by Dan Carlson
After a lengthy recovery from AdeptiCon 2024, I am back to write about my tournament winning list from the official Blood and Valor Tournament! This was my first step into competitive gameplay with any Miniatures Wargame system, and I was just as surprised that I was able to win! In this article, I will walk you through my List and my thought process (or lack thereof!).
The Faction
It should surprise nobody that my faction of choice this year was the Russian Imperial Army! There is an in-depth Faction review here for those who need a refresher. I chose this faction because it was familiar, and is currently my favorite faction in the game. Die Hard gives me flexibility since not becoming Shaken is a huge boon. This faction is just begging to be run with as many conscripts as you can paint and it certainly didn’t disappoint!
The Units
For the 200 point list, I brought the following:
1 free commander with two riflemen
4x 11 Inexperienced riflemen (conscripts)
8 cavalry armed with rifles
1 gas barrage
The idea was to use the gas on turn 1 or 2 to start getting fatigue on problem units so I can move up my infantry into a good firing line and apply pressure, while using the cavalry to take care of pesky machine guns, field guns, or mortars. The conscripts worked well, as most opponents were only ever able to completely eliminate 1 entire squad. The cavalry, however, I would not bring again. As Rufus DeVane, the writer of Blood and Valor teased: “Cavalry? On a modern battlefield? Who would have known?”
The Russian Imperial Army has two big disadvantages over their European Counterparts:
Firstly, they cannot take LMGs, so they physically can’t compete with the squad firepower of their opponents.
Seceondly, the Conscripts have a low initiative value. I had a total of 8 initiative, while most of my opponents had 14-16. This meant I was usually going second, and had to plan for that.
The cavalry did scare my opponents, but they did their job too well and were often shot to pieces. They got a charge in on two of the three games, but their combat ability was very lackluster (they couldn’t eliminate a group of inexperienced Frenchmen!). I tried to have them go after a field gun, but its defensive fire turned 3 of them into mulch and sent them retreating (cavalry doesn’t have the Die Hard rule), and then the next shot turned all the Tsar’s horses into a pile of quivering meat.
The Conscripts, however, carried the tournament! Having 4 squads of 11 men was enough to make all 3 of my opponents take notice. Even after casualties and fatigue, they were always able to keep on shooting, even in the face of HMG Fire and superior trained troops! They really showed their colors in the final game, where I was able to keep enough of my opponent’s forces within his deployment zone in the Breakthrough Scenario to win the game! Having to contend with 44 shots per turn is difficult, and even if you save the fatigue, usually 1-2 models get connected to the Tsar’s wi-fi.
Last, and certainly not least, I have to sing the praises of the Gas Barrage. While not as deadly as the Artillery or Naval Gun Barrages, the ability to throw a ton of resolve tests on turn 1 or 2 is invaluable, and usually gave me a turn to move up while my opponent either had to fall back to avoid the gas or manage his fatigue.
The Great Games
Game 1 was the Attrition Scenario from the End of Empires expansion book. My opponent was Dan Brodi with his Austro-Hungarian Army. It was easy enough tactically on my part. I did my best to keep all my infantry in a line formation so I could focus on shooting at problem units. I deployed my cavalry to the far right edge of the board to try and come screaming up and take out my opponent’s mortar and HMG. The cavalry engaged a unit of riflemen, but it ended in a melee stalemate.
He tried to wrap his Jaegers and Riflemen around the opposite board edge, and I responded with withering fire to try and keep them in place while whittling down his men.
One unfortunate unit directly across from 2 Conscript squads was wiped out by disciplined rifle fire. My Cavalry was forced to retreat, which opened that weakened squad up for more rifle fire, eliminating them through volume of fire.
During this game, we discovered that the Russians were a perfect counter to the Austro-Hungarians. His Marksmen rule force me to re-roll 1 successful Resolve test after each of his shooting attacks, but because the Russians can’t be Shaken, it was a moot point!
As the game ended, we tallied up our attrition points. I had just wiped out 50% of his army for 1 point, and I was safe by a single model, awarding my opponent 0 points. I shook hands, thanked Dan for the game, and moved on to face the blog-boss and Dead Man himself: Tyler Stone.
Game 2
Game 2 was tricky, and I had to use signature underhanded tactics to squeak out a victory. The scenario was Conquest, an objective game. We each had 2 objectives in our deployment zones, and 1 in the middle to fight over. Objectives in your own zone were worth 1 point, the center was worth 2, and objectives in the opponent’s zone (if you get that far) were worth 3 points each.
Tyler was playing the Northern ‘Polar Bear’ Expedition, so he had a a multi-national army of French, Russian, and Americans.
Tyler had placed my two objective markers far back, but close to each other, so I stretched out one of my 11-man squads to claim both objectives. I then dropped gas on his clustered together units and HMG to try and buy myself some time.
The gas forced some maneuvering, but wasn’t enough for me to rush the middle. I used my cavalry to ride up and enticed him to come off an objective to counter them, where they were shortly shot to pieces (another pile of steaming man-and-horse meat).
His HMG is just out-of-frame, in the ruins to the left of the barrels.
Tyler had deployed his HMG (better known as the Conscript Mulcher 3000) right down the middle of the board so I was forced to inch forward while attempting pot shots at his machine gun. My commander was hidden in some terrain, and using his command point to keep the fire up in an attempt to suppress the HMG.
When Tyler moved his Russian squad between me and the HMG, it resulted in a fierce firefight between my Conscripts and his Russians, supported by a unit of his Frenchmen hidden in a building.
Late in the game, he moved a squad of Frenchmen off of his second “home” objective, to push for the middle objective. Luckily, time was called at the end of the turn, giving me two objectives to his one. However, he killed an alarming amount of conscripts and had me on the back foot more than once.
Game 3
The Third and final game was a game of tactics and pressure. The Scenario was Breakthrough, and the objective was to get as many as your core and commander units into your opponent’s Deployment Zone and off their board edge. Doing so gave you a victory point. However, if any of your core or command units were still in your own Deployment Zone by the end of the game, your opened gained VPs equal to each unit’s initiative value.
My opponent was Patrik Wenner. Like me, Patrick entered the round carrying a 2-0 record with his Frenchmen. He had brought a Field gun and the ferocious Harlem Hellfighters, so I knew this was going to be a tough game!
I dropped gas on turn 1 to try and gain some free movement, but it was not very effective and his Frenchmen opened fire on my unit of conscripts on a hill, while his Hellfighters screamed down my left table edge.
I countered with cavalry up the right edge, trying to eliminate a group of Inexperienced French Riflemen. My 3 other squads of Conscripts and his two French Riflemen teams closed in and started a vicious firefight, with neither side gaining the upper hand. He had hidden a sniper next to his field gun, but the sniper never scored a single hit the entire game!
On the left edge, he continued to focus his fire on the one group of Conscripts on the hill, allowing his Hellfighters to climb up and then eliminate them with a ruthless, point blank storm of hot lead. The Hellfighters ran off my edge to score.
Over on the right edge, my Cavalry had sent Patrik’s Inexperienced Riflemen fleeing, so I set my sites on the Field Gun. As usual, the defensive fire vaporized 3 horses and also sent them running.
In the middle of the board, my superior firepower was starting to come into its own, and I sent another unit of French Riflemen running back to his board edge. On the final turn of the round, the Field Gun opened fire, turning my beloved cavalry into yet another pile of dead meat (and possibly glue, at this point), but my Conscripts kept up the fire to keep Patrik on the defensive.
In the end, although 1 of his units had run off my board edge, his Inexperienced Riflemen and French Riflemen were in his own zone, gaining me 5 VPs to Patrik’s 1. We shook hands, and Rufus announced the top 3 spots.
After-Action
While I took First Place in the tournament, 2 of my 3 opponents were also on the podium! Dan Brody scored second place while Patrik Wenner took third! As my first dive into competitive wargaming, the tournament was a pleasant experience and everybody seemed to have a wonderful time! I want to personally thank Rufus and Kai for writing Blood and Valor, and wanted to thank Rufus again for running a clean tournament! I can’t wait to play again next year!
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