I'll offer a quick apology for the lack of content over the last 2-3 months. I've been in transition graduating from my master's program, moving away from NJ, and moving to a new home in Central PA. Also acquiring a real job and being super busying as - finally - being inducted into the adult world. But I digress.
What I have for you today is the very last brikwar that I fought before leaving the Garden State. It is a small-scale skirmish against my friend "Ronald Reagan" who has the custom French Crusader army. This was a good battle because he is finally learning to be a little less munchkiny with his feats and more risk-taking with his maneuvers (though not too much). The battle is pretty lopsided (as you'll see), but that will be owing to poor army-making decisions on my part and on the fact that we are at 150 CP range. Small battles like that can, as I said, become lopsided pretty quickly depending on the dice rolls. At any rate...
Turn Zero/Deployment
I deploy on the "right" side of the field with a small Barbarian force. This consists of 3 Melee Heavies in the front rank, and 3 Halberdeers in the back rank. I've started to experiment and enjoy melee Heavies with the compensating rule. It gives them an extra Size HP standing still (which can be good in attrition wars; not so much when moving...) and allows for dual-wielding heavy weapons while standing still. Not a bad combo. The Halberdeers are to overcome my opponents gosh-darn armor and shield-wall
I also field a Beetle Turret with a size 2 repeater, the infamous griffin, and a Shaman Hero.
Reagan's setup is typical. 4 crusader knights and 4 spearmen screen his cavalry and hero while two archers mount a nearby piece of terrain.
Barbarians Turn 1
So on my turn I move forward. Pretty basic. The Shaman tries to use his voodoo powers to summon some vermin swarms. The feat fails, and the vermin turn against the Barbarians!
Crusader Turn 1
Again, basic turn. The infantry move forward and the archers disembark the tower (since they were still out of range.
The crossbowmen take aim at the griffin. They either did 1 point of damage, or none at all.
Barbarians Turn 2
The barbarians continue surging forward (not easy with six infantry with hampered movements...The griffin makes a daring charge at the Crusader Cavalry. BUT, the hero had been saving his feat and launches his lance at the beast as it closes! The resulting damage is enough to bring the beast to only 1 size HP left!!! And as has been typical, the griffin whiffs utterly on damage rolls on the charge. Conflabit!
However, my opponent has been kind enough to start lining his figs up, making arcing fire quite handy on a size 2 machinegun. The repeater fire slays a crossbowman.
Crusader Turn 2
So, yeah, the knights start whacking away at the griffin. Griffin bites the dust! The Shaman survives but is disrupted.
And again, because they are either in tight shieldwall formation or armored, Reagan's infantry slowly pedal forward.
Barbarian Turn 3
This is what I like to see; the Beetle Turret nicely counters the slowness of the heavy infantry. As a result, I am able to get a great line on nearly all of the enemy figs, rolling enough damage to shoot down a heavy swordsman and a spearman. Yay flanking fire!
Crusader Turn 3
But the victory is short-lived, though, as a knight comes barreling down from the left table edge and scewers the driver of the turret. Brutal!
And I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, infantry charging with spears are probably one of the most cost-effective combat choices in any medieval battle. Reagan's charge in and slaughter 2 Barbarian Heavies. Above, the swordman knights move to intercept my obvious flanking maneuver with the Halberds.
Barbarian Turn 4
The beetle, rather than go toe-to-toe with the knight, attempts to disengage and charge the swordsmen in the rear. Sadly, having been damage by the vermin earlier, reaction attacks from the knight and the horse slay the beetle as it tries to scurry away.
In other news, my flanking halberds successfully dispatch 2 of the spearmen. I didn't like this move, but you see the pickle I'm in. One Barbarian Heavy could not take 3 spearmen alone, and my only hope was to try and take all 3 out before bracing for the impact of the Crusader swordsmen. Sadly, now I'm just exposed for their own flank attack.
The Shaman uses a feat to produce a breath attack from the tiki mask. The attack is treated like a size 2 breath attack with poison damage. The green die shows the horsey is quite poisoned. Also, you can see from the second photo that last turn, a successful Witchdoctor firebomb grenade vaporized one of the knights. The Shaman is doing fine!
Crusaders Turn 4
Well here we go; the crusader swordsmen move in and eviscerate one Halberd. The spearman below also slays the last Barbarian Heavy.
Barbarians Turn 5
And when the Halberds turn to face the Swordsmen, they whiff attacks and one more is slain
So I'm really down-and-out at this point. Barely anyone left alive, so I try one of those desperation feats...the Shaman summons the Spirits of Evil Voodoo to make an attack on all of Reagan's surviving models. However, aside from the feat "succeeding," the majority of his forces survive the ghostly attacks...the only victim is...
A Heavily Armored swordsman...and the ghost was swinging with a handweapon...I swear the dice just like being ironic sometimes...
Crusaders VICTORY
So on his last turn, the Crusaders wipe out the last Halberd. With only the shaman left on the field, I choose to concede.
You see, Ronald had all of these left plush a crossbow that we both forgot about
.
Endgame Carnage.
Well boys and girls, that is it for this edition of Rev's Battle Reports. Lucky for me, I've located a hobby store that is about 15 miles away; on my next day off I'm going to travel up there, get a feel for the local gamers, and see if I can talk anyone up for some Brikwars Wargaming. Otherwise, with my new secluded location, I may have to resort to old-fashioned Forum Battles to get my brik-carnage jollies.
~ Rev
