Buckeye Battles practice game vs Dogs of War

[Dalamar]

2400 points each side, the opponent's army was Dogs of War.

My list was as follows:
Supreme Sorceress
Level 3 Dark
Black Dragon
Pendant of Khaeleth
Tome of Furion
Ironcurse Icon

Sorceress
Level 2 Fire
Lifetaker

Master
Dark Pegasus
Cloak of Hag Graef
Dragonbane Gem
Sword of Might
Potion of Foolhardiness
Heavy Armor, Shield, Pair of Repeater Handbows

Assassin
Rending Stars
Manbane

20 crossbowmen
Standard, Musician
Shields

20 crossbowmen
Standard, Musician
Shields

6 Dark Riders
Musician
Repeater Crossbows

5 Harpies

5 Harpies

6 Shades

6 Shades

War Hydra

Bolt Thrower

Bolt Thrower

This list faced the following (I don't remember his magic items though):

General
Pegasus
Flaming attacks
Potion of Strength
Immune to multiple wounds and KB

Level 4 wizard
Lore of Light

Asarnil the Dragonlord

Paymaster
Barded Warhorse

14 Besiegers
(crossbomwen that take no penalty for long range)

8 Voland's Venerators

8 Duellists

8 Duellists

6 Maneaters

8 Amazons

5 Birdmen

Deployment:

Looking from my side of the table from left to right I had a hill in the left corner and a forest (which turned out to be mushroom forest) in the right. Roughly in the middle of the table there was another forest, blood forest, and a tower and in my opponent's deployment zone he had a swamp in the left corner and a hill in the right one.

From left to right my deployment was:
Master-Dark Riders-Bolt Thrower-Hydra-Harpies-Crossbowmen(behind harpies)-Crossbowmen with sorceress and assassin-harpies-Bolt Thrower-shades in forest-supreme sorceress behind the forest and last unit of shades scouting behind the hill in opponent's deployment zone.

Dogs of War deployment from left to right:
Besiegers-duellists-asarnil-voland's with paymaster-general-ogres-duellists with level 4 and amazons scouting next to the tower.

Turn 1:
I lost the roll off and the Dogs of War army advanced, rather fast. The duellists on the left only moved forward enough to get out of the line of sight of the crossbowmen they were giving cover to while Asarnil, Volands and the general packed between the forest and the tower in the middle. Ogres and second unit of duellists moved forward ignoring my scouts behind their hill. Amazons walked forward to get their laser guns in range to shoot my shades in the forest.

Magic phase saw boosted Pha's Protection (which would cover all his combat units) dispelled but that took all my dice allowing a Banishment to go through and kill two shades in the unit in the forest (lucky me!)

In the shooting phase, besiegers fired at my crossbowmen with sorceress, only taking penalty for a forest between them and managed to kill 5 (thanks to the sorceress - no panic!). Amazons aimed their laser guns at my shades and didn't kill any!

There was no combat. yet!
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In my movement phase, master flew far forward to threaten crossbowmen, dark riders behind him in support. Hydra positioned itself along the forest but outside of the front arc of any of the units going around it. First crossbowmen angled to shoot at the crowd while the second unit revealed the assassin and walked into short range.I flew my rightmost harpies in front of the venerators to redirect them away from my crossbowmen (unfortunately giving them cover from my second crossbowmen), leftmost harpies parked behind the crossbowmen with sorceress for later turns. Shades in forest stayed put while Supreme sorceress flew alongside the amazons to do some roasting. Shades behind enemy lines ran up the hill for a nice shooting phase (and it was glorious)

Magic saw soul stealer cast on the amazons, killing two (musician and banner specifically as they were special type of command) and putting sorceress at 5 wounds. Small fireball also cast successfully into duellists with enemy level 4 saw 4 dead but panic was passed.

Shooting phase started with dragon roasting some amazons. After extra shooting from forest shades, only champion and 3 amazons were left Shades on the far hill unleashed hell on the level 4s bodyguard, killing all but 2 (plus character) and wounding the level 4. This caused panic which was failed sending the unit past the heavy cavalry and through my harpies (level 4 took additional wound from running through my unit) leaving them right in front of my crossbowmen! (who until now had no good target <.<). 20 crossbowmen fired at 2 duellists and level 4 on last wound... it was an execution by a firing squad. The other crossbowmen unit with sorceress and assassin fired at the venerators, managing to kill 3 (assassin killed 2). First bolt thrower fired at Asarnil and missed (he's -1 to be hit... and I missed by 1) the other fired at the far off duellist, killing two or three.

There was again no combat.

Turn 2

Turn 2 was when things started to get ugly. General on pegasus charged my harpies who held, but had to fold up and that gave the venerators just enough room to charge my crossbowmen (barely!). But first Asarnil declared a charge against those same crossbowmen and they failed the panic test running away and taking the harpies with them. The problem was that the flee distance put them exactly 1" within maximum charge of the venerators who declared a charge (however unlikely it was) and sent my crossbowmen, fire sorceress and an assassin off the table. Asarnil redirected his charge into my second crossbowmen unit but they fled and the charge was failed. Venerators redirected into my harpies who decided that it was too much and fled past the hydra. Not being caught by either the general or the venerators, they were safe... and the heavy cavalry had its flank to my bolt thrower!. Amazons charged shades and stand and shoot killed none, while ogres reformed to face the shades on the hill. Duellists on the other flank ran up to the pegasus master to fire off some shots while besiegers reformed to face him.

There was no magic since level 4 was now dead.

Shooting phase was also severly limited with only one unit of duellists firing at the pegasus master, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off of the cloak of hag graef.

In combat shades killed two amazons while losing three of their number, the lone shade stood his ground thanks to the steadfast given to him by the forest.
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Dark riders charged the duellists who stood and fired against the dark riders (missing all shots) and then fled from the master. Dark riders ran them down which caused Master to fail his charge, and besiegers to fail their panic test and run away, almost off the table. I moved the hydra into the forest, into the flank of the knights and the general and behind Asarnil (who is a terrible pain to kill). Remaining crossbowmen rallied and reformed into ranks to face the inevitable dragon charge. Supreme sorceress flew next to the tower, opposite from the hydra and out of line of sight of everything while shades hid from the ogres back behind the hill. Harpies that fled with crossbowmen rallied, while the other harpy unit kept fleeing, ending really close to the table edge.

Magic was all successfully dispelled (I kept rolling winds of magic dice with only a single digit difference, 5,1 or 6,1 etc so it was rather evened out)

In the shooting phase hydra breathed on the heavy cavalry reducing them to two knights, voland and the paymaster (who had 2+ ward against flaming attacks. Bolt Thrower on their side fired the luckiest shot in its career, hitting the flank and killing every single remaining model in the unit. Unfortunately both general and Asarnil passed their panic tests. The second bolt thrower fired a shot at Asarnil and the bolt went wide again, curses to the -1 amulet. Since dark riders and master charged and shades were hiding behind the hill that was all the shooting.

In combat the lone shade took down one amazon before falling to their weapons.

Turn 3

Last two Amazons charged the bolt thrower by the forest, needing a 9 to get to it they rolled a 10 and reached the crew. Asarnil charged the crossbowmen, shrugging off stand and shoot. With paymaster dead, every unit within 12" had to pass Ld test or be unable to do anything until they passed a Ld test in following turns. Asarnil and Ogres passed while the general (with hydra on his flank) failed! Ogres turned around again, clearly not interested in games with the shades while besiegers rallied on the table edge.

No magic

No shooting

Asanil went through the crossbowmen like hot knife through butter, killing 16... 1 less and they would have kept their steadfast, alas they broke and ran, but not before inflicting one wound on Asarnil himself, fleeing from the dragon and through the bolt thrower (who passed the panic). Asarnil failed to catch them and stopped 1" in front of the bolt thrower... which wasn't much consolation. At the second bolt thrower the crew stood heroically, killing an amazon while the remaining champion felled one of the crew, the machine stood its ground!
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I knew the general had potion of strength (he drank it at the start of my turn) and flaming attacks, so charging him with the hydra was a risky, or rather suicidal, proposition. Yet I did it anyway. The general was aligned in such a way that hydra would overrun into the flank of the ogres. The plan was to have Supreme sorceress join in the charge, issue a challenge and kill the general, allowing the hydra to overrun into the ogres... alas everything was foiled when the general failed his terror test and ran from the hydra! stopping 18" away from it (meaning I'd have to roll double 6 to catch him... if failed hydra would be exposed to a charge from the ogres so instead I redirected into their front... something I really hoped to avoid. As the dragon sorceress couldn't see the ogres from her position to support the hydra, she flew behind them, keeping the general in her front arc in case he rallied and had to be killed. Being too far for a new charge the Master flew closer to the besiegers to charge them next turn. Shades walked back up the hill to take a few pot shots at the fleeing general and the harpies that rallied before flew over to the bolt thrower to avenge it (there was no way it was surviving 3 S5 attacks from the amazon champion) Other 3 harpies angled to glare at Asarnil, they had no role to play anymore.

In the magic phase black horror was cast on the besiegers, killing about half of the unit but the panic was passed. Then I threw all my remaining dice (5 against my opponent's remaining 6 to dispel as he let black horror through) into word of pain on the ogres and... lost control! the spell went off and I rolled 4 on the miscast table... uh oh! Thankfully for me, rolled 1 to wound the dragon, saved pendant on the sorceress and succeeded on escaping the grasp of hungry demons and didn't get sucked into the realms of chaos (which would also take the dragon!).

I realized I forgot to move my dark riders! They were standing right in front of a unit of crossbowmen... with nothing else left to do, they aimed and fired, killing three and panicking the rest off the table! Lucky shots! Shades fired at the general but their bolts bounced off of his plate armor. Last remaining bolt thrower fired at Asarnil, but the the dragon literally breathing on them from 1" away, they fumbled and I rolled a 1 to hit.

In combat handlers managed to scratch an ogre while the hydra ate another one for a total of 4 wounds, and it regenerated everything that came back. The ogres held (no surprise, maneaters are stubborn).

Turn 4

My opponent just remembered he had birdmen in ambush the whole time and rolled to see if they showed up, they sure did, popping behind master and the dark riders. Asarnil charged the bolt thrower which surprisingly held while the general failed to rally and continued fleeing. With ogres already in combat there were no other units to move.

No magic

Birdmen shot at the dark riders from the back and managed to kill two... which prompted them to run.

Asarnil had the bolt thrower for lunch and turned around towards the middle of the battlefield. This turn hydra didn't fare so well, it managed to eat another ogre and put second wound on the first one but it failed all regen saves and lost the combat by two points. Even with general nearby it wasn't enough and the hydra ran, swiftstriding ogres catching up.
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With their general between shades and harpies, the shades charged him, forcing him to run towards the harpies, then harpies charged him, running him down. Supreme sorceress flew behind the ogres, intent on taking revenge for her pet and the master flew alongside the birdmen and away from the dragon. Dark riders rallied and turned to face the ogres that killed the hydra.

With magic I hoped to take down the last wound from the already wounded ogre, which would drop them by 25% and cause panic, soul stealer failed to wound any, and they passed all their strength tests... and I forgot that with one ogre in the blood forest they should've taken additional d6 S4 hits from the forest... and then the forest would walk away. In other words magic did nothing.

Master fired his handbows at the birdmen but only managed to kill one.

No Combat

Turn 5

Asarnil decided to charge the harpies who failed terror and fled off the table, making the dragonlord fail his charge, birdmen flew over to the dark riders to try and finish the job and ogres reformed to leave the forest.

No Magic

Birdmen fired their light crossbows at the dark riders... 4 shots... 4 hits... 4 dead dark riders, and the unit was no more.

No combat
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Master flew again alongside the birdmen so he could fire at them and at the same time see the ogres for a charge down the line, dragon sorceress flew beside the ogres and out of sight from Asarnil while shades walked into range to shoot at the birdmen.

Magic phase was strangely successful, likely to make up for the last one, with a single soul stealer, and 4 ogres, I managed to do 3 wounds, killing an ogre outright and leaving them down at 3 (one with 1 wound left)

Shooting... I skipped shooting... I have no idea why! I realized when my opponent started his turn that I didn't shoot with master and shades set up to take down the birdmen T.T

Turn 6

Asarnil too far to do anything and birdmen flew to harrass Master (pointlessly). Ogres charged shades who were now pretty close but the scouts fled and ran out of the ogres' range.

No magic

Shooting was pointless as 4 little crossbow bolts failed to even register on Master's cloak

No Combat
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Ogres failed charge exposed their back to the dragon, the sorceress moved in to charge while master went to harrass the birdmen in hopes to panic them off the table. Shades rallied.

In magic phase Soul Stealer really wanted to make up for past turns and killed another ogre!, unfortunately word of pain was dispelled.

Shooting saw a birdman dead, but they passed their panic test and remained on the field.

Ogre champ challenged my sorceress, did two wounds to the dragon but I saved both. In return dragon fumbled and only hit once, inflicting a single wound. I won the combat but the ogres were again stubborn and held their ground.

Only models remaining at the end of the game were: Asarnil the Dragonlord, 4 Birdmen, 2 Ogres (with 3 wounds between them), Supreme Sorceress (with 6 wounds), Master, 6 Shades and 5 Harpies. The game was a very close draw.

Conclusion:
Getting ran off the table on turn two with almost 600 points (crossbowmen, assassin and sorceress) wasn't a good thing, in hindsight I should've moved them back a little instead of forward but I was too greedy to get assassin's shots out.
I was hoping to utilize the tower in the middle of the field, putting a unit of shades with assassin in it, but unfortunately I lost the roll off for scouts and Amazons prevented me from deploying my shades close enough to enter it on turn 1.
Do NOT ever forget about a shooting phase, especially in a shooting heavy army.
On last turn I shouldn't have split my master and sorceress instead they should've both charged into the ogres to hopefully kill them all. It wouldn't have helped since the dragon fumbled in the challenge with the champion but it would've been more likely to get the points out of that unit (and it was certainly more expensive than the remaining birdmen.
I think I will be running Shadow magic on my level 2 sorceress now, its utility is unparallelled and synergies with dark are amazing. There isn't a situation where you can't find a use for Miasma, and most other spells have good uses (steed of shadows can propel Master far forward on turn 1 for example. Perhaps I'll try to run her with a unit of shades instead of crossbowmen though, she'll gain greater use of her lifetaker this way instead of being forced to shoot at the same target as the large unit of crossbowmen.

[Cycloptic squirrel]

Glad to see the dragon sorceress working out. Also great to see someone playing dogs of war. If the pegmaster had been upgraded to BSB, was he close enough to give a reroll to the crossbows in turn 1? I suppose if they hadn't fled, they still would have been eaten by a combined dragon and knights, but you would have at least had the S&S.
Shadow could be interesting and if you keep her in a separate unit from the assassin you might be able to use smoke and mirrors to good effect.

[Dalamar]

Pegmaster was waaay over on the other side of the field. Only driders would be in range for eventual rerolls.