Tactical Decision Game 1: Empire versus the Ogrebus
In the military, they run Tactical Decision Games (TDGs) to test operators and intel personnel on warfighting strategy, tactics, and planning. There are usually no “right” or “wrong” answers, just different ways of applying military principles to solve problems and make decisions. Since we have been getting very little participation in the child forum
The Tactica Board on expanding Empire tactics and “tricks of the trade,” I decided to start a weekly TDG thread here in the Elector’s Forum to get Empire Generals to think, discuss different strategies and tactics, and have fun in the process. I think TDGs can help fill the gap between posts on how to use our different units and Battle Reports which we can comment on/learn from but are already complete.
My first TDG is going to run for several weeks with different installments over time in critical decision points of an Empire game fought versus an Ogre army using a “Deathstar Ogrebus” as its backbone. The Ogre list I am using I pulled from the Ogre Stronghold forum created by one of our own members, Rothgar13. As many of you probably know, he is a regular forum contributor on numerous Warhammer forums and is an experienced General with several different armies.
My plan is to offer several different alternatives to our forum members on what decisions we should make at various points in the battle. Based upon the feedback I get, I plan to go with “the majority rules,” so if you have an opinion please give it so we can give his Ogrebus the best we got! There is no guarantee that Empire is going to “win” this TDG…his list is nasty and will not be easy to take down!
The list I decided to use was the one I created using my Infantry-Based List Building techniques outlined in the
Tacticas for W-E: Building Balanced Lists & War Preparation thread. In short- the
list is built around
Strength in Arms & Shields in Support, which means my troops sport high Strength and all the support in the list is build around defense and keeping the troops alive.
The Good Guys: Strength in Arms, Shields in Support49 Halberdiers FC Arch Lector (Gen)
GW, AoMI, Dragonbane Gem, Crown of Command 5 Archer Detachment33 Greatswords FC, Razor Banner Warrior Priest Dragonhelm Captain (BSB)
Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Luckstone, Ironcurse Icon 15 Halberdier Detachment 5 Archer Detachment10 Archers Musician, Standard Bearer Battle Wizard Lord Lvl 4 Life, Dispel Scroll 6 Inner Circle Knights FC, Lances, Banner of Swiftness4 Demigryph Knights FC, Lances, Steel StandardLuminark Steam Tank My Spells: Life-
Flesh to Stone, Shield of Thorns, Regrowth, The Dwellers BelowThe Bad Guys: Rothgar’s Ogrebus12 Ironguts Standard Bearer, Bellower Tyrant (Gen)
Biting Blade, Armour of Destiny, Greedy Fist Bruiser (BSB)
Rune Maw Standard Bruiser Warrior Bane, Talisman of Preservation Firebelly Lvl 2 Fire Mage, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon4 Ogre Mournfang Cavalry Standard Bearer, Bellower, Dragonhide Banner6 Leadbelchers Bellower2x 11 Gnoblars Gnoblar Trappers2x Ironblasters 2x Sabretusks His spells: Fire-
Fireball, Fulminating Flame Cage Terrain & ScenarioI rolled randomly for terrain. Lots of terrain: two bodies of water, one building, a forest, a regular fence,
Blessed Bulwark wall,
Anvil of Vaul hill and
Wizard’s Tower. I randomly determined locations and this is what is ended up looking like:
I rolled the Meeting Engagement which should provide us with an interesting battle!
DeploymentThe Ogres won the toss to choose sides. The fictitious Ogre General I am going to name “Bruiser” decided to line up on the side and angle that gave us the least amount of terrain to work with: the house. Since he chose the side, he had to deploy all his forces first. He got lucky and only had two units in Reserve: a Gnoblar unit and a Sabretusk.
He lined up his available forces as far forward as he could (except for an Ironblaster on the hill), with Mournfangs backed by Leadbelchers and a Sabretusk on the left flank and his Ogrebus, Gnoblars, and other Ironblaster on the right like so:
His Ironblaster cannons are positioned nicely to throw cannonballs on each side of the board no matter where we decide to deploy. He has an 83% chance of getting the first turn, so he will be in our face quickly no matter what we do.
Empire Deployment Options:I rolled for all our units and we only have one in Reserve- but it is the Greatswords and her detachments! Since we will be on the defensive early this shouldn’t impact us too bad- but it leads us to our first set of tactical decisions:
how should we deploy our forces, based on the terrain, the enemy, and our reserves? The Ironblaster’s range is a big consideration for our deployment, so I put red range rings around their potential first move distance and put a blue line on the forward edge of our deployment zone. Here is what it looks like:
I did an initial analysis and came up with 3 basic deployment areas to center our defense in:
Zone 1 will center a defense around the house and will allow us to “hide” some assets on the backside.
Zone 2 allows us to use the house to cover one of our flanks and forces the Ogrebus to travel a long distance to get to us.
Zone 3 is a little more aggressive against his left flank- the Greatswords could pop in at any point along the long edge, forcing him to keep his Mournfangs positioned to respect their entrance. His Ogrebus would have to maneuver quite a distance to get to the meat of our defense.
Zone 1: Here is the deployment I considered for Deployment Zone 1:
I put our cavalry on the far left flank to threaten the Ironblaster over there and harass/delay his Ogrebus on its way to our defense.
The Halberds are going to sit in the house- which will protect them from a Mournfang charge and Ogre impact hits. They will get chewed up over time if assaulted by the Ogrebus but should last a few rounds while the rest of our forces harass.
The Luminark is hidden behind the house safe for a little while from cannon fire, while the STank is positioned to fire on the Ironblaster or Ogrebus, depending on how Bruiser moves them.
Key Pros:
--the STank will not have to face multiple cannon shots in the first turn
--the Leadbelchers don’t have any early targets
--the Greatswords should be able to face the Mournfangs and chew them up a bit
Key Cons:
--He will be able to move his forces and converge on our defense at about the same time
--If we are not careful, he could isolate and kill our mobile resources, avoid the heart of our defense, and win by VPs/points denial
Zone 2: Here is the deployment I considered for Deployment Zone 2:
I still like the Demigryphs on the left flank. They keep him from freely moving up his Ironblaster unless he wants to sacrifice it. If we roll the STank that way too, both of them can harass/delay his Ogrebus.
I kept the Inner Circle Knights and Archer detachments back to avoid the crazy range of his Mournfangs, but our diverters can easily move up depending on how he surges his forces towards our defense. The Luminark sits in the center- providing its Sigmar-blessed 6+ ward save to most of our defense, including the STank.
Key Pros:
--we have lots of distance and diverter/harassers options to slow him down
--the Inner Circle Knights are positioned nicely to get in the way of the Mournfangs and become sacrificial lambs
This would allow us plenty of follow-on charge options
Key Cons:
--the STank could take multiple cannon shots in the first turn (but with a 6+ Ward Save)
--the Luminark is not positioned to provide Ward Saves to our far right flank
Zone 3: Here is the deployment I considered for Deployment Zone 3:
I am still sold on having the Demigryphs on the left flank to cause havoc. This may even force his Ogrebus to run towards our line on the left side of the Wizard’s Tower. Since two of his diverters/chaff are in reserve, they will have to come in on the long side of the board and play catch up. This means we will be able to dictate the flow of the battle early on.
I kept the Inner Circle Knights and Archer detachments back to avoid the crazy range of his Mournfangs, but our diverters can easily move up depending on how he surges his forces towards our defense. The Luminark sits in the center- providing its Sigmar-blessed 6+ ward save to most of our defense, including the STank.
Key Pros:
--he cannot be too aggressive with his Mournfangs early on…or we will have plenty of combo-charges available to take them down
--his Ogrebus has a long way to go…we could potentially divert it/slow it for most of the game
--the Luminark is positioned nicely in the center of our defense
Key Cons:
--the STank could take multiple cannon shots in the first turn (but with a 6+ Ward Save)
--if he is tactically patient on the first turn, he has the ability to focus fire on the Inner Circle Knights with two cannons and the Leadbelchers, potentially spelling their early demise
Input:What I would like you to do is to post which Deployment option you like the best and why.
If you like an option without any modifications, just
post the option and why you think it is better than the others.
If you like an option, but would change something,
post the option and what you would change.
If you think you have a totally different deployment option in mind, explain it out. If it gets enough interest, I will create a deployment graph for it.
If you like what someone else posts (modifications, new ideas, whatever) then
give them your vote.
At the end of a week, I am going to total up all the votes.
The deployment with the most votes wins. I will use it and fast forward the battle (
move the bad guys, roll dice, etc) to another decision point at which point I will create another thread and repeat the TDG process!
I look forward to your engagement and I hope we all learn a few things along the way.
HHG