Fall In! 2019: Gold and Glory - Warmaster Revolution AAR

This past weekend I traveled to Valley Forge for Fall In! 2019 for another of Dave's Warmaster Revolution tournaments. 

Since I hadn't acquired or painted any armies since my last tournament attendance, I decided to take my Dogs of War, which I had added a couple units of Light Cavalry to. 

The event was three games, each with a different scenario (so no pitched battle!).

My first game was against Brad and his Chaos army. There were Warriors of Chaos, Marauders with attached Spawn, Dragon Ogres brigaded with Chaos Hounds, and Knights of Chaos with Marauder Horsemen.

The scenario was Take and Hold, which places four objectives on the table. The objective closest to your deployment zone is worth one point at the end of the game, the objectives in the center are worth two points each, and the objective in the opponent's side of the table is worth three victory points. Breaking the opponent's army scored an additional two victory points.

The game was a seesaw between Brad and my advantage. I was too defensive and held my cavalry back, which let Brad get off the charges he needed (although we forgot that infantry cannot pursue cavalry unless they've charged their flanks or rear! This would have save my Heavy Cavalry Brigade). I mangled the Dragon Ogres and Hounds, but Brad's Warriors and Spawn slaughtered my left flank. I had to watch in horror as a single Chaos Spawn rolled up my Crossbowmen, Galloper Guns, and my Griffon Hero which I had thrown into the combat to try and stop the monstrosity.

And because my Pike brigade refused to move forward, I was unable to support the Ogres and Swordsmen, who had to face Chaos Knights and Marauder Horsemen on their own.

Towards the middle of the game, it seemed like I was close to reaching Brad's breakpoint and ending the game with a solid victory. My dice went cold on me, however, and Brad managed to reach my break point first while also pushing my units off of the middle objective I controlled.

After securing the victory points from breaking my army and denying me the middle objective, Brad was victorious.

My second game was against Liddic and his revised Nippon list, which cuts out a lot of the chaff that the "official" Revolution list has. It also operates like a Bretonnian army where only the Samurai counted for break.

Liddic's of the opinion that this should be reversed, with the importance and break placed on the more numerous Ashigaru and Ronin units. I agree, as it would give the army more unique flavor, and would also allow Nippon players to use their Samurai units, instead of hiding them behind the peasants.

The mission was Strategic Ground. The objective was a 20cm diameter circle in the center of the table. Whoever controlled the area (with no enemy units in it) gained a breakpoint and victory point bonus, which increased if the area was held in turns 5 and 6.

The battle ended up being three separate fights. On the left, the knights delayed and a failed command roll saw them charged by the Nippon foot troops. Luckily the 4+ armor save saved the Knights and they were able to take out some samurai units.

In the middle, Liddic's Ronin and my Pikes formed a vicious blender of men and metal. The Ronin came out on top, however with some assistance from hidden ninja in the nearby terrain. It was only the defended position and the Galloper Guns that kept the Crossbowmen on the hill from being the disgraced warriors' next target.

On the right, my combined brigade of Light and Heavy Cavalry knocked the defending Ashigaru out of the way. Liddic had his remaining Ashigaru and Samurai pull back to the hilltop, giving them a defended position. I tried to shake them loose with the cavalry, but they were repulsed. But the Ogres came up next and snacked on the Nipponese.

This was enough to break Liddic's force, and my army had taken out enough of the weaker Ashigaru units to gain a victory.

My last game was against Coach, who had brought High Elves. Coach was a new player to Warmaster, which was probably my only hope against the very scary shiny elves arrayed across the table. The army was mostly foot, with numerous archer units, but still had a solid compliment of Silver Helms, Reavers, and Bolt Throwers. 

The scenario was Looting Field. Four objectives are placed on the table, alternating between players. The player who goes second can remove one objective. The objectives could be captured with an order by a single unit per turn, and would give a breakpoint and victory point bonus. I rolled high and decided to go second while removing the objective that Coach had place in his deployment zone. 

From the outset, I knew I was going to be in for a rough game. Coach had deployed with a refused flank, so my Ogres and Swordsmen were way off on the far right and wouldn't join the battle for the entire game. The large town in the center of the table also blocked my Galloper Guns' line of sight, so I had to spend most of the game just trying to get them into position. 

All of the action went down on the single flank of the battlefield. Elves came streaming across the table like a silver wave, thanks to their Command 10 general. I had finally learned to be more aggressive with my cavalry, which meant I was able to remove their elven counterparts, although at a great cost.

My Pikes did a great job at removing an Archer/Spear brigade, but were swamped by followup units and couldn't resist with their 6+ armor save.

However, my surviving cavalry were able to push the High Elves to their breaking point, and while Coach had claimed an objective, it wasn't enough to score enough victory points to beat what I had accrued. So the Dogs of War won their second victory.

Overall, I had a great time. The scenarios were interesting variations and made players think instead of just marching across the table and having their armies beat the snot out of each other. There was a great variety of armies as well. As for new armies, I'm hoping to have my kickstarted Daemons from Black Gate Miniatures in hand for Cold Wars next year.