XIII Legion Cavarly Tactics

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Lord Drakon
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XIII Legion Cavarly Tactics

Post by Lord Drakon »

Greetings,

After purchasing a large amount of metal Dread Knights, I will explore the cavalry aspect aspect of our DE army. In this blog I will take you with me in a fully cavalry focused expedition army of the northern lands of Silexia. I was also starting to paint Knights of Eqaitaine and played my first game with it. It is such a pleasure to have an army that is heavily armoured and thus takes a lot of effort to kill. I also figured that our dread knights have the best stats in our army, have become cheaper with every update, and we can field 40 of them at the moment.

Compared to the knights of the T9A world, they are excellent knights who due to killer instinct to not suffer from the rubber lance syndrome, have excellent stats, are the most resilient elfish knights in combat, and just riding on top of dinosaurs is just cool. Their only weakness is their movement.

Image

Due to the large areas, the northern border of Silexia is invaded by multiple horde armies such as the Warriors of Chaos, Orcs and Goblins, and Ogre Khans. This blog will be about my mounted knights that strike in darkness, and vanquish the invading armies.

Army Rationale

The idea behind the army is to be faster than most armies, and pin enemy army down in my first turn with the vanguarding dark raiders, while the knights get into locations for a deadly charge in my second turn.

The big dark raiders function as medium cavalry unit, and are my chaff and warmachine hunters. My aim with them is to let them function as our conclave acolytes, and I believe their shooting might be as effective in inflicting damage as the acolyte magic. With Word of Iron, they become 2+ as well. They want to get into the enemy backfield as fast as possible, and slip through enemy nets harassing enemy forces and creating confusion.

The altar makes my knights nearly as resilient as Knights of the Grail, with a 6++ in the turns before combat. When there is a possibility to be charged in my next round, the +1 to wound will greatly help to turn my hammers into anvils that do quite some damage even when charged. Finally, there is the bonus that makes chariot lists so dangerous, and will be devastating in my list: maximized charges. With the two bound spells per turn to increase my movement by 1 (Medusae) this potentially provide me with knights with movement 9, with maximized charges. This means that I will decide when and where combat happens, and makes it much more likely that I will be able to concentrate my strengths against the army weaknesses.

The army will likely be played similar as the Kraken list of @SmithF, completely concentrated on the push. Although I am less manoeuvrable with my cavalry units that his single models, I have a lot more attacks, HP, and speed.

I want to keep the focus as much as possible on cavalry units, but supporting units such as chariots or shades could be included when I find that I need them. I included Banner of Speed, as movement 7 is a bit low, while with movement 8 they become as fast as knights of equitaine. I figured that with their excellent stats, and an altar, they do not really need a combat bonus. Another element are the musicians, which makes them a lot more maneuverable, especially for getting the objective and reacting to re-directors.

Army of the North

360 Oracle, General, Wizard Adept (Alchemy), Raptor, Light Armour, Essence of Mithril, Magical Heirloom
335 Captain, BSB, Raptor, Heavy Armour (Alchemist Alloy), Raptor, Paired Weapons, Hero's Heart

410 - 10 Dark Raiders, Standard, Repeater Crossbows, Shields
410 - 10 Dark Raiders, Standard, Repeater Crossbows, Shields
160 - 5 Dark Raiders
160 - 5 Dark Raiders

404 8 Dread Knights, Musician
540 10 Dread Knights, Musician, Standard, Banner of Speed
540 10 Dread Knights, Musician, Standard, Banner of Speed
540 10 Dread Knights, Musician, Standard, Banner of Speed

370 Divine altar
125 Medusa
125 Medusa

Cavalry Tactics

One of the reasons I want to depart from infantry tactics for the moment is the lack of tactical options. Especially with the Spartans the tactics is clear, similar as phalanx warfare. You try to get the enemy into your deadly front, but the flanks are very fragile. Although @duxbuse and I have been playing this concept for the last 2 years, always searching for an answer to this 'fragile flank' weakness, the weakness is still present. Maybe duxbuse has solved this in going MSU Spartans, but I have the urge to become the master of the battlefield again with high movement. Something I loved from my Dragon lists.

I have been Leonidas of Sparta and Julius Caesar for many battles, now I want to become Hannibal Barca and Alexander the Great again. Because what this high movement of cavalry allows you, is to use multiple a diversity of tactical approaches. In my dragon exploits, I developed 4, and with my cavarly force I want to further develop these tactics in the coming months.

1. THE LANCE
Penetration of the center. Create a gap within the enemy battle-line where it is weakest with your elite forces to break through and directly push through to the enemies soft spots while my holding troops hold the enemy in place. Inspired by Alexander the Great.

2. THE DRAICH
Single Envelopment. Create a strong flank with elite forces attacking its opposing flank, overpowering it and turning back to attack the enemy in the rear combined with holding forces that might already be in prolonged combat. Inspired by Julius Caesar.

3. THE TRAP
Double Envelopment. Create a soft attractive center with two strong flanks for a counter-attack. Lure the enemy into the center where you hold it against enemy push against expectations while your flanks close and massacre the enemy from the flanks and rear. Inspired by Hannibal.

4. THE WAVE
Refused Flank. Create an unbalanced battle line in the deployment phase that makes enemy units distance to your lines greater therefore giving you time as like moving against a strong current. In the meantime use your concentration of elite forces to your chosen flank to smash the enemy like a tidal wave. Inspired by Alexander the Great.
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The_Peacemaker
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Re: XIII Legion Cavarly Tactics

Post by The_Peacemaker »

How has this list faired?
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