Age of Sigmar: Spearhead - Sylvaneth and Nighthaunt in Dolorum

For the first game of the year, Amanda and I played a game of Age of Sigmar in the Spearhead format. I am less keen on Spearhead these days, but I had recently finished painting the Nighthaunt Cursed Shacklehorde, so Amanda gathered her Sylvaneth Bitterbark Copse and gave battle. We played in Shyish using the Sand & Bone gaming pack and fought in Dolorum. 

Amanda found it a little confusing to switch back to Spearhead, because so many things are just slightly different than regular Age of Sigmar, which she was just starting to get her head around... 

I've liked trying to type up narrative reports for these games, rather than simply a play by play of what was going on in the game... but it's so hard to make up any sort of narrative that makes sense of the wild back and forth movements to snatch objective areas from opponents from turn to turn in games of Spearhead. So... 

Amanda was the attacker and chose to go second, which was probably a mistake. The Nighthaunts are CRAZY fast and on my first turn I was across the table and fighting all her forces in her territory vying for control of the objectives in her territory... and scoring a lot of points in the process. 

The Twist for there first round was players scored a bonus victory point for each friendly unit in combat at the end of their turn. 

Harald, the Spirit Torment, General of the Cursed Shacklehorde failed his charge roll and was kind of left behind...  (calling this Spirit Torment Harald because that's the name of Amanda's Spirit Torment character in our What We Do in the Realm of Shadows role-playing campaign) 

The Chainghasts charged the Tree-Revenants on one of the objectives I was holding a victory point card for... they REALLY needed the Spirit Torment to have joined them to a) hopefully destroy a few Tree-Revenants and b) provide a few more control points...  

The Dreadblade Harrows charged the Treelord, hoping to distract the Treelord from the Chaingasts and/or score the "be within 3" of the enemy long edge" scoring card which I also held. 

The rest charged the Kurnothi Hunters and Branchwych... 

So my whole army (less the Spirit Torment General) Was deep in enemy territory on round one engaging them on their objective markers... 

I ended up scoring 7 points at the end of my turn... three for units engaged two or three for objectives...? and one or two for cards. 

By the end of her turn which followed Amanda had killed both the Dreadblade Harrows and the Chainghasts... 

and I'd killed the Branchwych... 

And the Kurnothi had used Strike and Fade to teleport out of combat... so she gained NO points for units in combat (the twist bonus), two for holding objectives and one for cards... 

which put me in a four point lead at the end of the first round... 

At the beginning of the second turn, Amanda won the Priority Roll and decided to take a double turn (going first in Round Two after going second in the first). The penalty for this was not being able to draw new cards.. but she was still holding two from the previous turn, so.. 

All her army on the move... 

and then suddenly converging on Harald! 

Seriously, I though naming my General Harald - after her character in the role-playing game, saying this was back before the campaign when Harald lead an entire army, would mean my General would be safe and Amanda would leave him be! Not so!!

LUCKILY, I was holding the card with the command ability "translucent flesh" which makes any attacks that target a selected unit not cound any rolls of 1-2-3 to hit or wound!? This TOTALLY saved Harald!!

And then he retreated out of there as quick as he could on my next turn! Running for the protection of a reserve unit of Dreadscythe Harridans that had just entered the field of battle, seizing one of the Sylvaneth's objectives! 

The Sylvaneth split up and went off to seize other objective and destroy other units of mine... 

The Treelord went after the remains of the Dreadscythe Harridan unit that had started on the table at the beginning of the game. 

Both the Dreadscythe Harridans and Bladegheist Revenants - which are normally fielded in units of 10, in regular Age of Sigmar - are broken up into two units of five and one of each of those units remains in reserve at the beginning of the game and starting on Round Two I can bring ONE of them on as reserves in my movement phase... 

Kurnoth Hunters and Tree-Revenants went after the Bladegheist Revenants... but both failed charge rolls. 

The Treelord did not and the last of those Dreadscythe Harridans were destroyed! 

The following turn the Tree-Revenants charged the Bladegheist Revenants and did them in over two turns of fighting.

The Kurnoth Hunters moved on an obejective I was holding with two reinforcement Dreadscythe Harridans.. They didn't charge. They didn't need to... they each had a toe on the Objective and had a higher control score, so they flipped the control on that objective at the end of their turn... 

Having secured the objective in the corner, the Treelord returned to the middle of the battlefield to secure the objective there... Some newly arrived Bladegheist Revenant reserves charged the massive creature thinking they might take it down... 

ha... 

Dreadscythe Harridans weren't going to take that objective back just standing there and charged... and one got destroyed, further consolodating the Sylvaneth hold on the objective (kind of forgot the Kurnoth had FIVE WOUNDS and 4+ saves... ) 

The Dreadscythe Harridans joined in... but they couldn't even carve their initials on that giant tree, let along fell it! 

that last Bladegheist Revenant went down fighting... and took exactly ZERO Tree-Revenants with them... it kept dealing ONE damage... which the Tree-revenants would immediately heal at the end of the turn after the Combat Phase because they were within 3" of Terrain!?

I did manage to squeak out a victory - in terms of victory points (20-16) - largely because I'd take that lead in the first round and then we both scored about the same every turn for the rest of the game - Amanda slowly scoring more each round, me slowly scoring less... but she just couldn't score enough to catch up! There was very little left of my force at the end of the game... while most of Amanda's army was still on the field of battle... If more rounds were played I'd have certainly lost! 

I'd really like to try these out in regular Age of Sigmar - as a Path to Glory force... I'm not sure they'd be all that effective, but I think they'd be fun and interesting!!

I'm quite behind on game reports... I have several drafts for games played in December (and one from October?!) that I'd like to finish up!? There is the Finale for the Ravaged Coast campaign, two episodes of the What We Do in the Realm of Shadows role-playing game, two Warhammer Quest: Cursed City Journeys - hunting down Kritza the Rat Prince, the aforementioned Bolt Action game played in October, and a test game of Warhammer Quest: Darkwater?!

I hope I get a chance to get a few of them done this week. I'd REALLY like to, at least, get the Warhammer Quest: Cursed City reports done BEFORE the next Cursed City game on Tuesday! We shall see... 

Spearhead: Dogs and Bones in the Realm of Death

On Wednesday afternoon I got in a couple of games of Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Spearhead with my friend Orion! 

The first game I played my brand new Blades of Khorne - Fangs of the Blood God army. Orion brought her regular Soulblight Gravelords - Bloodcrave Hunt. She has a NEW Soulblight Gravelords army - the Deathrattle Tomb Host - but they're not painted yet! 

I won the roll off and decided to be the attacker. As Defender, Orion chose to play on the Dolorum side of the game board from the Sand & Bone Gaming Pack, chose side and the deployment map and all that... and then the Horde of Khorne Dogs starts swarming across the batlefield - so fast were they that I didn't get to take a pictures of their initial dispositions!?

On the first turn of Round One, Karanak, the Hound of Vengeance, sent forth do hunt down that which gained the ire of the God of Blood himself, had found it's quarry... 

Other Flesh Hounds circled round to block her escape.

Karanak moved in and shredded the Vampire... 

So... that's it.. Quarry hunted down and destroyed! Mission Accomplished! WE can all go.. 

wait... what...? 

We have to play three and a half MORE rounds?! 

Uggggggghhhh... finnnnne... 

So, elsewhere... 

The Claws of Karanak and the other pack of Flesh Hounds had charged the Deathrattle Skeletons sitting on the objective on the other flank... because I guess that's a thing they could do... Not much blood to spill... but dogs like bones, I guess! 

Unfortunately they were a little to exhuberant in their charge and got a little too close to the Blood Knights who were lurking just to the rear... 

On MY turn, before they even got to swing one of their big chopping blades, the Blood Knights utterly wiped out my Claws of Karanak. 

Then on their turn, they finished off the unit of Flesh Hounds! 

At the beginning of the Second Round Karanak and the surviving unit of Flesh Hounds, smelling fresh blood... of their compatriots being slaughtered, charged across the battlefield to attack the Blood Knights! 

(Also... if Blood Knights are allowed to charge... they are SAVAGE... so better to charge them and hope for the best... get them stuck in...) 

Despite not charging the battle was savage and bloody... 

and then they weren't there anymore!? They were just suddenly across the battlefield stealing some other objective...? (stupid battle tactics cards...) 

A fresh unit of the Claws of Karanak arrived to take back an objective... 

Only to get charged by the Blood Knights again... 

ONE of them survived the initial attacks... and then the Horses went and the last one died... again... 

Karanak and the last remaining Flesh Hound decided to chew on some bones... 

Flesh Hounds attacks... needing a 4+ to hit... in case you were wondering how the fancy new Khorne dice were working out for me... same as always... 

And then it was Round Three and the Vargheists showed up and finished off the last Flesh Hound and sent Karanak back to the Brass Palace in the Realm of the Blood God... 

End of Round Three... 

Tabled. 

Round Four I did get to bring on reinforcements... 

And they charged down and shredded a unit of Deathrattle Skeletons... well... all but ONE... which prevented me from scoring another point. 

The Soulbights "won" the game, I guess... even though Karanak slayed the quarry, which, narratively, is all the Daemonic manifestation of Khorne's wrathful vengeance cares about, really... so... 

Orion ended the game with 20 victory points and I had 15. Which, is pretty much as good as I could have expected. 

The Fangs of the Blood God are not the strongest of Spearhead armies... they have a lot of attacks... if they get to use them... but they aren't particularly accurate or hard hitting and they have next to NO read (reducing armour saves) except for Karanak... They have crap saves and not a lot of health. they do have a 6+ ward save... but that doesn't do much. 

They DO all have the reinforcements keyword (with the exception of Karanak)... but only one unit of reinforcements can be brought on per round... and there are only four rounds... But if your units start being wiped out on Round One... you can bring one back every turn for the rest of the game...? Yay...? 

Looking back at these pictures here... I'm wondering if I may have forgotten to bring back one of my units of Flesh Hounds...? Ah, well. Maybe I just forgot to take a picture of it...? Got rode down by the Blood Knights so fast I didn't get a chance...? I don't know. 

It's always fun playing with Orion, so... 

This one went quick enough and we had some time so we played a SECOND game... but I'll write that up in a second game report! 

Age of Sigmar: Spearhead - Lizards and Trees Clash in Shyish!

The day after my game with Orion, last week, I rolled back out to the Warhammer Store to play a quick game with John! I have another game planned for tomorrow, so I thought I'd best get this game report done, before I get TOO FAR behind on these again! 

John played with the store's Seraphon Starscale Warhost. Lots of BIG LIZARDS! 

All set up and ready to go. 

The Seraphon took the first turn and Kroxigors and Saurus Oldblood General (on a CARNOCAUR!) charged the Treelord and one of the units of Tree-Revenants. 

Some damage was dealt to the Treelord. The Treelord smashed on of the Kroxigor into pasted and the Carnosaur ate the entire unit of Tree-Revenants!? Even the Branchwych took some damage from... I don't know... lightning that shot out of one of the lizards fists...? Or something...? 

I think this was save rolls for the Tree-Revenants (5+ normally, but everything in the Seraphon army has at least Rend 1...) 

At the end of the turn, the Treelord and Branchwych remembered to use lay lines to heal one, then the Treelord slipped away using Strike and Fade. 

On my turn The Tree-Revenants charged the Kroxigor and finished off a second one. They charged in mostly just to prevent them and the Carnosaur from charging the Branchwych on their next turn! 

The Treelord charged one of the units of Saurus Warriors... 

Finally some completely average rolls meant the Treelord took two damage and squashed half the units of Saurus Warriors! 

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!  On the Seraphon's second turn the Carnosaur and remaining Kroxigor ate the second unit of Tree-Revenants... 

A second unit of Saurus Warriors charged in to join the battle with the Treelord... I kind of expected it to go more or less the same as the previous round... take a few wounds, finish off the first unit of Saurus Warriors... 

And then I started rolling again like I usually do... 

The Treelord's attacks... 

All his attacks hit on 4+ and wound on 2+... so... one hit... and then i rolled a one to wound.. 

Not. One. Wound. dealt... 

And then the Saurus Warriors chopped down the Treelord... WTF!? 

The Treelord has a 3+ Save... The Saurus DO have Rend -1, but still, that leaves the Treelord at 4+ for a save - it should, statistically, reduce the hits in half... 

They did their attacks, I could not roll anything higher than three... 

The last Kroxigor chased down the Branchwych General

and pulped her... 

The Kurnothi Hunters managed to murder a few Saurus Warriors... 

Carnosaur and General moved up... 

So the Kurnothi fucked off in a different direction using Strike and Fade, again, bringing them to where the Treelord was returning (using handy battle tactic card!) 

The Kurnothi Hunters managed to seize an objective and shoot up and finish off a Saurus Warrior unit

Treelord also managed to survive the Carnosaurs inevitable attacks and seized an objective on my last turn...

The game ended with the Seraphon winning 18-15 (which, I think, was the same score I had in Orions game the day before!?) 

While I did manage to remember to use Ley Lines a few times, it looks like i COMPLETELY FORGOT that Tree-Revenants can be brought back as reinforcements?! DOH!? 

I've wondered why the Treelord isn' the General in the Sylvaneth army. They are Heroes in regular Age of Sigmar, so they can be the General in a Sylvaneth army. I guessed maybe they didn't want to make the General TOO deadly AND hard to kill in Spearhead...? And then I played against the Seraphon... Sweet Jiminiy that Carnosaur riding Oldblood is nasty!!