VC vs Imps Batrep... well after a fashion

[captPiett]

Hey all,
Its great to see that WM is one of the more active portions of the resurrected SG forum.
Dave, myself, and another friend got together at Off the Wall Games in Hadley Mass. for a game of Warmaster last weekend. I commanded the Vampire Counts, the others shared command of the Empire army. Dave started taking pics, but stopped when he started an Epic demo at the next table, so only half the battle was recorded. Not much of a batrep below, but hopefully some pretty pictures. It was a 2k game, but as you all know the undead have a lot of cheap units, and the Empire isn't too shabby in that department either. So... lot's of units moving all over the table.
Forces:
The marquis units of the VC army were its 3 grave knights and 3 dire wolves for cavalry, and 4 units of ethereals. I took 4 units of ghouls too.  I took 10 units of skeletons and 4 of zombies. I also took a black coach and a winged nightmare for my vamps. Got to love that huge breakpoint.
The Empire generals took 4 units of knights, 2 pistoliers, 2 flagellants, 4 crossbowmen, and 8 halberdiers (3 with skirmishers), 2 cannon. Their mission was to try and take some objectives (suitably undead-ish ones) sprikled on the VC side of the board. The battle really came down to breakpoint, as with almost all games in which I try to incorporate objectives (has anyone fought a battle that was about the objectives, and not about army breakpoint? I'm curious to see if anyone has made it work).
The Battle:
In a nutshell, the forces were arrayed as seen in the first four or so pics below. I deployed so as to get between the Empire and the three objectives (one in the open, one on a large hill, and one in a forest). I'm beginning to think that my VC army is blessed in some wierd way - I've failed very few important command rolls for two straight battles now. The only units left behind were massive blocks of skeletons and zombies. The empire, on the other hand, had some pretty bad command rolls at crucial moments (namely the entire second turn). So, after I had secured my objectives, I took the offensive. Some dire wolves took out half the empire crossbowmen, and my other 4 units of cavalry rode up the other flank, eventually charging in a bunch of different directions (see last pics below). The lack of undead initiative prevented that from being decisive, as I then had 4 units basically out of command next turn.  In all, it was one of those games that was a bit unbalanced in terms of luck - the Empire couldn't get going, and the VC couldn't be stopped when it mattered (who cares if 4 units of skeletons stay put?).

Other highlights not covered by the pics: ghouls charging the pistoliers and killing one unit outright; the two units of ethereals charged the flagellants in the center of the Imperial line; they died, but the victorious (and heavily depleted) flagellents had to advance into the ethereals' supporting skeletons, who finished the maniacs off to acheive the breakpoint win. It took 3 hard command roles to get those skeletons into their supporting position. At the beginning of the VC "offensive", I sent two units of skeletons - my "commando skeletons" - very far forward just for the hell of it and to soak up shooting attacks. I was (kind of) disappointed when they didn't die, but being able to show utter disregard for the safety of my minions was just great. Which brings me to an aside: the three of us marvelled that while undead infantry are very expendable, they are still worth SOMETHING (ie for breakpoint). but any unit besides knights in the Bretonian army don't count for breakpoint, so peasants, archers, men-at-arms etc, in the grand scheme of things, worth less than corpses (at least in the eyes of their betters).

So the pics. The terrain (except for some of the hills)and miniatures are mine; the ones that don't look good were painted by someone else Thanks to Dave for providing the pics. Check out his epic Space Marine subjugators on this forum. Try to ignore the Magic players in the background below, unless you want to hurt your eyes

[Dave]

I like the magic player eating his shirt in the third to last pic. Sorry I had to bail but the Subjugators had to issue a beating... I mean help me give a demo.

With any luck we'll get some pictures up from our Idol of Gork conclusion. Those wishing to see our other battles should pester Matt until he posts them.

[azrael71]

Nice report.
Great pics.
I keep meaning to do a few more battle reports, but I find it really does slow our game down to the level that it takes away any enjoyment

[pw]

Thanks for posting this, it's great to see fully painted armies duking it out on nice terrain.

That said, I'm almost more impressed with the look of your local gaming store, spacious, light and tidy. I've never seen one like that in real life. It can't be perfect though, tell me it reeks of geeks... Please!

And yes, more reports please. I need some inspiration/advise if I'm ever to get my army painted up and on the tabletop.

[captPiett]

Thanks for the comments, guys.
I think the secret might be to take a lot of pics, that way you don't have to keep notes. You can just recount what happened from memory. However, you end up with a very general description of the action. My philosophy is unless you have a rules question (or a particularly important/exciting event) that came up during the game, a blow-by-blow account of every combat probably isn't necessary because you end up interrupting the flow of the game by having to take notes. I would concentrate on recording the command phase (the most important part of the game, of course).

As to the store, there was very little reek, but the door was open most of the day and there was a breeze...    but seriously, its a great place to game; it receives my hearty endorsement.

Dave and I are fighting the final, 3k battle of the "Idol of Gork" campaign this weekend. there's 4 battles total; hopefully I'll have 3 batreps up at some point.

[Carrington]

Nice Batrep.

I liked playing with the "strategy and Objectives" rules (posted in a previous thread)... But I have to admit, we broke my army and didn't bother checking.

The problem, of course, is that WM(Fantasy) is pretty offense-dominant, so things tend to move quickly.  I think the way to keep the game from 'running off the rails' and into a bloodbath is to make it more defense-dominant, meaning more difficult terrain, and more payback for maneuver.

Also, I suspect, the WM ancients rules add some particularly useful flavor -- skirmishers and the -1 command modifier for flanking would tend to accentuate the maneuver game.

And, frankly, the maneuver game is WM's real strength as a rules system.  When the battlelines mash into each other, things get fiddly and slow.


 

[blish]

Nice Photo's good game and nice store, if only there were places like that in Aus

[Pugwash]

Loving the report and the pics.  Interested to hear army lists in broad stokes  in future reports.  I'll post some as well in due course.