Game Night Battle Reports

[DoomCarrot]

Managed to get a few guys together for a game of heroscape: one was slightly experienced, the other two were complete noobies. I made a large mirrored map, with a large river running down the center from start zone to start zone.

The "South" side of the river between the start zones was on low ground, but covered with road and ruins, viable for speedy movement and cover from range. The "North" side of the river was a large hill spotted with a few trees but little cover else to be found. A one hex wide bridge ran across the river between these North and South sections.

To make things interesting, there were two glyphs of brandar placed, one in the ruins, and one on the Northern hill. Rules were simple:

2 vs 2 game, until one team can hold both glyphs for an entire round or until one team is decimated.

To make it fair, we put one of the new players on either team, and played via draft.

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My army:
Marro Warriors: 50
Tor-Kul-Na: 220
Nagrubs: 30

Total: 300
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My ally:
Ne-Gok-Sa: 90
Charos: 210

Total: 300
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Experienced Enemy (EE):
Krav Maga Agents: 100
raelin: 80
Marrden Hounds: 90

Total: 270
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Enemy Noob (EN):
Major Q10: 150
Knights of Weston: 70
Finn: 80

Total: 300
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My ally and I quickly strategized. We decided he should go for the hill, having hardier units less susceptible to range, while I go for the ruins, where my warriors and nagrubs would have plenty of cover while Tor-Kul-Na has enhanced road movement to max out his trample stomp.

Our opponent's took a different approach. EE sent the krav-maga and Raelin straight towards the hill to skirmish against the dragon, while EN sent his Viking-led vanguard of knights to take the ruins.

I beat it to the ruins with my marro warriors, and scattered them throughout to slow down the knights down should they arrive before tor-kul-na. Do to the tricky terrain, Charos had a hard time finding places to land on the hill, and the Krav Maga quickly reached the top, taking a few shots and managing to put 2 wounds on the dragon. Unexpectedly, EN hesitated with his knights, instead putting order markers on Q10 to march him up the hill where he smelled blood.

We decided to stick to our strategy. There was no turning back now. The river effectively made travel between North/South impossible unless you wanted to take the risk of spending a turn on a low bridge. I pressed forward with Tor-Kul-Na, putting him on the road just outside the ruins. My nagrubs took cover from the Krav and Q10's pistols on the other side of the river.

EE flew raelin in to cover her krav. My ally marched Ne-Gok-Sa up to the crest of the hill to draw fire away from Charos. EN again moved in with his knights, close to the outskirts of the ruins. I took a turn with the marro, moving one outside the ruins to take a worthless shot at Q10, while two more took some shots at approaching knights. All miss.

With initiative, EN responded with Q10 mowing down the aggressive marro warrior outside the ruins. I responded by marching Tor-Kul-Na and his pets into the heart of the ruins. A nagrub grabbed the glyph in the ruins.

EE moved his krav in a slight retreat, taking some shots at Ne-Gok-Sa but all miss. We face a difficult choice now. My ally can get Ne-Gok-Sa onto the hill glyph on his first turn, but with Q10 and the krav only some spaces away, it is unlikely he will survive the round. My ally decides to bypass the glyph and go straight for the firing squad of krav, engaging one of them.

I am distracted by a friend playing another game, and when I turn back EN is already rolling attack dice at Ne-Gok-Sa with Q10. I ask my ally, "Wait, did you roll for mindshackle?"

"CRAP! No, I didn't."

There is some laughter and we decide it is too late to go back, with attack dice already being rolled by another player. My ally jokingly rolls the D20 just for the laughs: It lands on a 20.

There are some moans and jokes thrown around by all of us. I'll have to keep a closer eye on my teamate's moves from here on!

Q10 managed to put a hit on the warlord. I fire with the marro at Finn, and manage to put two hits on him.

The krav move next, two of them getting away from Ne-Gok-Sa. The engaged one karate chops at the marro, but he deflects it with his metal arm. The other two krav open fire on Charos again, still stuck on the edge of the hill, and put another wound on him. My ally seems to be struggling against the numbers.

He finally moves Charos onto the hill and engages Raelin and a second krav. Finally the skirmishers are getting pinned down. He puts two wounds on Raelin.

EN is frightened, both by the advancing dragon in the North, and by my strong marro force in the ruins. He decides to fall into full retreat with his knights, abandoning the ruin campaign entirely. Questionable move.

Somehow a krav died, I don't quite remember how. Anyways, a new round started, and EN moves Q10 into the fray on top of the hill, firing some rockets at charos, but Charos' superior defence holds strong.

Seeing the knights in retreat, I decide to send TKN up the bridge into the true battle. No point sitting around here while my ally takes fire from two opponents at once.

The Krav try to kill Ne-Gok-Sa, and manage to land a hit on him.

Charos engages basically everyone at once, taking a wound from flying disengagement, but kills Raelin.

Q10 fires rockets into Charos' side, and puts three wounds on him. Not good. The dragon is close to dead.

Then my reinforcements arrive. nagrubs engage one of the krav, killing him, and tor-kul-na moves adjacent to Q10, putting two wounds on him.

The final Krav tries to flee down the hill, and shoots down a nagrub in the process. Ne-Gok-Sa engages Q10, but both mindshackle and his attack fail. Meanwhile, the knights retreat farther, practically returning to the start zone, hoping to prepare for a final wave with the hounds.

Tor-Kul-Na kills Q10, and the nagrubs disperse to grab the two glyphs, now that we own both the hill and the ruins.

A final, desperate round. Knights charge towards the ruin while the hounds charge up the hill... Not really sure what the purpose of the knight's retreat even was at this point...

I take both glyphs and charge the hivelord down the hill, slaughtering a wulsuni. My ally uses a spent Charos do deal with a second.

The last hound manages to put one wound on Tor-kul-na while the knights charge towards the edge of the ruins once more. I abandon the glyph strategy to move a nagrub into the squad of knights, protecting my marro warriors for some time. Tor-Kul-Na kills the last hound, while Ne-Gok-Sa and the last nagrub move towards the bridge to reinforce the ruins.

The knights kill the annoying nagrub that engaged them, only for Charos to land between them and the ruins while Tor-Kul-Na charges through the enemy start zone and comes up behind the knights. The last nagrub gets into the ruins. The flash of activity leaves a dead Finn, and no one to place the soul on.

Our opponents formally surrendered. In fun sport, we start a new round anyways, and his knights attack Charos, but the counterstrike leaves two dead while the other two have fled to deal with the approaching hivelord from their rear.

Tor-Kul-Na easily crushes them underfoot. A pure and simple elimination victory.



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Looking back, my marro warriors didn't do much except draw some fire. As was the case with Ne-Gok-Sa. Our two giants did the heavy lifting.

However, our opponents strategies faltered badly. Why they saved their hounds for such a desperate, uphill battle is curious. Furthermore, why EN retreated with his knights is even more curious. Yes, his knights would have died against my marro, but had I not been allowed to leave the ruins to reinforce my ally, charos and ne-gok-sa probably would have gone down, and it would have been me fighting an uphill battle against ranged units. Not good for us. By retreating with the knights, they wasted many order markers and allowed me to reinforce the battle for the hill.

Of course, we made some dumb mistakes too. I wasted a marro trying to wound Q10, and my ally forgot a mindshackle role that probably would have quickly ended the game, but ultimately, those things turned out inconsequential.


All in all, I think the two new players learned some valuable lessons:

Charos and Tor-Kul-Na are serious players. If your up against both at once, you better be commanding some serious players yourself.