Ramblings : some tactical notes on my preparations to fight the uticans with an Empire Army.

These tactica notes are by no means the finished product, I'll start a new thread specifically for Nautican tactics once we've thoroughly playtested the army.

Anyway, for now here are some thoughts about how I plan to give the Nauticans a bloody nose with my Empire army this weekend...

What the Nauticans are most likely to bring to the battle:-

Oceanic Trident Guard, (possibly 2 units), Sandgangers, Tide Watchers, Coral Hunters, Manta Rays (don't leave home without them when facing gunlines, cavalry) and a Leviathan or Octopus.

I know this particular oppponent is a fan of "boots on the ground", that is, lots of rank and file and less of a fan of magic. However, I suspect he might like the extra combat res that comes with a Siren and the Siren's waterblast default spell that ignores armour saves (eg. platemail !) - I'm guessing he will bring 2 Sirens.

So my plans for the enemy I think I'll be facing...

Oceanic Trident Guard are almost a certainty, they're far too good to be left on the ocean floor playing with their molloscs oe whatever they do in their own time.

I'm expecting the army general and maybe a prince or battle standard bearer to be embedded in his main Trident Guard unit. So, I need to plan their demise...

The Nauticans will want to keep the Trident Guard protected from any missile fire and this will be easy to do with sandgangers which are impervious to all missiles except artillery and magic. So, I suspect the enemy will be using one or more units of sandgangers as a shield.

I either need to take out that shield or get around it or... over it ! Taking out the sandgangers could prove quite time consuming and because a Nautican army is likely to want to get into combat as quickly as possible I don't think that's an option. I can skirt round with cavalry but I suspect Crest Riders will be used to thwart that plan or Manta rays might march block my advance.

I think I might have to engage the Trident Guard with cavalry at some point so skirting round will need to be part of the final plan but I need more. So, I've sent a message to the School of Engineering and requested the delivery of 2 motars and a great cannon. The mortars will get the benefit of a hill to fire upon (we usually allow 1 hill per side) so I know they'll have line of sight. The cannon will be for any Leviathan or Octopus, or if there are none, then it will also fire on the Trident Guard.

These combined artillery pieces probably won't destroy the Trident Guard but will hopefully whittle down their ranks enough for the ensuing combat.

The Manta Rays shouldn't be a problem providing I don't let them charge any of my key units. They are vulnerable to missile fire and if they flee they probably won't rally (unless they flee close to the enemy general). I'm going to try and bait him with cavalry on the flanks, he'll be keen to march block them with his Manta Rays. I'll also try to deter him from deploying them centrally with plenty of crossbowmen.

Any Leviathan or Octopus is going to get the full attention of my great cannon, Steam Tank and tooled up characters specifically built to take on these monsters. The Octopus is particulary dangerous if it makes it into combat without losing any wounds (8 strength 5 attacks !). I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I charge in first and knock some wounds off it with missile fire before we get to combat.

Coral Hunters will be a pain because they're so cheap and he'll probably field loads of them. I'm not too worried about them providing I keep them away from my artillery. I'll be looking to engage them quickly or shoot them to death with Outriders.

Sandgangers are actually one of my biggest concerns. I don't think people yet realise how useful they can be as a thorn in the enemy's side. Rather than get tied down by them I'm going to try to avoid them as much as possible and focus my attention on the Trident Guard and dangerous creatures. Sandgangers become less and less effective as the game progresses because they will rarely win combats when fighting alone. If I take out the other enemy units first then licking the sand back into the ganger's faces won't be a problem !

The game's tomorrow, I'll let you know what happened.

Thanks for reading,
Sigmar