A Magic Cauldron is no match for a Good Blade

Today I took a short break to blood my 1/72nd Dragon Rampant armies.

Given that I'm  still pretty green at this, I just did an equal points encounter on random ground. A toss of the die indicated that the Lord of the Black Cauldron was the Attacker. He himself was rated as an Elite Foot Minor Magic user with the Dragon's Breath, Heal Thyself (aka "back in the cauldron buddy") and Befuddle them spells. His army consisted of a unit of Scouts, a unit of Heavy Horse, a unit of Bellicose foot (led by a Chieftain in a chariot)  and a unit of undead Cauldron warriors, Bellicose foot (which I just realized were supposed to be Elite foot, slow and reluctant to die. Damn!). Their plan was to send the cavalry forward up the right with an attack en echelon while the magician used dragon's breath to protect his army from catapult fire until they got into range.

The enemy under the Sea King, himself Heavy foot, were the men of the sea with a unit of scouts, a unit of Giants (Elite Foot), 2 units of light spearmen with short range missiles and a catapult (Heavy Missiles). Their plan was to make as tight a shieldwall as possible while pounding the enemy with BIG rocks.

About turn 4, just before I realized that I'd forgotten the 3 inch "no go" zone around each unit. No wonder the armies were so hesitant to advance! All of the Celts have advanced at least once in 4 turns while only 2 of the Saxon types have.

After a shaky start the armies started to get together. The magician's first attempt at Dragon's breath was a small puff of mist which didn't stop the catapult from nailing a few zombies. The second attempt was better but the Zombies were already dashing ahead full speed regardless.

The Giants and their little friends see off the first wave of Cauldron warriors.

The wild tribesmen rushed in and then rushed back out even faster, those Giants are TOUGH!   A second attack by the Zombies ended with the last standing giant sending the last standing Zombie running back to the Cauldron to jump in and hide. Apparently even fearless undead aren't happy with a morale result of -4.

With 2 units out of it, it was the cavalry's turn and after all, this was only a handful of light foot, what had they been baulking at? The spearpoints and Shieldwall apparently. After handily repelling the cavalry charge  the spearmen followed up with a barrage of javelins and arrows at the retreating cavalry and the game was over.

So there we are. I think I am starting to get a handle on these silly rules and can see how some one well versed in the system could develop various valid game tactics (as opposed to ones inspired  by either fiction or history).

My 2nd star of the game (after the Giants). It rattled the Wizard a little by squashing one of his acolytes and squished a few zombies in between attacks thus hastening their return to the nether world.
The catapult came with my Marx Knights and Vikings set and with a new elastic in place showed itself still capable of throwing a missile across the room.

Luckily, after next Saturday's game, which I hope is exciting and fun for all who take part, it won't be any of my business!