12-05-2009, 02:51 AM
I ended up with a few hours to kill this afternoon, and also just so happned to have my Dogs of War in the back of my car. So I popped into the GW in the neighbouring city, and asked if anyone would like to play a quick game of Fantasy.
When I announced that I would be playing "Dogs of War", people started to gather around to see this army which many had heard of, but never actually seen.
"How old is this army?" someone asked.
"5th edition with a 6th edition update," I said, and I saw at least one head shake. Maybe it was my Codex... or rather the binder in which I keep all our collected PDF's.
Then, one nice young man agreed to a 1000-point game. He was fielding High Elves; whom I know very well. We started to set up, and I prepared to be magically nuked as I have been so many times before.
My list:
Captain - barded horse, hev armour, magic shield, sword of might
Paymaster - on foot, magical shield, sword of might (attached to pikes)
Wizard - 2nd level, lore of heaven, single dispell scroll
Pirazzo's Lost Legion - 7 men wide, 3 ranks deep
Pikes - light armour, command trio, arranged 6 across x 4 deep
Light Cavalry - 5 guys
Cannon
Across from me are now 2 bolt throwers on a hill, 5 sword masters of Hoeth, a unit of siver helms with an attached wizard on horseback, and a unit of spearmen also with a wizard in their ranks.
Then the miracles started happening. The men of Estalia rolled a six and got to go first, snatching the initiative from the High Elves. The light cav took off in a blaze, heading up the far left flank to eventually circle around and attack the bolt throwers. On the right flank, the Lost Legion crossbowed two of the Silverhelms.... who blew their armour saves, and their leadership, and then proceeded to fall back more than 15 inches right off the table! High Elf magic now cut in twain.
"Run for your lives, it's Pirazzo!"
The second bloc of pikes, with Paymaster in tow, marched straight forward to charge the spearmen by Turn 2. As they did so, our wizard, the Great Golden Mage (so called because of his tattered yet magically-imbued yellow cape), burned up his sole dispell scroll so that the pikes would not eat some horrible-sounding High Elf spell. Then, he hit the swordmasters with an irresistable Uranion's Thunder Bolt: one guy dead. Next turn, he does it again! Irresistable thunder bolt on the swordmasters inflicting 4 more wounds - unit gone.
The pikes charge into the spearmen after loosing a few men to the bolt throwers, win the combat by 2 thanks to the inspiring presense of the Paymaster's keys, and proceed to overrun the High Elves, bashing in their pretty faces and killing the lot of them. Meantime, the light cavalry loose two men to the other bolt thrower, but hang in there leadership-wise to charge, slay the crew, and then overrun into the first warmachine.
The sons of Ulthuan - tabled by the 3rd turn.
Well, I was damned lucky to be sure, and my opponent was really gracious and cool. But if only you all could have seen the looks on the faces of everyone watching. I have no doubt now that that particular store will, for the next few weeks, be hearing again and again about how broken the Dogs of War are.
When I announced that I would be playing "Dogs of War", people started to gather around to see this army which many had heard of, but never actually seen.
"How old is this army?" someone asked.
"5th edition with a 6th edition update," I said, and I saw at least one head shake. Maybe it was my Codex... or rather the binder in which I keep all our collected PDF's.
Then, one nice young man agreed to a 1000-point game. He was fielding High Elves; whom I know very well. We started to set up, and I prepared to be magically nuked as I have been so many times before.
My list:
Captain - barded horse, hev armour, magic shield, sword of might
Paymaster - on foot, magical shield, sword of might (attached to pikes)
Wizard - 2nd level, lore of heaven, single dispell scroll
Pirazzo's Lost Legion - 7 men wide, 3 ranks deep
Pikes - light armour, command trio, arranged 6 across x 4 deep
Light Cavalry - 5 guys
Cannon
Across from me are now 2 bolt throwers on a hill, 5 sword masters of Hoeth, a unit of siver helms with an attached wizard on horseback, and a unit of spearmen also with a wizard in their ranks.
Then the miracles started happening. The men of Estalia rolled a six and got to go first, snatching the initiative from the High Elves. The light cav took off in a blaze, heading up the far left flank to eventually circle around and attack the bolt throwers. On the right flank, the Lost Legion crossbowed two of the Silverhelms.... who blew their armour saves, and their leadership, and then proceeded to fall back more than 15 inches right off the table! High Elf magic now cut in twain.
"Run for your lives, it's Pirazzo!"
The second bloc of pikes, with Paymaster in tow, marched straight forward to charge the spearmen by Turn 2. As they did so, our wizard, the Great Golden Mage (so called because of his tattered yet magically-imbued yellow cape), burned up his sole dispell scroll so that the pikes would not eat some horrible-sounding High Elf spell. Then, he hit the swordmasters with an irresistable Uranion's Thunder Bolt: one guy dead. Next turn, he does it again! Irresistable thunder bolt on the swordmasters inflicting 4 more wounds - unit gone.
The pikes charge into the spearmen after loosing a few men to the bolt throwers, win the combat by 2 thanks to the inspiring presense of the Paymaster's keys, and proceed to overrun the High Elves, bashing in their pretty faces and killing the lot of them. Meantime, the light cavalry loose two men to the other bolt thrower, but hang in there leadership-wise to charge, slay the crew, and then overrun into the first warmachine.
The sons of Ulthuan - tabled by the 3rd turn.
Well, I was damned lucky to be sure, and my opponent was really gracious and cool. But if only you all could have seen the looks on the faces of everyone watching. I have no doubt now that that particular store will, for the next few weeks, be hearing again and again about how broken the Dogs of War are.
