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Tactics Question of the Week #9

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:39 pm
by Lakissov
Here is the 9th issue of the Tactics Question of the Week!

For those who don’t know what it means: every week someone presents an interesting situation with two forces somewhere in the middle of the battle (sometimes, featuring not full armies but just parts thereof). The situation is usually described with a picture, and some accompanying explanations regarding the units, their rules, distances and anything else that the person presenting the situation deems necessary.

All people who read this forum are then welcome to present their “solutions” to the situation – i.e. explain what they would do in such a situation, as well as the reasoning behind certain steps. In a nutshell, this is an attempt to give substance to discussion revolving around tactics and share the common battlefield experience.

The links to previous issues of “Tactics Question of the Week” threads can be found below:
#1: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=60560
#2: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=60625
#3: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=60840
#4: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=60931
#5: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=61022
#6: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=61131
#7: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=61217
#8: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=61304

And now the question for this week:
Image

This time it’s a Druchii versus Asur battle, and the picture shows the situation in the beginning of Druchii turn 3. The dark riders in the center and on the left flank had been destroyed, as has the RBT on the top of the hill in Druchii deployment zone (well, two DR have stayed alive and came back already after having initially panicked).

The Asur player has been lead to believe that the COK have the ASF banner, and so he is reluctant to let them charge his White Lions (who only have I5 as opposed to COK’s I6). Also, the Asur player is very unsure as to where the assassin is: he seems to think that he is in the right unit of warriors, because putting him together with the general and BSB seems like too many eggs in one basket for him (I know what he thought, because we were having a friendly chat while playing =)).

The assassin himself is actually in the same unit with the general and BSB. He has 4+D3 attacks with KB, which re-roll 1’s to wound. The general has the 1+ armour, Great Weapon and the Ring of Hotek. The BSB has full mundane armour plus Enchanted Shield, and is riding a dark steed (1+ armour, and he is armed with a lance). The BSB has already used his Crystal of midnight, and so the Asur LvL2 with the Ring of Fury has lost the Curse of Arrow attraction spell.

Druchii also have a LvL2 sorceress with one DS (already used) and three spells: Word of Pain, Soul Stealer and Black Horror.

Asur Characters are two LvL2’s and the BSB of Doom. The LvL2 in Swordmasters has 2 DS (one used already) and three spells: Shield of Saphery (5+; friendly unit within 18” gains 5+ ward until the start of the caster’s next magic phase), Courage of Aenarion (8+; a unit within 12” becomes stubborn until the start of the caster’s next magic phase), Flames of Phoenix (11+; RiP; 24”; each model in unit takes a S3 hit). The second LvL2 doesn’t any more have the Curse of Arrow attraction, but has the Shield of Saphery; he also has the Ring of Fury (bound PL3 24” 2d6 S4 MM). The BSB of Doom has full mundane armour (2+) and the Battle Banner (+D6 Combat Resolution).

It has become known during the game that the Banner of Sorcery is in Swordmasters.

Now, it’s the turn of the Druchii. The COK have failed their stupidity, and they’ll get into shades during the compulsory move, pinning them in place this turn. The COC has passed the stupidity test. Also, the COC has only two wounds left (two more have been taken by the Tyranoc chariot, which had previously charged in, making only 1 impact hit, and was eaten by the COK over two rounds of combat).

The RxB are in such a strange position because they had previously panicked, and rallied last turn (so can move freely this turn).

If you need to guess some distances, you can do so - the table is 49" wide, so you can get a good guess (or use some graphical program to make estimations more precise).

As always, the question is what the Druchii player should do to win this game. So, everyone is welcome to participate in this exercise and share their tactical insight with the rest of the community!

Also, I have thought of a motto for this thread:
Tactics Question of the Week: because tactics is all about practice!

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:58 pm
by Daghoul
I'm a novice player with no experience with magic and have only played three 1000pts games vs Dwarves (2W- 1L) but this thread looks too fun not to reply to.

Because of the failed stupidity of the CoK pinning the shades and the fact that nothing looks in charge range of any of our infantry blocks I would:

Magic (where is our sorceress?). Not much we can do here:
1. POD on 1 PD (to have the asur waste DD)
2. Black horror on 4PD (template on left hand of SM)
3. Soul stealer on SM if I was lucky on the POD and have PD remaining

Movement & Shooting:

1. have the 2 DR march right in front of the RBT on the top left & try to shoot the crew down. At worst, I lose 2 DR but the RBT cannot shoot at anything else. Not sure on this but if the RBT can't stand & shoot then my DR will just charge them, they look well inside an 18" radius.

2. Shoot the 17 spears & Lvl2 with our RBT & our RxB all on multiple shots

3. Move the 5 DR about 4-5" behind the WL and multiple shoot them.

4. Nothing else looks in charge range and I feel that moving our infantry forward will put them in a dangerous spot so that's unfortunately it for this turn for me.

I honestly don't know what a contructive move would be for our 20 spears on the Right of the table and on top of that, moving our general's unit or the chariot would just put them in charge range of the SM... well, maybe I would sacrifice our chariot on a charge on the SM but they look too far away & there is a GOOD chance that none of our magic will pass the asur defence.

Feel free to destroy my ideas, i'm here to learn hehe!!!

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:09 pm
by Lakissov
Three comments, Daghoul:
- The sorceress is that lone model behind the hill, marked with the red letters LvL2
- We only have 4PD in total, so if we do cast PoD on 1 die, we will only have 3PD remaining, not 4PD (I mean, if the PoD is dispelled, of course)
- None of the DR have crossbows; only music

Also, you seem to have missed the fact that the harpies are already near one RBT, and that the crew of this RBT would come out of the forest, if the harpies were to charge it... I'm not making suggestions as to what should charge what, but this charge on the RBT seems like an obvious thing to do anyway =))

As for the COC - I can tell that it's out of range from the SM (although in the actual game I guessed wrong and declared a charge; and my opponent fled, because he also guessed wrong :D)

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:53 pm
by Daghoul
Right... don't know why but i had the darkstar cloak in mind...

For magic then:
1. POD on 1 PD
2. POD succeeds: Soul Stealer on 2PD target SM
POD fails: Black horror on 3PD target SM
3. Black horror with all remaining PD traget SM. Only if POD succeeds on 1. of course

Move:
1. I did not suggest the harpy charge on RBT near the woods because I tought they were already in cc. So we go for the obvious and have the 3 harpies charge the RBT near the woods

2. Our 2 DR have no choice but to try to charge the other RBT since they don't have crossbows... :evil:

3. COC... well now that I am sure the SM are out of range, I just leave it there and hope for it to get a charge next turn.

4. Only other change to my previous post be a rear charge from our 5DR on the WL. No other alternative really cause the shades would be dead meat on the next turn. Hopefully one or 2 will survive and draw the WL out of position. At the very least, they will have to reform or lose some movement to face our lvl 2 or the shades/COK next turn


Man, that must have been a rough turn to play! Hope your luck turned for the remainder of the game.

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:28 am
by Daghoul
Yeah, well i thought about that on the way home and swap that soul stealer in the magic phase for a word of pain on the WL.
Since i will be throwing the unit of 5 DR away in this round, i might as well try to give them a fighting chance.

This makes for very un-druchii like strategy as a whole but next round would be a different story :twisted:

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:40 am
by Lakissov
Another note: the WL are more than two inches inside the wood from the front, so they can't see the shades, and won't be able to charge them.
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So, anyone can propose solutions to this tricky situation, or does it seem too unfavourable for the Druchii?

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:26 pm
by Pops71408
i would honestly not move this turn, with a few exceptions. Charge the Bolt thrower with the 2 DR and move your sorc so she has LoS to some units. Also move the 5 DR behind his line so you can get a nice read charge wherever it is needed. You have more shooting so he doesn't have the option of just sitting there. He'll have to move and by the looks of it everything is to far out of range, except for the DP. If they charge, pop your assassin so he can take out 1 or 2 models and challenge the BSB with your Genreal unless you think you'll be stomped.hopefully you can kill the BSB so they don't get the +d6 combat res. As far as shooting goes, the RxB will shoot at the 17 spearmen and the bolt thrower can either shoot the DP or the spearmen. I personally would go for the DP. They are the more immediate threat.

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:33 pm
by Pops71408
I never specified magic. I would move the sorce up onto the hill, if possible and cast PoD. I usually cast it on 2 dice.if i got 3 or 4 dice back i would cast soulstealer on 2 dice on the mage in the SM. after that I would cast Black horror on the SM.

If I only got 2 or no diece back, I would just cast soul stealer, again targeting the mage

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:06 pm
by Lakissov
All right, I'll try to make this thread a bit livelier by proposing my own (not so perfect) solution - not the one I actually use in the game.

First, about enemy RBT's: of course, Druchii should charge the one in the wood with harpies. The second one can't be charged at the moment (the swamp is, obviously, difficult terrain, so the dark riders have to move closer to it and be ready to charge it next turn. Harpies, after killing the first RBT and killing its crew, would overrun, flying over the wood, ready to charge the second RBT as well. The second RBT will only be able to kill one unit - harpies or DR - not both; so, we can be pretty much sure to destroy it in next turn.

About the center: the way I view it is that the main warriors block is able to receive the charge of either the Lion chariot or the DP unit. In the first case, the general and BSB will inflict wounds on the chariot (combining these wounds with static CR), and in the secodn case, the assassin will pop up to kill the BSB of doom, while the general and BSB will also likely rack up some kills. However, we don't want a combined charge by the DP and the lion chariot.

So, we should prepare a countercharge with the second unit of spearmen, as shown in the diagram below:
Image
If both the chariot and the princes charge the warriors with general, then the warriors will flee, and the two chargers will stop approximately at the spots indicated by green dots. The warriors unit should be positioned so as to be able to flank-charge the chariot, so that if it flees, it would flee through its friendly unit, and the warriors would get an EitW charge on the Dragon Princes (having +6SCR against DP's +2+1d6).

This counter-charge danger would make the Asur consider twice before comitting both units to charge, and against just one unit the big warriors unit would likely win.

Also, it's important to neutralize the danger of a flanking manoeuvre by the HE speramen. For this, it's possible to use the crossbowmen, who can move up, shoot, and threaten a flank charge, should the spearmen move further.

The chariot, at the same time, would move closer towards the Swordmasters, around the flanking spearmen unit. If the chariot charges the swordmasters, then it has a good chance to leave almost none in base contact (and it will surely contact the Mage while maximizing). The chariot would then kill the Mage, making our Magic more powerful. The high elf player also know that, so will be more cautious with the swordmasters, and will not move up so easily to get our flanking warriors.

As for the dark riders near the white lions, I douln't charge them in (they are from the rear, so would face 6 S6 attacks). It's better to start them moving towards the center. Plus the White Lions are anyway in the wood, unable to see nor charge anything.

In the magic phase, I'd concentrate the socreress on wiping the floor with the white lions. I'd just plainly cast the Soulr Stealer on them every turn on 4PD. If the Asur get one of the wizards dead, Druchii can dominate the magic phase.

So, that is in essence what I'd do. Maybe someone has a better solution to this Tactics Question.

Re: Tactics Question of the Week #9

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:51 pm
by Sulla
Image

MOVEMENT:Well, I've lost harpies to HE RBT crews before, So, I'll start off with a dual charge by the 5 DR's (assuming they can see part of the RBT to declare) and the harpies. Even if the DR's fail, it's no big loss as that will put them about where I wanted them anyway. The harpies on their own will lose about a quarter of the time vs the RBT.

I'm tempted to go with a switcheroo and move all 3 characters to the far spear unit after it has repositioned to take a frontal charge from the chariot. This takes a dual charge from the knights and chariot out of the equation. You could leave the assassin and the BSB in the spears and they would possibly win a combat vs the DP as long as the assassin kills the Battle standard bearer, but if he fails, that unit would be gone. And if the chariot and knights charge them, almost nothing will save them (except a good flee value) so I think moving all 3 characters is the best option, even though it reveals the assassin. on the plus side, it does put him closer to the shades, so he can always support them later if the opportunity arises. The general would be on the left flank of the unit so that; I would move the sorceress as far as possible away from the general towards the WL, possibly into the woods if she can make it (as long as she is outside for their charge LOS).

For the remaining movement, I will move the crossbowmen 5" forward and move the 2DR's 9" forward towards the dragon princes flank but facing the RBT. I want them to marchblock the DPs and spears while threatening to charge the RBT (and having a possible charge on the DP's should they fail a panic test). The chariot will attemt to slightly reposition just out of charge range of the liion chariot but still with a charge arc to both it and the DP's in case I flee with the closest spears.

SHOOTING:The RBT will multishot the DPs, the crossbows will multi tap too at the same target. The chariot will either fling off its shots at the DP's or if they have already taken 3 or so wounds, potshot at the chariot.

MAGIC: If the sorceress is outside of the ring of hotek's range, soulstealer at the white lions on 3 dice is the safest bet here, I think. (If the swordmasters were in charge range, I'd do that instead). If not, I likely won't bother to cast this turn. I don't expect to get any spells off this game though, unless we can kill a HE mage first.

From these actions, I would expect to kill one RBT, threaten the other with multiple charges and possibly do a wound or two to the princes. Also, I would hope by moving the characters, to discourage any HE charges next turn. Essentially, due to the bad luck with the COKs and the shades, I want to try to buy a turn by only forcing the HE to either charge in piecemeal or delay for another turn

Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:08 pm
by Marauder mitch2
I would move the 2 DRS in front of the DP to stop them charging as i assume they are not march blocked and move the spear block back with all the characters in.

Also i would charge the BSB into the lion chariot but making sure the DPS can be red irected off. and try to take out1 RBT with the harpies and shoot the other RBT at the other one. The other riders will move to threaten the flank of the spears. and the CoC moving to counter charge the knights.

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:32 am
by Lakissov
Very nice summary, Sulla. I do assume that your plan would include moving the right-flank spears closer to the center during repositioning?

Actually, I like this solution quite a lot, as it helps you deal with the swordmasters (by using the assassin), should they come to cover the flank of their army against the COK who might be coming in next.

@Marauder Mitch:
Nice idea that didn't even occur to me - I mean, about getting the two DR into the way of Dragon Princes. Unfortunately, the 2DR are within approximately 7 inches of the spearmen.

Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:13 pm
by Sulla
Lakissov wrote:Very nice summary, Sulla. I do assume that your plan would include moving the right-flank spears closer to the center during repositioning?


.
Originally, I was thinking not close enough to be in charge range of the swordmasters, but actually, you have a good point. Moving them closer invites a charge from the SM and chariot which we will probably do very well in and open up a countercharge by our chariot next turn. Yes, I think that is a good option.