OK, a very brief game report, not as witty as the excellent one from Robert
.
We played two games. The first was Scenario 3, Argrath's Return, to get
the hang of the rules. It was a great game, and highly amusing. Hugh
took the Sartarites, and I was the Lunars. The aim is for the Lunars to
control at least one of the cities of Sartar, or kill Prince Argrath.
In the event on game turn 4 we killed Argrath, and on turn 5 held
Swenstown (!!!) and Alone, for avery convincing victory.
My Lunar strategy was very simple. I put the Red Emperor in Alone, with a few good combat units, and then put small garrisons in Duck Point and Alda-chur, and then deployed the res of my units in a huge defensive swathe, with ZOC's impeding any clea routes to my cities.. As the ZOC rules stopped Hugh's stacks, he was severely slowed, and had almost no chance. This might be a reason to have an over-run rule as suggested earlier, so a CF2 archery unit can not stop a huge stack from moving forwards! So utterly committed to wiping out units to create a clear path to Alda-chur and Alone was H that he neglected to defend his own cities - and on turn 3 I suddenly surprised him by abandoning the defence and hurtling full tilt in to Sartar at his open rear.
OK, briefly
Turn 1 - Harrek leads a stack towards Duck Point, annihilating resistance. Gunda's stack moved towards Alda-chur. The major Sartarite offensive stalls at Dangerford where some Native Furthest units held out, and a group of the Marble, Jasper and Emerald Phalanx annihilated a Sartarite army. H had started unit in the furthest north orange hex, 4514 and they made their way through the mountains towards Alone. Archery proves incredibly effective this turn, with loads of 6 rolls on both sides and many units were disrupted. I have never seen archery so effective before - pure luck!
Turn 2 - Harrek and CF38 total stack arrive at Duck point, garrisoned by a NF infantry unit and a single Cavalry Corp regiment. He rolls a 1 and they hold out! Gunda fights her way north, taking minor casualties, and a series of huge battles east of Dangerford and Herongreen (near Lake Aroka on modern maps of Sartar) reveal Argrath, who slays the Red Emperor. The Phalanxes, cream of the Lunar Heavy Infantry are destroyed. The Sartarites arrive over the mountains and atatck Alone, which the Emperor had left to face Prince Argrath, but are easily defeated.
Turn 3 - Gunda still can not reach Alda-Chur. Harrek tries again to take Duck Point, and rolls another 1! the defenders do no damage back, but they are still alive Argrath tries to take Alone, and a bad roll followed by an excellent one by me leaves Argrath the only man standing as his army is destroyed. Meanwhile the units of mine behind the Sartarite columns launch lightning raids deep in to Sartar. One unit just south of Famegrave makes it almost to Wilms Church, and the Dangerford Garrison survivors occupy the empty city of Jonstown! . Argrath is ringed by enemies.
Turn 4 - Gunda realises she can not reach Argrath, who must trust to a heroic escape. He is slain... Gunda does finally reach Alda-chur but fails to take it, but Alone is clearly beyond the Sartarite grasp as they fall back to try and recapture Jonstown. I have technically won, but we decide to finish the game. Harrek rolls a, you guessed it, a 1. Duck Point still holds out! My adavce reaches a point south of Boldhome, hotly pursued by three units of Ducks, the only troops H had in the vicinity other than the Boldhome single city militia garrison. :)
Turn 5. Gunda finally takes Aldachur, and Harrek finally takes Duck Point. There is much rejoicing by H, who has unkind things to say about superheroes. (My units had sat in the fortifications and refused to attack him as is their right). The Ducks catch the Antelope Lancers,and disrupt them with Archery, but are slain. On my turn I move in to the unoccupied Swenstown. Sill holding Alone, I won three times over, a most satisfying result.
I really enjoyed the scenario, but did wonder if there is an effective response to the dispersed defence ZOC slowing the Sartar advance tactic I adopted? Anyone played this one and have any idea? Luck played a huge role in the result - Harreks incredible bad luck was amazing. I think a 2 would have been enough to damage my garrison. :)
The second game we played was Counterstroke, which is the magicians only scenario. I failed miserably as the Lunars - having made all the run my surviving units were hacked up outside the walls of Boldhome. Oh well, maybe next time! It was close to my previous games, and I gained no new tactical insights.
Anyway enough for one night, and thansk for the rules clarifications!
cj x
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