Had a game tonight. Didn't take photos or write exclusive notes as I was trying out the new woodie list to see what its limitations were etc (+ had 10 Helf archers, 10 Glade gobbos and a unit of 5 gobbo scouts filling in for the Glade Guard/scouts I dont have yet). I have a fair idea of what each unit can do, it is just a matter of seeing it in action to find weaknesses etc.
Anywho the list I used was:
lvl4: beasts, scroll, ICI 280
BSB: La, HODA, Abane 132
19 GGuard: m, sb-flame 256
2x10 GGuard: m, sb 276
2x10 GGuard: m 252
2x5 Scouts 170
4x8 Dryads 384
2x5 Wildriders: (m) 260
2x6 Waywatchers 288
2 Eagles 100
2398
I was up against WoC with:
Tznch lvl4: 3+ ward and puppet
fire lvl1 scroll
Tznch BSB in unit of Tznch board and sword warriors
Tznch discman with 2+ as and 3+ ward vs shooting and MM
unit of flaming halberd korn warriors
Flail korn marauders
3x5 doggies
2 unmarked chariots
warshrine
hell cannon
I was really excited to see what I could do vs this army as it has 1 of the 2 key things my list is not good against....t4/5/6 with good armour save. I have to tools to point deny and get the key points (wolves, chariots, hellcannon, discman, maurders), just got to play smart.
Random deployment mission didnt help my cause either.
The Good:
Amber spear is awesome. Killed all the crew of the hellcannon and took 4 wounds off it. (We played that the d6 wounds got distributed....not sure if right, or if should have distributed a single wound that does d6 wounds to the target...my way sounds more logical). I Only managed to cast wildform once (would have prefered to have cast it at least once more!).
The sheer amount of units is great. I nerfed the opposing magic phase purely by having nothing really to target. Tznch magic is MM heavy, so had something to cast. I can just imagine how powerful this "tool" will be vs some of the more traditional lores (like shadow that will do next to nothing vs me). Very Few magic missiles in 8th = good for MSU.
Also love the shooting when not trying to get passed 2+/3++ 2 wound annoying flying guy who refuses to die.
The Bad:
UNIT POSITIONING. One crucial error cost me the game. I set up my dryads to take a charge from a chariot (with nearest unit behind being 13 inches away). I then killed the chariot with shooting, allowing his Tznch warriors behind to come in, fluff, win by CR and over run into flank of waywatcher unit (just clipped), meaning only 6 KB shots at discman (who soaked up 2 rounds of concentrated shooting + HODA before dying). I joke rolled the tied up in combat Waywatcher unit's shots...would have killed the discman allowing 2 turns of Glade Guard to concentrate on other stuff. oh well.
Lessoned learned: LOTS OF UNITS = LOTS OF THINKING ABOUT ALL OPTIONS. I'll get used to it as currently set 2/3 sets of traps with Empire-just now got to think in 4/5 traps.
Fluffed attacks are dumb. 8 dryads charge maurders in building (curious as to what I would do)...kill 4 and lose 4 in return. I just dont see the hype around Dryads. Sure vs ws3, t3 stuff they kick some serious butt, but vs ws4 they can fluff, and vs armour they can fluff even worse. Same thing happened with unit of wildriders vs wolves...all the riders missed and got 1 wound from the horses. Sure that happens when using dice, but garrrrr!
Also I had 19 dryad attacks vs a chariot for 5 combat phases before I finally killed it-and it started down 2 wounds from wildriders (who had fled to safety causing the overrun/counter situation...accidentally). Seriously...
So the jury is still out as to whether I have the right balance. I was unlucky to take AGES killing the 2nd chariot in Combat (where a rundown/kill on charge would have finished off the hellcannon a turn earlier saving my 2nd unit of waywatchers), and to have the tnzch guys overrun into the other waywatcher unit denying me the KB on the discman (he warded the KB from the 1st unit grrr). Also the Korn warriors had stubborn/4+ ward from warshrine on them from turn 2. lvl4 also sucked self into warp last turn sigh....nothing really went my way.
However I liked that I could trade points and be "up" as trading with units worth nothing. Also 4 units of scouts (2 of them chaff) and 2 eagles + 2 vanguarding wildrider units is fantastic. Got to love being able to casually deal with all chaff turn 1 before the Glade guard shoot, allowing them to focus on the real stuff. Having sooooooooo many drops also means in the missions where take turns to deploy (ie all but 2) I can put all my Glade Guard opposite their intended target and let rip while the chaff (ie everything else) distracts the rest of the army. Perfect...now to get good at it!
"We played that the d6 wounds got distributed....not sure if right, or if should have distributed a single wound that does d6 wounds to the target...my way sounds more logical)"
ReplyDeletePretty sure the hit gets distributed first, then roll for d6 wounds once you successfully wound and get through saves...
yeah should of been either 1 dead chaos dwarf, or 1 dead hell cannon. I do think those rules need sorting out...
ReplyDeleteDryads are awesome if you get wildform off on them. Otherwise they are just above average. I tend to fluff with them and wild riders too... On average think you should of killed 5-6 Maraders.
I do think movement phase is the key for your type of army. Staying at the 15" mark against infantry for as long as possible.
Oh well. Monster and Handler rules are silly.
ReplyDeleteI only managed to cast Wildform once the entire game-last turn on wildriders who had charged the warshrine (the IF that sucked my lvl4 into warp thank you puppet). 2 wounds got through, but held grrr. I kept on attempting to cast it on the dryads in combat with invincible chariot...s5 t5 would have helped alot.
The combat element of the army is mainly there to clean up and distract rather than be the focus of my battle line. The mission played didnt really help with that, but when get to choose where I deploy I see my main focus being maximising concentrated s4 bow fire-though careful use of the movement phase