Xerxis vs Thyra 06 Sep

How did it go last night? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s been a while since I’ve played Nat (the Iron Cross one day event the club held). Back then, I had forgotten much of my Menoth knowledge which meant that a lot of elves died that day. Last night I was pretty certain that I could handle what Nat put on the table, the only unknowns being Thyra (who looks like she has a very decent set of spells) and Nicia (a Daughter with Reach?). I think that the new Menoth bits from Wrath might just tempt me back before the year is out. A couple of the jacks look totally sweet. I’ll have to get myself a copy and have a read.

So, Nat fielded:

Thyra, Flame of Sorrow

* Templar

* Vanquisher

* Hierophant

Daughters of the Flame

Daughters of the Flame – this unit was proxyed by Choir models.

Exemplar Errants (max)

* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer

Knights Exemplar

Exemplar Errant Seneschal

Knight Exemplar Seneschal

Nicia, Tear of Vengeance – This model was proxyed by pFeora

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Vassal Mechanik

Vassal of Menoth

Against:

Tyrant Xerxis

* Bronzeback Titan

* Titan Gladiator

* Aptimus Marketh

Cataphract Arcuarii (max)

Cataphract Cetrati (max)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

Praetorian Swordsmen (max)

* Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew – this unit was proxyed by Malifaux Gremlins.

Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer – this unit was proxyed by Wrongeye and Alten Ashley.

I won the roll off and let Nat go first. Nat set up quite wide with Daughters on both flanks and the Errant, Knights, jacks and others in the middle. I didn’t quite brick up but I did keep my swordsmen at the back of my line.

Turn 1 - I’ll start off by saying that Daughters running in the first turn damages any hope anyone may have. I also forgot they can move so quickly. It was safe to say that these ladies were going to outflank. The rest of Nat’s force advanced slowly with the Vanquisher cracking off a shot hoping for some good deviation. I put both Battle Plans available to me to good use to get my heavy troops to get further up the field ahead of my Swordsmen and beasts.

Turn 2 - This turn saw the Daughters slow down a bit keeping me on my toes. The rest of the Menites saw no hurry in getting to my lines with the Errants getting some crossbow action (which failed) and the Vanquisher getting his lucky deviation this turn (there was no damage, but five of my Cetratii were set on fire). This fire claimed first blood in my maintenance phase as it just wouldn’t go out. The Cetratii got in a charge on the Errants and dispatched a few. The Arcuarii turned their attention to the Knights and Knights Senny in front of them. Three of the Knights fell but the Senny was made of sterner stuff and stayed behind his wall. I thought it would be a good idea for the Tyrant Commander to charge Nicia with his high MAT, but sadly he must have fumbled at the last second.

Turn 3 - The remaining Errants piled in and added minimal damage to Cetratii while the Templar finished half of the same unit. The Knights looked for revenge and claimed a couple of Skorne lives with their buffed P+S. The Daughters on both sides came a little closer. The TyCo and his Standard were bought down by the Daughters that surrounded them. The Vanquisher launched another shot this time into the remaining Arcuarii and set them both on fire. My Cetratii suffered as a result of the fire still burning them with a few points here and there. The Bronzeback charged the Knights and was more that a match for their buffed armour taking out three. A few more Errants died in the existing combat with my Cetratii. The Swordsmen (with Fury on them) decided it was action time. One of the charged the Daughters (one can only hope of hitting them) a couple got a charge on some errant Errants (hehe) and the Knight Seneschal. Failed to hit the Daughter, killed the Senny and then an Errant. This was all well and good going around and killing stuff, but I forgot that the Senny has a handy ability called Restoration. He jumps back up with one point if you kill any Menites in his command area, which is what I did with the Errant. I should have remembered this and did it the other way around. No doubt this would bite me on the bum next turn. Meanwhile my Gladiator charged the Daughters that had now made their way behind my line but only had the reach to kill one.

Turn 4 – A suitably beefed up Knight (now P+S 16!) put 11 points of damage on the Bronzeback which was fair enough as he probably wasn’t going to live much longer. The Knight Senny proceeded to kill another Swordsman while his fellow Senny failed to even damage another. The Vanquisher took another shot which killed Marketh and set fire to a Swordsman this time. The Daughters and Nicia to my left sailed through the two Skorne in front of them while the Daughters to my right danced past the Gladiator. Thankfully Xerxis had cast Inhospitable Ground the previous turn, meaning they couldn’t reach my warlock. The Bronzeback took down the final Knight while the Cetratii finished off the Errants while putting some damage on the Templar. The Swordsmen had a mixed turn with one failing to hit the Errant Senny and another putting a whopping TWO points of damage on the Vanquisher. The imminent threat of the Daughters behind my line took the attention of the Beast handlers (who had no chance of hitting anyway), the Gladiator (who was out of Xerxis’ control at the beginning of the turn so couldn’t be forced) and Xerxis himself who clubbed two of them to death.

Turn 5 – The Templar hit back and killed a Cetratii and the Vanquisher killed his attacker. The Errant Senny also killed his opponent. The left-most unit of Daughters decided to put the beat down on the Swamp Gobbers but failed to kill them both. The other unit of Daughters ganged up on Xerxis and took nearly half of his health. My turn was already looking desperate so the Beast handlers enraged both beasts who killed three Daughters and the Vanquisher between them. The Cetratii finished off the Errant Senny and put a few scratches on the Templar. Lastly Xerxis clubbed a couple more Daughters to death.

Turn 6 – With nothing else to do really except conclude the game, Nat ran everything he could at Xerxis (which was the remaining Daughters, Nicia and Thyra herself) and won the game.

Well that was fun. The streak goes on, 17 loses on the bounce.

What did I learn though? My current force has trouble with high DEF units/solo/casters. Even with about nearly half of the army with MAT 7 and above, taking on 12 Daughters, Nicia and Thyra with DEF 15+ is a very tricky prospect. Add the fact that I had no way to buff anything thing apart from Fury (which wouldn’t have mattered against the Menoth ladies).

What did I already know? I should have seen the fact that I would have forgotten something simple like the Knight Senny having Restoration. I didn’t use my beast effectively again.

Any saving graces? Inhospitable Ground and Nat forgetting that Daughters with Nicia have Vengeance. Without either/both of these the Daughters would have been on me far, far quicker. If we played to a time limit, I think I may have done enough to earn a draw. There was an almost equal amount of loses on each side. But as no-one was kicking us off the table we played until the end.

I don’t need to say it but this was another great and exciting game.