Off to Baldur's distant left, he could see Morraig's flanking charge had failed... the druid could not tell if the Wolf Lord still yet lived. But Morraig's charge had distracted the enemy long enough to let Baldur advance his forces. The woldwatcher was in dire shape, having suffered the brunt of the Menite attacks. The tenacious wold still advanced alongside the ponderous steps of its larger cousin, the woldwarden whose footfalls shook the ground as it strode past Baldur, an extension of his will.
From somewhere ahead the Grand Scrutator still directed his forces, and Baldur frowned as the Menite warjacks reformed, massing for the charge as the wolds moved to meet them. From the hills the Avatar of Menoth strode, ready to engage in battle. A long, tough fight still loomed as Baldur called upon the power of the earth, fracturing and splitting it before him, sending it shuddering in all directions...
My first 50-point game... it was impressive, to say the least. Unfortunately, there was nowhere near enough time to finish it. I'd say we got about halfway through. While my opponent was of the firm belief that I "won" the match, I don't think so - I'd say that though I had made some impressive gains, the game was nowhere near finished at the point when we had to end for the night - I still firmly believe it could've still swung either way, especially with a powerhouse like the Avatar of Menoth still on the board and ready to fight.
The Lists:
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Initial Thoughts:
So, it was Schno's suggestion that perhaps I field Baldur, since he knew Baldur would be the biggest counter to his forces with his Solid Ground spell and he wanted to see how well he coped against it. Initially I had thought I might field Krueger (since he does enjoy frying himself some Menites), but if Schno was willing to try taking on Baldur, then I was game. Schno's army was planned around AOEs... LOTS of them. Baldur's ability to negate blast damage would be a huge counter to that.
The druids and the overseer were a must-take as well: Since it was Menoth, I was expecting to see infantry - lots of them - and given Menoth's propensity for setting things alight (namely, heretics, i.e., everyone else in the world), so anything that could shield my troops, drop my own AOE in return, AND get immunity to fire was a must-have. I expected to see the Avatar, it was a no-brainer, so I was planning on having my druids once again see if they could push/pull targets into optimum positions to hamper it.
For the warbeasts, the constructs were a given with Baldur, and I was itching to try out my woldwatcher - this seemed like the place to do it. Woldwyrd would have the advantage against the upkeep spells the Protectorate so loves, and the warpwolves were there to wreck face and take names; Feral for the big targets, Pureblood more for infantry and his ghostly warp.
Shifting Stones were there to provide healing and mobility, the Blackclad was another anti-infantry/fire immune/and beast-helping solo, and Morraig is, well, Morraig. A fast, hard-hitting and 15 hit point solo is always worth it.
So the plan going in... wipe out the infantry and hit the support units. Without his support units, I should have a much simpler time (I hate the Menoth support units with a burning passion that rivals Krueger's).
...Easier said than done, right?
The Battle:
So, I've learned that it generally works better for Circle to go first, so I opted for that. Most of my forces were set up in the middle, with ruins for cover to the left and right. Morraig was deployed to my far left for a flank. The rest waited for advance deployment.
Schno placed his army's jacks in the front and center, with the deliverer's off to my right, one sunburst almost dead ahead, the other to my left on the hilltop. The supporting units and warcaster were, once again, firmly behind everything where I couldn't easily get to them. Not surprising.
For the AD, the Druids were put forward to screen everyone, and on a whim, I placed the woldwatcher as far forward and angled towards the deliverers - I was going to try and see if I could distract Schno and keep his attentions focused on the light warbeast instead of my other forces.
Since I cannot remember the full sequence of events, I'll try and give the highlights for each round, as best I can recall.
Round 1:
Advance! Morraig ran forward, using the ruins for cover - his objective was to try and take out the left-hand Sunburst. The druids advanced and immediately threw up counter magic, elemental immunity, and cloud effects. Baldur cast Solid Ground and Rapid Growth for additional protection while placing a Stone Skin on the Woldwatcher for added durability. The warpwolves and wolds advanced under the cover of the clouds. The woldwatcher put itself front and center and took on Stone Form - for ARM 23! Not bad for just a light! The Shifting Stones teleported the Woldwarden forward and the Blackclad shifted to the right for additional flanking.
Schno then went, throwing up his assorted benefits on his warjacks and advancing... Severius cast Vision on the Blessing of Vengeance and put up Eye of Menoth whereupon he took the bait and opened fire on the Woldwatcher, realizing he couldn't hit my other models. The Deliverers, Redeemer, Reckoner, and Sunburst crews all attacked... and when the smoke cleared, the little guy was beaten and battered and naturally, on fire... but still standing! Morraig took a five boxes of damage from a lucky pot-shot by the other Sunburst crew, but the Wolf Lord wasn't down yet. The Avatar advanced towards Morraig in case I opted to run him around the ruins and at his Choir and Covenant, but stayed at enough of an angle that I couldn't get a charge on him... not that I was going to try for that! The Avatar tried to hit Morraig with the Eye of Menoth, but was just a half-inch out of range, lucky for me.
Round 2:
The woldwatcher continued to burn as the Stone Keeper moved forward and repaired some of the cracks and damage, restoring its damaged Mind spiral. The Woldwyrd advanced and fired on the Blessing of Vengeance, stripping away the Vision spell, but unable to damage the jack otherwise. However, the warpwolves went next, ghostly warped into the ruins and took cover, and the Pureblood got off a howl at the Blessing of Vengeance... wrecking its repulsor shield now that its defensive spell had been stripped away. The woldwarden advanced and laid down a forest alongside the druids who advanced and did the same as they had the previous turn, shielding the majority of the forces. The Blackclad ran for a forest on the right, staying out of Deliverer range.
The woldwatcher, meanwhile, advanced and fired an elemental burst at the Deliverers, catching three of them, The lead deliverer died and burst into a forest, as did the second, providing my forces with yet more concealment before the wold again took on its Stone Form. Baldur maintained his upkeeps and advanced. Morraig, however, broke for the hill at a run, skirting past the Avatar of Menoth and coming up behind the hill and right on top of the Sunburst crew, placing them into melee and preventing them from firing next turn.
On Schno's turn Gorman Di Wolfe rushed up to help the Deliverer crew and the Avatar stayed put, uncertain of where to go. The Deliverers had to advance past the forest that was once their companion and half fired once again on the woldwatcher, joined by the other Sunburst crew... and yet again, the little guy refused to fall despite the beating. The Blackclad ran for the forest, seeking cover behind a boulder as he prepared to get into range....
Rounds 3 & 4:
Memory's a little fuzzy here...
Morraig swung at the Sunburst crew, hoping to whittle them down, but no luck - he whiffed on the attack. Gorman Di Wulfe arrived moments later and blinded him with a Smoke Bomb. With his Defense reduced, the Wolf Lord was an easy target for the Avatar of Menoth as it charged up the hill to finish him off.
Half of the Deliverers fired on the Blackclad, who was saved by his cover while the rest fired, and missed, at their intended targets.
The Vassal Mechanik appeared to repair the damaged Blessing of Vengeance, getting its shield back up and active. The Covenant of Menoth along with the Choir meant my Druids of Orboros couldn't get close enough to use their Force bolts, since they prevented me from using my spells on much of his army.
Meanwhile, the Pureblood used its Ghostly warp to pop out from the ruins and issue a death howl at the unit of Deliverers, who fared very poorly against the attack. What was left was nearly mopped up to a man by the Blackclad who advanced and stone sprayed down the survivors.
The Shifting Stones healed the Woldwatcher again. Together, it and the Woldwarden advanced to shield the and Baldur by placing themselves in the charge lanes of the Menite 'jacks. The druids parted to let the constructs through while placing themselves into position where they could hopefully be out of the Covenant's range next turn to be able to use their force bolt spells.
The Woldwyrd meanwhile opened fire on the Sunburst ballista dead ahead and scored with all three hits, eliminating the crew and the weapon. The Feral Warpwolf ghostly warped as well, placing itself in a counter-charge position to hammer any Menite 'jack that attempted to charge the Woldwarden the next round.
Finally, Baldur popped his feat to make things tougher for the Menites to handle by limiting their charge ranges and ability to launch ranged attacks...
At this point the store was closing, so the game had to end.
Final Thoughts:
This was a fun game, and I wish we could've seen it through to the end, but we didn't have the two hours we likely would've needed. I evidently demoralized Schno, who seemed pretty convinced that he couldn't penetrate the Baldur/Druids shield I had going and therefore wasn't going to win. To be honest, as I originally stated, I don't think that was the case. I may've crippled his AOE-producing capacity, but he was far from helpless, and I've had one too many games swing wildly in the end such that the "loser" suddenly pulled a win out of his hat... so I have no illusions; With the rest of his forces he could've still soundly beaten me, especially given that he still had all his jacks in almost perfect fighting condition and along with all his support units. For some reason, I still have trouble getting at Menite support units, which should make my job a lot easier.
I'd like to try out some more 50-pt games at some point. When we have enough time to finish them.
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