22 replies to this topic

[sanj]

I'm going to be having a crazy campaign game against 6 dragons soon.

My gaming club are playing a mighty empires campaign (the old 1990s version).
Last week my dwarves dug a little too deep in the mines and woke up a group of 6 dragons.
The dragons then proceeded to rampage across my empire and razed all my cities including my capital!
Everyone in the campaign agreed it would be fun to fight out the dragon's siege of my dwarven city.

We haven't fully decided on what the points limits will be.
There will probably be one emperor dragon (the mother) and five normal dragons (one of each breath type) from the storm of magic book. That comes to 2150 so the emperor dragon will also probably be a lvl 4 wizard to make the list up to 2290.

We'll be playing a siege game with the castle rules from blood in the badlands (without any of the pre-game variables or siege equipment), basically each section of wall counts as a building and follows the building rules in the fantasy rulebook.

My limit is set at 2000pts and I have a rough army list in mind but any advice people have for taking on dragons would be appreciated.
Things I'm going to take for fluff reasons are a unit of 25 slayers and my lord on shield bearers (301pt tank).

Obviously artillery is going to help but I will only get one shot before each one is charged by a dragon so I'm not going to max out on artillery.

The main thing I'm trying to figure out is how to arrange my core troops.
Quarrellers would be good because they can all fire out of each wall segment but again, they're only likely to get one shot and they are very expensive.
Great weapon warriors can handle a normal dragon but how many would I need to take one down?
I'm also very worried about that emperor dragon (Toughness 9 and 9 wounds!) plus I now have to devote some points to magic defence.

In summary, what would you do vs 6 dragons!?!

[Theatralic]

I would take 2000 Points of Slayer Characters from the Slayerarmylist :D....

But to be serious, this could be a great chance to use the Slayer characters who are left at home normally, Imagine your whole army behind the walls, just some really mad Slayer chars charging the Dragons (and dying preferably), using the Slyerskills from the Old Storm of Chaos List would be nice since it gives them a little more beef. If you are playing a campaign maybe you can talk to your opponent about that. When we play Campaigns its not so much about Balancing, its more about Fluffy cineastic scenes and crazy stories we can tell even years later.

Edited by Theatralic, 30 May 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[Goldo]

Slayers will be cool! They are the best unit you can field against dragons.
The dragons' high strength means that our regular armor saves will be useless anyway
and with their paired weapons and slayer ability means that they will deal out 2 S6 attacks each!!!
A few anti magic is necessary, since you will be dealing with a LVL4 wizard, and warmachines (canons in particular) are also a must.
Also, try fielding characters with the RoMight and RoFurnace.

I would also try bringing a lord with me;
ShieldBearers
Shield
Axe with RoStriking, RoMight
Armor with MRoSteel,RoResistance,RoPreservation (If there are any dangerous poisonous breaths)
Talisman with RoFurnace

Strike on 3+, Wound on 2+, a 1+ (3+ actually) rerollable AS,a 2+ ward against fire breaths and immunity to poisonous ones.

In general, I would suggest this;
LORDS; The above lord and perhaps a runelord to shut off the enemy's magic.
HEROES; Dragon Slayers peferably nude. Take as many of them as possible to have as many slayer units as possible. Runesmiths if you don't field a runelord.
CORE; Spend the core in warriors. Quarrelers will only be wounding on 6s and are unlikely to do much damage if any.
SPECIAL; Only slayers (as much as possible) and cannons. Perhaps Bolt Throwers if you can't afford more cannons.
RARE; I wouldn't really bother.

You could try fielding a lordpedo/slayerpedo to lock the most dangerous dragon in combat and flank it when you can, but it would be risky.

Edited by Goldo, 30 May 2012 - 02:00 PM.

[the bearded one]

I can see a tanklord being an absurdly awesome help for this game. Attempt to keep armourrunes down to 100 points or less (MroSteel is a must, anyway, so probably MroSteel, Roresistance, Rostone, or a shield), and then a rune of might, so you have str8 against all the dragons. In fact, just liberally spread runes of might around I believe you can also use grudgerunes against monsters, and it'd be quite fluffy to have your characters loaded with grudgerunes against the dragons who destroyed your empire. If you take the master rune of steel and the rune of resistance with a shield (and shieldbearers of course), you have enough points left for a rune of might and a rune of fury, for 5 WS7 str8 attacks.

Edited by the bearded one, 30 May 2012 - 12:16 PM.

[Galen]

I would be particularly concerned about the Emperor dragon. Regular dragons can be handled by slayers striking 2x and S6. Maybe kit up a defensive lord (as discussed above), but give him the MRoChallenge, or put him in a unit where another character has the rune. You want to guarantee that the Emperor dragon is fighting your lord and not savaging your other troops.

[Alaric Ironaxe]

Cannons! Best thing we have that can be used against dragons, I'd take 3 at least. For core I'd go all GW quarrellers...good strength in combat, and ranged to shot them down. Runesmith as your general, still need magic defense as emperor dragons have magic, and plenty of slayers...basically your whole list right there. Not very diverse but best for dragon slaying.

[GrudgeBringer]

i'd be tempted by a deamon slayer with smiting and might, against an ordianry dragon he strikes 1st hitting on 3s and wounding on 2s doing d6 wounds he should kill it before it even attacks him, though if you're unlucky and he fails he's gonna get eaten

[Montegue]

This sounds like an *awesome* time.

1) TBOs Lord is a great idea.

2) Demon Slayer with Smite and Might (and, for 5pt, Speed)

3) Unit of Troll Slayers

4) Several Individual Dragon Slayers. Give them Might, cleaving, or Might/Fury. Basically, might them up.

5) A unit of Hammerers to surround their king

6) Canons. Lots of canons.

[Goldo]

I made a list for you. You can always modify it, or completely reject it, but give it a look.

[The Low King]

If you are playing that blood in the badlands rules then remember that you can have a warmachines AND a unit in a tower. Cannons will be pretty useless once the dragons get near you but bolt throwers....cheap and ignore the High armour save of dragons.

Some decent magic defence (although with only one level 4 that costs 700 points he wont really risk IFing spells much).

Slayers led by a slayer character with rune of might (and something else)

I would go for a killy lord (smiting + might and some defences) in a unit of hammerers. You cant let your tank characters go out alone as the storm dragon will tear them apart, but in a unit he cant target them with the breath weapon.

GW quarrelers, whilst only wounding dragons on 6s, will be pretty nifty in a building. Dragon charges, SnS. Dragon fails to kill the quarrelers, backs off, then they get to shoot again.

[Durak]

Please post pics + battle report. :D

[Alaric Saltzman]

Go with GW warriors for core, keep them with max ranks and champs everywhere. Special is a 3 cannon must (no flaming just in case a high elf version comes around), slayers and bolt throwers. Rune of challenge somewhere, and the aforementioned steel dwarf lord with rune of might.

[The Low King]

Why cannons in a seige game? once the dragons reach the walls they will be too close to shoot......

[the bearded one]

Don't you get a free shot before the first turn?

Also, if the dragon doesn't break a unit holding a building, he has to back away, so then you can shoot at them again.

[The Low King]

Don't you get a free shot before the first turn?

Also, if the dragon doesn't break a unit holding a building, he has to back away, so then you can shoot at them again.

He said they arnt playing with the Seige engines or pregame stuff....i assumed that meant no pre-game shots

The dragon will be too close to the building if he just assaulted it....you could fire at it from another building but if the attacker is clever he will position them so any shot will risk hitting a friendly (so cant shoot) or be too close to be effective.

[sanj]

There are some great ideas bouncing around.
I didn't even think of using the rune of might!

I made a list for you. You can always modify it, or completely reject it, but give it a look.

Thanks I appreciate the effort, I only have 25 slayers so I'm limited to that.

Why cannons in a seige game? once the dragons reach the walls they will be too close to shoot......

I thought the same thing put then The Low King and TBO mentioned the following;

GW quarrelers, whilst only wounding dragons on 6s, will be pretty nifty in a building. Dragon charges, SnS. Dragon fails to kill the quarrelers, backs off, then they get to shoot again.

Also, if the dragon doesn't break a unit holding a building, he has to back away, so then you can shoot at them again.

This is great a great advantage combined with a further suggestion from The Low King;

If you are playing that blood in the badlands rules then remember that you can have a warmachines AND a unit in a tower.

I can keep the cannons alive this way because I need to nominate 10 models to fight each dragon assault (guess I wont be choosing artillery crew!).

Don't you get a free shot before the first turn?

We'll probably discard this rule because it is supposed to balance with the starvation sequence and siege equipment (which we aren't bothering with).

Please post pics + battle report. :D

I'm trying to make sure everyone has painted their dragons so we can take pics and post a battle report.

Thanks again for the suggestions.
The level of discussion is really great.

[cheyne_m_hughes]

I cant wait to see this, really looking forwrd too it

[sanj]

We played it out earlier tonight and it was epic.
I'll try and get a battle report up as soon as

[cheyne_m_hughes]

HAHAHA AWESOME, that deserves a Bugmans just for the effort

[cheyne_m_hughes]

I'm definitly hoping the DAWI won though