WOK Batrep

[ZolantarParticipant]

WoK BatRep March 11, 2017
Last Saturday we put the gaming tables at the CGW Headquarters to good use and played a lightning quick custom match of WoK. Our goal was to remember some rules (enlightenment, backlash and inspire) while testing out the synergy of Thesh and his Fel Warriors, as this was my first go with them. Here’s the breakdown of each of the forces:

Nasier vs. Shael Han
Army Size: Custom = 12 ranks of infantry, 2 ranks of leaders, 2 ranks of specialists, 2 options
(modified skirmish: 6 fewer ranks of infantry, 1 fewer rank of leader)

Nasier Army List: 1x Arkan Thesh, 6x Fel Warriors, 1x Bloodchild
Options 1 and 2= 3x Pelegarth Brutes

Shael Han Army List: 12x Dragon Legionnaire, 2x Dragon Legion Keeper, 1x Shield of Taelfon, 1x Hammer of Heaven
Options 1 and 2= 1x Fulung Devourer

Starting Morale: Nasier 5 vs Shael Han 7
Motivations (chosen randomly): Nasier “Escort Civilians” – Shael Han “No Confidence”

Deployment
Nasier wins initiative and occupies most of the right side of his field. Bloodchild and Thesh are placed towards the center. Fel Warriors and Brutes to the far right. One civilian is placed with the Fel Warrior closest to Thesh and 1 with the Bloodchild.

Shael Han deploys his troops to the center of the board. Fulung Devourer at exactly the half point of his deployment zone and is quickly followed by all infantry and leaders right in front of him. The Hammer of Heaven and the Shield of Taelfon are placed to the right, possibly aiming to intercept the Fel Warriors escorting the civilian.

Round 1: When Forces Divide to Conquer
Having won the initiative again, Nasier starts by ordering the Bloodchild to take flight with his civilian in tow and go as far away from the fight that is about to begin in the center-right portion of the battle field. This draws 6 Legionnaires and the army commander forward in order to take control of the board and possibly be in range of the Bloodchild next turn along with Fulung Devourer for support.

Everyone else advances straight ahead and both forces shout out intimidating remarks as they taunt each other in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Round 2: When Forces Engage and Deception is Attempted
Once again the Nasier troops take the initiative and advance toward the center with the 3 Brutes, aiming to soak up any small scale aggression by a few Legionnaires and hopefully engage the brunt of the Shael Han forces there, thus effectively freeing the Warriors and Thesh to sprint to the far right with the 2nd civilian. Alas, the Shael Han are not as naive and move to the center-right portion of the map in range to intercept either force next turn.

Hammer engages the first Brute in an attempt to achieve its motivation and show the Nasier that Thesh is not worthy of their confidence as leader but misses 1 of his attacks, which means 1 hit is not enough to cause damage due to the Brute’s resilience 2. Phew! Shield moves in range of another Brute but his one-die magic attack would only be enough if it overpowered the Brute’s thick skin, which fails to happen. Phew x2! So far the Nasier plan seems to be working. The Fulung Devourer moves to intercept the Bloodchild with his ranged Spear of Light but also fails to wound him. Resilience has been a major point for the Nasier defenses so far…

Round 3: When First Blood is Drawn
Nasier troops continue to dictate the pace of the game, moving with purpose towards their goal of safely escorting the 2 civilians. Having drawn the Shael Han forces to the center of the map, moving to the far right as quickly as possible seems to be paying off. However, noticing that the Brutes would easily fall to might of the Legionnaires next, the Brutes are ordered to stand their ground and take a swing of their swift chains against the higher priority specialist, the Hammer. Four of the six dice connect, making short work of a major threat to Nasier’s army. Then, 6 Legionnaires and their leader manage to swarm 2 Brutes, but manage to kill just one of them. Poor dice rolls for the Shael Han this turn. Thesh is not shaken by this loss of this sole trooper.

Fel Warriors adapt to the situation. 2 Unleash their Fury to keep up with a third Warrior and rush forward. They are aided by another Warrior. They split their attacks and begin to thin the herd, killing 2 Legionnaires, whose Healing Vapors are not enough to save them this time. This brings Shael Han morale down to 6. Despite their leader’s guidance, their will is not enough to control the Fel energy emanating from their masks, thus slightly wounding both Furious Fel Warriors.

Thesh stays close to both Brutes and Warriors, sending the remaining 2 Fel Warriors to the far right, securing an uninterrupted path to safety for the civilian they are escorting.

The Dragon Guard Keeper sees the need to reinforce the center-right flank and abandons the chase after the Bloodchild, trusting the Fulung Devourer to be enough to deter the winged demon’s advance.

Round 4: When the Tides of Battle Change
In a dire moment, the Shael Han forces finally spring to action before the Nasier.Their number one priority, launch the Fulung Devourer against the Bloodchild to lock him in combat. Unfortunately, the mighty dragon is not able to wound the demon, only hold it in place… for now.

Back to the center the 2 Brutes take a swing at 4 of the Legionnaires, killing 3 of them. Healing Vapor technology fails them at this critical hour! The remaining leader and 3 Legionnaires manage to kill one of the wounded Fel Warriors and the healthy one leading the charge. Thesh yet again is not shaken by these losses. Morale count is at 5 for the Shael Han, and 4 for the Nasier.

Over to the far right, the lonely Warrior sprints forward with the civilian, within sight of their safe destination. The other Warrior accompanying them intercepts the Shield, in the hopes of buying the civilian enough time to hide.

The Bloodchild is outraged by the meddling of this huge dragon in his business and decides to show him that elemental magic is vastly superior to celestial interference! With his 4 dice attack, 2 overpower results wound the mighty serpent badly. Only 1 more wound to go!

Round 5: When The Inevitable Happens
The resolute Warrior at the edge of the battle field finally carries out its task and rushes beyond the reaches of any Shael Han soldier. The Shael Han manage to do away with 2 other Fel Warriors right under Thesh’s nose, and he only barely keeps the morale of his troops up. Nasier is now down to 2. However, it is too little too late. It was only a matter of time until the Nasier completed its mission, safely delivering the civilians across the treacherous woods. Therefore, the Bloodchild decides to finish off the great dragon with a powerful melee blow before taking flight again with his civilian and landing safely into the agreed upon location where she would continue on her own. Another deeply felt deed the Shal Han forces had to endure, reducing their morale to zero at the end of the round. “Game over, Shael Han scum” ponders the undefeated Arkan Thesh once again.

I’m sorry I don’t have the pictures at this time, but I will try and edit the post as soon as I can. I just had to write it all down while it’s still fresh on my memory. This is my first officially reported battle so do let me know how fun it is to read it. Any suggestions will be dearly appreciated.

Zolantar signing out!

[Universal HeadKeymaster]

Very cinematic report, excellent! I could imagine it very well, but looking forward to the photos. Thanks Zolantar.

[SoulsorcererParticipant]

Great stuff…lots of work…thank you for that!

[ZolantarParticipant]

It was fun writing it that way. I myself do enjoy pictures but playing a movie in my head often evokes the memory of the game as we interpret dice rolls. Therefore, all I can say is I could not have done it any other way. Hehe
Truth is, I tried to balance mechanics, strategies, and reflections (intentions) even if in a rather disorganized fashion where everything is thrown together.
As for the pictures, my gaming partner that day still hasn’t sent them to me yet. I might end up staging this skirmish again next weekend just for the pictures.

Is there something I should have done differently there? Was it too long? Poorly written? Let me know what you think.

[Universal HeadKeymaster]

Formatting-wise, I like the descriptive headings. Bold them so they stand out a bit. Also keep that extra line space between paragraphs (but not between a heading and the next para), it makes reading easier.

The writing itself was excellent; a good balance between facts and descriptions.

[ZolantarParticipant]

@UH I will sure take your comments into account for my next one then as I am unable to edit this one anymore since it’s been so long.

Next session is scheduled to be this Friday, so I’ll see what I can do for that one.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Universal HeadKeymaster]

Did it for you. 🙂 Is there a time limit on when you can come back and edit a post?

[CK LaiParticipant]

Yes. 5 minutes or so. And if we navigate away from the page, we can no longer edit.

[Universal HeadKeymaster]

I’ve changed ‘disallow editing after’ to 50,000 minutes, which is about a month. Bizarrely BBPress doesn’t have a setting that allows unlimited editing.

[CK LaiParticipant]

Excellent! That was one of my comments I wanted to put in your other thread about this site’s UI.

[Author]

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