Macclesfield 2002 Report
By Alan Saunders
Up at
I brought two armies (plus a few spares, just in case). My main army was Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo (Aerial hero general, 3 fliers, an airboat, two warband, two lurkers and a sneaker). The second was Asag and the Stone Allies (Aerial hero general, behemoth, three beasts and eight hordes). I used the latter army only once in a friendly game. All my competition games used the main army; it was just too much fun not to use.
Game 1
This was against Tim Stubbings who used Orcs. I defended and laid the usual aerial army terrain of lots of flat bad going. Tim tried to advance rapidly across the board to take my stronghold, whilst I swept Flash (aerial hero) and some hawkmen (fliers) around his flank. These nibbled away at his army, whilst a combination of warband and lurkers stalled his advance on the stronghold. Flash attacked the Orc hero and killed him, then helped polish off a beast. The Orcs were 13AP down and Flash had won his first victory - 48-0
After the game, however, we realised that we had made a mistake. When our two heroes met the first round of combat was a draw and we had odd numbers. They should have annihilated each other, but we forgot. This would not have cost me the game, but would have cost me my general. Since my army was mainly aerial this could have been fatal.
Game 2
Another random pairing, against George Clarke, who was using a Napoleonic French army. Shooters, riders, artillery, a hero and, much to my delight, an airboat general. I defended, he set up his airboat general with an exposed flank and in two bounds it was over. Flash went in the front, a flier hit the flank and the airboat crashed in flames. Game over and another 48-0 victory. George had one bound.
With plenty of time to spare we had another go. This time I attacked and George placed a huge BUA and some woods to hinder my aerials. I attacked where I could, aiming for the airboat again, although this time it was better supported. Eventually, however, the shooters protecting its one flank were lured away by lurkers, Flash attacked it from the front and a flier slipped behind it to prevent any recoils. Down it went again, although this time I had at least taken some casualties - a lurker and possibly a flier, but I'm not sure about the latter.
Game 3
This was the first game where we were paired based on our
scores. As the two players on maximum points I got to play Brian Pierpoint, the man who had given me a good kicking at
win.
With plenty of time in hand we set the game up again. I attacked and the game was nearly as short as the last one. This time, though, Brian won, bespelling Flash as he advanced to the attack. So we had a third game. I switched to Asag, whilst Brian used an Orc pool army. I defended. Whilst the hordes fixed his army to the front, Asag flitted around picking off odd elements and the stone beasts rolled up his flank. Eventually they combined on his general and killed him, giving Asag a 100% victory record for the day.
Game 4
Maximum points, top table. It couldn't last. It didn't. I drew Tony Horobin who was using his Watership Down army and defended once again. Tony had learned from seeing my other games and made sure his general was not exposed. Flash killed his seagull dragon, then, as the rabbits advanced on my stronghold, swept round to try and split the rabbit's cleric general from the rest of the army by a rear attack. Unfortunately this ended in a draw and, trapped in combat, Flash was surrounded by other rabbits and nibbled to death. Tony won 43-5.
Game 5
I played Ty Grover-Jones who used an army made up of dice. Very silly but unfortunately effective. He defended and I found myself battling across woods again. Nothing really went right here; I couldn't get at his general, couldn't get enough PIPs and couldn't isolate any exposed elements. I was slowly enveloped, a flier was picked off by shooters, the sneaker was driven off the table then Flash was ensorcelled by a dice magician. 48-0 to Ty and a third place overall for me.
Flash was a fun army to play. If the enemy exposed their general the aerial hero general could be in there with flier support and pick it off as quick as a, well, flash. I hadn't considered this as a main tactic, but it seemed the best way to use the army. The alternative was to whittle the opposition away by flank attacks and avoid anything that could bring the aerials to combat. Needless to say I was worried about shooter armies, but against two of them I was able to kill their generals before the shooters had even loaded their weapons. If, however, the terrain was wrong or the general was well-protected, life was more difficult.
Thanks to all at Macclefield
for organising a fun day out. As with