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.
No comments:
Post a Comment