It’s been a while since I last did a playtest, but I finally decided that it was time to test out a few of the changes in the new book. Sadly, there was only one general available to play against, myself! So as I had nothing much to do for the weekend I decided to take on myself. Having recently got the Bretonnian Army Book, I decided they would make as good a foe as any, so this one is Angels vs Bretonnians, 1250 points. I tried to balance the armies and not tailor them against each other.

Angelic List

Heroes
Princedom (100) (154)
Swordstick (8)
Heavy Armour (4)
Shield (2)
Blessing of Metatron (50)

Core
20 Archangels (280) (315)
full command (35)

10 Angels A (110) (128)
champion, musician (18)

10 Angels B (110) (128)
champion, musician (18)

8 Vengeances (192)

Special
3 Powers (186)

Rare
8 Anelai (136)

Total: 1249 pts

Thoughts: I wanted to emphasise the angels manoeuvrability and use that as my advantage, so I went for one big block of troops to hold the line, backed up by 5 smaller units. Archangels were the obvious choice for the big units. 20 with full command, backed up by the Princedom should be able to take most things head on. Meanwhile the small angel units, the vengeances and the powers will fly around the sides, using their Angelic flight to set up multiple charges and flank attacks, taking on the enemy piecemeal and fighting only when I want them too. The Anelai will either land at the back to attack enemy war machines, or strike straight into the central mêlée to lend their support.

Bretonnian List

Heroes
Paladin (133)
Questing Vow
Great Weapon
Shield
Barded Warhorse
Cuirass of Fortune
Mane of the Purebreed
General

Paladin (107)
Battle Standard Bearer
Questing Vow
Heavy Armour
Barded Warhorse
Conquerors Tapestry

Damsel (164)
Level 2
Barded Warhorse
Chalice of Malfluer
Power Stone

Core
6 Knights Errant (161)
Full command
Errantry Banner

6 Knights of the Realm (168)
Full command

10 Bowmen (65)
Musician

15 Men-at-Arms (80)
Musician

Special
6 Questing Knights (195)
Full command

5 Mounted Yeomen (87)
Musician
Shields

Rare
Trebuchet (90)

Total: 1250


Terrain. All Left/Right descriptions are looking from the angel end. A hill in the left of the angelic deployment zone, a hill in the left of the Bretonnian deployment zone, and a wood in the centre-right. The Angels won the deployment roll-off and let the Bretonnians go first.
the Trebuchet went on the Bretonnian hill. Angel unit A went in front of the Angelic hill. The Bowmen went on the Bretonnian hill. The Powers went on the far left next to Angel unit A. The Men-at Arms deployed on the right of the Trebuchet to protect the war machines. Angel unit B went on the right middle of the Angelic zone. The Knights Errant went opposite the powers to hit them with a S6 charge. The Archangels with Princedom went in the middle of the Angelic deployment zone between the small angel units. The Questing Knights with the 3 characters went opposite Angel unit A. The Vengeances deployed behind Angel unit A. The Knights of the Realm deployed on the right of the Questing Knights, and the Mounted Yeomen on the right of them. The Anelai marker went in front of the Knights Errant so they could threaten both the missile troops and the melee ones. The Bretonnians won the roll-off and decided to go first.
For Spells the Damsel Rolled Master of the Woods and Mistress of the Marsh (useless as all my units could fly!)
And, as a special treat, I drew the deployment out as a picture, White Dwarf style! Enjoy.




Bretonnian Turn 1
My Fiendishly cunning plan was to draw off as many troops as possible on the right flank while charging down the left with my toughest units. To this end, the Yeomen advanced within charge distance of Angel unit B to draw them off. All the knights advanced 9” so they could charge next turn. The Questing Knights and the Knights Errant were to be my hammer units with their S6 attacks, so they headed towards the Powers and Angel unit A. The KotR headed towards the Archangels to distract them from the Quests and Errants. The Damsel cast Master of the Wood on Angel unit B, but only inflicted 1 hit, killing one. The Trebuchet was off-target but got a hit, and the Bowmen did nothing.

Angels Turn 1
My plan remained pretty much the same as before. I had the majority of my units on the left flank, ready to charge and counter-charge the Knights when they arrived. Angel unit B charged the Yeomen who fled out of range. Angel unit A flew across to cover unit B’s flank, and the Archangels moved forwards to cover unit A’s flank! The Powers and Vengeances both moved forwards, ready to charge.

Bretonnain Turn 2
The Fleeing Yeomen rallied and faced Angel unit B once more. The Questing And Errant Knights charged the Archangels, and the Knights of the Realm charged Angel unit A. The Men-at-Arms moved towards the Anelai marker. The Bowmen shot the powers and took a wound off one of them. The Trebuchet once again missed and rolled a hit. The Knights of the Realm and their steeds managed an incredible 9 hits, killing 5 Angels. Unit A promptly fled, and the KotR ran them down, pursuing straight into the Vengeances. In the big combat, though the Errants killed nothing, the Questing Knights and Characters killed 5 Archangels including the champion. The Archangels broke, fled a pathetic 3”. The Knights pursued a mighty 17”, running them down. The Questing Knights ran into the back of the KotR, while one Errant clipped the Vengeances.

Angelic Turn 2
Ouch, 2 units wiped out just like that, and things didn’t look good for the Vengeances either. Still, I could still pull through. The Anelai failed to appear, annoyingly. Angel unit B once again charged the Yeomen who fled out of range, close to the board edge. The Powers were angled just enough to catch the Questing Knights in the flank. Meanwhile, the KotR and Errants killed 5 Vengeances, who killed a Realm knight in return. The Vengeances lost, but held as they were stubborn. The Powers killed 2 Questing Knights, who lost by 1 but held.

Bretonnian Turn 3
The Yeomen once again rally. The Trebuchet finally got a good guess, but after 2 hits it scattered! The Vengeances got 4 wounds on the KotR, but amazingly 3 of them saved. In return, the Vengeances were cut down to a man. The Powers killed 4 Questing Knights who failed to make any armour saves. They fled an impressive 15”, so the Powers held.

Angel Turn 3
The Anelai Appeared and scattered 10” to the right. As they can’t move on the turn they arrive, they stayed where they were. Angel unit B charged the Yeomen who held rather than flee off the table. The Powers turned to face the KotR and Errants. The Angels and Yeomen lost one member each. The Yeomen lost due to a rank, but surprisingly managed to hold on a 5.

Bretonnain Turn 4
The 3 Characters, all that remained of the Questing Knights, rallied thanks to the Battle Standard and advanced on the Powers. The KotR and errants turned to face the powers, and the Men-at-Arms approached the Anelai. Master of the Wood was dispelled, The Bowmen inflicted a would on the Powers again, and the Trebuchet missed the Anelai. the Yeomen killed 2 Angels from unit B for only 1 loss. The Angels managed to break when the Yeomen with 2 less leadership had held, and were run down.

Angels Turn 4
The Powers charged the KotR and the Knights Errant, and the Anelai headed towards the Bretonnian table edge before turning to face the Trebuchet. The Powers killed 3 Knights of the Realm and 2 Knights Errant. The Errants fled, but crucially the Realm Knights held.

Bretonnian Turn 5
The Errants rally. The Battle Standard and Paladin charge the Powers flank, while the Damsel heads towards the Anelai. She cast Master of the Wood on them, but once again only got a single hit and kill. The Errants moved to flank the Powers. The two Paladins killed 2 powers and left the other wounded. The remaining Power broke and was run down.

Angel Turn 5
The Anelai charge the Trebuchet, destroy the crew and overrun into the Bowmen.

Bretonnian Turn 6
The Men-at-Arms charged the flank of the Anelai. All the rest of the Bretonnian army headed for the Anelai at top speed. The Anelai killed 3 Bowmen for no loss in return. They lost by 3, but held.

Angels Turn 6
Neither the Anelai or the Bretonnians kill anything. The Anelai lose by 4, but surprisingly managed to hold, leaving the Angels with a unit on the Battlefield.

End Result
Bretonnians: 1313 Points
Angels: 369 Points
Bretonnian Massacre!


Comments: Well what can I say. I could always blame luck, which was generally bad for the Angels and good for the Brets, but I think the key thing was my strategy. I was relying on manoeuvrability and multiple charging to win the day, but against an army of 16” cavalry chargers who excel at breaking units quickly, I didn’t stand much of a chance. Still, it was pretty fun to play, and hopefully will prove useful to you guys.

the center of the enemy line was off to the side, that was your main problem, thaty and luck

I would've blocked up the angels, and used archs as the flankers, but thats me. It seemed like a fun game. The angel general was incompetent, though :P .

I think that what we can gather from this, is that angels need maneuverability, which is what I was aiming for in the army.
---Baran

well, how much more maneuverable can we be? Maybe institute some kind of Fast Cav style unit? Or mayvbe institute some units that are powerful enough for full flight (Powers come to mind for that, they are pretty big)? I think we are quite maneuverable with 10" movement ignoring terrain. The fact that we have been massacred now by something other than a gunline show that we are no longer a cheese factory :D! Yay for steps in the right direction!

I think we are perfect in the maneuverability area. I was saying I didn't want us to be S/T6 monsters.
---Baran

Aww. So my Basic Angel stat line is out the window then

Pts 2pts per model

M10 Ws8 Bs9 S8 T8 W6 I10 A6 Ld10

Full Flight

Unbeatable- You cant beat them in combat or any other way
If an angel suffers a wound every model in enemy army takes D6 wounds, no saves of any kind allowed.


Damn.

Anyway, it was a nice report (i like the pics)

Brets were Always going to be a problem, as where are main advntage is manouverabilty, its theres as well.

What needs to be done is more units that can take the charge, them countering in the flank. The Arch angels werent going to hold up 3 units of knights unfortunatly...

Ill probably have playtest at some point to...

I think GS is right, I simply didn't have anything that could stand up to a knightly charge. Versus the S6 Questing Knights they'd be wounding on 2's no matter what and I could get at maximum a 6+ save with heavy armour and a shield on the Angels. Still, I noticed that although I failed in the holding up part, when I did manage to get a unit in the enemy flank (the Powers) it worked like a charm, slaughtering the Questing Knights.
One thing that could have changed this battle for me would be a Virtue with The Enemy Is Weak. only allowing the Bretonnians to wound on 4+ would have helped immesurably, so I think if I had made my list to specifically beat Bretonnians, I could have done it.
As to maneuverability, i'm still a fan of Cherubs with full flight for harassment and march blocking. Maybe the Anelai could get a bonus to their flight distance too? Considering they've just flown down from the sky, I think they should be able to fly further than ordinary angels. We could also make them skirmishers to further emphasise their maaneuverability, but that removes their ability to negate ranks, which is a big advantage for a unit that can pop up behind enemies.

I honestly belive that Aneali should be skirmishers. I cant see them hurtiling down from the sky with full ranks... Can you?

I was under the impression that anelai WERE skirmeshers. I think we should have 1 unit that flies. A scouting (almost, with the cam from above) full flight unit is WAY too powerful. Maybe make a unit with full flight, thats slightly weaker then normal angels (they work on fliying, not fighting).
Heck, I'll post it in the rules thingy.
---Baran

Or maybe the same as normal angels but light armour, with full flight. And more expensive. That would work out i think.

We do have the Dragon which still offers full flight... Now only if someone could use that in a playtest.

If only I could get a playtest at all....
If you guys could convince tarag, I could possibly get a playtest. Although he goes away for the weekend most of the time, and during the week I have like no time....
Maybe I'll pull a prince. Although I have 16 skinks, 16 TG, 3 priests and 2 scar vets to paint for like next friday....
---Baran

I made a full flying unit a while back which most people seemed to like, Cherubs. Gimmee a minute and I'll put them up again, along with some other ideas I've had over the years.

Got any more playtests planned prince?

I'm planning one soon, either this saturday or next saturday (whenever I have enough Orcs painted to proxy enough Angels).