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:

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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:

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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;

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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:


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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.