Attack of the Faceless one - part 2

Having been beaten back last week The Faceless One renewed his assault on northern Basilea over the weekend (handy as I was about to fight him). The scenario was Raze - capture the central objective and up to 3 in the enemy's half of the table. You can contest objectives in your own half but not capture them.

The Basileans deployed tight with most of the units facing the central hill and a couple of faster units on the flanks. The Undead hordes spread our more with the right having the Vampire on Dragon, which posed a big threat.
 

The Undead moved first and shambled forward slowly towards the hill and other objectives. The humans were able to move more swiftly and threaten charges across the line. I did however miss-measure and left a flank for some beastly Lycans to take-out a Paladin guard unit. The Werewolves were themselves deleted the next turn by my Knights though.  

With about half the game the Basileans looked to be in control - the high ground was occupied and the attacks going well. On the right the flying Elohi (with some Ogres in support) were able to defeat the Vampire cavalry holding the flank a claim a token.  

A second Ogre unit was able to also claim a token putting Basilea 2-1 ahead and looking to claim the central token in turn 4.

Finally the Dragon and some zombie trolls completed their long encircling march and attacked the centre, wiping out the Knights holding  the edge of the hill.

Both sisde then piled troops in the centre as by now its was 2-2 and middle token was the only viable target. With the last Basilean move they could have claimed the token but the flying Elohi were 1" short, so it was a 2-2 draw.

 
An interesting game as the Undead artillery ( 2 * Catapults) really came to the party and along with Drain Life severely weakened the Basilean central units. We also saw some strong surge rolls that got the Undead into combat for a couple of unlikely double charges.

Seige of Fort William Henry - week 3

For week three's game two mixed forces were seeking to secure the road through a heavily wooded area. Points were awarded for holding a sixth of the table at the end of the game. We also used hidden movement for troops in the woods, using blinds and a few fake ones.

British regulars

French regulars

The British initially advanced rapidly to grab half the table and put pressure on the advancing French regulars.

The second part of turn 2 was critical though with most of the British light infantry and Indians destroyed by some devastating French shooting.

Rogers Rangers bite the dust

The British fought on an were able to retain some territory they had initially held. It was though a solid win for the French. This makes it 2-1 to the French after 3 weeks.

 

The Revenge of Mghoroth

As part of my ongoing efforts to educate the younger generation in the merits of mass-battle games we've begun a new weekend Kings of War campaign. Its fantasy but it focuses on tactics and gets some painting habits built.  This campaign follows-on from the last and gives the Undead a points advantage to help balance things a little.

In the opening game the Undead attacked the Balin river crossing in the Dominate scenario - the winner being the one with the highest Unit Strength within 12" of the bridge. The river was difficult going.  We both had a similar plan - hold the centre and look to attack on the right. Being larger though the Undead could afford a small attack on their left too.    

Soul Reavers

We both tried some new units with the Undead fielding two troops of soul Reaver vampire cavalry, two catapults and a Vampire Lord on a dragon. I tried out the Basilean bolt thrower.

We both moved up our flank attacks in the early turns and were fairly coy in the centre. For the Undead there was little need to attack the centre as they outnumbered the enemy. The Basileans were in no hurry as they wanted to allow time for their flank attack to develop.    

The Basileans were more aggressive and managed to get troops into the centre by turn 3, allowing them to begin rolling-up the Undead lines.  After some initial success it settled into an attractional grind but with the Basileans having greater Unit Strength in the centre they were happy with this.

The Undead flank attack finally arrived in turn 6, but too late to prevent the Basileans winning 15-10 on Unit Strength, this holding-off the first raid.  

The main Basilean reflection was that the bolt Shooter was a waste of points - it managed to cause about 2 wounds on the Vampire Lord all game. For the Undead fielding the Soul Reaver cavalry in troops was not very useful - a single regiment would have been more useful and cheaper.
 

Siege of Fort Willam Henry - week 2

The second battle of the campaign was a raid by the French on the outskirts of the Fort as they sought to burn-down a sawmill and a boathouse located just outside the defences. The French arrived from the Western edge with the British forces scattered across the table.

It took 6 figures 1 turn to light or put out the fires and damage accrued each turn it was alight. We also saw artillery for the first time - its good on shooting cover but in this case destroying the buildings would have been actually helping the attackers!

The lighter French units advanced rapidly as  British mustered to mount a defence. The plan was for the French troops to attack the village while the Indians sought to set-up a crossfire that would block the British reinforcements.

French regulars

The target 

The French reached the village and occupied the sawmill. We ruled they could not set fires whilst in the building to they instead attacked the British militia based there. Some really good British rolls forced the French back as a Colonial unit approach to reinforce.  

The main British force debused from the fort but quickly became embroiled with the Indians who were able to shoot them from two sides and whittle away the line units.

Eventually some British units made the town only to find the French Regulars had arrived an begun setting fires. Some damage was caused but the French were forced back into cover where both sides began shooting.

With the French mostly in cover and the British in the open this firefight was definitely in the favour of the attackers who managed to break all but one of the defenders. The game has a variable end-point and it concluded as early as it was possible - this saved the British as one more turn would have seen them annihilated and the village raised to the ground.

 A close-fought game that perhaps the French should have one, but on this occasion fortune favoured the British. With 1 win each the French still hold a small lead as they have been more successful in their side objectives.  

Siege of Fort Willam Henry - week 1

For our French & Indian wars campaign we're depicting a series of skirmish actions on the ringes of the siege of Fort William Henry, 1757. The real siege infamously ended with the massacre of the British defenders after the siege by Indians allied to the French. This was famously depicted in the Last of the Mohicans.

Our first game involved a meeting engagement between French/Indian and British light forces in  a heavily wooded area near the fort.

In this game the activation cards played a large role in the outcome of the game, partly due to the limited number of troop types on each side. In turn 1 the French had almost all of the activations first, so they pressed forward but found the British lights were then able to attack them casuing a fair bit of damage to the Indians and Canadian militia.

French attack

British lights attack with impunity

Turn 2 was the same with the French again getting most of their activations first. This time though, with the range now quite short, they were able to launch a devastating series of attacks on the British.

Compagnies Franches de la Marine

As we hit turn 3 the British were surrounded and badly depleted as the French moved in for a convincing victory. So first blood to the French!

Nowhere to run