WTF Philfy - why do you hate me so?
Oh well...
Mark and I are good mates and have played a couple of times but I'd not yet managed to best his Bretts. In our last game I had him lined up (and he was taking much stick from the onlookers for his "refused centre" strategy) but the blasted Hippogryph (and some handy lance action from 3 Pegasus Knights who really should have died a lot earlier) did for my BSB and Spears which of course triggered the traditional last turn tactical retreat costing me the Wizard and some other stuff. I was determined to make a good game of this and give Mark a real challenge. He's an excellent opponent and the game was played in great spirit despite the friendly competitive tension of the matchup.
Without going into massive detail after 3 turns I had Mark on the ropes. The Pegs were gone, a unit of Errants had buggered off before they had moved (Cannon), one of his big buses was under enormous shooting pressure and had been severely reduced.
Then, as does happen in some of my games it seems, the whole battle did a stunning 180. Three things turned the game:
- a suicidal solo charging Paladin hit the Flagellents in the front and took a wound for his troubles, losing combat by 5! Needing a 4 or less Mark fluffed the roll. He was about to run the Knight away when I realised his BSB was just in range (by mere millimetres). Of course he passed the reroll. Had the Paladin fled the persuing Flagellents would have hit his General on Hippogryph (2 wounds left on the Hippo after taking some shooting). They might have managed to actually kill the giant budgie but whether they had or not he would at least have been pinned down for the rest of the game. Instead the Hippo boss charged my General (who was wandering over to wave pom-poms and shout encouragement). In the inevitable challenge the Brett Lord was Van Horstmanns'd but the luckless Lector needing only to save a wound (failed) and dish out two in return (only managed one) to win the combat couldn't make the dice play. One auto-broken General later and I was a broken man!
- on the right we were giving each other hell thanks to a unit each of Fast Cav. Having gambled some shooting to reduce the BSBs bus unit (and failed) the Pistoliers fled and crucially failed to rally. This left his Yeoman to keep the Reiksguard contained well enough that they took a nasty charge from the hitty Knights in the last turn. The Reiksguard died horribly.
- having foreseen the death of the Reiksguard the Priest had bailed. Fancying their chances the same unit of Yeonman charged in and had the temerity to put a wound on him! They remained in combat right up to the end of the game. Crucially the single wound they managed to inflict meant Mark recieved 1/2 points for the Priest... this was just enough to give him a win by 3VPs. According to the (DogCon-inspired and frankly annoying) VP table that was an 11-9 win to my opponent!
Tiny VP-difference = 11-9 loss aside this was a fantastic game and I really can't begrudge Mark the fortune of that rerolled Break Check (damn!!!). This was as close to a draw as one could realistically hope to achieve and it certainly felt that way at the end of the game.
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