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Author Topic: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports (Updated 4.7.13 - 2400 vs OK)  (Read 9519 times)

Offline sammay23

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Hi all,

In conjunction with an all-cav tactica, I thought I'd create a post for aggregating battle reports with all-cavalry (or mostly cavalry) armies. I'll post a few old ones, and then follow-up with some recent ones. List changes a bit, but the fundamentals are the same. Please let me know if you have reports you want me to link into here. I'll be happy to do so.

Tactica is here: http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=45594.0
« Last Edit: April 08, 2013, 01:28:39 AM by sammay23 »
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2013, 10:49:15 PM »
This one was one of those games where everything just went right. All the risks I took panned out, in terms of rolling what I needed to. Not the best VC list, but still a fun, and potentially dangerous, one.

Empire

Luthor Huss (IC Knights)
BSB, Barding, Shield, Dawnstone (IC Knights)
WP Barding, HA, Enchanted Shield (Reiksguard)
Lvl 4, Barding, Dispel Scroll (IC Knights, row 2)
Engineer (hellblaster)
Engineer (hellblaster)
6 'nilla knights
6 'nilla knights
13 IC Knights, Full command, Standard of Discipline
3 DGs
3 DGs
9 Reiksguard, Full command
Hellblaster
Hellblaster
Steam Tank

Vampire Counts

Vampire Lord, Lvl 4, Red Fury, some stuff
2x Necromancer
2x Wight King, Lance, Sh, HA, Barded Steed
3x 35 Zombies
2x 2 Bat Swarms
2x 2 Fell Bats
6 Dire Wolves
12 Black Knights
35 Ghouls
5 Hexwraiths
6 Vargheists

The Scenario was quite cool. We had to get a messenger through our opponents lines by escorting him with a core unit. If we did so, we were allowed to see our opponent's list before our next game, got +500 VP for the game, and got +1 for first turn of the next game. I rolled Chain Lightning, Comet, Harmonic Convergence and Iceshard Blizzard. Here's deployment.




I placed my messenger with the small knights unit on the right flank. He placed his messenger with his Ghouls. I won first turn and gave it to him.

Vampire Counts - Turn 1



General forward movement. I dispel VanHells. He grows a bunch of zombies in his two leftmost units.

Empire - Turn 1



Right flank rushes forward. Steam tank misfires and loses 3 steam points. I move forward 7 on two dice. Everything else shuffles. I had to position to receive his Black Knights, since they could charge through the building. I thought about leaving him too little room to place between the building and my units, but decided I had enough opportunity to devastate the unit with ranged attacks that I'd rather not get myself all bottled up around the house.

Magic was good. I dropped a comet (marked by the cross hairs), which he decided not to dispel because he feared chain lightning on all his tasty little units. I put up a bubble harmonic convergence and he dispelled the feared chain lightning.

Shooting was a delight. Both hellblasters opened up on the Black Knights. 28 shots, 13 hits and 8 dead knights later, my opponent had a new respect for what harmonic convergence can do on a hellblaster (I only reached one, but that one accounted for 5 of the 8 knights).


Vampire Counts - Turn 2




Charges my hellblaster with his fell bats. Shuffles around a lot! Still trying to figure out how to get his ghouls through to my deployment zone to deliver the message. He was very nervous of the DGKs. He moved his Black Knights to within 12" of his lord, so that he could regenerate them. Before he could, however, the comet fell at the start of his magic phase - like I said, everything went well this game. It wiped his remaining four knights, a bat swarm, some zombies and 2 fell bats. Very nice. No regen for the knights. At this point, the game was pretty much won. I just had to bring my big blocks to bear.

Empire - Turn 2



Multicharge on his zombies with the DGKs. The plan was to overrun the flank unit into his wight kings (which I could;ve done on the battlefield, even though I got the map wrong here). I deliver my messenger. Magic sees him dispel a comet while I get off another bubble harmonic convergence that gets both DGK units (wizard should be on the right side of his unit). Shooting - the steam tank fires the cannon with 1 steam point, and hits both wight kings. Both are removed. Again... I could do no wrong this game. Combat was a delight. Hitting on 3s, wounding on 2s and re-rolling 1s. 18 S5, 6S6 attacks killed 22 zombies and the stomps added another 6. I took no casualties, re-rolling 1s for my armor saves. The rest of the unit crumbled. If only I could have re-rolled 1s on my overrun, however, because I rolled 1, 1, 3, and my DGKs crawled forward.

Vampire Counts - Turn 3



His Vargheists charged the rear of my DGKs. I think he expected me to flee, so he could redirect into my small knights unit and clear a path for his messenger. But I figured I had a pretty good shot of holding against S5. He also charged the unit with his weakened fell bats. He ran his Hexwraiths through both units of DGs as well, but with their re-rolling 1s, they took no casualties. With magic, he raised more zombies and healed up some of his Vargheists, who had been hurt earlier by something... I can't quite remember. Combat was brutal for him. The DGs did five wounds and took none in return. The crumble did another 4 wounds. Re-rolling 1s is amazing. Hexwraiths killed one Reiksguard. 3 crumbled due to combat res.

Empire - Turn 3



Charges across the board. Drew out his dispel dice by casting comet and iceshard blizzard first, got off another 12" bubble harmonic convergence. Vargheists were destroyed. Fell bats were conceded. Knights Panther overran into his ghouls.

Vampire Counts - Turn 4

He just wanted to see what would happen in the combat with his Lord. Huss took the challenge and I rolled a 6(3) for his stat boost. Even a scary Vampire Lord struggles against WS 8, T7. The IC Knights tore through the Ghouls, killing about 20 with the crumble. At this point, my opponent conceded.

So, a pretty nice round one matchup. My opponent, I think, really got thrown by the scenario, and got himself very bottled up. However, it could have looked very different if he had gotten his Black Knights into combat to hold the flank. Even though the hellblasters only fired once this game, they were completely worth the investment.
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2013, 10:50:21 PM »
Lvl 4, Scroll, Barded Warhorse (in IC Knights)

Luthor Huss (in IC Knights)

BSB, FP, Sh, Barded Warhorse, Dawnstone (In IC Knights)

Captain, FP, Barded Warhorse, Luckstone, Charmed Shield (In IC Knights)

2x WP, HA, Sh, Barded Warhorse

2x 5 Knights, Musician

9 Knights, FC

9 IC Knights, FC

3x 3 Demigryph Knights, Musician

5 Outriders, Musician

Steam Tank

His list:

Slaughtermaster, Lvl4 (Maw), Greedy Fist, Fencers Blades, HA

BSB, Ha, Sh, 4++

Butcher, Lvl 2, Beasts, SCroll

11 Ogre Bulls, FC

10 Ironguts, FC, standard of discipline

5 Leadbelchers, Musician

8 Maneaters, Pistols, Swiftstride and Scout special rules, Musician, Dragonhide banner

1 Ironblaster

1 Thundertusk

On to it!


Deployment


We had the same number of drops, which made for a very entertaining and tactically important deployment phase. I placed first, dropping my small knight and outrider units, while he placed his three kitties. I then placed my DG units, while he was forced to start placing more important stuff. Lastly I placed my big knight units and the steam tank. My plan was pretty straightforward (I'm still learning a LOT about tactics with this army). I intended to lock up his Ironguts with the STank, pick off his Bulls with some good charges, and mop up. I won first turn, and happily took it.

Empire Turn 1


Everything rumbled forward. The Steam Tank got out nicely in front of my line, poised to charge or be charged by his Ironguts, and with a nice cannon shot on his Thundertusk. Magic saw me generate 10 dice with 2 channels. I put Timewarp on the center unit of DGs (oh, my clever plan... you'll see!) as well as Speed of Light. I dropped a few wounds off of the maneaters with Banishment and Searing Light.

Shooting - ah yes.. my never-before-used Steam Tank one-shotted his Thundertusk. An unexpected, but delicious, beginning. My outriders, continuing a long long feud with my opponent's kitties, failed to wound a Sabretooth with 15 shots.

OK Turn 1


Ironguts charged the Steam Tank. Everything else moved up for shots or charges. He rolled up seven dice to my five for magic. He dumped six into a big version of Trollguts, and got the IF. Fair enough. Everything else was shut down.

Shooting - his Ironblaster came out of hiding and knocked down two knights from the IC unit. His maneaters and leadbelchers focused fire on the center unit of DGs and killed one.

Combat - the Ironguts managed four wounds on the tank. Not an auspicious beginning.

Empire turn 2



My excitement had me grinning as I declared a charge with my two center DGs on his Ironblaster, fully 21 inches away. With Timewarp still active and my movement doubled, I only needed a seven for the charge - well below the average for swiftstride. He opted to hold. I declared on his Leadbelchers in the temple with the vanilla knights. He held. I also declared with the rightmost DGs on his damn kitty, which was thoroughly blocking me. I planned on overrunning into his Bulls.

I failed my charge on the Ironblaster, rolling a 1, 2, and 3, on 3 dice. Ah well. The vanilla knights hammered home (no charge bonus to str in a building, though). The DGs FAILED their redirect and stopped an inch from the Bulls unit. This is where this army suffers... too spread out and not enough leadership. Ah well...

The Steam Tank did not misfire, and I generated 5 steam points. I put two into grinding, doing four wounds, and saved three for the steam gun. I figured 2d6 s4 hits was, on average, better than 1d3 s6... but I haven't done the math.

Magic was low. I dropped one maneater with Banishment, got the 5+ ward and Hammer of Sigmar up on the rightmost DG unit.

Shooting - The Outriders took 2 wounds off of the Bulls unit.

Combat - The Steam Tank did four wounds with the steam gun. He saved one. In return it took two wounds. Ironguts won the combat. STank is unbreakable. The vanilla knights did well, doing two unsaved wounds between them and their horses. They saved the few wounds the Leadbelchers did, and routed them. Then a funny thing happened. The Ironblaster and Maneaters failed their panic tests! The IB went right off the table, and the maneaters stopped right in front of my DG knights.

OK Turn 2


The Bulls charged my DG unit. I held, since otherwise I'd go off the table. He failed to rally his Leadbelchers OR his Maneaters. The LBs fled off the table. The Maneaters fled behind my DGs, taking 1 wound to dangerous terrain.

Magic saw him with 9 and me with 6. He went for a big Trollguts and got IF again. Grrr. I shut down the rest of his phase.

There was no shooting.

Combat - His Ironguts only put 1 wound on the Steam Tank. His Bulls unit took five wounds from the re-rolling DGs, but he killed the WP and did two wounds to the unit. With his charge, banner, and rank, he won by two. I failed the LD 6 to stay, and they ran (poorly) and were caught. The Bulls stopped short, however, because the hill had a cliff (which you cannot see on the map) and he couldn't move all of his pursuit roll.

Empire Turn 3


Trumpets blaring, the Big Knight unit charged the Ironguts. Everything else maneuvered a bit for subsequent turns. The Stank generated four steam points, misfired, and lost a wound but gained a steam point :) Heh heh. Another Irongut fell to grinding wounds. I saved 3 steam points for the gun.

Magic - I rolled up 3 dice and channeled 1, for 4 to his 2. I drew out his two dice by one-dicing Hammer of Sigmar and Soulfire on the big Knights unit. He used his lvl 2 to dispel them both with one die. My lvl 4 then put light of battle on the big knights, which he scrolled.

Shooting, who cares.

Combat - He challenged with his Slaughtermaster, and I accepted with my champion. The champ did one wound. The SM killed him, but got no overkill (man are 1+ armor saves good!). The Knights did four wounds in spite of Trollguts (he saved four as well), and took four in return. The Stank only rolled four hits with the steam gun, and added one wound to the total. We won combat, but he managed to stick.

OK Turn 3


The bulls charged my Outriders, who fled a paltry 4 and were caught (I had some BAD swiftstride rolls this game). He rallied his Maneaters, who turned to face my DGs.

Magic was low. I stopped everything he tried in this round.

Combat saw another Irongut fall to the knights unit. My WP took a wound in a challenge with his lord. The Steam tank took one wound (one left!). Three more knights fell. They held.

Empire Turn 4


The Left DGs charged his maneaters, who elected to stand and shoot. In a ridiculous streak of good and bad luck, he hit the unit with six shots, and I failed three 3+ AS. One DG died. They passed their panic test. The center DG unit (2 left) charged the flank of the Ironguts unit. I kinda got myself all blocked up in the middle, as you can see. I still need a lot of practice with this many maneuver elements on the board. I went for 3 steam points for the Stank. I misfired and lost the ability to use the steam gun. I put all 3 dice into grinding and did another 3 unsaved wounds to the unit.

Magic - I only rolled up 3 PD again. I rolled low with 3 dice for Timewarp, and it failed to go off.

Combat - The DGs couldn't attack, because his Slaughtermaster was still in a challenge, and was on the flank they'd hit. In the challenge, the Slaughtermaster killed the WP, but only generated 1 wound. The remaining Ironguts killed another knight. The knights failed to get anything past their T4. Combat was a push. The DGs on the left flank took down another maneater in a flurry of beaks and claws. The maneaters bounced many of their attacks off the DGs armor, and we were up by 2 combat res when he decided to use the dragon banner. He rolled boxcars for hits, and did four unsaved wounds... enough to turn the tide. The last DG fled and was cut down by the swiftstriding Maneaters.

OK Turn 4


The maneaters charged the center vanilla knights unit, which fled ( I couldn't have the maneaters overrunning into the back of my IC unit). He failed the charge, but then charged the vanilla knights with a kitty, and his Bulls. They were caught and slaughtered. He charged by IC unit with one kitty.

Magic - he rolled up 9 dice to my seven. He cast Trollguts again with IF. The explosion took down two more knights, leaving me with just the BSB, AND the Steam Tank and did a wound on his Slaughtermaster and an Irongut. I removed the knight models that were in contact with his unit, leaving just the BSB only in base with his Slaughtermaster. No S6 attacks from the unit! I stopped everything else.

Combat - With no one left to challenge, the Slaughtermaster was in a spot of trouble. The Demigryphs, as if seeing this opening, did THREE wounds to him and he failed to regen two of them. In return, he only hit twice, and I made both 3+ saves. With the flank, we won combat by 3, and the unit fled. Neither of my units could catch them (again, my swiftstride rolls were TERRIBLE). The kitty was killed by the IC knights unit.

Empire Turn 5


The IC Knights finally had a clear path. They charged into the bulls unit. The lone Knight remaining from the big unit charged the Slaughtermaster's unit and pushed them off the board. The DGs reformed and the vanilla knights moved well out of charge range of the Maneaters.

Magic - with the Slaughtermaster gone, I had a pretty good shot at getting stuff up. I managed Hammer of Sigmar and the 5+ Ward on my IC knights.

Combat - Luthor Huss declared a challenge. The enemy Butcher accepted. Huss added 3 to his WS, S, T and A, and became a monster. He slaughtered the Butcher, doing four unsaved wounds. The rest of the unit was no less deadly. The two captains, plus champion and six knights put out 14 S6 attacks. After re-rolls 13 hits wounded 12 times, and four Bulls fell. The horses did another wound. In return, the Bulls simply couldn't get past the 1+ 5++, failed to roll snake eyes, and were run to the ground. My opponent conceded.


« Last Edit: March 21, 2013, 11:00:07 PM by sammay23 »
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline mrth0msen

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2013, 07:45:09 AM »
Nice reports! Keep up the good work:)

Offline Calisson

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2013, 08:35:06 AM »
Thanks for the reports!  :icon_razz:
I'm very interested in a heavy cav army.
Keep going.

Offline Martin123

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2013, 03:56:06 PM »
Nice Report i really like the ogre match up with a heavy cav army...

something you got wrong though :)

Timewarp. can NEVER increase movement pass 10. so its not as good as it sounds :).

Pg. 31 rule book. note that bonuses and penalties from hex's, augments and other spells are cumulative, but normally can take no characteristic over 10 or below 1.

 so your friend lost his ironblaster for no reason... i have no idea why your opponent was not shooting his cannon at your steam tank but instead shot your knight unit......

i think you played your steam tank far to risky. you did the right idea placing the steam tank into the irongut why you dealt with the rest.

but why on earth were you risking 5 steam points? after you had taken 4 wounds... you had 50/50 chance not to misfire then a 1 in 3 chance to blow up your steam tank and release the unit you don't want running around ? ... ive played empire now 15-20 games with steam tank, ive never gone for 5 steam points, as i find the risk of blowing up 250 points is not worth taking...

i also didnt see the point you rolling 4 steam points... as that gave you the chance of getting the loose wounds result, where you got lucky only loosing 1 wound... i think those risk were not worth taking in this game :).

« Last Edit: March 22, 2013, 04:07:25 PM by Martin123 »

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2013, 06:23:13 PM »
something you got wrong though :)

Timewarp. can NEVER increase movement pass 10. so its not as good as it sounds :).

Pg. 31 rule book. note that bonuses and penalties from hex's, augments and other spells are cumulative, but normally can take no characteristic over 10 or below 1.

There's been a bit of confusion over Timewarp, but my understanding is that it doesn't increase the target's M statistic, it simply doubles that rate for the purpose of movement. So the characteristic is unchanged, they just can move twice the value.

It was discussed here: http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=42393.msg700674#msg700674

I've had this adjudicated in a tourney, and found no trouble making the case for doubled movement. Anyone had a different outcome?
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline Martin123

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2013, 07:22:16 PM »
something you got wrong though :)

Timewarp. can NEVER increase movement pass 10. so its not as good as it sounds :).

Pg. 31 rule book. note that bonuses and penalties from hex's, augments and other spells are cumulative, but normally can take no characteristic over 10 or below 1.

There's been a bit of confusion over Timewarp, but my understanding is that it doesn't increase the target's M statistic, it simply doubles that rate for the purpose of movement. So the characteristic is unchanged, they just can move twice the value.

It was discussed here: http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=42393.msg700674#msg700674

I've had this adjudicated in a tourney, and found no trouble making the case for doubled movement. Anyone had a different outcome?

hmmm but how is double movement not doubling the movement characteristic?  and actually doubling a charge statistic which is different to the movement statistic?

odd ruling....

Offline Fidelis von Sigmaringen

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2013, 07:25:38 PM »
http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=44404.0 (in which I point out the error I made in the thread sammay23 refers to).
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Offline Naitsabes

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #9 on: March 24, 2013, 12:11:57 AM »
Great reports! I like the second one in particular because your list doesn't contain the "uncavalry-istic" hellblasters.....yet you still rock.

Quote
Empire Turn 2
 The vanilla knights did well, doing two unsaved wounds between them and their horses. They saved the few wounds the Leadbelchers did, and routed them.
Is that right? When cavalry attacks a building the mounts get to attack?

Looking forward to the next reports.
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Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2013, 02:09:43 AM »
Great reports! I like the second one in particular because your list doesn't contain the "uncavalry-istic" hellblasters.....yet you still rock.

Quote
Empire Turn 2
 The vanilla knights did well, doing two unsaved wounds between them and their horses. They saved the few wounds the Leadbelchers did, and routed them.
Is that right? When cavalry attacks a building the mounts get to attack?

Looking forward to the next reports.

We played that wrong. Mounts do not get to attack, and knights lose their mounted/barding armor bonus. Attacking a building is MUCH worse. Makes the damn watchtower scenario a hard one for all-cav.
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline Fidelis von Sigmaringen

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #11 on: March 24, 2013, 10:59:20 AM »
Which makes me wonder: did you remember that attack boni are lost as well (so no +2S from lances)? That the LB are MI and count for 3 for their assault party? And that units in buildings are always steadfast?
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Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #12 on: March 24, 2013, 02:38:43 PM »
If memory serves, we messed up the mounts being able to attack (we thought of cav - knight and mount - as a single model that could enter), and the armor save (that was the biggie). Knights attacked at S3. The Ogres were steadfast but out of BSB range, because he'd charged his IG unit into the steam tank.

If we had played it over again, and correctly, the odds would have been slightly in his favor, rather than mine.

The game in question was one of my first with the cav list, so I was still learning the rules.
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #13 on: March 24, 2013, 05:06:14 PM »
New Report: 2400 pts, Empire vs. Ogre Kingdoms

Empire 2400 pts

Lvl 4, Heavens, Scroll, Barded STeed

Luthor Huss

Captain, BSB, FP, Barded Steed, Dawnstone

Master Engineer

Captasus, Luckstone, Charmed Shield

Captasus, Enchanted Shield, Potion of Foolhardyness

6x Knight, musician

6x Knight, musician

12x IC Knight, FC, Banner of Discipline

4x Demigryph, FC, Banner of Eternal Flame

4x Demigryph, FC

1 Steam Tank

1x Hellblaster VG

Ogre Kingdoms 2400 pts

Slaughtermaster, Lvl 4, Heavens, Fencer's Blades, Armor of Destiny

Butcher, Lvl 2, Maw, Scroll

Bruiser, BSB, HA, Iron Fist

Bruiser, Crown of Command, HA, Iron Fist,

10 Ironguts

10 Bulls

6 Maneaters, Pistols, Poison Attacks, Swiftstride, Dragon Hide Banner

1 Iron Blaster

1 Iron Blaster

1 Kitty

1 Kitty

1 Kitty


His can be a tough list. With two ironblasters and the maneaters shooting 24" poisoned shots, he has me outgunned. So, I needed to handle his artillery with my fast movers, while preventing my bigger blocks from being degraded past effectiveness.

Deployment



Pretty straightforward. My plan was to use my really fast and expendable units (vanilla knights, captasus) to sweep down the poorly defended flanks and get to his ironblasters. As usual, I intended to send the steam tank right up the middle to draw and return fire (it never survives against the double ironblaster list, but takes a lot of shots). I then planned to get my hellblaster in range of his units and hopefully force him to move to me, setting up some nice flanks. That was the plan, anyway.

Empire won first turn.

Empire Turn 1



Moved up the flankers as far as I could. Held back with everything else. Moved the hellblaster forward.

Magic was uneventful. I rolled 3 and 1, rolled poorly for a bubble harmonic convergence and he got it with 3 dice.

Shooting saw the steam tank drop one Irongut, but the cannonball failed to bounce, missing the intended target - the ironblaster.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 1



He didn't move any of his big blocks, content to out-shoot me. Kitties moved up in all their annoying-ness. Ironblasters set up for shots on the steam tank.

Magic was a big phase for him. He channeled 2 and ended up with 9 to my 4. I had to let chain lightning through on the Steam Tank. He rolled 6 hits, and did 2 unsaved wounds. He used Wind Blast on my Captasus, knocking him out of charge range and line of sight on his ironblasters. I stopped him getting off a bubble Harmonic Convergence.

Shooting. Ugh. Two Ironblaster shots - 5 wounds on the Steam Tank. Coulda been better... coulda been worse.

Empire Turn 2



Left flank forward knight unit clears the kitty chaff but things get bottled up. Angle the other knight unit to threaten his Bulls unit. Captasi position to threaten multiple charges. Steam Tank generates 3 steam points, no mishap! Rumbles forward 6 and lines up a shot on the left ironblaster. Knowing that the tank's days are numbered, I decide to move the DG units into charge range, and pull the IC Knights between and within 12" of both units and the steam tank.

Magic. I roll up 7 dice to his 4. Throw three at bubble harmonic convergence (really, I wanted to draw out his dice with this) and get IF. Seven IC knights die to S10 hits. Worst possible outcome. Ouch. But every unit with a blue bullseye is re-rolling 1s for attack, wounds, and armor saves.

Shooting. Tank fires at his ironblaster. Missfire. 3 wounds. Dead Steam Tank. Uh oh.  Hellblaster is forced to turn his kitty to red mist. I've lost too much artillery to those little buggers!

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 2



He reforms and shuffles with his Bulls unit, making sure he has room to counter charge. Moves his last kitty to block further passage down the left flank. Thinks hard about charging the DGs with his Maneaters but decides instead to shoot them. Re-rolling 1s, the DG's make many saves.

Magic. He rolls up 12 PD to my 7, but in an amazing spit of bad luck, his rolls underperform, and with 7 PD I am able to stop him getting anything off.

Shooting. Ironblasters aim at my, now depleted, IC Knights unit. With only 5 Knights left, he only needs to remove one before he can start character sniping. His first shot misfires, and he loses the cannon. Serious luck for me. Second shot drops one DG and two more knights. Down to command plus three characters. Panic is passed. As mentioned above, his maneaters fail to penetrate the DG's armor save.


Empire Turn 3



Lots of charges! I thought about charging the Bulls with my captasus, but decided to focus on his Ironguts unit. Other captasus drinks potion and is ITP with +1 att on the charge. Maneaters stand and shoot, but Harmonic Convergence is still up and he cannot hurt the 1+ AS.

Magic. I generate 8 to his 4. This time I throw 2 at Iceshard Blizzard on his Maneaters. He dispels with PD. I toss four at bubble Harmonic Convergence. IF. Again. Lvl 4 loses 3 levels and only keeps Iceshard Blizzard as a spell. (However, since my opponent would have scrolled this, I was pretty okay with the IF).

Combat. This is what the cav do best, particularly when re-rolling 1s. I do the DGs on the Maneaters first. My opponent underperfomed. 24 S5 attacks really should have done a few wounds, but with the re-rolls, nothing got through my AS. In return, the DGs tore his unit apart. They fled, were caught, and the DGs hit his Ironblaster. Between the Captasus and DGs, the Ironblaster exploded. Both units reformed to face the main combat.

The Ironguts unit lost a good 3 ogres. The champ challenged the Captasus, who threw 2 wounds and took none. Return attacks did for two DGs, but not nearly enough damage to win combat (with re-rolling, even against S6, we were saving 2/3 wounds). He revealed that he was stubborn, and easily made the break test.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 3



His Bulls charged the flank of my DGs.

Magic. 9-5 I allowed an Iceshard Blizzard on my remaining DGs and stopped bubble Harmonic Convergence. I scrolled bubble Curse of the Midnight Winds.

Combat. Not a lot of damage on either side. I had Harmonic Convergence up, but was also -1 to hit. DGs lost but made a re-rollable 7 to stay in combat. Captasus also made his test on one roll. Nice.

Empire Turn 4



Knights units charged into the Bulls. DGs and other captasus into the flank of the remaining Ironguts. At this point, the OK were in a lot of trouble. I wasn't going to be able to buff my units, but at this point, the Ironguts - the biggest risk - were almost gone. Bulls struggle against 1+ AS.

Magic. With just a lvl 1, I couldn't get anything off. It wasn't important.

Combat. Huss Challenged. He accepted with the Bulls champion. Used the 1d3 buff for Huss, and rolled a 3, adding that to his WS, S, T, I and A. Moved the BSB into base. He failed to get through the small knight's 1+ AS. They did 2 wounds. Huss did 5. BSB did 1.Combat was won by a lot, but the Bulls were still steadfast.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 4



Mopped up. Removed steadfast from the Bulls unit, and Huss and the BSB did enough wounds to win combat with the rear. The unit fled. Last Irongut died, leaving the Slaughtermaster no longer stubborn. He put a wound on the Captasus but took one in return. With a banner and flank, they were up by 2. He failed his break test and was run down. At this point my opponent conceded.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2013, 12:17:49 AM by sammay23 »
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline Calisson

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2013, 05:35:37 PM »
Famous quotes
units in buildings are always steadfast
:engel:


Back on topic,
thanks for the report, very encouraging when considering an all cav army.
To note, I don't see your HBV in your army list.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2013, 05:21:51 AM by Calisson »

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2013, 01:23:52 AM »
Another 2400 pt battle to report. This one was played on Universal Battle. I don't like the maps nearly as well, but it makes for a quick bat rep. I'm only posting my turns, mostly because I forgot to take pics. This was against a coven of light army... basically an army with four light mages spamming S7 Banishment. Against cav, this can be tough. Hopefully this will help develop tactics...

Empire 2400 pts

Lvl 4, Heavens, Scroll, Barded STeed

Luthor Huss

Captain, BSB, FP, Barded Steed, Dawnstone

Captasus, Luckstone, Charmed Shield

Captasus, Enchanted Shield, Potion of Foolhardyness

6x Knight, musician

6x Knight, musician

12x IC Knight, FC, Banner of Discipline

3x Demigryph, Musician

4x Demigryph, FC, Banner of Eternal Flame

4x Demigryph, FC

1 Steam Tank

Coven of Light - High Elves 2400 pts

Lvl 4, light, steal 1 die during my magic phase thingy
Lvl 2, light
Lvl 1, Light, scroll
Lvl 1 light
BSB HA, Enchanted Shield, Ogre Blade

14 Archers

14 Archers

28 Archers (Character Bunker)

14 Swordsmen

14 Swordsmen

23 White Lions

Spells

My lvl 4
Harmonic convergence
Iceshard Blizzard
Urannon's Thunderbolt
Chain Lightning

Him
Banishment x3
Brionna's Timewarp
Net of Amnytok
Something else he never cast.

Deployment



I deployed first and finished first. I didn't necessarily expect him to castle up, but he did, and in a good spot.

Turn One - Empire



Rushed forward. I wanted to close with his mage bunker as quickly as possible. There was nothing to do for his magic phase except close fast and hope for a low roll.

Magic. He steals 1 PD, so that balanced things a lot. I cast very little in this battle. I tried for a boosted Thunderbolt, which he stopped.

Shooting. Tried to fire the cannon with the steam tank. Misfired. Took 2 wounds.

Turn One - High Elves

No pic. He didn't move anyway.

Magic. He had the Banner of Saphrey and four channels, so his phases were consistently strong. He dropped one banishment on my leftmost captisus. I put enough dice at it that I should have gotten it, but didn't. The charmed shield deflected one of seven hits. Five of the remaining six wounded, and the Captisus made 3!! Armor saves on a 5+. 2 wounds down, but not dead. He fired another banishment at the other captisus. I scrolled it.

Shooting. He dropped the leftmost captisus with 28 shots from his bunker unit. He put one wound on the right captisus with 14 shots from the 14 archers.

Turn Two - Empire



Drank the potion of foolhardyness and charged the remaining captisus into his archers. Their stand and shoot bounced off his armor. Everything else closed as quickly as possible.

Magic. Chain Lightning was dispelled by him. Low PD so that was it.

Shooting. Decided not to shoot with the steam tank.

Combat. The Captisus killed 5 archers. They then FAILED their LD 9 re-rollable steadfast test. He ran them down and over run into the mage bunker. Yes!

Turn Two - High Elves

He moved very little, once again. This turned out to be a mistake, as he left a charge lane open for the leftmost DG unit on his mage bunker. He put his eagles in the way of the two larger DG units.

Magic. He buffed with Brionna's and Pha's. Couldn't magic missile due to being in combat.

Shooting. A lot less of that nonsense! He took a wound or two off the DGs on the right.

Combat. His BSB killed the Captisus. He forgot to reform to get out of the way of the DG charge.

Turn Three - Empire



Charged DGs into his mage bunker, and other DG units into his eagles. Everything else maneuvered up, but not close enough to provide him with easy charges.

Magic. On four dice, IF'd chain lightning, lost 3 levels, and killed 5 archers. Second game in a row, for that :) However, the archers failed their LD 8 Panic test and fled off the board. A decent exchange.

Combat. DGs won combat, killing one of his lvl 1s but lost one DG. His bunker was steadfast and stuck. Both eagles were crushed.

Turn Three- High Elves

He turns his left Swordmasters to face he DGs. Charges with his White Lion horde. The DG unit flees. He only charged 1", which was too bad, I wanted them as close to the steamtank as possible.

Magic. He rebuffs.

Combat. He wins against the DGs. They break and run through his Swordmasters, take no dangerous terrain damage, and stay on the board.

Turn Four - Empire



Right DG unit charges his swordmasters. Everything else jockeys up but, again, not too close. Wanted to lure the lions in to  difficult charge, or get multiple charges on them.

Both units of DGs rally on a 9

Magic. I try a big Thunderbolt, but without IF, my lvl 1 cannot get anything through his defense.

Combat. It's bloody, but the DGs win against his swordmasters. They also fail their steadfast roll and flee off the table. DGs pursue off the table.

Turn Four - High Elves

Turns his swordmasters around. That's it.

Magic. He hammers the steam tank with banishments, doing another 4 wounds to it, taking the total to 6.

Shooting. Does a few wounds on the IC unit. All are saved thanks to armor.

Combat. Nothing.

Turn Five - Empire



Steam tank. I generate 3 dice, roll 6 on arty die, lose 3 wounds and gain 3 steampoints. Good. Move forward 11" next to the white lions. Left DGs shuffle so that when they flee the swordmasters they won't go off the board. Other DGs come back on the board.

Magic. Nothing.

Shooting. S4 steamgun takes out 8 white lions. Very nice.

Turn Five- High Elves

Charges the Steam Tank with his white lions. Charges my DGs with his swordmasters. They flee 3" and are easily caught. Ah well. He moves his characters out of he bunker, and blocks them.

Magic. He miscasts on his first banishment. Each wizard takes S6 hit and he loses all his remaining PD. Excellent for me.

Shooting. Pings a wound off the large DG unit.

Combat. He kills the steam tank and reform to face the oncoming charge.

Turn Six - Empire



Multi-charge on the white lions. Huss gains 1 to his stats. The White LIons give a good account of themselves, but are wiped out completely. AT this point, my opponent concedes.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2013, 01:40:13 AM by sammay23 »
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.

Offline Derek Contyre

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2013, 04:50:25 AM »
With that forest in your way in the last game it looked like a difficult win...

Honestly high elf armies annoy me when they castle like that. I have a few players at my local that castle with their lothern sea guard armies.... frequently with two to three bolt throwers... Usually I have found that units of 5-6 archers are useful to kill them.
A man who builds his army around his fluff . . . respect . . .  :::cheers:::

Offline codger69

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2013, 10:50:14 PM »
Great posts and well done mate  :eusa_clap:

 :::cheers:::

Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2013, 01:55:34 PM »
Used my first double steam tank list last night to help a friend prepare for adeptacon. Had a close loss to Lizards in a blood and glory scenario. I'll try to get the rep done this weekend. It's a good indication of how some lists can be tough for cav, and also of how well-laid plans can sometimes go amiss.

I'm still having a lot of trouble manuvering units of 4 demigryphs. Since most of my tactics revolve around manuverability - fleeing, setting up multi-charges - those wide units really hamper my playing style. They do wonderfully in combat. Damage output is beautiful, especially with harmonic convergence up. However, I'm really cramped on the board.

Lastly, I'm convinced now that the Captasus is required for any list. I take two at 2400 points, and they are so versatile and fast. They really do open up tactical options we don't have without them. In the last game, each one accounted for 2 salamanders, 5 chameleon skinks, and a few other skirmishers. Invaluable.
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Offline sammay23

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Re: All Cavalry Army Battle Reports (Updated 4.7.13 - 2400 vs OK)
« Reply #19 on: April 08, 2013, 02:06:35 AM »
Double Steam Tank list. I'm helping friends prep for Adepticon. This one will be a bit brief.

Empire All Cav - 2400 pts

Lvl 4, heavens, scroll
BSB, FP, Barded Steed, Sh, Dawnstone
Captasus, Enchanted Shield
Captasus, Charmed Shield
Captasus

3x5 Knights, Musician

9 IC Knights, Banner, Musician

3x3 Demigryphs, Musician

2x Steam Tank

Ogre Kingdoms 2400 pts

Slaughtermaster, Lvl 4, Heavens, Fencer's Blades, Armor of Destiny

Butcher, Lvl 2, Maw, Scroll

Bruiser, BSB, HA, Iron Fist

Bruiser, Crown of Command, HA, Iron Fist,

10 Ironguts

10 Bulls

7 Maneaters, Pistols, Poison Attacks, Swiftstride, Dragon Hide Banner

1 Iron Blaster

1 Iron Blaster

1 Kitty

1 Kitty

1 Kitty


We played a scenario which awarded points for banners inside an 18" square in the center of the battlefield, as well as for controlling terrain features.

Lesson one: Don't deploy your small wizard bunker in sight of two Ironblasters.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 1



Ogres go first. He Shuffles up a bit. Puts one wound on the middle Captasus by hitting him with Iceshard Blizzard.

His Maneaters get 4 poisoned hits against the mage bunker. I fail 2 saves. One Ironblaster misfires and cannot fire this or next turn. The other hits the wizard and kills him. Totally my mistake. First time using a smaller wizard bunker. Panic checks are made.

Empire Turn 1



Still got all the tools I need. Fast flanking units push up. Captasi hide behind the house and on his flank. Edge the bigger units up. Both steam tanks generate 4 steam, put 1 to movement and 3 to cannon.

Between the two of them, they get an Irongut and his left Ironblaster. Very nice.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 2

Forgot an image for this.

He backs is line up a bit. Maneaters clear out a few more vanilla knights - one left. Panic checks made. Kittens move to block units on the flanks. He gets Chain Lightning through. It does two wounds on the left steam tank, and two to the leftmost DG unit, and doesn't move on.

Empire Turn 2



Charge his kittens, who hold and die. Steam tanks both generate 4 steam. Move forward with 2d6, save 2 for cannon. Captasi move into the flanks.

Shooting sees 2 wounds placed on the maneaters but I failed to hurt his remaining Ironblaster.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 3

He shuffles back a bit more, sealing off flanks for my Captasi to hit on his Bulls unit. Moves his Ironblaster back, and lines up a shot on my Captasus.

He rolled low on his magic phase and only managed a harmonic convergence on his Maneaters.

Maneaters kill one more vanilla knight - just one left. Makes panic. Iron Blaster hits the Captasus and ...  fails to wound. I'll take it.

Empire Turn 3



Captasus on right charges his Ironblaster. No other charges. Tanks push forward 3d6 each. I wasn't ready to multi-charge, and the Steam TAnks were relatively unscathed and closing. No need to push it.

Shooting sees one maneater killed with the steam gun.

The Captasus puts 3 wounds on the Ironblaster. It fails to wound in return. He wins, it sticks.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 4



He charges the right steam tank with his maneaters and bulls. Only, once the maneaters are in, he can't close the door with his bulls and so they fail the charge.

He rolls well for magic and drops a chain lightning, which I have to allow. It does 1 wound to the left Steam Tank, kills a DG from the rightmost unit and does 2 wounds to the middle DG unit. I stop his remaining buffs, though. He agreed he should have pushed for a Toothcracker on his maneaters. If they could eat through the tank, they'd crush my IC knights on the next turn.

But they don't. They leave the tank with 1 wound. Just enough. Combat between the Captasus and the Ironblaster is a push.

Empire Turn 4

So many charges. I put the rightmost DGs and middle DGs into his Bulls. He holds. I then charge their rear with my Captasus. He declares a flee. He needs 6" for them to bounce through his maneaters, my steam tank, and IC knights, to the far end of the board. This would be bad. One Captasus goes into the back of his Ironblaster. The vanilla knights unit on the right also charges in.

He rolls a 2 and 2 for his bulls to flee. Disaster. His Bulls unit is caught by my captasus. I redirect my middle DGs into his Ironguts unit. Add in the leftmost DGs. Left Steam Tank generates 3 dice and puts them into movement. Gets 6 + 1 + 2+ 3 = 12 impact hits, of which 11 wound. His maneaters are reduced to 2.

His two maneaters do get the right tank. The DGs flub their rolls and only do 7 wounds. Still win combat, but he's stubborn and sticks.

The Ironblaster explodes with hits from the two Captasi and the vanilla knights.

I'll post the last two rounds. In his next turn, his Ironguts see off the left unit of DGs and kill the rightmost and reform.



We agree that, were this the tourney, I'd pull back, secure the center and as many terrain features as possible, and call it a strong win.

Since it's not :) I charge everything  have into his Ironguts.



It takes a few rounds of combat, and charging my Captasi in on turn 6 to explode the unit. But all that's left his his Butcher wearing the Crown of Command.




Gotta say, in conclusion, that this was the first full battle I played with no magical support. The Captasi were, again, without a doubt the most valuable pieces I had on the board. I'm loving this very mean list!

Next time, the wizard will go behind some Demigryphs :)
« Last Edit: April 08, 2013, 03:25:09 PM by sammay23 »
Bring out the mop and broom sammay.  I want to see you clean this house.