Khadoran Forces Routed By Stunty Dwarves

Ok, so I started this blog because I lose far more games than I ever win.  And rather than becoming frustrated and stop playing games, I would restrain my discouragement and learn from my mistakes.  Well, this was one of the most discouraging battles I have ever fought.  Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, I forgot my camera so I used my cell phone pics.

Khadoran Forces

•  Forward Kommander Sorscha
•   Beast 09
•   Devestator
•   War Dog
•   Kayazy Assasins (9 + Leader)
•   Kayazy Underboss
•   Winter Guard (9 + Leader)
•   Winter Guard Infantry Officer and Standard
•   Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich

Seaforge Commission Forces

•   Durgen Madhammer
•    Ghordson Driller
•   Wroughthammer Rockram
•   Herne and Jonne
•   Horgenhold Forge Guard (9 + Leader)
•   Ogrun Bokur
•   Ogrun Bokur
•   Thor Steinhammer
•   Ghordson Avalancher

This is how the battle looked at the start

Turn 1

We began by advancing forward.  Seaforge moved first.  Peter moved into some cover and set up his barrage of ranged death.  His total force was set up on the premise that if he could rain death down on my advance, he would be able to destroy me before I could get to him.  Khador moved second.  I activated Sorscha and  I cast Iron Flesh on my WG units.   I ran the WG forward.  Kovnik Joe moved next and  gave a rousing speech that made them fearless and tough.  Courage of the Forefathers!  My assassins advanced on the left flank at a full run, and my jacks moved up.  Beast 09 ran forward and my Devastator (who was bonded to Sorscha) moved as well.  So far so good.  My WG units had a defense of 17 (12 + 3 for iron flesh and +2 for bob and weave from my unit commander).

Turn 2

On turn 2, Peter unleashed some bombarding fire.  It didn't seem to do all that much.  Killed two of my WG units.  He took a couple of pot shots knowing they would miss so that he could get blast damage from the shots.  Some of his units can get three blast shots from one shot.  The luck gods were with him, because each shot he fired scattered in the exact direction he wanted to hit the majority of my figures.  I blame myself for not spreading them out more or double ranking them.  On my turn I ran some more, repositioned my assassins, and again cast Iron Flesh.  I took a shot at his Avalancher, but did minimal damage.   Now we were in his sweet spot.

Turn 3

Peter popped his feat.  His Bombs Away gives every blast attack an extra die on blast attack and damage rolls.  Even with my defense of 17, and tough, my WG unit was decimated along with Kovnik Joe. You see my plan was to get my assassins up close to move through his army to attack his caster.  This was not going to happen, because their defense was simply too light.  And with his Explosivo, and the other multiple ways he can make AOE attacks it was likely he would just wipe them up.  So I changed tactics.  

I repositioned my assassins, and moved Sorscha and my jacks into hopeful striking range.

Turn 4

This was the last turn.  Peter took some shots against my jacks and Sorscha, but their armor was too tough.  He took out 2 assassins and protected his caster.  His last spell on his caster was Inhospitable Ground.  This meant the terrain was rough for me to advance into.  This is where I get screwed up.  Now my options were there, but I couldn't do them in the right order.  I needed to get rid of his guards, but to do that I had to activate my jack and then send Sorscha up to put the final kill.  I couldn't activate my jack to get there without first activating Sorscha to cast a spell that would allow the jack to move far enough.  My assassins could move, but they needed pathfinder, which again meant activating Sorscha first.  It was 12:30, so in the end, I popped my feat, activated Sorscha and charged with her.  I hoped I could get rid of the one blocking model and then do two attacks on his caster.  Well, this was folly.  So Peter won with a well put together force and he used his spells and abilities optimally.

Recap

I am sure there were other strategies I could take to use this force better.  I have never used Sorscha, but I did have a feel for how to use her.  I think the bottom line is that I just suck at tactics.  I just don't get it.  I am a pretty smart person, but unless I can see it and figure it out, or have someone ask/question/show me what I am doing wrong, I won't figure it out.  I can't get it on my own, it seems.  This battle reminded me a lot of AT43 with the indirect fire being the king of the battlefield.  I do like Khador's theme, and the abilities of its casters, I am just not good at making them work against an opponent.  Well, I remain restrained in my discouragement.