To Sally Forth or not: a castle first battle report

[lantern314]

Last night two friends and I played the scenario on the back page of the castle book. I was defending with 650 pts. They were attacking with 2x 325.
I had
4th Mass.
Syvarris
Raelin
Krav Maga Agents
Izumi Samurai
Sacred Band
Parmenio
Major X17

They had
Deathwalker 9000
Zettian Guards
Anubian wolves
Venoc Vipers
and
Ninjas
Tagawa Samurai
Deadeye Dan
Guilty McReech
Dumutef Guard
(I may have forgetten some if this doesn't add up)

I set Syvaris and the Mass. 4th up on top of the Tower with Raelin, and placed my agents along the walls. Major X17 was set to grab anything that came through the door supported by the Sacred Band. The samurai were in reserve.
Although I had some significant problems with bad luck (9 dice, one shield, stuff like that) my main problem was range. Dan and the Deathwalker took out Syvarris and the Mass 4th from farther away than I could hit them while the rest of their armies stood and watched.

After the top of the tower was clear they moved the Dumutef Guard and the werewolves up to attack the door. I repositioned my Krav Maga agents to be able to shoot at some of the attackers, but against Dan they just dropped like flies. It took them an extremely long time to break down the door.

Major X17 worked like I expected him to, stalling their advance through the door. The problem was that the Deathwalker could see him and by using explosive rounds took out the Major and the sacred band without them getting to make a swing. (cf. above comment about poor dice luck).

At this point I decided to sally forth with Raelin to tie up Dan and the Deathwalker to buy myself a couple of rounds. She killed Dan, and resisted swings from the Deathwalker admirably. It was too little, too late as Parmenio got overwhelmed by the werewolves in no time at all.

I was left with my three samurai on top of the tower with werewolves and ninjas coming up the ladders. Again the dice were against me and I was only able to take out one ninja. In the next to last activation in round 12 my last samurai was killed and they took down the flag, meeting both victory conditions.

In thinking of things I could have done differently, the one big question I have is, would it have been better to throw open the door and charge out to meet the enemy in the field before the gate, to avoid the fish in the barrel scenario that played out?

[Bobbo]

In thinking of things I could have done differently, the one big question I have is, would it have been better to throw open the door and charge out to meet the enemy in the field before the gate, to avoid the fish in the barrel scenario that played out?

Ok, take everything that I'm saying with a grain of salt, since I have yet to play the defend your castle scenario (this Saturday baby!). Sallying forth and fighting the figures outside your castle probably wouldn't have done you any good. The problem is that your two opponents are going to be getting 2 activations for your one, and the force outside the walls is probably going to be massacred pretty quickly.

The way that I see it, as a defender, it should be your number one priority to take out anything that can hit you from safety. Deadeye Dan, given enough time, can single handedly take out your entire army from relative safety, especially since you can't afford to leave the top walls, since you have to defend your flag. I think that you have the extra points, so it wouldn't hurt to draft a figure or squad for this purpose. The Airborne Elite with the drop and an initiative win should be able to take out Dan in a single round, and DW 8000 probably stands a pretty good chance with his rapid fire. If you throw a couple of shots its way, you might even get the DW9000 also.

Also, when you are up on points but low on activations, it probably behooves you to take a lot of figures that can not have any markers on them, but still add to the defense. you would probably benefit from dropping Pormenio and the Sacred Band and picking up Thorgrim and possibly some Knights. Thorgrim is nice because he can happily stand on your wall adding a def die to everyone next to him and nobody wants to shoot him. Plus, if you do need to repel invaders he bonds with the knights. And its no huge loss if he dies, since his spirit could add to Syv or the agents defense.

In a straight fight, I dont think that one person will ever overcome two people without a more significant point advantage. Sallying forth loses you the advantage of the castle that has to overcome the order marker shortage you have.

Again, these are all just thoughts. I'll let you know on Saturday what I really think of the scenario.

[LilNewbie]

Thanks for posting the BR.

I agree with Bobbo.

First, you are getting one activation for two activations of the enemy so you need to mitigate that advantage by taking units that have bonding or units that have a chance to go multiple times per activation. This is key.

Second, removing his threat of long range by either removing the long range units from the game or by not giving him any targets to shoot at.

I like the idea of the Major being the door gaurd. He is tough and can lock most figures down. Nice choice.

Newb.