What do we have here? It seems this year league it's come to an end, and what an ending we prepared! 2500 points, full AMERICAN style. Please picture the great and only Richard Attenborough in your head wearing a Panama hat as I say: WE SPARED NO EXPENSE! So I was going to play either Rhordia or Kingdoms of Men in the big final game, both extremely good opponents, both armies I don't like fighting as they have big, hordes of Infantry and quite some powerful shooting options. But lets cut to the chase, here is the list I made just 1 hour away from the game: SALAMANDERS - Horde of Ghekkotah Warriors with Strength - Horde of Fire Elementals with Nimble - Horde of Fire Elementals - Horde of Tyrants - Horde of Skyriders with Jar - Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaur - Regiment of Kaisenor Lancers with Pathfinder - Lekelidon - Lekelidon - Komodon - Mounted Herald - Battle-Captain with Wings - Ghekkotah Skylord with Staying Stone - Mage-Priest with Inspiring, Surge and Martyr's Prayer - Mage-Priest with Bane-Chant, Martyr's Prayer and Myrddin’s Amulet of the Fire-heart Up until that point in time I had a Clan Lord on Fire Drake, but I just knew I needed Nerve and more hitting power so he came out and in came the second Horde of Fire Elementals with a Herald. My opponent took a MASSIVE army, I just was baffled by how big his army looked on the table, turns out we actually have the same number of drops but the sheer size if the thing is amazing once deployed (and rightly so as you will discover in the next paragraph), this was it: - City Spear militia Horde with Courage - Halfling Archers Horde with Jar - Halfling Archers Horde with Piercing - Dogs of War Horde with Elite - Honour Guard Horde with Dwarven Ale - Household Knights Regiment - 2 Halfling Ranger Cavalry Troops - 2 Halfling Howitzers - Halfling Iron Beast - Duke on Ancient Winged Aralez with Weakness and Blade of Slashing - Army Standard Bearer with Banner of the Griffin - Wizard with Bane-Chant and Inspiring - Wizard on Winged Aralez Writing this report though I found out that he made a mistake taking his miniatures onto the table, and I know it was a mistake he is a very nice guy, and he deployed a Horde of City Militia that wasn't on the list. I didn't checked his list and he didn't realised so we played as it was, so please have in mind I'm starting with a 165 point difference. This is the map we played including the objectives: DEPLOYMENT My main plan is not to go for the 3 point objective in the middle, as those Dogs of War will get in there and they won't die with ease, I will try to secure the rest of the middle objectives while making him decide if he wants the two on the right or he prefers to use those units in the middle. We roll for first turn, and this time it's very important, I need to have a first turn otherwise those Howitzers will be impossible to reach on turn two, he is extremely good layering his units and the only way to shut them down, and I really need them dead is to win that roll. Of course I loose it and he goes first. TURN 1 He is as usual very cautious, and advances with everything but not at full chat, just getting into ranges and positioning himself, except for the Iron Beast that does go as far as it can. On the left the Rangers go onto the hill to open fire on my Skyriders, doing some wounds but nothing significant. The rangers on the right flank open fire on the Lekelidon, again wounding it but not much else. Thankfully both Howitzers miss this turn and I can breath again. On my turn one, I decide that as I cannot reach the damn Howitzers I will try to shut down at least a Horde of Archers, and move my Battle-Captain behind the house on the right in range for a charge next turn. As I'm not as cautious as he is I do advance as hard as I can without giving him any charges I don't want. I start shuffling my units on the left to the middle as I want them there for the rest of the game, I plan to ignore that last Horde or Archers on the left. My shooting is actually very good, I kill with ease the Rangers on the hill with my Skyriders and my centre Lekelidon manages to wound the Iron Beast! The other Lekelidon is on fire managing 5 out of 5 wounds on the other troop of Rangers, but sadly a very bad Nerve roll keeps them alive and well. The Komodon shoots at one of the Howitzers, wounding it but not managing a waver, damn! RHORDIA TURN 2 His line pretty much comes to a halt, with only the Knights repositioning to face the incoming threats on the right flank, and the Spear Militia turning to face the centre. He clearly doesn't want my poor Skyriders alive because everything he has in range shoots at them doing an astonishingly high number of wounds and they get routed. On the right the Rangers aware of the menace the Battle-Captain poses they try to shoot him down to no avail. The other Horde of archers opens fire on the Lancers doing around 7 wounds and leaving them almost dead too, luckily he doesn't roll a waver. SALAMANDERS TURN 2 With my Skyriders dead I've lost one of my most important units in the late game, that hurts. But I'm far from done, I take the Battle-Captain into the archers as planned but those pesky knights that are now facing the flank are really hurting my plans, as I now don't have the speed advantage and we are on a stalemate, main difference is those Howitzers can destroy me if I'm on the open so I retreat safely behind the hill to lick my wounds and see if he is really committed to take the flank. I advance in the middle, I do have a very good speed advantage there so I move into range avoiding his, I place my Tyrants behind the wall to take his hindered charge if he dares. I don't want that damn Iron Beast shooting at me so I charge the Ghekkotah Warriors into it but before that I move my Lekelidon to a place where it will block my Horde from sliding and getting into range of those Dogs of War, as I really don't want that happening, I plan to avoid them for as long as I can. On the shooting phase the Lekelidon on the right kills those Rangers at last. Combats go well too, with the Warriors doing a very respectable number of wounds into the Iron Beast and the Battle-Captain disordering the Archers.
RHORDIA TURN 3 With my Skyraiders gone he is more confident with his move and decides to be a bit more aggressive in the middle by committing his Duke into the fray multicharging with the Iron Beast into my middle Horde of Fire Elementals ignoring the Ghekkotah Warriors completely. His flying Wizard move into position to try to hunt down my Martyr's Prayer dispensal units. He finally repositions his knights again looking at the house so they can go either way if he needs them too. On the shooting phase one of the howitzers hits the Tyrants, and of course he rolls a 6, and they get very badly wounded. Luckily the Wizard fails to hurt my Mage-Priest. Then he gets into the combat and again when he has to determine the number of attacks for the Iron Beast, he of course rolls a six, and them has one of the best rolls I've ever seen hitting on fives, after the dust has settled and his Duke has attacked my Fire Elementals were no more, if I recall creche did something like 15 wounds on total with both, he reforms the Duke to face the left and leaves the Iron Beast where it is. His Archers fail to do a single wound on my Battle-Captain and that gives me a lot of tactical options all of a sudden. SALAMANDERS TURN 3 I wasn't expecting to loose that Horde in one go, my line suddenly looks too small and weak with my Tyrants badly hurt. Him turning his knights again is a very big deal, I suddenly don't have to worry about them for at least a turn or two so I move my Ancients into striking position and Fly my Battle-Captain away into his backfield to hunt characters or those damn Howitzers. The middle is still problematic but as he couldn't move his Iron Beast after the charge I can now with my Nimble FE pivot twice and ace his rear, an easy Surge will do the rest. See an open flank with my Komodon into the Duke and take it with a front charge of the Skylord and Lekelidon as well to see if I can at least waver him into oblivion. I move the other Lekelidon into the 2 points objective in the forest, it is a very good place for him to be and those two points can win me the game. It's never too early to start thinking on the Scenario. My combat with the FE in the rear is a very easy Rout, I rolled a three on my first Nerve test though! That was bottom clenching! The other combat doesn't go as well, both the Komodon on the flank and the Lekelidon fail to even hit him, luckily the Skylord put a couple of wounds on him so at least he not flying away. RHORDIA TURN 4 His centre line strikes fully, the City Militia charges the Tyrants, and both Hordes of Spear Militia and Dogs of War charge hindered on the Fire Elementals. His Duke decides my Skylord has to die too and his Wizard moves again into my back line to kill one of my Mage-Priests that had been taking wounds off my units steadily. This time his fireball wounds and my Mage-Priest dies, the other Wizard fireballs my Battle-Captain rolling very high on the Nerve test and he gets Wavered. Finally it seems my units are doing what they are supposed to do and both Hordes hold well, Tyrants get wavered but that is OK with me, Fury is just amazing. My Skylord holds too, he is a champ! SALAMANDERS TURN 4 My line held last turn and that is enough for me, I can counter attack now, I put both my FE and my Ghekkotah Warriors into the Spear Militia, as I've said I plan not to touch those Dogs of War for as long as I can. My Tyrants counter-charge as does my Skylord. The rest of the monsters turn to say hello to the Flying Wizard. On the right flank his knights are still facing on the wrong direction and my Lancers can pass their arc of sight and serve as bait and road bump for his Honour Guard while my Ancients charge the Archers. Shooting goes as planned with the Wizard exploding, that is one leas annoying thing to worry about. My Ancients do as they are supposed to do and the Archers die in one go, turning to face the Honour Guard almost fresh. The combats on the middle are not so good, Tyrants roll miserably to hit doing 4-5 wounds and the two Hordes do waver the Spear Militia but now my FE have their flank exposed to those Dogs of War and the outcome is not going to be pretty.
RHORDIA TURN 5 This is a simple turn for him, he gets the Dogs of War into the flank of my FE, courters both the Duke and the Militia and then faced with the choice of taking the Honour Guard hindered into either the Lancers or the Ancients he goes for the easy kill and charges the Lancers. His Wizard tries once more to waver or kill the Battle-Captain captain but this time fails. Combats go well for him, my Skylord dies, as do my Fire Elementals and Lancers but the mighty Tyrants get only wavered! SALAMANDERS TURN 5 Things are not looking good in the centre, but I hope my Tyrants perform as they are supposed this turn and I can kill two of his Hordes. That will leave me in a perfect position for the last turns. I charge the Warriors into the Spear Militia, and counter with the Tyrants once more. My Ancients go for his Honour Guard, if there is ever a chance to kill them is this. My two monsters in the middle turn to face the Duke to try to shoot him down. They fail miserably again. My Warriors perform well and obliterate the Spear Militia, but the Tyrants flop again and roll extremely bad, a bad nerve roll seals their fate, they won't survive another turn. Then I move to the Ancients, I really need for them to do what they do best, even Hindered they are hitting on 4 and wounding on 2 with Brutal. They don't let me down when I need them the most and they eat the Honour Guard in one big gulp. The Battle-Captain once more gets into action and destroys with ease one of the Howitzers. TURN 6 This will be the last turn, the store es closing and there is no time for a turn seven, we both decided at the start of turn 5 that was the best way to go as we have already asked for some extra time to the owner. He thinks he has the game in his hands, and to be honest so do I. If he uses his units correctly there would be very hard for me to win in my turn. He counter-charges the Tyrants to finish them, turns the Dogs of War to face my Warriors and backs up the Knights to secure the objective in his backfield. Then he does something I wasn't expecting, he charges the Duke into the Lekelidon in front of him, I smiled as I've never smiled before when I saw that, I almost screamed with joy. The Militia killed the Tyrants as planned, but the Duke failed to kill the Lekelidon, I think he was Wavered. To be honest I couldn't care less about it, even if it was killed. Once hw made the last roll I preceeded with my last move. This game felt like a really steep uphill battle, it was very challenging and exhausting, but I got the last move again and couldn't be happier. Now I'm really pleased to have lost the roll to start. He thinks I'm going to charge the rear of his Duke with my Warriors, he even tells me "My Duke is going to be in some serious trouble" but what I actually do will leave him speechless for a good 5 minutes, and I'm not joking because he didn't saw it coming. I sidestep my Ancients to be sure I'm in range of the objective next to them and them I turn my Warriors and move them past the Dogs of War and just into range of the 2 point objective in the top forest. I call it done. I win 5 to 4. CONCLUSION SALAMANDERS ARE VICTORIOUS!!! THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP IS MINE!! At that point the sheer joy I felt was obscured by how tired I was, it had been an extremely tiring and demanding game. Everything was measured, and precise to the point of exhaustion. As I've said this game felt extremely uphill from the start, the sheer size of the army in front was very intimidating. Knowing now that I was playing with 165 points of difference makes it feels like a huge achievement for me. I just love to win a game by being clever, that last turn felt extremely well. ALWAYS PLAY THE SCENARIO. Thanks for reading!
Good job sneaking out the win there. It has been entertaining reading your games, thanks for posting them. Good luck in the next league.
Extremely well done on the win - It helped going second in the game because you had the advantage of reacting to your opponent's moves and were able to sneak a couple of units onto objectives that your opponent was expecting you to miss, thereby snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. In games like this it does indeed always pay to focus not on killing your opponent's army but on taking the objectives from under his nose - I have in the past tended to get carried away in these games and focused upon killing my opponent's forces, especially when using my Tyranids! I've been practicing the KOW rules and I'm understanding a lot more of what's going on now - it really is quite a quick and easy game to learn and understand, and I'm looking forward to getting into it more and playing my first proper battles against an opponent other than myself.
I'm still at this point sometimes surprised on how good this system is. Easy, simple to learn and at the same time extremely deep from a tactical point, it's pure strategy. Keep us informed on your games and if you ever happen to come close to Spain send me a message!