Domains at War

So, I scooted up a little.

Then, in response, Bloblo HUSTLED his light cavalry directly adjacent to me. I'm unclear to what end. He also charges his medium cavalry to one side of the rocky terrain, and positions his Autarch between them, for a neat trident effect now that I draw it out.

He also shuffles the rest of his units forward, and then makes the decision to seperate Mennic from his unit! I have no idea what that's about. Presumably, he hopes to utilize his spellcasting ability with greater mobility, but I feel like I'm just going to kill him more easily this way. We'll see.

http://imgur.com/QaG88JG

Unfortunately, the dice HATE me, and he gets to go first! So now his too-far-up units are actually very well poised to strike, maybe. I don't know. We'll see what he does. I'd discuss my plans for a counterattack, but he's listening, watching.

 

 

That's always messy when terrain gets up at the edges like that, but everyone's bowmen are well-placed to work around that in your main lines. 

Pushing up the cavalry up against yours probably wasn't a bad idea - keeps you from coming in and harassing his heavy infantry as they seem to work their away around that forest, and his heavy cav is placed to be able to hopefully decide later where to go depending on how the LC fares.

I wouldn't be surprised if he does the same with the LI on the right flank angling off there - make you waste turns getting your HI/LI through them.

Timing looks pretty bad on that HI coming around the forest, vis-a-vis engaging with the line on the right of it.

I really like spectating this, I'm highly amused.

 

 

 

The thing about pushing his cavalry up like that though is that he's made it immediately a story about our horses fighting, except that HIS horses are so close that they're within range of my infantry, which means he risks having them focus fired and wiped off the map.  I think it's very dangerous to throw your most valuable asset in that deep without any backup.

This is amazing! It's like a live stream of generalship.

Man! I can't believe how much time I spend waiting on susan_brindle! (Tongue planted firmly in cheek.)

I am EVERYWHERE!

...just like the placement of my units.

I would comment, but my enemy has many spies...

If a unit has, for example, three hoof attacks at +8, does that number include the +2 from charging? It'd make sense for it to, since hoof attacks are made exclusively while charging, but it'd also make sense not to include it just for consistency that all attacks on a charge are at +2 above printed values.

If two commanders roll equal initiative, and have equal strategic scores, you determine who goes first randomly. Should the determination be made when init is rolled, or do you wait until their turn starts? This is actually very important as it determines whether you can plan on going first or not.

The Auran Light Cavalry disengage and move to either side. One of them takes hits from both the horse archers and the skysos light cavalry, knocking off half their HP and disordering them. They stand firm though, so they complete their disengage. One of them makes a ranged attack after disengaging! I withdraw to avoid it. Then he brings his Medium cavalry around to flank and prevent withdrawal, except, you know, too late. Order of operations is very important. Otherwise that could've been really bad!

His heavily cavalry are able to charge into the gap that leaves though, and hit my Light Cavalry five times! They moonwalk backwards into the elephants, and then are forced to end movement because they're threatened, but since you can't end movement inside an ally, they bounce another hex. Two hexes of withdrawal is worth 8 points, so their attack goes from 20 to 12. Not bad!

http://imgur.com/bz3gZkO

He then moves Tarkaun up a little ways and rotates him to face my slingers, setting him up for a charge next turn. Poor unarmored sods. They're just men with rocks! To make matters worse, Danir's bowmen squad fires arrows at them with his composite bowmen! Fortunately, the thick white togas of the south repel arrows and my slingers are unharmed. Danir's footmen scootch up a bit.

Next, Mennic finally activates. His heavy infantry move up to back up Danir's. He himself flies boldly to Tarkaun's side, wizard and king back to back against the barbarian hordes! I'm a sucker for van art, and this is van art at its finest. Mennic can't do anything though, besides have one of his archers shoot my poor slingers. They take one hit which they negate by doing the southron shuffle (withdrawing.)

http://imgur.com/5DJduiy

Valanna and Peyman roll off, since they tied. Valanna wins, so it's her turn! Stay tuned for tommorow's exciting conclusion!

I'd do it at time of initiative determination, as it's a part of that process.

I cannot describe to you how upset I am over not cutting off your retreat with my Medium Cavalry before you could Withraw! Arrgh! That had been exactly my plan, but then I noticed I could make Ranged attacks after the Light Cavalry Disengaged and went, "Oooh, shiny!" completely forgetting my plan. Damnit!

No, it doesn't. For consistency, all attacks are always listed as their base (unmodified) attack throw. Warhorses are 2+ HD monsters so their base attack throw is 8+.

You do it during the initiative phase, immediately.

Yeah, we forgot and did it when we got to that point in the Initiative order. As that was my last Division Commander, it didn't really change anything.

Thanks for the clarifications!

Valana actives first and shoots my slingers. They get hit, but do the toga shuffle and avoid damage by withdrawing.

My turn comes around! Peyman throws his light infantry into melee against the light cavalry, but scores only one hit. His slingers attack the heavy cavalry, but thrown rocks are not effective weapons.The Skysos Medium cavalry rotate and stab upwards at the Medium Cavalry threatening Jagtai, and WRECK them, scoring 3 hits which knocks them to half HP, prompting a shock roll at a total of -5 (flanking, disorder, 50% HP.) Bloblah rolls a modified 1 for shock, instantly destroying them. First blood! 

http://imgur.com/lVflb5e

The Skysos light cavalry charge the now-disordered enemy light cavalry, and score multiple hits, forcing it to recoil. Jagtai's unit, now unthreatened, marches down and attacks but whiffs on all three attacks.(Jagtai himself does land a poison arrow on the lieutenant though, who dies.) This is absolutely critical, because with the light cavalry alive, I can't charge my elephants into his Autarch. Hitting their great general's unit with seven flanking charge attacks would be INTENSE!  Instead, the elephant marches up and takes the light cav's last few hitpoints. I choose not to follow up in favor of creating a nice battle line.

On the other side of the field, Baal activates and shoots their archers with my archers. He scores minor damage on one, who withdraws, then hits it again. It's kinda boring. Haakon decides the lake route is too long and hustles to return to the fold and back up Baal, who advances with his heavies. I'm getting ready for the fighting to start in earnest now!

http://imgur.com/l9ft0AR

I'm about to roll init when I remember that heroes get three extra passes. Bloblah was unaware of this rule, and understandably frustrated to hear that his wizard is four times as potent as previously believed, as that throws off his whole game plan. Also, he didn't realize that Jagtai got to shoot three more times this round and is now in range of his Autarch. Can heroes attached to threatened units make missile attacks during the extra initative passes? If attached heroes attack the same target as their unit, do they also attack in the same way, or can Jagtai use his bow while his unit uses melee, as long as he attacks the same target?

Does the prohibition on wizards casting a spell the same turn they moved apply to the extra passes as well?

 

Can heroes attached to threatened units make missile attacks during the extra initative passes?

A hero can make missile attacks if he is not threatened. A hero is not threatened by an enemy unit unless an enemy hero is attached to the enemy unit. So the answer is that the hero can make missile attacks during the extra initiative passes IF the enemy unit that is threatening the unit he is attached to does not contain an enemy hero. 

Keep in mind that if a hero is leading from the rear, he has a visibility distance of 0 hexes. Given that Bobloblah didn't know that heroes would receive multiple attacks, it would likely be kind to allow him to assume that attached heroes he hasn't attacked with are currently leading from the rear. There's no particular advantage to leading from the front if you're not about to fight - it just makes you vulnerable.

If attached heroes attack the same target as their unit, do they also attack in the same way, or can Jagtai use his bow while his unit uses melee, as long as he attacks the same target?

The hero can make whatever attacks he is eligible to make. Jagatai can use his bow provided he is not threatened.

Does the prohibition on wizards casting a spell the same turn they moved apply to the extra passes as well?

According to the rules-as-written, in order to cast a spell you must have remained stationary in the movement sequence of the turn. This would apply to all bonus attack sequences. 

That said, the rule above was simplified from an earlier, more mathematically, accurate rule, which would actually say that you should get 2 bonus attack sequences if you walked and 1 if you hustled.

The mathematics are that each Brigade-scale D@W battle round represents 4 combat rounds and each hex is 4x the distance; a hero that moves full speed is moving full speed for 4 rounds;  a hero that moves half speed is assumed to moving half for 4 rounds and thus unable to use magic (which is what the rules as written assume); but they might be moving full speed for 2 rounds and stationary for 2 rounds, and thus able to use magic. This latter interpretation got so complex that I eliminated it, but for games where you are really "zoomed in" and focusing on the PCs on the battlefield rather than the wargame aspect it can be more fun.

 

Hm. Jagatai was Threatened.

That is correct. I should not have killed the lieutenant. Luckily, Jagtai's unit was, I believe, the very last one to move, so we can easily go back a step. I suppose the fair thing to do is to place him back on the board and roll shock to see how he feels about his unit being destroyed, as per Alex's post on what happens to a hero when his unit is destroyed.