Hello again Battle Brothers! The Brotherhood faces yet another foe, in this occasion is the League of Rhordia. This will be the first time playing against this opponent using this particular army so I don't know what to expect, which is good in the sense that I can test a list blindly. I've decided to change the list I was intending to use and came up with this: - Horde of Spearmen with Strength - Horde of Martyrs - Regiment of Abyssal Hunt - Regiment of Initiates - Two Troops of Reconnoiterers - Devoted with Martyrs Prayer, Weakness and Inspiring - Adjutant on Horse with Lute - Exemplar of the Hood on Horse with Blade of Slashing - Swain's Rangers - THREE, yes you read that correctly THREE Forsaken Beasts with Ensnare and Breath I won't lie to you, I REALLY love this list, is pure filth but I love it. No static shooting this time at all, I wanted a completely mobile army and three Forsaken Beasts kitted as usual because, well, they are AMAZING. I also wanted to try Weakness, with 24 inch range is a must now. My opponent brought a very balanced list with some allies, that is something you don't usually see here a lot. - Horde of Militia - Horde of Dogs of War - Regiment of Spear Militia - Regiment of Halfling Archers - Regiment of Halfling Knights - Regiment of Household Knights - Troop of Crossbowmen - Troop of Muskets - Halfling Volley Gun - Halfling Iron Beast - 2 Halfling Sorcerers - Army Standard Bearer - Wizard Allies: - Regiment of Ogre Warriors - Giant So....... MASSIVE ARMY, huge amount of drops (16!) and quite some nasty tricks with the Sorcerers, specially playing Invade. Only thing lacking is Inspiring and I hope to take advantage from that. I actually really like this list, is very balanced and can do a lot of things. DEPLOYMENT He made a mistake deploying his Volley Gun early on and I capitalised on that placing my Rangers in the forest just in front, he then made things worse by placing his two troops on shooters in the same section, my Rangers will have a easy job killing those units. He also placed the Giant early on, letting me place my Abyssal-Hunt directly in front too, I was happy. He kept his mounted units and Iron Beast for his last drops and I was sure he was going to place them in the right flank so I placed a Forsaken Beast yo deal with the Iron Beast and my Reconnoiterers and Initiates as bait to further encourage him to deploy them there. I know that flank is lost bit if I can keep those units out of ye game for 3 turns then I can securely take the centre and win. TURN 1 I won the roll for first turn and took it, in Invade I like to be aggressive and push hard in the first turn to cage the enemy in his half, I'm also much faster than him so having the speed advantage helps a lot. I advance hard, getting in range with my Reconnoiterers on both sides and Abyssal-hunt for next turn. My Exemplar moves behind the house in range of the Iron Beast and Halfling Archers. My Rangers target the Volley Gun ,doing four wounds and blowing it out of the field in one go, he didn't have any Inspiring for reroll near. I try to cast Weakness on the Iron Beast so his Breath would be less effective against the Exemplar, but fail miserably. On his turn he is very conservative, I was surprise how much considering the Scenario. He moves the Giant up. I think his place is to try to take the Rangers. He moves the Halfling Knights into the Forest, he knows I can charge him so he at least makes it a hindered charge. He shoots everything he has on the Reconnoiterers on the left and with a good Nerve roll kills them. His Iron Beast shoots the Exemplar as predicted but only does one wound, still he rolls HIGH again for the Nerve roll and wavers him! and the Halfling Archers target ok of my Forsaken Beasts, doing some wounds but not much else. BROTHERHOOD TURN 2 I somehow lost the picture for this turn, I took it but disappeared, sorry. Quite simple thankfully, I charge the Abyssal-Hunt into the giant, and the Reconnoiterers and Initiates into the Halfling Knights. The rest of the army advances but stays out of his charge range with the exception of the two Forsaken Beasts in the middle, I push hard with them and position them in a way he can only charge one of them and it would be hindered. My Exemplar charges the Archers, they are pretty terrible in combat and their Nerve is quite low so I might grind them out with him alone. In the shooting phase i try to Bane-chant the Abyssal-Hunt, and fail. Then try to cast Weakness on the Iron Beast, and fail. My magic is really going well this game. I then shoot the Rangers into the Muskets wavering them and the three Forsaken Beasts concentrate fire on the Militia Horde doing A LOT of wounds and wavering them too. My combat phase was a mixed bag, the Abyssal hunt put an staggering 11 wounds on the giant, sadly I could only waver him which is of no use with Fury. The multicharge on the other flank was a complete disaster, doing only two wounds on the Halflings, amazingly I roll an eleven and waver them. The exemplar rolls like a mad man and does three wounds, not bad at all. RHORDIA TURN 2 Second turn for the Rhordians, he pivots the crossbows out of the way and multicharges my Abyssal-Hunt with both the giant and the Ogre Warriors, on the other flank the Iron Beast charges the Initiates and the Household Knights the Reconnoiterers. The middle advances slowly. The combats go as expected, with the Household Knights obliterating the Reconnoiterers, the Iron Beast does well but fails to waver the Initiates and the Ogres and Giant put 8 wounds on the Abyssal-Hunt but they can take much more pain with ease. BROTHERHOOD TURN 3 He clearly has seen my trap with the Forsaken Beasts in the middle and kept the damn Dogs of War on the difficult terrain, I still don't want to charge them hate the damn things so I move my Martyrs up to get into range pivot my Spearmen to face them too and keep one of the Forsaken Beasts inrange too, I plan to to multi-charge them as hard as I can. My other two Beasts charge, one goes for the Militia Horde and the other has a flank on the Spear Militia Regiment, I'm quite sure he did miss it. I then counter both units of Knights, with the Abyssal-Hunt going for the Ogres. My Rangers will target the giant, he is badly wounded so if I can kill him or even waver it I would be happy, I still move my Adjutant to block him in case I roll a double one so he can't hit my flank. I heal my wounded Forsaken Beast and shoot the giant with the Rangers, they do well and the Giant dies! For the lady I love how reliable they are. This time my Bane-chant goes of on the Abyssal-Hunt I move into the combat phase and it goes well, The abyssal-Hunt perform great again and KILL the ogres in one go, I adore this unit, CS(1) makes the so good grinding. My two Forsaken Beasts manage to waver both units, I was hoping to kill the regiment on the middle to face the incoming threats from the right flank but it will have to wait for another turn, my Exemplar goes to town again doing another 3 wounds! My initiates manage to do a single wound into the Iron Beast, not that it matters much, they are dead, very, very dead. RHORDIA TURN 3 Not really a lot of options for my opponent this turn, on the right everything charges the poor Initiates, the whole centre stays still, two units wavered and the Dogs of War refusing to move from their pond. On the left he rains fire onto my Abyssal-Hunt, doing quite some wounds into the already heavily wounded unit and killing them. Combat goes as expected and the Initiates die horribly, as I expected he reforms to face the middle as much as he can.
BROTHERHOOD TURN 4 Well, things are going more or less well, my plan is working, he is completely caged on his own half and I'm there too. I like my odds but there is still A LOT of game to be played. I was debating whether to charge the Dogs of War with the Martyrs of not, I decided to just wait so I pushed even harder with them and the middle Beast. Kev charges the Militia Horde again and I turn the third Beast to face the Knights while my Spearmen charge the Regiment of Militia and the Exemplar tackles on the Archers again. I manage to cast Weakness this time on the Knights, they are the only thing that can charge me next turn and being hindered and weak on the same turn will be completely devastating for them, specially as their only juicy target is my Beast, Ensnare, Hindered and Weakness... Love it! My Rangers get back to work and again do 4 wounds into the Crossbows and kill them, again no Inspiring to re-roll that nearby. My trusty Spearmen kill the Regiment, but Kev and the Exemplar only manage to Waver their opposing units, that damn Horde in the middle refuses to just die. RHORDIA TURN 4 His left flank is very congested so he sends the Halfling Knights down into my half and charges the Knights into the Exemplar, I think the prospect of dealing with Ensnare wasn't appealing to him. Again those damn Dogs of War just stay put. His shooting is quite inconsequential and we move into the combat phase fast, his Knights have so many penalties only manage to waver the Exemplar, lovely. BROTHERHOOD TURN 5 Again i don't charge the dogs of war, and this time I really think I should have done it, I guess I was just happy to have them doing nothing. on the right I charge the Beast into the Knights, with Weakness support I'm quite sure that Beast will grind them of the table with ease or at least bog down that whole flank until the end of the game. I move my Rangers up so they can score next turn. I shoot the Muskets with the Rangers and again Kill them thanks to an average Nerve roll and no Inspiring nearby, I choose to heal the Martyrs that had been taking small damage from various shooting attacks for the whole game, leaving them with just 1 wound. My Beast does some damage to the Knights, and that is enough for me, to TC plus Ensnare ensure that my Beast will survive with ease, Finally Kev finally finishes off the Militia that run away traumatised, for sure telling the story of the vicious killer toad to their confused neighbours. RHORDIA TURN 5 His Knights countercharge the Beast and both the Iron Beast and Halflings prepare to destroy my poor Exemplar with their shooting attacks while the Halfling Knights keep going round the house to face my rear. He now remembers he has two halfling wizards and decides to use them. They go NUTS and push my Martyrs so far that they bump into the house behind them! The human wizard throws a Fireball into the Rangers doing FOUR wounds with a FB (6) and Stealthy!! and what's worse rolls so high in the Nerve he Wavers them! Luckily for me the Exemplar somehow survives not even wavered. The combatr goes as I expected and the knights do very poorly needing a double 6 to waver, of course he rolls just that, great. BROTHERHOOD TURN 6 What an amazing turn for my opponent, I'm still winning but things are starting to get tense, I advande the Martyrs as far as I can, sidestep the middle Beast into the Flank of the Dogs and back up the rightmost Beast to leave space for the Exemplar to charge the Knights. Kev jumps into the flank of the Halfling Archers. I throw Weakness into the Iron Beast,so it is not so scary in his turn, and charge my Adjutant into one of the Sorcerers, I might get lucky and disrupt him. Kev goes to town and routs the Halflings and is now facing the weakened Beast. My Exemplar does his job and disorders the Knights. My adjutant fails to wound sadly, he got a hit in though. RHORDIA TURN 6 Not much action going on except the expected, Iron Beast charges into Kev and the Knights into the Exemplar hoping to overrun into the Beast. He decided not to charge my Spearmen and moves the Halfling Knights into the flank of the Horde in case we get to turn 7. Windblast does its thing again and takes the Martyrs off the scoring zone, although this time not far enough, if we get a turn 7 they will be charging the Dogs. The damn wizard wavers the Rangers AGAIN! so frustrating. But the star of the show, my true hero is the Exemplar, he survives AGAIN. The Knights flop massively and then roll quite low on the Nerve and the mighty Exemplar survives. Ensnare plus Weakness also works and the Iron Beast does no wounds to Kev. We roll for turn 7 and don't get it. The game is over VICTORY BROTHERHOOD!! ENDING 6-2 in the scenario, a solid victory but extremely close in attrition. The end result was a 16-4 I LOVE this list, it was amazing, my opponent played really well to deny me his points but those three Beasts where just pure gold. Weakness is bonkers at 24 inches, there is absolutely no reason why every army shouldn't get at least one. Once again the Rangers performed brilliantly, killing three units and finishing the Giant, pure solid gold. Thanks for reading, soon more as always!