Tiberius Battle Company Log, Entry #2

Good morning reader,

In our first post, I talked about the strategy for my Last Alliance battle company, as well as how my first two games went (close games - one victory, one loss). Today, we see what two adventures befell my battle company last weekend.

Battle Company after Game 2: 8 models, Rating of 145

Game #3: The Hold Ground One vs. Centaur's Dol Guldur list

This was my second game against Centaur's Dol Guldur list, and apparently they haven't seen any game-time since last our forces met. As a result, his force was a bit battered, but was ready for blood. With eight models, I had a slight numbers advantage (vs. his 7), but with multiple attacks on his guys (as well as a mixture of cavalry models and fast infantry), I knew it was going to be close.

I didn't get priority on the first turn, so Centaur's men raced towards the center of the board, with models coming in from all four board edges (one got delayed). For my part, one of my models got delayed as well, but my models chose to arrive predominantly on the northern board edge (two came in from the western edge, one from the southern edge). As we moved to the center, Centaur used the speed of his cavalry/Fell Warg to race into the single model I had coming in from the south and Rock, my second-turn arrival who came on from the Eastern board edge. Both of those models died in one round.

My main force, however, advanced towards the center (mostly from the northern board edge), and of Centaur's 7 models, I killed 2-3 of them with archery as I advanced (which was good, because my numbers were dwindling elsewhere). As I reached the center, so did Centaur's infantry and his cavalry joined in and we closed in to fight. My army bonus (on both Kaladin and Teft for a free +1 to their Duel rolls if they were near Elves) came in clutch on a few rolls, helping me to fend off the Hunter Orcs, but I couldn't wound any of them. As the cavalry began to race around my ranks into trapping positions, I lost both Kaladin and Teft and my Elves stood ready to be taken apart by the Orcs.

But then something weird happened: my Elves (for the first time since starting the group) decided they wanted to actually contribute, getting 6s to win their duels and getting 5s or 6s to Wound. In the end, the 3 remaining Elves managed to kill all but two of the Hunter Orcs (one of whom jumped down from a slight height, got a 1 on his climbing roll, and got wounded by the fall - ouch). With only one model left, it was pretty quick clean-up by the Elves, giving us a victory in Game 3.

The after-battle report saw Rock get a "Just A Scratch" which turned into a Full Recovery (healing his Leg Wound) on the reroll, Teft got a Full Recovery, and Kaladin got an Old Battle Wound. The other warriors all made Full Recoveries. Without the 4 Influence we won from the mission, we decided to make a reinforcement roll and thanks to having a Rally Horn, we got a 1 which promoted to a 2, and we added Natam to our list (a Warrior of Numenor with a shield). Kaladin promoted and got access to Heroic March/Resolve (which will be better once we get some more Might) and Rock promoted for the first time and got Blade Master (which he traded in for the unique army rule). Two of my Elves (including one of our newest additions) got to roll on the warrior advancement table, but neither got a 6, so nothing happened to them.

Battle Company after Game 3: 9 models, Rating of 164

Game #4: The Hill One vs. Rythbryt's Far Harad list

I'll admit, when I learned I was going to be the defender on this mission, I was really stoked: I have 3 Elf bows and lots of guys with higher FV than almost all of the Far Harad units I was facing. This was going to be easy. I set up my guys on the center of the hill, got priority the first turn and stepped back a bit so we couldn't be charged, and waited for the cavalry to get closer (those were the important models I knew). The camels all hid behind trees (but were still in charge range for next turn) and so I shot at the exposed infantry. One of them fell, but the others all evaded damage (per the usual with my archers in this company, apparently).

The second turn, I kept priority but couldn't get out of charge range without giving up most of the hill, so I braced for impact and the camels started charging. One of Rythbryt's heroes is a sorcerer and he cast Compel on a 5+ on Natam (new recruit) and it went off successfully. Natam was then charged by a camel and didn't die. The other two camels charged and thanks to their Impaler rule, they took out four of my models (all of which were Elves, so my army bonus was almost gone). As the Fight Phase started, my heroes got one good turn of benefits from having a single Elf nearby and fended off the camels, but couldn't kill any of them (I decided to try to wound the camels on 4s instead of the riders on 5s - turns out it doesn't matter when you can't roll higher than a 2 to Wound).

The third turn saw me with priority again - Rythbryt called a Heroic Move and I counter-called with Rock (despite a recent article saying this was a bad idea, I wasn't that interested in letting those camels do any more murder to me). I tied models down again and fended them off, but couldn't wound anyone. The fourth round saw Rythbryt get priority, to which I called a Heroic Move with Teft and Rythbryt counter-called with one of his heroes. This time, it was Rythbryt who won the move-off and he proceeded to charge my guys - and one cavalry in particular killed all but one of my guys (it was very, VERY wrong). After one final round of getting knocked to the ground and clubbed to death, the game was over, with Harad holding the field and (for the first time in my battle company's history) all of my models having been removed as casualties.

The aftermath was pretty bleak - I was lamenting to Rythbryt afterwards that I probably should have stocked up on Healing Herbs before the match, until it occurred to me that I couldn't use them if my hero was wounded (so in this case it wouldn't matter). Teft got the Wounds of a Hero (+4 Influence), Rock made a Full Recover, and Kaladin got a second Old Battle Wound (really need him to recover). Three of my models (including Natam and one of my bowmen) were Injured, while the other three models made Full Recoveries. No one got advancements (but Teft is one XP away, so he'll advance next mission).

With 1 Influence saved from the previous mission, +2 Influence for losing the match, and +4 Influence for Wounds of a Hero, I picked up Healing Herbs for Kaladin (since his Old Wounds might make him miss a game, guaranteeing I can use them), recruited another Elf (got a 6) with spear and Elf bow, and saved 1 Influence for next time.

The Battle Company after Game 4: 7 models, Rating of 148 (max. 10 models, Rating of 179)

Well, that was painful. Not sure how soon we'll get another game in, but I'll be sure to post updates here. While I just started a new series on List Building (and will be starting a tandem series with Centaur and Rythbryt on heroes), I'm hopeful that one of our collaborative projects can be about the different Battle Companies we've started and how you can use them and how you can prioritize using them.

Until our next Battle Companies meeting, happy hobbying!