Convic 2018 Aftermath - Part 5

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 5 (2150 points) - Eliminate
Tony Lee - Kingdoms of Men

• Legion of Militia with Hammer of Measured Force
• Legion of Militia
• Horde of Foot Guard with two-handed weapons
• Horde of Foot Guard with two-handed weapons
• Horde of Knights with Potion of the Caterpillar
• Regiment of Knights
• Beast of War
• General on Winged Beast
• Wizard with Bane-chant
• Army Standard Bearer
• Siege Artillery
• Siege Artillery
• Siege Artillery

After a rather questionable performance on day 1, I was back for day 2 with a larger army. Maybe this 2150 point list would perform better than my 1750 point one... My army was pretty similar to what I had in that smaller list, but with a Giant and a Boomer horde.

My first opponent on day 2 was Tony, whom I had played in the final round of Cancon. This time he had a normal Kingdoms of Men list instead of the historical Conquistadors he had confused me with previously. Couldn't help but feel he would have a better chance with what he had brought this time.

The scenario was Eliminate, which means you get a point for destroying each of your opponent's 3 most expensive units. You get 2 points if you destroy the unit in combat. My targets were the horde of Knights and the 2 hordes of Foot Guard. For my part, I needed to protect the Boomers and the 2 hordes of Siegebreakers.

Wow, I actually got a photo before things had started to move. I didn't really like my chances of getting to the artillery in this game. It was a pretty solid wall of infantry between me and them. Hopefully the artillery would just miss all game. That's what I'd expect mine to do...

A horde of Knights. That was likely to hurt when it hit me.

Tony got the first turn and advanced cagily on my right. The charge distance on my Warlords on Chariots was really quite helpful for my army. The varying threat range made it much harder for my opponents to get into position. Boadicea in the chariot behind the Knights is actually his Beast of War. I admit I kept forgetting this during the game when assessing its capabilities. One of those slippery subconscious things. 

The advance was generally cautious across the line. The Siegebreakers to the right of the picture copped a nasty hit from the artillery. Not a promising start to my hopes of them not having much effect.

I moved up a lot more aggressively, given I was being bombarded at range.

My Boomers made good use of the wall in front of them and did an unimpressive amount of damage to the Knights.

Moving on up on the left. The Siegebreakers drew the short straw when I was looking for volunteers to draw the enemy into a charge.

Well, they have Big Shields. It's kind of what they're for, right?

Their charge was hindered thanks to the wall, but the Knights decided they really had to charge my Boomers. 

One of the Militia legions moved up to stand right in the face of my Siegebreakers. I'd have to go through them if I wanted to get to the Foot Guard behind them. These Militia had the Hammer of Measured Force. I had forgotten this.

The shooting again hit the Siegebreakers on my right, wavering them. The ones on the left were also wavered as a result of the Knight horde's charge. Look, wavered is better than routed, but sometimes it's only a question of timing.

In this case, wavering was a lot better than routing. It meant the Knights were trapped with their flank exposed to my Warlord and Warriors, and they accepted the invitation gleefully.

My Warlord rolled in alongside the Boomers in a counter-charge, and this proved enough to rout the regiment of Knights on my right flank. The Siegebreakers couldn't really do much thanks to being wavered, but the Giant who had been lurking in the forest took the opportunity to charge and crush the Wizard who had been lurking in between the 2 legions. He then overran into the flank of the one of the legions and took a swing at them. It was hard to pass up the chance, but it was also not a smart move on my part. He was never going to do enough damage to seriously worry a legion, and the horde of Foot Guard could now see his rear...

The horde of Knights was gone, with the two main lines now squaring off.

So many militia. Sure, they were only hitting on 6s thanks to the forest. I actually thought I was relatively safe. But then Tony reminded me he had the Hammer of Measured Force and I got very uncomfortable. I was extremely fortunate then that he still rolled no damage. Counter-charges for me!

No, my Boomer Sergeant! Well actually, he had moved up here specifically to shield the flank of the wavering Siegebreakers (which would have looked pretty wasteful if they had routed like they possibly should have). But I like this guy and was sad when he routed immediately (which was to be expected).

I had assumed that Tony would take the chance to finish off my Siegebreakers with the other legion, but he declined to do so. He settled for getting his troops into position whilst the artillery fired at them, doing minor damage and wavering them again. Bummer. Honestly I don't think either of us realised that shooting the scoring units was worth half as much as routing them in combat. Otherwise I suspect he would have taken the charge.

No more Boomer Sergeant, but help is on the way for the Siegebreakers.

Actually looking at the damage, I was very lucky the Siegebreakers had only wavered instead of routing from that hit. 

In my turn the Warlord charged the General on Winged Beast and did a few wounds. I don't think I wavered him, but given how things were lined up, the War Beast couldn't see past him to get involved the following turn. This began what must have been a very frustrating pattern for Tony. The Warlord charged repeatedly, wavering and eventually routing the General. The War Beast and Boomers were stuck trying to work their way around the combat.

There's a good charge. Unfortunately the Warriors were on the wrong side, or both units could have been charging without being hindered. Oh well, it was still a lot of attacks. Not enough to even waver the legion, though.

With the Siegebreakers stuck out of the action, I threw what I could at the other legion, knowing they had already taken damage from the impetuous Giant earlier. Still it was not enough, but at least the Army Standard had enough movement to get past the Warlord and cover his exposed flank.

The Siegebreakers perished on the legion's second attempt at them, but around them things were going well enough for me. The Boomers shot the War Beast and I believe wavered it, whilst the General was still locked in his losing engagement with my Warlord. The Warriors went in for another go at the legion, and I think this time they broke through.

The legion counter-charged against my Warriors and wavered them, whilst the artillery continued to pound down and finished off the Siegebreakers next to them. The Foot Guard charged my Army Standard and walloped him pretty hard, however Tony then very obligingly rolled a double 1 for the nerve test. So I lived!! What great flank shielding!

No more legion, but the Foot Guard were waiting and they were completely fresh.

Having been bought time by the heroics of the Army Standard, my Warlord was able to charge into the legion of Militia again, which this time was enough to rout them. He then reformed to face the Foot Guard, who were making all sorts of ominous noises about what they were going to do to him once they finally dealt with the annoying guy waving the flag in front of them.

With both legions gone, it was down to the Foot Guard to get involved. My Warriors were minding their own business after finishing off the Militia. The Foot Guard started it!

There was really not a lot left at this point. The Foot Guard finished off the Army Standard, then braced to receive the charge from the Warlord, although he was little threat to an almost fresh horde of infantry. Not on the first attempt, at least.

Eventually my Warlord finished off Tony's General and was charged by the Beast of War, which had been waiting (and wavering) oh so patiently. The charge was not really worth the wait, however.  It had little effect, and when the Warlord counter-charged, the Beast of War had had enough and routed. Meanwhile my Warriors counter-charged the Foot Guard, did some damage, bounced back, and were routed the following turn. The Boomers decided their best course of action was to try to start to silence the artillery. They moved within range and fired, however they did almost no damage. The artillery then rather accurately fired back, routing my unit on the spot. Boo!

We rolled for a 7th turn, however it was not to be. This is how things finished. There's really not a lot left. Tony has the Foot Guard hordes and 2 of his Siege Artillery.  I have some pretty pre-loved Ogres in the form of 2 battered Warlords, and half-dead hordes of Shooters (who by now had joined the party to help my Warlord) and Warriors. Another turn might have been interesting.

With the game ending after 6 turns, it kind of felt like I had run out of time. 2 of Tony's scoring units remained on their feet, whilst all of mine were gone (albeit with 2 of them having been shot rather than routed in combat). That left the score at 4:2, with me on the losing side. Man getting through those legions was hard work. I really regretted my carelessness with the Giant. It was a good game, though.

Result: 6-15 loss

You can find the next part of the report here.