to be had for me if I managed to break them on the charge, the 4++ save and the incoming attacks meant that they would probably be able to stand their ground, and I’d be… [Read More]
