Tactical Review: Massacre in the Narrows

Tim:

Well this game went very well for me from start to finish.

My wife, Gill, and I had played an almost duplicate game in the Narrows on pretty much the same board layout. In that game I took massive losses to shooting early on but managed to use the terrain to limit her ability to win by concentrating my dwindled forces on one part of her army at a time.

Recalling this, I laboured to recreate the same conditions... minus the loss to shooting.

I held back initially, hoping she would close, lowering her shooting accuracy then closed in as she approached. With stand and shoot Strength 5 Bolters, I had my work cut out for me but I managed to get my Exalted Bloodthirster, Prospertine, into combat on turn 2. After that he worked his way in from the right while my Bloodletters dished out the armour slashing attacks front and left.

Redeploying my entire fast left flank (Screamers and Seekers) so that she spent three turns in a traffic jam was also a game-winning move.

All in all there isn't anything I would have done differently.

Though it did look very dicey for a minute in the mid-game when the dice turned against me for a while.

Tactical Review: Massacre at the Ruins of Kalkor

Mike:

Well Storm of Magic and Dwarves - do they mix?  Well I still think not but with some crafty usage of points allowance then you can get yourself a cheeky wizard or two as I did.  The other risk and a risk is was, was to put 2 Thanes and a Lord in a unit of warriors, cunning or lucky you decide….. 

In a great game I got very lucky early on blasting Tim’s orcs and managed to kill his general by the end of his turn one with my uber unit and they did an amazing job of pretty much wiping out his entire army.  I got lucky on the magic rolls with only one miscast all game to be honest and poor Tim’s low leadership army just kept failing panic tests.

It’s a great feeling to be winning again.



Tim:


Well this was maybe the most disastrous game I've ever played! By the end of turn ONE I had almost nothing left (though had captured the only arcane fulcrum). It was stunning! 

But still very enjoyable. 


Not sure what I would have done differently really. The strategy I had was fine but I took such hits in the first turn that I was no longer in a position to support it. Things got worse and worse until I lost any chance of winning. If I'd won the first turn dice off things might have been very different but Mike's clever concentration of characters into an unstoppable force may have splintered my plans anyway. Who knows!

Tactical Review: Massacre on the Bridge of Hel Snatch

Tim: 

Well I really really enjoyed this game.

Visually it was stunning. The bridge I built the other week may be a bitch to store but I’m really glad I built it. It’s a lovely centre piece. And thank God I made it big enough to have several units side by side! I think this game was a bit frustrating for Mike because of the traffic jam effect, but because I’d had the chance to think about it for longer I managed to manage it fairly well I think.

Not perfectly though by any means. I still got some traffic jammage going on preventing charges at a couple of points. The other thing I had tome to do was construct an army with a flyer and some shooting elements so that I could reduce the amount of bulk on the bridge but still have an impact on the battle. That helped a lot. I also think having a Wyvern arrive in the flank must have had an impact on good ol’ Mike’s morale.

The other thing that I liked about this battle was my new Bull Rogue troll model from Banelords. Bull Rogue looked fantastic and also did a lot of damage, really living up to his rep and making him an excellent purchase. It makes a big difference to me having named characters with a long running background and it didn’t hurt that he was good in a fight.

Mike: 

Well it was another fascinating game with a very interesting board.  You’ve all seen by now, or at least should see, Tim’s excellent bridge which was where our epic battle was taking place.

For me it was a very experimental army, I’m really lacking in core units for my chaos warrior army so I have to be creative in my army.  Throgg was thrown in so that a small unit of trolls counted as a core choice for example and I dabbled with a sorcerer lord rather than a usual chaos lord.  The sorcerer lord was excellent and the +3 to casing is amazing.

The problem in this battle, much like the previous battle against the tomb kings was the narrow playing area and managing the flow of units.  I tried quick on the left and slow on the right which in essence is an excellent idea however with Tim’s chariots moving 14’ on the first turn I couldn’t get the units out quick enough which caused a massive backlog.  If I could have had more units free then I think that I would have won the battle at a  canter however as it was I was slowly picked off.  Well played Orcs.

Tactical Review: Return to the Fields of Contagion

Tim: 

This was a good game, by my definition of a good game:

If you aren't sure who won unless you add up the victory points then it was close enough that both could have won. That way there's no depressing decline where you know you're going to lose.

Obviously the narrowness of the board (playing down the length with a river to boot) was restrictive but the trade off was the realism of the setting which made it worthwhile.

Strategically I took four things from this game:

1) Put the Casket of Souls in a building.

2) Always have large hordes of skeletons with Tomb Kings or Princes in each.


3) Don't forget the Tomb King curse (which took out my enemy general)


4) Don't bother charging a Hellcannon with crappy skeletal horsemen


All in all a nice time; and Mike and I didn't fall out once!

Mike: 

Well it was the closest of battles, with only a handful of points between the two armies. 

It was a difficult game to play as the board was so narrow, trying to funnel so many units through a small gap was tricky and perhaps I didn’t make the most of my elite units this game.  Although the chaos knights created merry hell with Tim’s horde of skeleton warriors I couldn’t get my chosen or ogres near battle and they ended up being decimated by the casket of souls.

One point to note for me in the future is that if I pay for a level 2 wizard then perhaps I should remember that in the battle and use two spells rather than one!!! STUPID BOY.

Apart from that amateur mistake I think everything else went as well as it could have.  I think when games are as close as this then neither player did anything wrong. 

Tactical Review: Spiders & Bones

TIM: 

This was one of those nicely tight games.

Playing against my wife is always a pleasure. We tend to takes things fairly slowly, playing a couple of turns a day over half a week. That laid back method is kind of cool. She doesn't feel under too much pressure to play and we both get the pleasure of the game spread over a longer period.

The likely winner went back and forth but at the beginning of the game I was smug enough not to charge her Hierophant because I didn't think it would be fair: she obviously hadn't understood how important he was when she moved him close enough for me to do it.

Later on though, I was really struggling and plunging into one of my patented in-game bouts of despair. The placement of a magical vortex cast by one of my Goblin Shamans really got in my troops' way and prevented me getting my flanking reserves into position until much later in the game.

I'm really not sure I like magical vortexes.

Now, the Arachnarok Spider... How hard is he!?!? I stand by my decision not to add the catapult or great Shaman and he did very well. Not as well as I'd hoped - the Undead Rhino posed a difficult challenge that drained my wounds, but I got him in the end.

My chariots did well, providing a versatile troubleshooting group who would stay together or operate apart.

Nice.

My big spider units weren't as good as I would have hoped but that was partly because of the following...

What would I have changed if I could...?

I think a Battle Standard Bearer is absolutely critical for all Warhammer armies, and none more so than low-Leadership Goblins. I had at least one too many Goblin Shamans (too many actually to have cards for them - I had to cheat a bit and use Orc spells until one got killed). I should have had the Battle Standard Bearer instead.

If only I had a model to represent him!

Maybe I'll get one of my Shaman's with a pole and work my conversion magic...

Tactical Review: Massacre at Fortress Malefic

TIM: 

Well! I finally beat Mike! 

But was it a fair fight?

Certainly I can assure you that there was no skullduggery on my part, but the Siege rules as they currently stand are extremely dodgy and severaly disadvantgae certain armies. Fortunately for me, I was up against Skaven, probably the worst army to be defending a castle. 

Mike fought hard but he as fighting an uphill battle. In a building, Skaven can't call upon their ranks and Strength in Numbers to hold on tight. The battle comes down to kills, pure and simple, which they struggle to inflict with their normal infantry. 

Things could still have possibly worked out but for two further elements.

1. Mike chose to bring Warlock Engineers to the battle. Not a bad choice for the magic, but they didn't have the Leadership or combat accumen to lead the defence sadly (for them).
   
2. I very carefully chose my own forces to maximise my hitting power and minimise Mike's ability to strike back. With my Varghulf and ethereal units leading the assault and elite units and characters following on from behind, I was in a superior position from the get go. 

 The Siege rules are very sketchy at best and get very weird when units start fleeing in all directions at once. Who knows if we interpretted what sketchy rules we had correctly but none of it made much sense realistically! 

Next time we're going to just use the fortress as a back-drop and fight a normal game. It's a shame but until GW release a proper update, I would advise you all to steer clear. 

MIKE: 

Well I got it all wrong.  I hadn’t played a siege battle before and after this result I’m not sure that I want to again. 

After a very brief look at the rules that Tim sent me I understood it that I had to hold as many parts of the castle as possible so I stayed rooted to the spot.  Unfortunately in a low leadership army like those little rat bastardo’s as soon as you lose in combat you are stuffed.  I lost every combat, I fled every time and I lost by the end of round 2!

For the future I think that it is a must to charge out of the castle and meet them on the battlefield!  Still a lesson learned…

Tactical Review: Massacre on the Old Silk Road

MIKE:

This was a difficult one to call.  The deployment meant that my army was squashed into one corner of the board and with the amount of terrain pieces I was unable to effectively close the gap on the Tomb Kings. 

Luckily I got rid of both the Screaming Catapult and Casket of Souls without too much bother and without the casket even opening.  Tim had decided to retreat to garrison his units in houses rather than face my little rat bastards in hand to hand conflict.  Ultimately this was his undoing, I couldn’t get to him  and the winds of magic ran dry the whole game.  Although casualties were kept to a minimum I prevailed by only killing 3 units. 

The battle was more tactical than blood and guts which made a nice change of pace. 

 

 

TIM:

Oh. My. God.


As determined as I am to beat Mike sometime, I messed this up badly.

Well, put it this way, I had a really good plan that would have probably won me the game but after deployment was the wrong time to come up with it. If Mike had assualted me in the buildings, I would have kicked his ass. Instead, he didn't reach the units I withdrew and the units left behind gave him enough victory points to win the game.

Having said that, my Undead Rhino kicked ass using the rules for the Necrosphinx. I used to use him as a chariot (which made NO sense. Now the rules fit him perfectly (although Mike grumbled a bit).


The biggest disaster though was forgetting to use the Casket of Souls TWICE IN A ROW.

And forgetting the power dice enhancement!


Man, forgetting stuff is my Achiles Heel!


Mike and I have agreed to remind one another if this kind of stuff happens again so hopefully he can help me not screw up so much.


As an aside, the terrain looked great!


And keeping the Hierophant in a unit of horsemen worked fairly well. I hate having a single model who can lose the game for me who is also a points sink and powerful magic user. Keeping him safe tends to mean not using him to full potential.


God, I wish they'd got rid of that in the latest army book!

Tactical Review: Massacre in the West Woods

MIKE:

You’ve got to love those dirty rat bastards.  Three times I have been installed as Skaven Commander and three times I have hammered the Empire into submission.

Luckily my tactics were spot on, the plague furnace flanked by two good units and the Gutter Runners employed no more that 12” from the Empire’s backline.  As soon as I had placed my scouts Tim was instantly worried, even though I couldn’t charge on the first turn I was able to move them within 6” to unleash the deadly throwing stars, meanwhile the deadly Plague Furnace creaked forward with the support of the Clan Rats and Storm Vermin. 

I had to risk the catastrophic effects of the deadly 13^th spell at the end of turn two as things were getting away from me.  BANG 17 Greatswords dead, Tim’s tactics were left in ruins and I was left with picking of the remainder of his army.  Easy pickings for my mighty rats…..

TIM:

Well!

I do try with my Empire and this time I tried my hardest ever. And I feel that I did very well. I got the balance right on the combat troops and the shooting ones. Coupled with my wizards I got the whole army working together exceptionally well. Slowing down and cutting his Clanrats down to size while I routed his Stormvermin set me up for a lovely three unit charge on his main Plague Furnace unit.

Nothing here was bad. All of it was good and I don’t think anything was wrong with any of that.

As I said in the battle report, it was the Gutter Runners and the 13^th spell that ruined it all.

These Gutter Runners have done me down several times in a row now and I need to come up with a viable counter-strategy just for them obviously. I guess a unit in place to strike back at them or slow them up.

There wasn’t much I could have done about the Thirteenth Spell. It was very luckily cast and basically ruined my carefully orchestrated three-unit charge.

So what would I have done differently?

I’d have moved my Wizards out of the overrun path of the Gutter Runners. I saw that coming but one round too late. They could then have engaged them with magic and seen them off (perhaps). This however still would have left the Clanrat unit out front unopposed.

I think there were too many characters needing power dice (which I’ve said before) and I would say too many characters. I need to paint up a lot more infantry. And I’d also like to experiment with detachments. Apparently these are the only way to go with Empire.

We’ll see.

Meanwhile I’m going to pat myself on the back. I’m not there yet but my tactics here were a hundred times better than in previous game.

One day soon I’ll start winning… You’ll see.

Tactical Review: Massacre at Dipswallow

MIKE:

I’d never played Wood Elves, even when I first collected Warhammer way back when, and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to do.  Should I stay back and ping my arrows at those stout little fellows or should I dive in for some good old fashioned hand to hand combat……? Well I did neither with my Glade Guard or Glade Riders.

In the first round of Dwarf shooting they decimated my Glade Guard and took out a few Glade Riders for good measure so that should have given me an idea of what to do.  This warning went unpunished and neither the Guard nor the Riders managed to get into combat all game.

My Treeman and Dryads were excellent.  I used them as a battering ram through the Dwarven ranks.  My Treeman killed (or for the sake of the campaign seriously wounded) Morgrim. The Treeman with the Ariels’ Blessing spell granting regeneration was an excellent combination. The lord on the mighty drake was awesome, hacking his way through the Dwarven crossbowmen and Thunderers.

Although my Wood Elf battle plan was very poor, luckily for me, Tims’ rolling was pretty poor after the first round of shooting.  His cannon misfired and blew up which was a relief and he had no luck in combat.

The pros for me with a new army were that Glade Riders and Guard aside, I thought my tactics were pretty much spot on.

The cons were that the magic was very weak and the initial set up of the army could have been better. 

Still victory was mine and the massacre of the dwarfs will live long in the memory…

TIM:

Well yet another massacre under my belt! When I lose I do tend to lose big.

Mike had been rather worried for some time about the rules for Morgrim, suspecting he was too powerful, but he need worry no more. Morgrim got his ass handed to him by that Treeman! I have to say, Treemen are amazingly tough – they really are! It was a big mistake to go up against it alone. Maybe avoidance should be my top strategy there.

My warriors, Thane and Battle Standard Bearer did okay for a while but that Treeman did them in too!

One thing I did do right and that was to bring the miners on behind the lines. This was a tactic I’d seen work well with Mike’s Skaven Gutter Runners in the past. Against a gun-line army it is fantastic but with an army that moves forward it isn’t so good. I tend not to take them against assaulting armies.

That dragon!

I must admit I have a problem with big monsters. They always seem to be my nemesis. And once again I’m left feeling a little bewildered. I was down on points in this game again so I just didn’t have enough men to fight my battles for me. It would be interesting to analyse how many uneven battles like this lead to disaster. It’s nice to have them to make the map movement worthwhile but in-game it can be a bit of a challenge.

Two things that did do well were my Gyrocopter and Quarellers: mowing down Elves by the dozen. My Thunderers didn’t do so well though. Mike was wise to them and didn’t come close enough for me to blast him!

As for the cannon! Once again – it could have really done a lot of damage… but didn’t. Boom.

And something for Wood Elf players to chew on… The Athel Loren spell that gives Regeneration (Ariel’s Blessing) did a massive amount to keep that Treeman alive. If it hadn’t been for that, maybe Morgrim would have at least weakened it enough to allow the warriors to chop it down!

Tactical Review: In the Charnel Wilds

 MIKE:

I took the field with my new army.  I’d given them all names and was actually quite nervous on how the battle would unfold.  Would my hours of careful painting have been wasted.  In short no, and a resounding no at that. 

Although I lost my general (he didn’t even get to move) in the Tomb Kings first shooting phase my little army rocked.  A unit of 5 Chosen took out 22 Tomb King elite who had the killing blow special rule.  My Chaos Knights took out 4 chariots, my marauders and warriors made hay with two units of skeletons, even failing fear checks, and using great weapons they still did massive damage.  My cheeky war hounds even got in on the act killing the Tomb King’s general and second in command with relative ease. 

Things to improve would be to not bother giving a bound banner spell to my knights, I didn’t get to use it once.  What a waste of 45 points.  The rest of the army worked really well and I have another unit of chaos warriors still to paint.  Long live chaos…

TIM:

The irony of writing a Tomb Kings tactica and getting myself thrashed so soundly when playing them twice in a row is not lost on me.

In my defence, I followed my tactica (based on ideas from the official army book tactica) as closely as possible. With a relatively small game (the strategic map movement determined that Mike would have 20% more points than me) from my angle, my choices for magic and combat characters was very limited so my magic (the lynchpin of the Tomb Kings) failed to get off the ground.

The biggest thing against me (and excuse I can make) was the terrible state of the Tomb King rules. In the old rules, Fear was amazingly good, restricting charges, forcing units to flee, etc. With its new restrictions, the points cost of a skeleton warrior is way over the top. I’m anticipating quite a drop in cost here in the upcoming army book unless other improvements are made.

I’ve actually decided to delay gaming with the Tomb Kings until the new army book comes out in early May. This is a tad annoying and my Spider Goblins are lined up to fight them and they’re almost ready to play with!

But what could I have done differently?

Honestly, I still don’t have the right answer on where to put the Hierophant. In or out of units is bad for various reasons and with the units charging away from them they ended up being left behind. I saw no gaping gaps in my tactics really. It’ll be interesting to see if I suddenly start getting wins when the update comes out…

Tactical Review: On the Plains near Spikehole

MIKE:

I gave Tim a whooping!  A whooping that won’t be forgotten for a long time (at least by me anyway).

The Skaven are fast becoming my second favourite army they are durable, tough and quick.  With a unit of Gutter Runners they are a match for anyone I think.  The plague furnace was truly epic and it wiped out a horde of zombies in one turn of combat, creating a truly awesome +25 combat resolution in my favour.  I love these little rat men.  To be fair both Tim and I played really well, we both rolled well and Tim’s magic was always a threat it was just the number of Skaven far outweighed that of the Undead. 

TIM:

Chuffing ‘eck! I got my ass kicked but good there! Why does this keep happening to me?

Could it be because I am a terrible player? Maybe…

So what did I do right? And what wrong?

 First of all I utilised my Black Coach, Vargulf and Cairn Wraiths well. They worked well together and with the addition of Vanhel’s Danse Macabre giving rerolls to hit and Always Strikes First, they did me very proud.

In the centre and at the other side of the battle things did not go well, but I’m not sure how I would have acted differently – even now. Mike’s Plague Furnace unit was unbeatably good and I found myself playing fearfully around it. His Skaven leadership values, enhanced by their rank bonus withstood my fear and I got nowhere near as many spells off as I could have done with. I was experimenting with the lesser used spells available which meant I wasn’t summoning extra zombies so much. That certainly would have helped me I think.

This was the first game we’ve played where the Skaven really had a horde, but at 3,000 points, the Vampire Counts didn’t have any more troops than usual. The extra points were swallowed up by Nagash, meaning I was overwhelmed on numbers.

At 700 points, Nagash is a tricky model to have. I’ve been using the excellent stats on Zombie Squig’s Dark Hordes of Nagashizzar site but he has failed me twice in a row now. Partly this is due to inexperience on my part but maybe his points need tweaking a bit. Also, although powerful characters are cool, I always wonder whether it would be better to have 175 zombies or 87.5 skeletons.

In this battle, Nagash was doing well actually. He got killed through the extra wounds caused by combat resolution in a double combat. If he hadn’t been in combat alongside a unit of zombies he would have been fine because he did very well himself. A lesson learned for the future.

I want to keep using Nagash from time to time but the need to play 2,800 point games when I do and the limitations he imposes can be annoyingly limiting.

With only two Vampire Counts armies left I have to play it safe from now on I think.

Tactical Review: Vengeance of the Chittering Horde

TIM:

Well… I am loving my spider goblin army!

The Spider King has the magic weapon that increases several of his stats (WS,S,I as I recall) and I find him to be very cool. I love the spider imagery and I really cannot wait for the new gigantic spider coming out with the new Orcs & Goblins army book in March. Having a horde of 50 spiders with “netters” is a lovely durable unit that does a lot of damage. If only the second one had made it into combat.

But what would I have done differently?

On the right side of the field I cleaned up but the chariots and Tomb Guard proved very tough. For a more decisive victory I guess I would have thrown more flanking forces in to drag them down on combat resolution.

The main thing that I would do differently though is to communicate better with my opponent. Poor old Mike had to put up with four Goblin chariots that had the rules and points cost for three wolves and four goblins but looked on the table like this:  

These were inherited from a friend and in the comfort of my home I pay the points for, and use them as the beefed up versions. I did tell him in the first turn but pre-deployment would have been better. Sorry Mike!

All in all, a very enjoyable ass-kicking game.

MIKE:

Well I took the field with the Tomb Kings for the 2^nd time.  I had the knowledge of the magic this time and had the Casket of Souls of course – which just meant that Tim kept back 2 dice every magic phase so that he could dispel this, as he also had a level 4 Shaman. 

The problem that I found was that I was completely outnumbered from the start.  The core Tomb King army is pretty weak and with WS 2 it’s difficult to make inroads into the opposition.  The Casket of Souls is completely useless if you can’t open the blooming thing and for the points cost you could have another couple of core units. 

I don’t like the Tomb Kings, the magic is next to useless against a magic heavy army and the movement is pathetic.

However Tim played a really good game. He utilized his quick-moving chariots and gave me a thorough spanking.

And I do love a good spanking.

Tactical Review: The Deserted Town of Cleft Falls

MIKE:

This game had two firsts for me. 

1.       Setting the game board up.

2.       Playing Tomb Kings.

Although Tim explained how Tomb King magic worked several times and gave me a crib sheet he’d written several hours before the game I still found it a bit tricky, and because he had a magic-heavy army I only managed to get one incantation cast all game.  I don’t blame Tim though. He’d never played Tomb Kings under the new rules so was expecting me to get more off and is already talking about me having a lot more magic in our next game. I know how committed he is to his opponent's getting a fair shake and I did have more points than he did! He was also very sorry that he hadn't explained it as well as he could have. He shouldn't be so hard on himself though. I know he always does his best to give me a good game. Still onwards and upwards as they say. 

The scenario was pretty simple, kill the good guys!  My only problem was getting close enough and being unable to march was beginning to cause problems.  The Empire was magic heavy and immediately took out a chariot and a rank of skellies, fortunately my catapult managed to find the range and splat one wound for the lady magic user.  You should have seen Tim’s face! It was a picture that his precious lady (with the big cleavage) was nearly flattened like a pancake.

I think it was round 3 that I managed to attack a building that Tim occupied, I managed to win that and subsequently make them panic on the following turn after another round of successful combat.  In round 4 I managed to get my Tomb Guard into close combat, again they won and caused the enemy to flee.   On the other side of the table my Tomb Priestess was slain by Marcus von Drak along with the remaining chariot. 

The game was completed at the end of round 6 with Tim’s long swords not moving a single inch and his multi-shot mounted unit causing little or no damage all game.  Somehow I managed a victory on a swing of 35-40 victory points towards the mighty Tomb Kings but in reality it was a hard fought draw.

Tim will be drawing up a tactica for the long swords and the multi shot mounted unit on how not to play them.  I think it will be a funny read as this is the second time that a) the long swords haven’t done anything and b) the multi shot mounted unit haven’t been used effectively.  He can’t be blamed for that though. We changed the scenario objective after he’d deployed and he was following advice from a tactics article he’d read.

TIM:

Well… I feel as though I really haven’t cracked Empire.

The challenge with an army that has shooting and assault elements is knowing when to commit the close combat units. Too early and they can get in the way of the shooting but too late and they become a stupid waste of points. Or maybe they should be committed straight away.  Who knows? I certainly don’t.

I’ve read quite a few tactics articles that suggest holding in place while shooting then counter-charging. Obviously there is an elusive subtlety to this that I have yet to master.

Practice is what I need I think and lots of it; but next time I think I will send my combat troops forward and flank-deploy my shooters… see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I was happy with the magic balance. A fourth level fire wizard is amazing and backed up by a second level beasts wizard would have been great too if I’d managed to get off my Transformation of Kadon spell. Unfortunately I kept going for the more powerful version and kept failing the roll.

Maybe next time.

This was a particularly good game where it was unclear, even when we finished, who had won. That’s how it should be.

Actually, after a recalculation I've just realised that killing Mike's general tipped the balance over into a victory for me so perhaps I should take all this back.

Tactical Review: Crossing at Still Water

TIM:

I may have won, but looking back over the game, I ask myself what I would have done differently…

An objective-based game that doesn’t require me to exterminate my opponent’s men is always tricky as it’s just so tempting to kill! I managed to resist most of that this time, using my existing and newly conjured zombie units to hold the centre while I slipped through. Because the Skaven (masterfully controlled by Mike) were so fast at redeploying I was never going to be able to win that battle in the centre of the field – they were only there to hold up the Skaven horde – but I did make one crucial mistake…

I had a huge 50-strong unit of zombies right in the middle. I did two things wrong with this. Firstly I tried for a lucky charge and failed which left my unit flank exposed to the entire Skaven army. That led to their rather rapid death. If I’d reformed to point at the oncoming ratmen I’d have had 30 attacks each turn and might have done some real damage. As it was I got a good whupping.

Secondly I wonder how big a difference it would have made if I hadn’t entered the water with them. Standing in a river means that rank bonuses are lost. It would have been nice to hold onto that. Having said that, the Skaven lost their bonus too which had the greater effect of limiting their leadership, so maybe staying in the water was for the best. Also, being in the river created a much bigger roadblock for the Skaven so perhaps that was best after all.

With home-grown scenarios the victory conditions can be a bit woolly. I should have formalised them a bit more in retrospect. My goal was to cross the river. His was to stop me. Mike and I decided I had won but it was a bit vague how many units I needed to get across the river to win. Would one have done it? Did all of them have to cross? Next time I’ll be more specific.

MIKE:

We took to the field with a new scenario to me, protect the river bank and stop the advancing undead horde. 

Tim and I had decided that I would deploy first and then the undead would advance onto the board in the first turn.  FIRST MISTAKE, Instead of spreading my army out I’d concentrated on one side leaving the other completely exposed, Tim immediately noticed this and deployed accordingly.  SECOND MISTAKE was rolling two misfires for my weapons teams KABOOM and they are both dead, although I had my Wind Mortar left they ended up doing more damage to my own army!

My only option was to cross the river with the majority of my army then march along the river’s edge before hopefully crossing the river again to put me in a position to charge.  Not being able to march through the river left me too far from the action and although my beloved Plague Censer Bearers managed to get into combat they were overwhelmed and were duly slaughtered.

Although I lost it was a thoroughly enjoyable game.

Tim and I both agreed the following day that the battle was excellent fun although with the outstanding and towering marketplace on board perhaps the Skaven army shouldn’t have been fully deployed.  If we play this scenario again I would definitely protect the whole river or at least centre the army so that I can quickly move out to either the left or right without having to travel the length of the board!  My magic users were pretty redundant all game, being so far away from the action Warp Lightning was never an option, and their muskets were certainly not worth the points cost.