Second after action report
So, for the second battle report of this last weekend, it was back to my normal opponent and his ogre army. This time, he brought a giant instead of the uber ogre, upped his mounted goblins, and added some hunters. He also put a breath weapon on one of his standard bearers. One unit of shooters and one of siege breakers and a whole lot of troops. The scenario was dominate.
We both deployed ourselves largely in the center. He had his siege breakers flanked on each side by warriors (all hordes) backed by two troops of warriors with two-handed weapons. His shooters went to the left of his center, in some woods, so my dragon, gladestalkers, and chariot went right. I had an archer troop, a tallspear troop, and a palace guard regiment guarding my left. He had his fast stuff to the right (later he said to tie up mine) while his giant was on the far left. I vanguarded my glade stalkers up the right-side table edge so they were in a position to flank charge one of the goblin cavalry troops on the first turn with the chariots and the dragon coming right behind. It would have been beautiful until he got the first turn. That allowed him to run the goblins and bring up his hunters to counter attack.
He put his shooting into my bolt throwers (which only did 1 point of damage the entire game and died early). Otherwise, the center became a grind. I did manage to sacrifice one of my spear troops to knock his battle line out of alignment. I also was able to bring the dragon across from the right and place it so that it threatened the flank of his shooters and the rear of his siege breakers, causing him to adjust both units. I’m kind of proud of that maneuver. I also got to see the value of inspiring (I didn’t forget my standard bearer this time!) when it saved my sea guard from a nasty eleven on the nerve check.
The giant danced with my two troops on the right, finally letting me get a charge in with my regiment. They weren’t good enough though (largely because I rolled poorly on his nerve check after the second strike from them, and the giant was able to destroy them. Something killed the giant right at the end though; I think it was the dragon.
On the right, it was a bit of a furball. We both had moments of bad dice there, (EX: I am rolling 12 dice, needing fours and re-rolling ones and I get a total of three hits) but this was also the place where my opponent believes he lost the game. He had managed to charge his hunters into my chariots which had blown the roll killing something in like turn two or three. (I had four battles that turn, thee of which would have gone my way on average dice, and I got one of them.) He ended up needing something like a six or seven to waver, but he didn’t get it, allowing the chariots to attack him the next turn and kill his unit. That basically broke his entire flank and let my units start curving around, led by the dragon.
At the end of the game (end of turn 11), he had his siege breakers (damaged) in the center. I had the ASB, the gladestalkers, a troop of archers, and a regiment of palace guard in the center, surrounding his siege breakers on multiple sides, obviously about to multi-charge the ogres. I also had the dragon lord, outside the domination circle to the left, but facing in and able to get there in the next move. At that point, he surrendered, pointing out that the siege breakers were probably about to die, but even if they didn’t, I still had more points entirely in the domination area. If we got another turn, and if the siege breakers survived, unwavered, then he would get to counter charge only one of my units which, even if he destroyed it, meant he would get multi-charged again, this time with the dragon participating. Even if he survived that, with the dragon in the center, then he still lost because I had more points in the center.
I though the game was lost actually until about my fifth turn. I’d had that absolutely awful turn 4 on the right flank, and then it looked like it was going to be just his siege breakers in the center area because my dragon was held up on the shooters and the sea guard was held up on a horde of warriors and blocking my palace guard. But then, in what I think might have been decisive, the warriors vanquished the sea guard, opening up the path for the more agile palace guard regiment who were then able to charge the warriors in the front while the gladestalkers hit them in the side, and upon vanquishing the warriors, were able to advance out of the combat towards the center, gaining position to charge the siege breakers. Of course, as my opponent would argue, the gladestalkers only got to flank charge the warriors because his right flank had collapsed which he credits to his blown role attacking the chariots. I think it is equally important that the sea guard had to die when it did though.
We both deployed ourselves largely in the center. He had his siege breakers flanked on each side by warriors (all hordes) backed by two troops of warriors with two-handed weapons. His shooters went to the left of his center, in some woods, so my dragon, gladestalkers, and chariot went right. I had an archer troop, a tallspear troop, and a palace guard regiment guarding my left. He had his fast stuff to the right (later he said to tie up mine) while his giant was on the far left. I vanguarded my glade stalkers up the right-side table edge so they were in a position to flank charge one of the goblin cavalry troops on the first turn with the chariots and the dragon coming right behind. It would have been beautiful until he got the first turn. That allowed him to run the goblins and bring up his hunters to counter attack.
He put his shooting into my bolt throwers (which only did 1 point of damage the entire game and died early). Otherwise, the center became a grind. I did manage to sacrifice one of my spear troops to knock his battle line out of alignment. I also was able to bring the dragon across from the right and place it so that it threatened the flank of his shooters and the rear of his siege breakers, causing him to adjust both units. I’m kind of proud of that maneuver. I also got to see the value of inspiring (I didn’t forget my standard bearer this time!) when it saved my sea guard from a nasty eleven on the nerve check.
The giant danced with my two troops on the right, finally letting me get a charge in with my regiment. They weren’t good enough though (largely because I rolled poorly on his nerve check after the second strike from them, and the giant was able to destroy them. Something killed the giant right at the end though; I think it was the dragon.
On the right, it was a bit of a furball. We both had moments of bad dice there, (EX: I am rolling 12 dice, needing fours and re-rolling ones and I get a total of three hits) but this was also the place where my opponent believes he lost the game. He had managed to charge his hunters into my chariots which had blown the roll killing something in like turn two or three. (I had four battles that turn, thee of which would have gone my way on average dice, and I got one of them.) He ended up needing something like a six or seven to waver, but he didn’t get it, allowing the chariots to attack him the next turn and kill his unit. That basically broke his entire flank and let my units start curving around, led by the dragon.
At the end of the game (end of turn 11), he had his siege breakers (damaged) in the center. I had the ASB, the gladestalkers, a troop of archers, and a regiment of palace guard in the center, surrounding his siege breakers on multiple sides, obviously about to multi-charge the ogres. I also had the dragon lord, outside the domination circle to the left, but facing in and able to get there in the next move. At that point, he surrendered, pointing out that the siege breakers were probably about to die, but even if they didn’t, I still had more points entirely in the domination area. If we got another turn, and if the siege breakers survived, unwavered, then he would get to counter charge only one of my units which, even if he destroyed it, meant he would get multi-charged again, this time with the dragon participating. Even if he survived that, with the dragon in the center, then he still lost because I had more points in the center.
I though the game was lost actually until about my fifth turn. I’d had that absolutely awful turn 4 on the right flank, and then it looked like it was going to be just his siege breakers in the center area because my dragon was held up on the shooters and the sea guard was held up on a horde of warriors and blocking my palace guard. But then, in what I think might have been decisive, the warriors vanquished the sea guard, opening up the path for the more agile palace guard regiment who were then able to charge the warriors in the front while the gladestalkers hit them in the side, and upon vanquishing the warriors, were able to advance out of the combat towards the center, gaining position to charge the siege breakers. Of course, as my opponent would argue, the gladestalkers only got to flank charge the warriors because his right flank had collapsed which he credits to his blown role attacking the chariots. I think it is equally important that the sea guard had to die when it did though.
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