https://imgur.com/gallery/36955

I wrote up a battle report for a small week-night comp we had last week.

Thanks for right up. How did the DK het in flank without a charge? Was it the bonus action needing to be a march action?

My only advice on controlling the tempo is make them come to you. I've generally had better opportunities when I've held back. It's hard to wait, but sometimes you just have to.

How's Duskblade working out for you? I imagine you could switch the Death Knights' loadout to Rank Discipline + Reaping Blade to send them hero hunting. That's up to 4 mortal strikes in 1 attack! Duskblade does seem good for fighting Oathsworn Cavalry and Uthuk stuff, though.

I agree with Aetheriac about holding back. Once everything is placed, spend the first round doing shifts and such to make the engagement even better. For example, the blightcaller block of Reanimates can dial in an initiative 7 shift + skill action. You can measure at any time, so if shifting forward gets you range on an enemy hero, do it. Otherwise, shift backwards.

Also, I generally want to have my Archers in the rear. With your set up, I'd shift 2 back with the archers, then use Wind Rune to move sideways behind your two 1-tray units who can a) effectively screen for your archers, and b) take advantage of the blight they will be dealing.

On the other hand, Hawthorne is a force multiplier that can absolutely take advantage of pauses like that. One of the best things about the Deathcaller build is how far it threatens, so being proactive with it can force the enemy to engage without the level of preparation they'd prefer.

3 hours ago, natertot said:

Thanks for right up. How did the DK het in flank without a charge? Was it the bonus action needing to be a march action?

Yeah that's correct. DK can charge distance 4 but Kari was distance 5 away so I did the 3 march + 2 march. I was worried about getting shot some more with fotuna's dice at int 2 but Ill admit that at the time I forgot about the dispatch runner.

2 hours ago, Aetheriac said:

My only advice on controlling the tempo is make them come to you. I've generally had better opportunities when I've held back. It's hard to wait, but sometimes you just have to.

I agree that this is a good way to go. Most of my tabletop success has been in armada where I like to get into close range as quickly as possible. Still adjusting. With those 4-wide cav blocks having the reach they do on those bank charges you have to be really careful about weather you want to come in or go out.

1 hour ago, Parakitor said:

How's Duskblade working out for you? I imagine you could switch the Death Knights' loadout to Rank Discipline + Reaping Blade to send them hero hunting. That's up to 4 mortal strikes in 1 attack! Duskblade does seem good for fighting Oathsworn Cavalry and Uthuk stuff, though.

I agree with Aetheriac about holding back. Once everything is placed, spend the first round doing shifts and such to make the engagement even better. For example, the blightcaller block of Reanimates can dial in an initiative 7 shift + skill action. You can measure at any time, so if shifting forward gets you range on an enemy hero, do it. Otherwise, shift backwards.

Also, I generally want to have my Archers in the rear. With your set up, I'd shift 2 back with the archers, then use Wind Rune to move sideways behind your two 1-tray units who can a) effectively screen for your archers, and b) take advantage of the blight they will be dealing.

I also do like reaping blade. In this list, with Ardus around, I went for the duskblade because of the shared use. It works well for ardus because he gets surges all over the place but quite often the death knights just don't get a surge result which makes it a very costly investment for no return. When it goes off against oathsworn though, WOW!