This is the second part of my account of the recent Big Old Grudges tournament. You can find the first part here.
Round 2: Drawn Battlelines (Strategic Locations 3; Baggage Train)
Michael Solari - Kingdom of Bretonnia
- Lady Élisse Duchaard
- Baron on Royal Pegasus, Lance, Shield, The Knight's Vow, Virtue of Heroism
- Duke on Hippogryph, Shield, Virtue of Knightly Temper, General, Barding, Ogre Blade
- Paladin on Barded Pegasus, Lance, Shield, The Knight's Vow, Banner of Chalons, Obsidian Lodestone
- 22 Knights of the Realm on Foot, Shield, Great Weapon, The Knight's Vow, First Knight, Obsidian Lodestone, Standard Bearer, War Banner, Musician
- 12 Mounted Knights of the Realm, The Knight's Vow, First Knight, Obsidian Lodestone, Standard Bearer, Monster Hunter's Tapestry
- 15 Peasant Bowmen, Defensive Stakes
- 15 Peasant Bowmen
- 3 Pegasus Knights, The Knight's Vow, First Knight
- 9 Grail Knights, Grail Guardian, Obsidian Lodestone, Standard Bearer, Banner Of Swirling Wind
This list worried me a bit. There were a couple of characters who could really threaten my Stonehorn, and they flew...
We each lost a unit into reserve. I lost the smaller Mournfang unit, and Michael lost some Peasant Bowmen. Hardly seemed a fair trade... Anyway, I set up fairly warily in terms of the Stonehorn, trying to make sure that he wouldn't just get swept off the table cheaply. I possibly didn't give enough thought to control of the objectives, but I was more concerned about things that might just remove my units.
The Duke was on the opposite flank from my Tyrant, which was good. He was right in front of my Mournfang unit, which was bad.
The Baron and BSB both went into the Pegasus Knight unit. This was obviously my other major concern.
I put my Sabretusks out on the flank of the Grail Knights, of course not yet realising that I couldn't charge in the first turn...
...And I charged after they had finished praying to the Lady. I had actually forgotten that they would likely pray and give me the first turn. I'm a bit rusty. I don't think I've actually played Bretonnians in this edition before.
The combat went far, far better than I expected with Michael failing nearly every save he had to take. Unfortunately I somehow couldn't catch a 5" fall back in good order move with 3D6, because I have great talent...
This was a bit of a stand-off. I offered them what was basically a maximum distance charge, they both tried, and they both failed.
I really didn't know how to handle this unit. The Baron worried me. But I wasn't willing to just sit right back near my table edge with no real chance to improve matters, so I offered a charge and they accepted. Maybe regeneration from the banner would keep us around.
The footknights marched forward and claimed the objective on the right.
Again, the combat went far better than I expected. My BSB and the unit ended up taking 1 wound each, which was not even enough for them to win combat by the time I had done a couple of wounds to the Baron in return. They gave ground, and now I had a decision to make.
Over on the right, the Mournfangs made use of the failed charge from the Knights of the Realm and charged them. The Knights counter-charged, of course. So this was likely to hurt in both directions.
Yeah, I took the bait. Apparently these guys couldn't fight for toffee, so I charged them with the Bulls and around into the side from the Ironguts. I had to take the chance to deal with the unit.
The Grail Knights had charged into the Sabretusks and had only hurt them and pushed them back a bit, so the Stonehorn arrived to resolve matters.
No, not like this! Having fluffed their attacks on the charge to make me think they were incompetent, the Pegasus unit then fired up and rolled a lot more damage on the Bulls, and naturally I did nothing to them. The Ironguts might have been responsible for actually killing one of the Pegasus Knights, but the damage done to the Bulls was terrible. I lost combat, they broke, and they got run down.
The Mournfangs at least did a good job. They killed most of the Knights of the Realm and took little damage in return. Unfortunately they didn't break, but just fell back in good order. The Hippogryph prevented my unit from catching them, and now we were in a new combat with a far more concerning opponent.
The Tyrant and his Stonehorn removed the remaining Grail Knights and reformed, allowing the Hunter and his remaining friend to overrun a little (they were clearly holding back).
Unfortunately the disaster with the Bulls meant that the Mournfangs that had been held in reserve suddenly found themselves flanked by the Pegasus Knights. That was not cool.
And having not properly broken, the Knights of the Realm were free to charge in again to help finish off my other Mournfang unit.
This fight actually went better than expected. Might have gone even better if I had remembered that Mournfangs have 4 wounds. I'm pretty sure I was playing them as 3 all day on the first day.
To some extent the same holds true here too. At least we actually held our own, partly thanks to the impetus we had from charging. We would get none of that in the next round.
I seem to be missing some photos. Both of the Mournfang units died in the following round of combat, and the Hippogryph came across to support what had become the new front line. The Stonehorn and Hunter moved across what had been the Bretonnian back lines, dealing with the Peasant Bowmen and the baggage train.
I had the opportunity to try a proper charge into the footknights with the Ironguts with Glittering Robe in play, regeneration from the cauldron, and charging far enough to get impact hits. We lost. Killed maybe 2 knights.
I'll be honest, I don't fully recall what happened at the end here. I either ran out of time to get there and achieve anything with the Stonehorn, or he also went in and embarrassed himself. I don't think I lost any of what I had left there, and I didn't get rid of anything except the Bowmen. I think I just conceded a ton of bonus points with the Pegasus Knights flying across and wrecking my baggage train, never getting the footknights off the objective, and losing 4 banners. It was a weird game with half of the combats going in unexpected ways, but my right flank had collapsed and conceded too many points.
Victory Points: 1230-2218
Result: 6-14 Loss
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