A Tale of Two Forts: Dominate

Friday saw the continuation of our mixed Vanguard and KoW campaign with Stuart visiting to play out our second big battle. We played Dominate which rewards points for units within 12" of the center point at the end of the game.

With the aim of being in large numbers at the end of six ( or possibly seven ) turns both sides opted for different strategies. The Salamanders put their biggest hitters in the center and hoped to rupture my lines whilst I aimed to hold the center and then try to work in from the flanks.

The early moved saw my Herd get stuck in on the flanks and try to hold off getting over committed in the center. The Salamanders hadn't brought as much shooting as I had feared with only my right flank really coming under massed ranged attacks. As I had both my flying units on that flank it meant that I was able to close the range quickly and try to take the shooting out.

On my left I was able to use the speed advantage and lack of opposing chaff to get off a double charge on the Inspiring Ancients, it's always worth getting rid of the opponents Inspiring as it gives you a chance to get a lucky rout on the enemy. My Nightstalkers got stuck in another grind against a poor melee opponent which saw them stuck in place for the rest of the game.

Once the chaff was cleared in the middle the Salamanders got a couple of heavy charges in but crucially never managed to get two big units against any of my holding forces.

This lead to a couple of turns of reasonable inconclusive grind in the middle whilst my flanking forces made further progress. Having three healers really helps with prolonging the grind as I could keep chipping away at the wounds taken.

By the time I had finished off the flanking forces the wounds in the center had really built up and Stuart was kind enough to double 1 my Spirit Walkers Horde (on an Inspired re-roll) which meant they held out longer than expected.

They did however die on the next turn but by then I was closing in from the flanks and starting to remove enough scoring units from the Salamanders to give my a comfortable advantage.

In the end we didn't play out my final turn (I was moving second) as I already had enough victory points to win before making my attacks.

This means that I have a 2-0 advantage in the big games and needing one more victory to secure the attackers spot in the big siege at the end.

Next up is a Vanguard game where each side will seek to take control of a Dragon's Egg.