Winter Incursion – Day 2
Game 4
Lizards
Jack is one of the best Lizardman players in the world… and had a very good list (for Ogre killing anyway). He had also brought along his missus to act as mascot… can’t believe she watched him play warhammer all day – could NEVER imagine my missus doing that. Anyway, he had:
Slann (General) – Fire, Focussed Rumination, Dispel Scroll
Slann – Metal, Soul of Stone, BSB
Skink Priest – Level 1, Cube of Darkness
Scar Vet: Cold One, Light Armour, Charmed Shield, Dawnstone, Sword of Might
Scar Vet: cold One, Light armour, Great Weapon, Dragonhelm, Amulet of Itzl
7 (yes 7) x 10 Skink Cohort – Musc
3 x 10 Blowpipe skirmishers
9 Chemelons
2 x 3 Terradons
2 Salamanders
1 Salamander
2 Razordons
1 Razordon
That is a ‘whole lotta shit’. I figured my best/only chance to get points would be to cannon the Slann… they would sit in cohorts so I would be requiring a big fireball, or failed look-out to get them.
Meanwhile the #1 rule is don’t let them get behind you. Vs this kind of army if it gets to your side/rear you’re dead. As such the ‘only’ way to beat it is to play “on the arc. This means I would deploy on one half of the table and on the edge run up whilst turning in the middle… you (hopefully) end up shepherding his units across the table and into a corner, and possibly trapping some units.
The board had 1 buildings in his corner on the left (I had one in mine on the right). I didn’t want him hiding behind it at the end of the game so I deployed on the left side of the board:
Mournfang, Mournfang, Guts in line (12-wide), Bulls Angled at a diagonal. The Mournfang went behind the Bulls and the Ironblasters and Sabres ‘behind the line’.
The ‘behind the line’ units are VERY important… even played perfectly gaps always appear in the line. Behind these gaps these units waited to kill anything that ran through to try and get behind me.
He had the Metal-Slann behind the Building on my left along with the 2 Scar Vets. The Priest and 4 units (2 skirmish) were also on this side (slann used the priest to target his missiles).
The General Slann was on the right side/Centre with all the other stuff.
Turn 1
He went first, and Irresistibly Searing Doomed one of the Mournfang units… my chance of victory greatly decreased with this (the Mournfang was the only thing I had that can run ‘amonst’ the skinks and take ‘limited’ damage). Fortunately the miscast meant the Slann lost 3 levels (he chose not to reroll this – scared of a cascade I think), meaning he only had the Golden hounds left…
His army generally spread over the table with units flee lines and distances between units very precisely set out (fortunately Jack is good enough to do this, and do it right very quickly)… I couldn’t imagine how long it would have taken a less experienced general to get this right.
My turn I declined the offered charge into a Salamander with the Guts and Instead wheeled/advanced 12”, The Mournfang ran down the flank and Ironblasters started to spread (to allow them to get an angle behind the building later on).
I did a BIG irresistible fireball into the Fire-Slanns cohort… and 3d6 str 4, vs T 2 killed 4… gutted. Misfire put a wound on Firebelly. I shot 2 skinks with the first Ironblaster – leaving 4 and no look out sir for the Slann….the second Ironblaster misfired.
My Bulls charged the Chameleons who only fled 4”… Jacks units were 5” away (to allow the Chameleons to ‘pop through’), meaning when they rallied they were blocking his other units.
Turn 2
Skinks blocked me off and a number of units moved up and shot me… again in quite precise lines. He could have got one unit through the line but the 3 sabres would have taken them out, so they hid in a building instead. I used my scroll and stopped the magic phase, and took a little damage from shooting.
My turn and the remaining Mournfang killed a cohort and after smashing them up combat reformed to face the Slann behind the building. I made a few charges with the Ogres/Guts and lizards fled (again into perfect positions). The maneaters stayed just over 19” from the Terradons to stop any rock-dropping-shenannigans.
I (again) irresistibly cast a Fireball and this time killed enough skinks to leave the Slann vulnerable - the Slann (surprisingly) failed a panic check meaning he was stuck with 3 skinks and I would get 2 rounds of shooting, with no look out sir available vs the Slann.
I eagerly double shot the Slann… Cannon 1 – misfire, Cannon 2 Jack passed the Slanns 4+ ward… next time, next time.
Turn 3
I was again blocked off, shot whilst those units that fled last time rallied…. But I was (slowly) advancing across the table on the ‘arc’.
The Mournfang pointing at the metal Slann were blocked by scar Vets, but when he killed one with (another) irrisistable golden hounds (miscast meant he was now lvl 0) the remaining cat could ‘just’ charge through to the Slann.
A cohort moved behind the guts, facing 3 sabres. They shot 1, and in my turn when
His other Slann rallied, and I got shot again – with all 3 Ogre units going down by about 2 models by this point (Maneater was going solo).
In my turn I charged the Slann, who fled, with the single Mournfang with 1 wheel, and the angle of the flee I was unable to catch the fat frog, so redirected into a Scar Veteren. I moved most of my characters out of the Guts to try and put pressure on the fleeing Slann, although there were easy enough Skinks around to block up any charges, and shoot any vulnerable characters (ie the firebelly).
I did some more charges, resulting in more flees (and 1-2 failed panics as the skinks fled though with no General or BSB bubble)
My shooting had 2 Ironblasters, and 2 Slann. I could get both… Cannon 1 – misfire (again), meaning no dead Slann and the spin meant it left a large hole in the ‘arc’. Cannon 2 hit, no look out-sir still, wound… failed ward = 1 wound. Doh!!! 4 cannons into a Slann with no look out sir for a single wound. I always said Warhammer was a game of skill.
I felt my chance had gone, but the BSB Slann was still under a lot of pressure.
Turn 4
BSB Slann and some other units rallied, I got shot a bit… Mournfang vs Scar Vet was a bit of a dud, with both being a bit rubbish at killing…. Although both had 1 wound.
His second Scar Vet ran past the Tyrant to go get an Ironblaster.
With my characters putting pressure of the Slann the BSB got shot… 10 skinks = Dead BSB… I was gutted – T5, 5+ save, 4+ ward!! Also meant there was a gap in the net of units trying to trap the Slann.
The Tyrant moved around to threaten the Slann, and Ironguts and Bulls chased away a few skinks (again)… although Jacks cleaver fleeing channels meant I never got any points for all these flee-ers… by this point almost every model in Jacks army had fled at some point… but I had virtually no VPs.
The Maneater moved 12” away to try and save himself… on reflection a fruitless task.
The Ironblaster under threat from Scar Vet fired grape shot (he still had Itzl ward to remove). 2 shots, 1 Itzl ward = no wounds. But after game 3 I knew I had stand and fire… I did, and the Vet died. Shortly after the event the Ogre FaQ came out and this was indeed stopped… it really was very filthy doing a stand and shoot with a cannon-ball.
My single wound mournfang killed the Scar vet… and faced some skinks.
Turn 5
Fleeing skinks rallied, the Bulls were picked on some more, and died as did the last maneater and mournfang. Skinks blocked up the Tyrant and Guts… it wasn’t looking good.
I still had a chance to get the BSB Slann… Tyrant charged the skinks blocking him. A combat reform would mean the Slann had little chance of escape… he won, skinks fled – trying to restrain persuit I rolled 11… with the BSB dead the Tyrant ran past the Slann. Doh!!!! (again).
My Ironguts (now only 4 with Firebelly) tried to chase away some more skinks, but caught them… leaving the guts in the middle of 7-8 units – oh bugger. It did put pressure on the ‘general’ Slann… but I wasn’t that hopeful of surviving.
My Ironblaster tried again to shoot a Slann… look out sir meant a couple of dead skinks though.
Turn 6
Ironguts got shot… a lot. If the Firebelly died he would get the Slanns unit though (4 str 7 attacks, impact, stomp… I was hopeful)…. But they all died… (thanks largely to 14 wounds… no saves) and 2 units didn’t even get to fire.
My Tyrant looked silly as the Slann stood behind him (joining the last skink unit on my left).
My turn I shot the general Slann… who failed a look out sir, but passed his ward.
So…
A very tight game, and one I had the opportunities to win but, as expected, Jack played it very well and ended up with a convincing win. In case it wasn’t obvious I actually ended up killing more units than Jack did (despite only having 2 Ironblasters and the Butcher and Tyrant left), but his units I killed were only worth about 600 pts.
Game 5
Daemons
Despite losing the last game I was still on table 3… and got to play Nick Pym and his Daemons. I was a little apprehensive as last time we played I felt he had some ‘timekeeping’ issues, and had told him exactly how I felt during and after the game (one of my rules in life is to try and never say things behind peoples back – or on the net, you wouldn’t say to their face).
Nick is playing for England in ETC 2012, and told me he had been told to sort out his time management… and generally the game went smoothly (despite the weirdness of turn 5… read on for details).
Anyway, Nick had a Bloodthirster… as a unit filler. His list was:
Nurgle Herald – General, Staff of Nurgle
Tz Herald – Loremaster (shadow), Spellbreaker
Khorne Herald – armour
Khorne Herlald – armour
28 Bloodletters – Std, Musc, +d6 charge
28 Bloodletters – Std, Musc
28 Plaguebeaerers – Std, Musc, reroll wounds
5 Furies
5 Furies
3 Screamers
Fiend
Fiend
Jugger Champ
Jugger Champ
6 Flamers
So, no Greater Deamon, no Siren song… I was confident of a good result.
Nick had his 3 units slightly to the right of centre, with some chaff either side. I had deployed slightly to the right, looking to smash one end of the blocks, limiting his support available.
On the right I had mournfang, Bulls and Scouting Manteaters vs fiend, furies, screamers and a Jugger.
I went first and advanced, with all the charcters in the guts heading for the +d6 charge. My sabres and Mournfang to the left of the Guts dropped back, whilst my right side rushed up.
As with the lizards, Nick had his wizard hidden in a small (flamer) unit. So a 6 dice fireball into the flamers (nick tried to dice it – with 4 dice – he had a scroll but said he didn’t see the danger until my shooting phase… oh dear), meant there were only 4 left. 2 Ironblasters into the Herald without a Look-out-sir. First one – Misfire, explode and killed a sabre as well…. bugger. A feeling of de-ja-vu was creeping over me, the second hit, failed ward and dead herald.
With no shadow to worry about I was feeling very confident of a victory.
Nick backed off, almost to the baseline. After he had moved I said “right shooting”… Nick reminded me of the staff of nurgle… Ok 1 bound spell = no problem. Nick got 6,6… so d6 str 5 rerolling wounds (reroll due to dodgy banner of awesomeness)… 2 failed toughness tests meant I took 3d6 hits and lost 4 models. OW!!!!! Combined with withering that spell is ‘evil’.
I advanced and my Maneaters charged a fiend blocking me at the back of the board and over-ran off table.
In Nicks turn 2 he tried a long-ish charge into the Ogres from the letters with +d6 charge, but failed – meaning my Ogres were only a bit away. Despite the losses from the staff of nurgle my Ogres charged the letters, with some supporting mournfang. The Mournfang fluffed the charge roll, so Guts went in solo.
The Ogre charge was more challenging than I expected. The bloodletters attacks were ‘BRUTAL’, and Nicks good ward saves meant I only won the fight by 1-2 points. I now had a few wounds on the Guts, and had lost my impetuous.
Nicks turn the Guts were flanked by the other letter horde… and the other units were blocked, annoyed etc.
The fight in the middle went on for a while, but the Tyrant on the corner absorbing a lot of attacks (2 letters to the front, and 2 to the side + all the supports), and having few wounds to lose on the unit meant the flank charge was achieving little. I lost the guts but easily won the combat (Nicks wards were not as good now), and when the Maneaters charged the rear and Mournfang into the 2nd horde I quickly started taking them out.
The rest of my army was making hard work of getting Nicks ‘chaff’, fluffing attacks, failing charges and generally failing to help as required.
In Nicks 4th turn the plague bearers joined the ‘maul’ in the middle (fighting a single mournfang that was haning over the edge from the Bloodletetrs (now in a 5 wide block). I ‘only’ had my characters and a single mournfang, but the fight was going well. I had wiped out my initial charge and in a 2x2 block (after a combat reform) was quickly taking out the second letter unit.
In my 5th turn the remaining maneater (fiend, flamers, letters had taken their toll) got ready to charge the flamers if they failed to shoot him. I wiped out the 2nd letter unit, with the characters ready to charge the plaguebearers flank. Nick then did a combat reform in front of the chargers. The put them within 1” of my unit and I said he couldn’t… he said he could… etc. In the end I let him do the reform (front or flank my characters would wreck the plaguebearers so wasn’t that bothered).
In his turn he shot the last maneater… the 4 characters failed their panic test (ld 9 reroll…. Bugger!!!!). We checked the angle range etc, I thought we agreed 6,6 they are off table, else fine. I rolled 11 and Nick wanted to check the measurements again (this is why I tried to agree before I rolled). In the end the characters were just on, and rallied. I almost lost the game with that, but it did still cost me a massacre.
The plaguebearers combat reformed into a line to stop the flamers being charged.
With nothing else to do single mournfang charged the front of the plaguebearers, and the Ironblaster went into the rear… with impacts etc I won on the charge by 4-5, but steadfast deamons are a bugger.
So in the end Nick had the plaquebearers + general left… I had lost some units (including the bulls to a single bloodcrusher champ… idiots) and had a reasonable win… which would have easily been a massacre without that failed test.
After the game Nick game to me and agreed that the plaqubearers couldn’t have done a combat reform within 1” of my characters… and that would have changed the centre of his unit meaning my 4 characters would have fled off the table. My response “Kama’s a bitch!”
Game 6
Brettonians
So I was on table 1, last game. I had a shot of winning, and was confident the Ogres would do bad things to Brettonians.
The list I was facing was ‘unusual’… (mostly re character items) with a few choices that made me wonder.
He had (from fuzzy memory):
Brett Lord: HKB, Sword of ASF, Gromril Helm
Brett Lord: Barded Steed, Shield (no lance, weapon or anything else.. weird!!!)
Prophetess: Level 4, Life, Scroll
Paladin: BSB Barded Steed, Sword of Anti Heros, Enchanted Shield
Paladin: Barded Steed, Shield, Lance, Crown of Command (crown not on prophetess – weird)
Paladin: Pegasus: Dragon helm, shield, lance
Paladin: Pegasus: Charmed shield, lance
15 KoTR – FC, Std Discipline : 4 characters in her
6 KoTR – FC : 2nd lord in here
14 Archers – Musc
14 Archers – Musc
3 Peg Knights
8 Grail Knights - FC
Trebuchet
Trebuchet
I think the ‘odd’ Options were to get points for him to have the 3 lord choices, but my thought was ‘why bother’…. anyway.
In deployment he put both trebs (scratch built, very tall, but nice, models…so they could see over lots - hmmm) behind a pyramid-thingy I thought we agreed it would be a hill… later around turn 3, when I went to run over it was impassable – it wasn’t a bit issue at all, but a bit frustrating.
All the knights went in the middle with archers either side, and a peg on each flank.
The game was quite tactical, but difficult to describe… due to many overlapping charge arcs etc essentially I used the sabres to block his lances and isolate them. I couldn’t afford his lances to charge me.
Meanwhile he made some ‘interesting’ decisions allowing the mournfang to charge the peg knights, and the maneaters a peg hero.
At one point it looked a bit ‘dicey’, but the maneaters charging the rear of the character bus, pinning it for a turn, meant none of his lances ever got to charge.
Eventually I ground him out (although it was closer than I would have liked due to HKB – dead BSB, and Anti-heros sword – I can’t complain I used it before but 7 str 8 attacks chafes’). With the Bulls finishing the Grail knights (after turns, and turns of ineptitude by both sides) at the bottom of the 6th.
So a Massacre on table 2… I was in for a shout of a win.
Unfortunately “personal stuff” meant I couldn’t wait around for trophies etc, but I came 2nd.
A good result and my 3rd podium in my 3 events of the year worth 100 ranking points. The result meant I came 17th in rankings for the year, and due to a drop-out I will be going to the UK Masters. As I said my 17th was of off 3 main events… as such a good result at the Sheffield Slaughter could/should mean I get to #1 in the UK rankings – how cool am I!!!!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Winter Incursion – Day 1
Winter Incursion – Day 1
Game 1
Beasts
The event was open list, and the draw made a few days before the event, so I had time to review what I would be facing… Beasts. I was feeling confident until I looked at his magic. The list was:
Level 4 – Death, 4+ ward, Crown of Command
Beast Lord – Fencers Blades, 4+ ward
Wargor BSB – Beast Banner
Level 2 – Beast, Herdstone
Level 1 – Shadow, Scroll
Level 1 - Shadow
39 Gor – ehw, FC
39 Gor – ehw, FC
20 Gor – musc
3 x Razorgor chariot
2 x 5 Harpies
As I thought, he had level 4, lord and BSB in one unit, the 2 shadow hiding around the herdstone (comp meant it was capped at +2 extra dice), and Best in other gor.
For spells it was double miasma, wildform and transformation (he had a mountain chimera model – just in case), the level 4 got purple sun and some other stuff… none of the other spells mattered really it was double miasma and purple sun that had my full attention.
The game was set to be very interesting… I felt I clearly outmatched him, (although the prospect of str 5 gor was ‘concerning’) but purple sun could win him the game.
In deployment we generally faced off central/to my left. He had however left a gap on the extreme left corner that my Maneaters could squeeze into…. I knew this meant he was in a lot of trouble. He had to turn to face them with one of the gor units, meaning all my Ogres would be against 1 horde, and not 2.
He went first and moved up a bit… and as expected turned the gor around. I think he was ‘inexperienced’ as he had his 3 chariots 1” apart coming together on my right…. So my Ironblasters (deployed at each side of the board) could move to the side shoot through all 3.
Before that at over 20 inches he cast purple sun towards my Bulls/Ironblaster. He 6-6 it, but only rolled a 2 so the purple sun sat in the middle of the table. The miscast meant he forgot the spell – at that point I was extremely confident of a win.
Ironblasters fired… and 1 misfired, the other ‘only’ hit 1 of the 3 chariots. But it still died J.
The game continued with my firebellies ‘Flame Cage’ meaning the gor horde couldn’t move whilst the Maneaters hid in the corner…. The gor eventually charged and killed them (not before the maneaters exacted a ‘toll’ on the unit), but the delays meant they were out of the game until turn 5/6.
My Ironblastes spent a few turns shooting chariots… they died… Mournfang chased harpies. After dealing with the chariots, I had an amazing infilading shot on the Gor horde. The mage bunker was under pressure so the brays had bailed, meaning 5 characters were in the front rank.. a big bounce so 5 look-out sirs from the cannon. The BSB failed and died. Str 3 gor were not so scary.
Meanwhile the purple sun kept moving towards my Ogres, meaning they couldn’t get in the game (I never had spare dice to get rid of it), and eventually it killed a few bulls before moving off.
While all that was happening the ‘Deathstar’ ran at his, and then failed to charge – twice (needing a 6 – rolled 2, needing a 4, rolled 3 (Sabres had stopped him backing off or charging me in return – nice kitty).
Running out of time I finally charged turn 5 and the world ended – for him.
The final action was my ironblaster charging the flank of the other horde to stop them getting my guts turn 6. He won, they held. He then cast Transformation…. A double 6 meant the ironblaster was dead – until he exploded on the miscast (aw shame!!!) – there were visions of the Shaman getting bigger, and bigger until he popped.
So what could have been a very tricky game, was a bit of a stroll in the end (despite some stupid failed charges).
Game 2
High Elves
So after facing the Purple sun I got the other ‘nemisis of the Ogres’… shadow magic (and a book of Hoeth – just for fun).
My opponents army was:
Level 4 – Shadow, Bk of Hoeth
Level 2 – High, Seer (Curse of Arrows + Shield)
BSB – Armour of Caledor, Guardian Pheonix, Gt Weapon
20 Spears: FC
20 Spears: FC
18 Archers: Flaming Banner
14 Archers
20 Pheonix Guard: FC, Banner of Sorcery
3 x 5 Ellyrion Reavers
3 x RBT
So.. I was going to be Miasma’d/Pitted and withered and shot – before finally being mindrazored to death. I was not confident (although if by some miracle the magic failed I would smash him up without really trying).
To minimise the pit, and as he had no ‘real’ combat threats I deployed in ‘lines’. He then went first.
My left was Ironblaster, Mournfang and 2 Sabres vs 2x Reavers, RBT and 14 Archers. He vanguarded and then ran past me with the reavers. I had a ‘comedy charge with a Sabre vs some reavers, but he failed… but the Cats and Blaster ignored them to advance to the squishy Elves (with the Blaster putting 1 wound on a RBT).
The Reavers then had to sacrifice themselves to stop the Mournfang charging turn 2, whilst the others were charged by the blaster… they fled but a cunningly positioned Sabre charged from the opposite direction meaning they were easily caught.
On the right I had 2 mournfang vs 2 Spears and 5 Reavers. The Mournfang ran up and were blocked by Reavers who had to die. I was then charged by 20 Spears… and the Mournfang (just 2 remember) chewed them up and spat them out over a few rounds.
So in the Centre I had Guts with Characters deployed 12 wide, and Bulls 6 wide with Blaster, Sabre and Maneaters behind. They were against 18 archers + lvl 4, 2 RBTs, 20 Pheonix guard+BSB and 20 spears.
I was taking a lot of damage from shooting, but he failed to concentrate properly and the magic failed him a bit (he cast withering, but ‘only’ knocked my Toughness down by 1, and miasma dropped my movement by 1 as well)… and the pit missed.
Turn 2 he did something very unexpected… he pushed up with the Pheonix Guard. He comfortably had another round of shooting to ‘thin me down’ before I charged (giving him 3 rounds total), but by pushing up he had limited himself to just 2. I think he was conscious that I was still in a line, and fancied his chanes better than if I formed up before charging… I think he was very wrong – especially when he didn’t even attempt to mindrazor them up.
He did shoot me some more, but the magic wasn’t great. So I charged the Pheonix Guard. The charge was underwhelming, with some poor rolls and good wards. I won, but he easily held on steadfast. I did a combat reform with the Tyrant on the corner with WS10 butcher behind (ready for spears in the flank). The firebelly was stuck fighting the BSB (due to the nicer standard I assumed was the BSB being a unit standard I had got my positioning wrong).
The Spears charged (only 14 though as they had ran through a venom thicket), and were irresistibly mindrazored.
10 str 8 attacks onto the tyrant. 8 hits… with 2 1’s to wound.2 more 1’s to wound so only 4 stuck. A couple of wards and the Tyrant only lost 2 wounds… what a guy.
The 4 attacks onto the WS 10 butcher did 2 wounds as well. I smacked them back leaving only 7 spears for the next round (and killed a few more phoenix guard… but he won the round by 1, and I held.
My turn the Mournfang on my left who had a charge onto the archers+level 2 changed direction and charged the rear of the spears instead, with the maneaters into the side. The Impacts left him with just 2 spears who didn’t do much – the Pheonix guard (only 3 left) then broke and died.
Meanwhile the Ogres (Bulls) had been getting shot… a lot. Ironblasters had killed 2 of the RBTS and the Sabre ran through and killed the last. My remaining bull champion had a charge on the level 4, but didn’t fancy the stand and fire + asf attacks, so hid behind a hill.
After the combat reforms from the loss of the Pheonix guard my tried an irristable pit on the Guts (3 characters -pheonix guard had killed the firebelly, and the standard was all that was left on the unit), and missed.
He conceded turn 4.
So, 2 very bad match ups for the Ogres (well, potentially bad magic phases anyway) and 2 massive wins for the fat lads. Last game of day 1 was vs ‘the real’ Ben Diesel – see internet for lots of ‘chuck-norris’ style comments.
Game 3
Ogres
So Ogre on Ogre action on table 1… lets roll.
My opponent had:
Slaughtermaster: Scroll, 4+ Ward, Magic sword (can’t remember which one)
Bruiser: BSB, Biting Blade, Enchanted Shield, Crown of Command
Firebelly : Level 1, Hellheart
9 Ironguts, Std of discipline
3 x 12 Gnoblar Trappers
5 Mournfang – Std, Musc, Dragonhide
4 Mournfang – Std, Musc
2 x Ironblaster
I was confident. He had more magic, but my characters were MUCH better in combat… and the Tyrant = win vs mournfang. Most importantly he was lacking in sabretusks.
That said I thought the key would be the ‘Ironblaster-off’.
Ben had deployed with 2 units of Gnoblars on the left along with an Ironblaster around a building/wall. Opposite this I had 2 Mournfang, and the Maneaters were as close as possible to the Ironblaster.
On the right side were the third Gnoblars, other Ironblaster and 5 Mournfang. Opposite these were 2 Sabres and 2 Ironblasters… In this way I felt I had definitely outdeployed him. My Ironblasters were out of ‘maximum range’ (ie 62”) from his Ironblaster on the left – meaning I could go 2-1 on his Ironblaster and then shoot the Mournfang – who would be delayed by the Sabres.
In the Middle It was Deathstar on Deathstar with him having Mourngfang vs my Bulls and Sabre.
I got first turn and shot and killed his Ironblaster on the right side. They they missed, misfired, failed to wound and generally didn’t kill the mournfang. They did kill 4-5 guts though. The Mounrnfang ‘caught’ one of the Ironblasters right in the corner (after eating a sabre - the other had ran into the middle to block the Guts), but the other got away.
On the left the Maneaters ran behind the wall near the other Ironblaster. He shot and missed them. They charged and he stood and fired. My initial reaction was WTF!! Whilst I agree it is ‘legal’ I am sure it is going to FAQ’d as not allowed, and thought it was for this event. Apparently not. Anyway, the stand and fire killed the wall. The Ogres killed the Ironblaster (and Gnoblars ran away in panic).
In the Middle he ran at me, with the guts slightly ahead. They got a Sabre, and the Tyrant left the star and stood in front of the 4 mournfang. The BSB joined him and stood behind. They charged, they did nothing, but held due to some poor attacks from the Tyrant… My Mournfang came in the flank and the remaning one ran away. I failed to catch him and when he rallied the single mournfang killed my mournfang (who charged him) and then combat reformed and killed the maneaters…. Damn!! (he died turn 6 though vs my Ogre Bulls).
After breaking the Mournfang the Tyrant/BSB combat reformed and (along with the Guts) charged his Ironguts (wary of the Hellheart the Bruiser had bailed). I smashed them up in 2 rounds and then want for the 5 MOurnfang who were in the corned behind a building.
Tyrant+Firebelly went one way, The Ogres and BSB went the Other (I only had 4 wounds left on the guts so they hid) whilst the Ironblaster acted as charge bait. They didn’t take it, but marched along the backline… the Tyrant charged their flank and broke them… what a guy.
So 3 games, 3 BIG wins, and I was the overnight leader. The draw showed I was playing Jack Armstrong with Lizards first thing on Sunday… another ‘easy’ game then.
Game 1
Beasts
The event was open list, and the draw made a few days before the event, so I had time to review what I would be facing… Beasts. I was feeling confident until I looked at his magic. The list was:
Level 4 – Death, 4+ ward, Crown of Command
Beast Lord – Fencers Blades, 4+ ward
Wargor BSB – Beast Banner
Level 2 – Beast, Herdstone
Level 1 – Shadow, Scroll
Level 1 - Shadow
39 Gor – ehw, FC
39 Gor – ehw, FC
20 Gor – musc
3 x Razorgor chariot
2 x 5 Harpies
As I thought, he had level 4, lord and BSB in one unit, the 2 shadow hiding around the herdstone (comp meant it was capped at +2 extra dice), and Best in other gor.
For spells it was double miasma, wildform and transformation (he had a mountain chimera model – just in case), the level 4 got purple sun and some other stuff… none of the other spells mattered really it was double miasma and purple sun that had my full attention.
The game was set to be very interesting… I felt I clearly outmatched him, (although the prospect of str 5 gor was ‘concerning’) but purple sun could win him the game.
In deployment we generally faced off central/to my left. He had however left a gap on the extreme left corner that my Maneaters could squeeze into…. I knew this meant he was in a lot of trouble. He had to turn to face them with one of the gor units, meaning all my Ogres would be against 1 horde, and not 2.
He went first and moved up a bit… and as expected turned the gor around. I think he was ‘inexperienced’ as he had his 3 chariots 1” apart coming together on my right…. So my Ironblasters (deployed at each side of the board) could move to the side shoot through all 3.
Before that at over 20 inches he cast purple sun towards my Bulls/Ironblaster. He 6-6 it, but only rolled a 2 so the purple sun sat in the middle of the table. The miscast meant he forgot the spell – at that point I was extremely confident of a win.
Ironblasters fired… and 1 misfired, the other ‘only’ hit 1 of the 3 chariots. But it still died J.
The game continued with my firebellies ‘Flame Cage’ meaning the gor horde couldn’t move whilst the Maneaters hid in the corner…. The gor eventually charged and killed them (not before the maneaters exacted a ‘toll’ on the unit), but the delays meant they were out of the game until turn 5/6.
My Ironblastes spent a few turns shooting chariots… they died… Mournfang chased harpies. After dealing with the chariots, I had an amazing infilading shot on the Gor horde. The mage bunker was under pressure so the brays had bailed, meaning 5 characters were in the front rank.. a big bounce so 5 look-out sirs from the cannon. The BSB failed and died. Str 3 gor were not so scary.
Meanwhile the purple sun kept moving towards my Ogres, meaning they couldn’t get in the game (I never had spare dice to get rid of it), and eventually it killed a few bulls before moving off.
While all that was happening the ‘Deathstar’ ran at his, and then failed to charge – twice (needing a 6 – rolled 2, needing a 4, rolled 3 (Sabres had stopped him backing off or charging me in return – nice kitty).
Running out of time I finally charged turn 5 and the world ended – for him.
The final action was my ironblaster charging the flank of the other horde to stop them getting my guts turn 6. He won, they held. He then cast Transformation…. A double 6 meant the ironblaster was dead – until he exploded on the miscast (aw shame!!!) – there were visions of the Shaman getting bigger, and bigger until he popped.
So what could have been a very tricky game, was a bit of a stroll in the end (despite some stupid failed charges).
Game 2
High Elves
So after facing the Purple sun I got the other ‘nemisis of the Ogres’… shadow magic (and a book of Hoeth – just for fun).
My opponents army was:
Level 4 – Shadow, Bk of Hoeth
Level 2 – High, Seer (Curse of Arrows + Shield)
BSB – Armour of Caledor, Guardian Pheonix, Gt Weapon
20 Spears: FC
20 Spears: FC
18 Archers: Flaming Banner
14 Archers
20 Pheonix Guard: FC, Banner of Sorcery
3 x 5 Ellyrion Reavers
3 x RBT
So.. I was going to be Miasma’d/Pitted and withered and shot – before finally being mindrazored to death. I was not confident (although if by some miracle the magic failed I would smash him up without really trying).
To minimise the pit, and as he had no ‘real’ combat threats I deployed in ‘lines’. He then went first.
My left was Ironblaster, Mournfang and 2 Sabres vs 2x Reavers, RBT and 14 Archers. He vanguarded and then ran past me with the reavers. I had a ‘comedy charge with a Sabre vs some reavers, but he failed… but the Cats and Blaster ignored them to advance to the squishy Elves (with the Blaster putting 1 wound on a RBT).
The Reavers then had to sacrifice themselves to stop the Mournfang charging turn 2, whilst the others were charged by the blaster… they fled but a cunningly positioned Sabre charged from the opposite direction meaning they were easily caught.
On the right I had 2 mournfang vs 2 Spears and 5 Reavers. The Mournfang ran up and were blocked by Reavers who had to die. I was then charged by 20 Spears… and the Mournfang (just 2 remember) chewed them up and spat them out over a few rounds.
So in the Centre I had Guts with Characters deployed 12 wide, and Bulls 6 wide with Blaster, Sabre and Maneaters behind. They were against 18 archers + lvl 4, 2 RBTs, 20 Pheonix guard+BSB and 20 spears.
I was taking a lot of damage from shooting, but he failed to concentrate properly and the magic failed him a bit (he cast withering, but ‘only’ knocked my Toughness down by 1, and miasma dropped my movement by 1 as well)… and the pit missed.
Turn 2 he did something very unexpected… he pushed up with the Pheonix Guard. He comfortably had another round of shooting to ‘thin me down’ before I charged (giving him 3 rounds total), but by pushing up he had limited himself to just 2. I think he was conscious that I was still in a line, and fancied his chanes better than if I formed up before charging… I think he was very wrong – especially when he didn’t even attempt to mindrazor them up.
He did shoot me some more, but the magic wasn’t great. So I charged the Pheonix Guard. The charge was underwhelming, with some poor rolls and good wards. I won, but he easily held on steadfast. I did a combat reform with the Tyrant on the corner with WS10 butcher behind (ready for spears in the flank). The firebelly was stuck fighting the BSB (due to the nicer standard I assumed was the BSB being a unit standard I had got my positioning wrong).
The Spears charged (only 14 though as they had ran through a venom thicket), and were irresistibly mindrazored
10 str 8 attacks onto the tyrant. 8 hits… with 2 1’s to wound.
The 4 attacks onto the WS 10 butcher did 2 wounds as well. I smacked them back leaving only 7 spears for the next round (and killed a few more phoenix guard… but he won the round by 1, and I held.
My turn the Mournfang on my left who had a charge onto the archers+level 2 changed direction and charged the rear of the spears instead, with the maneaters into the side. The Impacts left him with just 2 spears who didn’t do much – the Pheonix guard (only 3 left) then broke and died.
Meanwhile the Ogres (Bulls) had been getting shot… a lot. Ironblasters had killed 2 of the RBTS and the Sabre ran through and killed the last. My remaining bull champion had a charge on the level 4, but didn’t fancy the stand and fire + asf attacks, so hid behind a hill.
After the combat reforms from the loss of the Pheonix guard my tried an irristable pit on the Guts (3 characters -pheonix guard had killed the firebelly, and the standard was all that was left on the unit), and missed.
He conceded turn 4.
So, 2 very bad match ups for the Ogres (well, potentially bad magic phases anyway) and 2 massive wins for the fat lads. Last game of day 1 was vs ‘the real’ Ben Diesel – see internet for lots of ‘chuck-norris’ style comments.
Game 3
Ogres
So Ogre on Ogre action on table 1… lets roll.
My opponent had:
Slaughtermaster: Scroll, 4+ Ward, Magic sword (can’t remember which one)
Bruiser: BSB, Biting Blade, Enchanted Shield, Crown of Command
Firebelly : Level 1, Hellheart
9 Ironguts, Std of discipline
3 x 12 Gnoblar Trappers
5 Mournfang – Std, Musc, Dragonhide
4 Mournfang – Std, Musc
2 x Ironblaster
I was confident. He had more magic, but my characters were MUCH better in combat… and the Tyrant = win vs mournfang. Most importantly he was lacking in sabretusks.
That said I thought the key would be the ‘Ironblaster-off’.
Ben had deployed with 2 units of Gnoblars on the left along with an Ironblaster around a building/wall. Opposite this I had 2 Mournfang, and the Maneaters were as close as possible to the Ironblaster.
On the right side were the third Gnoblars, other Ironblaster and 5 Mournfang. Opposite these were 2 Sabres and 2 Ironblasters… In this way I felt I had definitely outdeployed him. My Ironblasters were out of ‘maximum range’ (ie 62”) from his Ironblaster on the left – meaning I could go 2-1 on his Ironblaster and then shoot the Mournfang – who would be delayed by the Sabres.
In the Middle It was Deathstar on Deathstar with him having Mourngfang vs my Bulls and Sabre.
I got first turn and shot and killed his Ironblaster on the right side. They they missed, misfired, failed to wound and generally didn’t kill the mournfang. They did kill 4-5 guts though. The Mounrnfang ‘caught’ one of the Ironblasters right in the corner (after eating a sabre - the other had ran into the middle to block the Guts), but the other got away.
On the left the Maneaters ran behind the wall near the other Ironblaster. He shot and missed them. They charged and he stood and fired. My initial reaction was WTF!! Whilst I agree it is ‘legal’ I am sure it is going to FAQ’d as not allowed, and thought it was for this event. Apparently not. Anyway, the stand and fire killed the wall. The Ogres killed the Ironblaster (and Gnoblars ran away in panic).
In the Middle he ran at me, with the guts slightly ahead. They got a Sabre, and the Tyrant left the star and stood in front of the 4 mournfang. The BSB joined him and stood behind. They charged, they did nothing, but held due to some poor attacks from the Tyrant… My Mournfang came in the flank and the remaning one ran away. I failed to catch him and when he rallied the single mournfang killed my mournfang (who charged him) and then combat reformed and killed the maneaters…. Damn!! (he died turn 6 though vs my Ogre Bulls).
After breaking the Mournfang the Tyrant/BSB combat reformed and (along with the Guts) charged his Ironguts (wary of the Hellheart the Bruiser had bailed). I smashed them up in 2 rounds and then want for the 5 MOurnfang who were in the corned behind a building.
Tyrant+Firebelly went one way, The Ogres and BSB went the Other (I only had 4 wounds left on the guts so they hid) whilst the Ironblaster acted as charge bait. They didn’t take it, but marched along the backline… the Tyrant charged their flank and broke them… what a guy.
So 3 games, 3 BIG wins, and I was the overnight leader. The draw showed I was playing Jack Armstrong with Lizards first thing on Sunday… another ‘easy’ game then.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Winter Incursion
My next event is Winter Incursion, this weekend. Pretty standard comp at 2,400.
My List is as below:
Tyrant: (General), Heavy Armour, Tricksters Helm, Talisman of Protection (4+), Great Weapon
Bruiser: BSB - Look out, Armour of Destiny, Great Weapon
Butcher: Level 2, Fencers Blades, Staff of Solidarity
Firebelly: Level 2, Extra Weapon, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Strength, Dispel scroll
8 Ironguts: Dragonhide Banner, FC
6 Ogres: Ironfist, Std, Musc, Look Out
2 Mournfang: Heavy Armour, Ironfist
2 Mournfang: Heavy Armour, Ironfist
3 Maneaters: 1 x Great Weapon, 2 x Hand Weapon, Scout, Stubborn
Sabretusk
Sabretusk
Sabretusk
Ironblaster
Ironblaster
Bit of everything really, small Deathstar + support units and twin-cannons. I think it should do well, but we'll see.
My List is as below:
Tyrant: (General), Heavy Armour, Tricksters Helm, Talisman of Protection (4+), Great Weapon
Bruiser: BSB - Look out, Armour of Destiny, Great Weapon
Butcher: Level 2, Fencers Blades, Staff of Solidarity
Firebelly: Level 2, Extra Weapon, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Strength, Dispel scroll
8 Ironguts: Dragonhide Banner, FC
6 Ogres: Ironfist, Std, Musc, Look Out
2 Mournfang: Heavy Armour, Ironfist
2 Mournfang: Heavy Armour, Ironfist
3 Maneaters: 1 x Great Weapon, 2 x Hand Weapon, Scout, Stubborn
Sabretusk
Sabretusk
Sabretusk
Ironblaster
Ironblaster
Bit of everything really, small Deathstar + support units and twin-cannons. I think it should do well, but we'll see.
Ogres...
Below is a write up I did for the Mansfield Maul at end of October (done for OgreStronghold and copied here... I need something 'substantial to add').
Mansfield Maul
Game 1
Empire
The draw was announced a few days before the event, so had time to peruse my opponents list. A couple of cannons and a STANK were worrisome... as were the +5 dispel dice. He had:
...
I deployed in 'lines', although soon found out (after my opponent told me) that in 8th vs MI the cannon has to kill the guy in front to go through (like a bolt thorwer). I did not know this, but it really helps vs cannons, and other warmachines (Mortars, Stone throwers) don't worry Ogre blocks too much due to large bases and multi-wounds.
Anyway, My 'Deathstar' - Bulls + 3 characters went down the middle, towards his blocks, looking to plow through the 'chaff' and get to him (hopefully). He blocked me with his Peg hero, so I charged... and accepted his challenge with the Tyrant 8 str 5 was not enough vs his 2+ rerollable, and without ranks and him having Ld 10 general and BSB nearby he held... just what I wanted. I combat reformed 6 wide
In his turn his detachments ran and blocked the end of my unit at both sides, but the Tyrant unleashed the Potion of Strength and splatted the hero. I was then able to combat reform 3 wide... narrow enough to fit through the gap between detachments, and 11" from his swordsmen character bunker... YUMMY. The Ogre Charge smashed them apart and I cleaned up the center, with only 2 detachments left at end of the game.
'Unkillable' Tyrant went solo and chased chaff around (and took 3 cannon shots with no problems).
On my left the Ironguts + Anti-heros Bruiser and Firebelly went against Knights + Crown of Command Priest and Flaggelents who were in front of the artillery battery.
The Knights blocked me, setting me up for a Flaggelent counter Charge... I got all 'tricksey' again. I charged the 'bait', but directed no attacks vs the priest. The Knights all died, and the stubborn priest held. After a combat reform the Flaggelents could now only charge past the priest and 'clip' with 1-2 getting in - a combat I would easily win, so the flaggelents waited for me. I despatched the priest in his turn and charged the flaggelents. All of this (like the Ogre unit) had meant my opponent had very little oppertunity to shoot me with his cannons. The combat vs the Flaggelents was 'horrible'. Everybody died, and (again by manipulating attack allocation... and a bit of luck) the combat ended in his next turn with the flaggelents wiped out, and me having only the Bruiser... on 1 wound.
The Bruiser was 13.5" from the artillery park... so an 8 was required to get them... anything else and he would get 2 cannons in the face. I rolled 11 and took appart the artillery.
I had 'smashed' the right flank... with my 1 wound bruiser left to tell the tale.
On the left the Mournfang and Maneaters and faced the STank, War Alter, Knights and General on Peg. I was hoping to just tie him up enough to let me centre and right win the game.
The STANK moved up 'on point' with the Knights blocking a flank charge on it from Maneaters others behind... a Timewarp later and the 30" charge STANK was a 'real' problem. I couldn't afford to have it plough into the Character bus... as I would kill it eventually, but not have time left to get any points. Not able to march past the STANK due to units in the way I charged the knights, they were just short of going off table but right in front of the Alter. If my Mournfang rolled a 7 they would catch them, and get out of the STANKS arc.... 3 dice...5, 1, 1 - bugger!
So the Mournfang sat in front of the STANK and prepared to get smashed... which they did... but it took the tank a few rounds, meaning it didn't achieve anything else in the game.
With the knights in front of the Alter the Maneaters took their oppertunity and ran up to them... I assumed they would rally - which the did meaning they Maneaters could charge through. The Alter could stay behind the Knights or move to the side and get charged directly by maneaters.... he did, and shot them with fireballs. 6 wounds, and the Maneaters were less confident, but they still smashed up the tank (despite not realising, unlike 8th, the priest could do more than 2 bounds a turn... so after doing 4 wounds to the Alter the preist healed it... doh! - he died later though, and when the maneaters were charged by the knights they beat them as well).
At the end the left flank was just a single Maneaters and STANK
A bloody game, but a massacre to me in the end - MVP went to the Maneaters who did bad things to the 'popemodile'. For anyone interested in such things the Thundertusk got shot turn 1... a theme for the weekend, and the sabretusks got shot early as well.
Game 2
Tomb Kings
I was due to play Shane Metcalf, fellow Dragon Slayer known as 'the Hobby Killer'. Game 3 (see later) was a doubles game and I was due to play against Shane in that as well. After checking with the judge it was OK I started the first of my 2 games vs Shanes Tomb Kings.
Shanes List was:
......
Flaming attacks on Settra, and chariots meant I was confident either Tyrant could take them out... easily. Shane went on the baseline on my left side... like
Necrosphinx (catapult behind) - Chariots - Settra - Tomb Guard - Giant - Archers - Archers (Casket behind) - War Sphinx - Carrion............ Catapult in right corner. Castleing up actually helped vs my list as it meant I could 'Deathstar' and 'smash' through his good stuff.
'Unkillable' Tyrant went in Bulls... all other heros into the Ironguts. My deployment (again left to right)
Sabre - Maneaters - Ironguts - Bulls (Mournfang Behind) - Thundertusk.... Sabre on right corner
Plan was for Guts and Bulls to run down middle and then turn off towards 'Spinexed' which would undubtedly use to block. Leaving Centre Open for Mournfang to run through towards 'juicy' Archers.
The plan worked.
'Unkillable' Tyrant left bulls to stand in Front of Sphinx... Tyrant lost 1 wound over 7 rounds as he slowly re-sculpted the Sphinx into rubble for his garden path. Bulls then ran on and smashed up the archers, casket and mages (who had bailed from the archer unit after it was obvious the bulls would get through).
The other Tyrant ran in front of Chariots and Settra his 2 + ward vs flaming meant I was confident he would smash them up... so was Shane, so he was charged by the Necro-sphinx and Tomb Guard... (I had half expected this, but figured he would be OK, then next turn the counter charge from guts and a potion of Strngth would splat both units).... after the Tyrant had his Str and T reduced by 2 I was less confident... when all units with 24" of Settra got an extra attack I knew the Tyrant was dead - I was right.
The necro overran into the Guts, but the Tomb Guard were stuck... in front of the chariots. The counter from the Maneaters and Character attacks meant I was able to splat the Necro and then the Maneaters were charged by the Tomb Guard and the Guts by Settra (Chariots still blocked in the corner). Settra died to lots of str 6 attacks, and the maneaters made good use of being stubborn, meaning the guts could splat theGuard next turn.
Meanwhile the Mournfang had charged the Giant, leaving it on 1 wound... so I unleashed the Banner - killing him, and overruning into the archers. I killed them all (no crumble required) in his turn refromed and charged the chariots who were still stuck behind other combats... they died too - all the while the Mournfang hadn't even taken a wound.
On the right flank the sabre ran accross the table, charged and killed the catapult, before being chased down by the carrion - not very exciting. Again the Thundertusk got shot and dies turn 1 or 2.
Mournfang and Maneaters were MVP
So after Battering Shane, with another Massacre I got to play him again in Doubles.... he was not looking forward to facing 6,000 points of Ogres... not at all.
Game 3 - DOUBLES
Ogres & Ogres vs Tomb Kings and Dwarfs
Lists...
So I got a bit more shooting and Magic - and got a combat-orientated Dwarf army to go with the Tomb Kings... game was vast and complex with units all intermingled (eg TK archers behind dwarf Hammerers), so won't write a full report. Highlights were:
Using 2 Sabre tusks to 'stitch-up Shanes Chariots (again) meaning the 4 Mournfang got to charge them - and smash them to Tiny Pieces (they were countered and smash by one of the Hammerer-hordes though).
Maneaters taking out a Necro Sphinx, then the Bone Giant - each in 1 round.
Ironblaster shooting Settra, making him walk (in the Tomb Guard). The Ironguts and +3 attack Tyrant then got charged by them (after drinking the potion - needing a 6 for a charge and failing), and a bone giant (with a crossed charge so giant wasn't against Tyrant). Tyrant challenged and got to Fight Settra. The Guts died (taking about 10 guard with them) but after despatching Settra, the Tyrant killed the rest of the Tomb Guard.
Clever use of M.R of Challenge saw my 'Deathstar' (bulls and 5 characters) out of the game for a turn or 2... but they then hit, and smashed 1 hammer unit. They were about to get the second, and a Massacre Victory for our Team, but they had str and T dropped by 3, so declined the turn 6 charge (instead charging an archer unit, and despite my poor stats left them with 3 models at end of game).
A really fun game, and we got a Victory - killing half the Dwarf army, but most of the Tomb Kings
MVP - Maneaters (again)... they rocked
Thundertusk died turn 1... again
Game 4
Bretts
Sun morning I was on table 3 and due to play Daemons... Skarbrand and Epidermous made for a vicious combination - but I thought I could take them. My opponent was late, as was Adi McWalter's (another fellow Dragon Slayer) so we played each other instead.
Adi is (apparantly) the best Brett player in the world, but I wasn't too worried. His list was;
....
His main realm lance (std of discipline) had a front rank of Hero with 1+ rerollable, HKB Lord, Hero with 1+ rerollable and (importantly) crown of command damsel behind.
I put all 6 characters into my Bulls, went 3 wide (in lance formation and ran at him), with 2 lances to the front, 1 to the side (but the Grails out of arc - they were busy on the left vs... the rest of my army). Adi knew I had 'Out Deathstared' him and was a little worried.
On my right I had the Thundertusk, who survived this game as Adi's Trebs missed turn 1 - and then shot the (more threatening) Maneaters. He was acting as a counter to any flank charges from the Realm Knights and/or Hero on Peg.
The archers ran out to block charges from the 'Deathstar', but there was a gap I could just squeeze through to charge the errants. No idea if this was intended or a mistake, but I charged and smashed the errants. Problem was, with archers along my flanks I couldn't combat reform properly and if I overran I would get the Generals lance in the flank (and his hero in the flank to stop some of my characters making way). So I turned, allowing his lance to move to my side (where errants had been). I then turned to face them, but would receive the charge.
I wasn't worried. VS the Horrible Brett Chare, my charcters stayed in 2nd and 3rd rank (tried some supporting attacks but achived little). I lost 4 Ogres and held on stubborn 9. I then Drank my potions, and the tundertusk charged some archers - a 5" overrun would bring him close enough to make the Brett General Cold so I could kill him before I got a HKB to the face. The Charging Thundertusk killed 5 peasants... they were still steadfast on a rerollable 10... stupid hairy beast - the one game he survived and it fecks up!
My charcters went aganist his characters. My 8 str 8 attacks killed one hero (just), and the Sword of Anti-Heros and 4 characters mean another 8 str 9 vs the other. He too died. My Tyrant was not Heroic Killing Blowed (HKB) and his 5 str 7 + another 3 str 7 supporting 'only' did 2 wounds. Adi was stubborn on 10 and held (he rolled a 10, and I thought I'd got him till he reminded me about the Std of Discipline... doh!!)
In Adis turn the Peg Hero and Errants Charged the Flank of my bus... and tried to get a Savage Beast on the General. He miscast killing the mage (with crown of command) and 4 knights. I survived the HKB and took out the general, and his unit, but lost by 1 due to the 'flankers'. I passed and was ready to combat reform to kill them all turn 6 (with a flank charge from thundertusk who had (finally) killed the archers - but we ran out of time (my fault... see the left flank below).
So... whilst the "Deathstars" had been going to-to-toe I had to deal with the Grail Knights. The small errants had ran out as bait. I charged with Ironguts, leaving the Mournfang and Maneaters ready to counter the 'enevitable' Grail Knight charge. It all went as expected. Small errants died (horribly), Grails with 2nd lord charged the Guts and splatted them (14 wounds). My 3 remaning Guts rolled 1-1.
I had no idea what to do. My 'counter charge' units couldn't charge and I assumed the Grails would break me (or kill me) - especially as Wyssens Wildform was on them, reform and charge the flank of my bus (with Generals 'Deathstar' to the front).... I think I would loose that one.
I spent a while trying to work out how to block them (too long as it turns out as we didn't get the 6th turn in - as above this cost me a lot of points). A failed march test from a Sabretusk (expected) and Firebelly (moving out of the 'Deathstar'... not expected), meant I couldn't get close enoght to block the reform, but I was able to block the charge onto my main unit.
I then moved back the Maneaters and Mournfang so when 1 was charged the other could counter (or counter if he charged the firebelly). In the magic phase I (surprisingly) got Stuborn onto the Guts, challenged and held with only my champ (on 1 wound)... all that effort for nothing. I should have trusted my magic (yeh right!). In his turn he finished the Guts, but I was now too far to 'guarantee' the charge, but I could march out of the charge arc of the Grails. So I did that meaning the Grails didn't get to charge me, and I survived.
I won, but if we would have had a 6th turn I would have had the massacre. My fault as I spent a while trying to work out what to do after the 1,1. Adi insists the 1,1 (and subsequent stubborn cast) was the only reason I won, but I think without it I would have got a massacre.
Game 5
Empire
Empire again, vs #1 Empire player in UK (according to ranking HQ anyway) - Scott Lines. Scott had split his Empire army with his mate, so it was a bit 'unusual'. List was below:
....
Scott baselined, pinning me back with STANK, and use of Miasma whilst he shot me with cannon (Thundertusk died first shot). I stayed 24 1/2 from the Outriders and not much happened for 2 turns (over than losing Thundertusk and some Mournfang - who had charged Pistollers to chase them off). Turn 3 a failed Miasma meant it was time... the 2 remaining mournfang charged Stank... when they died it was charged by Sabres... keeping it out of the game while it ground through them.
Scott blocked me with the Fire mage and started to run past my Deathstar (splitting the two knight units making it difficult to engage both). I tried to charge characters from the second rank (who weren't blocked by mage). Que a 10 min rules disussion, involving TO and a couple of ETC rules judges.. in the end it was 'probably' legal, but I felt bad as Scott clearly didn't think I could... so charged the mage instead.
The 'Unkillable' Tyant needed an 8 to charge out of the front rank of the Guts at them (intending to pin them in place until the Guts arrived. If I failed they could charge him and he would be OK - I rolled a 9 and proceeded to beat up the lector with Crown of command. The plan was working perfectly until I put 4 str 7 wounds onto the 1 wound lector. With 6+ armour, 5+ ward he survived... and healed himself in his magic phase. Poo!!! HE combat reformed, and challenged me with Lector so when Guts arrived none of them could fight. The maneaters in the flank killed some knights, but with the Tyrant again failing to kill the Lector he held due to the crown.
After killing the firemage, I overran and next turn charged the other knight unit. with Potion of Strength and Anti-Heros vs 2 characters I killed the BSB and 8 knights. No stubborn, no 1,1 - they died.
CONCLUSION
So.. 5 wins - of which 2 were massacres. I came second. Yeh Me!! More importantly I won the 'fancy dress'
The "Deathstar" did exactly what was expected. What surprised me was how good the Maneaters were. They survived all 5 games, and over the weekend killed:
5 Knights
Archlector on Popemobile
Necrosphinx
Necrosphinx
Bone Giant
4 Knights
I'm thinking 3: 2 with 2 h-w and 1 Gt Weapon (in middle) with Scout/Stubborn will be 'optimal'. Only 165pts of pure awesome. Also I think 2 x Tyrants are were its at for 2,400+
Also I don't think the big mounrnfang are necessary when points are tight. I think 2 x 2 is best use for these guys, as fast flankers.
Mansfield Maul
Game 1
Empire
The draw was announced a few days before the event, so had time to peruse my opponents list. A couple of cannons and a STANK were worrisome... as were the +5 dispel dice. He had:
...
I deployed in 'lines', although soon found out (after my opponent told me) that in 8th vs MI the cannon has to kill the guy in front to go through (like a bolt thorwer). I did not know this, but it really helps vs cannons, and other warmachines (Mortars, Stone throwers) don't worry Ogre blocks too much due to large bases and multi-wounds.
Anyway, My 'Deathstar' - Bulls + 3 characters went down the middle, towards his blocks, looking to plow through the 'chaff' and get to him (hopefully). He blocked me with his Peg hero, so I charged... and accepted his challenge with the Tyrant 8 str 5 was not enough vs his 2+ rerollable, and without ranks and him having Ld 10 general and BSB nearby he held... just what I wanted. I combat reformed 6 wide
In his turn his detachments ran and blocked the end of my unit at both sides, but the Tyrant unleashed the Potion of Strength and splatted the hero. I was then able to combat reform 3 wide... narrow enough to fit through the gap between detachments, and 11" from his swordsmen character bunker... YUMMY. The Ogre Charge smashed them apart and I cleaned up the center, with only 2 detachments left at end of the game.
'Unkillable' Tyrant went solo and chased chaff around (and took 3 cannon shots with no problems).
On my left the Ironguts + Anti-heros Bruiser and Firebelly went against Knights + Crown of Command Priest and Flaggelents who were in front of the artillery battery.
The Knights blocked me, setting me up for a Flaggelent counter Charge... I got all 'tricksey' again. I charged the 'bait', but directed no attacks vs the priest. The Knights all died, and the stubborn priest held. After a combat reform the Flaggelents could now only charge past the priest and 'clip' with 1-2 getting in - a combat I would easily win, so the flaggelents waited for me. I despatched the priest in his turn and charged the flaggelents. All of this (like the Ogre unit) had meant my opponent had very little oppertunity to shoot me with his cannons. The combat vs the Flaggelents was 'horrible'. Everybody died, and (again by manipulating attack allocation... and a bit of luck) the combat ended in his next turn with the flaggelents wiped out, and me having only the Bruiser... on 1 wound.
The Bruiser was 13.5" from the artillery park... so an 8 was required to get them... anything else and he would get 2 cannons in the face. I rolled 11 and took appart the artillery.
I had 'smashed' the right flank... with my 1 wound bruiser left to tell the tale.
On the left the Mournfang and Maneaters and faced the STank, War Alter, Knights and General on Peg. I was hoping to just tie him up enough to let me centre and right win the game.
The STANK moved up 'on point' with the Knights blocking a flank charge on it from Maneaters others behind... a Timewarp later and the 30" charge STANK was a 'real' problem. I couldn't afford to have it plough into the Character bus... as I would kill it eventually, but not have time left to get any points. Not able to march past the STANK due to units in the way I charged the knights, they were just short of going off table but right in front of the Alter. If my Mournfang rolled a 7 they would catch them, and get out of the STANKS arc.... 3 dice...5, 1, 1 - bugger!
So the Mournfang sat in front of the STANK and prepared to get smashed... which they did... but it took the tank a few rounds, meaning it didn't achieve anything else in the game.
With the knights in front of the Alter the Maneaters took their oppertunity and ran up to them... I assumed they would rally - which the did meaning they Maneaters could charge through. The Alter could stay behind the Knights or move to the side and get charged directly by maneaters.... he did, and shot them with fireballs. 6 wounds, and the Maneaters were less confident, but they still smashed up the tank (despite not realising, unlike 8th, the priest could do more than 2 bounds a turn... so after doing 4 wounds to the Alter the preist healed it... doh! - he died later though, and when the maneaters were charged by the knights they beat them as well).
At the end the left flank was just a single Maneaters and STANK
A bloody game, but a massacre to me in the end - MVP went to the Maneaters who did bad things to the 'popemodile'. For anyone interested in such things the Thundertusk got shot turn 1... a theme for the weekend, and the sabretusks got shot early as well.
Game 2
Tomb Kings
I was due to play Shane Metcalf, fellow Dragon Slayer known as 'the Hobby Killer'. Game 3 (see later) was a doubles game and I was due to play against Shane in that as well. After checking with the judge it was OK I started the first of my 2 games vs Shanes Tomb Kings.
Shanes List was:
......
Flaming attacks on Settra, and chariots meant I was confident either Tyrant could take them out... easily. Shane went on the baseline on my left side... like
Necrosphinx (catapult behind) - Chariots - Settra - Tomb Guard - Giant - Archers - Archers (Casket behind) - War Sphinx - Carrion............ Catapult in right corner. Castleing up actually helped vs my list as it meant I could 'Deathstar' and 'smash' through his good stuff.
'Unkillable' Tyrant went in Bulls... all other heros into the Ironguts. My deployment (again left to right)
Sabre - Maneaters - Ironguts - Bulls (Mournfang Behind) - Thundertusk.... Sabre on right corner
Plan was for Guts and Bulls to run down middle and then turn off towards 'Spinexed' which would undubtedly use to block. Leaving Centre Open for Mournfang to run through towards 'juicy' Archers.
The plan worked.
'Unkillable' Tyrant left bulls to stand in Front of Sphinx... Tyrant lost 1 wound over 7 rounds as he slowly re-sculpted the Sphinx into rubble for his garden path. Bulls then ran on and smashed up the archers, casket and mages (who had bailed from the archer unit after it was obvious the bulls would get through).
The other Tyrant ran in front of Chariots and Settra his 2 + ward vs flaming meant I was confident he would smash them up... so was Shane, so he was charged by the Necro-sphinx and Tomb Guard... (I had half expected this, but figured he would be OK, then next turn the counter charge from guts and a potion of Strngth would splat both units).... after the Tyrant had his Str and T reduced by 2 I was less confident... when all units with 24" of Settra got an extra attack I knew the Tyrant was dead - I was right.
The necro overran into the Guts, but the Tomb Guard were stuck... in front of the chariots. The counter from the Maneaters and Character attacks meant I was able to splat the Necro and then the Maneaters were charged by the Tomb Guard and the Guts by Settra (Chariots still blocked in the corner). Settra died to lots of str 6 attacks, and the maneaters made good use of being stubborn, meaning the guts could splat theGuard next turn.
Meanwhile the Mournfang had charged the Giant, leaving it on 1 wound... so I unleashed the Banner - killing him, and overruning into the archers. I killed them all (no crumble required) in his turn refromed and charged the chariots who were still stuck behind other combats... they died too - all the while the Mournfang hadn't even taken a wound.
On the right flank the sabre ran accross the table, charged and killed the catapult, before being chased down by the carrion - not very exciting. Again the Thundertusk got shot and dies turn 1 or 2.
Mournfang and Maneaters were MVP
So after Battering Shane, with another Massacre I got to play him again in Doubles.... he was not looking forward to facing 6,000 points of Ogres... not at all.
Game 3 - DOUBLES
Ogres & Ogres vs Tomb Kings and Dwarfs
Lists...
So I got a bit more shooting and Magic - and got a combat-orientated Dwarf army to go with the Tomb Kings... game was vast and complex with units all intermingled (eg TK archers behind dwarf Hammerers), so won't write a full report. Highlights were:
Using 2 Sabre tusks to 'stitch-up Shanes Chariots (again) meaning the 4 Mournfang got to charge them - and smash them to Tiny Pieces (they were countered and smash by one of the Hammerer-hordes though).
Maneaters taking out a Necro Sphinx, then the Bone Giant - each in 1 round.
Ironblaster shooting Settra, making him walk (in the Tomb Guard). The Ironguts and +3 attack Tyrant then got charged by them (after drinking the potion - needing a 6 for a charge and failing), and a bone giant (with a crossed charge so giant wasn't against Tyrant). Tyrant challenged and got to Fight Settra. The Guts died (taking about 10 guard with them) but after despatching Settra, the Tyrant killed the rest of the Tomb Guard.
Clever use of M.R of Challenge saw my 'Deathstar' (bulls and 5 characters) out of the game for a turn or 2... but they then hit, and smashed 1 hammer unit. They were about to get the second, and a Massacre Victory for our Team, but they had str and T dropped by 3, so declined the turn 6 charge (instead charging an archer unit, and despite my poor stats left them with 3 models at end of game).
A really fun game, and we got a Victory - killing half the Dwarf army, but most of the Tomb Kings
MVP - Maneaters (again)... they rocked
Thundertusk died turn 1... again
Game 4
Bretts
Sun morning I was on table 3 and due to play Daemons... Skarbrand and Epidermous made for a vicious combination - but I thought I could take them. My opponent was late, as was Adi McWalter's (another fellow Dragon Slayer) so we played each other instead.
Adi is (apparantly) the best Brett player in the world, but I wasn't too worried. His list was;
....
His main realm lance (std of discipline) had a front rank of Hero with 1+ rerollable, HKB Lord, Hero with 1+ rerollable and (importantly) crown of command damsel behind.
I put all 6 characters into my Bulls, went 3 wide (in lance formation and ran at him), with 2 lances to the front, 1 to the side (but the Grails out of arc - they were busy on the left vs... the rest of my army). Adi knew I had 'Out Deathstared' him and was a little worried.
On my right I had the Thundertusk, who survived this game as Adi's Trebs missed turn 1 - and then shot the (more threatening) Maneaters. He was acting as a counter to any flank charges from the Realm Knights and/or Hero on Peg.
The archers ran out to block charges from the 'Deathstar', but there was a gap I could just squeeze through to charge the errants. No idea if this was intended or a mistake, but I charged and smashed the errants. Problem was, with archers along my flanks I couldn't combat reform properly and if I overran I would get the Generals lance in the flank (and his hero in the flank to stop some of my characters making way). So I turned, allowing his lance to move to my side (where errants had been). I then turned to face them, but would receive the charge.
I wasn't worried. VS the Horrible Brett Chare, my charcters stayed in 2nd and 3rd rank (tried some supporting attacks but achived little). I lost 4 Ogres and held on stubborn 9. I then Drank my potions, and the tundertusk charged some archers - a 5" overrun would bring him close enough to make the Brett General Cold so I could kill him before I got a HKB to the face. The Charging Thundertusk killed 5 peasants... they were still steadfast on a rerollable 10... stupid hairy beast - the one game he survived and it fecks up!
My charcters went aganist his characters. My 8 str 8 attacks killed one hero (just), and the Sword of Anti-Heros and 4 characters mean another 8 str 9 vs the other. He too died. My Tyrant was not Heroic Killing Blowed (HKB) and his 5 str 7 + another 3 str 7 supporting 'only' did 2 wounds. Adi was stubborn on 10 and held (he rolled a 10, and I thought I'd got him till he reminded me about the Std of Discipline... doh!!)
In Adis turn the Peg Hero and Errants Charged the Flank of my bus... and tried to get a Savage Beast on the General. He miscast killing the mage (with crown of command) and 4 knights. I survived the HKB and took out the general, and his unit, but lost by 1 due to the 'flankers'. I passed and was ready to combat reform to kill them all turn 6 (with a flank charge from thundertusk who had (finally) killed the archers - but we ran out of time (my fault... see the left flank below).
So... whilst the "Deathstars" had been going to-to-toe I had to deal with the Grail Knights. The small errants had ran out as bait. I charged with Ironguts, leaving the Mournfang and Maneaters ready to counter the 'enevitable' Grail Knight charge. It all went as expected. Small errants died (horribly), Grails with 2nd lord charged the Guts and splatted them (14 wounds). My 3 remaning Guts rolled 1-1.
I had no idea what to do. My 'counter charge' units couldn't charge and I assumed the Grails would break me (or kill me) - especially as Wyssens Wildform was on them, reform and charge the flank of my bus (with Generals 'Deathstar' to the front).... I think I would loose that one.
I spent a while trying to work out how to block them (too long as it turns out as we didn't get the 6th turn in - as above this cost me a lot of points). A failed march test from a Sabretusk (expected) and Firebelly (moving out of the 'Deathstar'... not expected), meant I couldn't get close enoght to block the reform, but I was able to block the charge onto my main unit.
I then moved back the Maneaters and Mournfang so when 1 was charged the other could counter (or counter if he charged the firebelly). In the magic phase I (surprisingly) got Stuborn onto the Guts, challenged and held with only my champ (on 1 wound)... all that effort for nothing. I should have trusted my magic (yeh right!). In his turn he finished the Guts, but I was now too far to 'guarantee' the charge, but I could march out of the charge arc of the Grails. So I did that meaning the Grails didn't get to charge me, and I survived.
I won, but if we would have had a 6th turn I would have had the massacre. My fault as I spent a while trying to work out what to do after the 1,1. Adi insists the 1,1 (and subsequent stubborn cast) was the only reason I won, but I think without it I would have got a massacre.
Game 5
Empire
Empire again, vs #1 Empire player in UK (according to ranking HQ anyway) - Scott Lines. Scott had split his Empire army with his mate, so it was a bit 'unusual'. List was below:
....
Scott baselined, pinning me back with STANK, and use of Miasma whilst he shot me with cannon (Thundertusk died first shot). I stayed 24 1/2 from the Outriders and not much happened for 2 turns (over than losing Thundertusk and some Mournfang - who had charged Pistollers to chase them off). Turn 3 a failed Miasma meant it was time... the 2 remaining mournfang charged Stank... when they died it was charged by Sabres... keeping it out of the game while it ground through them.
Scott blocked me with the Fire mage and started to run past my Deathstar (splitting the two knight units making it difficult to engage both). I tried to charge characters from the second rank (who weren't blocked by mage). Que a 10 min rules disussion, involving TO and a couple of ETC rules judges.. in the end it was 'probably' legal, but I felt bad as Scott clearly didn't think I could... so charged the mage instead.
The 'Unkillable' Tyant needed an 8 to charge out of the front rank of the Guts at them (intending to pin them in place until the Guts arrived. If I failed they could charge him and he would be OK - I rolled a 9 and proceeded to beat up the lector with Crown of command. The plan was working perfectly until I put 4 str 7 wounds onto the 1 wound lector. With 6+ armour, 5+ ward he survived... and healed himself in his magic phase. Poo!!! HE combat reformed, and challenged me with Lector so when Guts arrived none of them could fight. The maneaters in the flank killed some knights, but with the Tyrant again failing to kill the Lector he held due to the crown.
After killing the firemage, I overran and next turn charged the other knight unit. with Potion of Strength and Anti-Heros vs 2 characters I killed the BSB and 8 knights. No stubborn, no 1,1 - they died.
CONCLUSION
So.. 5 wins - of which 2 were massacres. I came second. Yeh Me!! More importantly I won the 'fancy dress'
The "Deathstar" did exactly what was expected. What surprised me was how good the Maneaters were. They survived all 5 games, and over the weekend killed:
5 Knights
Archlector on Popemobile
Necrosphinx
Necrosphinx
Bone Giant
4 Knights
I'm thinking 3: 2 with 2 h-w and 1 Gt Weapon (in middle) with Scout/Stubborn will be 'optimal'. Only 165pts of pure awesome. Also I think 2 x Tyrants are were its at for 2,400+
Also I don't think the big mounrnfang are necessary when points are tight. I think 2 x 2 is best use for these guys, as fast flankers.
Another 'regular' update
Well.... what can I say its been a while.
Anyway, I have moved back from NZ and now back in UK.
I have been ETC NZ Captain for past 2 years, and will be again in Poland for 2012.
Warhammer is now well into 8th Edition
I am currently playing/collecting Ogres - with a shiny new book.
I will try harder....
Anyway, I have moved back from NZ and now back in UK.
I have been ETC NZ Captain for past 2 years, and will be again in Poland for 2012.
Warhammer is now well into 8th Edition
I am currently playing/collecting Ogres - with a shiny new book.
I will try harder....
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