Saturday 8th July Part II

Game 2 : Undead (Dave) versus Elves (Paul), 2000 points, Ransack

Introduction
My first game against Paul and his immaculate elves and I expected it to be challenging - and it was! I had seen Paul play before and I noticed apart from his beautifully painted and based elves that he appeared to know his stuff when it came to playing Elves. His solid performance at a tournament we both attended only strengthened my opinion.

In writing this blog I asked Paul about his wargaming experience. Suffice to say it is impressive. While he's only played Kings of War for about a year, he has been wargaming for 24 years, with 14 years in Warhammer Fantasy, and five of those as a tournament regular.

My army was the same composition as in game 1.

Dave's (my) Undead Army
2 Skeleton Spearmen Troops - 150
Revenants Horde. Undead Giant Rats, Hammer of Measured Force - 230
3 Wraiths Troops, Fire-Oil, Blade of Slashing, Mace of Crushing - 435
2 Werewolves Hordes, Brew of Strength, Helm of the Ram - 535
Soul Reaver Cavalry Regiment, Wine of Elvenkind - 340
Revenant King on Horse, Banner of the Griffin - 160
"Bone-head" Necromancer on Horse, Soul Drain, Inspiring Talisman - 150

Paul's Elven Army
Seaguard Horde, Wine of Elvenkind - 320
Drakon Horde, Brew of Strength - 300
2 Palace Guard Regiments, one with War-bow of Kaba - 305
War Chariots Regiment, Piercing Arrow - 150
Stormwind Cavalry Regiment, Maccwar's Potion of Caterpillar - 235
2 Bolt Throwers - 180
2 Princes on Horses, Mace of Crushing, Kaba's Holy Hand Grenades - 180
2 ASBs on Horses, Diadem of Dragon-king, The Boomstick -190
2 ASBs, Lute of Insatiable Darkness, Banner of the Griffin - 140

Scenario & Terrain

Scenario & Terrain

The scenario rolled was Ransack from the Clash of Kings 2017 Supplement with five objective tokens worth 2, 2, 1, 1 & 1 Victory Points respectively.

Regarding the Ransack scenario I heard in a recent podcast the suggestion that for fairness in tournament play players should have 3 objective tokens each, worth 1, 2 & 3 Victory Points respectively. While the objectives for our game came out fair I feel that the suggestion is worth using in a similar form in all Ransack games. What do you think?

Deployment

Deployment

My apologies, I've forgotten who won the deployment and first turn die rolls. Whatever happened I ended up with the first move.










Undead Turn 1

Turn 1 Undead

My tactic was to push for the bulk of the tokens on my left, while trying to deny flank on the right.

Elves Turn 1

Turn 1 Elves

Paul's charge with his Stormwind Cavalry surprised me, needless to say the Wraiths on the receiving end were quickly vanquished. A holy hand grenade from the Elven Prince wounded the Werewolves (W2), while the Elven bolt throwers started to cut through my horde of Revenants.

Undead Turn 2

Turn 2 Undead

The Stormwind Cavalry and Elven Prince were killed. The Seaguard held steady despite being multicharged by Werewolves and Wraiths.

Elves Turn 2

Turn 2 Elves

On my left flank Paul's counter-attack claims one of my Werewolf hordes. The Skeleton Spearmen Troop (SS1) heroically holds steady from the Drakon charge! On my right the Elves move forward. The shooting from the Bolt Throwers and War Chariots starts to tell. By the end of the battle the War Chariots would of inflicted a significant amount of damage.

Undead Turn 3

Turn 3 Undead

Using the Wraiths and surge I'm able to rout the Seaguard. Incredibly and impressively the Elven Prince holds steady against a charge from my Soul Reaver Cavalry!

Seaguard routed!

Elves Turn 3

Turn 3 Elves

Both Skeleton Spearmen troops are lost, as are my vainglorious Wraiths(Wr2).

Dusted by arrows

Dusted by the Drakon

Poof! go the Wraiths

Undead Turn 4

Turn 4 Undead

A decidedly good turn for me with the left flank mopped up. However I've only now realised that Paul's chariots have already claimed 2 VP.

Relentless Soul Reaver Cavalry

Now you see it...

... and now you don't

The battle so far... (with free product placement)

Elves Turn 4

Turn 4 Elves

I feel the pressure on the right flank, squeezed between the murderous arrow-fire of the Bolt Throwers and War Chariots. I just hope my Revenants can survive until the end.

The Palace Guard charge

Undead Turn 5

Turn 5 Undead

My Werewolves and Soul Reaver Cavalry move to claim 3 VP. Protecting the middle objective is my goal. A good step in that direction is rout of one of the Palace Guard regiments.

Palace Guard routed

Elves Turn 5

Turn 5 Elves

Revenants - hold steady! My last Wraith troop is vaporised in the shooting turn.

Undead Turn 6

Turn 6 Undead

Elves Turn 6

Turn 6 Elves

Revenants dusted, but I breath a sigh of relief as the Palace Guard are still out of range to seize the middle objective. So far 3 VP to 2 in my favour.

A die is rolled and the battle continues to turn 7.

Undead Turn 7

Turn 7 Undead

My heroes are able to rout the second Palace Guard unit.

2nd Palace Guard routed

Undead Victory!

I manage to manoeuvre my Werewolves to claim two objectives, although in hindsight those objectives must of been too close to each another. Mistakes happen, could put it down to fog-of-war. So the score is 3-2 to me (not erroneously 4-2 as we thought at the time). Paul concedes. Victory for the Undead!

After the Battle
Cheers Paul for the game, and for putting up with me constantly pausing the action for photos. Paul was a Gentleman and a Scholar through-out the game. He mentioned afterwards he hasn't had much luck against Undead so far, so I can expect he will return for a re-match - seeking to claim his first Undead scalp from me!

Paul said in a future encounter he would try and deploy his individuals and bolt throwers first so he would have a better idea where my units were going, allowing him to deploy his big units in more favourable positions.

Furthermore he would not deploy his army not against his 12" line, but further back, to give him more time to deal with my units. Some of my units shamble, so if he is further back it brings that issue more into play (shambling units cannot At the Double!) whereas he being only 24 inches away mitigated the weakness for my fast shambling units (Wraiths can charge 20").

During the battle I gave my all 100% against Paul so at the time I couldn't think of anything else I would of done differently/better. In hindsight I would liked to screen my important units against missile-fire better, particularly my Revenant Horde who could of done with a sacrificial troop to give some cover from bolt-throwers and the like. Also it would of been good to have another individual to give me more flexibility, i.e. to deal with the many Elven heroes charging about.

Thanks a lot for reading!