As it were, I found myself facing down the solitary Swifthawk Agents player! And I'll be completely frank; I had no idea what his army did. I've never seen Swifthawk on the table before, let alone played against it.So, I was well and truly ready for some nasty surprises!
Skywarden (General)
High Warden
Archmage
Branchwych (Allies)
Treelord Ancient (Allies)
30 Spireguard (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
30 Swordmasters
Gryph-Hound (Allies)
Guardians of the Dawnspire (Warscroll Battalion)
While the Guardians of the Dawnspire has no points value, and is not usable in matched play, the TO made the decision to allow it. The Battalion allows the Archmage and Swordmasters to gain the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword, meaning that they don't come out of the Allies pool, and allows the High Warden to order a unit to move or shoot in the Hero Phase.
Going into this game, I knew that i was going to be up against it when it came to movement. The army is incredibly fast, even without the Battalion, so I needed a plan. The Scenario was Total Conquest, where you gain more objective points if you seize an objective off your opponent.
On the right side of the board, my Monks and Furnace wasted no time pushing up and asserting what little authority they had on the objective in the shadow of the ruined tower, while their ninja rat mates showed up and peppered the Reavers with throwing knives, broken bottles and a brick. They inflicted no damage. All things considered, I was happy with turn one. I'd put my army into a good position, and had set myself up for what would hopefully be a successful assault on the aelves.
My opponent's turn was pretty gentle for the most part. The Archmage threw up his aura of protection, while the other characters shuffled around in the backline. The Reavers both raced over toward the centre, and the Spireguard stepped forward to get in range of the Monks with their bows. Casualties were relatively minimal.
Being spoilt for choice with charges, I wasted zero time in hammering home on multiple fronts. The Monks and Verminlord sliced and diced their way into the shieldwall of the Spireguard, causing their fair share of damage...
...while on the other flank, the Gutter Runners took up objective camping duty, while the Monks barrelled into both units of Reavers and started punching on. I managed to wipe out one unit of horsemen, while reducing the other down to a single model. I was really happy with how the battle was going, but I was painfully aware of the enemy heroes and Swordmasters who were yet to enter the fray.
My opponent's retribution was swift and brutal. A sloppy pile in with my monks into the Spireguard had unintentionally dragged the Swordmasters into combat by the tiniest of margins. However, the pile in and slaughter that followed was something to behold! The Swordmasters butchered their way through the unit, leaving the survivors to be victims of battleshock. This was a huge blow, as it not only left my Verminlord relatively unsupported and with no unit to pass wounds off onto, but also meant that the Swordmasters weren't locked in combat, and could use the blinding speed of the formation to hit me at my weakest point.
And, as if to prove herself truly fickle, Lady Luck turned her back on me and left me at the mercy of a double turn. Vowing revenge for the lives of the Reavers, the Swordmasters turned about face, and charged down their line into the other large unit of Monks. The monks were butchered once more, but Rabid Fever took a horrific toll on the Swordmasters. Mystic Shield saved many of them, but I felt I was close to breaking the back of the unit. While I was suffering crippling blows left, right and centre, I was still holding three of the objectives, and if there's one lesson I've learnt well, it's to never lose sight of the scenario. Everything is expendable in order to secure the win. I was having to expend a serious chunk of my resources, but I was slowly getting away from my opponent on the scoreboard.
The High Warden had held back until now, when he decided to go supersonic across the table in an attempt to steal my rear objective. All I had guarding it was a Plagueclaw and a Priest, but I was determined to make it as difficult as possible for him to claim it. In a stroke of sheer bad luck for my opponent, he failed to kill the Priest by a single wound, meaning that I still had more models on the objective. This cost him dearly, as he really needed to get some points on the scoreboard. By all odds, he should have slain the Priest, but some sneaky dodges and rather ridiculous save rolls, he survived!
In probably the most tactically sound move I'd made all tournament, I retreated with both models, and positioned them so that they were both holding the objective, but were too far apart for the High Warden to kill both of them in a single turn. He was going to charge and kill one of them, but the other would live and contest the objective, delaying his scoring opportunity for yet another turn!
Elsewhere on the board, I'd secured my left flank. The large unit of monks had suffered heavy losses to the constant shooting of the Spireguard, but the Corruptor had finally silenced their bows, slashing the last remnants of the unit to pieces. My Warlock continued his arcane barrage, which finally downed the enemy general atop his Skycutter Chariot, as well as mopping up the Branchwych lurking on the far left objective. The Plagueclaws both targetted the Swordmasters, and the Furnace smalled into them, hoping to finish them off... But, once again, I completely under-estimated them, even at less than half strength, and the reduced the Furnace to timber, scrap metal and wheezing smoke.
Realising that he was on the back foot, and seeing an opportunity, he seized the chance to charge my general. The Gryph-Hound, who I had largely forgotten about until now, tried to jump my Priest, while the Treelord Ancient launched out of the woods to engage the Verminlord Corruptor!
With a combination of shooting and magic, I'd manage to finish off the Swordmaster unit AND the High Warden on my back objective, while still holding the top right objective with the Gutter Runners. Despite getting absolutely trashed, I had a convincing lead on the board.
In the last lights of the game, I carefully moved Monks forward to absorb damage for the Corruptor! The Verminlord managed to survive the onslaught from the Treelord, and wasn't killed before the end of the game.
This was a bloody game, and I was stoked to come out of it with a major victory. I think the fact that I'd managed to beat my opponent onto all the objectives made it very hard to push me off. If my opponent had been more aggressive with the Swordmasters from the start, using the double move to get right up in my grill early, I firmly believe he could have swung the game heavily in his favour. They killed the Furnace and 60 Monks, and took an absolute beating; I'm sure they could have killed more. Re-rolling saves against shooting really saved their bacon against the Catapults. I feel like if they'd moved with purpose and sliced their way toward an objective, I wouldn't have had much to stop them. As it was, I was able to throw units at the Swordmasters and keep them occupied in the mid-field, well away from the objectives. All in all, a hard-fought and brutal win, but a win nonetheless.
This win left me on two Major Wins and two Major Losses.
Finding myself back in the middle tables, I found myself staring down a Maggotkin army. This was going to be rough...
Thanks for reading,
Gabe
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