9 replies to this topic

[Warwick]

Dwarves vs Mercs, 1,000 points, 5 turns of bashing in heads. I brought out the samurai to play. They were joined by a band of four minotaurs, a stone giant, and Sigurd with 4 crossbows and a wizard. Now this was a game of figuring out rules. I completely forgot about my cool Assassin's Blade and that would have made a huge impact on this game. Anyway, the game was cool. We both suffered ups and downs, but I finally got in the hits I needed and dropped his crazy Logan Battlefury. Tough checks were made left and right. I love how they work now! Those flipping berserkers...really made life hard for my poor samurai. My crossbows did some great things, whichh I think is a first for me. My mage also was a great asset. He got two spells off: Winglock on the Griffon to bring it down and get ambushed, and Fireball for, you know, catching things on fire. Then he got jumped and taken out. I agonized over my tactics during the game. It was touch and go, I had to work and getting people in the right place. I even did a retreat that worked well. It was cool. Cleave is amazing, as is Pierce. I might replace the Stone Giant with some type of healing. I could have used a healer. I sent Sigurd out all by himself, expecting him to die instantly. Lo and behold, the crazy Viking kills three models, including Ivar! He did more than the Stone Giant. Funny stuff. Can't wait for next game.

[wildbill]

What a game!!!! It was another one of our epic battles that Warwick and I always seem to have!!

Just for reference, here is the army list I was fielding:

Logan Battlefury + Mithril Armor
Ivar Silverfist
4 Berserkers
3 Warriors
3 Mancatchers
Musician
Standard

Gargram Heavyhand
Durgam Deepmug + Spiritual Hammer
4 Piercers
4 Swiftaxes
Musician

Griffon

Totals: 1,000 Points, 3 Troops, 23 Models, 0 Tacticians, 0 Spies

The general idea for my army was that I would have 1 Warrior, 1 Mancatcher and 2 Berserkers go after a target (or Logan in lieu of 2 Berserkers, with Ivar in tow). With Disable and Provoke, the Berserkers could mop up and Frenzy and kill whatever I came into contact with. That was the theory anyways.

Here are some random thoughts about the game.

1) Cleave is nasty. Holy crap!! I think that all of our models that had Cleave on it didn't do a single wound unless Cleave got activated!!! No joke!

2) Warwick never remembered to use his Assassin's Blade, while I never remembered to use the Spiritual Hammer. It was a wash.

3) Stupid 5 rerolls......what is up with that?!?!? Dang, talk about a tide turner!! It took him 2 rerolls to Winglock the Griffon, so that sucked.

4) Neither one of us rolled exceptionally well last night, with one notable exception: Tough Checks. Wow, did we make way too many of those or what? I think my Berserkers averaged like 2 Tough saves each! That was the ONLY reason why the game was close. If that hadn't have happened, then the game would have been over by the beginning of the 4th turn, in Warwick's favor. But, it came down to the middle of the 5th turn where I needed to make a Tough check for Logan and failed. If he had passed, I might have been able to take out enough stuff with him to allow me to win. Oh well.

5) Durgam is a crazy tough model!! 4 attacks! DV 12! Why would you NOT take him?!?!

6) As I was thinking about my army composition after the game, I realized that there were a couple of things I need to do to make it better.
a) Move Durgam to Logan's troops. He had an extra elite slot that wasn't being used. I could have him run with Logan, and with Provoke as well, Logan ain't gettin' hit fer a long time.
b) Dump the Spiritual Hammer. I never remembered it, and the generic Magic Weapon +1 MAV is much more useful.
c) Take a Luck Stone. You can always use one of those.

7) I realized now that I flat forgot to use Berserkergang. I could have been Frenzying like a big dog without taking an MAV hit but noooooooo...WB forgot. Stupid WB...

All in alll, it was a fun time! We did spend quite some time trying to look up rules clarifications and stuff, but everything was quickly found and read and we drove on. I now have all of these army ideas roaming through my head and I am definitely looking forward to Game #2!!

Wild Bill

[jdripley]

Sounds like a blast!

I'm not sure I agree with your take on the Spiritual Hammer. I think it's pretty hot. Durgam's got 4 attacks, and if he can do all of that from Reach, that's incredible!

How do you think Provoke from the Reach position would work? That's an interesting situation that comes up with that particular pairing.

Now, the Hammer of the Mountain God - now THAT'S an awesome weapon! Mighty is just disgusting on Durgam Deepmug. Four attacks that will do 2 damage when he hits... wow! I'd dedicate a pair of Halberdiers to him just to ensure that he gets the support bonus.

[Stubbdog]

JDR,

Reach only allows for a single attack, no matter how many MAs you have. As for Reach and provoke... well, I think you might have found something that will need an errata or clarification. We don't have that combo on any models so the only way you could get it is thru a magic item such as this. But, I am going to say that it will be in the errata soon that Reach does not invoke provoke.


W and WB,

Great to hear that your game was its usual roller coaster of fun. WB, you mentioned that if it werent for your tough rolls the game would have been over way earlier. I assume you are talking about your berzerkers. Well, I guess my only response is GOOD, then it is working the way we designed it. The berzerkers are costed what they are based on the percentages of how often tough will work for them. So, me hearing that that is a factor in the game, is good to me.

W,

One of my favorite sneaky tactics with the mercs, since they have just so many casters, is to take advantage of the blade barrier spell. Let the enemy close in, casting a few spells here and there as usual, but keeping just enough points in reserve, then I run up into b2b with as many as possible and unleash. They think they are coming over to thump a silly little mage, but end up taking a stinging themselves. and no defensive swings back cause it was magic.

[Warwick]

This my list as I recall.
Haranobu + Assassin Blade (which I forgot the entire game, for the love of Orba!)
Mika x 2
Okuran x 5 + Standard and Musician

Sigurd
Lysienn
Crossbowmen x 4
Standard

Minotaurs x 4
Standard

Stone Giant

I have five rerolls with this army! With my legendary luck, this is my best doctrine ever. It worked quite well, but I think I may switch out some troop equipment. I might get another model in the fray for it.
Crazy berzerkers! They held up that entire right flank for a turn. Tough/3 is a real pain to chew through. Next time, WB!

[Warwick]

One thing I did differently in this game: I made my crossbowmen a priority. That meant holding back on some charges to give them LOS. I think it worked out okay.

[Bumble_B]

Thanks for the info and the play by play. Love hearing about other games. Got my book in on tuesday so am reading through everything still. Love hearing about the good times people have with this game.

[BKBass]

One of my favorite sneaky tactics with the mercs, since they have just so many casters, is to take advantage of the blade barrier spell. Let the enemy close in, casting a few spells here and there as usual, but keeping just enough points in reserve, then I run up into b2b with as many as possible and unleash. They think they are coming over to thump a silly little mage, but end up taking a stinging themselves. and no defensive swings back cause it was magic.

The Mercs do indeed rock the party! I love taking casters and holding them back to cast "smite all" for only 3 points. Then the cleave on the Minotaurs and Okurans becomes very likely and the cultist can jump up from 2 at 3 to 2 at 5 for just 3 points! (thats just with smite all and blood lust! with support, focus and martyr your looking at a possible 2 at 9!)

And like Jason said if the come for your casters just blade barrier them! I think the merc's strength is in it's caster options and faction doctrines.

[Gus Landt]

the merc's strength is in its ... faction doctrines.

QFT!

[Warwick]

My FIVE rerolls in 1K was so cool! And I could turn a 1 into a natural 10. Even without the Smite All bonus, I was scoring Cleaves all over the place. Maybe it was luck - well, with dice involved it was all luck - but my Okurans and Minotaur combo was working out famously. I left my mage in the open, knowing he might be a big target, but he already did his job and wasn't too afraid to lose 70 points. Man, the new magic system rules all over the place. Never leave home without a mage. Now if I only had a healer. Hmm, drop the Stone Giant, grab some healing, oh yeah!