TOW 2000pts lists - and why.

Ok so I managed to get my first game in vs Ben and his Brettonians. Ben took most of the forces he has available which were. So instead of running a battle report I'll run through my impressions of the rules how things went as it was basically a learning game for BEN vs my list above.


Lord on Horsey
BSB
Prophetess 4th level
Damsel 2nd level
3x 10 KOTR
3X 10 Peasant Bowmen
2x 5 Mounted Yeomen
3 Pegasus

DEPLOYMENT: Still important as Ben deployed all but a unit of Bowmen and yeomen on one of his flanks, and this allowed my Boar Boys to move up his exposed flank with the Orc Wierdnob conveyancing. At this stage I should have made a plan for my Wyvern to move up and behind the enemies lines. Both him and the chariots are far less manoeuvrable. Which I like, but you have to use what brains you have to make monsters work. As it was neither wyvern or Chariots did much to impact the game, and that's 500pts or 25% of the army doing diddle squat. Ben's large 10 strong KOTR units were a bit unwieldy as well, he used them well enough to cover my wyverns advance while keeping the Pegasus knights in reserve to shadow my wyvern (Pawpaw) which is a great move. Unfortunately for him he shadowed Pawpaw to my right and the Boar boys moved up on his exposed left.

COMBAT: "There is a certain quality in quantity" My observation is, goblins die just as easily to STR6 WS4 attacks as orcs. So my army advanced, the goblins weren't happy about this but what are "my late dinner snacks going to do about it" hmmm. Anyways. The following turn we move up again, and the Boar boys zoom around the left flank with the Orc Wierdnob conveyancing them FOR TWO turns. So much of a threat the Pegasus knights come by and plant themselves in front to stop a rear charge into the Lords unit. It's a good way for Ben to get a feel for how strong his Pegasus knights are. Again a learning game. The Lord in his lance with the Prophetess she gets of some magic. The Goblins get smashed and fall back in good order, do the FREE reform, from 6x6 to 5x5. The following turn we find out what happens when 5 Boar Boys (lost 2 to shooting) and a BSB with the Waaggh and a unit of Black Orcs in the flank do to a unit of Pegasus. They died, they all died. Lesson learnt. The Issue was I had wheeled my charge into skirmishing Pegasus, they have to form up on me, so I could over run into the rear of his Lords unit beating up poor defenceless goblins. Can't have that, that's an Orcs job. We then successfully overran into the Lords vs Goblins combat. I hope the Lord enjoys surprise but $@x, caus he got it.  This blunted the Brettonians lance and
forced a reform to regular ranks. The Lord smacked the BSB to death "just", and the Brettonians dually lost combat and fled. Again having 25 Goblins allowed the combat to win by outnumbering the opponent over 2-1. Otherwise this is where you end up in protracted combats.

OBSERVATION: This is where I think the game is at, you have to coordinate multiple combats and moves to get good wins, or any wins. Ben could have not move the Pegasus in such a way as to guarantee an overrun into the Lords unit from the boar boys. Also the fast cav could have interposed between the Boar boys earlier. Life is all about lessons, they repeat till you learn. Next time it'll be tougher.   

So in this case the Lord unit flees from the biggest unit, through the Boar Boys and each figure takes a wound on a 4+ fleeing through enemy. They flee 17", but the Boar Boys get a free pivot and pursue only needing an 8" move which they easily do with swift stride.

MORE: well since you asked so nicely.

FANATICS/NET/NIGHT GOBLINS: yes the fanatics  came out after the Lord, being next to the goblins, well one of three did as two died rolling doubles. Unless it says somewhere fanatics don't die when rolling doubles first turn. Now they did kill a few of the KOTR although a wards saves did stop a couple. The little bugger was so efficient he went off and killed 6 savage orcs later on. (use's ate mamma gggrrr) Netters are good usually but vs STR6 meh. The night goblins are good as the Goblin Oddnob get illusion spells, which have some nifty things that stop nasty lance formations from charging you. I'll have to try the Waagh magic at some point though.

The Wyvern: well in the end Pawpaw needs nomnom, and off he went to charge the vanilla lance with the Waaggh. Ben debated weather to challenge or not, he did manage a counter charge and we went with no challenges booo. It did not go well for the food in tin cans. Not that they lost by much, but lose they did and it was all over in the second round of combat. That pretty much is where the game ended. Pawpaw - nomnom.

THOUGHTS: It's Warhammer, it plays well, really well IMO. You'll have to play smart to win, and big nasties, monsters, units or hero's do not guarantee wins. Like some games. If you're getting bogged down, then you're doing something wrong. MSU will work, big blocks of troops will work, peasants work, infantry works, magic works, everything works it's really good. Just you putting a list together that works and making it do so, now that's going to be tricky. So good luck, may the dice goods bless you.

OK so two games in and I'm an expert - NOT.

Matts taken a Grey Sear, level 2 mage; BSB with magical banner gives you 1d3 bonus combat resolution
2 x 30 Clan rats + rattling Guns
30 x Storm Vermin + mini doom flayer wheeler thingy
6 rat Ogres
Abomination
2 x 15 Giant rats
That's it.

Magic

Vortex's, Matt managed to get the flaming pillar of do a few wounds and kill a couple of Night Goblins. He was pretty excited about having a number of vortex options from the Cloud of Pestilence, which gave everyone a -1T, Vortex of chaos, and Pillar of "Meh" Fire. At the end of the game, which went 4 turns before he conceded, he said that they didn't accomplish much. My Goblin fanatics on the other hand managed to run through the Abomination and do nothing, while another destroyed a boar chariot and 6 night goblins. Matt rather liked fanatics after that. Anyways I digress. My vortex the column of crystal on the other hand which blocked line of sight and movement is  perhaps better. In that it does it's job, if it remains in play. It stops charges as does Miasmic Mirage from the same lore. While killing a few goblins out of a horde is satisfying. Battles are games of manoeuvre and stopping your opponent from moving is as good as winning. It also allows your wizard to approach within the critical 15" distance to cast such spells as Itchy Nuisance without being charged. So  Itchy was dispelled casting on the abomination, the assailment spell was game wining for the Night Goblin Oddnob. Matt out for revenge finally got his rat Ogres into combat against the NG unit, yeah Matt. Had to run through a Fanatic but in like Flynn. yeah ha baby, as well his giants rat charged in one. Rat ogres had that nasty nasty Oddnob all lined up for the kill. Matt made the correct decision to try and kill him. Oddnob has WS4 T4 3W no save, rat ogres and whip handlers 6 and 3 attacks respectively, with  a -1 strength due to successful netting. In total Matt inflicted  2 wounds. Oddnob then gets off Spectral Doppelganger, not countered just. 11 hits - 6 wounds on rat ogres. A bit of arse goes a long way at times. In this case the skaven units both broke and driven off the table. That ladies and gentlemen is MAGIC. Literally. What makes it reasonable is it's NOT guaranteed, spells can be countered or not cast at all, and that makes MAGIC interesting, not broken IMO.

Combat - Pawpaw Nomnom

Well pawpaw is not with us today, but the Boar Boyz were back. After a double move on Matts exposed flank he turned the clan rats to face and was promptly charged in the face with a WAAAGHHH successfully going off. Rerolls of natural 1's to hit (and wound with the Choppa rule). A lucky 13 Clan rats died. Meanwhile Matt a student of the art of war had sent sacrificial Giant Rats forward to slow the main body of Orcs and NG horde. By placing them directly in front of said units. So a turn was spent, wasted, chasing them off. The Black Orcs were not so lucky at the abomination moved in for a feast. The Column of Crystal had been successfully dispelled. So in went the BO, up against the abomination, what could go wrong. Well 4 wounds on the abomination and 9 dead BO later it could be said that template attack by the abomination is rather nasty folks. Stubborn was my friend, and after another few rounds where the unit champion was missed  by the attacks. It came down to him and the abomination alone on one wound. The abomination had I1 1d3+1 stomp attacks and the champion a GW - both striking last, and fittingly both killed each other at the same time failing all our saves. Rather a high point I thought, being so entertainment. After this the Rat Ogres were knocked off in a slightly surprising result I must confess, the Boar Boyz had cleaned up the Clan rats and were chasing them off the table and threatening Matt Storm vermin in the rear. While I cast successfully Miasmic Mirage on the Storm Vermin so I could move the Orc Warboss and Orcs up to charge in first. Which they did successfully on the following turn and where we called time on the game. 

An old opponent and friend has a blog which he's restarted on TOW, a good game and somewhat unexpected win. Swordmaster Battle Report