Nevershall Pass

In the discussion after the game, opinions differed on what Empire-Chaos should have done differently. Andrew (Empire) and Edward (Chaos) were in agreement that they had concentrated too heavily on their 'hard' units, and having a greater number of cheaper units would have made their losses less significant.

My thinking is that they were too aggressive with their lead units. The terrain-heavy board gave my side, in particular, a huge amount of natural protection, with only a series of gaps connecting my side with the middle of the battlefield.

Empire-Chaos brought the fight to me, however, which let me preserve my defensive formation. It's hard to move quickly without leaving your support behind, and it's impossible when doing it through dense terrain. Much of the damage I did was on initiative counter-charges.

Several lessons stand out from this battle:

Long-range charges are extremely risky. You're leaving your own support behind and moving into range of numerous enemies. In general, be wary of any situation that leaves troops where they can be attacked without threat of counter-charge.

Choose the order of engagements wisely. An easy victory may provide advancing reinforcements for a more difficult fight.

Empire General's Comments

Empire lesson learned: Take more units!! In this game both the Empire and Chaos were undermanned. Our combined breakpoint was 9 (5 Empire, 4 Chaos) while the Elves had a breakpoint of 12.

As an Empire player, Knights are very tempting - they do have the best armour saves - however, in retrospect, if I had not taken any Knights I could have fielded up to 17 units of Halberdiers (yes, at 1250 points). This would have taken the Empire's Breakpoint up to 10. Now THAT would have been a game to see! :-)

So, the Empire will have to think about this a little more. Does more units really mean more kills??

I do agree with Michael's assessment that we were a tad too aggressive given the nature of the terrain. However, I was more worried about being clobbered with Elven arrows if I simply waited for the Elves to advance.

I also realised that my Knights were out-numbered and it would have been to my advantage to bring them into combat on the charge. Fewer opponents and more dice to roll. :-/ If I could have torn through that row of mounted Elves and then plowed into the infantry behind them, well, it might have been a whole other game. :-)

All in all, it was a good battle with some fine company. If you're near Toronto area and would like to game with us, please drop me a line!