Thursday 20 February 2020

Conquest:The Last Argument of Kings1400pts Dweghom v 100 Kingdoms: Battle of the Ribble Valley

Another game of Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings up at the Ribble Warriors, saw Chris adding some new units to his Dweghom force and a new character for me...

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We played on a 6ft x 4ft board, simulating a wide rocky valley, with the Dweghom defending against a strong interloping force of 100 Kingdom soldiers. The Dweghom had two hills on their half, with a rock copse there, while my humans would be entering the valley where two large, impassible boulders had broken up the valley entrance where another rocky copse stood...


Chris's Dweghom consisted of the following:

Characters: Hold Raegh (warlord), Ardent Kerawegh, Tempered Sorcerer

Units:

1 x 3 bases of Hold Balistae (Light)
1 x 3 bases of Hold Balistae (Light) Tempered Sorcerer Joined
1 x 3 Inferno Automata (Light)
1 x 3 bases of Flame Berserkers (Light)
1 x 5 bases of Hold Warriors (Medium) Ardent Kerawegh Joined
1 x 5 bases of Hold Warriors (Medium) Hold Raegh Joined


My noble and valiant forces of the 100 Kingdoms was made to accommodate my Chapter Mage.

Characters: Noble Lord on horse (Warlord with Arms Master), Noble Warlord on horse, Imperial Officer, Chapter Mage with Ninuah's Tears

Units:

1 x 3 bases of Mercenary Crossbowmen
1 x 3 bases of Mercenary Crossbowmen
1 x 3 bases of Men at Arms
1 x 3 bases of Men at Arms
1 x 3 bases of Men at Arms Imperial officer Joined
1 x 5 bases of Men at Arms Chapter Mage Joined
1 x 3 Household Knights Noble Joined
1 x 3 Household Knights Noble Warlord Joined


 TURNS 1 & 2

With 2/3's of the Dweghom being light troops against, the first few turns saw the Dweghom troops advance forcibly onto the board, with the Hold Ballistae occupying his right heading for the hill and the new units, the Flame Berserkers and Inferno Automata barrelling down the centre...


Led by the Tempered Sorcerer, the Hold Ballistae secure the heights...


With the bulk of his force already on by the end of Turn 2, Chris checks his "special" rules with his Inferno Automata already over the halfway line and bearing down on the right vanguard of the 100 Kingdoms. A small force of Men at Arms was centre left to draw fire while on the left Mercenary Crossbowmen snuck around the boulder there.


The Infernal automata are Light Brute, meaning they are highly mobile and very fast while delivering a real punch...


My Mercenary Crossbowmen had to face down the Dweghom automata, and were hoping for first activation...


TURN 3

While the rest of my force turned up this turn, it didn't help me win first activation and the Dweghom machines crashed home...


Delivering 5 impact casualties...


Before flurrying and wiping the crossbowmen out...


And also delivering the first point for Chris by scoring a secondary objective


With two units of Hold Ballistae to their front, my Men at Arms successfully drew some fire...


However, despite the early loss, my forces were all on, while the Dweghom Hold Raegh was still off board...


Going into Turn 4, my cavalry and Men at Arms were looking good for crushing their opponents...


TURN 4

Again, the Dweghom stole the first activation and the Inferno Automata and their wicked trickery was cruelly revealed, as they declared a charge on my Warlord cavalry and used their fluid formation to reform to fit through the gap in my lines before loosing another charge...


After scoring two wounds by their impact hits, the flurrying automata scored another half dozen, and my 4 or less save proved hard to find...


Fortunately, my other Noble and his Household managed to charge home against the Flame Berserkers...


But disappointingly failed to impress, the Dweghom Berserkers resolve being more than a little fanatical...


To make matters worse, the Ardent Kerawegh cast Dismay on my Knights, breaking them...


And on my left, my Men at Arms diversion attack failed to reach the hill...


Meanwhile, the Flame Berserkers were busy separating man from horse, though the armour saves meant only one knight was lost...


The Hold Raegh and his troops turned up on my left and were valiantly charged by a small unit of Men at Arms


On my right, my Chapter Mage led her Men at Arms up to face off the Hold Warriors led by the Ardent Kerawegh...


While behind my lines, my Noble Lord and his last wounded Knight struggled to hold of the Inferno Automata...


On the right objective, the two large infantry units clashed...


The Dweghom seized the initiative and hit hard...


While the left Men at Arms fought against the Hold Raegh and his superior forces, the Imperial Officer led more Men at Arms up under the Ballistae held hill, over the dead Men at Arms unit that had just been pin-cushioned...


The best units of the 100 Kingdoms force were heavily engaged on the right and centre and it was definitely in the balance...


Surprisingly, my Men at Arms had caused wounds against the larger Dweghom infantry...



End of turn 4 saw the Dweghom ahead 2-0, scoring from scoring Overwhelming b having a largery force at the end of the turn...

TURN 5 

The 100 Kingdoms managed to seize the initiative, with the Warlord and his Knight rolling well...


Sadly for me, the last Infernal (yes, that's my new name for them) Automata held it together on a single wound...


The battle of the central objective was a slog fest, with the Knights armour facing off against the Dweghom's fiery fury and implacable resolve...


There really wasn't much in it between the two...


On my right, the Hold Warriors cut the Chapter Mage's Men at Arms to shreds...


And the badly damaged Infernal finished off my Knight and with him, my Noble Warlord...


The left Men at Arms continued to take the fight to the Dweghom, with some inspired dice rolls causing 6 wounds.  Unfrotunately, the dice below belong to the redoubtable armoured Dweghom, who passed all their saves!!!


I shed some of Nimuah's Tears, healing my Mages Men at Arms back up and then my Mage managed to score two hits despite her decidedly poor clash stat...


My Imperial Officer and his badly depleted Men at Arms also failed to charge home up the hill...


And the Hold Raegh finally stopped playing and started taking Men's arms and heads...


In the centre, no-one could gain an advantage...


While the Infernal twisted his head round to look invitingly on the rear of the Men at Arms with my Mage in them...


Chris again had Overwhelmed, and scored a third Victory point...

TURN 6

I had first activation given my dwindling forces, and Nimuahs Tears were succesffuly cast, healing up more Men at Arms...


While on my left, the Tempered Sorcerer and his Ballistae had no mercy on the trespassing Imperials...


Despite being reduced down to five Berserkers, my Knights were left reeling on one wound as the Noble could only look on...


Despite their gallant attempt, my left flank was reduced to a unit of Mercenary crossbowmen firing relatively harmlessly up the hill...


And the Infernal Automata crashing into my rear spelled the end of my right flank...


The end of the turn saw the Dweghom claiming objectives, ahead 5 to nil...

TURN 7 

Beaten and battered, my troops ceded the first activation and allowed the Berserkers to finish of my wounded Knight, capturing my Noble Lord for ransom...


As my Water Mage restored more Men at Arms, the rising tide was definitely closing in...


And tshe succumbed to the Infernal Automata and the jubilant Hold Warriors. The valley was left in the Dweghom hands, as the Hold Raegh and his Warriors charged home into the final valiant remnanats of the 100 Kingdom force...


Turn 8 began with the Dweghom sitting ahead 7 VP's to nil...

And finished very shorlty after the Hold Warriors activated, annihilating the entire 100 Kingdom force and achieving a 9 - 0 victory...


The Ardent Kerawegh and his Hold Warriors sit on an objective, savouring a sweet victory!!!


 Well, the Ribble valley ended up being a charnel house for my forces, as the Dweghom Light unit superiority allowed them to gain an upper hand and pen me in and take me apart piecemeal.

My main units didnt hit hard enough on the one charge I managed, while I kept being charged and losing out in the battle of attrition. Chris's new Dweghom units were nasty, particularly those Inferno (Infernal) Automata. They had a hand in wiping out my Chapter Mage and her Men at Arms, after chewing up a unit of Crossbowmen and my Warlord and his Household Knights. The Flame Berserkers high resolve kept them in the fight long enough for me to fail too many saves, and Chris certainly enjoyed the role reversal with regard to dice.

As someone who is generally more lucky than unlucky with rolls, it was a bad night for me and a sweet one for him. But I will not forget this massacre, and we shall return!!!








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