Battle Report - Ratkin v. Empire of Dust

On Sunday after watching Liverpool destroy Chelsea and New Zealand become the first team to retain the Rugby World Cup, I had to move a truck load of garden soil. Having done that the afternoon was free for a game of Kings of War when I got a late call from Lliam.

We had played in the last game of the recent KoW day I had organised at my place. However both of us made significant changes to our lists - in my case I added magic and shooting which I hadn't had before.

My list was:

• Tunnel Slaves Legion
• Shock Troops Horde
• Ratkin Warriors Horde
• Blight Horde
• Brutes Horde with Brew of Haste
• Vermintide Horde
• Hackpaws Troop
• 2x Weapons Teams with Storm of Lead
• Mutant Rat-Fiend
• Warlock - Inspiring Talisman
• ASB - Warbow
• Daemonspawn with Fly

This gave me a chance to get used to using Ranged Attacks and also some more manoveurability with the addition of a flyer.

 

We rolled up Pillage and placed 7 counters. I won the roll for first turn. My plan was simple. Delay on my left and smash the right and centre before sweeping around.

The Daemonspawn and Fiend move forward to get within 12" of the catapult and threaten the unit of chariots and foot pharaoh beside the Sphinx. On my far right my Hackpaws moved close to the second catapult, alone on my extreme right.

On the far flank I pushed the Brutes forward to protect what I felt was a choke point. The Legion of Slaves are sitting on a counter.

Lliam pushes the Giant forward surging it into my Brutes. This begins a 2-3 round combat where I get the upper hand initially - helped by good Regen rolls - but inevitably come off worse.

Lliam charges the Fiend with the chariots, I hold then hit him in flank with Daemonspawn. Sword and Board Skeletons surge just short of Blight.

Closer pic of those combats.

Over on the left the stalemate continues but eventually Lliam brings in Horse to support. My first error here was not countercharging them. Instead I tried to kill the giant. Silly in an objective game in retrospect.

After the chariots were gone, Lliam put his foot pharaoh in front of the Daemonspawn doing a couple of wounds. The Blight and Skellies continued to battle while the Fiend lined up the catapult.

On the far side Lliam starts bringing his army forward.

My Daemonspawn flies into the flank of the Archer Horde routing them while the Fiend makes short work of the catapult. The two infantry hordes battle but I move my Shock Troops up to threaten the flank. The pharaoh is left facing the Warrior Horde.

A few combats missed here. The Skellies are broken but the Shock Troops are charged by flying pharaoh and then a long surge gets chariots in. I fail a 6 rerolled nerve check and loss the Shock Troops. I have Blight , Hackpaws and Warriors sitting on objectives.

On far side poor individual placement by me lets Lliam run into rear of Vermintide due to Surge and then he surges Giant into weakened Slave Legion.

Going into the last turn it is 3-3 and I have a chance to win if I can shoot his Worms off an objective. My Weapons Team plus the Warlock manage to get Lliam to a rerollable 7 Nerve. Luck is with me and he fails both giving me a 3-2 win.

Game was very close with me making a couple of key mistakes which let Lliam back in after I had early advantage. To be fair a draw was a better reflection.

The changes to the list made it both more interesting and more effective. I certainly need to tinker with it some more and have some clear ideas in mind to do so in future games.

 

Posted with Blogsy