Dan Waugh - The Dragon Clans

40 Tyrosaur Spear
40 Tyrosaur Sword
2 Tyrosaur Champions
2 Tyrosaur Shamans
20 Tyrosaur Bow
12 Dargons
6 Troglodyte Spear with Shields
6 Troglodyte Spear
6 Drakk
1 Greater Wyvern
4 Lesser Wyverns
1 Senior Poison Dragon
1 Fire Dragon Lord

Jay Waschak - The Graccans

30 Elite Phalangites
20 Regular Phalangites
30 Slingers
9 Skirmishers
30 Elite Hoplites
20 Regular Hoplites
16 Light Cavalry with Short Bows
16 Heavy Cavalry with Spears
3 Champions
1 General
3 Oracles
1 Hellenistic Hero
3 Mounts for Characters
4 Shadows
1 Chimera
6 Clay Golumns
2 Basilisks
1 Cyclops
1 Greater Wyvern

Main Victory Objective: To seize and hold the ancient temple.
Tertiary Objective: To defeat a significant portion of the opposing force, and eliminate magic users and character.

Red Troops are Dragon Clan
Blue Troops are Graccans
Yellow indicates Champion
Light Blue indicates a Magic Users
White indicates General
Purple indicates Hellenistic Hero

Both armies are approximately 7000 points and the terrain was setup by on a mutual turn basis. Each armies setup was determined before the game and worked very well in this situation.  The game was played on a 5.5 ft by 8 ft table with over 300 miniatures Reality Recess in Brunswick, OH on February 10, 2001.

    The armies performed a general advance toward the opponent. The Graccan Wyvern and cavalry pulled ahead of the infantry. The Dargons moved in the direction of the temple. Jay casts Pond in an effort to slow the Tyrosaurs. Doh, they are water walkers! The Graccan HC receives "Enchanted Armor". The Dragon Clans retain their magic points. Two Tyrosaur Swords fall to ballista hits.

    There is more advancing on all fronts, while the Graccan Greater Wyvern advances to the temple. The Skirmishers jump ahead of their defensive posts by the ballista. There are significant moves amongst the large numbers of Tyrosaur Infantry in the middle.  The Oracles with the Elite Hoplites attempts to create a water spirit in the otherwise useless pond, it is countered by the Dragon Clan Shaman. The Regular Phalanx receives Enchanted Armor from the HC Oracle. The Dragon Clans continue to store magic power. The Graccan LC opens up on the Troglodytes with short bows, only 1 wound gets by their heavy armor. The ballista's missed on all shots.

    After winning the initiative, the Dragon Clans moved their Tyrosaurs to the edge of the temple. Graccan Shadows and the Greater Wyvern move into the ruins . The Dargons move to the edge of the forest. The 3 lesser Wyverns charged the HC, and the Cyclops engaged the DC Greater Wyvern. The Chimera jumped the recently advanced Elder Dragon.
    The Dragon Lord created a Fire Wall in front of their Dargons, preventing a blocking move by the Clay Golumns. An Earth Elemental was created in a position to challenge the advancing Troglodytes. Tangle and Quicksand are cast on the Graccan Elite Hoplites to the lost of  4 units as they dropped their shield to avoid the sinking ground and are forced to regroup.
    The LC short bows poured 1 more wound into the Troglodyte's flank and 9 slinger's munitions found home, causing four more wounds amongst another unit of Troglodytes. The Dragon Lord saved a hit from the ballista. In melee, the Chimera caused 3 first strike wounds, all saved by the Elder Dragon's heavy scales. The Dragon returned 2 wounds. The Graccan HC, with Oracle and Hellenistic Hero, caused 9 first strike wounds to the Lesser Wyverns, taking out 3 of them, 2 Cavalry were in turn destroyed. Graccan monsters buckle under the Dragon Clan's monsters/character heavy assault.

    The Graccans win initiative. The last Lesser Wyvern flees behind the lines. The Earth Elemental and Regular Hoplites charge into desperate combat with the Troglodyte troops. Shadows and the Greater Wyvern advance to stall the Tyrosaur Spear. Troops were forced to adjust to the firewall, allowing the Dargon to charge the Graccan Skirmishers after breaking into skirmish formation. The Elder Dragon was charged by the Regular Phalanx, which fell back 20' behind the hill. The HC turned and flanked the Drakk. The Dragon Lord wasted no time in returning the favor and charging the HC rear. Dragon Clan bow moved to a better firing position.
    The Tyrosaur Shaman created another pond to stall the already delayed, entangled, sink-holed Elite Hoplites. The Dragon Lord poured Firespray into the HC, causing one wound. The skirmishers, in a last attempt to halt the overrunning Dargon, stood and threw their spears, causing three wounds. Basilisks are advancing far too slow to cause effective fire with their eldritch weapon and the Elite Phalangites are starting to show their slowness, falling behind the main advance. More arrows pour into the melee from the LC behind the stone wall, hitting Troglodyte and the Earth Elemental.
    Five hits were inflicting on the Troglodyte soldiers, who returned ten wounds on the Regular Hoplites. The Earth Elemental added four more to the Troglodytes.  They and the Regular Hoplites broke, leaving the Elemental to pursue the Troglodytes, but falling short. The Shadows caused five wounds on the spearmen with none on them. The Graccan Greater Wyvern fell to a mass Tyrosaur spear/bite attack, it returned three wounds before it dropped. The Clay Golumns met the Tyrosaur Sword head on in a fearful melee.
    Graccan Skirmishers lost 5 of their own to the Dargon overrun attack and fled. The DC Greater Wyvern and Cyclops continued to duke it out at three wounds to each. The Dragon Lord intercepted the HC in melee and the Hellenistic Hero and his party killed a Drakk and inflicted two more wounds. The Cyclops and the Greater Wyvern would both stay to duke it out some more. The Drakk took the wounds to stay in the battle with the Heavy Cavalry.

    The Graccans seized the initiative and pushed their LC around the flank behind the stone wall. The Earth Elemental ran down one Troglodyte as the Slinger and a Basilisk enter town. With the Graccan Greater Wyvern gone, the Tyrosaur Spear charge into town to a hail of Slinger fire. The charge inflicted heavy casualties on the Slinger, forcing them into retreat, with the Tyrosaurs on their tail.
    The Oracle and Shaman each created a water spirit in the ponds, causing multiple hits to the Elite Hoplites and Tyrosaur Sword. A brave Tyrosaur pulled the ballista bolt out of his scaly armor and continued the fight (Doh!). The Tyrosaur bow opened fire on the Chimera as it charged them, leaving only one on it. A Shadow fell to the Tyrosaur Champion's swift and skilled strike, as they brought down two of its troops. A Clay Golumn was destroyed by sword attack.
    The Dargons killed a Clay Golumn on their front, they in turn lost a Dargon. The quick tail of the DC Greater Wyvern killed the Cyclops before it could react. On the Dragon Clan left flank, the Dragon Lord took three wounds from the Hero, Oracle and Heavy Cavalry. The Lord and Drakk combined eliminated five Heavy Cavalry, while five more wounds hit the Drakk, causing them to flee. One unit of Troglodytes turned and returned to the fight. The Heavy Cavalry almost fled and their skirmishers rallied.

    The Dragon Clans used their initiative to force the Slinger back further. The Graccan LC swung charged a fleeing Troglodyte unit. The Regular Phalanx fell under a rain of bow fire charging the Tyrosaur Bow, saved only by their Enchanted Armor. The Chimera fell back to allow a clean Phalanx charge. The Graccan General broke of from the Regular Phalanx to join the melee that was centered on the Heavy Cavalry. The recently rallied Elder Dragon and the Greater Wyvern joined the fray on the Dragon Clan's left flank.
    A Strangling Thorns, Tremble and Fire Spray were all countered when cast. A ballista bolt struck a Dargon. The central Tyrosaurs that had pushed into the Graccan center, a few fell to a skirmisher javelin and LC short bow shots. Three more wounds accumulated on the Clay Golumn from the Tyrosaur Sword. Seven wounds fell to the Clay Golumns attempting to hold the Dargons, they received three wounds in return. This left one Clay Golumn with one wound holding the Dargons.
    The Regular Phalangites dealt two casualties with their charge. The Dragon Lord was killed by the Hero, Oracle and General's combined efforts. The remaining Heavy Cavalry was destroyed, breaking the Oracle and Hero, who were run down.

    It was a tough fight for both sides. The wildcard in this battle was our predetermined setup, which made the game very interesting. It kept us from adjusting our deployment based on what our opponents did. Unfortunately, my Elite Phalangites never made it into the fight. I initially planned on using them to hold any fast, nasty Dragon troops, such as the Dargons or Troglodytes. I did get my ballista's in a good spot but their effect was less than what I hoped. I need to keep the Cyclops away from other monster and use it to stomp infantry.  The Shadows did a great job tying up an infantry unit and helping my advance. I need to continue to build my numbers for this army and allow for greater flexibility. Overall, it was a great battle and victory teetered every second of play.

                        -Jay

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After our 7000 point battle between Dragon Clans and Graccans I reached the following conclusions.

1) Two much terrain can interfere with a good fight- we had two hills, four forest sections, a ruin and a long stone wall. We drew up our army layout prior to setting up the battlefield to prevent last minute adjustments to
terrain or our opponents setup. In the future I think I would like to have terrain setup decided before we decide on army layout. I still think setting up your army before you know your opponents setup is a good thing.
As it was both of us had missile troops in very poor position and Jay had a phalanx unit that never got into the fight.

2) I started the battle intending to use my 12 Dargon to fix the Graccan cavalry while my lesser wyverns and Drakk hit the flanks and rear. The dragons would stop interference from other units until the heavy cavalry
were destroyed. Unfortunately I was gun(ballista) shy about Jay's three ballista's and moved the Dargon toward the center of the battlefield where they killed some javelineers and a couple of Clay Golumns(not a great
contribution). As a consequence my lesser wyverns charged the cavalry and died. Although the Dragons and Drakk were able to complete the destruction of the cavalry I lost the use of the Dargon and his flank held together long enough for him to take the ruins(victory condition). When given the opportunity to isolate and destroy a big heavy cavalry unit take the casualties from missile fire to hit it with overwhelming force, no half
measures will do.

3) Anytime you fire into a melee with missiles and your own troops are not immune to the fire I think your unit involved in the melee should have to take an automatic morale check at -2. Firing into melee should be an act of
desperation, not common practice.

4) The center of the battle was Graccan hoplites and phalanx with supporting monsters vs. four units of tyrosaurs warriors and spear. They were evenly matched and little progress was made by either side. When fighting shadows you must use magic or count on one unit being held in place and slowly damaged. With evasion three hand to hand will give you victory in about four turns.

5) For some reason my Troglodytes have been crushed in both battles we have fought. They are on 30mm bases and according to the rules cannot assume RaF formation. This results in a big loss during the morale phase as a unit of six Troglodytes(18 wounds) gets a morale bonus of 1 instead of 3. I agree with the armor bonus not applying vs. 15mm bases but it should apply vs. 30mm and bigger bases and morale should apply as a RaF unit at all times. Anyway, heroes for the Troglodytes, Drakk, and Dargon are in the works along with one or two more Troglodyte and Tyrosaur troop types. I will also buy some lizard cavalry, etc from Chariot miniatures to help round out the army.

6) On a side note, for the Drakk I use Ral Partha Draconian Knights from their Crucible Line, for Troglodytes I use 25mm Reaper Lizardmen and for the Dargon I use 10mm Warmaster DragonOgres( which look like 15mm).

7) I may add a Troglodyte Shaman, I haven't decided yet.

        Dan