Post by elricaltovilla on Nov 8, 2017 1:47:31 GMT
Hoo boy do I have opinions!
I wouldn't call this a real battle report, since there's no pictures and I didn't really take notes but I may see about writing up an actual battle report for the next time I play Company of Iron.
First of all, I enjoyed the format. It was different enough from your standard game to feel fresh and interesting, but the basics were all there so it wasn't like trying to learn a new system. My first game didn't go much faster than my usual 75 pt. warmachine games, but I'm not sure if that's because of my unfamiliarity with the flow of COI or if individual actions do actually take longer. Anyway, on to the fun bits:
My List:
Commander: Janissa Stonetide- Mission Specialist
Trollkin Champions (Max)
-Skaldi Bonehammer
Total: 25 Pts.
My Opponent's List:
Commander: Aelyth Vyr, Blade of Nyssor- Frontline Officer
Min. Ryssovass Defenders
Lys Healer
Priest of Nyssor
Ghost Sniper
(You'll notice that both of our lists feature some sort of no-knockdown tough. We both had similar ideas while reading up on the new rules, Steady + Tough is really strong in COI.)
Our scenario was Raiding the Raiders. In the roll off for roles, I won and chose to defend. Given how tough new champs are, it seemed like a good idea to play defensively and force my opponent to come to me. Forcing him to be on a timer didn't hurt either. Our map had several obstacles and two walls on one side of the board so I chose that side to set up and placed my objectives behind the walls as best I could.
The +1 to priority and starting rolls helped immensely, since I pretty much got the setup I wanted. It also helped me swing momentum back in my favor during later turns.
Round 1 saw all of us basically moving into position. My opponent spread his unit of Defenders out in pairs, while I grouped my champs + Skaldi into threes and moved Janissa forward to just behind a forest. The ghost sniper managed to shoot at one of my champs and do an annoying amount of damage, but he survived and became knocked down (thanks to not having a buddy next to him at the time :/ ). I did not sanguine bond any of the damage because I forgot I could do that, but it ended up not mattering much anyway.
Round 2 I spent a significant amount of time doing nothing as I waited for my opponent to move his melee army closer to my melee army so that I could try and hurt them. During this time, my opponent ran a couple of his objective carrying Ryssovass around the outside edge of the mat to get close to one of my objectives. Aelyth Vyr charges one of my champs and manages to kill him thanks to a bad tough roll that triggered cleave.
Round 3 I finally get to do something! Except not really. I charge some champs at some Ryssovass, and only really succeed in tying them up. Not only were my dice rolls horrible, but my opponent's Steady + Tough and hand size advantage allowed him to negate every single attack that managed to land. I was able to get most of his models tied up though, and had put his Lys healer in range of Janissa, while not being in cover. So naturally I shoot at her... and roll a 3 to hit. The deviation still lands on the healer but I only manage to do one damage. My opponent counters by shooting Janissa with a boosted, additional diced ghost sniper shot which forces a tough check. She failed and then got killed by a pair of defenders.
Round 4 I move my newly promoted Trollkin Champion leader to charge my opponent's Priest of Nyssor, and actually manage to kill something! I overtake into engagement range with the other two Ryssovass, leaving them unable to escape my clutches. I have two more champs on another pair of Ryssovass, one blocking Aelyth Vyr and Skaldi on another pair. My opponent has nobody that can get to my objectives without eating a nasty free strike or two. He tries to clear out my models, but tough checks and rerolls allow my models to survive.
Round 5 My opponent is desperate, he's only got one chance to win. He plays "Don't Die on Me" to boost his tough checks, and has Aelyth Vyr take a free strike to place a marker objective. He attempts the same with his other two Ryssovass that are in range of my objective, but I am able to counter "Don't Die on Me" with the card that gives Takedown (I forget what it's called, my bad). He fails to get past Skaldi Bonehammer's free strike and it becomes impossible for him to win, so he surrenders the game.
I glossed over some stuff, like the sheer number of attacks that failed to land, the insane number of tough checks that got passed, and a couple other things. To put it in perspective, over the course of the match only a total of THREE models were destroyed, and by the end none of my champs (or Skaldi) had more than two boxes left. Steady + Tough is a very powerful combination in this game, and with both our armies having models with strong defensive abilities, it was more like a slapstick comedy than a brutal fight to the death. I whiffed more rolls than I care to admit, and my opponent had similar issues.
The time clock pressure on the attacker is intense, but without it I'd have lost for sure. Playing defense with a strong, hard to kill army makes for a rough matchup for any opponent and probably not the most fun match for me.
I really felt the pain of having so few cards in my hand. Being down 2 cards against my opponent (and my opponent pulling almost all the healing cards) made it very difficult for me to make any real headway against his army. He was able to toss boosts and additional dice around like candy while I had to be extremely careful about when and how I used my cards. The dice played a big part as well, since they managed to fail me on boosted rolls on more than one occasion.
I am looking forward to trying this list again, but I want to familiarize myself with COI a bit more first. I'd also like to find a way to fix the list so that I have a few more cards to play with.
I wouldn't call this a real battle report, since there's no pictures and I didn't really take notes but I may see about writing up an actual battle report for the next time I play Company of Iron.
First of all, I enjoyed the format. It was different enough from your standard game to feel fresh and interesting, but the basics were all there so it wasn't like trying to learn a new system. My first game didn't go much faster than my usual 75 pt. warmachine games, but I'm not sure if that's because of my unfamiliarity with the flow of COI or if individual actions do actually take longer. Anyway, on to the fun bits:
My List:
Commander: Janissa Stonetide- Mission Specialist
Trollkin Champions (Max)
-Skaldi Bonehammer
Total: 25 Pts.
My Opponent's List:
Commander: Aelyth Vyr, Blade of Nyssor- Frontline Officer
Min. Ryssovass Defenders
Lys Healer
Priest of Nyssor
Ghost Sniper
(You'll notice that both of our lists feature some sort of no-knockdown tough. We both had similar ideas while reading up on the new rules, Steady + Tough is really strong in COI.)
Our scenario was Raiding the Raiders. In the roll off for roles, I won and chose to defend. Given how tough new champs are, it seemed like a good idea to play defensively and force my opponent to come to me. Forcing him to be on a timer didn't hurt either. Our map had several obstacles and two walls on one side of the board so I chose that side to set up and placed my objectives behind the walls as best I could.
The +1 to priority and starting rolls helped immensely, since I pretty much got the setup I wanted. It also helped me swing momentum back in my favor during later turns.
Round 1 saw all of us basically moving into position. My opponent spread his unit of Defenders out in pairs, while I grouped my champs + Skaldi into threes and moved Janissa forward to just behind a forest. The ghost sniper managed to shoot at one of my champs and do an annoying amount of damage, but he survived and became knocked down (thanks to not having a buddy next to him at the time :/ ). I did not sanguine bond any of the damage because I forgot I could do that, but it ended up not mattering much anyway.
Round 2 I spent a significant amount of time doing nothing as I waited for my opponent to move his melee army closer to my melee army so that I could try and hurt them. During this time, my opponent ran a couple of his objective carrying Ryssovass around the outside edge of the mat to get close to one of my objectives. Aelyth Vyr charges one of my champs and manages to kill him thanks to a bad tough roll that triggered cleave.
Round 3 I finally get to do something! Except not really. I charge some champs at some Ryssovass, and only really succeed in tying them up. Not only were my dice rolls horrible, but my opponent's Steady + Tough and hand size advantage allowed him to negate every single attack that managed to land. I was able to get most of his models tied up though, and had put his Lys healer in range of Janissa, while not being in cover. So naturally I shoot at her... and roll a 3 to hit. The deviation still lands on the healer but I only manage to do one damage. My opponent counters by shooting Janissa with a boosted, additional diced ghost sniper shot which forces a tough check. She failed and then got killed by a pair of defenders.
Round 4 I move my newly promoted Trollkin Champion leader to charge my opponent's Priest of Nyssor, and actually manage to kill something! I overtake into engagement range with the other two Ryssovass, leaving them unable to escape my clutches. I have two more champs on another pair of Ryssovass, one blocking Aelyth Vyr and Skaldi on another pair. My opponent has nobody that can get to my objectives without eating a nasty free strike or two. He tries to clear out my models, but tough checks and rerolls allow my models to survive.
Round 5 My opponent is desperate, he's only got one chance to win. He plays "Don't Die on Me" to boost his tough checks, and has Aelyth Vyr take a free strike to place a marker objective. He attempts the same with his other two Ryssovass that are in range of my objective, but I am able to counter "Don't Die on Me" with the card that gives Takedown (I forget what it's called, my bad). He fails to get past Skaldi Bonehammer's free strike and it becomes impossible for him to win, so he surrenders the game.
I glossed over some stuff, like the sheer number of attacks that failed to land, the insane number of tough checks that got passed, and a couple other things. To put it in perspective, over the course of the match only a total of THREE models were destroyed, and by the end none of my champs (or Skaldi) had more than two boxes left. Steady + Tough is a very powerful combination in this game, and with both our armies having models with strong defensive abilities, it was more like a slapstick comedy than a brutal fight to the death. I whiffed more rolls than I care to admit, and my opponent had similar issues.
The time clock pressure on the attacker is intense, but without it I'd have lost for sure. Playing defense with a strong, hard to kill army makes for a rough matchup for any opponent and probably not the most fun match for me.
I really felt the pain of having so few cards in my hand. Being down 2 cards against my opponent (and my opponent pulling almost all the healing cards) made it very difficult for me to make any real headway against his army. He was able to toss boosts and additional dice around like candy while I had to be extremely careful about when and how I used my cards. The dice played a big part as well, since they managed to fail me on boosted rolls on more than one occasion.
I am looking forward to trying this list again, but I want to familiarize myself with COI a bit more first. I'd also like to find a way to fix the list so that I have a few more cards to play with.
