GHB 2017 Experience One Month Later
Entry posted by someone2040
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So it's been a month since the Generals Handbook 2017 came out. I gave an initial battle report in my last blog entry, and now on the eve of my 3 week holiday, I figure now is as good a time as any to write down some further thoughts.
Since my initial battle, I've managed to get in another 3 games. 2 of them were using the Matched Play scenarios, while the other one used the Open War cards.
I've been using the following Free Peoples list during these outings:
Freeguild General on Griffon - Armour of Meteoric Iron
Freeguild General w Sigmarite Weapon and Pistol - General- Indomitable
Freeguild GEneral w Sigmarite Weapon, Shield and Stately War Banner
20x Freeguild Guard
30x Freeguild Xbows
20x Freeguild Handgunners
10x Freeguild Greatswords
3x Demigryph Knights
5x Freeguild Pistoliers
2x Cannon
Gryph Hound
Game 1 - Sylvaneth - Battle for the Pass
The first of the 3 games was Battle for the Pass vs Sylvaneth. The Sylvaneth player dumped a Wyldwood on what would ultimately be my objective , and being an army with battalions outdropped my army easily (Either way he would've out dropped me).
Deployment finished
Overall this game went pretty smoothly for me, as my opponent deployed pretty far back (Given we needed to reach objectives in the mid-field). His Tree-Revenants went after my cannon, but bounced off the crew and were shot down by the cannon in return (Due to being locked in combat, couldn't move into range of something better). By the end of my turn 1, I already had control of both side objectives and was ahead on points.
The Freeguild Guard race up to get control of the objective, while on the far side the Pistoliers do the same
Ultimately it took too long for my opponent to get up to the side objectives. I had left a Gryph Hound and Greatswords back to prevent my opponent teleporting onto the Wyldwoods on my side of the board, so the Sylvaneth had no easy way to catch up on points. Eventually Durthu did get into the fight, smashed aside the Freeguild Guard, Demigryphs and Handgunners before being bought down.
Durthu about to smash the Demigryphs, but on the far side the Griffon has dispatched of the Scythe Hunters
The counter-attack was ultimately far too late. Durthu was felled by combined firepower, while the Ancient did finally control the objective the Freeguild General on Griffon had managed to demolish the rest of the army and even stole control of the enemy objective on the last turn. While the Freeguilds took heavy losses towards the end of the game, it was a resounding victory overall.
The Ancient takes the side objective, but in the background the Griffon is busy gobbling down a Branchwych
Game 2 - Wanderers - Open War
The second game (played the same day) was against a Wanderers army. The Open War cards I remember was that we had diagonal deployment, the objective was to kill as many enemy models as possible (doubling that number if you slew the enemy general). I believe the twist may have been one army has to finish deployment first, and gets first turn unless a 1 is rolled. My opponent got choice of board edge, and got a lot of mystical terrain. Coupled with the Wanderers ability to teleport around at will, this made the game quite difficult.
Deployment finished, the Wanderers appear to be on one side...
My opponent got the first turn, rolled a bunch on his mystical terrain, and then both units of Glade Guard and the Nomad Prince teleported towards my main army, and took off a bunch of my Freeguild Crossbowmen. Wild Riders appeared in the backline to go after the Cannons, but thankfully failed their charge. I think both spells failed on the Eternal Guard.
In my turn, all I could do is move forwards to get into range. I think the Handgunners went after one of the Waywatchers (may not have bee in range of the Glade Guard), while the Crossbowmen took some shots at some of the Glade Guard. Both Cannons I believe fired at the Eternal Guard and took some off. In combat, the Griffon ate one of the Waywatchers, while the Demigryph Knights killed 2 of the Wild Riders.
Crossbowmen heavily depleted, but initiative could swing the game
The rest of the game is pretty hazy. The Wild Riders basically spent most of the game going after the Cannons, failing charges, and all that. The Greatswords ultimately finished them off, but got lost in the sea of dead models. The Eternal Guard were so heavily depleted by the initial attack by the Griffon and Cannons they were basically out of the game for the rest of the battle. I believe the Nomad Prince and at least one unit of the Glade Guard (the one that hadn't taken casualties) teleported back over to take some shots at the Griffon. The Griffon had a chance to get into the Glade Guard and Prince, but ultimately failed to kill the Spellweaver in one turn so didn't have the opportunity to charge them.
The Freeguild General on Griffon failed to take out the Spellweaver, so was locked in combat for another turn
Ultimately, a lot of mistakes cost me the game, but getting reckless with my General was the worst one. The game was pretty even, but I decided to use him and my Demigryph Knights to go after the enemy when they teleported back over to my side of the battle. This ultimately cost me the battle as the General was slain my a Glade Guard model, and even with the combined might of all my shooting, I couldn't take out the enemy General in return (The -1 to hit was pretty tough). My General on Griffon was eventually laid low by reflected mortal wounds off the Eternal Guard also (If it seriously mattered, I would not have done this but I knew it didn't matter by that time).
Game 3 - Sylvaneth - Knife to the Heart
Last game I've played (and the last for a while :() was once again against a Sylvaneth army. We originally rolled up Scorched Earth, but decided to re-roll it since we had both already played that scenario. I won the roll off for deciding territory, and decided that I would take the side with the Arcane and Damned terrain, letting my opponent having the Mystical and Deadly. He had placed a Wyldwood base somewhat close to my deployment area pre-game, and I knew that he would be looking to alpha strike due to his Ancient having the Moonstone of Hidden Ways.
Deployment finished, Durthu, 2x3 Kurnoth Hunters, 10x Spite Revenants all waiting to come out from the Wyldwoods
Right from this turn 1, he summoned a new wyldwood with the Branchwych, buffer up the Treelord Ancient, and then teleported everything. The Ancient and Tree Revenants appeared behind my lines (With the Revenants only just being outside 10" from the Gryph Hound). The stuff coming out of the Wyldwoods appeared from the front. Unfortunately for the Sylvaneth though, the Ancient missed with his ranged attack, Durthu wasn't in range of the Handgunners. The Treelord and one unit of the Hunters managed to get in a charge, with the Hunters taking a lot of firepower from the Great Company to lose a Hunter before even fighting. A fairly lacklustre round of combat saw the Ancient only being able to kill a single Pistolier, while the Hunters killed some of the Freeguild Guard (including a few running due to battleshock), another Hunter was bought low.
The Freeguild Forces get off quite easily given the army of Trees bearing down on them
In return, the Free Peoples line held and blew the Ancient out of the game. The Handgunners even got to split their fire between the Ancient and the Tree Revenants with more fleeing due to battleshock. A devestating turn of events, even Durthu took a wound from the cannons.
A good portion of the army gone already
Ultimately there's not a huge amount more to talk about in this game. The Greatswords were killed by Durthu and the Tree Revenants, but the combined firepower of the Free Peoples was too much. One of the cannons even managed to roll 2 sixes for damage against Durthu when he had a single wound remaining! (If only it was the first turn!). The Freeguild General on Griffon got into the backline and deleted all the Dryads in a single turn, and that was about it.
Thoughts
So those are summaries of the games I've played so far. I think it's important to note, that it has only been a month, and we don't exactly play every week, so people are still trying things out. My opponent in the last game wanted to see how the Moonstone worked, and I think alpha striking his Treelord turn 1 was not exactly the best game plan. But here are some thoughts I have
Freeguild General on Griffon
This guy has done work for me every game. Sometimes he whiffs a round though, but it's going to happen from time to time of course. He is amazingly tough as well, but I haven't come up against many armies with mortal wounds yet.
20x Handgunners
At some point I think I'm going to have to either make another 10 of these guys, or build up command for another unit. I've only gotten away with them being in 20's due to either my opponents not understanding their strength, or getting extremely lucky in my last game.
Gryph Hound
I'm still not sure I actually like this guy or not. His warning cry abilitiy has never gone off, even though I've played 3 armies which actually have 'teleporters'. My opponents will just make sure to put them further than 10" away. I guess in a way, this is fine, as it gives me a pretty critical turn to retaliate. Think I'm going to have to play around a bit more with him, my army is 1960 points so if I did drop the hound, that's another 10 Freeguild Guard I could fit in.
Demigryph Knights
They just... never seem to do damage. They're alright with tankiness, but without any buffs (The only one I can give being Hold the Line), they just can't deal any damage. Dunno, my gut feeling is that ultimately they'll be cut from the list unless I'm making a Freeguild Regiment. I feel I'd rather the utility of something like Pistoliers or Outriders, but for now, being painted they'll be sticking around. Maybe the Cavalry Halberds will be better? Perhaps I just have this thought of how Lances should work (Go in and blitz away half a unit) and they're just never going to be able to do that.
That's about it for now. Obviously not a huge amount of experience yet, but when I'm back from my holiday, there'll be our first GHB 2017 tournament two weeks later. Should be a good work out for the Free Peoples (But getting everything painted in time is going to be trouble!).
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