For Want of a Nail - Saga Tournament AAR

This past weekend I attended a Saga tournament at the invite of a friend. I haven't touched Saga in years, so I dusted off my Normans to see how they would do.

The theme was Vikings and Invasions, and saw warbands from the Anglo-Danes, Welsh, Normans, Saxons, Franks, and Picts clashing over three rounds.

I brought a mounted Warlord, 12 Hearthguard, 16 Warriors, and 12 Levy.

 

Round 1's scenario was Clash of Warlords against a Frankish warband consisting of only Warriors armed with hand weapons, divvied out into units of varying sizes.

The game was rather bloody, with both sides beating each other down over six turns. While my Normans had the advantage in ranged-weapons and mounts, the Frankish battleboard could give even smaller units some massive combat advantages.

I did manage to win the game, 12-8.

My second game was against a Welsh warband in the Capture scenario, where both warbands attempt to control three points in the center of the battlefield.

The Welsh warband consisted of some mounted Hearthguard, generic Warriors, and some ranged-weapons Levy.

This game came down to a couple early gambits between the Welsh and Norman Warlords. Unfortunately the Welsh pulled out ahead and I found a good part of my warband wiped out by the end of turn 2. I realized that this would quickly lead to an exponential victory point gain for my opponent and decided to concede, losing the game 1-19.

 

 

The last round was the Conquest scenario against a Pictish warband. This scenario is a combination of the Clash of Warlords and Capture scenarios, where both sides aim to cause as much damage as possible while gaining extra points by staying close to the center objective.

The Picts had a chariot-mounted Warlord, a small mounted units of Hearthguard, some Warriors, and a few units of Levy armed with a variety of ranged weapons; most worryingly, a unit of 12 Levy with crossbows, which could be incredibly deadly to all of my units. 

Sadly, this was another game that I did not do well in. Like the Welsh, the Picts are a slippery warband that likes to move around and avoid direct conflict, which the Norman warband doesn't have many answers for. After losing half my warband in the early rounds (especially needing to avoid the ranged Levy horde hanging out in the field), I decided to charge into the mass of the Picts rather then spend the rest of the scenario running away. This resulted in another lopsided loss of 3-17.

So a rather poor showing overall! Some of it I chalk up to unfamiliarity with the rules (the last time I played Saga was back in 2021 and apparently there's been a version 2.5 reprint) as well as some bad matchups with warbands. 

Historicon 2021: Inner (and Outer) Daemons - Warmaster Revolutions AAR

After my first two games on Thursday, I was ready for a full day of gaming with the Warmaster tournament. My Daemons were fully painted and raring to go.

We had six players; definitely less than previous years, but with no conventions and some attendee issues over mask requirements, I wasn't surprised. 

My first game was against John and his Bretonnians. It was my first time facing the Arthurian/French-inspired, knight heavy faction in Warmaster. Like Nippon (which I have faced before), the Bretonnians have a special army rule that affect their breakpoint. Only their heavy mounted knights actually count. Chaff units like Peasants and Squires don't count against the army's breakpoint; both for and against. 

This meant that John's breakpoint was only 5 compared to my army's 9. But I had to get through his heavily-armored mounted knights to force him to break.

The scenario was Take and Hold. Both sides had two objectives to place at the start of the game. One was closer to their backline, and the other closer to the center of the table. To control an objective, a side needed to been the only one with a unit within 5cm. Units like flyers could contest objectives, but not control them. 

Since this was my first outing with the Daemons, I was far more cautious then I should have been, especially against an army that outmatched with the amount of cavalry it could bring. Even with the restrictions to commands in the Revolution version of Warmaster, cavalry is still arguably the kind of the battlefield. 

John used his Squires to disrupt my Chariot brigade, which left it vulnerable to his own brigade of Knights and Grail Knights. This shattered my right flank. While I was able to wipe out his Peasant brigade, that kept one of my infantry brigades from moving further up. 

Eventually John was able to grind enough of my units beneath the hooves of his cavalry and broke my army in turn 6. Adding up the objectives we controlled (and a bonus to John for breaking my army), it was a 2-5 loss for the Daemons. 

My second game was against Liddick and his new army, Lizardmen. Their main gimmick is that their Slann "general" can't actually command any units. However it can give a bonus to Skink character's Command stat and can relay spells through Slann Shamans with an unlimited range!

I didn't manage to catch the name of the second scenario, but it involved placing two objectives in the centerline of the table. Starting on turn 3 the objectives activated, and when a side controlled both objectives by being on top of them at the start of their turn the game would end and bonus points would be scored.

I tried compensating for my lack of aggression in the previous game by being too aggressive during this match. Both cavalry brigades ended up worse for wear; my Chariots couldn't handle the Cold One Riders and the mixed brigade tried attacking Kroxigors in terrain. Not an ideal matchup!

With my Daemon Chariots and Cavalry spent, Liddick marched his infantry out into the open and onto the objectives, and the Daemons couldn't push them off. It was another loss for the Daemons, 565 victory points to 945 victory points. 

My final matchup was against Kal, who was commanding a ragtag Dogs of War force. Finally, a familiar enemy!

The final scenario was Battle for the Tower, with both sides fighting to control the central (Chessex dice) tower. 

After a couple turns of failed command rolls and a potentially devastating blunder (which put my Chariot brigade in range of Kal's Ogres and Dwarfs), I thought that the game was all but over. 

Things turned around somewhat when the Chariots did better than expected and managed to mangle the Ogres without losing too many stands. My other cavalry brigade ended up mostly pinned up on the massive block of Pikemen, but reduced their numbers greatly. And they even took out a Giant!

What really saved me was finally getting the Daemonic Hordes into Kal's Crossbowmen and Handgunners. The unarmored, ranged troops were easy targets for the hordes of Bloodletters, Plaguebearers, Horrors, and Daemonettes, which pushed Kal over the breaking point. I had also managed to drop a couple units of Hordes to control the Tower. In their last games, the Daemons managed a 5-0 win. 

So, how were the Daemons? They're definitely an aggressive army. I felt the hurt that I had no ranged units or artillery to interfere with approaching enemy brigades. And I'd probably try to drop the Daemon Swarms, since they only got in the way of the Hordes on the attack. But having Command 8 Wizards, and three Wizard characters, is definitely nice.

The toughest part of the army is dealing with the Daemonic Instability rule. It's a 2/3 chance that something bad is going to happen to any Daemon unit that has lost a stand; either charging uncontrollably, becoming confused, or losing another stand (or disappearing entirely!). The only offset is that the "Summon Daemons" spell in a 4+ to cast and the army can take three Wizards. Without those two conditions, the entire faction might be unplayable. 

Still, I was happy to be able to play Warmaster at a convention again. And now I can get working on a new army!

When is a Gate not a Gate? - Middle Earth SBG Tournament AAR

This past weekend I attended the first Atlantic City Open, an event run by Frontline Gaming. 

The Atlantic City Open is the third series of events run by Frontline. Their other two are the Las Vegas Open and the Lone Star Open. Since Adepticon takes care of the Midwest, Frontline decided to start up the Atlantic City Open to cover the East Coast. 

The stars of the event were Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, but there were also events for Kill Team, Star Wars Legion, and Lord of the Rings, which is what I took part in. 

Since it had been more than a year since I'd gotten MESBG to the table, and my last time playing was the less-than-inspiring MESBG tournament at 2019's Fall In!, I decided to bring a somewhat less-serious list and just have at it, fully expecting to be staying down at the bottom tables.

I ran the "Black Gate Opens" Legendary Legion as my force. This list severely restricts the options I could take from Mordor, but gives two bonuses: the Black Gate version of the Troll Chieftain, which gains an extra point of Might, Will, and Fate as well as the Fearless special rule, and a special rules that gives +1 on Wound rolls if enemy models are outnumbered in close combat (this does not include supporting spears, however).

Mordor - Black Gate Opens Legendary Legion, 700 Points

• Black Gate Troll Chieftain
• Morannon Orc, Banner, Shield, Spear
• Morannon Orc, Shield
• 5x Orc Warriors, Shields, Spears
• 5x Orc Warriors, Shields
• The Mouth of Sauron, Armoured Horse
• 5x Orc Warriors, Bows
• Mordor Troll Chieftain
• Morannon Orc, Shield
• Orc Warrior, Banner, Shield
• 4x Orc Warriors, Shields, Spears
• 4x Orc Warriors, Shields
• Orc Captain, Shield, Warg
• 4x Orc Warriors, Shields, Spears
• 4x Orc Warriors, Shields

The scenarios for the day were randomly decided from a small pre-determined pool. 

My first game was against Robert and his Minas Tirith army, which was led by Denethor alongside Borormir, Madril, and a mounted Huron. With plenty of cavalry, bows, and Fountain Court Guards, this list could out-fight, outs-hoot, and out-move me. The objective was Seize the Prize, where both sides would race to uncover an artefact in the middle of the table and hold it until the other side broke or the round ended. 

While I had priority for most of this game, I messed up from the start and didn't deploy my Trolls in front of the Orcs so they weren't much help, and the Black Gate Chieftain ended up surrounded and slain by Boromir. As Robert pointed out after the game, I should have used the Orc Captain and the Mouth of Sauron to rush up and try to defend the objective. But it ended up in Huron's hands and I never got the chance to get it back. 

In a desperate bid for points I tried to rush Denethor with the Orc Captain. But I rolled poorly and the Orc Captain was trapped and slain by the Steward of Gondor and his accompanying soldiers. 

This ended up as a loss, 0-7. 

My second game was against Kevin and his Black Numenorean themed Mordor force. Led by the Dark Marshal and a Black Numenorean Marshal, Kevin's entire force had Terror and was mostly mounted, which meant I was unlikely to engage on my terms (especially with the Dark Marshal's "Harbinger of Evil" special rule that gave all of my units within 12" a -1 to their Courage).

This scenario was Lords of Battle, where the goal was to cause as much carnage as possible. Since the deployment for the scenario is the entirety of one half of the table (and at least 1" away from the enemy) we ended up pretty much on top of each other, as I figured Kevin would have the advantage of speed if I didn't deploy closer. 

Unfortunately, my earlier premonitions about the game turned out to be true, especially since I lost priority for most of the game. While my Fearless Black Gate Troll Chieftain did a fair share of the work and ended up squishing the Dark Marshal, the regular Troll Chieftain couldn't pass a Courage check to save it's life. Kevin decided to go after the squishier Orc infantry if the troll wasn't going to engage. 

With the Morgul Knight's lances, my Orcs were fairly easy to kill especially when knocked down from charging cavalry. And it's only after the tournament, at the time that I'm writing this, that I realized that I could have targeted the less-armored horses for extra wounds. This would have also remove the lances and the double attacks on charge from the Morgul Knights. 

Well, hindsight is 20-20. But the game's score ended up 2-8 for another loss. 

As I had expected, I was back at the bottom table for the last game of the tournament. Here I was up against Caleb and his mixed Mordor and Easterlings Alliance, led by Gothmog and the Knight of Umbar. 

The final scenario of the day had to have the dreaded Maelstrom of Battle Special Rules (which I do not like. At all). It ended up being Heirlooms of Ages Past. 

In terms of deployment, the dice could have been worse. The various warbands ended up mostly spaced out, apart from the Mouth of Sauron and the Knight of Umbar, who ended up right on top of each other. In true villainous fashion, the Mouth of Sauron fled on his horse as the Orc Archers in his warband were butchered. The Knight of Umbar gave chase, but the Mouth managed to not only defend himself but slew the Ringwraith before retreating behind the safety of the nearby Troll Chieftain. 

However, I had thought the game lost when Caleb ended up uncovering Heirloom artefact way over on his side early on. But this time my Trolls weren't stymied by the terrain, and Caleb unfortunately rolled a few 1's which Transfixed the model with the artefact and kept it from running away. As my Troll Chieftain held of successive waves of cavalry charges and eventually ended up killing Gothmog, the Black Gate Troll Chieftain went after the artefact bearer and squished the orc. I was able to recover the artefact as Caleb's force broke and fled the table en masse. 

At the end of this game, I won 12-0. 

While I'm not sure of the final results, I'm fairly certain I was a spot or two from last place. As a consolation prize (I suppose), I received a pint glass for being voted the second-best painted Evil army in the tournament. 

I definitely enjoyed this event more than the one at Fall In!, as this time I had tempered my expectations. At the very least, each of my opponents were a pleasure to play against, and I wouldn't mind heading back next year if there's another event. If I'm lucky, we may see more MESBG players in the area. It would help my rules knowledge and play skills if I could play more often than yearly tournament!

Sand in the Eye - Middle Earth SBG Tournament AAR

My second day at Fall In! 2019 was spent in a Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game tournament. 

Earlier this year I decided to jump in feet first as the newest edition has seemed to breath life into the game. I had never really looked at Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings games, and the Hobbit line had left me even colder. 

But the new starter box had piqued my interest, so a couple Amazon purchases later and I had a pretty decent start to a Mordor army. I've added on to it since that to get enough options to mix and match. It was from this that I picked my tournament force.

My first game was against Stephen, who had brought a Mirkwood force. The scenario was Lords of Battle, where each player primarily scored victory points by causing wounds to the opposing force.

I was able to deploy my Orcs in a line, which faced off against two warbands of elves, one led by Thranduil, and another by Legolas.

Since Stephen and I were both relatively new to the game, this ended up being more or less a straight up brawl. The elves' higher Fight saw them winning more combats, but the Morannon Orcs had a higher Strength and could more easily cause wounds. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get Shagrat close to Thranduil to try and draw him into combat, and Stephen was ultimately able to cause more wounds by the time the round ended.

So the first game was a close loss for Mordor.

The second game was against Ted and his Fiefdoms. I quickly learned that this force was all about the overlapping auras that made their infantry living blenders. The scenario was Heirloom of Ages Past, where both sides had to search through six objectives, find the relic, and hold onto it until one side reached 25% of its original size.

It was in this game that I learned to dread the Maelstrom of Battle special rule, where warbands come onto the table randomly, either at the player's choice or their opponent's. While Shagrat was able to move onto the table with relative safety, both Kardush and the Morannon Captain came on right on top of Ted's force. I basically had to watch as two of my warbands were slaughtered.

I then tried to quickly end the scenario by causing my army to reach its 25% limit before the relic had been found, but Ted managed to keep enough of my force alive to secure the objective and kill my banner (which would have given me victory points) to win the game.

It was a second, and much more devastating loss for the forces of Sauron.

My third game was against Nick and his Lothlorien elves. The scenario was Contests of Champions, where a force's leader aims to cause as much damage as possible, and I messed it up from the beginning. Both sides' Leaders have to deploy within 3" of the center, and then deploy their warbands within 6" of the center. I placed Shagrat right out in the center, thinking that Nick's Leader, Galadriel, had to do the same. Instead, Shagrat found himself facing a wall of Galadhrim warriors.

A lucky Priority roll meant that Shagrat wasn't immediately surrounded and chopped to pieces, but that wasn't much of a comfort when he was Commanded through the Lothlorien line over to Galadriel, who proceeded to slap my Leader to death. Since Shagrat hadn't managed to kill even a single elf by that point, it was more or less a total wash at that point. Nick proceeded to spend the rest of the game just aiming to break my force to score the maximum amount of victory points.

Another embarrassing loss for Mordor.

By this point I had become somewhat put out by the beatings I had been getting, especially when I found out I was going to be playing another Maelstrom of Battle scenario against Rainier and his all-mounted (and fantastic looking) Khand army. The scenario was Hold Ground, where both sides needed to control an objective in the center of the table by the (randomly decided) end of the game.

My only goal was to lose as quickly as possible to get the game over with, which was facilitated when Shagrat failed to show up the first turn, while the Morannon Captain and Kardush ended up on opposite ends of the table with plenty of Khandish horsemen and their chariot-riding heroes for company. I abandoned any pretensions of cohesion for the warbands and just throw them at the horsemen when I had priority. Doing so, I was actually able to kill off the Khandish King with a horde of regular Orc Warriors and Orc Trackers.

Shagrat's warband came on at the end of the second turn in yet another area, seperated from the rest of the Mordor army. So I just marched him and the rest of his warband towards the center. More through dumb luck than any amount of skill, Shagrat ended up being the only model within 6" of the objective when my army broke and the game ended, which meant I had managed a win by a slim margin.

I have to admit, the games I played were somewhat discouraging, even at such a low points value. I felt like I kept coming up against players who were far better than me, but only had losses on their records because they had been up against even better players. I certainly learned plenty about the rules, but these were harsh lessons.

I do plan to go to another tournament in January, but this event has opened my eyes to how rough a treatment I'll probably get there as well. In the future, I'll probably spend my HMGS events trying out participation games, rather than trying my hand at MESBG.

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.

4 Diamonds Cup 2019 - Blood Bowl AAR

This past weekend I drove out to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania to attend this year's 4 Diamond Cup tournament. It's a long-standing Blood Bowl event that raises money for the Penn State Children's Hospital! 

The event was held in a fire hall with plenty of space for the games, and the ticket price included a catered (and delicious) lunch.

And the prizes! Attendees could buy raffle tickets to try and win a variety of items. There were playmats and teams...

A really nice painted Lizardmen team, a fantastic looking dugout and a carved wooden box with the tournament's logo...

And a ton of miscellaneous items!

I ended up with a pint glass, a dice tray, and dice with logos for Keystone Kup 18 (looks like another central PA event that happened last year. I may need to keep an eye out for this year's event).

I decided to bring my Human team to the event. I've already played with the Chaos Dwarves and Slann, and I needed to play with the Humans and Orcs before moving on to other teams. And since I've already played with the Orcs in a league, I thought trying the humans out wouldn't be too bad.

In hindsight, well...

My first opponent was Ken and his Dwarves. It was a clash of older edition teams, and the Dwarves came away with a 1-0 win against my Humans. Ken ground out a goal in the first half, which I couldn't follow through to even get a tie.

As Ken pointed out, however, I was playing too conservatively and not using the Human's better speed against the Dwarves. He gave me some advice that I hoped I could use against Dwarf teams in the future.

However, my second game was against Jason, who had brought Pro Elves/Elven Union (depends on the age of the player). This was a rough game for the Humans, and even though I was knocking elves off the pitch left and right, the pointy-eared lads and ladies ended up with a 2-0 victory.

It's always impressive how elf teams and coaches are able to exploit mistakes with that AG 4, as Jason demonstrated with a pickup, hand off, pass and dodge that took the ball from one end of the pitch to the other.

With my expectations shattered, my final opponent was Ezzard and his Dwarf team! I was hoping to put some of my previous experience to good use. I managed to keep Ezzard from scoring in the first half, and scored myself halfway through the second. However, I wasn't able to keep the Dwarves from opening a line in my defense, which Ezzard was able to push through and clear a lane for a late second half score to tie the game 1-1.

So, two losses and a tie, which meant I ended up in 54th place out of 58 players. Not exactly a good first impression for the humans, and I expect they'll be gathering dust on my shelf for some time.

Unfortunately, while each of my opponents were fantastic both in and out of the games, some extenuating circumstances and the frustrations I was having with my coaching really got me in a bad mood, which affected my overall tournament experience. It's a shame, and I hope I didn't negatively affect my opponents' time too much.

On a more positive note, the event did raise for $6,500 in donations!

I'd definitely like to attend again next year and give a better accounting of myself.

Cold Wars 2019, Dogs of War vs. Dark Elves - Warmaster Revolution AAR

My last game was against Kal and his Dark Elves, who I had faced off against last year with my Ogre Kingdoms army. 

The last mission was Flanking Force. As the defender, I had to select four units and a hero to be a flanking force. Every turn, starting from the second, I would roll to see if the units and hero moved  onto the table from a predetermined short edge. Victory points would decide the winner (tallying the points cost of enemy units that were routed or damaged), and breaking the opposing army would provide a bonus.

My brigades steadily moved up, but were mostly waiting for the reaming units to arrive.

The Dark Elves advanced as well.

Luckily, it didn't take long for my flanking force to arrive!

However, I realized that I had chosen the wrong side to bring them on from, as Kal's most dangerous units - a brigade of dark riders - was all the way on the other side of the table.

I would need to deal with the pesky harpies in the Dark Elf army first, ast hey routed one of my crossbowmen in the fields.

My pike brigade was forced to wait as I made a personal blunder and completely forgot to order issues to my knights, leaving them on the side of the battlefield for another turn. However, my galloper guns were able to do some hefty damage to the oncoming witch elves.

I threw a unit of ogres deep into Kal's center, routing a unit of crossbowmen. In return, however, Kal's cavalry wiped out a two-unit brigade that was hoping to delay them.

In the center, a single stand of crossbowmen waited after being saved from the attacking harpies by a unit of dwarfs. The other unit of dwarfs had charged forward, also aiming to delay the oncoming elven spearmen.

And on the left, my knights finally got into the action, but only after the pikemen had done most of the work and taken horrendous casualties.

The knights congratulated themselves on a hob well done, as they ignored the grumblings of the lone remaining units of pikes.

The dwarfs were unfortunately rebuffed and pushed back, with the ogres and other dwarfs unable to help.

However, the game can to an end when the last mini-brigade of crossbowmen and marauders were charged, flanked, and wiped out, leaving victory to the Dark Elves.

This was a close game, and I may have been able to win if I had continued to refuse my right flank, and hadn't forgotten to bring my knights in sooner!

I had a great time, and really enjoyed all three games. We had more players in this tournament (eleven to last year's six) and we had plenty of convention attendees stopping to inspect our games and miniatures. Hopefully they'll attract more tournament players, as Dave plans to run another event at this years Fall In. I plan to be there!

Cold Wars 2019, Dogs of War vs. Skaven - Warmaster Revolution AAR

My second opponent was Karl and his massive Skaven army. It had 30 units and had a break point of 15, compared to my 20 units, break point 10 force!

The scenario was Breakthrough. As the attacker, Karl had to get as many of his units withing 30cm of the opposite edge of the table (my side) before the end of six turns. As the defender, I would have to prevent this, or break Karl's army.

Since the Skaven can field brigades of more than four units (what's normally allowed in Warmaster), Karl had his army move in massive blocks of furry bodies.

Having played on a similar table against Dave in last year's tournament, I knew I wanted to be in the fields. It'd be difficult to issue orders to the units within, but they'd be defended against enemy attacks. So I aggressively moved my brigades up the table, with my knights moving the furthest.

As my pike brigade slid to the right, and the ratmen approached, my knights struck out. I managed to destroy a doomwheel and do some damage to the Skaven brigade on the right.

However, the Skaven returned the favor and wiped out most of my knights, apart from a single units that I managed to pull back.

I could only watch as the massive Skaven brigades began to split and move to outflank my artillery brigade on the left.

My knights managed to bring vengeance to the Skaven, flanking and destroying the remaining doomwheel and hitting the flank of some clanrats and jezzails.

And in the center, my ogres charged in and sent the skaven reeling. The pushback managed to destroy the Screaming Bell at the same time.

My artillery brigade sat and waited for the Skaven to come, betting that the rest of the army could break the enemy before too much damage could be done.

On the right, Karl sent in his plague monks against my pikemen. With Death Frenzy cast on them, the plague-ridden monks put out a ludicrous amounts of attacks. My pikemen managed to weather the storm, however, and used their weapons to poke holes into the Skaven, wiping them out.

As expected, my artillery brigade was flanked and locked into combat.

But my ogres came through and did enough damage to finally break Karl's army before he could reach the objective zone. My Dogs of War got their first victory.