So Andy and I finally got round to a large Conquest battle, with my 100 Kingdoms new Household Guard taking to the field in strength...
My forces consisted of :
Warlord, Noble Lord on foot, with Regalia of the Empire, Combat retinue 1, in a 6 stand strong unit of Household Guard with an Armsmaster, with 4 Militia bowmen and 6 militia supporting
A Chapter mage, mastery Blessed, with Call Fog and Tears of Nimuah leading 9 stands of Men-at-Arms
Noble Lord Mounted in unti of 5 Household Knights including a Tourney Champion, supported by two units of three mercenary crossbow stands
Andy's Spire were quite daunting to face, as he had an 11 stong Force grown Drone unit for his Biomancer with a catbolic node in there for good measure, aided by 2 units of 3 force grown drones.
His Warlord was his High Excutor with 3 stands of Marksmen clones, with 3 stands of clone infitrators
A lineage Highborn led 3 Avatara. A mimetic assassin led 5 stands of Vanguard clones with an assault preceptor. Oh and an Abomination for good measure
The big guy and the big unit!!!
The Avatara are fast and brutal, as are the Vanguard clones with an assassin
My Knights, Crossbows and Men at Arms
Household Guard and Militia
TURN 1
Andy got to bring on all 4 of his lights, so Drones everywhere along with only two of my lights, both Mercenary crossbows deemed expendable... The 3 objectives are laid out, with controlling the two flanks worth 2 VP's and the centre worth 1 VP. We were playing first to 8 VP's and each had 3 secondary objective cards. The buildings could garrison 3 stands
TURN 2
The Clone Infiltrators behind the hill looked ominous, but the two FG drones were just meatshields
I had got my Household Guard on, and decided to send them centrally to turn against big bug block, which I planned to hold up with my Militia if I could. But then, Andy shuffled them sideways, and didnt advance towards the objective...
My Militia bowmen came on my left to trade shots with the Infiltrators or FG drones. Figured that would end badly, but my crossbows were at least plinking an occasional drone off the centre unit that had just garrisoned the house...
3 in fact, pretty awesome by my standards...
TURN 3
I marched the Militia up , making room for the Men at Arms who were 5 stands by 2. The crossbows on the hill fired at the FG drones in the house, while the Executor came on with his Marksmen. The large FG drones didnt move up much
Not much happening on the left
But i was pushing forward aggressively on the right.
TURN 4
The board was getting congested, with the Avatra showing up late last turn along with the Assassin and his Clones. I needed a cunning plan...
So I decided to get the drop on the Assassin and that should draw in the FG drones into the flank allowing my Household Guard to assault them in rear next turn...
Sadly, I came up short...
The crossbows shot at the house again...
As the Marksmen clones dropped four valiant Guards...
The Biomancer and his FG Drones charged into the Militia, dropping two men.
The rest of the peasants conscripts then proved to be quite stoic...
Unfortunately, that was before the Assassin and his retinue charged in!!!
The Mounted Noble lord arrived and headed left from the centre to threaten the FG drones and the objective there...
While on the right the the Water Mage and her Men at Arms took the right objective as the Milita bought them time...
The HouseHold guard took the centre objective and prepared for an Avatara charge that didnt happen as they rolled too low... few!!!
End of Turn 4
100 KINGDOMS 3 VP's SPIRE 0 VP's
TURN 5
So before the turn started I mistakenly claimed a minus 1 for first turn. Andy exclaimed his surprise, which i quickly corrected to a plus one, before he rolled his dice. The result was a draw, so we rerolled and I won. Andy was ok about it despite branding me a cheat!!! And so my Household Guard charged in against the Avatara, with their greatly increased clash value de to the Armsmaster, Regalia Banner and an inspired charge the were hitting on 5+. The result was the complete wipeout of the Spire brutes, giving me a secondary objectives for the first successful charge of the round and also for wiping the enemy unit out on a charge...
With no Avatara to attack, the Clones attacked the remaining Militia
It was a formality. But they'd held up the massive Spire block...
And my Knights charged into the FG drones to seize the left objectives...
In response, the fluid Clone Infiltrators with their deadly shots let rip.
4 wounds doubled up to 8, nasty...
Belatedly, the Biomancers drones charged toward the objective but the Men at Arms held well, losing only 6 men.
On the left, the Abomination charged into the Noble Lords cavalry's flank...
They barely survived, with only the standard and Lord left...
Having wiped out the Avatara, the Household Guard endured a withering barrage of fire from the Marksman Clones. But they survived.
With my Men at Arms firmly ensconced on the right objective and the centre controlled, I had secured my first victory over the Spire!!!
END OF GAME
100 KINGDOMS 8 VP's (6 from objectives, 2 from secondary)
SPIRE 2 VP's (2 from objective)
In fairness, if the game was not based on the objectives, I would have lost the attritional battle but I upped my army selection for this battle, having had time to read more and fine tune units rather than going for bland choices. The Household Guard build was honed to fight a horde, but dealt just fine with the Avatara. I always seem to struggle to get the most from my Knights and this game was no different despite not charging through any trees. I was also fortunate in my draw of secondary objective cards which secured two VP's. But I think the biggest factor in the win was not advancing the Force grown Drone horde up to hold the objective on my right.
The heroic Noble Lord who finally got a victory over the Spire...
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