King of the Gnoblars - Game 5

So Game 5 and I'm down to table 7 after the crushing defeat to Nigel's Daemons. I needed a good game to get back up and running, however it wouldn't be so cut and dry. I got Bretonnians in the Blood and Glory scenario; they had fortitude 10! The list wasn't optimal however it had been doing reasonably well all weekend.

Lord
Pegasus, Cuirass of Fortune, Sword of Battle, Virtue of Heroism, Shield

Propethess [ Level 4 ]
Lore of Life, Chalice of Malfuer


Paladin
BSB, Dawnstone

Damsel
Lore of Beasts, Dispel Scroll, Warhorse


5x Pegasus Knights
Gallant, Standard Bearer

5x Pegasus Knights
Gallant, Standard Bearer

5x Pegasus Knights
Gallant, Standard Bearer


5x Knights of the Realm
Gallant

10x Men-at-Arms
Standard Bearer

10x Men-at-Arms
Standard Bearer

10x Men-at-Arms
Standard Bearer

40x Bowmen
Skirmishers, Standard Bearer


Trebuchet
Trebuchet

Word of warning, I'm rather hazy on this game and some event still don't make sense in my memory. Furthermore there was a lot of 'confusion' as the Bretonnian list submitted was not the same as the one played apparently, so some events in the game are up in the air regarding what should actually have happened. The list above is what I have constructed from my experience against it.

Anyway for spells I got Miasma, Enfeebling Foe, Pit of Shades, and Mindrazor, while he got Earth Blood, Throne of Vines, Shield of Thorns, Dwellers, Wysan's Wildform, and Curse of Anrehir. Chosen got the stubborn ward. I got to go first as he prayed; diagram below shows deployment and vanguard which I won the roll off for.




Turn 1

The Horsemen got things kicking by moving to block up one of the Pegasus units (after I realised I was an 2" short of chucking axes at the Trebuchet). The Knights advanced a healthy amount while the three infantry movements moved full pace. The Shrine kept within the 12" distance to the Chosen but tried to shuffle out eastward.

With Shadow magic of little use at this early stage the Lord used his Third Eye to use the Lore of Life and got off Throne of Vines and then an irresistable Dwellers which took out 4 of the 5 western Pegasi. The Shrine did something crappy and the Horsemen wounded the Pegasi twice, though both were saved. The Hellcannon followed up a good turn, and though it did no damage, it caused a Trebuchet to panic.

The Bretonnians sounded a double charge against the Knights with the Pegasi and Lord, while the other Pegasi unit hit the Horsemen who S&S to no effect. The lone Pegasus Knight in the west moved to try block up the infantry. Magic had no effect and in what would be a trend for almost the whole game, the Trebuchet missed. The Bowmen however killed a single Chosen (somehow).

In combat his Lord HKB'ed two Knights thanks to being able to to re-roll 1's to hit and wound; as it turned out the Cuirass only allows re-rolled 1's to wound, and that was a critical mistake made that had a big impact on the game. The Knights struck out and did 5 wounds to the Pegasus Knights in return, and the Lord broke. The Pegasus Knights however rolled exactly what they needed to stay (which is where the above mistake comes into play as they would have lost by a further 2 without the wounds done to the Knights and the Lord only ran 7" so I probably would have caught him). Needless to say elsewhere the Horsemen were beaten and run down.




Turn 2

Thanks to an error in James' placement of the lone Pegasus Knight the Warriors were able to flank it while the rest of the infantry ran forward full throttle again. Magic did nothing this turn and the Hellcannon missed altogether and the Shrine gave the Chosen the +1A I had been waiting for, freeing it to go do its own thing for the rest of the game. In combat another Pegasus Knight fell but they held still against the Knights. The Warriors broke the lone Knight and ran him down.

The Bretonnian turn started bad with the Lord failing to rally. The BSB left the unit just to make sure this wasn't going to happen again. His unit then moved up though staying in reach should he wish to return to them. The Pegasi in the east reformed to face the Knights' flank. The Propethess also left her unit, seeing the incoming Chosen.

Magic was impressive, wiping out 22 Marauders with Dwellers while the Bowmen took out another 10, effectively neutralising the unit. In combat the Knights fluffed and fought the Pegasi to a stalemate.




Turn 3

The Chosen finally made their charge, whethering the hail of arrows to close in with the Bowmen. The Warriors reformed so the Lord could Dwellers the Knights. The Marauders began the retreat after passing their Ld test, and the Shrine moved off East to help out the Knights.

Dwellers got off without a hitch but only took out 2 Knights. The Hellcannon scattered wide. In combat another Pegasus Knight fell however the Champion still managed to hold. The Chosen began a massacre killing ~14 Bowmen. I watch gleefully as James rolled to dice and got a 5 but then he said passed and I looked down to see one of the skirmishing Bowmen was in the forest making them steadfast Oops.

Now this is the part when my memory fails me, as from the way I remember it the Knights were in the spot I showed last turn, however they should have obviously charged then in this turn, so something is escaping me as they didn't charge. They were however rejoined by the BSB after the Lord rallied. The Pegasi on the eastern flank charged the Knights while one of the Men-at-Arms units moved out. Magic was unsuccessful as usual and as usual the Trebuchets missed.

In combat I lost another Knight however I killed his last Knight to the front and wounded one of the flanking Knights. This tied us and unfortunately one of those list confusions I mentioned at the start happened here as we both called Musician for the draw (submitted list had no Musicians). Rules failure too as we thought you only get free combat reforms when you win so I tested Ld and failed, leaving me flanked. The Chosen killed roughly the same as last turn however the Bowmen remained steadfast.




Turn 4

I started my turn with a double charge from the Hellcannon and Shrine into the Pegasus Knights fighting my Knights. The Marauders continued the retreat while the Warriors tried (unsuccessfully) to block the Knights' charge path. In magic I tried some Shadow stuff to no avail. In combat I killed off a Knight and did another wound, but he managed to kill a Chaos Knight, wound the Hellcannon and hold. Finally the Bowmen were utterly slaughtered.

In his turn the Knights rear charged the Marauders, while his Lord and MAA dual charged the Shrine. In magic he got IF Dwellers on my Warriors unit only to learn my Lord was immune (Phylactery FTW), though he took out 4 Warriors. However his Propethess then lost a level and the Dwellers spell (though that meant I couldn't use it anymore either).

In combat the Knights killed 4 Marauders who failed to do damage in return but held nonetheless. The big fight in the east wasn't as bloody as would have seemed with only 3 MAA falling, calling another tie on Musicians.




Turn5

My Warriors started off badly in the turn going stupid from the mushrooms in the forest and ambling forward (they were faced wrong in the last diagram). The Chosen moved back toward the centre while everything else fought. The Sorcerer got an IF Pit of Shades that scattered, losing a wound. In combat the Knights finally killed the Marauders and reformed to charge the flank of the Warriors. In the big combat things fianlly went my way as I killed some Pegasus Knights and MAA to win the combat, breaking both the Lord and Pegasi. The Knights chased the Pegasi off the table, but the Lord could freely flee as the MAA held causing the Shrine to block the Hellcannon's pursuit path, thus the cannon stayed (note the diagram is wrong; the Hellcannon ended up in that spot after turn 6, not turn 5).

The Bretonnian Lord rallied easier this time while the KOTR flanked the Warriors. Everything else shuffled. Again no magic or shooting damage though two Knights were Regrown. In combat the Warrior Champion challenged and the BSB accepted killing the Champion. However the Sorcerer, though taking a wound for his troubles, managed to kill a Knight, and though losing by 2 the Warriors stayed.




Turn 6

The Hellcannon rampaged but landed an inch out from the MAA fighting the Shrine. To try get points the Chosen charged the MAA nearby, who fled (this was fine as you got points at this tourney for fleeing units, so he may not rally). The Knights came back on the board.

For magic I went all out on one spell, Mindrazor. Having to challenge the Sorcerer fought and killed the BSB. The rest of the combat went on with two more Knights falling. The Shrine killed 4 MAA this time but somehow the lone jammy peasant held.

Unfortunately the MAA that fled from the Chosen rallied. Meanwhile the Lord charged the Hellcannon. Magic again only saw one Knight Regrown and shooting missed again. In combat two more Knights were killed however the Damsel managed to kill the Sorcerer Lord Still the Knights broke and were run down. The last Peasant was also killed by the War Shrine and his nearby buddies passed their panic test. The Lord netted some return points however by HKB'ing the Hellcannon.




Conclusions

Fun game and good experience. One thing I learned is how mistakes in army book rules can cause big result issues and thus I need to learn the less common books more. Other things such as the phantom musicians also may have had impact, but losing combat by 1 on a Ld8 unit probably isn't going to net too many results. It was close, and netting that single unit of MAA had they not rallied would have won me the scenario. However I did walk away with a 15-5 win as the tournament used a varied VP system whereby normal VPs were used for a B&G game with no winner; more on this little tid bit later (it's embarassing).


Overall

Well I'll start with results; I crawled my way into 10th place. However me being eager to tidy up after a long weekend submitted the wrong results; I mentioned above the altered B&G scoring. This was the first time this had been used and as such being in a rush I didn't not see it and started VP on 10-10 with bonus points rather than go straight VP as we were meant to. As such I submitted a 13-7 result by accident and didn't realise my mistake until the results were published so on the board I was 11th instead. Still, it's not a big deal as I know my true placing and my goals were to come top 10 and get a prize. Speaking of which, that cake had some icing as I got voted for best painted army which I was delighted with (it's been a good few yrs since I won a best painted army award).

So coming away from the weekend what did I learn:

- Chosen are very situational based on what buffs they get, unlike what the internet might tell you ("broken!").
- Armour of Morrslieb is not enough as was seen in the Daemon game.
- Dark Elves aren't half as bad a match up for my army as I had previously thought.
- Never take a situation at its face value; bad luck can still bite you in the ass.
- Incidentally even in the worst situation never give up as you never know what sort of comeback you might claw out.
- Know ALL of the army books inside out.
- You never fully know all the rules of this game.
- The controlling player is the player who owns the models....(you'd have to be there to understand).