Bayou Battles Round 5 BR

So now I'm sitting at 2-1-1 and probably out of the running for everything but maybe players choice and/or best army. 3-1-1 might be enough for a 3rd overall, depending on how everyone else fairs. But with so many players at 3-0-1 going into this round that is a long shot at best.

So I'm off just to enjoy the battle and have a good time. I get to my final table and I'm sitting across from another Bretonian army. His army looked like this:

Bret Lord, Virtue of Purity, Gilded Cuirass, Sword of Might, Hippogryph
Paladin BSB with War Banner, Virtue of Duty
Paladin Virtue of Discipline, Sword of Heroes
Damsel of the Lady Chalice of Malfleur, D.scroll

8 KoR, full command
9 Knights Errant, full command, Errantry banner
20 Men at arms, halberd, LA, Sh, standard, musc
8 Peasent Bowmen
9 Questing knights, full command
3 Pegasus Knights, champ, musc
8 Grail knights, standard, musc, Conqueror Tapestry

I'd barely sat down and met Chris Jackson, my opponent, when Chris started fawning all over my miniatures. I always love this of course and showed them off proudly. We then rolled for table sides and sat down, when Chris got a phone call that he had to take. As he disappeared, I was a bit miffed at first but after a couple minutes, I relaxed and took a bit of a nap, which I think helped me a whole lot.

When he returned, we set up and he played very fast, so the loss of 10-15 mins never factored in. And my nap helped me much more.

On the right side of the table were 2 woods about 12" from each table edge and 18" from the right side of the board. On the left was a small tower and a hill in his deployment zone. He put his archers on the hill and his Grail knights next to them on the flank. On the right flank he put his 20 men at arms and his pegasus knights.
His 3 Lances took up the middle and his Lord on Hippogriff was next to the hill with the archers.

He of course prays and I take the first turn.

Turn 1a: Remembering how well my tactics worked for game 1 I thought I'd try it again. So I ran my giant rats/hounds out as fast as they would go, and my Rat Ogres/Minotaurs were following a few inches back.
Herd on left heads for the building, herd on the right runs into the woods.
Furies land on the tower roof. With skirmished and hard cover, I feel pretty safe.

Turn 1b: Chris and his Brets don't take the bait. Even his Errant knights at -2 Ld hold back their charge. So he only moves up a few inches and thats it. Flies his Peg knights to the far right table edge.
His archers shoot at my furies and do nothing.

Turn 2a: Since he didn't have any charges, my Rat Ogres are still behind my giant rat shields. So the only charge was furies into the archers. He stands and shoots. Needing an even higher number to hit, (now 8's and 9's) he gets 2 hits, and 2 wounds. I then fail 2 ward saves. Ugghhh, he makes his fear test and has the hill crest. I figure this won't last long.

My herd wanting to head into the safety of the building fails its unruly and heads straight for the Lord on Hippogriff instead. Ugghhh!!

On the left flank I run the hounds right in front of the Grail knights and angle them towards the board edge. I line up my 4 Rat Ogres and chariot to get a flank charge when he is forced to charge with them.

On the right flank I move 3 Rat Ogres up to face off his men at arms but keeping the pegs in front. I keep the herd in the woods behind them. I also run the chaos spawn that direction.
My other spawn moves right in front of the Lord on hippogriff. And my 2 hounds in the center went right up to the lances and angled to my right.

In combat, my furies lose combat killing only 1 archer and losing one myself, but roll a 4 and hold out.

Turn 2b: Charge with everything!!!
Grail knights do a bold move and charge the herd that failed unruly so he can wheel to avoid the hounds to hit the herd in the middle of the board easily 14-15" away. Lord on Big bird charges the spawn.
Knights of the Realm with both paladins charge 1 hound unit.
Questing knights and knights errant charge the hounds on the far right.

My herd flees the grail knights. My hounds on the right flee the 2 lances and the questing knights skirting the woods catch them. The knights errant running right through the woods, don't and are caught up on the edge of the woods.
My spawn and other hounds stand and take it.

His pegausus fly to my half of the table on the right flank and by my herd in the woods. Not sure if he forgot they were skirmished and have 360 LoS or if he thought the peg knights could hold them.

In combat the lord and bird manage only 1 wound on the spawn. And the spawn gives a wound back on the bird, but it makes its ward save.
The knights destroy the giant rats, and choose to overrun. This protects the flank of the questing knights but if he doesn't run far enough he is in trouble. He runs only 10" and is at an angle, right between Ratspawn and a unit of 3 Rat Ogres.

In the fury combat, we both whiff. I lose by 1 and roll low enough that I only lose 1 model. So 1 fury left.

Turn 3a: Counter Charge!!
On left flank, 4 Rat Ogres and chariot into flank of grail knights.
Hounds move up to charge archers next round.

On right flank, spawn moves into Men at arms, herd charges out of woods and into pegasus knights. 3 Rat Ogres move up to get flank on men at arms next round.

In the middle, 4 Rat Ogres into front of questing knights. 3 Rat Ogres into flank of Knights of the Realm. And then I had to make a choice. I could squeeze in Ratspawn and group into the flank of the Questing knights, but it would be messy with all the other models. Or I could hit the front of the KoR unit with BSB and hero with sword of heroes. I decided it was better to take out the hero. Plus I'm thinking if I break them, the 3 Rat Ogres will hit his lord on the flank.

I forget completely that my chariot behind my 3 Rat Ogres could easily see over them to see the hippogriff. I could have charged into his flank. So in the magic phase I try to cast the beast movement spell, but he dispels it.
My herd rallies.

In combat, the Grail knights are butchered, broken and run down.
The lord kills off the spawn.
The other spawn does only 1 wound, and suffers a wound to their halberds.
My herd kills off a peg knight, wins combat, but he holds.

In the middle, my 4 Rat Ogres (only 3 can get into combat because of their small 75mm front) on his questing knights do a lot of wounds, but after all his armor and ward saves I only kill 1. He then does a couple wounds, and breaks my Rat Ogres. Ugghh, running them down.

Finally, Ratspawn issues a challenge. I figure he will accept with the hero with sword of heroes, but his champion accepts instead. I shrug and do a wound to his champ and tack on another 5 wounds from the hellfire sword. He then asks what the toughness of my Rat Ogre/Minotaurs are. I say Toughness 4 and you can see the air deflate out of him. He was thinking they were toughness 5 for some reason and he would slice through them like butter.
When the dust cleared, there were 2 knights and his 2 heroes left. I can killed off 6 knights plus my overkill. He does kill 1 Rat Ogre in Ratpsawns body guard, but breaks and runs.
My Rat Ogres pursue, but for some reason I decide to have Ratspawn restrain. Another huge mistake.

Turn 3b: Its not over till its over.
His lord charges my herd. He rallies his 2 heroes and KoR.
He turns his questing knights to face the rear of Ratspawns unit. He turns his Knights Errant to face the front but off to the right.

In combat, the peg knights lose another knight but hold again.
The Lord on bird kills off several gors and I do only 1 wound back on the bird. He wins by 2. Needing a 7 not to break, I fail, and am caught and run down.
The spawn kills a few more men at arms.

Turn 4a: Save Ratspawn time.
After having lost Ratspawn in the last game, I really didn't want to lose him here. Even if I moved a full 6" I couldn't get away from the double lance charge. If I turned around, I'm still getting it. My only hope was to charge something and then pursue it out of range. The only thing even close was the knights errant.
I looked at it for a long time and decided it was worth the risk. I had to wheel 5" and was then 6 and 3/4" out. But I made it. Whew!!!
Chariot and Rat Ogres into the knights of the realm
Rat Ogres and hounds charge the archers.

I turn my 3 Rat Ogres on the far flank around to face the questing knights rear instead of charging the men at arms.
Turn my chariot around to face his lord.

In combat, I wound the champ peg knight, he finally breaks, I let him go and he flees off the board.
I hack down the archers who are broken and chased down.
Chariot and Rat Ogres kill off the rest of the KoR and the BSB. Only the hero left, he does a couple wounds but then runs off the board.
I kill a few more men at arms.

Finally, Ratspawn. I really need to break him or Ratspawn gets it in the rear hard.
I challenge, he is forced to accept. I kill the champ but only 1 overkill from the sword. I then kill off only 1 more knight. He does only 1 wound. So I have 3 wounds, banner, and I have US 15, to his 14. I win by 1 and with US, he needs insane courage. He fails and I pursue out of charge range of the questing knights. Errant knights get away.

Turn 4b: The game is over at this point. All Chris has left is his lord on bird, questing knights, men at arms and fleeing knights errant.
He rallies his knights errant lance.
He turns his questing knights to face my 3 Rat Ogres.
He flies his Lord on bird up behind his lance for a countercharge support.

In combat, my spawn kills a few more men at arms, he wounds my spawn. It is now getting close to the point where I'll win combat soon.

Turn 5a: Time to finish this off.
Ratspawn into knights errant
3 Rat Ogres into questing knights.

Chariot into his lord. I'm hoping my impact hits will kill the bird, leaving his lord on foot. No such luck as I fail my terror test twice and flee with the chariot.

I turn my other units around from his board edge and move closer to the middle.
I run my herd back into the woods.

In magic I use my wild call spell from the staff of Darkoth on my herd to charge the questing knights in the flank. I roll a 14 on 3d6. With only 2 dispel dice left, he fails the double 6 roll and in they go.

Ratspawn easily kills off the errants and off the board they go.
spawn kills another man at arms and is still losing combat.

Finally the questing knights. I commence to put a severe whooping on him and all his good luck with ward saves went away as I killed off 6 knights leaving only 2 left alive. Needing insane courage to stay... HE MAKES IT!!

Turn 5b: The Lord on bird charges into the flank of my herd. He kills off several gors, but I do another wound to his bird. His knights kill off a Rat Ogre, but with their 6 str 6 attacks back, I take out the last of the questing knights.
I win combat by a couple, but his lord holds.
Spawn whiffs.

Turn 6a: 3 Rat Ogres charge flank of men at arms.
Everyone else moves to capture table quarters, 2 Rat Ogres who just finished killing questing knights, move so if lord on bird breaks the herd, he will not hit me.
chariot rallies.

In combat, he kills off all but three ungors, shaman and wargor. I do another wound to the bird killing it.

The men at arms crumble from the flank charge and are chased down.

Turn 6b: Lord kills off rest of the herd. Wargor puts a wound on the lord. He wins combat, by 1, the wargor and shaman hold.

End of the game, its a massacre Beasts: 19, Bretts: 6.
I lost the point for not killing his general.

GT final thoughts coming soon.

Until next time...