I smashed 'em Bro!

The army, painted is below. I found that stringing bows is a really good idea. Makes the models look much a cooler. Note, this is the full army and includes models not in the OTT list (Warhawks, Alter Noble...)


First up, all comments are from my memory, and my opinion. If any opponents read this and I got things wrong, or you disagree... well, suck it up princess. ;-)


I had to get up at 05:30 to get to the event on time. Unfortunately I tweaked my calf the night before, and the pain stopped me getting to sleep until 03:00. When I awoke my calf was fine.... weird. I got a lift with Josh Warne, and Nick Irvine. Trips were pleasant with discussions of new lizards, the tournament field, Josh's painting (and the lovely moonlight effect on the back ranks of his orcs).


Game 1 : John Matthews

John is a great guy that works at Battlefront (Flames of War) here in NZ. He has lots of interesting stories about his time at GW as well. During the game, at one point, we stopped for about half an hour, just chatting. Fortunately it was a quick game otherwise.

He had a mounted VC army, as below:

• VC Lord: Lvl 3, Mounted, Walarks Hauberc, Gem of Blood, Sword of Might, Master of Black Arts, Knows all spells, Reroll misses (forgot the names).
• Wight Lord: BSB, Sword of Battle, Barded steed
• Necormancer: Vanhels + Raise, Scroll
• 2 x 10 Ghouls + Ghast
• 20 Skeletons, Shield, Spear, FC + Necro
• 8 Black Knights: Barding, FC, Barrows + Lord, BSB
• 7 Black Knights: Barding, FC
• 2x 3 Bats
• 7 Bloodknights: Std, Musc, Hatred banner
• Vargulf

I wasn't really sure what my Str 3 elves where going to do to all that heavy armour, VERY fast heavy armour, half of which ignored terrain penalties, he also had a "healthy" magic phase. Overall though, not a bad list. Plan was piss around, use glade riders to divert the cav around, shoot him up and eventually use the dancers/dragon to smash the survivors.

Set up is below: As can be seen, ready for plan piss around.

What 'Actually' happened was this:

1. John got turn 1.
2. Cav advanced a lot, and a couple of Venhals later John has about 6" away with some of his cav - he thought he could get a charge, before I pointed out you could only move a unit once a turn (despite being able to cast VDM on the unit multiple times).
3. Having let Vanhels go, I had my 3 dice (and magic resistance) to stop a gaze. I rolled 1,1 to dispel, and 11 hits on 5 dancers in the middle of the table meant..... no more dancers.
4. The Eternal Gaurd, and 12 archers, having seen this thought "How rude" and buggered off. The EG in turn paniced the 20 archers + mage and 5 glade riders.
5. BUGGER, so much for the shooting plan.

Fortunately nobody fled (most fleeing was sideways - hence all the panic) and the EG, Riders 20 archers ended up rallying in the right corner (behind a hill and wood - the archers loved that), 12 archers rallied on board edge. This "tactical redepolyment meant the big BK unit didn't have much to do, small BK where against the small archers.

My Turn 1 I saw John had made a mistake, and a tactical charge on fell bats meant the dragon went straight through and into the flank of the Blood knights.

Back to the right side and the small BK unit moved onto the hill to get the 12 archers. My turn 32 close range shots came their way, killed 3 (respectable) but the archers then got charged. The archers actually held for a turn, before being crushed horribly. The archers then shot the Ghouls turn 3.

Meanwhile the glade riders where closing in on the skels+necro. A 5 in front, 5 in side charge became a 5 in side charge with a failed fear test. The riders kept winning until the other guys came in and a few rounds later the unit disappeared.

The Eternal Gaurd, where joined by the BSB, who decided they didn't like been in the corner. Nobody puts baby in the corner, and so teleported near the dragon on the other side of the table. turn 2. A raised spirt host, and lone fell bat meant they never did anything exciting, but the BSB near the general was a huge Boost.

Meanwhile the Dragon..... He was counter charged by 10 Ghouls, the challenge was declined, and the lord killed a couple of wounds, and the dragon a couple of knights. A cheeky Ghoul did a wound to my lord though, and more importantly lost my ward save. The 9 dancers had a lovely charge on the black knights (incl VC lord) who had turned to face the Dragon, but ignored them (not good odds at all, and a gem of blood meant a lucky KB on the lord was HIGHLY unlikely) and charged the side of the ghouls, around the Bloodknights - very sneaky.

With the dancers help, and the Dragon eating a few knights both the Ghouls and Bloodknights disappeared in a whiff of combat res.

Johns turn 3 and the Black Knights and Vargulf charged the Dragon. Vargulf mostly went in to stop me fleeing - as when I challenged the VC lord accepted. Accepting the challenge was not the decision I would have made, as without the ward the general was VERY vulnerable, but John couldn't be comfortable with his VC Lord 'hiding'. The lords slapped each other a bit (4 attacks reroll misses = no hits, love those nettlings), and I did a wound (we forgot about gem of blood).

Combat looked like this.

End result I lost by 3 and rolled a 9. "Fortunately" the BSB had just appeared nearby, and the reroll say the big boy hang around.

For the second time the dancers charged to save the Dragon. It failed. Many str 4 attacks killed a single knight (vs heavy cavalry, and protracted combats - ALWAYS go +1 str on charge, KB second round, to maximise the Str 4). My Dragon meanwhile ate the VC lordee after he had given up on the lord and smacked the dragon, 2 wounds + 2 failed wards on the wounded big boy - DEAD. I then remembered Johns Gem, and let him roll one of the wards again on a 2+ (I do this kind of thing - I hate winning cos my opponent forgot something important - I forget things all the time as well). He passed, knocking the lord to 1 wound for his trouble.

In Johns Turn 4 the dancers started by dropping 4 knights, incl 3 KB. The dragon took another wound, before the VC lord was eaten. Crumble tests elimiated the Ghouls who had been shot, and not a lot else. Static res killed the Gulf and more knights, so next round the BSB and remaining Knight (singular) where soon polished off. I also finished the Skels + necro soon after leaving just 3 knights who had returned from killing the 12 archers. When the 20 archers and Hail of Doom turned to face them on my turn 5 John conceeded.

So 21-0 (20-0 + 1 TP bouns for killing the general) first round, with "the plan" being non-existant the victory went to the Lord+9 dancers combo who between them (with a little help from the teleporting BSB) carved through:

3 Bats

7 Bloodknights

10 Ghouls

8 Black Knights + BSB + VC LORD

Vargulf

Not bad

Over The Top

Well, I just "dipped" the Elves, so they are now ready for the weekend (I just need to make a wood.... hmmm). They look so pretty, lovely a shiney (that's the gloss from the dip - I really need to get some Matt spray, but my usual stockist has been out for weeks).

Over the Top is this weekend. Whilst all my games with the WE so far have been 'fluffy' games using army lists people are taking to "fluffycon" (weekend after next - 2 tournaments in a row... lucky me). Therefore I have never used the list I'm taking.... I tend to do better in these situations though - weird.

My list is below:

Highborn: Forest Dragon, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Light Armour, Hail of Doom Arrow, Annoyance of Netlings, Stone of Crystal Mere
Spellsinger : Level 2, Dispel Scroll, Pagent of Shrieks
Noble: BSB, Elven Steed, Light armour, Moonstone of Hidden Ways

15 Eternal Guard: Std, Musc, War Banner
20 Glade Guard: Std, Musc
12 Glade Guard: Std, Musc
5 Glade Riders: Musc
5 Glade Riders: Musc
9 Wardancers: Musc
5 Wardancers
5 Wardancers
5 Waywatchers

Yes, it has a Dragon. I feel a bit "naughty" for taking one, but its my first tournament with a Dragon and its a lovely model. Also by todays standards with Star Dragons, Dragons with Hatred, Multiple Breath attacks.... its one of the "weaker" versions of the big guy..... so I feel better about myself.

The equipment on the big guy should help their survival. The 3+ ward should help vs cannons and the like, the worry is small arms fire making me take a few ward saves and the ward "fizzing out". The Annoyance and ward should mean the boss is safe from most enemies. Hail of Doom is obvious. Generally this guy will fly up, kill a support unit with the Doom arrow, then generally run amock, combinging charges into big blocks later in the game.

Spellsinger is a std lvl 2. I added pagents as its my "sneaky trick" vs Hydras. Those things are sick. I'm a little concerned about magic defense (3 VC lists at OTT), but I guess I'll just have to try and kill enemy wizards (the best magic defense of all). Pagents could help with this as well.

BSB: The moonstone should be fun. I intend to teleport the Eternal Gaurd or Archers, depending in mobilty of the enemy, choice of targets and location of woods. I think another lvl 2 with the moonstone might have been better, but I really like BSBs, and only have 1 mage model.

Eternal Gaurd: Solid, best performers in the fluffy games, hopefully they can step up vs some harder lists as well.

Archers: Solid core for any WE player. The larger units make the list "less optimal" but look cooler and have the advantage of scaring potential chargers with a huge stand and fire.

Glade Riders: SUCK - far, far too easy to shoot/magic. But will be essential vs any combat list to disrupt their movement.

Wardancers: Solid choice. 1 main assault unit, and the small units being tough enough to take on enemy support units, and provide combo charges.

Waywatchers are cool. Many uses for a small unit.


Overall I think the list is 'relatively' soft (although tougher than the fluffycon lists) despite the Dragon.... but we'll see. There are 3 dwarf, 3 WE and 3 VC lists at OTT (from 14 players). I think Dwarfs and VCs will be difficult.

WE main strength is moanauvrabilty, but vs the Dwarfs that's meaningless as 'everyone' is highly moanauvreble compared to them. Tactics will be kill the small stuff (shooters, war machines) and hide from big units until I can shoot them enough so they are small enough to manage.

WE are also a 'finesse' army (esp with no spirts) and do badly in protracted combats - except the Eternal Gaurd - they blend. With weak magic defense I'm not sure I can kill stuff quickly enough to stop models just being raised back. Also a HUGE lack of magical attacks will prove very difficult if I face Ethereals (normally I 'always' ensure I have some maic attacks in the list - but only realised I didn't have any after I submitted the list). If I play anyone with Wraiths or Spirit Hosts I'll have to just hope the Hail of Doom arrow does a "REALLY" good shot (18 wounds please).


Looking forward to it. Should have a report + pics early next week.

Wood Elves

As mentioed I have 'done' a Wood Elf army. I wanted something a 'little different' - I am generally into themed armies. And so the army is entirely asrai, only elves - no spirits.

This is for 2 reasons:
1) Its different, makes it a more challenging list to use, makes me feel good about myself.
2) ALL the models are interchangable as High Elves (Eternal Gaurd = Spearmen, Glade Gaurd = Archers, Waywatchers = Shadow Warriors....)

All Asrai WE has 1 HUGE issue. Its VERY, very fragile. Dryads, Treeman (and even Wild Riders) add an element of durabilty to a typical WE list. The asrai boys die VERY easily - to anything. The main impact on this in games has been, whilst 'overall' I tend to do OK, even when I win its only just as I loose so much (tiny mistakes, or small bits of bad luck = dead units). Other people have commented that its no different for DE or HE... I disagree.

The Heavy cav, and chariots in both lists add a huge element of durability.

To put it into perspective I have nearly 3000 points of WE. EVERY model has T3, and at best a 5+ save (except the dragon).

The challenge, is making them interesting to use, and I'm regulaily learning things in games. Something I honestly haven't done in a while. Main reason is to do well with the WE list (exp asrai version) you need to play quite cautiously, play the long game... etc. This is the opposite of my usual, hyper-aggressive style.... its all very interesting (I keep charging waywatchers turn 1, because I can - probably not their best use, but I'm 'learning' to kerb my enthusiam for FICI - "F&*k it, charge it" ).


Anyway, the list I have been playing with recently, which is my list for Fluffycon, is below. Note Fluffycon is a 'very' comp-friendly tournament and there are some intentioned non-optimal choices/ommisions (on top of the asrai-only theme).


Noble(General): Waywatcher Kindred, Fimblewinter Shard, Wildfire blades
Spellsinger: Level 2, Calaingors Stave, Dispel Scroll
Noble: Alter Kindred, Helm of the Hunt, Light armour, Shield, Great Weapon
Noble:BSB, Elven Steed, Light armour, Stone of Crystal Mere, Elynetts Broach

20 Glade Guard: FC
5 Glade Riders: Musc
5 Glade Riders: Musc
15 Eternal Guard: FC, War Banner
8 Wardancers: Musc
8 Wardancers: Musc
3 Warhawks
9 Waywatchers

One of the 'charcteristics' of fluffycon are a series of "hard caps" that limit what you can take in a list. The only one that really impacted my army is a limit of 45 guys with ranged weapons. The problem with Asrai is 'everyone' has a bow - except eternal gaurd and wardancers. That' s the main reason behind the 4 characters. I 'only' have 15 Eternal Gaurd, and more wardancers seemed "unfluffy" so spent points on a 'slightly-pointless' Waywatcher Lord.

For a long time I was running a lvl 3, but he was a lot of points (300 from a 200 point list) and never really did much. So he got dropped for a level 2. The Alter noble came about after playing Nick Irvines WE Alter (amber Pendant and Briarsheeth) and he caused me 'some' trouble. I thought about copying Nicks build, but decided that was gay.

So far the best unit, by far, have been the Eternal Gaurd + BSB. LOTs of high I, high WS attacks have resulted in some (sometimes surprising) results. Highlights have included.

Destroying:
30 Skeletons + Tomb King in only 3 rounds of combat
16 White lions + HE hero
Surviving (almost) every game intact.
.... awesome. I quite fancy getting some more, but that won't for a while (I think).


At some point I'll get around to taking some pics of the army (probably at OTT)

I'm not dead....

As the title says, I'm not dead.

I doubt anyone ever checks this for updates anymore, but I thought I'd start up again - just in case.

Firstly apologies to all my 'loyal fans'. CRAZY times at work June through Sept meant no time for blogging, and since then I'v been lazy.....

Anyway, a run down of the last 7-8 months.

The tournament, Tin soldier, went really well in the end. The pain of comp systems etc forgotten I am in the process of organising Tin Soldier 2.... yeh!

Interesting end to the tournament year.... I was 'close' to getting the invite to the ozzie masters, but in the end getting brained by Doug (aka mutator) at Gaurdcon, put paid to that idea. I did attend the inagural NZ Masters event and managed to win with a flufftatsic Ogre list. The win was helped by an awesome comp score, and 3-4 of "the best" fantasy players in NZ not being available.

I attended Fields of Blood 40k Tournament in Sept, and had a blast. Great fun, and I love my last chancer gaurd list.... very random.

I have recently collected, and painted, a Wood Elf / High Elf army (currently wood elf) and will be going to 2 tournaments, in 2 weeks. 'Over the Top' and then "Fluffycon". Hopefully I'll write about that then.

Recently I've been playing a lot (for me) of games with 'fluffy' Wood Elves. Its been really nice to play nothing but 'friendly' lists for a few months. Interestingly, they tend to result in MUCH closer games (victories by 2-300 points are very common).


So 3 events, and then back to the UK in June...... more later.

Life of a TO

As mentioned earlier I am organising a tournament, Tin Soldiers, the event is this coming weekend, and I'm finding even for a "small" event things can get quite frustrating..... so I thought I'd vent through the medium of my Blog.


"Sorry mate, ".

Since 'finalisin' entrants 3 people have informed me they will no longer be able to attend, each time I have frantically found a replacement to make even numbers again, before someone else informing me they won't be there - its VERY annoying. Thankfully someone has come to my rescue in that they will be turing up on the day, ready to play for the weekend, but if there is an odd number of players, they will gracefully bow out.

"COMP"
Tournaments have a 'composition' score aka "comp". This is because to allow flexibility the armies allowed aren't all balanced. Comp is supposed to address this somewhat. For the comp system I thought it best/fairest to have everyone send lists in, and an 'independant panel" to score them based on some pre-set criteria.

I have discovered that defining, and clarifying that criteria is very complex, and am being inundated with queries about what I meant by....

Getting the lists in, and finding judges was also not an easy task. But what was REALLY annoying was to make it easier for the judges I typed all the lists into a single spreadsheet - then the morning I went to send them my computer crashed, file lost, so I had to type them all in again - it took AGES.


Added to the above the logistical issues in getting 13 large bits of wood around the city (which I am very grateful to have been loaned them by a local club), organising a date (which I got wrong, as many people can't attend due to another wargaming event being on the same day)... etc it's all quite frustrating.

I guess that's what you get as TO. Hopefully after the "agrro" everyone will enjoy the event - I'll report on that later.

Considering the Options

I just realised I promised to discuss numerous tactics, and did 1 (the fend), before getting distracted by commenting about lizards. Therefore I should write about another. This should clarify what I alluded to about Lizards rarely receiving a charge when skinks are used properly.

One of the "tricks" to Fantasy, like most 'strategy' games is to consider possibilities/options. If you can get into a situation where the opponents options are limited and/or any option they chose leads to a good result for you, then 95% of the time you're going to win the game.

For example:
Say you have 2 units facing off - Kroxigore (12" charge) and some knights (14" charge). Who charges wins (exceptional dice aside - thats the 5% from above). Assuming people can guess ranges correctly (which is a vital skill for all warhammer players) the knights move 13" away from the Krox. The Krox have 3 options they can stay still/move forward and take the charge. They can flee the charge, or they can move backwards 2-3" and get out of charge range.

This is a typical warhammer stand off - in most cases the Krox choose option 3 and no-one will be charging for several turns (until the Krox have their backs to the table edge).

Both players should know this, and consider how this fits in the overall battle plan.

You can change the options by adding in a 3rd unit, some skinks. Now the skinks move in front of the Kroxigore and start shooting the knights. The knights have 2 options - charge the skinks or stand still and get shot. If they charge the skinks would flee and get cut down, but the Kroxigore would then charge the knights (who would likely flee, rally, get charged again....). If they get shot the knights will (slowly) be killed.

The Kroxigore could apply more pressure by moving up meaning if the knights stay still they get charged by the Kroxigore, and if they charge the skinks, they get charged by the Kroxigore. This would = a no win scenario for the Knights.

That said the knights can still flee a charge from the Krox (possibly after killing the skinks). Positioning of other units, charge angles etc can all be used to mean if this happens the knights will still die. A common trick would be to also use a fast/weak unit (Terradons) to charge at the same time as the Krox. If the knights hold the krox beat them up (and hopefully not enough knights are left to kill the 'dons) if they flee the dons are fast enough to run them down. A similar trick involving Steed of Shadows (and a priest or Scar Vet) can also run the fleeing unit down.

An alternative is if the knights can get a unit behind the Krox (even a single model, ie Captain on Pegasus). The Krox can no longer move back, and therefore would receive the charge or flee (if the unit being is US 5 then its dead Krox either way).

See. It's all about options.

When playing consider. If I do this, what would I expect my oppoent to do, how would I then react to his counter.... if you can't work your way to a good resolution for you, you need to try something different.

Of course when you've played enough this becomes second nature, and it 'appears' people are playing without thinking, but all the options are being weighed up (possibly subconciously).

Another thing to consider is what happens if dice go well/badly. What if your unit breaks - will you be able to counter the enemy, who will be in panic check range, who will you flee through? What if you break them, will you be able to maximise the gains, crossfire the enemy unit...? What if nobody breaks, will you be able to add support to swing the combat in your favour?

Expect the unexpected.

More Lizards

Lizards.... great list, great models, great army..... my favourite.
Firstly - with almost any list design/theme you can win (Saurus heavy, skirmish, magic, monsters). You don't need to go with "standard tournament lists".
Secondly, even with new VC's daemons etc Lizards are awesome. If you can't win its your fault - lizards are one of the most capable armies around.

Its difficult to give general advice without knowing what "theme" you want, but there are a few general comments.
1) Slann. Magic doesn't win games, but the Slann can get a VERY good magic phase for relatively few points (try not to be tempted to go too tooled up). With the Slann a Steed of Shadows + Scar Vet on foot is usually the key for getting a strong magic phase. Regardless of the other 3-4 spells you have 1 "must stop" spell per turn (against most armies bane head + rule of buring iron = another must stop spell). More than magic though Ld 9 BSB is awesome in a Lizard list. With average dice you have to lose combat by 4-5 before you need to worry about fleeing - that's HUGE!
2) Skinks. Lizards main strength is the skink. When used properly the Skinks mean that Lizard assault units hardly ever receive a charge - even against faster armies.
3) Tarpit characters. Lizards have access to some of the best tar-pits around. Scar Vets on Cold Ones can absorb HUGE amounts of damage and with good Ld and a BSB nearby can stop knights/chariots monsters etc in their tracks.
4) Kroxigores are awesome..... period. With a BSB (esp Slann BSB) nearby they grind there way through most units with ease.
5) Huanchi Banner is broken. If you use it as 'cheekily' as is possible it can become far too good.
6) Saurus are slow. Lizards are generally fast and agressive - saurus aren't. That said they do create a larger unit does create a nice "anchor". If you want Saurus Heavy I would HIGHLY recommend a Slann.
Enjoy.