9th Age Practice - Battle 3

Battle 3
Our third 9th Age practice battle saw us change armies once again (all through random dice-rolling) and Lucky-Sixes was back in control of the Sylvan Elves while I took Undying Dynasties.  Having lost 2/2 I was desperate to win this one and at least salvage some pride.

Lucky-Sixes list contained:

Forest Prince (Sacred Spear Of Cadaron, Talisman Of Shielding, Forest Guardian, Light Armour, Shield, Longbow, Fey Arrows - Perforating Tip)
Druid (Shielding Scroll, Level 2, Path of White Magic)
Chieftain (BSB, Helm Of The Wild Hunt, Wild Hunter, Light Armour, Shield, Elven Cloak, Longbow, Fey Arrows - Perforating Tip, Sylvan Lance, Great Elk)
49x Forest Guard w. Full Command (Shields)
8x Wild Huntsmen w. Full Command (Shields)
23x Forest Rangers w. Full Command (Elven Cloaks, Amryl's Banner)
10x Briar Maidens w. Full Command
Forest Eagle (Armour Piercing, Lightning Reflexes)

My list contained:

Death Cult Hierarch (Brooch Of The Sun, Book Of The Dead, Ark Of Ages, Necromantic Aura, Soul Conduit, Level 4, Path of Sand)
30x Skeleton Archers w. Full Command (Flaming Standard)
10x Skeleton Cavalry (Aspen Bows)
10x Skeleton Cavarly w. Full Command (Light Armour, Light Lance)
Sand Scorpion
Sand Scorpion
3x Sand Stalkers w. Champion (Underground Ambush)
3x Sand Stalkers w. Champion (Underground Ambush)
Charnel Catapult
Charnel Catapult
Dread Sphinx (Innate Defence (4+))

This time we rolled classic deployment so in all 3 practice battles we'd managed a different version of deployment which was perfect to see them all.  I deployed first wanting the first turn for shooting and with so few units not deploying underground.  I had both the Charnel Catapults either side of the Death Cult Hierarch on the Ark Of Ages behind the Skeleton Archers and Dread Sphinx with Cavalry support either side.  It looked organised.  I was happy.

Lucky-Sixes arrayed out his forces with the infantry units in the middle and both cavalry units on his right flank.  The Eagle was set for War Machine hunting.

This time I felt like this was an evenly matched fight.  His combat power was much higher than mine but I hoped that the Dread Sphinx could help out there.  I was really worried about the Wild Huntsmen though especially with a very 'killy' BSB on a Great Elk.  They would need to be slowed down.

Things started well enough as I shot at things and killed some Elves.  Half way through the game some of those Elves returned because we realised that I'd only been scattering the Charnel Catapults D6" instead of D6x2" but it was an honest mistake that we tried to correct by bringing some Forest Guard back later on.  I also cast Wind Blast on the Wild Huntsmen to keep them from moving too far in turn 1 but I forgot that the spell also reduced nearby units Ballistic Skill by 1 and that might have helped when Lucky-Sixes moved his Briar Maidens up and they shot away 5 Skeleton Cavalry with their Poisoned Thorns.  This was the Skeleton Cavalry with armour as well but they appeared to have forgotten that they had any.

That unit was now fairly useless as they couldn't hope to beat the Wild Huntsmen and a stand and shoot from the Briar Maidens would be suicide if they charged them so instead they attempted to be a nuisance to the Briar Maidens who didn't mind and charge-killed them in Sylvan Elves turn 2.

Meanwhile the Wild Huntsmen had found their way around my left flank and I'd brought on both units of Sand Stalkers, one behind the Briar Maidens (who had since turned around) and the other to threaten the flank of the Forest Rangers.  The Great Eagle was now only a few inches away from one of my Charnel Catapults as the Skeleton Cavalry with Aspen Bows were pretending to be my Sylvan Archers from the last battle and failing spectacularly.  As a result I showed them little confidence in my turn 3 and badly positioned the Sand Stalkers that side to help kill the birdie.  Of course, this time the Skeleton Cavalry brought it down no trouble and the Sand Stalkers wasted their shooting (This was totally my fault - I should have placed the Sand Stalkers better - and Lucky-Sixes enjoyed my grumbling too!)

The Sand Scorpions had also come on in my turn 3 as the other Sand Stalkers charged the Briar Maidens that had turned to face them.  I thought long and hard about whether or not a Sand Scorpion could delay the Wild Huntsmen if the Underground Ambush scattered into them when they appeared.  I decided it wouldn't work out well for the Scorpion so placed one behind the Forest Guard unit and the other a decent distance behind the Wild Huntsmen instead.  Naturally I rolled a spectacular distance and direction for the Scorpion near the Huntsmen and it charged them anyway!

I'd been picking off Forest Guard and Forest Rangers as they approached and that was going okay but one of the Charnal Catapults packed up its ammunition and decided not to fire the rest of the battle.  Then we went to combat and the Sand Stalkers were ripped a new one by the Briar Maidens.  This I hadn't expected at all.  They took enough wounds to kill a model from the Sylvan Elf attacks and while I was disappointed with this it was worse when they fluffed their own attacks.  After combat resolution only one Sand Stalker remained and most of the Briar Maidens were still standing.  That wasn't great as I'd hoped that not many wounds would be done on either side and the combat would just stick.  Then it was over to the Sand Scorpion and I wasn't terribly surprised to see it killed before it struck.  At least my previous conclusion about that had been correct and I'd tried to prevent it from going in for a valid reason.

This was another battle where things were not going well but I thought I might be able to salvage it because the Forest Rangers were vastly depleted and the Dread Sphinx had managed a charge on the Forest Guard.  It was picking away at them and within a turn would have back up from the Sand Scorpion in the rear.  Lucky-Sixes, however, was really testing my resolve as he kept getting through Blessing Of Amhar on the Forest Guard AND rolled loads of successful ward saves to keep his Druid alive over 3 turns of combat.  Thankfully the Dread Sphinx was killing other models with its Stomp attacks but I may or may not have declared that irrespective of whether I won the battle or not... THAT DRUID WAS GOING TO DIE!

The Wild Huntsmen proceeded to charge my Death Cult Hierarch on the Ark Of Ages and a session of rules checking ensued.  This was the point that I realised that the Ark Of Ages could have deployed within the Skeleton Archer block.  That might have been handy!  Still, I declared a challenge with my Hierophant and Lucky-Sixes refused which at least removed his very dangerous BSB from the equation.  I hoped that if the Ark Of Ages could just hold the Wild Hunstmen for a turn or two I'd be able to finish off the Forest Rangers with shooting and whittle down the Forest Guard.

Alas, it was not to be.  The Wild Huntsmen destroyed the Ark Of Ages on the charge and overran into the back of the Skeleton Archers.  Hilariously, the Sand Scorpion in the back of the Forest Guard failed a dangerous terrain test going into their rear and then died shortly afterwards from crumbling with the Hierophant dead.  The rest of the battle is a bit of a haze but with my Hierophant gone and the Skeleton Archers shortly afterwards the Dread Sphinx was eventually bullied and killed.  But he did manage to kill the Druid in the end so it wasn't all bad.

It was another win for Lucky-Sixes and we were extremely impressed by the Wild Huntsmen and Briar Maidens.  I'd done a few things wrong throughout the battle but my defeat had mainly been down to the rampaging Huntsmen while the infantry block soaked up arrows and catapult shots.  Having reviewed the Sand Stalkers it probably wasn't the best battle for them going up against high initiative opponents but I still had been surprised by their awful combat efforts and would need to play them better if playing them again.

Lucky-Sixes had completed the hat-trick and played very well in all 3 battles.  The second half of the third battle he even did so with a stinking hangover!  My dirty tactics of being loud and not giving any sympathy failed to work either!

Thus ended our first 3 9th Age practice games with Sylvan Elves and Undying Dynasties

Lucky-Sixes says...'

The whitewash was complete, and I found myself in the favourable position of having bragging rights of the group! However, I was not able to enjoy this to its full extent, as I may have overindulged in true Dwarven style the night before, which meant that all I wanted to do was sleep rather than celebrate! Haha.

Anyway. Let's skip past that shall we...

When we had both deployed I was happy with the set up that laid before us. I was eager to see how the Huntsmen matched up to their previous representatives. I had played with Sylvan Elves quite a lot in the last edition and the Wild Huntsmen units featured heavily in those lists, so I was confident that I could use that experience to my advantage in this battle.

I was pleased with how I moved my units and set up most of the match-ups I wanted, but again there was an element of fortune in the way some of the combats went. I managed to live up to my name when rolling ward saves for my Druid and this really helped to get a few spells off here and there; and while magic was not a game changer it certainly helped. In fact this was the first battle where magic was an obvious factor - on both sides.

The underground assault Hyper-G had planned was exciting and he played it well to get around and behind some of my units, and on another day would've provided good rear support in combats, were it not for his rolling which kind of scuppered him somewhat. Otherwise, the battle was quite even, I had the movement advantage, but he was winning in the shooting and magic phases, depleting my units more than steadily before they arrived. He was also seriously hurting my Forest Guard unit with his Dread Sphinx, and even when my other units came in the flank, it was hit and miss whether I was gonna overcome it, but in the end - with the Hierophant gone, the Undead eventually crumbled to dust.

But it was the Wild Huntsmen that won the day, with the Briar Maidens coming in a close second. The shear amount of Strength 5 attacks that a unit of 6/7 Huntsmen can dish out is phenomenal. The Maidens 4+ Ward makes them pretty sturdy too, and with both of their mounts boasting Movement 8/9 and a Strength 4 attack to support, they 'ent bad at all! I was able to get rid of the chaff and get at the Undead units from the flank and rear and in the end, that was telling on the result.

The battle was another enjoyable match up, and I was pleased that we had both played as both armies and through the mini-series had got to see a vast array of units from both books. I was certainly left in a state of anticipation for the next battle and the seemingly bright future ahead with the 9th Age.

The game mechanics have been altered but not drastically changed and so far we have agreed with every rule we have come across. Army books look good and seem to have accommodated both fluff and competitiveness with no obvious let downs, so I cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into the other armies to see what they have to offer! Well done to everyone involved in the 9th Age, you certainly have my support...