Raiding the Dwarf mines — Raid 2000 attacker vs 1500 defenders

[Alarantalara]

A game of Raid! from The General's Compendium with a few modifications and extras.

1. The Dark Elves, as attacker, tried to match the Raiders of Naggaroth list at the back of the Dark Elf book (the unit roster is so limited that I don't have enough models to make a 2000 point list). I took units from that list until I ran out, then filled out the list with warriors, cold one knights and executioners. Characters followed the requirements and limits from that list (no sorceresses, must have sea dragon cloaks).
2. The dwarfs, as defender, used the Overground Defence list from the back of the Dwarf book. Recognizing that rangers were near required but the scenario doesn't allow scouting, they were discounted by 1 point/model.
3. The dwarf buildings were identified as part of a mine (powder storage, mine entrance, office, barracks, drink hall). As such, miners were both allowed to use their special deployment despite the scenario rules and in addition were allowed to treat the mine entrance (conveniently centrally located) as a "table edge".

The terrain was set up to match, with most of the buildings near each other and the powder storage much farther away for safety. Some hills and a forest filled out the rest.

You'll see various dice and coins on the buildings throughout the game. Coins represented loot and could be captured by units. Red dice marked buildings on fire. Black dice indicate remaining damage points on buildings.

The dwarfs arrayed their forces and prepared for the attack. Left to right: gyrocopter (not pictured), slayers, warriors (+ thane), crossbowmen, rangers (+ battle standard bearer with rune of slowness), warriors (+ thane). The miners remained in the tunnels and were not deployed.

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Turn 1:
The dark elves moved onto the table. Dark riders and shades made for the isolated powder storage, while the bulk of the force approached the main compound. There was some scattered shooting from the dark riders, but no injuries. With no magic and everything else unable to shoot due to movement, the dark elf turn was over.

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The dwarfs advanced their infantry just enough to get between the buildings and the dark elves. The gyrocopter remained hidden behind the hill, waiting for the enemy to come within reach. The crossbowmen fired at the cold one knights, killing one.

Turn 2:
The main dark elf force reached the nearer buildings, while the lighter units took up positions around the powder storage. The bolt throwers started shooting at the more distant buildings, trying to set them on fire with flaming bolts.

The gyrocopter saw its chance and moved to fire its steam gun on some dark riders, killing one. The crossbowmen continued to fire and killed two more knights. The miners emerged from the mine and prepared to defend the entrance.

Turn 3:
Let it burn! Three buildings were set alight (mostly by bolt thrower), and two buildings were looted. The gyrocopter, having fallen into the dark elves' trap, was charged from behind and crashed, inflicting no casualties. The shades prepared to loot the powder magazine.

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The knights charged the crossbowmen, taking two casualties from stand and shoot reactions and a wound on the noble, but demonstrated that a noble with the draich of dark power is not to be denied, as four died to the noble and champion. The executioners advanced past the building to their left.

The dwarfs moved to stop the burning, sending warriors up to protect the one uncovered building in the main compound, but were unable to put out any of the flames. Yet more crossbowmen died as the noble continued to rampage through their ranks. Finally, a unit of warriors charged the foolhardy executioners, who had advanced too far ahead, and put them to flight with only one casualty.

Turn 4:
The powder storage was looted and set aflame. The corsairs spread out to more efficiently set the building on fire but didn't succeed. Even more crossbowmen were killed. With so many buildings burning, a few shots were taken at the warriors near the slayers by the bolt throwers, killing three. The highborn left his unit to support a potential attack on the miners.

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The dwarfs continued to try to put out fires. The crossbowmen continued to die. The game was now so exciting I forgot to take more pictures.

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Turn 5:
The highborn general recalled he brought an executioner's axe to destroy buildings, but before he could use it, a pair of lucky shots from the bolt throwers completely destroyed the building (hit on 2, wound on 5, and three wounds per shot). The crossbowmen were finally eliminated.

The miners switched from trying to save the mine to trying to break through the dark elf crossbows to recapture the loot held by the warriors behind them. Unfortunately, the crossbowmen were able to hold. Some buildings had their fires put out.

Turn 6:
The highborn charged in to support the crossbowmen and killed two miners, keeping the crossbowmen from running and destroying the dwarfs' hope of recapturing any loot. All intact buildings were set on fire. One bolt thrower killed some warriors to hamper the firefighting, while the dark riders charged the slayers and warriors at the top left building, trying to keep them occupied so they couldn't put out the fires. They lost both fights and managed to hold against the slayers, keeping them out of the firefighting. There was nothing for the knights to do.

At this point, there were four burning buildings, one destroyed building and three captured loot tokens. Three of the buildings had dwarfs ready to put out the fires. If they succeeded at all three, the game would be a draw—any failures and the dark elves would win. They put out one, with the occupied slayers unable to help in one case, leaving that one burning despite the warriors' best efforts and the reduced numbers of warriors from the bolt thrower shooting contributing to the second failure.

Victory dark elves.

Post game thoughts:

1. The dark elves should have sent more than 5 shades to loot the powder magazine. Just one death would have left the shades unable to loot the building, and losing what should be an easy loot token since the dark riders weren't allowed to loot buildings.
2. The gyrocopter ignored the shades, thus failing to capitalize on the previous mistake.
3. Despite taking the executioner's blade explicitly to destroy buildings, it was never used for that purpose, despite being adjacent to the building for multiple turns. This could have freed the bolt throwers to destroy other targets.
4. The dwarfs generally focussed on firefighting instead of recapturing loot. The miners might have been able to get through the crossbowmen if they had started a turn earlier.
5. The bolt throwers were generally amazing at starting fires anywhere and everywhere. Six really accurate shots with higher chances to set fires per shot due to being a war machine is really nice. It's possible the miners would have been better used trying to kill them instead (especially since it would have also cleared a path to the spearmen).

[Just Tony]

This report hits me a little harder since I've seen that Dark Elf army in real life...






I can't dole out too much sage advice that wasn't covered already, other than maybe a unit of Rangers to scout and cause problems in the DE deployment zone.

This also tells me that my brother and I need to start looking in the General's Compendium for mission ideas.

[Alarantalara]

This is the second scenario from the General's Compendium we've played.

Raid! is excellent; there's lots of room for interesting decisions and lots of suggestions to tweak it to adjust it to your liking. See this report for instance: while the dark elves pulled ahead on turn 4 and were able to keep a lead, the dwarfs were never out of the game.

The other one we tried, Construction, is lacking. The idea sounds like fun but there's lots of army lists that will turn it into a disappointing mess. For instance, 2 Empire great cannons have a non-zero chance to win the game turn 1 before the defender has a turn, while being completely manageable in a normal game. Meanwhile, all the elven armies struggle to damage the target at all since they have nothing over strength 6. We played dark elves vs dwarfs and lizardmen and while the lizardmen were annihilated, the dwarfs were barely touched and it was obvious the defending alliance would win by turn 4 as the dwarfs were able to build faster than the elves could do damage.