Alex’s List – 2000 points
- 3x Horde of Earth Elementals
- 4x Troop of Berserker Brock Riders
- 1x Regiment of Berserkers
- 2x Cannon
- 1x Organ Gun
- 1x Berserker Lord on Brock – Blade of Beast Slaying
- 1x Army Standard – Lute of Insatiable Darkness
- 1x Stone Priest – Staff of Conjuring
I deviated from my normal army restrictions this month for the sake of trying some new shiny things. War machines seem to be all the rage so I decided to see what a twin pair of cannons could do. The Berserkers on foot are also a cool regiment with the CS1 on the counter charge. The rest of the list is more or less the same as I have run in the past with the exception in that I have moved towards Brock Rider troops for more points efficient resiliency over the regiment.
Mike’s List – 2000 points
This is my first game of 3rd edition, and it showed. First off, here’s my FoN army list:
- Yuil Drassil with Lute. (I keep giving Yuil items that he doesn’t use.)
- Regiment of Forest Shamblers
- Regiment of Forest Shamblers
- (Pro tip. These don’t unlock heroes any more. In short, my list is illegal).
- Horde of Fire Elementals
- Unicorn with Bastion (2)
- Regiment of Sparkwings (these don’t unlock stuff EITHER….so illegal)
- Regiment of Bray Hunters
- Centaur Hero with Bow
- Regiment of Bray Hunters
- Centaur Hero with Bow
- Horde of Wyrmriders with Blood of the Old King
- Wyrmrider Centurion with Fury
Scenario – Fool’s Gold
Pregame thoughts:
Mike: For my bluff tokens, the idea was simple. I knew that Alex would have a clump of earth Elementals all in one spot on the battlefield. This would make it so he couldn’t really spread out. Even with the Brock troops scattered around, his real staying power would be in one place. In response, I placed my two point and one of my one point markers on the far left flank. I knew I was more maneuverable and I’d be able to hold the far flank or swoop in to grab the objectives in the late game.
Alex did a great job of placing his markers just barely on my side of the table. By the time I saw what he was doing, I was forced to place some of my markers in his deployment zone in order to keep the 12″ separation. Really smart strategy on his part.
On the left, I deployed the two regiments of Forest Shamblers to scout up, backed by Yuil, the Sparkwings, and the Fire Elementals. The unicorn would be around to cast bastion on Yuil (for that sweet sweet rally), and some heal. All of the centaurs would be in the middle to shoot Alex’s war machines. The Naids would be on the right to just draw Alex’s troops away from the left flank. In this scenario, they were expendable.
Alex: After getting over my excitement of finally getting to play a game against the infamous Mike Rossi, herald of the North East peoples, co(or sub)-host of Unplugged Radio, defiler of.. anyway I had to decide how to actually try and win this game. I more or less played an army style similar to what I knew from dwarfs in 2nd edition only with some new toys. The tactics would therefore be the same, play a hard center, open up shooting lanes and then either stall the flanks or look for an opening to push through and support the center.
I thought I got the tokens where I wanted but Mike played very smart by overloading the left flank with hard hitting units and bringing the heat to me as soon as possible.
Deployment post scout
Mike: I won the roll and opted to go first, trying to get some shots off on the war machines. I moved the Shamblers up on the left within charge range of the Brock troops. I figured Alex would go in, and I had sufficient force to countercharge and wipe them out, even if I lost a regiment of Shamblers in the process. Assuming both Brocks charged one unit, Alex should do 7 wounds with TC1. With bastion, that would put me on an 8 with a reroll. Not too shabby.
On his turn, Alex took the bait and double charged. What’s that? You’re TC2 because you charged off a hill? Crap….. Lucky for me Alex flubbed his roll and the Shamblers stayed easily. (Yuil using his grasping vines again). And with the 1” bounce back I’d be able to see the flank of the troop of….what’s that? Oh, right, we don’t bounce back any more. Luckily I could still draw line of site, but it was totally by accident.
On the right, I moved the Wyrmriders to be just inside the woods (less than 1″), with the Centurion about two inches behind. This would allow the Brock lord to charge but not the Brock troops. The idea was to delay Alex on this side and tie these units up.
On Alex’s Turn he split his cannon shots between the spark wings and one of the FS regiments. Some damage was done, but over the course of the game Yuil was able to heal them back up using his Radiance of Life ability.
Alex: So, right off the bat I thought I saw an opening on the left and knowing I would have that extra TC with vicious means I should do a cool 9-10 wounds, what could go wrong…. everthing! Made a classic mistake I often criticize others for, not thinking ahead enough to analyze what the opponent will do if things don’t go your way. In hindsight, the better play would have been to stall more or charge the further most left unit instead. Because I don’t bounce back, his Fire elementals were now barely in range to counter attack, more 3rd edition rules coming into play!
I played equally aggressive on the right side, sending my brock lord in to do as many wounds and lock them in place for my other units to come behind.
End of TURN 1
On Alex’s turn he charged the Brock lord in, and did a bunch of wounds. On my turn two I disengaged, pulling the Wyrmriders back, out of the woods, and out of LoS from the rest of Alex’s line. #tricksy. Sadly I only regenerated one of the wounds. On the left I sent in all my units against the two troops of Brock’s and removed them. So far the plan was working, I had complete control of the left flank, and three points of tokens. In the middle I kept shooting up his organ gun with some of my centaurs and got a timely waver. I also charged one of my centaur regiments into Alex’s BSB, which he’d left slightly exposed. I did two wounds, but it wasn’t enough. During Alex’s Turn he charged them in the flank with a Brock troop and removed them. It ended up being a waste, but I was really keen to remove his inspiring,
End of turn 2
Mike:For Turn 3 I had some more charges to do. On the right, I countercharged the wyrm riders into the Brock lord and killed him. I then spent a few minutes debating with Alex on whether I should shuffle back or to the side with my unit. Finally Alex reminded me that I could just overrun into the unit behind, but I said “I can’t do that. Brock lords are Mighty. That means I can’t overrun.” Alex I’m sure, was shaking his head in front of his computer while he explained to me that I was wrong. That mighty individuals work just like individuals in 2nd ed, Geeze, I’m a dope. On the left, the Brock troop, fresh off killing the centaurs, was within (hindered) charge range of my fire elementals. I went in, and despite being hindered, I put eight wounds on them and broke them. Soooo lucky. I was also able to charge the sparkwings into the organ gun and finally kill it. This left my rear exposed to his elementals, but he would need a 4 surge to get in.
On the right Alex wiped out the wyrm riders. In the middle, given the choice between charging the fire elementals in the front, of surging into the rear of the sparkwings, Alex went for the surge, and failed! This left their flank exposed to the fire elementals next round.
Alex: So instead of looking at the flank of a fire element horde I had the option to either charge the front or try and surge towards the Sparkwings in the hopes that my cannons could stay alive long enough to take off another unit and let me win on scenario as I had mopped up the right side of the board with 3 units alive to capture objectives. Instead, a failed surge left my flank exposed to a unit that has so far killed everything it touched.
Mike: For the scenario, we revealed our tokens at the end of the Turn, as I planned, I had control of the ones on the left. However, Alex had put all of his points on the right, and he had them solidly in hand. It was going to be a scrum for the two points in the middle.
Alex: The big Reveal from the TURN 3 tokens (mark with the scrolls) showed more or less what we had already assumed. The advantage was that I did have 3 tokens near my units. I could try to play defensive and again pray to the cannon gods that they snipe a unit.
End of turn 3
Mike: On my Turn I flanked the earth elementals and broke them. I also pulled my centaur regiment back to claim a one point objective. I had successfully turned Alex’s flank.
Alex: Apparently Fire elementals Hit hard! That vicious is a really nice touch. Even hindered through the wall they made quick work of my brock rider troop who I thought I put in a good position to bait out a charge. I still stand by that decision and the inclusion of them in my army. Their nerve value of 15 is quite hard for most units to take off in 1 shot and you can’t ask much more of a 125 point unit.
END of Rossi 4
Mike:In retaliation, Alex maneuvered his second earth elemental horde and surged them into the flank of the fire elementals. He only did 5 wounds, even with the supplementary bane chant. Such bad luck.
Alex: With another earth elemental horde dead, things were going into desperation mode. My cannons were now starting to get disordered and were already a long shot to try and do anything useful. Instead of sitting back, I decided to push my luck and see if the dice could turn around enough to pop a unit. Enter the Treeman….
End of Alex turn 4
End of turn 4
Mike: On my Turn 5 I charged my centaur heroes into his cannons and killed them. I countercharged with the Fire Elementals, and sent the regiment of centaurs into the rear. Lastly, I charged Yuil into his stone priest and broke him, removing the last bit of inspiring. At this point the game was solidly in my favor.
Alex: The treeman locked me down and despite some good rules on my part, he was too fresh to be in threat of dying. The real insult was the Sparkwings which I failed to kill ended up terrorizing me all game and even scored an objective!
End of turn 5
Game End – VICTORY to Forces of Nature 5 points to 3 points
End of turn 6 (GAME OVER)
Final Thoughts
Mike: So it ended up a big win for the Forces of Nature. However, it came with some bits of luck. First off, the fire elementals had no business doing eight wounds on a hindered charge (hitting on 5’s?). Second, Alex failing his easy surge into the rear of the sparkwings really sealed the battle for me. And between that and some decent scenario play I was able to secure the win. That being said, neither of us noticed at the time that the list I took was illegal in 3rd ed, so I don’t think I can count it as a victory.
Alex: So Mike, I saw what you were trying to do on that left flank… and… it worked, it worked very well. As one of my first dives into 3rd edition, I feel like we hit most of the new rules in one game and so was very happy with the game despite the poor outcome. Forces of Nature look very scary, with a combination of hard hitting units like the fire elementals/tree herder, and then the toughness healing to back it up. I felt out punched and out enduranced, something I am very much not used to!
I learned a lot about dwarves. I think the cannons are very limited and see myself going back to sharpshooters who put out a pretty reliable damage while still being a scenario scoring threat. Looking beyond the dice rolls the berseker brock troops did their role well, being able to both threaten when needed or just get in the way.
Yuil turned his will to the earth elementals all around him, and forced them to be still, wrenching control from the stone priest before him. These dwarves controlled nature. He WAS nature. Nodding in satisfaction, Yuil surveyed the battle field. The brocks had fled at Yuil’s command. Dwarves were ensnared everywhere. The ones that weren’t were huddled defensively, not sure what to do without their leader. Yuil spoke into their minds, showing them the horrors that awaited them within the southern woods. You dare to fight me when these abominations stalk the world? What misguided pride is this! Join my side. I need your stout hearts and keen axes to strike the crone and her forces down. Yuil showed them the night stalkers slaughtering their dwarves kin. The dwarves looked down in shame. Yuil turned to the stone priest. You tell your king that I spared all of you today. That I showed you mercy so that he could gain glory in service to something greater. Tell him that I will treat with him as an equal, but that you all should join me. Tell him that I will wait in this spot with these earth elementals for his answer. The stone priest looked apprehensive at this, suspecting some sort of trick. But Yuil expressed calm, and the priest understood that Yuil wasn’t kidding. That he’d wait as long as it took. That he was as patient as time itself, and that the dwarves were but children by comparison. And that the king would have to be patient in the future as well……
