Axe of grimnir battle

[adder007usa]

Am I missing something? This battle seems near impossible. I get that you win if you can get the 4 shamans to flee as opposed to just killing them, but they always seem to hang back just outside of artillery and thunderer range. I get off one volley, and suddenly I have wolf cavalry wrecking my ranged troops. Doesn't matter how well i guard them with longbeards, there's always just too many. And the gyrocopters that were required to get this battle are utterly useless against the shamans. Great against the doom divers, but worthless against the shamans.

One thing I do notice, in the battle intro it mentions that you should interrupt the ritual before additional reinforcements arrive. the two reinforcing armies always arrive within the first 30 seconds. Are they supposed to wait, and it's bugged that they arrive early?

Oh, and I should mention. This is on normal difficulty.

[Rhudda]

Well, I beat this yesterday on normal. As far as I could see, there wasn't a ritual to disrupt.

Can't say I did anything special, really. I sent my gyros (one normal, one brimstone) out to disrupt the doom divers, and all enemies including the shamans started advancing. Now, they did keep to the back of the army, but well within range of my quarellers and thunderers, and definitely within range of my artillery.

My ranged troops may have been less vulnerable because I put the thunderers out in front and kept the quarrelers in the back, making my infantry more flexible to react to threats in either side. I did feel I should've brought more shielded troops instead of the two units of greatweapons, but it worked out fairly well.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

As the VC counts I routed the shamans well before the reinforcements arrived. The wolve riders made it but the Boyz ran off without getting close.

As dwarves I'd imagine you might be better off hanging back or wheeling around to deal with the reinforcements before going after the shamans. Perhaps using your own artillery to take out theirs?

[adder007usa]

The issue I'm having isn't with the main army. It's the two groups that come from the sides. The wolves from the right tend to show up before the main army actually does anything, and it becomes a mess

[The Mighty Mulletman]

Originally posted by adder007usa:

The issue I'm having isn't with the main army. It's the two groups that come from the sides. The wolves from the right tend to show up before the main army actually does anything, and it becomes a mess

Then deal with them before going after the main army. There's no time limit, just take it slow and trust your dwarfish endurance.

[Rhudda]

Originally posted by adder007usa:

The issue I'm having isn't with the main army. It's the two groups that come from the sides. The wolves from the right tend to show up before the main army actually does anything, and it becomes a mess

Well, the second set of reinforcements only ever reached me when two shamans had already been shattered, so I was just mopping up. The first set I simply sent my warriors and longbeards to my flank and kept some in reserve for the main force. Really, I don't think there is a specific strategy except protecting your ranged units. Remember, they can be decent fighters, so if they get caught up, use the opportunity to flank the wolf riders with melee infantry, and pull back your ranged units only when the melee have engaged. If you think you don't have enough in terms of melee, hire more. The battle will be waiting for you as long as it takes.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

Originally posted by Unwerth:

Originally posted by adder007usa:

The issue I'm having isn't with the main army. It's the two groups that come from the sides. The wolves from the right tend to show up before the main army actually does anything, and it becomes a mess

Well, the second set of reinforcements only ever reached me when two shamans had already been shattered, so I was just mopping up. The first set I simply sent my warriors and longbeards to my flank and kept some in reserve for the main force. Really, I don't think there is a specific strategy except protecting your ranged units. Remember, they can be decent fighters, so if they get caught up, use the opportunity to flank the wolf riders with melee infantry, and pull back your ranged units only when the melee have engaged. If you think you don't have enough in terms of melee, hire more. The battle will be waiting for you as long as it takes.

It's more like the strategy changes depending on your army composition.

[adder007usa]

Just figured it out.

The big issue is that your deployment zone is in the middle of the map, so you can be surrounded. Dwarves are impossible to attack from the front, but they fold if they get hit in the sides.

Found that if you re-deploy your army as far to the right as you can, most of your artillery and ranged troops can shoot the hell out of the reinforcing army from the right, so they become less of a threat. The group with the black orcs decided to dawdle and join the main army, so instead of hitting the left flank as they usually do, they joined the main force to attack from the front, where said dwarven resilience is able to hold them off. Lost my gyros in the process, but everything else worked out well.

[mirmil]

Originally posted by adder007usa:

Just figured it out.

The big issue is that your deployment zone is in the middle of the map, so you can be surrounded. Dwarves are impossible to attack from the front, but they fold if they get hit in the sides.

Found that if you re-deploy your army as far to the right as you can, most of your artillery and ranged troops can shoot the hell out of the reinforcing army from the right, so they become less of a threat. The group with the black orcs decided to dawdle and join the main army, so instead of hitting the left flank as they usually do, they joined the main force to attack from the front, where said dwarven resilience is able to hold them off. Lost my gyros in the process, but everything else worked out well.

THIS. At the begining of the battle pull your troops as far to right and back as you can, and order everything EXCEPT your gyrocopters to pull even further back towards the slope of the hill that is at the bottom-right end of the map. Put your artillery on the hill and rest of the units bit lower.

Now there is a trick with gyrocopters: Greenskins will try to follow them so you can kite them (especially the second, bigger reinforcement army that will come from the left).
In my battle (3rd attempt) the second reinforcement army didn't get a single shot (also didn't loose a single soldier) because they were busy chasing my gyros, while the rest of my army was happy to mince the original and first reinforcement army.

[Cheekyhalfling]

How i did it was pretty early, used my miners to intercept there cavalry while i marched up the hill, i put two warriors facing the oncoming reinforcements to intercept them just behind my main army. I then charged my other warriors into them tying up there infantry into combat while i then flanked the right with my quarrellers getting behind the melee and shooting the hell out of the shamans. All 4 retreated before the reinforcements reached me. Important thing to remember is that you dont have to defeat the armies just the 4 shamans, dont have to castle just be quick.