Long overdue Dave and I caught up for a game last night. A third player should have joined but couldn't make it so Dave was left alone to command the Vale Keeper army of the Elves taking the field of battle against an arrayed Averland Empire army.
We played using the reserves rule whereby a player can hold back any number of units at the beginning of the game so long as it's clear that to bring them on is going to require a muster roll (command roll) to bring on the board, to board's EDGE, then from there said units may be commanded as normal with all modifiers in place. So a bit of a gamble, really, particularly for the Empire's rather shocking CV ratings. The advantage of course being it better simulates real warfare as well as allow commanders to keep some forces from risking engagement and pinning early on at the cost of perhaps not getting to field them at all!
Wonder how it would go with Orcs, though come to think of it a concept like "reserve" may be beyond their rather limited tactical vocabulary of "go", "kill" and "stop!"
The
Elves fielded
1x General on Dragon
2x Heroes
1x Mage
5x Spearmen
3x Reaver Knights
4x Archers
4x Silver Helms
1x Giant Eagles (here shown as little dragons, go figure...)
The
Empire deployed
1x General on Griffon
2x Heroes
2x Knights
1x Pistoliers
6x Crossbowmen
1x Handgunner
2x Flagellants
8x Halberdiers
1x Steam Tank
2x Cannon
The first turn was rather uneventful with the pointy eared flanks' advancing while the center held its ground and began negotiating the woods. The brigade on the far right in the picture drew the Empire to consider it a prime target for being picked on by the flagellants and thus a plan began to unfold it the general's mind...
The Empire advanced in much the same way sending the knights swinging to the far right of the photo while the flagellants attempted to make for the town and the Empire left flank (right in the picture) took up position and prepared to hold its ground as the artillery lumbered slowly forth to join them on the hill.
The Elves began to close on their flanks, take defended position in the field and stared down the Empire over the barren landscape. Who would mount their attack first?
Meanwhile their left flank swept around the village and the archers and spearmen seized the town before the flagellants could reach it positioning themselves in a position of definitive advantage. Seeing this was going to be the most theater of most immediate action the general hovered forth to support this flank as, on the opposite end, the flying dragons prepared to charge forth.
However the Pegasus hero must have mispronounced his order to the Dragons (his Dragonspeak a little rusty, perhaps!) and the flying behemoths swiftly advanced to the rear allowing the lumbering Empire cannon a little respite!
Finding themselves within Initiative range the Flagellants disregarded all attempts to pacify them and rushed headforth to charge the infantry holding the town. "In the name of Sigmar, begone you pointy eared folk!" was their battlecry. Or something to that effect, anyway!
And the result of such impetus was, of course, that they scored quite a few hits on the infantry who simply receded further into the town but left the believers in the True Faith's flank exposed to a regiment of heavy cavalry that began to tear through them like a knife through butter!
At the same time the general ordered his heavy cavalry to charge the Empire heavies who, to both general's surprise, held their ground rather steadfastly in the face of the onslaught losing only two companies, resisting the charge and falling back in relative good order.
The artillery finally brought its guns to bear and began to tear into the ranks of the Elves' left flank.
Now while the crossbowmen and flagellants were decidedly decimated the knights prepared a counter charge and at that very moment the Empire general signalled the reserves be called forth while the rather inactive center finally decided to swing about and pounce to close the general and knights in a tight vice of death!
The steam tank, a regiment of knights and a further unit of Flagellants with skirmishers all assaulted the general and Knights at once and, though hard fought, the battle was too heavily weighed in the Empire's favour for the Elves to extricate themselves so unsupported. The Empire knights closer to the village tore asunder their opposition there while the Empire center negated any hope of escape, and thus the battle ended with the Elves realizing their beloved leader had fallen, their eagles were nowhere to be seen, a heavily armed Empire brigade thundered toward the town and devastating artillery fell overhead forcing a general retreat to be sounded.
While fundamentally intact in the center and right flank, though affected by the constant artillery barrage, it was certainly the Elves' impetuous move on the right flank that spelled their doom this day. The general's death forcing the army to break, however, may only have heralded an earlier ending to a battle the Elves spent too long positioning themselves for trap which assumed the Empire would wander blindly into. This said the players did discourse of the options the game could have taken and the Elven general decreed had the Empire reserves not committed so timely and coordinated a strike on the advancing knights these would have rolled down the flank of the Empire forcing them by reaction to venture forth into the trap or surrender a flank. To this argument one could propose the Empire center actually held some of the army's best equipped and fiercest units who, if a little belatedly, by this stage of the game had positioned themselves to receive the charge and so had it not happened so early in the game the same result was almost certain to have occurred when the General and knights did charge the Empire center and expose their flank then.
Yet, as is often the case, this is all but conjecture. The truth is we dine on royal Elven Dragon meat tonight and will be merry til the dawn heralds a new challenge!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy our little corner of the web!
Comrade S.
