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Offline Swordmaster

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3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« on: November 01, 2010, 09:34:59 PM »
Greetings!

Autumn Meeting with Warmaster is our annual event in Poland since 2003. It is organised as a tournament but the games are very friendly, with very interesting scenarios. It is a two-day event, where two battles are played on Saturday and one game takes plece on Sunday. It is simply a great opportunity to gather our community together and meet with other Warmaster loving friends. :) This year 16 people managed to come. I would like to present reports from my own battles I played during that event. I will post them in parts, becasue I am not sure if I finish writing in one go. :) I will keep them in a single topic though. So, enjoy and feel free to post any comments!

Introduction

All battles were fought with 2000 points armies. We used modified rules for a break point. Instead of calculating the number of units we calculated the point value of all units with associated magic items. The point value of characters was excluded. Obtained result was then halved and that was the point value of a break point. During the game the record of lost units and characters had to be kept. If the previously calculated value was reached it was assumed that the break point was achieved and the usual rules in that situation were applied. For egxample, in the case of HE army I fielded the break point was 745 points.

Each battle had a scenario. Sometimes meeting scenario requirements meant earning extra points. What is more we also had something we called "Destiny Points". Each player started tournament with 3 DP. Winning the battle meant earning 2DP, draw - 1DP. Each player could use DP to try to modify a single dice roll once per battle. One could use different amounts of DP (1-3) per battle but the opponent could use his DP (always the same amount) to deny that opportunity. There were no DP's after last battle, instead players earned extra victory points. There were different titles to be won during the event too. Just for fun of course. :)

As mentioned before I fielded HE army using tournament army list. I had a general with Orb of Majesty, mage on dragon with ring of magic, mage with dispell scroll, 6 units of spearelves, 2 units of archers, 4 units of silver helms, 4 units of ellyrian reavers and 2 units of great eagles. My first opponent had a Vampire Count army and there was some old and vicious sorcerer involved in the first scenario. :)

t.b.c. :)
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 11:59:32 PM by Swordmaster »

Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament - Introduction
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2010, 10:23:48 PM »
Battle 1

I also wanted to use an opportunity to draw some maps in Battle Chronicler so you will see initial set ups of armies I tried to recreate with this wonderful software. Let me know how you like it.

Scenario

In this scenario there were no special extra points to be earned. However, in the middle of the battlefield there was a tower of particularly vicious and unfriendly sorcerer. If any units were too close to his tower by the end of any players turn he could cast some kind of a spell on one of them. The effect was determined by a single dice roll. The unit could be moved in random direction but could also get hurt by magical missiles. The radius of the area in which it was assumed that it is close enough to piss off the sorcerer was determined before the battle and could be as much as 25 cm.

Deployment

Vampire Counts army deployed at the entire width of a table (all battlefields were 120 cm x 160cm). There were 4 units of Grave Guard, 4 units of Skeletons, 4 units of Zombies, 2 units of Ghouls, 1 unit of Wraiths, 6 units of Wolves, 4 Units of Black Knights, 2 units of Bats, a general, 2 heroes (one on nightmare) and 2 necromancers.


Red circle marks the area of evil sorcerer influence

Just a few notes on the brigades formed on both sides. Grave Guard was at the front rank of two brigades with supporting Skeletons. Ghouls were brigaded with Wraiths. HE archers were at the front of 3 units of spearelves, while Ellyrian Reavers were brigaded with Silver Helms.


Undead horde arrayed for battle

I wanted to use the way my opponent deployed to my advantage and put all my units on the western flank. The plan was to overwhelm him on one flank before he can bring the other half to the fight or outflank me.


HE begin their advance

Both armies advanced towards each other cautiously but when VC commanders failed to move their undead units quickly enough it was clear that HE will strike the first blow. HE general decided to commit his heavy cavalry early in the battle and attacked western infantry brigade of VC. Great eagles performed preventive attack on Wolves in the second line so that they could not counterattack.


HE attack

After the bloody combat, advance attacks, counterattacks and yet another exchange of blows entire eastern flank of VC crumbled to dust. It was at a considerable cost for HE who lost majority of their cavalry. It looked like Elves lost their hammer.


Heavy casaulties on eastern flank - apologies for the blurry pictures  :-[

VC moved forward in order to surround HE. They still had advantage in numbers. In particular, the attack on the flank of Ellyrian Reavers with Bats would swing the balance into the favour of VC. The commanding voice of a lesser vampire was however not strong enough. Dark forces for the last time attepmted to bend the threads of the destiny but the HE masters of magic were ready to deny them that chance. HE general sounded all round attack with almost his entire army.


Another glorious charge, now or never!

Another bloody combat errupted. HE were supported by magic in this attack. Undead infantry inflicted considerable casualties but could not prevail against sucha a determined attack. Especially the charge of the light brigade was devastating. This time the HE army managed to deal a decisive blow and VC force reached its break point.


VC centre collapsed

First battle won by HE, although with considerable cost payed, as many casualties were inflicted among more expensive cavalry units. My gamble payed off but I also was lucky that the flank attack of VC air support didn't strike home first. We definitely were afraid of evil sorcerer too much and that also helped me to avoid the other half of VC, as they tried to circle around the tower in the safe distance.

Next: Sneaky skaven in a flank attack :)



« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 11:02:24 PM by Swordmaster »

Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament - Battle 1
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2010, 11:01:15 PM »
Battle 2

Scenario

The battlefield was divided into four quarters. Armies deployed diagonally without minimal distance from wach other. Yes, it meant they could deploy in charge distance. Armies had to be divided into main force (around 1500 points) and flanking force (around 500 points). The flanking forces could appear at the beginning of 4th turn. However, if a player wanted he could call them earlier but it also meant he was giving away 2 or 1 DP's, depending if the flanking force were to be called in 2nd or 3rd turn, respectively.

Deployment

Main Skaven force was comprised from: 5 units of rat swarms, 2 units of jezzails, 2 doom wheels, screaming bell, 4 units of rat ogres, a general, 2 heroes and 1 warlock. HE deployed their infantry, heavy cavalry and all heroes.


Diagonal deployment. Red arrow marks the edge from which HE are going to appear, grey arrow - direction of Skaven flank attack


The battle

Armies were not close enough for immediate attack and both generals manouvred carefully, not wanting to comit their forces too early and not calling for a flank attack forces either.


Initial deplyoment of main forces - again, apologies for blurry pictures  :-[

HE occupied the hill to their east while Skaven moved a little forward. HE did not attack the bait in the form of rat swarms. That prevented Skaven counterattack though. In turn 4 Skaven attack emerged but due to poor commanding of the warlock leading them they remained in a very strange formation.


Poorly coordinated flank attack by Skaven

HE general seized this opportunity and heavy cavalry charged immediately. However, no pursue moves were allowed due to table egde and flanking force could not be finished in one swift attack. Until the end of the battle Skaven units came back, to be attacked again. Some of them were destroyed but some escaped, not returning until the end of the game.

HE tried to move back their infantry from the hill, so that they could avoid contact with enemy until heavy cavalry would be free to support them. Only half of HE units managed to do so. The other half remained as a vanguard and tried to sell their lives dearly. One infantry brigade was hurt badly but not before a single Spearelf regiment destroyed one Doom Wheel (both units inflicted enough casualties to destroy each other simultanously).

HE flanking force was far away from main combat. Great Eagles managed to hit Skaven lines first and attacked jezzails, quickly killing them. They couldn't avoid Rat Ogres wrath though. Ellyrian Reavers finally answered the call of a dragon mage and closed to the enemy. They were too late for close combat counterattack but lucklily they all could shoot at single unit of Rat Ogres. Huge mutants received a lot of punishment and were destroyed in the process (drive back roll higher than movement rate).

The situation on the eastern flank looked undecided. Skaven flanking force was hugely disrupted but not entirely destroyed. HE general decided for the last gamble and called back some of his heavy cavalry from the flank, letting units captains to mop up survivors (I haven't made so many initiative based attacks in my life :)).

Silver Helms, supported by dragon mage and single unit of Spearelves attacked one unit of Rat Ogres. However, the brutes were protected by some evil magic and almost all attacks were deflected. Their packmasters could not control them though and Rat Ogres pursued Silver Helms with dragon mage. HE managed to win this time and in the sequence of pursuits they destroyed their enemy. In the last action of the battle a break point of Skaven army was obtained and HE won again. But only just.

After battle comments

I really liked this battle because it was undecided until the last dice roll. I am also very pleased with Ellyrian Reavers performance, even more so that they managed to let loose their arrows only once. But I like light cavalry and that showed their strength.

Next: Beastie Boyz and HE blitzkrieg

Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament - Battle 2
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2010, 11:51:44 PM »
Battle 3

Last battle I played against Beastmen. They are very interesting army. Actually, a very nice variety of armies were present. We had Albion, Wood Elves, Dogs of War or Bretonnia, to name a few more exotic ones. Two of the armies (Albion and Empire) were also formed from historic miniatures, which added to variety further.

Scenario

This time the armies had to be divided in half. Each half was deployed in their own, narrow deployment zones. The were two Strategic Points at the battlefield. Closer one had to be protected. Reaching the further one activated a signal beacon and second half of the army could join the battle. There were other conditions which could make that happen but I will not talk about details now. Controling SP's gave additional victory points to the controling player. Lighting the signal beacon also earned extra victory points.

Deployment

Beastmen army fielded its stronger half as an initial force. There were 3 units of Hounds, 2 units of Chariots, a brigade of Minotaurs and Bestigors (2 each), a general and two sorcerers. Secondary force had 8 units of infantry, 3 units of Chariots, 2 units of Hounds and a hero.

HE deployed on infantry brigade, cavalry brigade of single Ellyrian Reavers and 2 Silver Helms, 2 units of Great Eagles, a general and a mage. The rest of the army, led by dragon mage, were kept in reserves.


Deployment. Circles indicate Strategic Points. 3 pieces of woods in the middle of the battlefield were placed thanks to special rules of Beastmen army


And a close up on Beastie Boyz

The battle

This time I wanted to play aggresively. I decided to let cavalry go forward quickly, activated light beacon, attacked Hounds and parked great eagles right behind chariots (with one unit, the other one joined Silver Helms in the attack).


Lightning fast attack of HE

The bold move payed off as 5 units of Beastmen were destroyed. One infantry unit was confused by magical missile. To add insult to injury commands of a Beast-General were completely misunderstood and entire army didn't moved at all. In that situation HE continued their attack. Silver Helms charged confused brigade of enemy infantry and destroyed all but single Minotaur unit. Beastmen finally counterattacked and bold elven cavalry had to face Chariot charge. Proud knights refuse to give ground and were destroyed but inflicted some casualties. The rest of the Bestmen army, however, still refused to move forward. Elven reinforcements moved quickly. Infantry secured their own SP while heavy cavalry with support of a dragon mage attacked Minotaurs. They fought savagely but in the end could not prevail and were destroyed. That was enough for the Beastmen, who reached the break point and withdrew.


Final stage of the battle - Elven units just after combat with Minotaurs, ready to advance but there is no need to anymore.

After battle comments

Although the battle looked one sided it was not so. I risked a lot with that quick cavalry charge and didn't get hurt that much in the fight with Hounds and Chariots. No luck in command phase was ruining any attempts for counterattack for my enemy too. Still I am very happy my plan worked so well and that I managed to win all three of my battles :)




Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament - Battle 3
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2010, 11:59:15 PM »
Summary

I didn't expect it when I started writing but I am glad I managed to finish my report. I hope you enjoyed it despite blurry pictures. It is a great thing I had an opportunity to be at this event again. Last time I took part in it was 6 years ago!  :o Fortunatley it keeps going, new playes show up, veterans bring new armies, simply great.

I am very pleased with the army I fielded, as it was the first time I used a dragon mage and no heroes. I also shifted from 4 archers + 4 spearelves to 2 archers + 6 spearelves which helps me to play more aggresively with my infantry too. I like the mobility this army offers.

It was also great to play against new armies. I just hope I will have more opportunities to play Warmaster on such events. :)

Thanks for reading! :)

Offline fracas

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2010, 12:06:31 AM »
thank you for posting these three reports
great to read


and congrats on the wins :)

Offline Carrington

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2010, 06:54:19 PM »
Very nice reports, thanks.

Offline azrael71

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2010, 07:31:56 PM »
Great reports.
Perhaps more use of the graphics would enhance it further :)

Offline jchaos79

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2010, 12:23:14 AM »
Hey fantastic!! three reports. I am very busy these days, but I will read it very carefully!

Thanks for sharing..  and a question: is battle chronicle a friendly-user software?


Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2010, 04:07:45 PM »
Thanks for comments! I am really glda you like them. :)  I was concerned that it might be too much to read in one go and should have divided that into 3 instalments. :)

@azrael71
What would you improve in particular? Do you mean using maps for each turn?

@jchaos79
Take your time! :) As to Battle Chronicler I find it very nice tool for creating those maps. It seemed to me quite straightforward in its use. I haven't tried using it for a full battle report yet so I don't know how it goes then. The only thing I had to remember though is to hold CTRL when wanted to drag a unit across the map without changing its facing. :)

Offline Vazhyl_the_Cruel

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2010, 10:28:06 PM »
Thank you very much, Swordmaster, for your fervour to create this report :)
First, bigger version of this text was written by Swordmaster in Polish language for Wysoki Zamek website. Here you can take a look into few pictures from our event :) Also with few photos from our journey to ruined Ogrodzieniec Castle which was near our place of Warmaster event.
I played third game with Swordmaster, using my Chaos Beastmen army. It was very short game and my Beastmen was terribly defeated :) Swordmaster starts game very aggressively and it was a great way to success. He had few series of successful orders and moved Elves heavy cavalry to charging at first turn together with Great Eagles. Eagles don't fight but succesfully blocks path to retreat of my units. During second and third own turn I made only two happy orders. We started our battle a little over midnight and finish it about 3.00 a.m. I was a bit of funny time, especially when my Minotaurs put only three hits after 15 dice rolls :)
« Last Edit: November 03, 2010, 10:35:01 PM by Vazhyl_the_Cruel »
Wysoki Zamek - Polish WebSite about Warmaster
WarForge - WebSite about Modelling

Offline azrael71

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2010, 09:01:31 AM »
Yes maps for each turn :)

Offline Swordmaster

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2010, 11:25:22 AM »
Haha, ok, next time will try to do that. But only on condition that you will make more comments on the battles themselves :D

Offline azrael71

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2010, 11:58:58 AM »
Got to be honest, we play in a very time restricted environment and the writing of notes and taking pictures seriously eats into our game time.
That is why I do so few   :)

Offline Carrington

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Re: 3 battle reports from Warmaster tournament
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2010, 12:07:01 PM »
Got to be honest, we play in a very time restricted environment and the writing of notes and taking pictures seriously eats into our game time.
That is why I do so few   :)

Similar experience on this side of the pond -- hard to keep organized and up with a game without dragging out the game itself.

Which is to say that your write up is rare and much appreciated.