Active Defence army (1500 points) - Vs HtH Empire army (1/0/0)
Theory - My first game against the new Empire list. Adam was taking a themed Landschneck army - pikes, muskets, a cannon, Heavy Cav, some pistollers, and some Greatswords. He always takes a reasonable amount of magic, so the old Staff of Sorcery appears again, and I knew I would need some things to deal damage in HtH as shooting wouldn't stop him. The main thought was to hit his flankers (all the while shooting) and hit him with everything by the time his infantry got to my main line.
Practice - Hmm, what to say. He marched up the middle, with only his pistollers zipping off to my right flank, his cannon remained in a building in the centre for the whole game with a unit of muskets on each flank also. I sent the Reavers up the left, the DP's up the right with everything else waiting and shooting. I should have gone for his cannon with the Reavers, but instead I foolishly charged one of his musket units and couldn't cut it in hth after being shot on the way in. Some shooting made his Pistollers flee, and they eventually ran straight off the board, damn unlucky, but this did leave my DP's free to roam around into his flanks. Unfortunately he was moving a little faster than I liked, so ended up ignoring everything else and getting lined up for a side charge into his Greatswords. Meanwhile his cannon was blowing chunks through my army and his Knights charged into my archers (who held for a turn!) before pursuing off the table. The nice exposed rear of my DP's was also seeing attention from his shooters, and some cunning turning saw my spears fail their charge, while sending the DP's into his front. A vicious combat ensued, but I finally reduced his ranks enough that his Griffin banner ceased to be useful, his pikes fled and rallied from RBT action, only to get a charge from my spears wiping them out. We finished about there giving me a modest win.
Luck factor: I had the luckiest RBT alive, two cannon hits did only 1 wound each, and his Pistollers failed to rally after getting shot up by the minimum needed for a test. Not much magic got off at all.Analysis: Well you live and learn, I need to use my Reavers somewhat differently, but not being able to march move within 8" of the enemy is a bit of a killer. My Dragon Princes did probably the best I've seen in a long time, I did NOT want to charge the front of his Griffin Banner led Greatswords, but that's exactly what happened. Fortunately I won, but... All in all a scrappy sort of fight, coming more down to where the averages fell at the times. Fun, and made me respect Empire even more than I currently do.
Active Defence Army:
Elf Commander +Barded Steed, Enchanted shield, Talisman of Protection, Great Weapon,
Longbow, Hv armour
Mage lv2 +Staff of Sorcery
Mage +Dispel magic scroll
Elven Spearmen x20 +full command, hv armour
Dragon Princes x10 +Champion, Standard
Archers x10
Chariot
Reavers x6 +musician, spears, bows
Repeater Bolt Throwers x2
