[C] Invigilator vs. Beithir ~ Mercenary Companies 2000pts

[Beithir Seun]

Magic

The Alchemist will cast Law of Gold on your Pikemen unit containing your Warlord.

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

3 + 5 = 8

Just casts on 8 - dispel?


Shooting

Red Crossbowmen at the right-hand Spearmen:

Result of the throw of dice "10d6" :

5 + 6 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 2 + 5 + 1 + 4 = 45

Wow, nice shooting! 6 hits

Result of the throw of dice "6d6" :

6 + 1 + 2 + 5 + 3 + 2 = 19

3 wounds at -1AS


My BSB will also fire his brace of pistols at the same target:

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

6 + 5 = 11

2 hits

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

1 + 5 = 6

1 wound at -2AS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next, the Brigands will fire at your Pikemen:

Result of the throw of dice "15d6" :

4 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 6 = 63

Nice shooting again, 11 hits

Result of the throw of dice "11d6" :

5 + 5 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 3 + 5 + 4 + 6 + 1 + 5 = 42

9 wounds at -1AS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the Border Horsemen will fire at the Knights:

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

6 + 4 = 10

2 hits

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

3 + 3 = 6

2 wounds at -1AS

Summary:

~ Law of Gold casts on 8 against the Pikemen unit
~ 3 wounds at -1AS and 1 wound at -2AS on the right-hand Spearmen
~ 9 wounds at -1AS on the Pikemen
~ 2 wounds at -1AS on the Knights

[Invigilator]

Not too exceptional, thankfully.
Dispel law of gold

Scroll

3 6+ saves for spearmen:

Result of the throw of dice "3d6" :

5 + 3 + 6 = 14

1 save 3 dead.

Result of the throw of dice "9d6" :

3 + 5 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 4 + 5 + 3 = 34

9 dead - panic test

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

1 + 1 = 2

Thank goodness those weren't my knight saves. 2 saves for knights:

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

1 + 1 = 2

Woah! I spoke too soon. I'm grinning this is incredible.
Panic test: None because frenzeed.

So i take it back. This is indeed exceptional shooting.

Gogo close combat.

[Beithir Seun]

Wow I thought I'd be lucky to kill just one of those Knights...

Combat

Being as Pikemen fight in four ranks, that means every model gets to join in That's a whopping 19 attacks...

Result of the throw of dice "19d6" :

6 + 5 + 6 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 5 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 1 + 4 + 3 = 71

10 hits

Result of the throw of dice "10d6" :

5 + 6 + 1 + 6 + 5 + 3 + 3 + 6 + 1 + 6 = 42

6 wounds at -1AS


And the Condottiere, using his horseman's mace:

Result of the throw of dice "4d6" :

3 + 3 + 6 + 5 = 17

4 hits

Result of the throw of dice "4d6" :

1 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 10

Ha, only 1 wound at -2AS


~ 6 wounds at -1AS and 1 wound at -2AS on the Handgunners

[Invigilator]

An oversight not to grant these dudes shields!

Dwarves: "Hey wise general why didn't you buy us 1 point shield upgrades?"
General: "I don't remember buying the 'old grumblers' upgrade either, so quit yapping."

Result of the throw of dice "5d6" :

2 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 = 12

They're wiped out!

[Beithir Seun]

Hehe, now they're old dead grumblers so you're general's got nothing to worry about


I will overrun with the pikemen:

Result of the throw of dice "2d6" :

3 + 2 = 5

5"


Now, on the map moving the Pikemen anything more than a couple of pixels forwards will mean that the general clips the right-hand side of the spearman unit by maybe two pixels. How do you usually play clipping? The two solutions are either we count it as being in contact and the pikemen will charge the spearmen (and then we can either leave things as they are, or 'slide' the pikemen across to maximise) or we can ignore the pixel of contact and move them pikemen past the spearmen...

So - do we clip (and then do we slide) or do we not clip?

[Invigilator]

Clips is in, clips is maximised. And it looks like a flank charge to me. I didn't forsee this but it looks undeniable.

[Beithir Seun]

If that's the way you want to play it, we can do. I'm not sure whether I get to swing into the flank, or whether they simply slide across the spearmen unit's front...

[Invigilator]

-inspects map trepidly-
Still looks like a legit flank charge to me.
Let's assume you went straight down and touched my front. At which point the condottiere exclaims: "We're not going to sidle like crabs. Into the flank, men! And the pikes obediently wheel, commanded by the brilliant tactician ability.

[Beithir Seun]

No, I agree it makes sense. I'm just "worried" that it's not 'in the rules', so to speak. Then again, sliding is frowned upon in the first place so maybe a flank charge is the right way to play it. It swings things heavily in my favour though, and I feel dirty taking advantage of a completely unforeseen occurrence



Here is the end of turn map then:

[Invigilator]

Studying the map I realise that I've just shot myself in the foot and lost my third game in a row against. You.

I keep forgetting that I have to think on a much higher level than I usually bother to in my warhammer games.

Still want to play on or have we learned all that can be learned from this game? We can get up a new one or I can get up my moves. Which won't be much, just a charge on the left hand spearmen which you might hold against.

[Beithir Seun]

I've learned most of what I wanted to know, if you want to call it. I'm in a very strong position now - both my Spearmen units have an 82% chance of holding against either your Pikemen or Spearmen, and my Pikemen will almost certainly break your central Spearmen unit to hit the flank of your Pikemen next turn. My knights are also poised to take the right-hand Spearmen in the flank regardless of whether they charge my spearmen or not.

All in all, I think you would struggle to come back from this unless you could break both my Spearmen units this turn and get your Knights in to a decent position.

Learning points for me (and what I wanted to find out):

~ Pikemen will die like flies to most shooting, but hit like a ton of bricks.
~ Brigands with light crossbows are nice; BS4 makes a big difference, as does the lack of a move-or-fire rule for light crossbows.
~ Border Horsemen, on the other hand, might not be the best place for light crossbows - to get any successful shooting from them, they have to sit still and risk getting charged down, and they're a bit too expensive to use as just another shooty unit.
~ Pistols on the Knights, while a nice novelty, might not be the best use of points - it compromises their role in the army I think.



All in all, I don't mind whether you want to end the game now or carry on to find out what would happen I'll leave the decision up to you.

[Invigilator]

Oh I thought pistols were there if the knights got charged. Then they'd have a stand and shoot option, a 2+ armour save and 2 S5 attacks each thanks to the brace of pistols, making them viable even if charged. But I'm not exactly clear how brace pistols work. I thought it was a nice touch, actually.

Ah well, yeah the game is over ha.

[Beithir Seun]

Yeah, that was my original thought with the Knights. I think I misused them in this game by putting them way out on the flank, when I probably should have been more aggressive with them.