Convic 2018 Aftermath - Part 2

This is a continuation of my report of the recent Kings of War tournament at Convic 2018. You can find the previous part here.

Game 2 (1250 points) - Pillage!
John Healy - Dwarves

• Horde of Ironclad with Healing Brew
• Horde of Ironclad
• Regiment of Shieldbreakers with Kevinar's Flying Hammer
• Regiment of Shieldbreakers
• Herneas the Hunter
• Regiment of Herneas' Rangers
• Flame Belcher
• Regiment of Elohi

John introduced himself and explained that this was only his second or third ever game of Kings of War, a situation not at all helped by him having a bye in the first round. His army was apparently cobbled together from the limited range of models that he had ready, and I admit it probably wasn't the sort of composition I would have gone for. Anyone who goes in without any real Inspiring at all is very brave in my books.

This game was the first time I met Herneas the Hunter and his ranger bros. It would not be the last...

John took the first turn (or I gave it to him very generously; I don't recall which) and moved up a little, mainly with the Elohi slinking up behind the trees. Herneas and friends shot my Warlord a bit, but he survived.

I didn't really have a plan for dealing with the Elohi. Main goal was just not to let them flank or rear charge anything important.

My turn consisted of shooting a few wounds off the Shieldbreakers on the left, and walking quite quickly toward the enemy.

The gap narrows. But not so much that a Dwarf could charge across it. Or could they...?

In John's turn I discovered that Herneas' Rangers are faster than mere mortal Dwarves, and they charged my Warlord whilst the Elohi flapped around behind my line.

Fortunately the Warlord was able to wear the charge fairly comfortably, although my options for charge targets had been somewhat reduced. 

With the Elohi closing in behind my lines, aggression was the order of the day here. The Giant shielded my flank whilst the Warriors and Warlord dealt with the Rangers. One horde of Warriors went into (and through) the Flame Belcher, whilst the other unit went into the front of the Shieldbreakers. This last one was a gamble. The Ironclad were watching my flank, and so there was a reasonable chance that if I bounced in the combat, I'd be soundly punished for it.

As it turned out, I got away with my gamble. I did enough damage to rout the Shieldbreakers and was able to turn to receive the Ironclad charge. This was a bit lucky, as I knew it was risky going in. But I didn't see a better option, and I had Brutal and John's lack of Inspiring working in my favour.

I had moved my main line up so aggressively that the Elohi found no targets there, so contented themselves with heading for my Shooters over in the corner, who were still annoying the remaining Shieldbreakers.

John's response was about what you'd expect, with the 2 big units going in. Unfortunately given things had been going my way, they didn't find any really vulnerable targets. With no Crushing Strength, they really needed a flank in order to drag me down with sheer weight of dice. Herneas settled for annoying my Warriors by sitting right in front of them and forcing them to charge him.

In my turn I had a decision to make with the Shooters. Turn to face the Elohi and give up the turn of shooting, or ignore them and continue firing on the Shieldbreakers. I actually thought I was a chance to rout the Shieldbreakers with one more volley, so I stood my ground and fired at them. I might have done another wound or two, but it didn't work out. Oh well, flanked by Elohi...

My one effort to preserve the Shooters came in the form of the Boomer Sergeant, who turned back onto the hill and fired at the Elohi in an effort to waver them. He did a few wounds, but obviously it had no real effect (John, if you're reading this I suspect we forgot to heal a wound back with Iron Resolve. Might have made a difference). The flank charge was enough for the Elohi to rout the Shooters on the charge, and they reformed to face the Boomer. He had no real options, so stood his ground and fired at them again. He did another few wounds, and this proved enough to remove the unit. Bit lucky, really.

My units weathered John's charges, and then set about counter-charging all over the place. I think that unit on the low ground had essentially wasted a turn in order to overrun after the previous combat, all in the interest of getting out of sight of the Elohi behind them. So they had to take the time to adjust their facing before getting involved again.

Nothing routed on that first round of counter-charges, but nor was I in particular danger given I now essentially had more units to work with than John did. The lack of speed of the remaining Shieldbreakers hurt him. They missed their window to come in and assist their friends. Probably needed to get moving earlier in the game in anticipation of being out of frame.

The Ironclad here did actually manage to rout the Warriors they had been trading blows with (didn't help that my Inspiring had wandered off in other directions), but then the relatively fresh unit behind them finished off Herneas, and the process began again. The other Warriors lending assistance on my second attempt at the unit in the forest was enough to see them off.

Fighting alone against multiple units is never great. Especially when 2 of them end up in your flank. Those red dice were the damage mounting on the Ironclad. No, I didn't roll double 1s... In this same turn the Shieldbreakers went down to the Boomer Sergeant, who had turned around on his hill and hosed them with shots. Those were the last of John's units, so I was free to claim all the objectives unopposed.

I'm not really sure what John could have done in that game. He had relatively little shooting, and his units didn't really have the muscle to match up against mine. The Elohi were his main trump card, but getting them clear of the forest and ensuring he could get a charge on my rear proved challenging. He was punished on a couple of rolls for his lack of Inspiring. Oh well, it was fun if a little lop-sided in the end. John salvaged a point by having brought down a couple of my units, so it was not a complete whitewash.

Result: 20-1 win

You can find the next part of the report here.