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...
Showing posts with label Sylvan Elves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sylvan Elves. Show all posts
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
9th Age Practice - Battle 2
Battle 2
Our second 9th Age practice battle saw a turn around of armies as this time Lucky-Sixes rolled to take on the Undying Dynasties whilst I took control of the Sylvan Elves.
Lucky-Sixes 'Chariot' list contained:
Nomarch (Chariot Of Nephet-Ra, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance, Skeleton Chariot, Additional Skeleton Horses)
Death Cult Acolyte (Level 1, Path of Sand)
Tomb Architect (Death Mask Of Teput, Lance, Amuut, Master Mason)
10x Skeleton Chariots w. Full Command (Banner Of Discipline)
11x Skeleton Archers
3x Shabtis w. Full Command (Great Aspen Bows, Flaming Standard)
3x Tomb Cataphracts
Battle Sphinx (Innate Defence (4+), Breath Weapon)
3x Winged Reapers (Light Armour, Paired Weapons, Necromantic Aura)
Colossus (Scales Of Destiny)
My list contained:
High Druid (Level 4, Path of White Magic, Tree Singing, Book Of Arcane Power, Sacred Seeds)
Chieftain (BSB, Drums Of Cenyrn, Blade Dancer, Sylvan Blades)
Druid (Mist Walker's Mirror, Level 1, Path of Nature)
29x Sylvan Archers w. Full Command (Black Arrows)
6x Heath Riders w. Standard Bearer (Shields, Elven Cloaks)
9x Blade Dancers w. Full Command
3x Kestrel Knights w. Musician & Champion (Shield, Light Armour, Skirmishers)
3x Kestrel Knights w. Musician & Champion (Shield, Light Armour, Skirmishers)
10x Sylvan Sentinels w. Champion (Paired Weapons, Scout, Hawthorn Points)
10x Pathfinders w. Champion
Again there's no pictures (there would have been Battle Chronicler images but I'm rubbish and so out of date) (non-proxy rating 0/10) so this will be brief and I should mention that in making the lists I tried not to tailor them at all, sometimes to quite a dire extent. For example, the Drums Of Cenryn on the Blade Dancer Chieftain was always going to be useless against Undying Dynasties as they can only ever declare a Hold charge reaction. But I was having fun with my lists so it wasn't really until the point of the battle that I realised some basic things with the lists that didn't make sense. I guess I tried so hard not to tailor the lists that even included things I knew would have no effect! Oops!
This time we had the Flank Attack set up and a secondary objective to hold the central ground. This deployment was quite complicated but after much measuring we got there in the end. Once again I found myself staring down some enemy units that I didn't really know how to deal with. The big Chariot unit was very intimidating and the Tomb Cataphracts that were deployed on one flank with the Winged Reapers looked pretty solid too. I set up with my main shooting block in one corner in a forest and had another forest in the opposite corner. My intention was to draw the chariots nearer and then use the Mist Walker's Mirror to teleport when they came too close for comfort. Meanwhile my mobile shooting Sylvan Sentinels and Pathfinders would harass the enemy and hopefully whittle them down.
I remember that doing the first couple of turns Lucky-Sixes moved forwards and shot with his Aspen Bows, both from the tiny unit of Skeleton Archers that were a bunker for his Hierophant and also with the Skeleton Charioteers. Alarmingly he was taking models from my army out and one unit of Kestrel Knights fled from panic, whilst the Dancers also lost a few.
In response my shooters were not doing so well. I thought that I could take out the Shabtis with one round of arrows but somehow they took two turns and an eventual charge from the Sylvan Sentinels and the Heath Riders. I'd spent far too many shots killing the Shabtis and before I knew it the Chariots were right on the doorstep of the Sylvan Archer unit.
The other unit of Kestrel Knights had managed to charge the Winged Reapers in the flank but that didn't turn out well and they were also sent fleeing.
Whilst this didn't look great I felt that things were okay because I'd reduced the Dread Sphinx to 1 wound, had forced the Hierophant out of his bunker through magic and Kestrel activity and was flanking with both skirmishing shooter units. Both the Kestrel units were fleeing or gone but that was alright. I popped the Mist Walker's Mirror and all of a sudden Lucky-Sixes' Chariots were facing one empty corner (we played open lists so this wasn't a complete surprise it should be noted).
This was the end of me being in control though. The Dread Sphinx declared a long charge on the Sylvan Sentinels who had been expecting it and hoped to kill it with a final stand & shoot but instead they failed their terror test and fled out of reach. But in doing so they clipped the Pathfinders. Uh oh! They failed their panic test and fled off the board. In the following turn the Sylvan Sentinels failed to rally and also fled off the board. Moments later and the chariots shot away half of the Heath Riders although thankfully they held their panic.
In such a short space of time a quarter of my army ceased to be on the table and Lucky-Sixes had needed to do very little to achieve it. I was somewhat aggrieved and attempted to charge the Blade Dancers with Chieftain BSB into the flank of the Chariots to try and kill off his General in a flash attack. But of course, they failed their charge. The remaining Heath Riders also tried a last ditch effort to kill the Dread Sphinx hoping to get that final wound through, but they couldn't do it and died shortly afterwards.
Lucky-Sixes at this point was pretty happy to call off any attempt at going after my Sylvan Archer unit as he simply didn't need to. While my army failed to play ball they'd managed to fail a swift reform test and lost a turn of shooting as a result. The battle came to an anticlimactic end as the Chariots ran through the Blade Dancers with impact hits (even with a 3+ ward save) and the board belonged to Undying Dynasties apart from the Archers in the corner that had forgotten to string their bows!
It was incredible how the Sylvan Elves had gone downhill so quickly with so many failed tests in such a short space of time. BUT... it should be noted that all but one of the failed leadership tests were done without the BSB re-roll... so maybe that was the reason. It was a disappointing end to this one for me as I thought I'd been doing okay. Not to take away from Lucky-Sixes who had again done nothing wrong either and certainly deserved the victory.
Lucky-Sixes says...'
Yeah... I feel like I had been gifted this one if I'm honest. Not through my own luck - this time anyway! ;) - but through Hyper-G's own poor rolling. A few failed leadership tests meant I was able to focus on units that should've been safe, had I been dealing with the skirmishers that were up in my business. Having said that, I was able to capitalise on Hyper-G's misfortunes and was able to control most of the latter part of the battle.
Going into this battle I was quite excited with the list. I am a massive fan of Chariots, have been since I started in 7th editon; so to see a huge unit of Chariots all in one with a general in it as well made my mouth water. Otherwise it was quite an interesting list, with a bit of an MSU feel to it, with the obvious exception of those Chariots!
Again, magic didn't really get tested, as I only had a Level 1, and I can't remember magic doing all that much for the Sylvan Elves either - shooting was the main focus of this battle. The Elves had the obvious advantage but due to Hyper-G's fantastic rolling it was taking double the time it should have been and the Undying Dynasties had more units than they should've to attack back. The chariot unit had a surprisingly good number of shots and along with the 11 Skeleton Archers - and the 5+ to hit on everything, we were steadily taking down the opposition.
The Winged Reapers proved to be quite cool and toughness turned out to be the decider when the Kestrels came-a-calling. Otherwise, my units hung back and waited for the Elves to crumble (ironic eh!), before rushing the enemy towards the end in an Undead wave; and then finally backing off happy with the work they had done.
Quite happy with the Undying Dynasties, units were cool and some nice changes - with the main one in adding the same Undead rule that the Vampires have - marching within 12" of the general. This has made them nearly as mobile as other armies and is a huge improvement / step forward in the 9th Age. Not that I noticed it much with my Chariot unit, but the flyers / monsters certainly profited from it. Granted, other armies will still likely be able to outmanoeuvre you and if you are not within that 12" range then you will still struggle, but not anywhere near by the same margins as before, which is great.
Anyway, another fun battle and another win for Lucky-Sixes taking it to 2-0, so I can't grumble at all. Not that it was about winning at all, and we certainly weren't playing it that way. Still everyone loves a whitewash...
Our second 9th Age practice battle saw a turn around of armies as this time Lucky-Sixes rolled to take on the Undying Dynasties whilst I took control of the Sylvan Elves.
Lucky-Sixes 'Chariot' list contained:
Nomarch (Chariot Of Nephet-Ra, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance, Skeleton Chariot, Additional Skeleton Horses)
Death Cult Acolyte (Level 1, Path of Sand)
Tomb Architect (Death Mask Of Teput, Lance, Amuut, Master Mason)
10x Skeleton Chariots w. Full Command (Banner Of Discipline)
11x Skeleton Archers
3x Shabtis w. Full Command (Great Aspen Bows, Flaming Standard)
3x Tomb Cataphracts
Battle Sphinx (Innate Defence (4+), Breath Weapon)
3x Winged Reapers (Light Armour, Paired Weapons, Necromantic Aura)
Colossus (Scales Of Destiny)
My list contained:
High Druid (Level 4, Path of White Magic, Tree Singing, Book Of Arcane Power, Sacred Seeds)
Chieftain (BSB, Drums Of Cenyrn, Blade Dancer, Sylvan Blades)
Druid (Mist Walker's Mirror, Level 1, Path of Nature)
29x Sylvan Archers w. Full Command (Black Arrows)
6x Heath Riders w. Standard Bearer (Shields, Elven Cloaks)
9x Blade Dancers w. Full Command
3x Kestrel Knights w. Musician & Champion (Shield, Light Armour, Skirmishers)
3x Kestrel Knights w. Musician & Champion (Shield, Light Armour, Skirmishers)
10x Sylvan Sentinels w. Champion (Paired Weapons, Scout, Hawthorn Points)
10x Pathfinders w. Champion
Again there's no pictures (there would have been Battle Chronicler images but I'm rubbish and so out of date) (non-proxy rating 0/10) so this will be brief and I should mention that in making the lists I tried not to tailor them at all, sometimes to quite a dire extent. For example, the Drums Of Cenryn on the Blade Dancer Chieftain was always going to be useless against Undying Dynasties as they can only ever declare a Hold charge reaction. But I was having fun with my lists so it wasn't really until the point of the battle that I realised some basic things with the lists that didn't make sense. I guess I tried so hard not to tailor the lists that even included things I knew would have no effect! Oops!
This time we had the Flank Attack set up and a secondary objective to hold the central ground. This deployment was quite complicated but after much measuring we got there in the end. Once again I found myself staring down some enemy units that I didn't really know how to deal with. The big Chariot unit was very intimidating and the Tomb Cataphracts that were deployed on one flank with the Winged Reapers looked pretty solid too. I set up with my main shooting block in one corner in a forest and had another forest in the opposite corner. My intention was to draw the chariots nearer and then use the Mist Walker's Mirror to teleport when they came too close for comfort. Meanwhile my mobile shooting Sylvan Sentinels and Pathfinders would harass the enemy and hopefully whittle them down.
I remember that doing the first couple of turns Lucky-Sixes moved forwards and shot with his Aspen Bows, both from the tiny unit of Skeleton Archers that were a bunker for his Hierophant and also with the Skeleton Charioteers. Alarmingly he was taking models from my army out and one unit of Kestrel Knights fled from panic, whilst the Dancers also lost a few.
In response my shooters were not doing so well. I thought that I could take out the Shabtis with one round of arrows but somehow they took two turns and an eventual charge from the Sylvan Sentinels and the Heath Riders. I'd spent far too many shots killing the Shabtis and before I knew it the Chariots were right on the doorstep of the Sylvan Archer unit.
The other unit of Kestrel Knights had managed to charge the Winged Reapers in the flank but that didn't turn out well and they were also sent fleeing.
Whilst this didn't look great I felt that things were okay because I'd reduced the Dread Sphinx to 1 wound, had forced the Hierophant out of his bunker through magic and Kestrel activity and was flanking with both skirmishing shooter units. Both the Kestrel units were fleeing or gone but that was alright. I popped the Mist Walker's Mirror and all of a sudden Lucky-Sixes' Chariots were facing one empty corner (we played open lists so this wasn't a complete surprise it should be noted).
This was the end of me being in control though. The Dread Sphinx declared a long charge on the Sylvan Sentinels who had been expecting it and hoped to kill it with a final stand & shoot but instead they failed their terror test and fled out of reach. But in doing so they clipped the Pathfinders. Uh oh! They failed their panic test and fled off the board. In the following turn the Sylvan Sentinels failed to rally and also fled off the board. Moments later and the chariots shot away half of the Heath Riders although thankfully they held their panic.
In such a short space of time a quarter of my army ceased to be on the table and Lucky-Sixes had needed to do very little to achieve it. I was somewhat aggrieved and attempted to charge the Blade Dancers with Chieftain BSB into the flank of the Chariots to try and kill off his General in a flash attack. But of course, they failed their charge. The remaining Heath Riders also tried a last ditch effort to kill the Dread Sphinx hoping to get that final wound through, but they couldn't do it and died shortly afterwards.
Lucky-Sixes at this point was pretty happy to call off any attempt at going after my Sylvan Archer unit as he simply didn't need to. While my army failed to play ball they'd managed to fail a swift reform test and lost a turn of shooting as a result. The battle came to an anticlimactic end as the Chariots ran through the Blade Dancers with impact hits (even with a 3+ ward save) and the board belonged to Undying Dynasties apart from the Archers in the corner that had forgotten to string their bows!
It was incredible how the Sylvan Elves had gone downhill so quickly with so many failed tests in such a short space of time. BUT... it should be noted that all but one of the failed leadership tests were done without the BSB re-roll... so maybe that was the reason. It was a disappointing end to this one for me as I thought I'd been doing okay. Not to take away from Lucky-Sixes who had again done nothing wrong either and certainly deserved the victory.
Lucky-Sixes says...'
Yeah... I feel like I had been gifted this one if I'm honest. Not through my own luck - this time anyway! ;) - but through Hyper-G's own poor rolling. A few failed leadership tests meant I was able to focus on units that should've been safe, had I been dealing with the skirmishers that were up in my business. Having said that, I was able to capitalise on Hyper-G's misfortunes and was able to control most of the latter part of the battle.
Going into this battle I was quite excited with the list. I am a massive fan of Chariots, have been since I started in 7th editon; so to see a huge unit of Chariots all in one with a general in it as well made my mouth water. Otherwise it was quite an interesting list, with a bit of an MSU feel to it, with the obvious exception of those Chariots!
Again, magic didn't really get tested, as I only had a Level 1, and I can't remember magic doing all that much for the Sylvan Elves either - shooting was the main focus of this battle. The Elves had the obvious advantage but due to Hyper-G's fantastic rolling it was taking double the time it should have been and the Undying Dynasties had more units than they should've to attack back. The chariot unit had a surprisingly good number of shots and along with the 11 Skeleton Archers - and the 5+ to hit on everything, we were steadily taking down the opposition.
The Winged Reapers proved to be quite cool and toughness turned out to be the decider when the Kestrels came-a-calling. Otherwise, my units hung back and waited for the Elves to crumble (ironic eh!), before rushing the enemy towards the end in an Undead wave; and then finally backing off happy with the work they had done.
Quite happy with the Undying Dynasties, units were cool and some nice changes - with the main one in adding the same Undead rule that the Vampires have - marching within 12" of the general. This has made them nearly as mobile as other armies and is a huge improvement / step forward in the 9th Age. Not that I noticed it much with my Chariot unit, but the flyers / monsters certainly profited from it. Granted, other armies will still likely be able to outmanoeuvre you and if you are not within that 12" range then you will still struggle, but not anywhere near by the same margins as before, which is great.
Anyway, another fun battle and another win for Lucky-Sixes taking it to 2-0, so I can't grumble at all. Not that it was about winning at all, and we certainly weren't playing it that way. Still everyone loves a whitewash...
Monday, 27 June 2016
9th Age Practice - Battle 1
So our exploration into The 9th Age began with 3 practice battles between Sylvan Elves and Undying Dynasties. The reason these two armies were chosen was purely based on them having full army books at the time. The remaining 14 armies of The 9th Age don't have full books yet and as I was the one picking all of the lists (and I like reading the fluff) I went with these armies.
Battle 1
Lucky-Sixes rolled a D6 between the six 2,000 point armies that I'd made. He rolled up the 'Forest' list which contained:
Treefather Ancient (Oaken Crown, Impaling Roots, Level 2, Path of Nature)
Avatar Of Nature (Tree Singing, Impaling Roots)
Dryad Matriarch (Scarred Bark, Level 1, Path of Wilderness)
Thicket Shepherd (BSB, Entwined Roots)
30x Dryads w. Full Command
10x Dryads w. Standard Bearer (Skirmishers)
5x Thicket Beasts w. Full Command (Entwined Roots)
Treefather
I then D3'd between the 3 Undying Dynasties lists and rolled up the 'Barrow Legion' list which contained:
Pharoah (Vanquisher Eternal, Armour Of Eternities, Obsidian Pebble, Heavy Armour, Lord Of The Barrow Legion)
Death Cult Acolyte (Level 2, Path of Sand)
Tomb Harbinger (BSB, Sandstorm Cloak, Heavy Armour, Halberd)
59x Skeletons w. Full Command (Heavy Armour, Halberds, Banner Of Speed)
4x Scarab Swarms (Ethereal)
3x Great Vultures
3x Great Vultures
35x Necropolis Guard w. Full Command (Heavy Armour, Halberds)
Casket Of Phatep
Because we didn't take any pictures of this battle (non-proxy rating 0/10) and it occurred about 3 weeks ago I don't intend on going into great detail of the battle itself but I'll give a brief rundown at least. Also, there's a few Battle Chronicler pictures spaced throughout just to give a better idea of where things were.
We had diagonal deployment and Lucky-Sixes deployed his army pretty much straight away. We'd already established by this point that the Sylvan Elves had little to fear from either the Ethereal Scarabs (being Otherworldly) or the Great Vultures and so it was pretty much his entire army against my two infantry blocks. I would desperately need the Casket Of Phatep to be on form because there wasn't much I could do about the 3 monsters in his army if it didn't.
Lucky-Sixes advanced rapidly (the secondary objective was to get into your opponent's deployment zone) and in my turn in response I decided to charge one of my units of Great Vultures into the only unit of his that I thought they could handle; the Skirmishing Dryads. I also moved up the other Vultures to just behind this combat thinking that they could help out later (and forgetting Immune To Psychology rules entirely). As it turned out, the Vultures were awful and evaporated rapidly leaving Lucky-Sixes an easy way of destroying both units of Vultures after he'd combat reformed and charged the other unit in his turn 2. In my defence this was my first battle using Undead and so not being able to flee a charge was not something I'd thought about. Rookie error!
Whilst this had been going on my Casket Of Phatep had eliminated the Treefather in one attempt! Lucky-Sixes rolled very high on his 3-dice leadership test, failed some ward saves and that was one monster gone! 2 to go!
Turns 2-4 were a bit of a tactical jostle as his Dryads and Thicket Shepherds advanced whilst my Skeletons and Necropolis Guards tried to decide what to do about it. On the opposite flank to where my Vultures were wasted my pointlessly Ethereal Scarabs waved at the Avatar Of Nature in the hope that he would pack up and go home but instead the monster used them as a buffer between himself and the Necropolis Guard who decided to fail a re-roll-able swift reform leaving them a bit stranded.
I can't recall whether it was an act of desperation or another tactical genius (read idiotic) moment that led me to charge my Skeletons into his Dryads horde. I believe that I was going to attempt to put all my magic into the Skeletons to buff them thinking they would stand a chance but it all went horribly wrong when I used half my dice on a casting of Cursed Blades. Lucky-Sixes analysed the situation perfectly and realised that as his Dryads had neither armour nor Regeneration saves he would happily let my Skeletons have Lethal Strike. I quickly checked the rules and indeed the spell was a complete waste of effort. That of course was followed up by Lucky-Sixes dispelling the other spell: Ancient Glory.
A short time later the Skeletons were gone and so was my Hierophant with them (I did say the charge was idiotic). The Necropolis Guard kicked into action by telling the Scarab Swarm to deal with the Avatar Of Nature whilst they went solo on pretty much the entire Sylvan Elves army.
In a bizarre twist, however, as the Dryads, Thicket Beasts and Treefather Ancient had a turn or two of combat killing off the Necropolis Guard the Scarab Swarms did their job admirably and took down the Avatar Of Nature. Hurray for Poisoned Attacks and lots of failed ward saves!
With only 2 of the monsters gone though it literally was a couple of remaining Scarab Swarms (who were crumbling) against the rest of the Sylvan Elves and so a drubbing had been dealt.
We both agreed that it wasn't the best match up for Undying Dynasties but that the 'Forest' list for Sylvan Elves looked like it was pretty darn good again. It was an enjoyable start to our 9th Age exploration.
Lucky-Sixes says...'
I was quite excited to start our exploration into 9th Age after watching quite a few battle reports online in the preceding months (insert shameless plug for "Oncebitten" & "Chihammer"). Despite work getting in the way of me actually looking at the army lists / books prior to the battle it ended up not being too complicated and actually fairly similar to the 8th edition mechanics - with the exception of the magic phase, which I have been impressed with in our early battles.
The main difference that I have found with the crossover has been with the army books. Slightly different stat lines (and some changes in base-sizes which was interesting) and quite contrasting army-wide rules meant that most of our time was spent in the pre-deployment phase where we went through the army lists Hyper-G had picked.
I quite liked the change to the deployment phase and decided to gamble on deploying everything to gain the first turn. I found it allowed me to move and have a bit more control in the movement phase - although we were both combat armies so I don't think it really gave me a huge advantage and it was really all about seeing what the units had to offer, so I just looked at trying to set up as favourable combats as possible. I can see this being quite a cool thing in the future and adding an extra tactical element to the games. Also it might allow people to tailor lists so that they can just plonk down their armies and ensure they get the first turn. Anyway, there I go waffling again - back to the battle...
Overall I thought, it went quite well for the Elves and as Hyper-G mentioned, it was quite a favourable match up for a combat heavy forest list. The skirmishers were able to deal with his chaff quite quickly, and fortunately I was able to surround the Undying Dynasties list quite well, meaning I was able to gang up on his units one by one. I didn't notice magic as being too much of an influence on this game but that may well have been because we only had Level 1 / 2's to play with. Also, forest spirit had changed back to being a 5+ ward save throughout which is awesome! Having that army-wide is not something to be sniffed at, and really helps turn things in your favour.
I had played with this type of list before in 8th, whereas Hyper-G hadn't used Undead before so I think that did play a factor in this battle, but despite how one sided the battle went in the end, there were quite a few moments where it could have gone either way, so I think we were both pleased with the adaptations 9th Age has brought to the table. A lot of fun was had, and it left us both eagerly anticipating round 2 of this mini series!
Battle 1
Lucky-Sixes rolled a D6 between the six 2,000 point armies that I'd made. He rolled up the 'Forest' list which contained:
Treefather Ancient (Oaken Crown, Impaling Roots, Level 2, Path of Nature)
Avatar Of Nature (Tree Singing, Impaling Roots)
Dryad Matriarch (Scarred Bark, Level 1, Path of Wilderness)
Thicket Shepherd (BSB, Entwined Roots)
30x Dryads w. Full Command
10x Dryads w. Standard Bearer (Skirmishers)
5x Thicket Beasts w. Full Command (Entwined Roots)
Treefather
I then D3'd between the 3 Undying Dynasties lists and rolled up the 'Barrow Legion' list which contained:
Pharoah (Vanquisher Eternal, Armour Of Eternities, Obsidian Pebble, Heavy Armour, Lord Of The Barrow Legion)
Death Cult Acolyte (Level 2, Path of Sand)
Tomb Harbinger (BSB, Sandstorm Cloak, Heavy Armour, Halberd)
59x Skeletons w. Full Command (Heavy Armour, Halberds, Banner Of Speed)
4x Scarab Swarms (Ethereal)
3x Great Vultures
3x Great Vultures
35x Necropolis Guard w. Full Command (Heavy Armour, Halberds)
Casket Of Phatep
Because we didn't take any pictures of this battle (non-proxy rating 0/10) and it occurred about 3 weeks ago I don't intend on going into great detail of the battle itself but I'll give a brief rundown at least. Also, there's a few Battle Chronicler pictures spaced throughout just to give a better idea of where things were.
We had diagonal deployment and Lucky-Sixes deployed his army pretty much straight away. We'd already established by this point that the Sylvan Elves had little to fear from either the Ethereal Scarabs (being Otherworldly) or the Great Vultures and so it was pretty much his entire army against my two infantry blocks. I would desperately need the Casket Of Phatep to be on form because there wasn't much I could do about the 3 monsters in his army if it didn't.
 |
| This is roughly how it looked. Getting the measurements right with diagonal deployment is not the easiest thing in the world but you get the idea! |
Whilst this had been going on my Casket Of Phatep had eliminated the Treefather in one attempt! Lucky-Sixes rolled very high on his 3-dice leadership test, failed some ward saves and that was one monster gone! 2 to go!
 |
| Sorry Vultures, my bad! But at least one of those monsters is down! |
I can't recall whether it was an act of desperation or another tactical genius (read idiotic) moment that led me to charge my Skeletons into his Dryads horde. I believe that I was going to attempt to put all my magic into the Skeletons to buff them thinking they would stand a chance but it all went horribly wrong when I used half my dice on a casting of Cursed Blades. Lucky-Sixes analysed the situation perfectly and realised that as his Dryads had neither armour nor Regeneration saves he would happily let my Skeletons have Lethal Strike. I quickly checked the rules and indeed the spell was a complete waste of effort. That of course was followed up by Lucky-Sixes dispelling the other spell: Ancient Glory.
A short time later the Skeletons were gone and so was my Hierophant with them (I did say the charge was idiotic). The Necropolis Guard kicked into action by telling the Scarab Swarm to deal with the Avatar Of Nature whilst they went solo on pretty much the entire Sylvan Elves army.
 |
| This isn't going so well! |
With only 2 of the monsters gone though it literally was a couple of remaining Scarab Swarms (who were crumbling) against the rest of the Sylvan Elves and so a drubbing had been dealt.
 |
| Over to you Scarabs! |
Lucky-Sixes says...'
I was quite excited to start our exploration into 9th Age after watching quite a few battle reports online in the preceding months (insert shameless plug for "Oncebitten" & "Chihammer"). Despite work getting in the way of me actually looking at the army lists / books prior to the battle it ended up not being too complicated and actually fairly similar to the 8th edition mechanics - with the exception of the magic phase, which I have been impressed with in our early battles.
The main difference that I have found with the crossover has been with the army books. Slightly different stat lines (and some changes in base-sizes which was interesting) and quite contrasting army-wide rules meant that most of our time was spent in the pre-deployment phase where we went through the army lists Hyper-G had picked.
I quite liked the change to the deployment phase and decided to gamble on deploying everything to gain the first turn. I found it allowed me to move and have a bit more control in the movement phase - although we were both combat armies so I don't think it really gave me a huge advantage and it was really all about seeing what the units had to offer, so I just looked at trying to set up as favourable combats as possible. I can see this being quite a cool thing in the future and adding an extra tactical element to the games. Also it might allow people to tailor lists so that they can just plonk down their armies and ensure they get the first turn. Anyway, there I go waffling again - back to the battle...
Overall I thought, it went quite well for the Elves and as Hyper-G mentioned, it was quite a favourable match up for a combat heavy forest list. The skirmishers were able to deal with his chaff quite quickly, and fortunately I was able to surround the Undying Dynasties list quite well, meaning I was able to gang up on his units one by one. I didn't notice magic as being too much of an influence on this game but that may well have been because we only had Level 1 / 2's to play with. Also, forest spirit had changed back to being a 5+ ward save throughout which is awesome! Having that army-wide is not something to be sniffed at, and really helps turn things in your favour.
I had played with this type of list before in 8th, whereas Hyper-G hadn't used Undead before so I think that did play a factor in this battle, but despite how one sided the battle went in the end, there were quite a few moments where it could have gone either way, so I think we were both pleased with the adaptations 9th Age has brought to the table. A lot of fun was had, and it left us both eagerly anticipating round 2 of this mini series!
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