{"id":28545,"date":"2024-04-21T10:46:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T09:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/?p=28545"},"modified":"2024-11-11T00:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T00:42:17","slug":"sitrep-combat-geometry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/04\/21\/sitrep-combat-geometry\/","title":{"rendered":"Combat Geometry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Listen, I am on record of disliking Combat Geometry. Combat Geometry is the feature of rank and flank games, the clashing of big blocks of troops that slowly trudge forwards, where players spend time humming and ahhing over specific degrees before rolling a mountain of dice. I prefer a little more cut and thrust, a quicker move as play goes back and forth drawing me towards skirmish games. My time in Rank and Flank is usually only from demo games at clubs or ending up in a games room in Darlington<\/a> under the watchful eye of 3D printing sensei\/Creative Regular Opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well unluckily for me, The Creative Regular Opponent is at it again and has gone in deep on a new rank and flank game. And once again, he managed to drag me kicking and screaming (kind of) to come up north and give a rank and flank game a go – but this time he had a secret weapon. The game in question was The Old World, the return of Games Workshop’s original fantasy game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old World of Warhammer is exactly my kind of fantasy, with its basis in history but with its own twists, a world with an expansive map to give each battle a sense of place and time. I never played the original Warhammer Fantasy Battles when it was active – WFB was an investment of time and money that I couldn’t provide (hence why the more Skirmishy Lord of the Rings was what I got one year under the Christmas tree). But thanks to a variety of games and books (to the point of interrupting a family holiday in Scotland to go to the local GW and pick up the latest Gotrex and Feilx book), I kept my interest and passion for The Old World alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within our gaming group (organised through a chat we refer to as Tiny Mans Chat), I was not the only one interested in the return of The Old World when it was announced. The Creative Regular Opponent went in as deep as we all expected but little by little, others within the group have been gathering armies to their banner. Whispers of a “Big Games Day” at the Scout Hut began to spread like dark influence, and so I found myself to looking through New Recruit’s list builder app<\/a> for ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With me put on a path to fantasy due to my enablers\/friends, the big question is who to play. Now my initial reaction was Empire, diving deep into a stockpile of STLs I’ve been getting from the unbeatable Last Sword Patreon. This however was going to require a chunk of printing, a chunk of painting and with a 3D printer suffering technical faults that caused constant failure on only part of the plate, it was going to be a motivation-killing bump to get over before I could really play with my own army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, I then realised while assembling lists for my first 500-point encounter that actually, I had enough of another faction that could just hit the board pretty quickly. My fantasy collection includes a big chunk of Chaos Warriors, assembled from both the older plastics and the easy build from a previous Slaves to Darkness set. This set also includes 5 Chaos Knights with a Chaos character on a monstrous reptilian beast henceforth referred to as ‘horse’. A quick trip to New Recruit and its army-building revealed that I could fit in a mounted Aspiring Champion, a block of 12 Chaos Warriors and 5 Chaos Chosen Knights. All without using a single drop of resin or spending some cash. There is no better way to learn a game than using a set of figures you like, so I decided to go with these guys rather than borrowing some of the Creative Regular Opponent’s figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is only one downside – all of my Chaos army is based for Age of Sigmar, a game that (due to it being more skirmish-y) uses bases of the wrong shape and usually the wrong size. Luckily, much like the community survived the original changeover from squares to circles back when AoS launched, there are plenty of people online preparing conversion parts and sabots to make the job of switching back easier. I settled on using these templates<\/a> (speedily 3d printed the night before) to let me tessellate my figures together to have the correct frontage. After having played with them, I’d say it’s a great placeholder, but in the long term I’d shift to rebasing units especially if (like me) you don’t play other games with basing requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Game day came, I had my templates printed, so it was time to play some wargames on the giant table previously seen playing host to large scale WW2<\/a> and Napoleonic battles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the first game, we went for the originally planned 500 points, pitting a small dwarven force against the Chaos Knights and Chaos Warriors. As this was a learning game and I was basically starting from scratch, we kept it simple, with single open field with the armies formed up. The Dwarves would dig in and wait for Chaos to come to them, with their Longbeards and Warriors formed up alongside a screen of Rangers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ranger screen got chewed apart by the advancing Chaos Warriors (although slaying one in the process) and ended up being overrun after a turn of combat. The Warriors then held position to threaten the Longbeards, keeping the flank of the Chosen Knights clear enough for them to SLAM into the warriors. The Aspiring Champion with his giant blade easily turned the unit champion into shredded meat, while the rest of the Knights cleared the front row and forced them to fall back. Rather than following the knights reformed to slam into the longbeards, forcing them into a fight that led to the death of their thane and pushing the veterans back. With most of the Dwarf force taken out of action (although not enough to award me victory points for whittling down a unit far enough for it to count).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a successful game under my belt, and with time still available, we decided to up the ante to 1000 points. With the figures I had, I decided to double the Chaos Warriors, upgrade my Aspiring Champion on ‘horse’ to a Chaos Lord on Demonic ‘horse’ and add two aspiring champions to accompany the unit blocks. A pretty reasonable force!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, my opponent pulled out a new force – his Bretonnians. This was going to be a very different game and one I was wholly unprepared for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the game began, I made my first mistake. I intended to shield the flank of my Chaos Knights against enemy cavalry action so I put my infantry on the flanks and would advance slowly into charge range. Although my intentions were good, it ended up being suboptimal, spreading my forces out and letting the Brettonaians slam home with ease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only a few rounds in when I realised I really should have put the heavy cavalry on the left flank, pushing between the building and the dead trees to take that flank while the infantry formed up into a larger group. However, it’s all part of learning the game, working out the capabilities of everything and how they play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, it also didn’t help that the Bretonnians also had air cavalry in the form of both pegasus knights and their general on flying horses. This allowed them to zip around the map, getting behind my Chosen Knights when they got locked into combat or moving from one engagement to the other. Additionally, Knights of the Realm hit like a ton of bricks on the charge, smashing through even the heavily armoured Chaos Warriors. On the other hand, once locked in combat and unable to use their lances, then both the Chaos Lord on his Demonic ‘horse’ and the Chosen were able to cause some serious casualties. In the end though, my force was basically wiped to a man, the last remaining Chaos figure being the Lord who wandered off the board after falling prey to a poor roll on the Gaze of the Gods table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Feels suitably thematic for a game-ending, especially after all of my heroes suffered visions of madness from the gods. Perhaps we shall have to return another time in greater numbers to deal with the Bretonnians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So with all that, and after a good day of games, what does it mean going forward?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well it’s safe to say, I’m going to be playing some more Old World with the group. Having finally got to play the ruleset that is based on all the lore I love, it was a really good time. This is definitely not the most slick written ruleset, with things like the combat resolution table definitely a process rather than something that is immediately intuitive. However, it does absolutely nail the feel, with all the factions I’ve interacted with today acting as they should – Dwarves barely give ground unless you break them entirely, the Bretonnians are with parrell on the charge and the armoured Chaos forces can be a mincing machine if they get the chance to strike. Rules like Gaze of the Gods and Blessings of the Lady is that spice on top, making you play even further into the vibe of your force. Part of me wants to go off and try some other factions just to see the options out there! I’m not usually a big list-building guy (and I think many rulesets provide you with far too many options for little benefit) but the force construction feels open ended with every army having plenty of archetypes you can go down. Definitely one to have more of a play with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army-wise, the Warriors of Chaos are going to be my starting point. I’ve got a pretty good force already, but with a few additional purchases and some more painting I will be up to a full 2000 point list with a few options. The main area I need to fix are with the lack of command groups in my units – I assembled them planning for skirmish gaming, so they are missing Musicians and Banner bearers that were often the tipping point in combat against those damn knights. The other major change is going to be rebasing all my units onto square bases. However, I think it’s a better solution than messing around with bracing structures. There will be a few interesting poses to deal with (most modern AoS figures are designed without the “must rank up” limitation” but I think it’s doable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude, I guess it finally happened – I found myself a Rank and Flank game I’m actually excited to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen, I am on record of disliking Combat Geometry. Combat Geometry is the feature of rank and flank games, the clashing of big blocks of troops that slowly trudge forwards, where players spend time humming and ahhing over specific degrees before rolling a mountain of dice. I prefer a little more cut and thrust, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":28557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1135,1093,1069,903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-combat-geometry","category-features","category-sitrep","category-wargaming"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Michael Charge","author_link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/author\/chargedog\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/SitrepTOW.jpg","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/SitrepTOW.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Combat Geometry<\/a>","Features<\/a>","SITREP<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Combat Geometry<\/span>","Features<\/span>","SITREP<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 21\/04\/2024","modified":"Updated on 11\/11\/2024"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 21\/04\/2024 10:46 am","modified":"Updated on 11\/11\/2024 12:42 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvEn5-7qp","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29163,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/08\/07\/combat-geometry-clash-of-dwarf-and-chaos\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":0},"title":"Combat Geometry: Clash of Dwarf and Chaos","author":"Michael Charge","date":"07\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously in my adventures into the Old World, we played the first game between myself and the Dastardly Regular opponent and I talked about the plans for my force. I managed to assemble a few more pieces, such as all the Chaos Warriors and the Marauder Horsemen to the point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/SITREP_AugGame.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/SITREP_AugGame.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/SITREP_AugGame.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/SITREP_AugGame.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/SITREP_AugGame.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30840,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/03\/combat-geometry-enter-the-dragon\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":1},"title":"Combat Geometry: Enter The Dragon","author":"Michael Charge","date":"03\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The next Old World games day is fast approaching on the Ides of March. I've been attempting to get some figures painted up for it (and avoiding the Knights for as long as possible). However, new events mean a chance to build my list further. After my last game in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorld-Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorld-Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorld-Dragon.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorld-Dragon.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorld-Dragon.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30212,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/01\/09\/combat-geometry-2025-kick-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":2},"title":"Combat Geometry: 2025 Kick-Off","author":"Michael Charge","date":"09\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Things are a little bit quiet on the Old World front it seems. As the New Year has rolled in, it is time to talk about the game of giant moving rectangles and frantically ranking up figures. Before I go over our last game day, I should probably talk about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldUpdate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldUpdate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldUpdate.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldUpdate.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldUpdate.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30940,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/03\/17\/combat-geometry-the-big-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":3},"title":"Combat Geometry: The Big Week","author":"Michael Charge","date":"17\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In the last few days, it's been very Old World-y around here. The reason of course is The Ides of Marc, an Old World event that my group of friends (including the Regular Opponents) arranged at the start of the year. You've seen a few updates on the journey since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorldBigWeek.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorldBigWeek.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorldBigWeek.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorldBigWeek.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/OldWorldBigWeek.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28688,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/05\/22\/sitrep-square-bases-plastic-kits-movement-trays-and-game-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":4},"title":"Combat Geometry: Square Bases, Plastic Kits, Movement Trays and Game Days","author":"Michael Charge","date":"22\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Since the last post talking Old World (and the minor update in the monthly project update) things have... escalated. At this stage I've managed to get all the figures I need for my 2000 points list, thanks to an assault on eBay and some careful pushes. The next step was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SITREP-TOW.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SITREP-TOW.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SITREP-TOW.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SITREP-TOW.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SITREP-TOW.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30620,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/01\/26\/combat-geometry-back-to-the-table\/","url_meta":{"origin":28545,"position":5},"title":"Combat Geometry: Back To The Table","author":"Michael Charge","date":"26\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not every day that you receive a mysterious message from the Creative Regular Opponent to come north and face him on the tabletop, with the promise of food provided. It's also not every day that a storm is strong enough to knock Scotland into having a red weather warning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Combat Geometry"","block_context":{"text":"Combat Geometry","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/series\/combat-geometry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldTest1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldTest1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldTest1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldTest1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/OldWorldTest1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}