What can we learn from the Duardin?

Stop.

Stop whatever you are doing right now and sit down for a moment. It is time to think. You can't say you're too busy to spend a couple of minutes all by yourself, reading this post. We always have a moment if we want to, no matter how busy we think we are.

You should pause to think every now and then, yet pause only to think. There's no taming a mule if all you do is sit on the fence.

Life is a silly and complicated thing that we all have found ourselves in. The inhabitants of the Mortal Realms are no different, albeit their lives and the worlds they live in are quite unlike ours. Yet there are enough similarities that we should take a look at what they can teach us about life.

What can we learn from the duardin?

First of all, what are the duardin exactly? Well, they're one of the mortal races across the Realms along with aelves, orruks, humans, grots and ogors, trying to make do in worlds that are being rebuilt after the Chaos invasions. Their appearance is distinctively human, yet they live much longer and can reach an age of several centuries if not slain in battle. They also posses a particular stamina and strength of both limb and mind, raising an average duardin far above an average human in almost every respect. Not in all respects though, as every race has a set of flaws unique to its nature.

Traditionally the duardin live underground, in the tunnels, halls and holds that honeycomb the mountains of the Realms. They're used to darkness and tight confines, and their physical build further enhances these traits; they're short and broad, and their eyesight remains sharp even in poorly lit spaces. This means that they are very hard to face and fight in their natural environment, on their "home turf", so to speak. Despite all their strengths underground, the duardin feel uncomfortable and vulnerable on open fields up on the surface, where their lack of speed and agility is apparent. But what does this all have to do with life? 
Every one of us houses a small duardin within our minds. Some show it more apparently than others, but we all have one. Who could deny that they feel more comfortable facing the difficulties and challenges of life in an environment they feel safe in? There are also many people who lock themselves in their holds, halls and tunnels to live a life familiar to them, guarded against any influences from the outer world, protected against anything that might contradict with their own view of the world. This is a dangerous thing to do, to shut out everything one simply doesn't like. Life's not supposed to be all happy and easy and pleasant, one has to come to terms with the fact that even the uglier, less pleasant and unwanted things are a part of the experience and help one grow as a person.

Don't be afraid to walk on the surface with your head up, enjoying the sunshine and keeping an open mind for everything you come across. Living your whole life in the confined tunnels leaves you stunted, both physically and mentally. Kick open the gates of your fortified hold and take a walk in the brisk mountain air, ventilate your head, hearth and home!

In duardin society, age is everything. The older you are, and the longer your beard is, the more respect you command. This is a wise thing to keep in mind even here on our world. Your elders most likely have more experience with life than you, so it might be worth your while to listen to what they have to say. Many a puzzle can be solved with the help of someone older than you, and many good advice can be pried from their stories and mumblings if one cares to listen. Whether you listen to your elders or not, you should nonetheless treat them with all the respect they have earned by having lived their lives up to this moment. It's a skill on its own, after all!

The duardin are also as perfectionist as perfectionism can get. Everything they make, from fortresses and cannons to torcs, jewels, handguns and suits of armour, they manufacture each item painstakingly over long periods of time. To them, everything has to be a masterpiece, from chamber-pots to weapons of war. This excessive love for things of beauty is a grave weakness when it goes too far, be it in the form of an obsession that blinds the victim to reason or a dangerous avarice that seeks to consume everything in sight.
It is possible to over-do things. It is also highly advised against doing so. Of course, it is good to try and get better at things you do, and it is okay to aim high and strive for something better. But perfection is not something that's achievable to us humans. You can always do better than you did, but you'll never reach the highest summit of them all. It is an important skill in life to be content with your creation at some point and to decide that it is ready. That's the only way you can ever get stuff done and to move on to new stuff.

Duardin are also known for their obsession of oaths and vows. Both concepts are crucial in the culture of the mountainfolk, for when a duardin gives his/her word on something they'll go out of their way to see the promise fulfilled. Failing to keep a vow or an oath is treated as a terrible misdeed that requires the oathbreaker to shave their heads except for a single defiant crest, dye their beards bright orange and to take the Oath of the Slayer that sends them on a quest to seek death through honourable combat by challenging the most dangerous monsters they can find. Taking one's own life is an inconceivable thing to a duardin, as is the concept of losing a fight on purpose. These Slayers roam the wilds in search of a foe they can pit their full skills against, either surviving the encounter to resume their search or perishing in compensation for their crimes.
The duardin never give up, and neither should you. No matter the odds, no matter the amount of shame, no matter their personal grief or hatred, a duardin keeps on going until he/she can go no more... and yet they still keep on going! There's a lot to learn from this: there will always be adversities in life, there will be moments when mere existence feels a bit hard, but all these are things you can survive by just picking yourself up, dusting off and starting again.
The duardin Slayers just tend to get one aspect of this fierce determination wrong; you don't have to do it all alone. There are people around you, people who care about you and who will help you. All you need to do is ask, and sometimes even that isn't necessary. Good friends will notice your peril at some point even if you don't specifically seek help, and other people are exactly what people need. Many things can be done alone, but almost everything can be achieved or overcome together. Keep your friends and family close, let them know how important they are to you. There's no way someone can get bored of hearing every now and then how much you appreciate them and their presence in your life.

Another point on the same aspect of this grim race's culture. The language of the duardin, khazalid, doesn't have a word for forgiveness. The duardin do not forgive, and this is one of their direst flaws. Even small slights and misunderstandings can escalate quickly without the involved parties asking and granting forgiveness, sometimes leading to fully-fledged wars that drain both sides pale, and for what? For the lack of one small, but ever so useful, word. The word itself might seem insignificant, but the power behind it is immense. Uttering this magical word, or any other word associated with it, delivers the message that you regret your doings and ask for understanding. You leave yourself exposed as a sign of remorse, and the other person then has to try and find it in him-/herself to accept your sincere apology so the feud can be brought to a non-messy end before any unwanted escalation can take place.

Avoid living too tightly in comfortable mental bubbles and safe havens, locked up with your own thoughts and ideologies, denying the frightening outer world. Ventilate your head and keep your mind open for all the spectrum of colours outside your favourite one. If you only search for one single thing, it'll be the only thing you ever find.

Respect experience and age, hear the stories of those who want to share them. They're not blabbering just to keep themselves warm, they actually have a message they're trying to get across so you can benefit from their hard-earned knowledge and perhaps avoid some mistakes they feel they've made in their own lives.

You can always do better, you should always strive for something better, but you should do it within the boundaries of moderation and reason. Whatever you're doing and however you're doing it, keep in mind that at some point you'll have to stop yourself from all the endless honing and fixing in search of perfection and decide that you're done, the work is finished. There's no other way anything can get finished, no other way to move on.

Never give up. Some things in life are bad and they can really make you mad. Other things just make you swear and curse. When chewing on live's gristle, don't crumble, give a whistle! This'll help things turn out for the best. Trust me, just keep your look on the bright side of life, pick yourself up, dust off and keep going. Hold on to people that are important to you. Tell them how important they are to you. Help them and let them help you. Appreciate them and be there for them.

Apologize and forgive. Life is hard enough by itself at times without all the extra weight laden upon it by withholding words that should be said. Be the one to say them out loud. Don't bear grudges for all eternity, instead take a moment to search yourself for the understanding and forgiveness the other person is asking for. Grief and hatred are all the duardin have ever gained from their painstaking grudge-keeping. Do not be a duardin in that way, embrace your humanity and all the flexibility that comes with it.

That, my friends, is what we can learn from the duardin.

Path to Glory: Sundamar Sallies Forth

Greetings!

Now with the Beardlings -tutorial series wrapped up I plunged straight into a local Path to Glory league. Last time I participated in a local league I played my new Aelves and ended up on top! You can read more on my previous foray into the world of friendly semi-competitiveness under Campaigns --> Aelves in the Local League on the sidebar menu to the right.

I was balancing in between my Stormcast Eternals and my Aelves to be taken as the army I would play, since the rules and regulations for the league demand fully painted armies on round bases (thus dropping my option of playing my favourite faction: the Duardin). Since I haven't played my Stormcasts that much and I have an urge to get some more stuff painted for my Aelves, I opted to go for the latter. It seems like Aelves have become my go-to choice for anything even remotely competitive!

I don't mind, though. Many of my other armies feature quite often in my battles, whether or not I write a report about them, and since I mostly play Narrative I don't care that much about base shapes or points or such. My Aelves, however, were acquired and built specifically for the previous league and I think of them as a "league army" in general. They tick all the boxes for the rules and regulations without being the most obvious or over-used faction choice people might face in settings like this. I also like the little bit of extra challenge this army poses to its player: nothing quite packs enough punch, nothing can take a punch and the only way to victory is superior tactics, luck and going determinedly for the objective.

In other words, it doesn't surprise me when I lose with this faction (I even kind of expect it by default) but by Asuryan does it feel good to score a victory with these feeble pointy-ears! They give you that "hard-fought, well earned" feeling when you manage to pull your weedy warriors through the hell of the battlefields.

Here is my glorious warband, House Blazeborn!

Lord Sundamar Blazeborn and his loyal companion A'undtur act as the champion for my warband. He is a Dragonlord choice which gives him 2 units of Followers. He is quite capable in combat and with A'undtur also (of course) breathing fire, he seemed like a good hybrid Champion choice that handles himself in melee, moves fast and can spit out mortal wounds at range. He is equipped with Quicksilver Potion for throwing my opponent's combat phase off balance and he is known to be a Master of Defence which makes him even more durable than he already is!

Blazeborn Household Knights form the rest of the mobility in my force, being able to cover vast distances on the field in a single turn. Let us hope that these 5 Dragon Blades live up to their reputation and save a day or three with their objective-grabbing capabilities.

The Rangers of the Jagged Coast are a unit of 10 White Lions who flesh out my force by boosting the total number of warriors. They hit hard and have special Abilities against the effects of battleshock so I expect them to be able to strike out on their own and hold a location if I tell them to do so. In a warband as mobile as mine, I needed a reliable infantry unit for anchoring down locations.

After taking the pic you see above, the Dragonlord's wings have been folded back, his horn in the left hand has been replaced with a shield and his base has been redone. You'll see the final result in the pics of the battle to follow.

This league advances in two-week cycles, giving each player two chances to show up at the club and play the game to be recorded in the league scoreboards. The very first scenario we played was Cornered!, in which a smaller warband tries to get its Champion out of an ambush alive. Should the escaping Champion be slain or reduced below half of his Wounds the victory would go to the ambusher, while escaping with his/her life would score a victory for the escapee. We added a single house rule to this scenario: the escape could not happen before the start of the 3rd battleround, so that flying models couldn't end the game too soon.

Lord Sundamar Blazeborn could hear the ranger approaching long before he came into view. Leaning against the slowly heaving side A'undtur, the aelf noble couldn't help but feel omnipotent. Dragons were ancient and intelligent beings with capabilities far beyond even the race of aelves. To be connected to such a creature through mind was to share a portion of their power, knowledge and characteristics. Sundamar's lips rose into a suppressed smile as he saw his knights only now turn their heads towards the sounds of the approaching scout. Aelves might posses exceptionally keen senses and acute hearing, but they were still nothing compared to those of a dragon's.

The fur-clad ranger came straight to his liege, offering a hurried and awkwardly shallow bow as a way of greeting. This was the closest thing these forest-dwellers could manage to courtly manners, Sundamar thought, before permitting the scout to report his findings.
"Speak."
"My lord, there is a ruined temple ahead with strange inscriptions carved onto its pillars. It might be the closest thing we have to a lead if we're ever to find Lord Aerelian in time," the Lion Ranger reported in an awfully practical and typically gruff manner.

Sundamar nodded and took a moment to arrange his thoughts. He had set out from his family estate some weeks ago with only a handful of loyal household knights for protection and a group of rangers from the Jagged Coast to lead the way. They were to locate the Loremaster of the nearby Dawnspire who had went missing on a quest to investigate troubling news of a new growing cult in the region. Some human locals along the way had been able to point them the general direction in which the Loremaster had traveled, and one village elder even told them of a vision he'd had the other night in which a lonely aelf was involved in a sacrificial ritual under a full moon.

"We should go to this temple your underling speaks of, the inscriptions might have some clues as to where we should look for the site of this ritual," A'undtur mind-sang inside Sundamar's head, audible only to the aelf lord.
"Can you translate them?" he sang silently in reply, immediately sensing amusement in the mind of the dragon and realizing the foolishness of his query. Of course the dragon could.
"Let us go, then," Sundamar continued out loud, turning his gaze to the knights.
"The rangers and I shall investigate a nearby location and return by nightfall. Wait here."
"M-my lord, we..." one of the knights started mumbling.
"You shall do as I say. Wait for my return, we will then resume our journey at first light," Sundamar commanded and reached for A'undtur. He climbed to the saddle and the dragon took to the air with a couple of powerful beats of its massive wings, gliding off into the horizon with a group of rangers following closely behind by land. The household knights were left watching worriedly at their lord's receding back as he flew off into unknown.

Sun was beginning to descend behind the hills as Lord Blazeborn studied the inscriptions on the temple's pillars. A'undtur was with him, silently mind-singing translations to the aelf.
"Seems clear enough," Sundamar finally broke the ostensible silence, drawing gazes from the Lion Rangers waiting outside.
"We're four nights from the full moon, and the perfect location for any lunar rituals lies only a dozen leagues north from where we stand now, in the Zendorn Foothills. Let us return to the others and..."

Just then one of the rangers ran inside, gesturing Sundamar to follow. He stepped outside into the warm light of the descending sun, only to lay his eyes upon a cloud of dust approaching them from the horizon. A'undtur sensed the lord's discomfort and climbed down from the roof of the temple ruins, mind-singing the words Blazeborn couldn't say himself.
"It seems we've walked into a trap, little one."

My warband started off in the middle, with the Dragonlord surrounded by the White Lions. Unfortunately I didn't take a pic before he started flying around in the first turn.

I got paired against Slaves to Darkness and my warband was the one to be surrounded. As I only got to bring half of my units to the field to protect my Champion, my opponent nominated my White Lions to accompany Lord Sundamar in the middle of the field to deny me the benefit of my Dragon Blades sharing a keyword with my Champion.

My warband got the first turn and so the game begun. My opponent had a mounted Chaos Lord, 5 Chaos Knights with Glaives and 10 Chaos Warriors with Halberds. Judging the Warriors to be the weakest link in his army and trying to get away from his faster units, I moved my units closer to the right flank. When it came to charging my Dragonlord made it easily, but the White Lions were left an inch short, leaving my Champion all alone in a bunch of angry enemies!

I had planned that the combined might of a dragon and some elite infantry would carve through the flank in no-time, letting me escape as soon as possible. Alas, as my White Lions failed miserably in their duties I had no choice but to try and finish what I had started with my Champion. To my surprise he did pretty well, taking the unit of Warriors from 10 to 5 models in a single round of combat without suffering a scratch himself!

Stranded in the middle of the no-man's-land, my White Lions got charged by the Chaos Lord and the Knights. The Chaos Knights alone inflicted around 16 Wounds to the unit of 10 aelves, trampling my poor infantry to the ground without mercy. On the right flank Lord Sundamar took 2 Wounds from the Warriors' Halberds before tearing the barbarians apart, inflicting exactly enough Wounds to wipe out the rest of the unit.

On the 2nd battleround I moved my Dragonlord as far away from the enemy as possible, and on my opponent's turn his units ran towards me as far as they could. Then we proceeded to roll to see who would get to pick the first turn of the 3rd battleround. The excitement in the room was palpable, for if the Aelves rolled higher the Dragonlord would escape and win the scenario, and if the Slaves to Darkness managed to score higher they would charge in easily and possibly take my Champion below half of his Wounds.

The dice were rolled and astonished gasps were heard.

A 5 for the Aelves...

....and a 2 for Chaos.

The Aelves had just scored their very first Minor Victory in this league!

A'undtur glided effortlessly amidst the clouds, rising above them every now and then with a few powerful wingbeats before diving down again. As they passed over a patch of forest merely inches above the treetops, the dragon sang to its rider.

"What a pleasant little exercise. I dislike the taste of the followers of the Dark Gods, but I can't help but enjoy their terrified screams as they realize they have no chance against me."

"This was too dangerous... We lost a whole troop of rangers to my recklessness!" Sundamar replied, still pale from the realization and the weight of lost lives upon him.

"We all make mistakes, little one. And we all learn from them."

Lord Blazeborn drew in a lungful of fresh air, gathering himself and his thoughts once more.

"I believe I have learned my lesson. Now let us make haste to reach the others, there's a Loremaster to be found!"

My choice of Champion really helped me out in this one. I usually roll more poorly the more dependent my victory is of the dice roll, but this time fortune smiled upon me and my warband. The next scenario is Sacrifice, in which one model from either warband will have to be rescued while the opposition seeks to murder him/her.

I rolled myself 3 Glory Points from this victory, bringing me 30% closer to the 10 Points required to attempt the final scenario through which the league can be won. I also got to either pick a Veteran Ability for one of my current units or to add a new Follower to my warband. I went for the additional unit to build up my force a bit. In any other situation I would've added 5 Reavers to my list for some ranged attacks, but now I'm forced to take a Loremaster in order to survive the next scenario. Each round the model being sacrificed loses a Wound, and the game ends once that model's Wounds reach 0. If I end up being the rescuer, I want my warband to have 5 turns (rather than 1 or 2) to save the poor fellow from that cruel fate!

Battles For Beardlings

Oooops!

We're nearly in the middle of September and I have yet to post anything this month! My usual about-10-days-in-between-posts rule has been bent yet again as two weeks have passed since the last one. How to make up for all that lost time? Well, I might as well finish my For Beardlings tutorial series with the 4th and (thus far) the final part!

In my previous tutorials I've discussed the basics of the game, delved into Warscrolls and units and taken a better look at heroes and their capabilities on the field. What next? The bigger picture, so to speak.

Rather than going over all the stuff from the other parts again in a "summary" of some kind, I decided to take a different approach for this final tutorial. I recently played a 1000p Matched Play game at my local club that in my opinion has much more to teach us than any artificially set up tutorial battle I could ever make. So in this tutorial I'll walk you through this real pick-up battle and the tactics involved, from the army lists to Battle Traits and artefacts, all the while reflecting upon the choices made and the strategies used.

There will be no storylines or narration this time, only tactics and gameplay. Shouldn't matter, though, as most of all the other content here in my blog includes storytelling in one way or another!

To kick things off let's have a look at the army lists. The game was 1000p Matched Play, using Open War cards to set up the scenario.

My opponent's Dispossessed force was made up of the following:
- Warden King (Battle Fury, Teardrop of Grungni)
- Runelord
- Unforged
- 10 Warriors (handaxes & shields)
- 5 Slayers
- 10 Irondrakes
- 10 Hammerers
- Cannon (Ironweld Ally)
[Grudge: Shoddy Craftsmanship]

Quite an interesting list, a very efficient one! There are very few "loose parts" in this force and this is very much thanks to the new General's Handbook and the updates it brought. The Battleline requirements here are filled with Warriors and Hammerers which make for a very muscled core for the army, while still leaving plenty of points to be used elsewhere. The Warden King and Runelord are both solid (and almost obligatory) choices for the faction's heroes, whereas the Cannon alongside with the Irondrakes provides deadly long-range support for the infantry's advance. The Slayers and the Unforged are perhaps the closest things this list has for filler, and even then the Unforged is still a nice melee hero and the Slayers do well against monsters... which my general unfortunately classifies as. The army's Grudge allowed all Dispossessed units to re-roll failet Hit rolls of 1 against units with Save characteristic of 4+ or better, meaning that only my Spearmen and Bolt Thrower crew were safe from this bonus.

My own Aelves marched to war with:
- Dragonlord (Master of Defence, Phoenix Stone)
- Loremaster
- 5 Dragon Blades
- 10 White Lions
- 10 Highborn Spearmen
- 10 Highborn Spearmen
- Highborn Bolt Thrower

The idea behind my army was to practice for the upcoming local Path to Glory league that is about to start, so I picked units that will probably see use in the games to come. I equipped my Dragonlord to soak up hits so he doesn't die immediately after the first enemy volley, he is the main punch of my force after all. The Loremaster was there to buff the Bolt Thrower and the Dragonlord, while the Dragon Blades provided some mobility in case of an objective-based scenario. The Highborn Spearmen were in the list purely for Battleline/meatwall purposes, and the White Lions were the infantry unit I placed the most faith in. As a mixed up Order allegiance my sole army-wide benefit was the ability to re-roll Battleshock tests.

Here are the cards we picked up from the Open War deck. The Deployment was a spearhead-style one that favoured placing one's units towards the centre. The Objective was killing as many enemies as possible, with the added bonus of doubling your points if the enemy General was slain in the battle. The game's twist enabled both players to heal wounded units at the start of their turn.

A very interesting scenario in which my Aelves had a clear advantage over the opposition. My general had 14 Wounds while his had only 5, and I had geared my Dragonlord towards survival anyway. Yet a clear advantage does not necessarily mean a clear victory. On to the deployment!

As I do not have a pic of the beginning of the game, I had to doodle up the battlefield in Battle Chronicler to show you how the deployment took place. I won the roll-off to see who gets to pick the table side and put down the first unit, so I begun by placing my Highborn Spearmen on the right. My opponent then went on to deploy his Warriors, Slayers, Hammerers and heroes, while I placed my second Spearmen unit, White Lions and Loremaster, Bolt Thrower.

Importantly, my opponent held onto his Irondrakes until I had placed my Dragon Blades. He deployed them right across the open space my cavalry would have to cross, high up on a hill where they had a perfect view of the field. I deployed my Dragonlord last, behind a ruin in the right-hand corner to hide him away from cannonfire should the first turn go to the duardin.

I managed to get my Dragonlord where I wanted him, but the deployment of the Irondrakes right across my cavalry was very unfortunate for me. I had planned on flanking these small and slow halldwellers with my Dragon Blades but my opponent picked a good unit to try and stop my little plot.

The first battleround begun with the Duardin turn. His forces in the centre shuffled around for better positions while his Irondrakes advanced, loosing a volley at my Dragon Blades. He had boosted the unit with Forgefire from the Runelord, resulting in a number of -2 Rend shots coming my way. One aelf was wounded, causing me to withdraw the unit towards the centre on my own turn, thanking the entirety of the aelven pantheon for sparing my cavalry any further damage from the monstrous shooting of the Irondrakes. I sent all my infantry up front to gain some ground and to tie down his units, bringing my Dragonlord a bit closer from the rear. I wanted to save him for the killing blow, to go for the enemy general as soon as an opportunity presented itself. My Bolt Thrower gained re-rolls to Hit and to Wound from the Loremaster's Hand of Glory spell, taking down 1-2 of the Irondrakes on top of the hill. I was using the Repeating Bolts that gave me 12 Attacks, but the Rend of -1 was totally negated by the Irondrake's Forge-proven Gromril Armour.

What we saw here was either a misjudgment from me or masterfully tactical gameplay from my opponent, or both. My flanking plans collapsed as soon as the Irondrakes opened fire with their Forgefire-buffed guns, reminding me what a meatgrinder awaited my cavalry should I dare cross the clearing ahead. Perhaps I should've just charged in and hoped for the best, or perhaps that would have been like giving away free kills for the enemy and it was a good call to retreat. Be that as it may, my opponent had just denied me the advantage of my army's mobility by a simple placement of a single unit and a buff, forcing me to focus more on the mid-field conflict in which he had the majority of his forces.

I charged into his Warriors with my Spearmen, hoping to thin them down or at least hold them in place. Alas, the duardin suffered not even a scratch while I lost 3 aelves as casualties and 2 to the ensuing battleshock. Ouch!

I managed to roll the first turn of the second battleround for the Aelves, giving me an opportunity to react to the sudden change of plans. My remaining 5 Highborn Spearmen from the right flank retreated into the forest behind them, while the White Lions charged into the Duardin Warriors to fill the gap. My other Spearmen unit climbed into the cover of the middle altar, making them a bit tougher nut to crack if the enemy charged in. My Bolt Thrower, once again buffed by the Loremaster, shot into the Irondrakes but didn't cause any damage at all. Meanwhile the Dragonlord and the Dragon Blades just ate grass as I was waiting for the battle to develop further before committing them.

My opponent's answer was a robust one. His Hammerers charged into my Spearmen on the left and his Slayers along with the Unforged charged into my White Lions on the right. His Irondrakes came down from the hill and together with the Cannon rained death upon my cavalry and Spearmen, taking down 2 Dragon Blades and 1 Spearman. The combat round of my own turn saw the White Lions thinning the enemy Warrior unit with no casualties of their own, but in my opponent's combat phase aelves started to drop as well.

I had now tied down the vast majority of his troops but I knew my lines couldn't hold out for much longer against the tougher duardin. It was time to go for the general.

I got the initiative again at the start of the 3rd battleround and went in for the kill. My Bolt Thrower fired Ithilmar Bolts (Rend -2) and managed to take down two Irondrakes, after which my Dragon Blades charged into the unit. My White Lions were down to the champion, so I brought my previously retreating 5 Spearmen out of the forest and into the cover of the middle altar. My Loremaster cast Hand of Glory on my Dragonlord (allowing the whole model to re-roll Hit and Wound rolls) who then swooped in to charge the lonely champion of the enemy Warrior unit.

In the combat phase the Dragonlord piled in so that he could reach the enemy general, pouring all attacks on the Warden King. I began rolling with the Dragonlord's sword which slew the duardin noble in one swing, wasting all the dragon's attacks that would have come afterwards. Oh well, at least the enemy general was slain!

Both sides were roughly equal in scored kill-points up until I took down the Warden King. Now the Aelves had the tide of battle turn greatly in their favour, for their own general was still at full 14 Wounds.

My opponent charged my Dragonlord with everything he had, even using all his shooting to take down the monster. My general took quite the beating and didn't even manage to kill any foes despite my efforts to direct attacks against his Runelord and Unforged before they could strike, leaving my dragon at alarmingly low 4 Wounds!

Next up was the 4th battleround and the Aelves would enter it closer to victory than their adversaries. My forces were shattered, however, with only 5 Spearmen and 2 Dragon Blades, the Loremaster and the Bolt Thrower remaining. My opponent still had a couple of Irondrakes, 6 Hammerers, the Runelord, the Unforged and a single Slayer, as well as the Cannon. I had to get my general out of there quickly.

I won the initiative on the 4th battleround and my Dragon Blades (only the champion remaining, out of the pic to the left) slew the remaining Irondrakes and charged into the Cannon but didn't kill more than 1 crew member despite charge bonuses.

As soon as I could I retreated my Dragonlord out of the fight (5 Wounds remaining as the Phoenix Stone healed him) and moved my remaining 5 infantry to block the duardin from giving chase. I was in the lead in points now, all I had to do was to keep my general safe and the day would go to the Aelves!

Alas, it was not to be. My opponent charged the Spearmen with the lone Warrior and the Unforged before circling around with the rest as best as he could. Even the Hammerers waddled closer on top of the mid-field altar, and when it came to charges they amazed everyone.

The Hammerers rolled a 10" charge that took them into combat with my Dragonlord. On top of that his lone Slayer and the Runelord both managed their charges too, surrounding my general in a ring of potential death. The Hammerers swung their heavy weapons and took 5 Wounds off my dragon, exactly the amount he had left.

The Duardin scored all those 14 Wounds as kill-points and doubled their total score by having slain my general, taking them way ahead of the Aelves. As the dust settled and the battered form of my dragon begun growing cold on the ground, we called it a day and shook hands.

What is there to be learned from this (partially very poorly) documented battle?

1. Never Give Up: My opponent acted true to his faction's racial characteristics by not throwing in the towel when all seemed lost. He played it bravely to the supposedly bitter end, which then turned out to be a glorious victory! In a game of skill and chance like this, everything's possible.

2. The Game Starts Before the Game Starts: When the very first dice are rolled to determine who gets to pick a table edge, the game of Age of Sigmar is already on. Scan the battlefield and evaluate the advantages terrain could offer you and how you could use it to support your playstyle. When deploying units one by one, taking turns, start with the most obvious and common choices. Battleline units and harassers usually take their place as close to the enemy as possible, usually on the centre section of the field. There are very few surprises to be had when deploying them, so putting them down early on will give you time to counterplay your opponent's toughest units with your own elites when you see where they deploy theirs. Remember that you use a turn of deployment even when setting up units in ambush/reserve/other off-table methods, so play them after your obvious choices to gain even more time to observe your opponent's army formations.

3. Balance Is Everything: Each faction has its strengths and weaknesses, and the same applies to different army lists. By thwarting your opponent's attempts to play their strengths (like deploying a hard-Rending missile unit across flanking cavalry, as seen above) and pushing your own (like forcing the action of the battle to dissolve into a mid-field melee clusterf*ck where your troops revel, as seen above) you can influence the flow of battle and turn it in your favour... if the dice gods allow it. Throw your opponent off-balance by efficiently, confidently and calmly countering his/her most obvious favourite strategies. This should push him/her out of his/her comfort zone and into the wide wild world of improvisation where careless mistakes are often made and only those who adapt may survive. Just make sure you're the one who adapts and survives. This is psychological warfare, baby!

4. Play the Objective: Always, always play towards the objective of the scenario. It might get tempting to start chasing down shattered enemy forces and toying around with them, but as we saw in this battle nothing's ever to be taken for granted. Even if you're clearly coming out on top, do yourself the favour of still sticking to the goal you army is after, no matter how clear everything might seem. Even when you're up against a foe that you are sure to lose against, just play the objective as best as you can and you have the best chance of winning. The enemy may get all absorbed into the limitless power at their disposal to wreak havoc among your lines, but in the end they might end up standing on a mound of corpses only to find out that you hold the artefact/objective/capture zone or whatever it is the game has as its aim. Butchers rack up the kills, but tacticians win the battles!

My Duardin opponent also wanted to give you some friendly advice from the lips of a fresh victor:
"Your warriors should exercise daily, three rounds of jogging around the clan's Hold each day really keeps their physical condition top-notch and helps them achieve those sweet 10" charges when needed."

That's all for this tutorial series for now, the journey from basics to battles has finally drawn into a conclusion. All four parts will always be easily available on the sidebar menu, under Tutorials. Perhaps some day in the future there will be additional parts to this series, but for now I'm starting a Path to Glory league which I'll record in its entirety here in the blog as battle reports and stories.

Until next time!