Ordensstaat vs Saracen

Avenging the Defeat

Ordensstaat vs. Saracens Round two

In a prior game against the Saracens, the Ordensstaat lost in a lopsided defeat against the Saracens.  They made the mistake of charging beyond my levy.  The Saracens masterfully pulled back and the Ordensstaat Knights foolishly left the levy behind.  This isolated the HG preventing them from using Sword Brothers or Dark Crosses Pure Hearts.  The defeat made me rethink my strategy with the Ordensstaat. 

                Typically, the Ordensstaat are played with an aggressive style, advancing with Nach Osten until within charge range.  Most view the Ordensstaat as an easy faction to play, lacking combinations and having simple battle maneuvers.   However, that’s not always the case and I needed to adjust some for the Saracens. 

                Originally, the Ordensstaat relied heavily on shooting since the Saracens lack shooting defense.  In this game, I took more warriors using 2.5 points, 2.5 points of HG, and only 1 point of levies.  The warriors were broken into 6 mounted, 6 on foot, and 8 with crossbows.  The Hearthguard was broken down into a unit of 5 knights on foot with shields and 5 mounted.  I used a unit of 12 bow levy.  The warlord was mounted.

                I set the terrain with ruins on the left flank deep into the opponent’s territory.  They had placed a forest in the center.  I place a steep hill on the right flank on the center line to disrupt cavalry charges. 

This would funnel attacks to my center line.  I deployed right of center, placing the front line of foot HG and warriors with bow levy and crossbow warriors behind.  The mounted units made up the rear guard. 

                The first two turns were simply maneuvering for the Ordensstaat.  I flanked right and pressed forward.  I didn’t get a rare one turn so the army didn’t progress as far as I liked.  I did get the crossbow into the steep hill for some shots.  The Saracens did hit and run attacks on my left flank.  Most of which didn’t do much with the shooting defenses of the Ordensstaat.

                I was hunting saga dice.  I targeted a unit of 5 mounted warriors with my crossbows.  It took two rounds of shooting, but hitting on 2’s made it easy to eliminate a saga dice.  The Saracens made a big play.  They shot using Brotherhood and then charged my foot warriors.  I closed ranks.  The charge didn’t do much even with the Hearthguard unit charging with 12 dice.  I still had 4 warriors left on my turn.

                Counter charge.  I made my move using Slay the Pagans to charge with the foot warriors and Hearthguard on foot.  I charged first with the foot warriors and played Din of Battle.  I left the fatigue on.  My unit was wiped out, but the opponent’s HG unit had two fatigues.  I charged with the foot HG.  Playing Dark Crosses Pure Hearts with 3 levy sacrifices granted me 6 attack dice.  I thought this would be enough, but the Saracen are tricky.  They can reduce your attack dice and gain the amount you lost.  In the end, I reduced the unit to 2 figures with a round of crossbow shooting.  I did not lose a single Hearthguard in the exchange.

                With the Saracen’s major strike force reduced, they made a play with a unit of composite bow warriors and composite bow Hearthguards.  Neither had any impact on my 5 knights on foot.  On my turn, I rested the knights and used Nach Osten to make a tricky play.  I moved the knights on foot left and the bow levy right.  This opened a line to bring the mounted Hearthguard forward.  Now I could play Slay the Pagans and make two charges. 

                The first charge was directed at the Saracen’s Hearthguard.  This time I took into consideration their abilities.  I played Dark Crosses Pure Hearts and sacrificed 5 levies granting me 10 attack dice.  I had 20 attack dice but only charged with 16 because of their ability Scourge.  It was enough to eliminate the unit.  I gained 6 VP points and lost 2 for a net gain of four.   The charge with my mounted unit was not as effective but did its job.  The tide of the game had turned and the Ordensstaat avenged a loss to the Saracen. 

                In the final rounds, I was able to take out the warlord with some mounted warriors, but the game was really won in turn four.  The final score was 22 to 10. 

Lessons Learned

Using Nach Osten only for advancing does not fully utilize the ability.  I use it to recharge the crossbow to shoot twice in a turn.  But in this game, using it to maneuver units was instrumental in charging the second Hearthguard unit.  Even though a faction seems straightforward, it doesn’t mean there aren’t creative options.  I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out how to best use the dice that turn before I saw the move using Nach Osten. 

                I also took away how important it is to keep the units together that work together.  The levy stayed behind the knights on foot the whole game.  I don’t recall ever breaking them out to shoot.  I didn’t lose a single levy model to the enemy fire but sacrificed 8 models.  It worked.  Obviously, the Ordensstaat knights are powerful when you have levies by their side to bolster their pride.