Battleplan-The Watchtower

[Threejacks]

This is the second Battleplan from the Mighty Empires Battletome.

 

Battleplan-The Watchtower

 

The armies in this battle consist of a Guardian and an Invader.If one player has 1/3rd more models than the other then they must play the Invader side.Otherwise roll off and who ever rolls highest can choose which side.

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The Guardian will start the game garrisoning the Watchtower and must try to hold out unit their reinforcements make it into the fight to aid them in the towers defence.

 

Guardians command ability is "At the Double" if used then the General and any unit within 12" of him in the charge phase can charge even if they ran in the turn earlier.

 

Invaders command ability is "Lure them out" .The General can use this ability if he is within 12" of an enemy unit that is within or on a terrain feature.Roll two dice,if the total is higher than the enemy unit`s Bravery then it is lured out of the terrain.The enemy player must immediatly set up the unit on open ground within 6" of the terrain feature it was occupying.

 

The Battlefield is setup as per rules with random rolled for terrain,or as per players agreed preference.A suitable terrain feature representing the Watchtower is to be set up in the middle of the board.

 

Place any environmental features if used prior to player setup.In this scenario using the Geysers from the Brimstone peninsula environmental rules will impact the game considerably.I suggest If using these rules the players should set up the terrain and the Geysers prior to determining who plays what side.

 

The Guardian player sets up first deploying only one unit and,as an option one hero in the Watchtower,the remainder of the Guardian army is set up in reserve.The Guardian`s General cannot be part of the Watchtower garrison at the game start.

 

The Invader then sets up their entire army within 12" of their chose long board edge.

 

The Guardian decides who takes the first turn.

 

Special rules-

 

Man the Barricades! add 3 to the Bravery characteristic and add 1 to all hit rolls for any models from the garrison that are either in or on the watchtower.

 

Guardian`s reinforcements-- The guardians reinforcements arrive in the movement phase of their first turn.All of the models are set up within 6" of the guardians board edge(long edge opposite the Invader`s)more than 3" from enemy units,this is their move for the turn.

 

Victory conditions-

 

Roll a dice at the end if each Battleround starting from the third, on a roll of 4+ the battle ends.The player with the most models in or on the Watchtower wins a major victory. If neither player has a model in or on the Watchtower then the player with the closest model to the watchtower wins a minor victory.

[Threejacks]

So I have some games of this Battleplan under my belt now.

 

The games have been pretty close except for the first game I played with it,the other 4 had the Guardian winning the battle.The first game was a bit of an odd one too as we did a 2v2 with some rather large armies.My Son and I played the guardian with Stormcast/Brets and Seraphon facing Oggors and VC.We were down on wounds by like 35% too,so not much of a contest.

 

Anyhow,what I see happening is the Guardian player starting with either a large infantry block and a hard to kill hero in the Tower.Then holding out easily for a couple of turns so he can get some of his reinforcements up against the tower walls,thus contesting any attempt to occupy it should it become emptied out.With average games lasting 4 turns,there simply isint enough time for the invader to clear the tower and occupy it.This is especially a problem when facing a Castled up Death army,,20 skellies with a 4+ and regrowing d6 per turn says its over before it starts.

 

I suppose a heavy shooting army could clear the tower on turn one,but would need to get rather lucky as most all army`s could put at least a block of 5 elite troops in there with at least 10 wounds behind a 4+ that would become a 3+.Then theres the hero who will be another 5 wounds likely behing at least a 5+ going to a 4+ with cover.Even still if they were able to clear it turn one,they would have to gain intiative in order to insure they can occupy it turn two as the Guardian will have troops at the wall by their second movement.

 

A couple times the tower has been cleared and the battle was decided with fight around its base and actually both of those times the invader had a 50% chance to win with the game ending and they would have the greater numbers at the base.So if I counted one of those as a win than that does bring my little streak to 3 Guardian wins and 2 Invader wins.Still I think this one does favor the Guardian.

 

Either way its always a fun one to play:)

[Thomatron]

I agree. On its face it deffinitly favors a Guardian who can garrison a large block and a buffing hero. The extra bit the tower gives you and sheer numbers guarantee you can hold out for reinforcements. If it comes to a fight around a still garrisoned tower it's pretty much over.

 

I've been mulling over our game though. I wavered quite a bit and couldn't really decide where and when to concentrate my attacks and I ended up getting whittled down. Had I left the tower alone with my Dragon Princes and Pheonix Guard and concentrated on shooting it I think I might have had better luck. I think in the case of an Invader who can't destroy the garrison first turn its better to take the fight straight to the reinforcements. That would mean a fight more on your own terms and it might force the Guardian to move their unit out of the tower to join the fighting. It comes down to knowledge of the enemy force and some tactics but all that said, if you go by instinct and assault the tower head on, the Guardian has the upper hand.

[Threejacks]

You played it about right I think.One thing I should have pointed out to you is the Invaders command ability,with that you can try and get an enemy unit that is occupying a terrain piece to leave the terrain piece by rolling higher than their Bravery.Now the Guardian players garrison has a +3 to their morale which usually makes the hero`s immune but the Bloodreavers in this case would be at a nine with their banner at least giving some chance.

 

This is possibly a case of an army needing to use all sources of ranged Mortal wounds on the hero in the garrison and trying each turn to force the unit in the garrison out by using the command ability.Still a tall order for the Invader I think.

 

Also I forgot that the Guardians garrison units all have +1 to hit.

 

 

It would need some adjustments to the scenario rules to make if more fair I think.

[Malakithe]

Sounds like a big unit of waywatchers and the Glade Lord with bow/hawk would rip apart everything when in the tower

[Threejacks]

Sounds like a big unit of waywatchers and the Glade Lord with bow/hawk would rip apart everything when in the tower

Yeah,any decent ranged block would be nasty for sure.Though I think the worst to face would be a block of 20 or so Skeletons..Bravery 10 makes them immune to the command ability and being able to regrow d6 models each turn would make them near impossible to remove.

[Malakithe]

You would need to destroy the unit outright. 5 deep striking warpfire throwers would be do the trick I think lol