Open Play Battle Report - Trouble in Treetown (1,000 points, Sylvaneth vs Sylvaneth)

[acr0ssth3p0nd]

Open play battle report – Trouble in Tree-Town

George’s Army – Sylvaneth

Heartwood Glade in the Season of the Reaping

120 pts – 1 Arch-Revenant (General; Warsinger Command Trait, Seed of Rebirth Artefact)

250 pts – 3 Kurnoth Hunters with Greatswords (Battleline)

110 pts – 5 Tree-Revenants (Battleline)

235 pts – 3 Revenant Seekers

260 pts – 1 Treelord

975/1,000 points

 

Jon’s Army – Sylvaneth

Gnarlroot Glade in the Season of the Reaping

130 pts – 1 Branchwych (General; - Command Trait, - Artefact)

335 pts – Drycha Hamadreth

100 pts – 10 Dryads (Battleline)

105 pts – 5 Spite-Revenants

260 pts – 1 Treelord

930/1,000 points

 

Set-Up

Jon won the roll-off to set up the battlefield. Various ruins and toppled walls were scattered around the battlefield, which was 48” by 60” in size.

The result for the map was a 1. One army would have their territory in the centre of the battlefield, more than 12” from the long table edges and 15” from the short table edges; while the other army would have their territories along both short table edges, extending up 15”. At this point, Jon and George worked together to ensure that both armies would have access to enough terrain outside of their opponent’s territories to create their army’s overgrown terrain.

George won the roll-off for the victory conditions, and his roll determined that the battleplan was an Invasion.

2 objectives were placed, 1 in each player’s  territory, and more than 6" from the edge of the battlefield and more than 12" from all other objectives. One was placed firmly in the centre of territory A, surrounded by small ruined houses and walls, while the other was placed amidst some larger ruins in the center of Territory B to the West.

The armies must fight to control these objectives. If a player controls both objectives at the end of their opponent’s turn, the game ends and they win a major victory. Otherwise, when the game ends, the player who controls the center objective – the one in territory B – would eke out a minor victory.

Next, for the Twist, it seemed that these forces were Eager for battle – all units would add +1 to their Run and Charge rolls.

Finally, both players rolled their secret Ruses, and kept them hidden.

Deployment

Since George lost the roll-off to set up terrain, he chose Territory B for his own, leaving Jon with Territory A.

George chose to overgrown the ruins containing the objective in the western side of Territory B, as well as two terrain features strung along outside the northern flank of Territory A. Jon overgrew 3 ruins surrounding his Territory. Then, they each dropped their Wyldwoods – George in the north-western corner, and Jon towards the eastern side of territory A.

Objectives
George’s wyldwood	George’s Overgrown terrain
Jon’s overgrown terrain	Jon’s Wyldwood.

Then, both players deployed their forces. George placed his force entirely along the western side of Territory B, and Jon set his up defensively near the objective in Territory A, with the dryads, branchwych, and treelord as a front line and Drycha and the spite-revenants back near the objective.

 

Round 1

With this being Open Play, both players rolled off to see who would get the 1st turn. Jon won, and chose to go second.

George’s Turn 1

George shuffled some of his units around. His treelord walked the Spirit Paths to jump across the board to the north-eastern overgrown terrain that he and Jon shared.

His revenant seekers took advantage of his nearby general’s Warsinger trait, moving 15” up towards Jon’s treelord. His kurnoth hunters moved into his wyldwoods, and his arch-revanant general flew 15” with her own Warsinger trait to follow them. Finally, his tree-revenants teleported to cover his objective, hidden in the overgrown ruins.

In his shooting phase, his treelord took some potshots at Jon’s dryads with its strangleroots, but with the dryads near Jon’s overgrown terrain, the treelord failed to inflict any harm.

Next, his revenant seekers charged Jon’s treelord, who failed his Groundshaking Stomp monstrous rampage. In the subsequent combat phase, the seekers knocked 6 wounds off the treelord but failed to reach that crucial 7-wound threshold to break his might, and their foe swung back with enough force to inflict 3 wounds on a seeker. George did not recall that his seekers could Strike and Fade, which would have dire consequences for the unit as the battle unfolded…

Jon’s Turn 1

In his hero phase, Jon’s treelord healed 1 wound from his nearby overgrown terrain. His branchwych tried to cast Regrowth to heal the treelord, but Jon had forgotten to apply his glade traits, and failed the casting even after issuing a command-reroll. Next, he pulled his dryads and branchwych back away from the kurnoth hunters towards the center objective, denying his opponent a juicy charge target. He then sent Drycha and her spite-revenants towards George’s treelord in the north-east corner, but they could not quite get the treelord within range of Drycha’s bees.

Jon issued no charges, but had his treelord perform a Stomp rampage and batter George’s seekers for a further 1 mortal wound. The treelord made quick work of 2 seekers in the combat phase, leaving only one seeker remaining in the unit! The lone seeker fought bravely, but only managed to scratch the treelord for 2 wounds.

End of Round 1: Both players had a firm hold on their respective objectives. George had repositioned his treelord to threaten Jon from the north-east, and Jon was sending his spite-revenants and Drycha to respond, while his own treelord had dealt a nasty blow to George’s revenant seekers.

 

Round 2

George won the roll-off and chose to take the 1st turn in round 2.

George’s Turn 2

George healed a wound on his revenant seekers in his hero phase, then moved his kurnoth hunters and his arch-revenant with their enhanced speed towards Jon’s dryads on the front lines. His treelord in the north-east maneuvered to get Jon’s spite-revenants in range of his strangleroots, and finally he sent his lone revenant seeker along the hidden paths to join his treelord. Using harvested lamentiri, the seeker brought one of their own back to life, bringing the total number of seekers back to 2 models.

Jon’s Turn 2

In his hero phase, Jon remembered that he could use heroic actions, but failed to gain a command point from his branchwych’s Heroic Leadership. His branchwych healed his treelord with a successful casting of Regrowth, and the lord then walked the spirit paths to join Drycha in advancing on George’s treelord and seekers in the north-east.

Jon’s treelord then shot 1 of the 2 seekers off the board, and Drycha’s blast of bees left the last seeker just 1 wound away from death! However, these two monsters were still too far away to make their charges.

End of Round 2: Both players still held their objectives. Jon had lost his spite-revenants, and was consolidating his dryads and branchwych around his objective. However, George’s treelord and revenant-seekers were cornered, and the seekers close to annihilation. If Jon got the double-turn, those seekers were as good as dead…

 

Round 3

So of course, Jon won the roll-off and chose to take the 1st turn in round 3, gaining the fabled double turn!

Jon’s Turn 3

In his hero phase, Jon gained a command point from his branchwych’s Heroic Leadership. His treelord healed up another wound from nearby overgrown terrain, then moved up with Drycha, while his dryads surrounded George’s other northern piece of overgrown terrain to seal off any hidden-path-walking. George tried to redeploy his seekers as Drycha closed in, but couldn’t get them out of the range of Jon’s treelord, which shot the last revenant seeker off the battlefield. Jon revealed his Reinforcements ruse, placing his spite-revenants back on the battlefield near the eastern edge, hoping to get them into combat.

Drycha moved up on George’s treelord, readying herself for a fight. She chipped 3 wounds off the treelord with a small storm of bees while her squirmlings rose within her, ready for the killing to begin in earnest.

She easily made her charge to George’s treelord, but Jon’s treelord could not close the distance to his counterpart, and with the revenant seekers dead, Jon’s spite-revenants had no valid target for their charge. George ordered his treelord to unleash hell upon Drycha, and at this point the players realized that George had forgotten to mark 3 of Jon’s units as the targets of his Heartwood hunt. They agreed that George would have likely chosen Drycha and Jon’s treelord and branchwych at the start of the game, and this helped George’s treelord hit Drycha for 2 wounds with his strangleroots as she closed in. Finally, George made a crucial 3+ roll for his treelord’s groundshaking stomp, forcing Drycha to fight last in the following combat phase.

This proved to be crucial – with Heartwood's +1 to hit against Drycha, George’s treelord was able to rend the hateful bee-lady for 8 wounds, bringing her down just before she could strike with the full force of her squirmlings.

George’s Turn 3

George healed a wound on his heroic treelord, and his arch-revenant’s Heroic Leadership scored him an extra command point. The treelord walked the spirit paths to George's overgrown terrain in his territory, to rejoin the front lines. George then ordered his kurnoth hunters and arch-revenant to continue their dogged advance forward, but decided not to charge Jon’s dryads in order to prevent the hunters from being bogged down in a fight of secondary importance. No, these hunters had their eyes on a bigger prize: Jon’s general, the branchwych, sitting on that all-important second objective.

The treelord shot a couple Jon’s dryads, but could not to reach the branchwych with a charge that turn. With no combats, the round concluded with a single dryad fleeing from battleshock.

End of Round 3: George lost his seekers to a double-turn from John, but his treelord stood firm and brought its full might to bear across 2 phases to bring down Drycha before she could fully join battle. Then, the treelord spirited itself away across the battlefield, leaving Jon’s own treelord and his backup spite-revenants standing alone in the dust.

Meanwhile, George’s kurnoth hunters and arch-revenant were moving menacingly upon Jon’s branchwych, and that crucial second objective…

 

Round 4

With a deft roll of 6, George took a double-turn of his own!

George’s Turn 4

George again scored an extra command point from his arch-revenant’s Heroic Leadership. His treelord and kurnoth hunters, supported by the arch-revenant, moved in a pincer formation toward Jon’s branchwych general, who barely avoided the treelord’s strangleroots.

Then, the pincer closed. The kurnoth hunters charged the branchwych, as did the treelord, who Stomped his enemy for a mortal wound. With a bolstering Call to Battle command from the arch-revenant, the kurnoth hunters cut down the branchwych before she could ever respond.

Jon’s Turn 4

In his hero phase, Jon removed that last injury from his treelord, then sent the behemoth along the spirit paths in the subsequent movement phase to try to retake the centre objective. His dryads moved behind George’s kurnoth hunters to attack the arch-revenant.

The dryads and the treelord charged, and easily reached their enemies. Jon’s treelord issued a Titanic Duel, but was slowed down by a Groundshaking Stomp from George’s treelord.

The dryads, then, would have to be the first to fight in Jon’s combat phase. Though they made an All-Out Attack against George’s arch-revenant general, the revenant’s shield and defensive stance warded off every single one of their blows – and another Call to Battle command saw George’s kurnoth hunters turn the dryads to splinters with 8 mortal wounds from their greatswords, destroying the unit before ever making a single wound roll.

Jon’s treelord fought valiantly, but could not bring down his opponent. At the end of his turn, George’s forces still held both objectives – and won the battle with a major victory!

Outcome: Major Victory to George at the end of Round 4.

 

Post-Mortem

With their relative inexperience and the new Sylvaneth tome still fresh, both players made some notable rules mistakes, which are summarized below:

• Both players treated the range of the treelord’s Spirit Paths as 12” (incorrectly remembering the ability as having a 9” range, expanded by a further 3” from season of the Reaping) instead of 6” – the range of the Spirit Path’s teleport is 6”, not 9”, and Season of the Reaping only applies to the Places of Power and From the Woodland Depths battle traits. Since this affected both players equally, they ultimately determined that it was a balanced issue, although this did allow George to make a fairly important charge with his treelord in the final round of the game. However, if George’s treelord had not made that charge, Jon would still have had to have his Treelord kill 2 of the 3 kurnoth hunters in order to control the objective at the end of the turn.
• Both players thought they had misread the Spirit Paths rule towards the end of the game, and each made a move with their treelords after walking the spirit paths. This allowed their models to close a bit quicker, but ultimately did not affect the outcome of the game, since George did not charge after that move and Jon's charge did not get his treelord into combat fast enough to deal the necessary damage to change control of an objective.
• Jon initially forgot to choose his Glade, and did not apply his Gnarlroot bonus when casting Regrowth on his treelord in the first turn, causing him to fail the cast. The treelord healed enough wounds from Places to Power to regain a bracket level, and healed to full over the course of the rest of the game, rendering this issue moot.
• Jon forgot that his branchwych had the Crown of Fell Bowers. However, his branchwych was not alive during any of the combats where the Crown would have been applicable; as such, this did not dramatically change the outcome of the game.
• George forgot to choose the Hunted Target units for his Heartwood glade benefits until the second turn. Since the players agreed that he would have chosen the treelord, drycha, and the branchwych, this would have meant that he would not have had to spend a command point to issue All-Out Attack to his revenant seekers during their fight against Jon’s treelord in the first turn. Since George did not have many additional uses for his command points in the first round, this did not dramatically change the outcome of the game.

Edited July 3, 2022 by acr0ssth3p0nd
Formatting

[JackStreicher]

Very nice! Yet we meed more images!!