Battle Report - Boudicca, Scourge of Rome VS Manfred Rochdale

Source: https://grazdgfx.tumblr.com/post/171535938767

Yesterday, one of my playtesters and I met up to play the Black Telephone scenario (core 23). He has been waiting for the Once Forgotten to hit the table, as he's a huge fan of undead factions in other games. I decided to take up the Fair Ones this time, figuring that they would be more than curious to see what messages came through the phones from the other side - whatever the other side is.



This time, we tested out adjusted point totals and played a 150 point game. By the end of it, we agreed that 200 point games might be a bit more interesting (more models, more options), but this game was a fun scrap over a few ringing phones.

The Lists

Once Forgotten

Boudicca, Scourge of Rome
Legionnaire x2
The Hessian (plus Ever-Returning, which never ever came up)
Agenda: faction agenda (try to have Witnesses!).


The Fair Ones
Manfred Rochdale
Used and Wasted
Squire x2
Noppera-Bo
Agenda: Celebration (try to keep Witnesses alive - but not necessarily my own!).

Turn 1

The Fair Ones laid out on some fancy sheets. My side of the table was a bit more open, but that's ok - the Once Forgotten hadn't brought any long-ranged weapons to bear.

My plan here was to run up the middle with Manfred (and his hiding Noppera-Bo), while my Squires of the Sparkling Mirror used their glass shards to cut down some bystanders (fewer witnesses for him!). They could then use their leaping with impunity, without people to spot them.

A view of the table from the left side of my deployment zone. Lots of bystanders (the little red guys - we have a lot of them, and they really stand out!) waiting around this weird processing area / supplies camp. I'd like to imagine it's a construction site of sorts.

The leftmost side of the Once Forgotten deployment zone. The Hessian (hooded guy in leather) stands ready to run towards one of the telephones (the blue thing, more or less in the middle), while Boudicca herself aims to move through the large graffiti'd building.


The little blue sci-fi crate you see at the joint of the grey tiles is one of the phones. Nobody really went to the left there, among the trash heaps. Makes sense, really. Even the long-since dead don't want to get involved with piles of garbage.

The two Lost Legionnaires wait on his right flank, ready to move up past the swampy area with their In Formation ability. They ended up moving in tandem for the first turn, then split up to irritate me with their unending stabs / lives.


On the left, you can see the phone that the Hessian will later move up to, next to a giant stinking pile of garbage.





And now, the action begins...

The Used and Wasted rushes up to grab hold of the first telephone, just in case it decides to ring the next turn. The U/W carries its own charge, which made it easier to get it around the field - until the Once Forgotten destroyed it.

Boudicca moves through the building towards the cache, picking up bandages for later. They do get used, but she will generally be too busy using her sword on the enemy instead.

Manfred and one of the Squires move up towards the phones, and towards the Ancient Marker that the Once Forgotten left just outside my deployment zone. I didn't have the time or charge to get rid of it!

Turn 2

The two Lost Legionnaires move up in tandem, terrifying bystanders as they do. This, of course, is part of the Once Forgotten's grand plan.

The Lost Legionnaire frightens another bystander, and then moves up to terrify the Used and Wasted. This will not end well for the Fair One's lacky - but then again, it's never meant to.

An overview of what's going on midway through turn two. The Lost Legionnaire on the right is menacing my Used and Wasted, but Manfred moves up towards the phone in the middle.

Boudicca moves up towards the (active) central phone, looking to receive messages from beyond.

Manfred had cleverly let the Noppera-Bo out (using the Late for the Party kit), and it now promptly moves up to contest the phone. My opponent joked that both of them were very humanly trying to answer the very regular human phone, trying to look as human (and alive) as possible.

The Used and Wasted, which survived its encounter with the Lost Legionnaire because of a friendly murder-child with glass shards, moves into the room to try to take down the Ancient Marker.

Another shot of the same scene. The Squires of the Sparkling Mirror are super-mobile when there's nobody around to witness!

Manfred moves up to take a few shots at Boudicca, now that nobody is around to witness (the yellow 6 is our placeholder for Once Forgotten witnessing).

The Lost Legionnaire moves into the room to handle my Used and Wasted. This particular legionnaire kept getting killed, but kept coming back in the most irritating and inconvenient ways (for me, anyway).

Off on the other side of the board, I waste my time with a Squire of the Sparkling Mirror, stabbing away at one of the Ancient Markers. I should have actually put this little guy to work killing the marker closer to the central phone!

Turn 3

The Hessian moves up to the new phone that's decided to ring so very close to the Once Forgotten's deployment zone. Several bystanders linger by, unsure of why this dude in old armour is hanging around a payphone. That's ok. They'll learn soon enough.

The Squire in the Sparkling Mirror I had on my right flank leaves the Ancient Stone alone and runs to engage the Hessian - possibly a suicidal move, but one that keeps the immortal killer from picking up that blasted phone.

The Hessian murders my Squire (rather predictably). Luckily, Manfred whisks him away using a piece of kit, letting him redeploy within 6"...

...only to dice up a bystander, giving Manfred space to use outside-type abilities against Boudicca.

A Lost Legionnare tries to interfere with the Noppera-Bo. Both, really, want to lock down that far phone for the last turn of scoring!

Turn 4

That damn Lost Legionnaire keeps coming back from the Ancient Stone I failed to destroy (just off-camera to the left), and engages my Squire right next to a payphone. This time, there is no pretending to be just plain ol' human. The Squire (insidious but naive as well) panics just a little bit.

This has nothing to do with the active phone (which is ringing on the total opposite diagonal side of the table). This has everything to do with blood. This Legionnaire had just shredded Manfred into pieces, and needed to pay.

The game was getting quite tense at this point, so we didn't pause for a lot of pictures. This is the sole photo of the game-winning phone, which kept ringing all turn long while it waited for the Noppera-Bo and the Lost Legionnaire to answer it. In the end, I attempted to disengage from melee and succeeded (even with the Noppera-Bo's subpar-ish Flesh of 4), which in turn let me answer the phone and win the game.

At the end of the fourth turn, we tallied points:

The Fair Ones:

• 4 op from answering phone twice.
• 2 op for controlling two phones.
• 1 op for achieving Agenda objective (Celebration - 4 Witness models on the table).

Once Forgotten:

• 2 op from answering phone once.
• 2 op for controlling two phones.
• 1 op for faction Agenda (3 Once Forgotten Witnesses on the table).

Conclusions

Manfred Rochdale

In our after-game discussion, we talked about a few possibilities for Pendant World as it moves
ahead. First, models would need to do more in reaction, because reactions were often "just" used for defence. It would be cool, for instance, if a Lost Legionnaire were able to brace its spear, or use its rage to power itself up (start charging up a stronger attack, for instance). I'm going to be looking at reaction-light models soon and beefing those up.

We also talked about providing every model with the option to move a bit as a reaction. This seemed like a good idea at first, because it would allow for creative / interesting repositioning. After a bit of time, though, I realized that it could lead to models just kiting around and avoiding melee for as long as possible, which feels against the point of a close-range skirmish game. More testing to be had here, specifically with models who already have movement-type reactions.

Finally, we looked a bit at unit prices. Because we were playing a 150 point game, and because the Once Forgotten player felt he needed to take an elite (their models can often respawn from elites as well as leaders), there was a feeling that lists were a little on the small side. Every loss felt like a big one in the area-control scenario we were playing, and I think that might be eased a bit with slightly larger lists (hence the move to 200 as standard). I'm also going to look at my old points formulas again and see if I can update them, making units more consistently priced across the board (heh).

I hope you enjoyed this report! More to come!