My work is based around the two roughly 2000pts army lists iamghost posted as examples, Forum link here, and I'll be using mostly diagrams to explain things.
Here's an example battle simulation. Enemy army is played with a little less thought so ideas can be delivered, which is the purpose of this simulation.
Deployment
First of all, generate your own 2000pts list, now, how would you deploy against this line-up? Let's say the SS is using Dark Magic, and Sorc is using Fire.
Enemy list;
Lv4 SS
Lv2 S
CoB
28 SM
16 RxB
20 Corsairs
5 Harpies
7 CoK
30 Execs
Hydra
I think I accidentally gave the deployment a hammer on both flanks with an anvil supporting each one (corsairs and SM). So much for less thought.
Below is my deployment solution for the main list. I like using just half of a deployment zone as much as possible, keep things close and compact. But mainly to keep the WE away from the RxBs. You can see the WE are a little less forward so the body of SM can shelter them better as they advance towards the enemy. CoB is kept central, SS is kept near the middle of the army, both for their invaluable auras. BG are deployed on the far flank because they can hold their own, and will be a great threat lurking and threatening that flank. The idea is to rush forward and crash what's in front first and then mop up the rest of the enemy.
Let's walk through a few turns and see what we can learn.
Our Turn 1
Let's say we go first, pretty much everything pushes forward, slowly and carefully. It'll be tricky setting up a charge against CoK and Hydra because they have faster movement, they have a better chance of successfully charging us than we can against them with our infantry. First turn is just some harass from shooting and magic. CoB probably give 5+ ward to WE just in case enemy manages to have a shot at them.
Enemy Turn 1
Enemy turn, as I said, less thought out, more AI like perhaps? Either way, Hydra and CoK advances forward slowly too, using their superior movement to take advantage of the fact they can land a more successful double charge than we can. A thing to note here is the right flank is very out of position because we focused on one flank for deployment. Whilst it does expose our flank more, the enemy is spending time marching towards the battle, they're playing catch up already on turn 1. It's also a disadvantage for spreading your deployment across the entire map because of such an instance, not to mention there's less units the general and BSB can cover too. In hindsight, I shouldn't had pushed the purple block of spears that far forward. They're kind of 'over extended' now and are ruining the whole idea of making the enemy play catch up. Some arrows and pixie dust is sprinkled about for flavouring.
Our Turn 2 -Redirecting to set up charges
We begin setting up charges by doing the following. We place our Harpies as such to throw the enemy Hydra out of sync, to force it out of supporting the CoK for a sure win combined charge. We push the BG forward to make sure they receive the CoK charge. (CoB will give BG a 5+ ward for sure!) Hydra moves forward a little, angles himself ready for the flank charge once the BG receives the CoK charge and holds them there. (They're stubborn so they're testing on rerollable Ld9, and with 20 bodies, they should survive and hold no problems). The 10 RxB in the forest pushes forward too, to redirect the Corsairs so they can't support the left flank. That's the left flank pretty much shut down, forcing the CoKs to fight on their own. The CoB also moves forward to ensure the Corsairs can't overrun into the flank of our Hydra too. WE moves forward and angles themselves to get ready to flank the Corsairs when they overrun into our CoB. You'll notice I pulled the spears back because as I said, I overextended them. If we have Word of Pain, that's our main spell we'd be saving the majority of our dice for, and to be cast on the CoKs so less BG will die on the charge! Preserving models is IMPORTANT!
Enemy Turn 2 -Receiving end of redirects
Like any good AI, let's run through the scenario, Hydra charges and undoubtedly splats Harpies. If they're still alive, even better. Other charges are made and completed with final overrun results as shown. The enemy will also fly their Harpies forward. Now what'll you do? WE can't flank anymore, and if they charge, they'd be redirected because they're FRENZY!
So beginning of Turn 3. What would you do about the right flank? It's good practice to find your own solution(s) first. Keep in mind mine isn't THE solution, it's what I'd do.
Our Turn 3 -Sacrificing for the sake of redirecting, the plays unfold
Ok first of all, a mistake and so an apology. IGNORE the WE red arrows indicating they charged the Harpies. Only the Spears charged. Frenzy means WE MUST overrun, we don't want that. So they're going to be sitting there nice and patiently, restraining from charging, so that once the Harpies are out of the way, they can flank the corsairs. We're assuming the CoB is still holding because it has 4 wounds at 4+ ward against 10 models/turn. They shouldn't die just yet.
Anyway, so my solution is to push the ten RxBs on the right flank forward, as a sacrificial unit to force the supporting spears away from the fight. OUR spears, once they've dealt with the Harpies, will reform to receive the Exec charge and hold. If not, oh well. Word of Pain should be made sure to successfully cast on the Execs to defend against the impending slaughter. CoB will give BG Killing Blow to deal with the CoKs and ensure they die now that we have the Hydra in their flank. Assuming the CoKs died this turn from the flank charge and we didn't need to run them down from breaking in combat, the Hydra would reform to face the enemy Hydra. It could face the Corsairs instead, which would make the setup of WE on one flank and Hydra on the other flank, extremely devastating and like 80% chance of winning outright. But, enemy Hydra will easily flank you back, which probably will spell your Hydra's doom. So let's take the safer option.
Enemy Turn 3
By rights, the CoKs should be dead. The Spears charge our RxBs, and just to show you the redirect play, you can see the overrun path leads them safely away from our spears. Let's say BG got really worn down, let's say down to 10 models. Enemy Hydra probably will charge them and mop up the rest of the unit. If one survives and holds, hooray, if not, the enemy Hydra could either stop overrunning for a Hydra vs Hydra face off (woot...) or if it's weaker or something, it can elect to overrun. What that does is, move itself out of the charge arc of our Hydra. Also our two mages hiding in the forest is now suddenly in danger too!
From here on, it becomes too yucky to continue the demonstration. We don't know how the CoB is holding up, we don't know how the spears are holding up. What we've done is, present our WE the option to either help out the CoB, or the spears. I'd probably take out the Execs because they yield more points, although with enemy CoB around, they're stubborn and won't break because their leadership test is now unmodified! But still, T3 with 5+ AS without Hatred anymore, against a (should be) fresh unit of frenzied WE, which your CoB will give a +1A to. That's a lot of dead Executioners! Our Hydra probably will swing around and threaten the Corsair rear and Executioner flank at the same time. Something like that.
Hopefully this simulation has helped show what and why redirecting is so important. The enemy Hydra was taken out of the fight, the Corsairs were controlled too. At times you'll need to sacrifice those smaller non-Harpy unit(s) because you ran out of Harpies for the job. Weigh up when the time to do it is right, weigh up the points you're potentially trading, is it worth it? Morale of the story? You don't have enough Harpies, bring more next time.
Hopefully you get an idea of why I deployed all on one side and as clustered as possible. Note the SS should be in the left corner of the unit, not the middle. In the corners, she normally receives the fewest attacks, but mainly, she's now close to the centre of the army, important for being the General. You'll notice BSB is kept central too, and spears are great flank coverers, here, they're also shielding the WE from enemy fire.
I think it's easier to play by keeping Hydra paired with BG, and WE paired with spears in a fight. I think that's the best combo charges.
If people are interested in seeing further examples and have spare time, here is a link to a battle report I posted up (wow) two years ago, about my Core heavy list winning 1st place in a tournament. It's fairly detailed, picture heavy too, and fairly accurate so you might pick up some stuff there while I work on more examples. Core Heavy list battle reports
really, this took time, thoughts, and patience. I can't thank you as much as you deserve. Thank you Meteor, the most sincere thank you.
