We played again today, this time the fourth scenario: Deeper in Castile. I, once again, took the side with the goblins, while my wife had the dwarves on her side. I’ve got to say, those dwarves are really something. You get four units of dwarves in that scenario (three blue infantry and one unit of green crossbowmen), and they can really hold that line. I focused most of my attention on knocking those dwarves off of their hills, and I didn’t manage to get a single one to retreat a single step (though I did kill the crossbowmen and two of the units of infantry). I got to use my goblins a little bit more. It’s nice to have blue units that can both move two spaces and battle in the same turn, but their morale problems make them something of a liability. Having them retreat is almost as bad, if not just as bad, as taking a hit, so you’re going to want to make sure they’re supported by allies as often as possible. In the end I won, six flags to four, and all four of my wife’s victory flags were goblin units: both of my hobgoblin cavalry and both of my blue goblin infantry. They’re very tempting targets, apparently.

The battle made me think of how best to use the different mercenary troops. Goblins are at their best as skirmishers; they run in and attack a lone unit, they stick to forests and hills, and you try like hell not to send them up against bold troops. Dwarves, on the other hand, are the ultimate defensive units. Since they’re always bold, they always get to battle back. That makes them very tough nuts to crack, even more so when they’re supported. As such, you probably want to utilize your goblins as much as you can, and get as much mileage out of them as you can before they get killed off or run away. If you have dwarves, on the other hand, your best bet is probably to focus your energies on commanding your other troops and bringing them to bear offensively, while your dwarves just sit in defensible positions and hold off the attackers for as long as they can. A dwarf is really at his best when he’s surrounded by enemies, because (provided he survives), he’ll get to battle each one of them back as they attack him. Really, it doesn’t get much better than a blue dwarven infantry unit sitting on top of a hill; those guys are going to hold out for most of the game, chances are. I think that, if my wife had focused more on bringing her heavy infantry and cavalry into the fray and attacked with them, just leaving the dwarves to ward off attacks from my units, she might have won. Toward the end there, it really could have gone either way; I think I just got lucky.

Related posts:

1. BattleLore Session Report: First Chevauchee and Burgos, Castile
2. BattleLore: Agincourt Session Report
3. Session Report: Into the Forge
4. Session Report: A Search and A Discovery
5. Session Report: An Illuminating Meeting