Why are there always two male ducks with a female?

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The battle report is here too jon-a-ross.livejournal.com/950979.html

Warhammer Battle report Vampire Counts vs. Tomb Kings
1000 points to a side, six turns plus one, Tomb kings move first.

I have fielded my tomb kings as a cavalry force and found them highly effective. I don’t believe that such a force would do well against the zombies (but I may yet try it) but I also have spearmen and archers. Thus I put together a 1000 point tomb king army using those elements as the core. 19 Archers joined by the lich priest, 19 spearmen with light armour and shield joined by the tomb prince, 3 Ushabti and one screaming skull catapult. This force shall go up against my zombie hordes.

The zombies shall be my zombie hordes as normal, 160 zombies and two necromancers. One necromancer on his corpse cart who is the general and with all his spells, as well as the scepter of undead summoning. The second necromancer is carrying the book that can cast the dancing dead spell each turn.

The battlefield was randomly generated for this match. I have been rolling a d6 to see how many pieces of terrain to put out. 1 gets 3 pieces, 2 gets 4 and so on until it is a 5 or 6. On a 5 the terrain will be arranged in a circle around the battlefield as a clearing or valley. On a six I will put out six large and six small pieces of terrain. As to where they get placed I roll a d6 for each piece that is to be deployed. The battlefield is divided up into six two foot by two foot sections, and the result of the d6 is which section the terrain is placed in. And to make it fair then each army rolls a dice with the highest getting deployed on the east side of the table. Another roll for deploying first and the final roll for going first as normal. As I am the general for both sides I want their to be an epic amount of death and destruction so both sides throw themselves at the enemy as best they can.

Anyway, with all that out of the way as background, the battlefield ended up with 12 pieces of terrain on it, all but one in the south. A very clustered pathway of hills and rocks. The tomb kings would use that to their advantage and place a row of archers up on a rocky hill over looking much of the southern end of the battlefield. To guard the archers side the Ushabti would be deployed. To their other side the screaming catapult would be placed, perhaps a bit more forward then is wise. And then on the far side of that the tomb prince would lead his 19 spearmen. The idea was that the screaming catapult and the archers would reduce any incoming foes before the ushabti and the tomb prince would have to deal with them.

The zombies would deploy mostly in the south as well in a line. In the hilly and rocky south there was three paths that would lead across the battlefield and into the Tomb Kings castle in the sky defense. The general on his corpse cart was deployed in the middle of the three groups of zombies and a bit behind to stay close enough to them to allow the zombies to march (undead can march within 12” of their general). In the north the final group of zombies were deployed along with the necromancer on foot with his magic book. In theory this pair would allow the zombies to hit the flank of the tomb kings at the same time the zombies marching up the front.

The tomb kings shall not do much on their first movement phase. The ushabti shall move forward slowly (because of the difficult terrain on that side) and the archers shall move forward on the hill. The screaming catapult shall stand and fire, while the tomb prince will also stand silently guard. The lich priest shall be able to use his magic to give the screaming catapult a second attack (or rather an extra one in the magic phase). The first screaming catapult shot shall miss, but the second one lands amongst the zombies killing six.

The zombies are hardly fazed, after all a single spell will on average raise more zombies then that to replace them. The zombies rush forward as best they can. The flanking zombies only walk, but when the necromancer goes to use his trick to get them to move faster rolls that dreaded 1 and the magic runs out. This is the second battle in a row for the zombies in which this tactic will fail because the magic isn’t there. The magic phase also has only one successful spell cast for the necromancers, and that was a raise dead on the flanking zombies.

The second tomb king turn has some arrow fire off the archers landing onto the zombies. Actually thanks to the magic of the lich priest two waves of arrows shall be launched, but only a handful of zombies fall as pin cushions. The screaming catapult also fails to hit anything. The ushabti also shift forward slowly but the rest of the tomb kings are still and silent.

The second zombie turn has the zombies shifting forward. Once again their magic phase is denied by bad rolling and dispel dice. Other then moving forward nothing else meaningful happens on the zombie turn.

The third tomb king turn has very little moving again. The ushabti are still moving over their crater. Then onto the tomb king shooting. The screaming catapult rolls a hit and nails a handful of zombies. The archers will also have an excellent turn thanks to the lich priests magic. They get to take two shots into the approaching zombies, rolling 15 hits out of 30 shots (looking for 5 or 6’s). They will kill 13 zombies under all those arrows. Which after the screaming catapult shot will have this one group of zombies quite hurt indeed.

On the third vampire count turn the necromancer general will see what all those ranged attacks are doing to his zombies and choose to duck quickly behind a hill for some cover. The two southern most zombie hordes will move to attack the ushabti both being short this turn but ready for next turn. The zombies rushing down the middle will also just be short of the tomb prince. Magic once again fails the zombies, as they tried to rush the tomb prince this turn. A dispel scroll took care of that and the only other magic that worked was raising yet more zombies.

With the cards showing that next turn the zombies would attack the tomb kings finally make their move. The ushabti rush into the zombies in front of them, hoping that the archers will be able to deal with the flanking zombies. The Tomb prince and his spearmen rush forward to deal with the zombies ahead of them. The tomb prince tries his magic to aid the spearmen attack and fails thanks to the dispel die from the necromancers. The lich priest is able to get is magic to work even with all the counter magic out there and they fire 30 shots into the same zombies they have been shooting up so far. It will not be enough to stop them but the two that remain will not do much against the ushabti.

In close combat the ushabti will kill five zombies but lose combat. Their leadership test is successful so they do not take damage from it. The tomb prince and his spearmen host will also kill five zombies, but for them this is enough to win combat and the leadership test off the zombies will result in seven more zombies falling. The zombies are still not worried however.

The fourth zombie turn gives the zombies a chance to break even. The ushabti will find those last two zombies charge into them, not enough to get a flank bonus but not worth directing any attacks against either. If the ushabti ever win combat against the zombies any losses have to be taken on all units. The zombie flanking unit is not close enough to the general to get to march move and they approach the tomb king spearmen at just a walk.

In the close combat the ushabti beat the zombies but they amazingly pass their leadership test and hold themselves together. The zombies against the tomb prince find the spears are enough to make a big difference and they fall to below the skeletal warriors in numbers.

On the fifth tomb king turn the zombies are in trouble. Or so it appears as the ushabti are not taking damage fighting them and the tomb prince with his spearmen are cutting down the zombies faster then they can be raised. The screaming catapult will be targeted by the lich priest for an extra attack only to have it countered by the necromancers. The tomb prince will also have his magic foiled by the necromancers. The spearmen will manage to kill ten zombies after leadership, while the ushabti will break the zombies by eleven after leadership. Thirteen zombies will fall, and the ushabti have this struggle well in hand.

With the fifth turn in the game already on the zombies and magic having gone so against the vampire counts much of the hope seemed lost. The flanking zombies are finally close enough to the general to march. They move forward but find themselves just out of range of the tomb prince. The necromancers change their plan of attack. Rather then trying for the more difficult dancing spell they try to cast the raise dead spell off their leader. It works, in fact all four spells of the necromancers work this turn as well as the strikes first off the corpse cart. One group of 12 zombies now stands beside the tomb prince, facing the screaming catapult.

It isn’t enough for the zombies to win combat against the tomb kings, but the extra zombies allow them to take the damage and still have the tomb prince locked in combat. The ushabti also smash down more zombies, reducing them to a single rank.

On the tomb king turn six we have a miss off the screaming catapult and the magic of the lich priest and tomb king both fail. The archers on the hill kill four zombies, but there are still eight zombies left standing. The spearmen and the tomb king reduce the zombies to a single rank but the zombies are still there.

With the last official turn of the game now upon the zombies everything has to be pushed forward. The zombies charge into the side of the tomb kings, while the newly summoned group of eight charge the screaming catapult. The necromancer general will have another excellent turn with the tomb kings magic. The dancing dead spell will allow the large block of zombies to reroll misses in their combat while more dead are summoned to full out the ranks. Always striking first also successful and the zombies rush into the skeletal warriors.

Six zombies will fall in that attack and three skeletal warriors will fail their armour saves and fall. But for all the success of the zombies attack the tomb prince will pass his leadership.

Thus in the end the tomb kings will have lost only two troopers, easily replaced via the lich priests magic. But the tomb prince was in danger, and I wanted to see if the next turn would be enough to change the victors from the tomb kings to the zombies.

The seventh tomb king turn just has the ushabti walk forward. Magic was unable to push them into battle as the necromancer’s dispel dice worked. However, the tomb prince’s magic was successful causing four zombies to fall under the spears. The close combat against the spearmen will have more zombies fall but the tomb kings pass their leadership. The screaming catapult crew will not be as lucky. They take a hit from the zombies as well as failing their leadership and their goes the screaming catapult. The zombies turn around with their reform action ready to charge the tomb prince.

With the vampire counts having one chance to score victory three zombie units attack the tomb prince and his spearmen at the same time. Surrounded and attacked first only two more skeletal warriors fall. The zombies were not able to drag a victory from the tomb princes. Another defeat for my zombie hordes.

The tomb kings would go on to use the same defense here against the daemons of Khorne. Stay tuned to see how that turned out.

Question by Winter W: Why are there always two male ducks with a female?
Its been bugging me a long time. I live by a canal and whenever I see ducks in a small group, theres always two male ducks with a single female in a group. Why is this? I thought it may be that it’s a couple (male and female) bringing up a child, but in this case you should also get 2 females with a male which you don’t seem too. Also the males always appear fully grown.

What do you think? Answer below!