This battle report covers the third of three scenarios concerning control of a gold mine. In this scenario-- Khudu's Heroes-- player 1 has four pallets of gold that must be delivered to the control terrain in the middle (representing the processing center). Player 2 has to steal the gold and bring it to his or her deployment zone. While dragging a pallet of gold, your movement rate is reduced by two points. This makes cavalry very important. The full rules for working with gold pallets are as follows.
The army composition for this scenario is 10,000 build points, of which no more than half can be custom units.
In this scenario Nate played a Han army and I played a Roman army.
Thanks to Stormrider, four of these units can push to move twice in one turn without downing a figure. This is especially useful for the Tiger's Eye, which as a sortie only consumes 2 order points to do it.
Because there wasn't room in this army for a Call the Iron Rain unit, the artillery units used were normal rather than being based in Way of the Bow. (To the extent that delivering 10 range dice with Good Fortune could be considered normal.)
This army relies on a pair of ballistas to cripple cavalry units that get too close and a pair of 7th Legion Chargers and the Golden Wolves unit to carry gold pallets. The army is rounded out by an artillery unit and a trio of Gallic striker sorties.
The scenario has a single Tower Control Terrain on one side with hindering terrain above and below it. Various blocking terrain items surround it.
I won the dice-off and chose player 1.
The gold pallets (the sorties with pictures of gold bars mounted on them) had to be placed on the far side of the marker in my deployment zone. I didn't want to mount them to the front of the cavalry units, since in order to turn I would have to place the turning tool on a side notch, doubling the cost. As a result, my two 7th Legion Chargers started each with a gold pallet on its side. The other two pallets were placed on the Hammer Incendia and the Golden Wolves. On the near side of the marker, I placed the Sagitarii Column, the two Hammers of Mars, the Steel of Savros, the Ballista Velox, and the Ballista Invictus.
Nate put Khudu's Place on his far left with a Flame Strikers in front, and a unit of Nomadic Skirmishers in a group by itself nearby. In the center, he placed another Flame Strikers and the Nomadic Riders mounted artillery. Nate was a group containing the terra cotta Honor Division with the Tiger's Eye and the Phoenix Squad in front of it. The two Raven Columns were on the his far right.
As the player with the gold, I had the ambush turn.
The scenario is designed so that you can't get a gold pallet to the control terrain on the first turn. The fastest units all move 6 with a gold pallet attached, and even pushing they are going to come up short because they have to start on the far half of the deployment zone. Since the control point is surrounded by hindering rather than blocking terrain, Nate was able to put his archers into position to shoot into oblivion anything that got too close. So, the operative strategy was to get a gold-hauler into position to get onto the control point by pushing on the next turn.
I started by moving my slower ballista (Ballista Invictus) closer to the control point so it would have a Direct Fire shot. I then regrouped it for its maximum Direct Fire attack. With my remaining two order points, I stashed a 7th Legion Chargers with an attached gold pallet in position to make a run for the control point next turn.
Nate used his first two order points to position a Raven Column so that it could cover most of the control point.
Next, he used four order points to push the Nomadic Riders into position to shoot the gold-hauling 7th Legion Chargers. Because Stormrider was in effect and the Riders are Xiongnu cavalry, he did not have to down a figure to push. More important, the Chargers would not be able to get past the Riders to deliver the gold. I would have to spend the first part of my turn killing them.
It required one more order point to regroup the Nomadic Riders, since their initial configuration had only 3 ready blue dice. (The Riders actually have 7 range icons, but the card only allows you to use a maximum of 6 at a time, which drove Nate crazy.) Nate chose a configuration that allowed for the maximum defense of 2. The shot was 6 to 0, and he did 3 damage.
The pushed move, regroup and shoot with the Nomadic Riders consumed 7 order points. Nate had 1 left, which he used to move up one of his Flame Strikers.
It was now my first full turn.
I had to kill the Nomadic Riders. I used 2 order points to move the Sagitarii Column into position to shoot them.
The shot was 8 dice to 2. I did 4 damage.
I needed 6 damage to finish off the Nomadic Riders, which at 8 to 2 was a 39% probability. I got 5, leaving the Riders with 1 hit point.
A Direct Fire attack from the Ballista Invictus finished the kill, netting me 2 victory points; however, I had only 2 order points left, which would not be enough to get the gold into the control point.
I used the first of my remaining order points to move a Hammer of Mars into position to assist with attacks on units blocking my path to the control point.
With my last order point, I regrouped the Ballista Velox for its maximum Direct Fire attack.
My turn was over.
Nate didn't want to sacrifice any more units on a delaying action that had no possibility of doing damage, so he spent this turn getting units into position for future maneuvers. First, he moved up his other Raven Column so both of his artillery units were covering the control point and brought the Flame Strikers to join them (3 order points).
Next he moved up the Tiger's Eye up, keeping it behind the blocking terrain (1 more order point).
Four more order points brought out the two Nomadic Skirmishers.
Finally, he used his last two order points to inch forward the far right Raven Column. From this location, it would be able to cover the whole control point, but could not be hit by a ballista Direct Fire attack unless the ballista came around the hindering terrain where it would be exposed to counterattack.
I was now in a position to make my first gold run. I pushed the 7th Legion Chargers to get the gold entirely onto the control point. Because the Chargers had lost a figure in the attack by the Nomadic Riders, they were down to only three figures after the push, making them useless for future gold runs. In addition, Nate had enough firepower in position to completely destroy them next turn.
I gained 5 victory points, making the total 7 to 0 in my favor, and removed the gold from the board. I had 6 order points left.
I used 3 order points to move up the Ballista Velox and the supporting Steel of Savros.
I used two more order points to move my second 7th Legion Chargers into position for another gold run.
With my last order point, I moved up the Hammer Incendia (with its gold pallet attached) to provide Fireburst support.
Nate started his turn by shooting the 7th Legion Chargers with the forward Raven Column. He needed 6 hits and got 8.
After the 2 victory points from the kill, the score was 7 to 2 in my favor.
Nate still had 8 order points left in this turn. He used 4 to push the Nomadic Skirmishers on his left so that they were able to base the 7th Legion Chargers. Again, thanks to Stormrider, this did not require him to down a figure.
Because they had Charger, attacking with Nomadic Skirmishers only cost one order point. The dice roll was 9 to 0. The expected damage from this roll was 6. Even 7 damage would leave the 7th Legion Chargers with enough figures to mount a counterattack and even flee a reasonable distance with the gold. Instead, Nate did 8 damage, reducing them to a single figure.
Nate used his 8th order point to regroup the Nomadic Skirmishers for defense, since a counterattack against them was certain on my next turn. With his remaining two order points he moved up the Phoenix Squad artillery sortie and the Flame Strikers on his left.
It was now my turn. First, I moved the Sagitarii Column to shoot the Nomadic Skirmishers.
The shot was 7 dice to 5, one range die being lost due to the line-of-sight clipping the 7th Legion Chargers (a limitation of the crowded conditions in the vicinity). I did 6 damage, downing three horsemen.
A Fireburst from the nearby Hammer Incendia did 3 more damage, reducing the Nomadic Skirmishers to a single figure.
I wanted to move the Hammer Incendia into base contact with the Skirmishers and finish them with a close combat attack while at the same time moving the Incendia's gold pallet closer to the control point. Unfortunately, the combination of the pallet's slowing effect and the crowded conditions in the area made this impossible. Instead, I moved up the nearest Hammer of Mars.
The dice roll was 9 to 2, the Hammer of Mars getting an extra attack die from Fervor, and I did 5 damage, killing the Nomadic Skirmishers and gaining two more victory points.
The score was now 9 to 2 in my favor. I had three order points left in this turn.
My priority at this point was to get myself more maneuvering room. First, I used one order point to move the Hammer Incendia and its gold pallet over toward the other side of the field.
With another order point, I moved up the Golden Wolves. The Wolves normally move 6, which means they moved 4 with the gold pallet attached.
Finally, I moved my other Hammer of Mars forward so that it was parallel with the Ballista Velox.
Nate decided it was time to bring his Flame Strikers into play, reasoning that he could use them to take my Gallic Hammers out of action. He started with the ones on his right, using two order points to push them into position.
A third order point delivered 3 points of Fireburst damage to the Hammer of Mars.
Two more order points brought the other Flame Strikers into position to Fireburst the other Hammer of Mars.
Nate used his sixth order point to Fireburst the Hammer of Mars for three damage, incidentally splashing the 7th Legion Chargers for one. The splash did not down anything, since the single figure on the Chargers base had two pegs.
With his final four order points, Nate pushed the Nomadic Skirmishers into position to get revenge on whoever attacked the Flame Strikers on his left. Again, because Stormrider was in effect, the push did not require him to down a figure.
I started with the Flame Strikers on Nate's left, pushing the Hammer of Mars to base them (2 order points) and then regrouping for maximum attack (1 order point).
The attack was 9 dice to 3, the Hammer of Mars getting an additional die from Specialized because the Flame Strikers are irregular. I rolled very well and did 7 damage.
Killing the Flame Strikers gave me another victory point, so I now led 10 to 2.
Next, I used two order points to push the other Hammer of Mars into the other Flame Strikers, and one more order point to regroup it for maximum attack.
This time I rolled less well and did only 4 damage.
I had two order points left. I used them to Direct Fire the Flame Strikers from the Ballista Velox, reducing the Strikers to a single figure.
It was Nate's turn again.
He started by using two order points to shoot the Hammer of Mars on his right with the Raven Column.
The attack was 9 dice to 0. The effect of the hindering terrain was negated by Hail of Arrows, but there was a one-die penalty for shooting into melee. Nate did 5 damage, killing the Hammer of Mars and collecting another victory point.
The score was now 10 to 3 in my favor.
With the Hammer of Mars out of the way, the Flame Strikers could inch forward into position to Fireburst the Sagitarii Column. This was possible because the movement icons for the Strikers are concentrated on the green-circle figures rather than the white-circle terra cottas. If the unit can flame, it can also move.
The Fireburst attack on the Sagitarii Column did one damage, and Nate had used 6 order points left.
On the other side of the field, he moved the Nomadic Skirmishers into base contact with the remaining Hammer of Mars. This used two order points.
The attack was 9 dice to 0. Because the Nomadic Skirmishers have Charger, the attack only used one order point. Nate did 5 damage, killing the Hammer of Mars. The score was now 10 to 4 in my favor.
Nate had 3 order points left, and he wanted to get the Nomadic Skirmishers to safety. He determined that in order to get them out of range of a ballista strike, he had to regroup them to turn them around first. While doing so, he positioned the figures for the maximum speed of 7. With his last two order points, he pushed the Skirmishers to safety. Again, because of Stormrider he did not have to down a figure.
I spent the next turn consolidating. Using Direct Fire, I killed the surviving Flame Strikers with the Ballista Invictus. The additional victory point set the score to 11 to 4 in my favor.
Next, I regrouped the 7th Legion Chargers (one order point) and moved them away from the gold pallet (two order points). This opened the possibility of using one of my sorties to take that gold to the control point, and gave me more room to maneuver.
I used two more order points to get the Sagitarii Column back into position to cover the control point.
With my eighth and ninth order points, I moved the Golden Wolves and Hammer Incendia closer to a point where they could make a gold run.
I had one order point left, and used it to regroup the 7th Legion Chargers for defense.
Nate decided it was time to take down my artillery capability. First, he pushed the Tiger's Eye to base both the Sagitarii Column and the Ballista Velox, hobbling both units.
Again, thanks to Stormrider, he did not have to down a figure when pushing to move.
Nate used four order points to push the Raven Column into position to shoot the Sagitarii Column and the Ballista Velox, also taking the control point.
Because it had pushed to move, the Raven Column could only shoot once. Nate chose to shoot the Ballista Velox. The attack was 9 dice to 4, and he did 8 damage, which was devastating.
I knew an attack would be coming from the Tiger's Eye. To maximize the ballista's survival chances, I downed seven figures (the red-circle Formation Legionary and all the white-circle ones) and applied one damage to the ballista itself. If Nate did only two damage (a 40% chance), the main figure would survive and I could heal the ballista back to a functional state with Artificer on my next turn. The attack was 4 to 0. He did 3 damage.
Deprived of the seige engine figure, the Ballista Velox was out of action for the rest of the game.
It was now my turn. I started by breaking away from the Tiger's Eye with the Sagitarii Column. The combat would be 4 dice to 4, but Nate decided to chance the attack anyway, reasoning the hits would hurt me more than they would him, thanks to the figures on the Eye being 3 pegs each. We each did one damage.
Freed of its attachment to the Tiger's Eye, the Sagitarii Column moved into position to shoot the Raven Column.
The dice roll was 8 to 1. The expected damage was 5, and I missed completely. Study this roll carefully, because the chances of it happening are less than 1 in 5000.
I had to do something about those Ravens, so I pushed to shoot again. The dice roll was still 8 to 1, but this time the results were less ridiculous. I did 6 damage.
The Raven Column had five figures left, which was still a significant danger. I used two more order points to Direct Fire the Ravens from the Ballista Invictus for two more damage. With only three figures on the base, the maximum attack the Ravens could make was 6 dice, which is considerably less of a risk than 10.
I needed to hobble the Tiger's Eye. Unfortunately, I had no ranged attacks left that could reach it, and it was in base contact with the Ballista Velox. This meant that using Fireburst on it would kill the Ballista, giving Nate two victory points. I felt it was sorth the price, so I did three damage to the Eye using a Fireburst from the Hammer Incendia. This downed one figure on the Eye, but killed the Ballista Velox, giving Nate two victory points. The score was now 11 to 6 in my favor, but I did not by any means feel like I was winning.
With my last order point I regrouped the Sagitarii Column.
It was Nate's turn again. He started with 3 control terrain victory points, making the score 11 to 9 in my favor.
He started his turn by using two order points to shoot the Sagitarii Column using the damaged Raven Column on the control point. The attack was 6 dice to 4, and he did 5 damage.
The Sagitarii Column had been reduced to only 3 figures.
Nate now moved up the other Raven Column to shoot the Sagitarii.
The attack was 10 dice to 3. Nate easily got the 3 hits he needed to kill the Sagitarii Column and collect two more victory points.
The score was now tied, 11 to 11. Nate had 4 order points left.
He used one order point to move the Tiger's Eye into base contact with the Ballista Invictus, preventing it from shooting.
Nate could have attacked for free (thanks to Charger), but at 2 dice to 5, he had only a 5% chance of doing noticeable damage to the Ballista Invictus and a 59% chance of taking enough back damage to kill the Eye.
With his last three order points, Nate moved the Nomadic Skirmishers into my territory and regrouped them for attacking.
I now had 10 order points to try to reclaim the situation. In particular, as long as the two Raven Columns were sitting next to the control point they owned the battlefield. I started by moving the Hammer Incendia into position for a Fireburst attack on the nearer Ravens. In order to get the necessary movement points, that meant dropping the gold.
The Fireburst did three damage, reducing the Raven Column to 9 figures. Next, I pushed the Hammer Incendia to move it into base contact with the Ravens. Although the unit normally has a speed of 5, thanks to Hustle I could close the full distance.
The attack was 7 dice to 1, and I did 6 damage.
I had 6 order points left. I decided that I needed to kill the Tiger's Eye so that it would stop harassing the Ballista Invictus. I used one order point to move the Golden Wolves into position for an attack. Again, I had to drop the gold in order to get enough movement points. I used another order point to regroup the Wolves for maximum attack.
The Golden Wolves normally have only 3 attack dice, but they get a bonus of 2 thanks to Carnivorous, so the attack was 5 dice to 1. I had a 70% chance of killing the Tiger's Eye, and I succeeded with a hit to spare.
The victory point from killing the Tiger's Eye pushed me back into the lead, 12 to 11. I used two more order points to Direct Fire the Raven Column on the control point from the Ballista Invictus, reducing the Ravens to a single figure. Sadly, I did not have enough order points to push the Ballista to shoot again, so I ended my turn.
Nate got three victory points for the control terrain again, putting him back into the lead, 14 to 12.
He now used one order point to move the Phoenix Squad into position to shoot the Hammer Incendia.
The attack was 5 dice to 0, Nate taking a 1-die penalty for shooting into melee. He did three damage.
The Hammer Incendia still had four figures left, including all of the Fireburst-capable figures, so Nate pushed to shoot again. This time he did 4 damage, killing the Hammer and collecting another victory point.
To increase his lead, Nate decided to take out the almost-dead 7th Legion Chargers. He spent 2 order points to move the Nomadic Skirmishers into base contact with them.
The attack was 9 dice to 2, giving Nate a 99% chance of making the kill. The 7th Legion Chargers were eliminated and the score was now 17 to 12.
Thanks to Charger, the attack by the Nomadic Skirmishers had only cost one order point. Nate had 4 order points left. He used two order points to latch onto a gold pallet with the Skirmishers. This was a push, but because of Stormrider, he did not need to down a figure.
With his final two order points, Nate shot the Golden Wolves with his nearby Raven Column, doing 4 damage. This downed two wolves.
It was now my turn. First, I used the Ballista Invictus to Direct Fire the nearer Raven Column, reducing it to a single figure. I then pushed the Ballista to Direct Fire the Raven Column on the control point, killing it and gaining 2 victory points. Finally, I used Artificer from the Steel of Savros to heal the Ballista from the push.
The score was now 17 to 14 in Nate's favor. I had 5 order points left.
I used one order point to do Healing on the Golden Wolves, restoring them to their full movement potential (though not their full health). One more order point enabled me to latch them onto a gold pallet.
Nate was going to get a gold pallet back to his deployment zone. Using the Golden Wolves to get another pallet to the control point would help me keep pace, but I needed something more if I wanted to win, and that was control terrain victory points. With most of my army gone, my best shot for those points was to use the Ballista Invictus to hold the control point. I used my last three order points to move the Ballista and its supporting Steel of Savros unit forward, making sure they did not interfere with the Wolves' path for delivering the gold.
Nate used one order point to regroup the Nomadic Skirmishers for maximum movement, then pushed them to flee back toward his deployment zone. The maneuver cost 5 order points. Note that though the Skirmishers could normally use 14 movement points when pushing to move twice, the drag from the gold reduced the total speed to 10.
With the gold on its way home, Nate began maneuvering to win the battle for the control point. He brought the Phoenix Squad closer in, and moved the terra cotta Honor Division out from the deployment zone. This consumed three more order points.
With his final two order points, Nate shot the Golden Wolves with his remaining Raven Column. The attack was 2 dice to 1, which would normally have only a 31% chance of getting the two hits necessary to down a wolf; however, thanks to Good Fortune, the odds were increased to slightly over half. This was enough: Nate did two damage.
It was my turn again. First, I used one order point to issue Healing on the Golden Wolves so they could move at full speed. Next, I used two order points to Direct Fire the remaining Raven Column, clearing a path to the control point and gaining 2 victory points. The score was now 17 to 16 in Nate's favor and I had 5 order points left.
I used two more order points to push the Golden Wolves onto the control point. For the first move, I could only go 4 steps, but thanks to Hustle, when I pushed for the second move, I could go 6 steps. (Without the gold pallet attached, the speed would have been 6 followed by 8.) Unfortunately, in order to push the unit without reducing its movement rate too much, I had to down a Priestess of Aesclepius, since removing one of the wolves would cost me three movement chevrons. With only one Healing icon, the unit could no longer make use of the ability, since all its white-circle figures had two pegs. By shooting the wolves at the end of his previous turn, Nate had forced me into a position where I could no longer heal the unit.
Regardless of this setback, I had gained 5 victory points by delivering the gold pallet. The score was now 21 to 17 in my favor.
I had 5 order points left. I used 2 to push the Ballista Invictus to Direct Fire the Phoenix Squad, reducing it to 5 figures. I used another point to heal the Ballista from the push using Artificer from the Steel of Savros. Finally, I used my last two order points to move the Ballista forward, so that it could get onto the control point next turn.
Nate now used four order points to push the Nomadic Skirmishers into his deployment zone, collecting 5 victory points for stealing the gold pallet.
As always, thanks to Stormrider he did not have to down a figure to effect the push. The score was now 22 to 21 in Nate's favor.
With his fifth order point, Nate shot the Golden Wolves with the Phoenix Squad. He needed 5 hits to make the kill, which at 6 dice to 1 was a 31% chance. In actual fact, he got six hits, killing the Wolves and increasing his score to 23. Nate was now two points from winning the game.
Two more order points brought the Honor Division closer to the fight.
Nate had three order points left. He used one to push the Phoenix Squad to shoot the Ballista Invictus. The attack was 6 dice to 6 (the Ballista gaining 2 defense dice from Siege Defense). Nate rolled well and got 3 damage, but this was recorded simply as an injury to the 4-peg artillery figure, which meant it had no effect.
Against the well-defended Ballista Invictus, Nate's best chance was the nine attack dice of the Nomadic Skirmishers. Nate used his last order point to regroup the Skirmishers, turning them around so they could get back into the fight.
It was my turn again. I started by pushing the Ballista Invictus to Direct Fire the Honor Division twice. Because the terra cotta formation was Fragile, the two attacks did a total of 6 damage.
I had used four order points. I used a fifth to do an Artificer heal on the Ballista, bringing it back to full health. Nate was only 2 order points from victory, and I couldn't let him kill the ballista, so I had to keep it at full strength.
I used two more order points to move the Ballista onto the control point and one additional order point to move the Steel of Savros into position to support it.
I had two order points left, but with both my units pretty much used up, I couldn't do anything with them. I let Nate take his turn.
Nate started by shooting the Ballista Invictus with the Phoenix Squad. The attack was 6 dice to 6, and he did no damage.
With 4 more order points, he pushed the Honor Division onto the control terrain, preventing me from getting control terrain victory points and at the same time basing the Ballista Invictus to prevent it from firing.
Nate used 4 more order points to bring the Nomadic Skirmishers out from his deployment zone so they could attack the Ballista Invictus next turn.
Nate passed on his last order point, so it was my turn again. I started by breaking the Ballista Invictus away from the Honor Division. Nate declined the breakaway attack, since at 3 dice to 5, it had no chance of doing real damage to the Ballista, and a 71% chance of actually killing the Honor Division.
I pushed the Ballista Invictus to Direct Fire the Nomadic Skirmishers twice, doing four damage. The Skirmishers was now down to three figures, reducing its maximum attack to 7 dice.
I had four order points left. I used one to issue an Artificer order from the Steel of Savros, healing the Ballista back to full health.
Next, I moved the Steel into position to base the Honor Division.
I regrouped the Steel of Savros for attack. At 2 dice to 0, with Intuition against a Fragile opponent, I had a 67% chance of making the kill. I made the roll and collected two victory points for killing the Honor Division.
The score was now tied with 23 victory points each, and I was uncontested on the control point.
It was Nate's turn. He started by shooting the Ballista Invictus with the Phoenix Squad. The attack was 6 dice to 6, and he did 3 damage.
This was a very good roll, as the chances of doing 3 damage attacking 6 dice to 6 are only 37%. I downed one of the Heavy Legionaries and injured the other, knowing another shot was coming.
Nate pushed to shoot again, and did 3 damage again.
This was disastrous, as my defense had been reduced to only 2 dice. Nate now used two order points to move the Nomadic Skirmishers into the Ballista Invictus.
The attack was 7 dice to 2. The expected damage was 4, and that's what Nate got.
I was forced to down the artillery figure. The Ballista Invictus now had only 2 hit points and could not attack anything. There was no way for me to prevent Nate from killing it next turn and winning the game.
As in the previous scenario, the Stormrider ability was very helpful. This scenario limits the use of custom cards, and base cards are not designed to function well after downing a figure. For that reason, a unit that can push without downing a figure is going to have an advantage. The 7th Legion Chargers ae an exception to this rule, but I simply didn't have enough cavalry packs to field as many of them as I wanted.
That said, the ballistas went a long way to making up the deficit. My only complaint is that the Ballista Velox crumpled too easily. Next time I will use two Ballista Invicti.
For all that, the game was extremely close. The key for the second player is to be able to run around on the far side of the field to steal gold. The first player appears to have an advantage, but this is counterbalanced by the fact that as the first player you start with the gold attached, so your units are slowed right out of the gate. That proved to be more of a difficulty than I imagined.
This is the last of the Golden Rule scenarios. Next month, it's back to regular 7000-point armies and a series of unnatural disasters.