Pesky Elven Wizards on Eagles....

[Jo]

Hello all,

Today our small gaming group organized a mini-tournament - I hope I can post some pics in the following days.

During one of the battles I was seriously bothered by a pair of elven wizards on giant eagles. There were a few rocky outcrops on the table that were inaccessible to troops but had a flat top. So these elven wizards hopped from outcrop to outcrop casting spells in the midst of my battle line without me being able to do anything about it since O&G don't allow any fliers. I don't want to whine but they had a significant impact on the battle (destroyed 2 rock lobbers, crippled boar riders, finished off chariot unit that was crippled by them two rounds before, confused quite some units at critical points in the battle as well).

Is there something you can do about it? Or is it simply one of these "bend over here it comes again" things? Or should I just learn from the experience and stay away from these outcrops if elves are around?

Thanks for any useful hints!

Jo

[The Siege Tower]

Artillery? Were they out of range of bows and rocklobbers? Been awhile since I played, and I can't remember if they are eligible as targets. I'm thinking they're not.

Interested in a solution to this myself

[jchaos79]

Well, one solution: just say that if it is innacesible for troops it is also innaccesible for command stands.

At the end, flyers are a special capility not a type of troop, so they are normal command/troops but have "more speed/move more cm per turn" than others.

hope it helps



 

[Big Red]

If the rocky outcrops were impassable terrain, your Elven friend has been playing incorrectly.

Firstly, it states:  "Flyers cannot finish their movement in impassable terrain or in woods" (p74 Flying Units, Terrain - LRB). 

It also states: "If (characters) riding monsters or chariots, characters are restricted by terrain in the same way as these troops" (p68 Generals, Wizards and Heroes - LRB). 

And: "A character riding a flying monster is bound by the terrain movement restrictions that apply for flying monsters". (p74 Flying Units, Characters - LRB)

Apart from that, if your infantry were close by, you might have been able to Move Through the enemy wizard which in turn means that if there were no friendly elven units within 30cm for him to retreat to and join, the wizard is dead (p70 Generals, Wizards and Heroes  & p74 Flying Units - LRB). 

If your troops could not enter the terrain piece that the wizard was in, the wizard should not have landed there.




@ Siege Tower - characters cannot be targeted as an individual target.  If he is part of a unit, the unit can be shot at and he suffers any subsequent effects e.g. drive backs, confusion or death if the unit is destroyed.

[The Siege Tower]

@ Siege Tower - characters cannot be targeted as an individual target.  If he is part of a unit, the unit can be shot at and he suffers any subsequent effects e.g. drive backs, confusion or death if the unit is destroyed.

That's what I thought. From the way he described the battle I thought rule might have been changed in last 8yrs.

[Stormwind]

Big Red is right, that guy was being beardy.  Whilst admittedly a hill with a flat top would invite flyers to go and feel safe on top.  I really don't feel that's in the spirit of the game.

[Lex]

Actually this has noting to do with the characters being mounted on flyers......  characters dont have any movement or placement restrictions other then

- max move distance
- placement in certain types of terrain when mounted

So a Wizard on foot could have gotten there just as easy   

The "simple" solution of declaring that part of terrain impassable for all units and characters solves this either way.

[David Wasilewski]

The 'standard' counter to beardy use of mages in our games is to use flyers to move through them, forcing them back into enemy units. Of course, if you're playing an army without any flyers, like orcs - then you're knackered!

Say you want to play again but swap armies. If he won't then call him out for being a cheesy, win at all costs player. Or just don't play him again!

Dave

[Stormwind]

Don't orcs have Wyvern riders?  Couldn't that have dislodged him?

[Guthwine]

The Wyvern is just a character mount and characters cant push back other characters. (Allthough a duell would be a really cool house rule )

If its inpassable terrain noone can enter it, if its not then the only things that help you is a dispell scroll or even bettar a dispell staff.  Though his magic rounds must have been pretty fantastic if got off that many spells.

Also remember the D3 high elf shooting spell for enemy units within 30cms has no drive back to it. Its just wounds.

[Jo]

Thanks for the input everyone.

The most important part that I take from this discussion: clearly describe the terrain and it's effects before the battle - taking into account actions such as this. That part of the terrain should have been inaccessible for all troops, including characters.

About the elves succeeding on so many spells: the player is used to play against an O&G player that rushes forward immediately, which was not my plan at all. I took out a bolt thrower with my artillery at the start of the game and could have waited until he came close, but then these pesky wizards arrived.
Two wizards with a chance on a re-roll and you get an average of close to 1.33 successful spells per round. Even 1.5 if you forget that a roll of 1 does not grant a re-roll which I unfortunately did not check.

They used the 4+ spell of 3 shooting attacks without armour saves and causing drive-backs. So that basically left me screwed.

[Lex]

HAIL OF DESTRUCTION
5+ to cast
Range 30cm

[Jo]

Ah indeed - 5+ to cast.

But he did average out above 1 successful casting per turn 

thanks all.

Jo

[Kesseki]

I agree with you all;

       1) Clarify what kind of rule restriction is there in every piece of terrain before the battle. Some players like to do this kind of things.

       2) if the player shows his "skill" of looking for nooks in the rules, tell him to find another "funny high elf" player to have a real challenge ^_^.

       The rule (in my opinion) is, there is no rule that gives a big adventage to only one player. If that is the case, you're not playing warmaster >:-/

[pw]

The rule (in my opinion) is, there is no rule that gives a big adventage to only one player. If that is the case, you're not playing warmaster.

What a great rule.