We rolled up dominate and did variable terrain deployment since we don't know quite how much will be at the tourney, agreed on 3 hills, 3 forests, 1 wall, and 2 buildings to get a nice amount. For the batrep's i'll be using Battle Chronicler, and I'm very new to using it, so I apologize if it looks off or doesn't follow the exact script of the game, getting the terrain to match was kind of difficult for my first try. Hope you guys enjoy!
Lists:
This will just be a general overview, Sean's very new to the game, and is in the process of porting his old 6th edition dwarves list into KoW. As a result he's kind of hampered on unit selection, no berserker brocks for example, but is learning the game pretty quickly. My list was a recently revamped version of my old 3 drakes list I was running post CoK 17, and is likely what I will be taking to tourney's this year as I own all of the models :P
Sean's Dwarves:
Horde of Ironclad- (Don't remember items, sorry, think it was sharpness?)
Reg of Ironguard
Troop of berserkers
Reg of Rangers
Reg of Herneas Rangers
Herneas
Reg of Earth Elementals
Cannon
Organ gun
Stone Priest
Allied Horde of Drakon Riders
King on L/Beast- W/ Honeymaze
Greek's Sally's:
Horde of Primes- W/ Blood of the old king
Reg of Lancers- W/ Blessing of the gods
Reg of Lancers- W/ Helm of the Ram
Horde of Ghekkotah- W/ Hammer of 4+
Troop of Corsair
Troop of Corsair
Horde of Rhinosaurs- W/ Pathfinder
Lekelidon
Lekelidon
Clan Lord on Fire Drake- W/ Rallying Banner
FireBrand
Herald- W/ Uke of Darkness
Deployment- So for Dominate, especially with variable deployment, I like to put terrain on the center if possible. While it is abit gamey, I have 2 very good hitting units with pathfinder, and can easily hold a center with this army if there is hindered charges, so I placed the terrain to help make sure of that on either side. My overall plan was to have 3 distinct groups, a fast vanguard group with either the ancients to follow, a center group with the primes, and a third group with the ghekkotahs and the kaisenors. The main idea was the line of the ghekkotahs against a def 6 unit of the 3, and get 6 easy wounds on it, allowing the followup unit to punch through easily. The vanguard deployment was to threaten the long range cannons, and possible flank the center if able. The center just needed to hold the line long enough for either flank to win their fight.
After Deployment
Overall I think I deployed pretty well, he deployed his cannons early which let me put my vanguards facing them to ensure their threat, and since we tied on deployment and he chose the hill sides, I was able to see where everything had to go to fill out my plan. The ancients drew the unloved duty of playing chicken with the fliers, but with the forest to block los and hopefully draw them in hindered I liked the trade. We both vanguarded up, my corsairs just behind the forest, his rangers taking position around the top left hill. After Roll for Turn 1, Sean won and handed it to me.
Turn One
Salamanders:
(Vanguard movements included)
So I knew I had to press pretty hard on the left flank, and play very passive on the right flank. If I could get Firebrand up to the cannon's she could easily take them out, but the drakon riders would make positioning her a pain. On the right I kept the corsairs pretty tightly packed, because of the forest I couldn't get cheeky turn 1 shots with them, but set myself up to threaten the hill next turn. The Rhinosaurs just chilled behind the forest, making it a dead zone to the two flyers.
The middle was just pushing models forward, the obstacle being there meant I had to advance, but that was fine since I wanted the combat to the be in the forest anyways.
On the left I pushed very hard with the ghekkos, if the rangers got more than a turn of shooting into them he could potentially waver lock them, which would delay my cav line by an easy turn or two. At the doubleing them 12 inches and following with the clan lord and cavalry put me in a prime position to threaten his ranger line next turn, and turn inward from there.
Dwarves:
(Not sure what the best way is to reflect shooting)
Going right to left, he pushes his drakons hard to the building, out of arc for the rhinosaurs. The organ gun targets one corsair troop in the woods, doing a wound but not threatening otherwise. The cannon wiffs on a corsair. The king bides his time before charging in, he'd rather not charge in with the rhinosaur back there in case he gets stuck or can't back up enough.
In the middle he advances forward, and puts the ironguard into 12" range of the ghekko's. He throws the dogs at them and does 1 wound (we rolled out a second one for lols to see how far it could go, 7 is the answer) The Earth Elementals move forward, 8" from the other corsair troop, and he gets 6 successes out of 8 surge, although that might have been for the best since the rhinosaurs could cleanup without worrying about the drakons for a turn.
On the left, rangers shooting goes into the ghekko horde, but was pretty poor dice showing for hits, and he only does about 5 wounds total, which doesn't really bother the horde.
Turn 2
Salamanders:
So this was the turn I wanted to win the game on, and I came pretty damn close to it. I'm a pretty aggressive player, and the herneas charge was waaay to juicy to pass up. Since I knew the Iron guard were within charge range, I went for them with the ghekko's, as the def 6 is a great target. The clan lord and Elite Kaisenors move into position to back up the forces should things go south, and I can use the breath attack on the drake to harass the def 4 and 3 behind the lines.
In the middle more pushing forward, the lekelidons move into position to start shooting through lanes.
On the right I move one corsair troop up to threaten the organ gun, the other to direct the elementals away from the centerline. Firebrand turns and moves to the edge of the forest to take a potshot at the drakons, and the rhinos change facing to ensure the drakons can't make a mistake moving over the building. I'm not sure if this was the best move, it put my toe into the forest, meaning the king could see my flank, but 14 attacks hitting on 4s and wounding on 4s, would only do 3-4 wounds and I could easily countercharge with bane chant support, so I felt pretty safe doing it.
Shooting this turn was pretty good, the right lekelidon only had elementals to shoot at and did jack squat, same with the corsairs shooting at it. Firebrand plinked a wound off the Drakons, which was better than nothing. Second corsair troop did a wound to the cannon, but nothing happening on the nerve roll. Left Lekelidon managed a couple hits on the rangers for 2 wounds, and the Clan lord put an extra 3 on top of that with breath attacks, but needing a 9 to waver didn't really do much other than help ensure they die to the kaisenors.
In charges, the Ghekko's do the 6 wounds they (always) do to the iron guard, which was fine, put them into a much more manageable kill range for the drake and cav supporting. And Herneas took 10 wounds from the kaisenors, and rolled an 8 on nerve, then rerolled into a 3. Meaning he was wavered, so I didn't get to overrun into the flank of herneas's rangers and wipe almost all of the left flank in that turn. This was a pretty disappointing result, as a 4 there would let me dominate over half of the dwarf list, with great position to overrun a flank turn 3.
Dwarves:
Shooting is pretty uneventful, the organ gun does a wound to the prime horde, and the cannon misses.
In combat, the King easily dispatches the corsair troop, he doesn't consolidate much if I recall, due to the forest he has a pretty tough time getting los arcs. The Earth elementals bounce, thanks to Firebrands fearless bubble. The ironguard and rangers do a pretty sizable 24 wounds to the ghekko's, sealing their fate and they easily pop of the board. The other rangers only do 3 wounds, enough to plink away tc but not much else.
Turn 3
Salamanders:
On the right side I moved the rhino's back a couple inches, meaning a drakon charge will be hindered, but also putting me out of shooting from the cannon/organ gun. the right lekelidon moves up to support the rhinosaurs. Firebrand charges the King, hopefully will do a wound a remove fly so that I can stall him a turn or two. the remaining corsairs countercharge the elementals.
The rest of the map is mostly just charges, the primes charge the ironclad and pop blood of the old king, Clan lord charges the wounded ironguard, Elite kaisenors charge the wounded rangers, other kaisenors counter charge the regular rangers. Left lekelidon moves forward to take some potshots at the berserker troop, and herald moves to throw banechant where necessary.
Shooting sees a few wounds on the berserkers, and the herald makes the bane chant on the primes.
In melee, the corsairs and firebrand each fail to roll a 5+ to wound, and bounce. The primes do a pretty nice 12 wounds on the Ironclad, for 15 points I really like turning primes into shock troops for a turn. Especially CS2 shock troops. The clan lord puts another 6 wounds on the ironguard but rolls a 4 for nerve, making them wavered. The elite kaisenors easily put down the wounded rangers, and the other kaisenors put 8 wounds on the rangers, and only waver them.
Dwarves:
This turn was pretty simple, just a lot of counter charging. The drakons moved into the rhinosaurs, to apply some pressure on the primes. The rangers failed their headstrong roll, so their deaths were pretty much certain. The ironguard passed theirs though, and countercharged the Clan Lord. I did feel the king charging Firebrand was a bad call, and he could have moved to position a flank charge on the primes or possibly on the rhinosaurs. But Seans only had a couple games with fliers, so probably isn't used to looking for those chances.
Shooting was non existent due to most everything being in combat. Herneas put a wound on the elite kaisenors I think.
In melee the ironguard do a wound or two to the clan lord, the iron clad wiffed pretty hard and only did 1 wound I think. The earth elementals easily killed the corsairs, and the king only did 1 wound to firebrand. (that was pretty lucky, although the odds of the king killing firebrand were really low.) The drakons hindered only did 7 wounds to the ancients, and failed to find the 11 to pop them.
Turn 4
Salamanders
Making the obvious charges, the lancers into the rangers, elite lancers flanked the ironguard. Firebrand went after easier prey in the stone priest, and the rhinosaurs and lekelidon charged the drakon riders. Unfortunatley, I never declared the primes countercharge. And this meant the stone elementals had an easy ride to flank town.
Shooting, the one active lekelidon continued shooting at the berserkers, doing a couple of wounds. Bane chant also went off successfully on the primes, and was when I realized I forgot to charge them.
In the combats, the lancers each killed their targets, and the rhinosaurs did a whopping 4 wounds to the drakons. The flanking lekelidon did 2, putting the drakons at 7. On a 7 because of brutal, I could've wavered and saved the rhinosaurs, but I rolled a 3. Firebrand also put 3 wounds on the stone priest, and rolled pretty high for a waver result.
Dwarves:
Again more charges, the berserker troop charged the elite lancers, and the ironclad and earth elementals charged the primes. The king moved around the forest behind the drakons, and Sean forgot to charge the drakon horde. Normally I allow 1 mulligan in game, buuuuuut since he insisted it was super serious tournament rules, no way I was letting that one slide :P Herneas also began the dance to get out of my lancers arc.
In shooting herneas does a couple wounds to the kaisenors, wavering them.
In combat the berserkers do 3 wounds to the elite kaisenors, but with the rallying nearby putting their nerve to 15/17, they weren't really threatened to move. The ironclads being hindered now only put 1 wound on the primes, and the elementals manage 2 whole wounds from the flank. However a super high nerve roll of 11, plus the 12 wounds on them already from before, wavers them thanks to the banner on the clan lord.
Turn 5:
(so this one it kind of looks, off, but that's the measurements being off from translating from pictures)
So thankfully my center held, which let the clan lord take a nice flank onto the ironclad. The elite kaisenors counter charge the berserkers. The Primes moved backwards, and the lekelidon moved into the gap made to block the ironclads. Rhinosaurs charged into the drakon riders, and the other lekelidon flanked them again. The wavered kaisenors turned to face herneas, but there were probably not going to ever do anything if sean made no mistakes. Firebrand continued to fight the stone priest (I should've just killing the organ gun here, but didn't think about it)
The one lekelidon that could shoot wiffed on the elementals, and that was all of my shooting.
The elite kaisenors easily popped the berserkers, doing 11 wounds. The clan lord in the flank dispatches the ironclads, and he consolidates forward, into the forest to claim cover. The rhinosaurs easily pop the drakons with their TC 2 active, and back up again on the consolidation.
Dwarves:
Had a small glitch on this turn in chronicler, so apologies for the extra arrows
With most of his army gone, Sean really had no choice but to double down on the primes and rhinosaurs to make a bid for the domination circle.
Again the war engines were pretty ineffective, without good targets to shoot at. Herneas only does a wound on the kaisenors, and doesn't waver them.
In combat the elementals only do a couple more wounds to the Prime horde, and again wavers them. The king only does 3 wounds to the ancients, and fails to get the rout after a reroll thanks to the herald.
Turn 6:
The only shooting was bane chant, which went off on the rhinosaurs.
Firebrand easily takes care of the organ gun, and is in good position to delete the cannon next turn. The stone priest had been pretty bloodied by firebrand for 2 turns, and couldn't take the abuse from the cavalry regiment. The clan lord does 4 wounds to the elementals, but didn't see the 10 required to delete them. The rhinosaurs rolled like they were possessed, and got 17 hits and 13 wounds, with the lekelidon adding one on top of that. the king popped on that, which sealed the deal.
Dwarves:
There was no roll for turn 7, ending the game with me having 610 more points in the dominate circle than my opponent, and on kill I scored 1,620 to his 600. While the end result was pretty one sided, the score with the double mov chart put us at a 16-4 for the upcoming tournament.
Conclusions:
Well turn 2 was a highlight turn, had the nerve check against herneas gone right, I would have easily owned the left flank and been able to work that advantage sooner than turn 5. One thing my list is possibly missing is the ability to go put 1 wound on any guy, but I feel the lekelidons can perform that role, just in the game they had to be elsewhere. Sean also got unlucky at the end on the rhinosaurs, the king should have done 5 wounds, which would have popped the rhino's on his roll of 7.
Overall the plan was to push one flank, and tie down the other while controlling a forested center, and that worked pretty well. I was extra pleased with how I actually held back some reserves in case I didn't get the best result, something that I would have failed to do last year.
Obviously the game would have been very different had we both remembered our counter charges on turn 4, and it's pretty easy to say that had the rhinosaurs died to the drakons the game would have been an easy draw, if not a loss for me.
Firebrand continues to be a pretty awesome 120 point nuisance, I've been more and more impressed with her ability to be chaff that lives and just annoys the crap out of an opponent. The kaisenors put in some definite work, and the ancients still can kick face, buuuuuut they feel like they're more at the whims of dice. They always seem to either do 4-5 wounds or 15-16 when I've run them.
I've been really enjoying the Ghekko horde with the hammer as well, 185 points is fairly cheap for unlocks in salamanders, and in the Mid Atlantic there are a few Def 6 Elemental/ Golem lists, so they make for a great meta call. The ability to absorb a charge and do 6 wounds back regardless of opponent is pretty nice, and they can really help set up kaisenors as shock chargers.
Lastly, the Banner is really good for Salamanders. Bumping up the Prime's to 22/24 nerve, and the kaisenors to 15/17 is really solid, and makes them much more likely to grind, especially the kaisenors. This is a combo that I think could be a staple for salamander lists going forward.
So that's my first Batrep! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it, i'd love some feedback on Battle Chronicler as I am currently just bumbling around with it figuring things out as I go.
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