I have to admit I’m really enjoying playing Basileans in fourth edition. I loved the idea of having a more human centric army in third edition but found it hard to get working. In fourth things seem to have settled pretty well.
I’ve been playing a mixed arms list that does a bit of everything, the sort of list I really like, although unlike my old rat and halfling lists I’m quickly realising it is a far less forgiving army. I feel that Basilea retains an elite build even though you now have to include the basic men-at-arms, or sisterhood units. It’s big hitting units are expensive and unsupported by the command orders so you have to think before you act. The humans though, including the paladins, are pretty resilient, but not massively reliable in the fight so there’s a delicate balance to be considered. The list I settled on for this event was:
Martin has been running events at Hinckley for a year or so now, they are well organised and attract a great crowd of friendly gamers from all levels. This event had 24 players and a good mix of lists without too many duplications, which was nice, and going through the lists there wasn’t anything that stood out as looking particularly nasty. That being said there was a range of styles from melee heavy to shooting heavy (no frogs) and everything in between. So, let’s get into it.
Game 1 was against dwarfs and the scenario was pillage. With some quite fast components I decided to scatter objectives across the table to try and break up my sturdy opponent. Although the dwarfs had some fast units a combination of Elohi, panthers and shooting meant I out ranged my opponent and was able to pick my targets. My shooting was the perfect foil for the Brock Riders, forcing them to deal with my scouts and a phoenix before they could turn their attention on my main battle line. By then they were badly injured and failed to do any major damage, allowing my men-at-arms to secure objectives.
On my left flank things didn’t go all my way. In the turn that the Paladins and Elohi exploded a regiment of rocks, a charge from the Palace Guard into the second resulted in four wounds being taken before the rocks rolled out of the box and took my ogres off in one turn. Whilst it was a surprise, I managed to take back the initiative by getting the Elohi into the backfield whilst my Paladins charged onto the centre most objective. With panthers and the ogre captain also claiming objectives the game was a win.
Game 2 was against a nerve heavy undead army, playing Hold the Line. Shooting played an important part in opening moves, badly damaging the Wights, forcing them and the Revenant Cavalry into bad charges. I think this is possibly where I made quite a fundament mistake. I had the opportunity to take down both the Wights and the Revenants with the Elohi, but left the cavalry alive, thinking for some reasons the two Phoenixes would deal with them, which of course they didn’t.
I think I was feeling the pressure of needing to get the big hitters into the centre to try and destroy some of the infantry hordes shambling into the scoring zone. Despite a sinking feeling around turn 4 that there was just too much to munch through, and my Palace Guard getting wiped out after a single round of combat again it was a really enjoyable close game, but ended with an undead victory.
In game 3 I came up against the Xirkaali, Mantic’s newest faction. I have to admit I’ve been nervous about playing this faction, and in particular this type of list. The melee units are pretty elite and can all access strider, whist the Chakram horde is an incredibly powerful shooting unit, which is hard to focus on when it’s surrounded by highly competent dog soldiers.
With so many defence 5 units, and a huge amount of speed, I didn’t think my shooting would play much of a part. What’s more, if my ogres continued their track record, they were unlikely to either! What played out was interesting though. The Chakrams were predicably powerful, taking my ogre captain, a men-at-arms regiment and my paladins pretty much to their waver points with their shooting (each time with one round of shooting).
However, the elite nature of the army, and stickly combat meant there weren’t sufficient units to then take those wavered units off the table. Yes, a second round of shooting would have taken the unit off, but target prioritisation meant they were reacting to try and stop more pressing threats with each turn. Add to this my army had just enough chaff to pin units in place, shooting to chip away at the nerve values and the ogres survived long enough to deliver some fantastic blows mean the Basileans managed to squeeze out their second win of the day.
Final thoughts
I couldn’t have been more pleased with the way the army performed. It’s been a while since I’ve played an army with so many specialist units, and it went well. I’ve definitely got a few games ahead of me to get back into using a list like this, but the most important thing is that I’m having fun. I will be making some minor changes before the next time I play. Whilst the High Paladin was a bit of an MVP, cruising around, generally helping out the Banner of Command really didn’t do what I needed it to. I wanted to get the Elite command off more regularly to help the paladins. Unfortunately, over the three games it worked about twice, across all the characters, and it wasn’t for the want of trying. For me, this is where commands fall down. If you can’t rely on them working when you need them I’m not sure you can really say they are providing any flavour to your army. Removing this and the Sanguinary Scripture from the ogres gives me enough points to upgrade the scouts, which is well deserved given how much they contributed to the day. Some extra nerve and a couple of extra attacks will be very welcome for the next encounter.
Overall, I really enjoyed the day and felt the armies I played against were pretty well balanced. Shooting is most certainly not dead. If anything, I think the damage capacity of shooters has been increased, Phoenixes shooting defence 4 units whilst hitting on threes is pretty impactful, but the new dynamics of ranged combat make it really interesting. I definitely think mixed arms army will continue to be strong, although they will probably need to take more shooting than in third edition to have as meaningful impact. It’s a theory I’m trying out with my Halflings, which I’ll be doing a first impressions post on in the not-too-distant future.
So, with that, I think all that remains is for me to thank Martin and my fantastic opponents for a great day out. Also, I’d like to give a massive shout out to everyone involved with the development of fourth edition, because it’s shaping up pretty damn well if you ask me.
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