Sigmars Blood.

[Dan_Lee]

I played through the entire campaign yesterday with a friend. He substituted High Elves for Empire but the lists were as close to the original as we could make them.

We played all four scenarios in six and a half hours, though scenarios 1 and 3 went very quickly.

A few things we noticed:

Scenario 1 is plain stupid with a necromancer on corpse cart. My friend had 10 bowmen and 2 bolt throwers instead of 10 handgunners and a cannon. My necromancer was dead half-way through his first shooting phase and my army had crumbled to dust by turn 3. This can be easily fixed by simply having the necromancer on foot and using the corpse cart as a separate unit though.

Scenario 2 seemed to work well, although had my friend had a cannon Mannfred would have been in trouble (he's mounted and there's no cavalry units in the list). As it was he could join my skeletons and be safe from bolt throwers and bowmen so he was able to participate in the game properly.

In scenario 3 my friend had a stand-in for the luminark, as there is no High Elf unit that is remotely close to the Luminark. This scenario is terribly one sided as the VC player has no wizard while the other player has a level 4 light wizard plus the Luminark. There is no way to stop your ethereal forces from being shot off the board. Also, the central building is a haunted mansion. The rules say it inflicts hits on nearby units from the haunted spirits, so we reasoned these should be magical attacks. Thus the mansion killed my banshee, two of my cavalry models and finished off my black coach (being used instead of the mortis engine). I'd fix this scenario by stopping the building from being haunted (units are far too small in this game for them to be taking 1d6 hits per shooting phase). The VC player also needs some form of magical defence (either MR on his units, or a level 3 or 4 wizard).

Scenario 4 wasn't too bad. VC deployment is very frustrating as nearly the entire deployment zone is filled with terrain. Also your reinforcements emerge from random locations, meaning your wight king can appear on his own away from the rest of the army, or your units can appear directly in front of your opponent and get charged immediately. These can be fixed by giving the VC player and extra 6" of deployment space and by letting the wight king join the skeleton unit and randomly deploying them together.


Overall lots of fun but the VC player is likely to get hammered without some changes to the scenarios.

 

[benvoliothefirst]

Thanks for the helpful insights, Dan_Lee!

Personally, I loved the whole set of Sigmar's Blood. I can't remember a time when I've been so involved in the backstory of Warhammer, constantly on the edge of my seat and waiting with baited breath for the next installment. The scenarios seem like great fun and a good excuse to get building some units that until now I haven't had use for. I'll certainly be using Dan's suggestions for evening out the play, though.

Am I the only one who was surprised by the smaller format for the limited edition? Where the separate, "regular" editions full-size? They'd almost be worth purchasing just to get around the eyestrain.

 

[Von Calyptra]

Also, the central building is a haunted mansion. The rules say it inflicts hits on nearby units from the haunted spirits, so we reasoned these should be magical attacks. Thus the mansion killed my banshee, two of my cavalry models and finished off my black coach (being used instead of the mortis engine).

I understand your logic, but I would have played it differently. First, I think the attacks from the haunted mansion are not magic attacks because the rules do not say that they are; second, the attacks are coming from angry spirits, and in this case, you are the angry spirits.

 

[Blutsauger]

Also, the central building is a haunted mansion. The rules say it inflicts hits on nearby units from the haunted spirits, so we reasoned these should be magical attacks. Thus the mansion killed my banshee, two of my cavalry models and finished off my black coach (being used instead of the mortis engine).

I understand your logic, but I would have played it differently. First, I think the attacks from the haunted mansion are not magic attacks because the rules do not say that they are; second, the attacks are coming from angry spirits, and in this case, you are the angry spirits.

Indeed, it's not terribly clear but I would have expected the mansion to be on the Vampire players side, as it were.

 

[Dan_Lee]

We agreed the attacks should be magical (as if being made by ethereals) before really thinking things through, then decided to stick with it.

Magic attacks aside, having a haunted mansion isn't a good thing for either side. The Empire player is supposed to park their luminark next to it and they can't really afford to take 1d6 S1 hits ever shooting phase either.

 

[Elodin]

So, as far as the crunch is concerned, is the Manfred's army half decent?

It seems like a lot of core, which I've heard is bad for VCs.

 

[Dan_Lee]

Well, Mannfred's army is different.

When Mannfred first turns up he's riding his nightmare and there are no cavalry units in his army, which is a silly mistake on Mannfred's part if you ask me.

In the final scenario when all the army finally fights together there are two cavalry units, but one is hexwraiths and the others start in reserve, so he still has nowhere to go.

The VC army is never really competitive, but the Empire force isn't that well designed either. The campaign is intended to be an interesting story rather than four balanced fights.

 

[Thindol]

...an interesting story rather than four balanced fights.

That sounds a lot like my current relationship...

At any rate I really enjoyed the book and the VC do have a harder time of it sometimes but it's totally doable. The key to the first match is killing the cannon with either your dogs or gaze of nagash, after that just tie up the knights and kill everything else. Not being able to raise troops kinds of blows but hey...

You have to hide Manny a lot, behind terrain and such before your cav gets it but he's ok. That's why you really need the terrain to be as close to the book as possible. It is a money grab but it's all really beautiful terrain.

 

[Dan_Lee]

Nice in theory, but in scenario one my opponent won the first turn and killed my necromancer in the first shooting phase. Everything had crumbled away before the dire wolves turned up. I could have tried deploying Ghorst in a hidden position, but the Empire player had more troops to deploy, so they could deploy the cannon after Ghorst (if I remember correctly).

Mannfred being mounted isn't as big a problem I'll admit. He can either join infantry and then worry about the cannon, or run around and hide a lot. I found I needed him with my army though where I could put his spells to best effect.

 

[Von Calyptra]

You've got a big wall across your deployment zone that you can park Ghorst behind until the wolves show up. There's no way the Empire player can position the cannon to shoot at you if you do this.

 

[Dan_Lee]

If you sit behind the wall then the rest of your army either hides with you or advances into all the shooting without being able to march. Either way your not going to achieve much by turn 6. When the dire wolves turn up the Empire player will get a turn of shooting (grapeshot and 10 handgunners) against them, then possibly a stand and shoot too. 10 wolves are not that durable.

 

[Von Calyptra]

I think an important question to consider is which is more valuable: killing von Korden, or keeping Ghorst alive? If the latter, then leaving the entire army sitting behind the wall if the Empire is unwilling to engage might not be a bad plan.
I agree that the wolves are not that durable, and if the handgunners are in a position to protect the cannon when the wolves come on, that's a problem. Maybe Vanhell's the ghouls or skeletons the same turn? They can only shoot at so much. Also, casting Gaze of Nagash on the cannon might do the trick, though it'll leave you exposed if it doesn't work.

 

[Dan_Lee]

I'm sure there are ways to play the scenario as it is in the book. I've only played it once after all. I just think the Empire player has a very strong advantage that could do to be balanced out to make the scenario a bit better.

 

[Von Calyptra]

Oh, I absolutely agree that the Empire player has an advantage here. But I think that approaching situations like this as a puzzle where you need to figure out how to succeed with the wrong tools can be fun.

 

[RichardC1967]

so in Sigmars Blood is it Mannfred the Acolyte or Mannfred the Lord that is being used?

 

[Dan_Lee]

Mannfred the Lord. Its set some time after Hell Fen.