Convic 2019 Aftermath - Part 6

This is a continuation of my tournament report of Convic. You can find the previous part here.

So I had finally lost a game, but with 2 games to go I was still a single point ahead of AG at the top of the field. I could yet emerge victorious overall!

Game 6: Control (2250pts)
John Healy - Dwarfs

• Ironclad Horde with Aegis of the Elohi
• Ironguard Regiment
• Ironguard Regiment
• Earth Elemental Horde
• Greater Earth Elemental
• Berserker Brock Rider Regiment with Brew of Strength
• Herneas
• Herneas' Ranger Regiment
• Rordin the Dwarf
• Ironbelcher Organ Gun
• Ironbelcher Organ Gun
• Flame Belcher
• Stone Priest (I presume he had Bane-chant)
• Battle Driller
• Battle Driller
• Mastiff Hunting Pack
• Mastiff Hunting Pack

I think that's about right, but once again I've missed about 35 points of items somewhere.

John had a lot of deployments, so I couldn't really control what would end up facing the Organ Guns (which scare me). I had a relatively token force on the right of the building, which was effectively dividing more forces.

My force on the left felt more capable (and apparently a bit more blurry). They were mainly eyeing off the stuff lurking in and behind the forest - Herneas and his friends, some Mastiffs, the Flame Belcher and a Battle Driller. General plan would be to dispose of that stuff and work around the flank.

As you would expect, the centre of the Dwarf lines looked pretty solid.

So many units in such a small space. I really don't have fond memories of Herneas and his Rangers, but I mainly recall being outraged at how hard it was to shoot back at them. I had different plans this time...

I believe I got the first turn, although it was John's choice. His main shooting being out of range to begin with was likely the deciding factor there. On the right side, I basically elected not to move. I didn't mind where I had deployed stuff, I was out of range, and I figured a stand-off on this flank would be acceptable if I could push the other.

With that in mind, I was pressing hard on the left. The War Beasts and Wizard in the centre commenced bombardment of the nearest Organ Gun, whilst the War Beast on the left was too busy running.

The plan was simple. Get close enough that he couldn't back off in the forest. the birdie was mainly along for the ride, though. Using the Giant as cover, offering Inspiring, and keeping an eye on the flank of the main Dwarf lines in case they decided to press toward me (this was a scenario about controlling the battlefield, after all).

The most important thing to come out of this game was the discovery that McDonald's hotcake syrup was exactly the right height to balance things hanging off these hills. Brilliant! Oh, the main Dwarf line was shuffling backwards. I need not have feared them rushing toward me, it seemed.

Seeing that he couldn't escape me and knowing he could shoot over the Mastiffs without a hit penalty, John moved them up as a barrier. He did move back with the Rangers, however - so I was already interfering with the effectiveness of his shooting. Good stuff!

The Flame Belcher moved into range of the Giant, which I was OK with - it meant I would definitely be able to charge it next turn. The shooting wasn't too effective, with both the Giant and Beast of War taking limited damage.

In my turn I commenced Operation Forest Stomp, with the Beast of War hitting the Mastiffs and the Giant going after the Flame Belcher. Unsurprisingly the Giant did the business against a war machine, but I had assumed the Beast of War could handle the Mastiffs and I was mistaken. They held their ground, jammed between me and the Rangers they were shielding.

I continued to press elsewhere, but now I decided I was just going to have to accept some damage from the Organ Guns. I guess I changed my mind from the previous turn, having seen how little interest John had in advancing. I was still hoping to waver one of the Organ Guns with shooting (but didn't).

On the right, an interesting stand-off was taking place. Again, I decided I would accept a volley from an organ Gun, but not without cover. So the Giant and Pole-arms made use of the cover they could find, and the Winged Beast lurked behind the Giant. I was offering charges to the Brock Riders, but they would either be hindered, or left contemplating a serious charge the following turn.

How things stood at the start of John's Turn 2.

The Mastiffs counter-charged my Beast of War and inflicted a wound, whilst the Battle Driller engaged my Giant. The damage was an acceptable 4 more wounds, but it would add up if I ignored him. The Rangers had spun to face the threat of the Giant in their flank, knowing the Mastiffs would buy them another turn from the Beast of War.

On the right, John declined the invitation to charge and instead fired the Organ Gun at the Giant in the pond. Being in cover made a big difference, and he only took a flesh wound. The Greater Elemental was moving toward this flank, and there were Mastiffs edging across to help protect the Organ Gun.

The rest of the Dwarf line continued to edge back, particularly the end on my left. The presence of the birdie on the flank and the threat of combo charges was being felt.

In my turn, the Beast of War routed the Mastiffs on the second attempt. The Giant elected to ignore the Battle Driller and instead charged the Rangers. I didn't want to stuff up a charge on the Battle Driller and end up getting flanked. The birdie continued to hunt for an exposed flank...

Each turn I would move my Pole-arms up within 10", but outside of 8". This is part of why I struggle when I consider using my Dwarfs. It feels like you have no control over the terms of the engagement unless you invest heavily in things like Brocks. The thing I want to use, Dwarf infantry, is just so... sloooow.

On the right, I was less interested in avoiding charges and more interested in prompting fights on my terms. I closed on the Elementals, including offering a flank charge on the Pole-arm regiment on the hill. The charge would be hindered, however. And there would be... ramifications. I also managed to remove the more central Organ Gun, and moved the Winged Beast into range of the other one.

The mission was "control". I feel like I was doing a fair job there. Lot of empty space behind my lines.

Things were coming to a head and John decided to pull the trigger on some charges. The Brock Riders went over the wall and into the flank. The Greater Elemental actually declined the flank charge and moved around to the front being being Surged in. Not sure I've ever seen Surge used to avoid a flank charge before...

The Giant copped a bit more of a hiding this turn, with the Rangers, Herneas and Battle Driller all going in. I believe they wavered him, but given he had Fury, that was not enough.

OK, so the Pole-arm regiment was in trouble, even with the cover of the wall. Never mind, they would be avenged!

Now it was my turn to make decisions. I had targets, but not all of them were appealing. The Mastiffs had the Organ Gun covered, so if I charged them with the Winged Beast I would likely take 3 turns to get to the machine and would be being shot repeatedly (with no cover) in the meantime. That was unappealing. I could have sent him in alongside the Giant, but in my heart I felt this would result in him copping a counter-charge that he would likely not survive (whereas I felt the Giant could handle it). In the end the birdie didn't charge anything. He flew over the lines and set up a flank charge instead, whilst the Pole-arms units were engaging the Elementals.

I figured I would likely cop a flank charge from the Ironclad here, but they're not all that and they would risk opening their own flank as a result.

In the forest, the Beast of War hit the flank of the Rangers and routed them, whilst the Giant counter-charged Herneas to little effect. the forest was mostly cleared, but I was asking a lot of 2 units. John had just had more things to move around and hit me with. The Giant was likely doomed to the next charge.

When the next charge came, it was just the Battle Driller. Herneas had another plan to ground my birdie, using his Individual agility to get around the Giant.

This is why John wanted the birdie grounded. The Ironclad were facing completely the other direction as they engaged the Pole-arms as expected. The Elementals also counter-charged, so my horde was obviously in big trouble.

The Stone Priest got all feisty and charged my other birdie in a similar attempt to ground him, although in this case there was a bit of optimism involved. The Greater Elemental and Brock Riders both counter-charged, whilst the Mastiffs abandoned their Organ Gun protection duty as it turned to find a new target.

My Pole-arm unit did indeed perish to the efforts of the Ironclad and Elemental hordes, which left the Ironclad free to reform. Herneas also succeeded in grounding my Winged Beast. Unfortunately, John had forgotten that this didn't actually slow me down - it just took away my Nimble and stopped me going over stuff. I still had a clear path to the Ironclad, so ran 20" along the ground, into the flank. Oh yeah, I also hit them with more Pole-arms and a Beast of War.

The Greater Elemental had been a bit unlucky, in that he only managed to waver the Pole-arm regiment. That left his flank exposed to another Beast of War, and given it was wound him on 2+, that was bad... He didn't make it. The Giant had worn the counter-charge from the Brock Riders well enough, and returned the favour for moderate damage. The Stone Priest had failed to wound my birdie, but rather than go over him and invite a counter-charge from the Elementals, I decided I was content with hitting the Stone Priest back and knocking off any threat of Surge or Bane-chant.

Over on the left, my Beast of War chased Herneas and dented him a bit more, whilst the Pole-arms finally engaged the Ironguard. Unfortunately they are made of stern stuff and I bounced off for negligible damage.

Oh yeah... Rather ridiculously, my Giant was still alive. Despite him having taken a ton of wounds, the Battle Driller failed to finish the job. At this point I decided that his work here was finished, and he would be better off heading for my half of the table. If he could escape the Battle Driller, anyway.

It was at about this point that some unfortunate stuff happened regarding the chess clock. Despite both resolving that we were not too fussed about the timer, John and I had both been clicking it over the way we're meant to. However partway through his turn, someone asked what was going on with the clock. We looked over and discovered the screen had turned off. Apparently John's time had run out, and the ipad decided it no longer needed to display anything. We might have argued that we could at least complete the turn, but somehow, despite me still having a few minutes left, we had eaten most of the lunch break. People were waiting on us and given John's timer was up, he was basically ordered to stop. He obviously hadn't been prepared for that and it messed with his outcomes pretty badly.

None of these combats ended up being resolved due to the timer. Fair to say, the Giant would have likely died to Herneas. And things were looking a little grim for the Pole-arms too, with the Battle Driller in the rear and both regiments of Ironguard in the front. Look, both my units could have survived, but I would not have wanted to put money on it.

I believe we might at least have resolved one or two other combats, but things didn't change much here.

I still had a little time left, but didn't do much given the overall time. I killed those Brock Riders, and flew the birdie back into my central table section. 

In the end, I claimed much of the table due to unit strength. Things would have shifted a bit if John hadn't run out of time, but I probably still would have won - potentially by less, though. Given I was a bit low on time too, I guess neither of us had really played fast enough. I understand why chess clocks are useful, I get why tournaments use them. And I get that it's a strength of Kings of War that it accommodates them so easily. But I still don't like them. Sorry, John. Next time.

Result: Win
Tournament Points: 17-4