Just a quick post record a fantastic game today that I a) did not take pics of; and b) did not write notes up on-much to my regret.
It was a Battle of the Pass 2400 High Elves vs OnG. I used the list I used last week. I was up against:
Warboss and BSB in block of Orcs
Savage lvl4: Shrunken head in block of Big Un Savage Orcs
Gobbo lvl2 with scroll
6 trolls
2x5 spider riders
Huge Spider thingie
2x2 gobbo chariots
pump wagon
2 manglers
rock lobba
DDiver
(potential list for a 2400 OnG, skaven, and Dwarf tournament where 1/3 of games will be underground-hence all the strider stuff).
(quick side note-after the game we he realised that had too many points in Rare = pump wagon dropped for 2 spear chukkas in future).
So a lot of history going into this game. The Orc's DDiver has never failed to kill all Dragon Princes on the board and well, big spiders are cool and I promised not to kill it with shooting. Also, it was my opponent's FIRST EVER time using spider riders-despite having 30 painted. (success-they killed an eagle with poison and then died to shooting and solo Dragon Prince charge).
How did the game go?
HOW ABOUT FOOT OF GORK FOR THE WIN. Seriously. Turn 2 the lvl4 IF's it. Direct hit on Whitelions x2 = 4 whitelions left alive, direct hit on Spears, and I get my revenge by standing on the Savage orcs Killing 12. The IF then sucks the lvl4 into the warp and takes the rest of the Savage orcs sans 4 with it.
The shooting phase is another success for the artillery dice.D Diver hits and kills 4 out of 5 Dragon Princes (kills the final 1 2 turns later once remaing prince had soloed a unit of spider riders). And the Rocklobba "hits" and leave only 6 spearelves left in the unit.
In my Next turn I RBT the final SOrcs. Alot of destruction from 1 spell!
The Spider died in spectacular fashion. I saw a overun flank with teh swordmasters via the pumpwagon. So dead pump wagon and Archers into the front of the spider = Swordmasters overrun in the flank of the spider. A Swordmasters were a little disappointing. Only missed 2ce, but only caused 2 wounds (very, very poor rolling!). The archers also sneak a wound past the armour. However, as I had dropped the Spider's strength to 3, it only caused 4 wounds to me. I win through CR and run it down.
That was the only real combat of the game (Trolls finished off the last 4 White Lions who had occupied a building). I shot to death everything else (incl the D Diver). The rocklobba fell apart and I pitted the Trolls. Only things left was the Warboss's unit and the lvl2. My Combat units were waaay to small to engage it, and in the last phase I didn't have enough dice to cast a lucky pit.
So an enjoyable game that I was lucky to win given that Gork had stomped on all my stuff!
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Game 2 with High Elves vs WoC-Ode to silly deployment
Disclaimer: I’m not usually a superstitious person, but in this game there was an area of the board (around the centre, more towards Sam) where an unusually high number of 6’s were rolled.
Case in point:
Sam rolled 3 6’s in a row on 3 different dice (to try roll a mission that wasn’t watchtower as I had just played that).
Then rolled 3 double 6’s in a row (2 ldship tests, then charge distance)
I IF’ed twice and ended up losing my mage to the warp when rolling in the area
Sam cast Ice blizzard instead of the re-roll 6’s spell. I then rolled lots and lots of 6’s to hit and wound with my white lions (rolling in that area).
+ camera batteries died end of first game, so apologies for not writing a “usual” battle report. There are some pics my mate took, but I didn't take "proper" notes, so I'll just include them mainly to show off how amazing my opponent's army looks.
So anyway my opponent finally rolled a 1, so straight up fisty cuffs.
His list was a bit of experimentation:
Lvl4: puppet, 4++, heavens
Lvl2: on disc that looks like win (fell beast with steed of slannesh head), 3++ vs shooting, tzeench
Bsb: steed, slannesh, book that has lvl1 in it (fireball)
2x40 maurders: FC
18 Slannesh warriors with Halberds and shields: FC
2x 5 Slannesh Dothraki with flails
6 Slannesh Chaos knights: m, sb, rage banner
Korn chariot
Warshrine
I had:
Lvl4: scroll, ruby ring
BSB: GW, Armour of Calador, dawnstone
35 Spears: FC, gleaming pendant
10 archers: M
13 Archers: M
23 Whitelions: M, SB-banner of sorcery
16 Swordmasters: M, SB-flame
T. Chariot
5 Dragon Princes
5 Reavors
2 RBT (MVP)
2 Eagles
We deployed. I deployed the eagles and reavors hard left with spears and shooting in the centre and everything else hard right. Game plan was to thin the maurder hordes with shooting to break in 1 round of CC. Weather the knights and deal to the warrior units as I usually do.
I made a HUGE mistake in deployment. In my zealous enthusiasm, I deployed my swordmasters 13 wide to get the chomp on the maurder horde it was opposite. HOWEVER this cramped my line, so when my diverting units came into play (and always blocked me) I couldn’t get them around. Oh well. Swordmasters are just huge targets anyway.
The huge line of Swordmasters lining up vs their intended target.
Basically my mage managed to display utter incompetence with 2 12 dice magic phases. Turn 1 only successfully casts a fireball and then IF’s miasma-becoming a lvl1. Turn 2 IF’s Pit (kills 6 maurders with it though) and sucks self into warp. Rest of game was a case of “what do I REALLY need to stop this phase?” Thankfully the scary spells were all direct damage, so staying in combat reduced the advantage.
The ebb and flow of the battle was rather unusual. My spears kept one of the hordes in check, finally taking it out in 2 rounds of Combat, and then beating the warriors, and the shrine. However in each case I failed to catch on pursue (rolling snake eyes twice-my phalanx prefers to hold the line), however the maurders + lvl4 managed to run off the board. Had I caught the warshrine and the 1 remaining warrior the game would have been a draw...oh well.
My fast calv and archers made short work of the Dothraki...s3 bow fire FTW. MY sustained RBT shooting also counteracted the lack of offensive magic, thinning the hordes and the warriors to manageable levels for my combat blocks to engage and beat.
The Swordmasters were a big deployment fail. IF I had stuck to plan and deployed 8 wide, I would have been able to get a crucial charge off. They ended game as a magic target, slowly dying to fireballs and flicker.
So my reformed swordmasters a turn too late :(
My use of chaff was also very poor given I removed Sam’s chaff from the game very early on. I opted to flee with my chariot when sacrificing it would have brought the warriors into easy charge range of my swordmasters. Also I gave up the eagles too cheaply. I think this was a symptom of deploying a very wide line when a more concentrated deployment would have been more efficient (esp as no warmachines to hunt).
The white lions were very, very good. They beat off one of the hordes (failing to catch though), then wore a flank charge from the Chaos knights who had shrugged off a charge from my dragon princes. I held and won the grind...my BSB pwns all.
White lions take out Kmau Though fail to run them down.
My opponent played well given that no decisive combat that went his way. I had too many easy points to take (including the swordmasters) + I gave him my lvl4 for free. In total I ended up losing by around 500 points. A little frustrating given I beat off all his blocks and his knights, but that is the nature of the warriors; expensive unkillable characters and solid pricey support (and the ability to run to safety away from my pursuing units where necessary...or maybe that is just Slannesh).
First High Elf game proper. 2400 vs WoC Watch Tower
SO first game with the High Elves and keen to get the ball rolling. My list is a “I think it will be useful” mix up.
Lvl4: Scroll, ruby ring Shadow
BSB: GW, 2+ dragon armour re-roll
35 Spears: FC
10 Archers: m
13 Archers: m
23 Whitelions: M, SB-Banner of Sorcery
16 Swordmasters: M, SB-flame
T. Chariot
5 Reavers
5 Dragon Princes
2 Eagles
2 RBT
I was up against a list that was also “let’s mix it up a bit”
Tznch Lvl4: 3++, puppet
Lvl1: flame, scroll
Tznch BSB: Stuff
Tznch flying guy: breath weapon, 3++ vs shooting and MM
18 Korne Warriors: M, SB. Halberds-flame (Kwar)
17 Tznch Warriors: FC-hw/sh (Twar)
30 korne Maurders: FC-flails (KMau)
3x5 doggies
2 unmarked chariots
Warshrine
Hellcannon
So a good splattering of infantry on both sides. I had no idea how I was going to take out the Hell Cannon (no treeman to smash it down).
Ben got the watchtower and chose to leave it empty.
Turn 1:
My turn starts with me waltzing my army up. I moved the reavers right up into the face of the hellcannon and moved the chariot to peak out from behind the building.
On the other flank, my eagles shielded the dragon princes who wanted to have some fun with the flame attack korne warriors.
My magic phase resulted in the chariot by the hellcannon being -1 toughness, and the other chariot was big miasmaed for -3 to relevant stats. I hoped to take advantage of the t4 chariot and unleashed a volley of daffodils from the 2 RBT and managed 2 wounds. My archers are a little more successful, panicing a unit of doggies.
The WoC turn starts off good/bad for me. The Kwar frenzy failed charged an eagle-wasnt fishing for that but yay! The Hellcannon also decided it was time to go eat before shooting and frenzied into the reavers. Now this caught me by surprise as I thought the HCannon charge would allow a charge reaction (ie reavers flee), but after a bit of discussion we decided that since it is a random move = rules of random movement apply = dead reavers (though they score a wound on it first for good measure).
The rest of his line moves up, including the Twar who march up to the building with the intent of occupying it next turn.
Magic phase was a little bit more eventful. I stopped treason on the swordmasters before Gateway was IFed at them resulting in 5 dead swordmasters. The puppet moved the miscast to a 7= nothing woot! The warshrine then thought it would be a good idea to give the Twar +1 attack for good measure.
TURN 2:
With a quick glance around the board I saw my moment (not the Rebecca Black one, but my moment). The T. Chariot charged the doggies and the White Lions charged the Twar, getting a nasty clip...perfect.
I then move the eagles to block the chariot and the Kwar from coming to the the aid of the Twar. The Dragon Princes also move up to look down the line at the oncoming carnage (though from the pic I think I wheeled a little illegally to get them to where they were-but didn’t affect game at all).
My magic phase did what it needed to do. -3 to relevant stats miasma on the Twar, though wither was dispelled when aimed at the chariot on other flank. Shooting was once again a bunch of daffodils, getting 1 wound on the chariot (seriously, who employed the Welsh to make/grow the arrows?). In the combat there is an epic BSB vs BSB duel. I win the combat, but the Twar hold.
My chariot runs over the doggies and JUST misses the chariot (Which I realised as soon as I moved the charge grrr).
So, the just fed Hcannon decides that it hasn’t removed ALL my painted models of the board and frenzies into the chariot.
The chariot and the Kwar charge their bait (I guess best to remove them) who hold. Disc dude flies behind my lines to vomit on the spears.
The magic phase was more “pick on the swordmasters”. I scrolled treason, then stopped gateway with all my dice, resulting in 5 dead swordmasters from flicker and fireball. The massive burp hits 22, though only manages to kill 6 spears.
In the chariot combat the HCannon only manages 2 wounds. The T. Chariot then flees 11 inches through the Kmau and fails the dangerous terrain test...sigh.
In the all important combat, my heroic BSB cuts down his counterpart, and the White lions win the combat and run down the Twar into the flank of the chariot (not shown very well in pic due to the hill).
The eagles die an honourable death.
TURN 3:
With all the important stuff in combat and the watchtower unthreatened I opt to keep the swordmasters to their best role – magic missile fodder, so no charges.
In my back field, the archers turn to face off with the doggies
Rolling up a 12 dice magic phase (and a channel on top and 2 dice from the Banner all wasted) I start by unleashing wither on the Kmau for -1t. Miasma onthe Kwar is stopped, then in a case of “well I have dice I’m not using and no LoS for ruby ring” I threw a precautionary MINDRAZOR on the spears to buy me time. This of course was cast with IF and my lvl4 became a lvl1 keeping only the predulum spell (6D6 initiative test or take d3 s10 wounds) spell-ie my only real non MINDRAZOR anti Hcannon tool. Shooting is more productive. I finish off the chariot, kill 6 Kmau and 3 doggies who flee.
Combat is very exciting. I wipe out the chariot and overrun into the flank of the Kwar.
The WoC now realising the Welsh RBT’s have run out of Daffodils react by charging the disc dude into one of them. Thankfully the arc he was in (rear) meant no overrun into the other one. The Kmau frustratingly pass their frenzy check and opt to not charge the MINDRAZORED spears.
Magic once again picked on the swordmasters. I let treason through (5 dead). Swordmasters decide they have had enough and flee. I then stop gateway aimed at the spears. A fireball at my lvl4 thankfully fails to wound and flicker finishes off the last of the swordmasters. I guess them going down in flames is suiting given that they had the flame banner.
The warshrine decides to buff the Kmau, but does nothing. The Hcannon then finally decides to fire and, typically, gets a hit on the spears killing 13. The spears then flee.
In the combat phase the RBT dies and my White lions break the Kwar who then run off the board aided by my Dragon princes. The White lions then reform to face the rest of the battle and capture the watchtower.
TURN 4:
No charges are declared and the spears rally. The Dragon princes and the whitelions move up to get some juicy LoS on the Kmau. Please note my lvl1 in the WoC deployment zone (see Alex I do advance!). Also note the Whitelions are really where the solo dude is-they just wouldn’t balance.
My magic phase is actually productive. I kill the lvl1 with the rubyring and then frustratingly the pendulum fails to wound the Hcannon grrrrrrrrrrrrr. My shooting kills 5 Kmau.
The Mau fail to swift reform, so only turn to face the oncoming whitelions. The flying dude charges the other RBT.
I throw all my dice to stop treason on the Whitelions = lets Gateway through which kills 4. The onslaught continues when 11 die to another direct hit from the Hcannon. In a fit of usefulness the Kmau are gifted mr(3) by the warshrine.
The flying guy kills the RBT and overruns into the archers.
TURN 5:
So the fun begins. The Whitelions, Dragon princes and the spears charge the Kmau. The Whitelions, obviously tired of doing all the fighting fail to reach the combat. My archers, fresh from killing doggies, notice that there is potentially no WoC infantry (other than lvl4) to take the building. They take advantage of this my swift reforming and walking towards the watch tower. The magic phase is another big fail as the pendulum fails to reach the Hcannon.
In the unimportant combat, the flying guy breaks the archers who flee. Flying guy reforms to face the battle. In the important combat I win by lots (lose 2 Dragon princes for the effort though). The Dragon princes then run down the kmau (exposing flank to HCannon...) and the warshrine flees in panic.
So to make the decision easy for the WoC, the HCannon rages into the Dragon Princes (grrrrrr no flee). The flying guy declares a charge on the spears who flee 9, A redirect into my archers fails to reach phew! The lvl4 finds itself march blocked. The warshrine then fails to rally. Treason on the lions kills 3 and Gateway fails to cast on the archers (hero shield!).
IN the combat the Dragon princes do nothing. 2 die, the final guy escapes to need to rally on snake eyes...
TURN 6:
My archers rally and the other archers enter the watchtower. The Dragon prince fails to rally and runs off the board. ANOTHER 12 dice magic phase (with wasted banner again) is IF-tastic. Rubyring is IFed at the lvl4 (nothing) and then the pendulum is IFed (escape warp) only for the Hcannon to matrix the initiative test...(hero shield max power!). That’s THREE failed attempts to even get 1 wound off the damn thing! My shooting is a bit more successful, getting a wound on the lvl4.
The flying guy then attempts to beat the archers out of the building with a charge. My luck pays off though as the warshrine flees off the board woot! Magic is another lvl4 fest. Treason on the spears kills 2 before they are Gatewayed into oblivion! The MVP of the match Hcannon then gets ANOTHER HIT on the whitelions killing the last, however the BSB survives unharmed and holds. In the combat 4 archers die, but hold.
TURN 7:
That’s right-SEVEN TURNS. Epic. Not much really to report though. I FINALLY GET A PENDULUM OFF ON THE HELLCANNON (2 wounds...). I also get a 2nd wound on the lvl4.
The WoC turn is not that eventful either. Archers hold again and 2 wounds are taken from my lvl1.
The game finally ends with my archers holding the tower.
AFTERMATH:
MVP for me was the whitelions of awesome. The WoC MVP was the artillery dice...that Hellcannon was nasty; I have a new found respect for it.
For a first time out I was happy how the High Elves preformed. My thoughts for “improvement” at 2400 would be to drop the Chariot and use the points to turn the swordmasters into 21 whitelions, though to begin with I’ll trial 21 swordmasters (don’t have more whitelions and no $$$ to get any). White lions die just as easily to magic missiles and they have the best “grind”. Though I think 21 swordmasters will create problems for opponents-their “grind” being lots of kills. Would it be better to split them into 2 units? Most definitely, but don't really want to go down that track as smaller units also = easy points to give up.
Still, early days and lots of forum advice to ignore :)
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Horned Rat IV day Two
So as mentioned in earlier post I forgot to bring my camera sigh. For easy reading I'll just give a quick run down on the last 2 games.
Game 4: Blood and Glory vs Skaven
This game was very interesting. My opponent (Doug) Had no magic, ABomb, or artillery. Instead, he had a warlord on a litter, bsb, ninja dude, engineer, and butt loads of troops. Like seriously.
His army was something like:
warlord on litter (4+ ward)
BSB
assassin
engineer
4/5 x 25 Slaves
30 clan rats-with Doom flayer
big block of giant rats
2x 5 rats
5 rat swarm bases
6 Rat Ogres
25 gutter runners with tunneling thing
14 plague monks with banner of the under empire
hamster wheel
So basically he had deployed 200ish points by the time my entire army was deployed haha. I was lucky in that my team has taken "elite army" meaning I got to add my special slot (10 great swords). They were VERY useful.
So I won the game, 2 VPs short of a 20-nill fustratingly. The game COULD have easily gone the other way though. Basically I pushed my stuff up the middle, used my fodder to set up multiple combats (Ie my horde overrunning into another combat, that then gets fought that round.). my saving grace was destroying the hamster wheel, as my line quickly swung to a battle of the pass style set up-with the hamsterwheel looking down my flank "cue my cannons doing their job" + 1 of my hordes failed a re-rolling steadfast check when plaguemonks fluked a long range flank charge -however I rallied and killed the unit haha. His warlord was the luckiest rat in the world ever. He 4+ warded 4 cannon wounds and a mortar round before being pulled down by halberds. Best unit in the game was 1 of my blocks that held a charge from Warlord, the rat ogres, doom flail and giant rats to allow my flagellants to swing in and win the day. Oh, and ASF spell FTW.
Speaking to Doug after the game about why he has no magic, his answer was that his army can absorb direct damage. With so many units, there was always another unit if one got destroyed. However, my buff and hex magic got around that by affecting key combats + my chaff allowed me to remove 2 units/combat phase x2. Very much useful.
Doug was a fantastic opponent however, and I assume will be looking to get a lvl2 caddy in there somewhere!
Game 5. Random deployment vs Lizardmen Mike
Last game of the event was vs my twin list: lore of light Lizards. His list was something like:
light Slann with usual stuff
2 old scar vets on coldones
2 blocks of saurus
1 cohort unit
2 units of skinks (1 was slot)
1 chameleon unit (slot)
2 sallys
1 sally (slot.).
Steg
Being last game we spent all our gold and I got my scouts (sigh) and my 10 great swords (yay!).
The game started well with my lvl4 being sucked into the warp (got big phas up though...). The lvl4 decided to take 13 halberds from 1 unit and 8 from one of the hordes with it. *insert much grumbling about the slann being just out of range to steal my 6's...* The my mortar exploded and both cannons misfired. His turn 1 the Slann Miscasted and became a lvl1. Meaning the game became t4 cold blood vs t3 feather hats and cod pieces.
I emphasis the cold blooded as it was the saviour of the day. I managed to salvage my position (thankfully the slann only had the very dispellable phas and light of battle) with some good use of troop movement. However, my Flagellants fluffed a key combat (tired after a weekend of Pwning), and even with a bus in the flank I just couldnt break a unit of saurus that a) were dying easy to my halberds, b) hitting back with plastic swords. my great swords slipped through the lines to try ninja the slann-however only 2 made it, and only managed 1 wound over lots of rounds of combat (4+ ward again...)-finally dying to a solo sally charge bottom of turn 5. The biggest problem I really had was that my bus was useless after the miscast, and my hordes were depleted from fighting chaff and 1 lucky sally hit-t4 beats numbers when no supporting magic. My scouts were also useless-charging a unit of 8 skinks. 3 die to S&S, and then lose 2 rounds of combat before being run down. The cannons were the MVP killing the steg and the 2 scar vets (who ran solo).
The game felt like a loss-and it was a minor loss. 2 Key combats didnt swing my way-despite the odds, but that is Warhammer for you. Still a fun game of dice fail lolz for both of us.
Wrap up:
So won 3, drew 1 and lost 1. Both the loss and the draw I felt I could have won had 1 or 2 crucial things gone my way (flag flank charge on spears, Saurus and cohort block remembering to run when lose combat and steadfast), but still very happy with the results.
In the end, the R.O.Mans achieved their objective and won! I had to leave earlier, so vicariously enjoyed the chocolate prize (with an IOU to be repaid at Call To Arms next month haha).
Objectives that affected us:
Lizards had to protect us
Skaven has to wipe us out
chaos had to always have a border with us
A very fun event, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Big thanks to Pete Dunn for organising the event.
The next event (Call to Arms in August) my Empire will be taking a break, and my woodies will have their first 8th event run about. Next post will explore list and painting objectives for the event.
Game 4: Blood and Glory vs Skaven
This game was very interesting. My opponent (Doug) Had no magic, ABomb, or artillery. Instead, he had a warlord on a litter, bsb, ninja dude, engineer, and butt loads of troops. Like seriously.
His army was something like:
warlord on litter (4+ ward)
BSB
assassin
engineer
4/5 x 25 Slaves
30 clan rats-with Doom flayer
big block of giant rats
2x 5 rats
5 rat swarm bases
6 Rat Ogres
25 gutter runners with tunneling thing
14 plague monks with banner of the under empire
hamster wheel
So basically he had deployed 200ish points by the time my entire army was deployed haha. I was lucky in that my team has taken "elite army" meaning I got to add my special slot (10 great swords). They were VERY useful.
So I won the game, 2 VPs short of a 20-nill fustratingly. The game COULD have easily gone the other way though. Basically I pushed my stuff up the middle, used my fodder to set up multiple combats (Ie my horde overrunning into another combat, that then gets fought that round.). my saving grace was destroying the hamster wheel, as my line quickly swung to a battle of the pass style set up-with the hamsterwheel looking down my flank "cue my cannons doing their job" + 1 of my hordes failed a re-rolling steadfast check when plaguemonks fluked a long range flank charge -however I rallied and killed the unit haha. His warlord was the luckiest rat in the world ever. He 4+ warded 4 cannon wounds and a mortar round before being pulled down by halberds. Best unit in the game was 1 of my blocks that held a charge from Warlord, the rat ogres, doom flail and giant rats to allow my flagellants to swing in and win the day. Oh, and ASF spell FTW.
Speaking to Doug after the game about why he has no magic, his answer was that his army can absorb direct damage. With so many units, there was always another unit if one got destroyed. However, my buff and hex magic got around that by affecting key combats + my chaff allowed me to remove 2 units/combat phase x2. Very much useful.
Doug was a fantastic opponent however, and I assume will be looking to get a lvl2 caddy in there somewhere!
Game 5. Random deployment vs Lizardmen Mike
Last game of the event was vs my twin list: lore of light Lizards. His list was something like:
light Slann with usual stuff
2 old scar vets on coldones
2 blocks of saurus
1 cohort unit
2 units of skinks (1 was slot)
1 chameleon unit (slot)
2 sallys
1 sally (slot.).
Steg
Being last game we spent all our gold and I got my scouts (sigh) and my 10 great swords (yay!).
The game started well with my lvl4 being sucked into the warp (got big phas up though...). The lvl4 decided to take 13 halberds from 1 unit and 8 from one of the hordes with it. *insert much grumbling about the slann being just out of range to steal my 6's...* The my mortar exploded and both cannons misfired. His turn 1 the Slann Miscasted and became a lvl1. Meaning the game became t4 cold blood vs t3 feather hats and cod pieces.
I emphasis the cold blooded as it was the saviour of the day. I managed to salvage my position (thankfully the slann only had the very dispellable phas and light of battle) with some good use of troop movement. However, my Flagellants fluffed a key combat (tired after a weekend of Pwning), and even with a bus in the flank I just couldnt break a unit of saurus that a) were dying easy to my halberds, b) hitting back with plastic swords. my great swords slipped through the lines to try ninja the slann-however only 2 made it, and only managed 1 wound over lots of rounds of combat (4+ ward again...)-finally dying to a solo sally charge bottom of turn 5. The biggest problem I really had was that my bus was useless after the miscast, and my hordes were depleted from fighting chaff and 1 lucky sally hit-t4 beats numbers when no supporting magic. My scouts were also useless-charging a unit of 8 skinks. 3 die to S&S, and then lose 2 rounds of combat before being run down. The cannons were the MVP killing the steg and the 2 scar vets (who ran solo).
The game felt like a loss-and it was a minor loss. 2 Key combats didnt swing my way-despite the odds, but that is Warhammer for you. Still a fun game of dice fail lolz for both of us.
Wrap up:
So won 3, drew 1 and lost 1. Both the loss and the draw I felt I could have won had 1 or 2 crucial things gone my way (flag flank charge on spears, Saurus and cohort block remembering to run when lose combat and steadfast), but still very happy with the results.
In the end, the R.O.Mans achieved their objective and won! I had to leave earlier, so vicariously enjoyed the chocolate prize (with an IOU to be repaid at Call To Arms next month haha).
Objectives that affected us:
Lizards had to protect us
Skaven has to wipe us out
chaos had to always have a border with us
A very fun event, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Big thanks to Pete Dunn for organising the event.
The next event (Call to Arms in August) my Empire will be taking a break, and my woodies will have their first 8th event run about. Next post will explore list and painting objectives for the event.
Monday, 4 July 2011
The Horned Rat IV Revenge of the R.O.Mans
So this weekend just been there was the 2nd major WHFB event in Wellington of the year. As with the first one (Runefang) it was a Mighty Empires campaign instead of a tournament (I believe that is the NEXT event-Call to Arms 2400pts...). I personally think that the campaign event is the way to go. It has all the “seriousness” of a tournament, but with all the lolz and fun that WHFB is all about. Big ups to Pete Dunn for a) organising it; b) putting all the campaign stuff together; and c) running a campaign instead of a tournament.
So as with the last event I was in the R.O.Man team with the father/son combo of Neil and Peter who were using Bretts (minus Heroic Killing Blow that I think he missed all event) and Woodies (Peter’s first ever run with woodies in 8th...).
The Event was 2000 points with 3 “sideboards” of 100 pts that you could buy with campaign gold. You had to buy your core first, then special, then rare. I took 10 scouts (never again!) and 10 Great Swords (totally worth it!). As a team we also had a “mission”. Ours was to a) survive; and b) hold 2 of the 3 coastal tiles. This meant we had a weekend of games vs Skaven, Lizardmen, and the Chaos Alliance (Dark Elves, WoC, DoC).
Also-N00b moment for me-on day 1 brought my woodie army book instead of my Empire, and day 2 I forgot my camera...sigh.
My list:
Lvl4: Light-scroll
W.Priest: HA, Sh (general)
W.Priest: HA, 2hw
BSB: FPA, opal Amulet, charmed Shield.
2x46 Halberds: FC with 5 Free Company detach (the Sisters of Sigmar)
30 Halberds: M, SB
10 xbows
30 Flagellants
2 cannons
Mortar
5 Pistoliers: M
GAME ONE vs High Elves. Traditional punch up.
SO game one I got to choose my opponent of the High Elf players. I chose to play Hugh instead of rematch Glen from last time-not because I wanted to avoid Glen-but because Hugh brought a dragon, and my cannons were eager to go monster hunting! (+ plenty of games left for the rematch).
Hugh’s list was something like:
Prince with stubborn, 4+ ward, Sun Dragon
BSB on Stead with 2+ As, 5+ ward, Gw usual stuff
Lvl2: High magic, +1 spell
36 sea guard: FC
9 Silverhelms: FC-the UoU cold blooded item
5 Dragon Princes
Lion chariot
2 Eagles
SO, a very fast list with lots of targets and armour to make life fun for the men with feathered hats.
Turn 1
The HE got first turn and moved their flanking force up hard. This worried me as it meant I only had 1 turn with the cannons before the Dragon got his nom nom nom on.
In the magic phase, I stopped Drain magic, before the shield of Sapphery was IF’ed onto the dragon...yay. Snake Eyes was rolled on the miscast table, but the mage dodged the warp.
In the empire turn my troops slowly started their trap move. I made a mistake with the pistoliers. Instead of pushing up to kill the eagle, I moved them to make the charge impossible. Sounded smart, but I forgot about the dragon princes charging through the xbows. I got the big pha’s off (better hitting me on 4’s not 3’s). The shooting phase was awesomeness x1000000. The mighty dragon is felled, the prince frustrating survives haha. The xbows also then put 2 wounds on the lion chariot.
Turn 2
So as expected/realised in my shooting phase, the DP’s and the Eagle charged my xbows.
The mage, not having had enough fun last time, decides to IF the shield AGAIN, and takes a wound for the trouble. The sea guard then let off a volley, killing a unit of my sisters. As you can expect, the xbows died, and everything overran into the pistoliers...though buying my cannon another round of shooting...
The empire movement phase was me setting more traps/bad ideas for the high elves. This meant entering the forest (but not enough to lose steadfast). However, this forest was a stupid forest-but hey, I can’t remember failing re-rolling ldship 8 tests...*cough* can opener vs Woodies *cough*
I wanted to trap the silverhelms in a combat they could not win, and then Combat res them into submission. The other side of the battle was a little more “tactical” as I needed to get the flank of the sea guard to have any hope at all of winning vs them.
My magic phase was fruitful. I got speed of light off and also unbreakable on my general. Shooting was very fruitful. The cannon saved my the pistoliers finished off the lion chariot, while my other cannon, decided to grape shot FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME and killed an eagle for its efforts. Not bad, not bad. In the combat, as you can expect the pistoliers went squish and the cannon found itself in combat with an eagle and some DP’s.
Turn 3
So the high elves, not being a stupid bunch, retreat. Well, the Silverhelms turn around and “redeploy” to help the sea guard...but exposing a juicy flank to my halberds.
In the magic phase the silverhelms get the shield-though the mage had finally learnt how to temper the winds of magic, and cast it safely. The sea guard in the shooting phase open up on the other unit of sisters, but only manage to kill 4. The remaining sister, holds firm. The cannon dies a sorry death. The eagle reforms to try chase my mage, and the DP’s overrun to hunt the mortar (not really needed TBH-hadn’t hit anything all game!).
The flagellents with nothing to do, reform to play “catch the prince/make sure his ldship is miles away from where it is needed”.
Repeat for the rest of the game. The general and his merry men, seeing the golden opportunity to wrap this game up quick, decide that it would be tactically “better” to hang out in Sherwood Forest for another turn...sigh. At this point I could see the game slipping away from me. I try to position my 2 blocks as best I could.
My mage get’s pha’s up for some much needed anti-shooting.
Turn 4
The high elves, seeing the opportunity charge...and the sister flees haha. The Sea Guard redirect into the horde to get their chop on. The Silverhelms, on the craziest of angles, could see me, and were thankfully in my front; they also joined the fun.
I dispel the shield on the Sea Guard, and the stubborn spell fails to cast...phew! Now I’m thinking I’ve probably lost as my other blocks are nowhere near the situation to support me, and my “flanking unit” is still frustratingly in the front arc of the seaguard (wanted 1 more turn before the charge). The only good thing was that Pha’s was still up. The DP side show resulted in a dead mortar. The real funfest however was a bit of a blood bath. I managed to pull the BSB from his horse to his grave, and scare the sea guard. However, the highelf onslaught was too much and I lost combat by 4. I picked up my dice, pleaded to Sigmar, and rolled snake eyes! Praise Sigmar! Then to my surprise, the Sea guard reformed into a steadfast block-giving my “flanking” unit the flank! I suspect my opponent didn’t see this as was more worried about my magic phase making me unhittable (understandably), so when deep for steadfast not wide for killy.
So In charge the halberds. My General’s unit decides it is time to get into the action, swift reform, and walk up to the silverhelm flank. My mage then fluffs....looks like this war will have to be won with the sweat from the brow and the might of the feather and cod piece of the Empire grunts...REAL WAR. Needless to say, the combat was a rip roaring success. I win 3, the seaguard are run down by the flanking halberds-who overrun into the silverhelms-who held due to the cold blooded item thingie.
Turn 5.
The other cannon fluffs a grapeshot and dies. I scroll the stubborn spell and pull the silverhelms apart with combat res-running them down.
With no chance of either side catching any other unit we call it there. Adding up the points, I was 764 points up. This also meant we could steal a tile from the highelves (which we did).
A fun game, and great to see the dragons being used. Didn’t do much in this one, but I hear in the later games it did much nom nom nom. Nice.
GAME 2 vs Lizardmen. Meeting Engagement.
So into game 2. My team was in last place (we lost the other 2 games), so we took the “all or nothing” card. This was changed since last time-instead of getting 1 point for a loss, you get none, but get an extra point if win.
For this game I annoyingly had to set up first. As I may have moaned in earlier posts, this gives the 2nd player a HUGE advantage-even if they go 2nd. Anyway-I was determined to win this one and prove to myself that it was do-able. To make it more “fun” the Lizardmen team chose the “elite army” card = one player gets their elite choice sideboard for free. As I had cannons, I was up against an extra 100 points of fun.
So my opponent Reid had a list that looked something like this:
Slann bsb-banner of discipline. +1 dice per spell, extra spell, if my mage within 24 = discard all 6’s, 4+ ward, 2+ ward vs ranged. Life
2 scar vets on coldones.
2 blocks of saurus
2 cohorts
2 Salamanders
Ancient Stegadon (cannon target #2 of event)
3 terradons (sideboard)
So rolling for deployment, only my mortar failed to start on the board (not that it does much anyway). I deployed as boring and defensively as I could.
The lizardmen rolled for their deployment-only 1 cohort was off the board. They deployed like this:
Turn 1:
I got first turn. My movement was to bring my flag into the forest (another stupid one) and to move the pistoliers up to frighten the terradons. I my magic phase, put the net on the slann. Shooting was rather eventful. My pistoliers did 5 wounds to the terradons-leaving 1 fustratingly still alive (and re-growable). The cannons opened up. They killed all the crew on the ancient steggy and only managed a frustrating 2 wounds on the beast itself.
The Lizardmen turn got off to a good start. The cohort moved on to flank my blocks (well 2 or 3 turn’s away flanking). The surviving terradon moved up along with the steggy and the sallys. The scar vet saurus “death star” charged the pistoliers-who killed one lizard with S&S before dying a squishy honourable death.
This good start however came crashing down around them when the slann failed a strength test, and 2 wounds got past the 2+ ward AND had no magic phase for the effort as well. Best. Net. Result. Ever.
The sallys then ominously failed to flame the flagellants... (two 2’s for range)
Turn 2.
The flagellents declare a charge on the sallys who flee. The flagellants then promptly fail a re-rolling ldship 10 test to redirect into the Ancient steg. One of the sister units was JUST within charge range of the sallys-so declared another charge, making the sallys flee some more. Good.
In this magic I gave the Flagellants ASF, and banished the last terradon. The lizards, sore from last time, save everything to stop the net. The cannons opened up on the ancient steggy, and took another wound from the hefty beast-this was looking like a job for the crazy men.
The Lizard turn started with the ancient steggy charging into the flagellants-hoping for some life buffs to keep it going. The sallys rally and stuff moves up
The slann starts by giving its froggy self a throne of vines before s6 MMissiling the sisters-killing 4. The survivor holds. I throw everything to stop flesh to stone on the ancient, who had regained 1 wound from the lore of life (slann had also healed itself 1 wound). In the combat, 3 flaggellants are trampled to death before 2 martyr themselves so the ancient steggy’s head can be mounted in the local shrine as a gift for Sigmar.
Turn 3
The flagellants, with a movement of 8 and having just killed an ancient steggy, charge into the saurus block with the 2 scar vets (sorry forgot to take a photo of this). My mage, overwhelmed by the winds of magic unleashes an IF net on the slann (didn’t note down the result, but nothing died/no wounds taken-probably lost rest of powerdice). In the shooting phase, my cannons do nothing-one misses the sallys, the other misfires. My mortar and xbows kill 3 skinks and do 2 wounds to a krox on the advancing cohort.
In the combat, the flagellants kill 13 saurus. The lizards kill 8 in return, lose by 5 and run in a very un-cold blooded way. They are run down by the flagellants who power on through into the Slann.
The Cohort then charges the xbows. S&S does 3 wounds to the krox, killing 1.
The Sallys and the other saurus block turn to face the Flaggellant/Slann combat.
In the magic phase, the Slann AGAIN fails their strength test. Wow. The shooting phase is a bit more productive as the lurking cohort opens up with many javelin shots at the sisters and kills them many times over. The flagellants vs Slann combat = 2 wounds on the Slann who holds. The xbows kill3 skinks from the cohort, before running off the board to the pub, leaving a cannon to it’s fate.
Turn 4.
So in the back field I start to move my halberds to engage the cohorts. I dispel the throne and fail to cast net again. The Shooting phase results in a mortar misfire (the other cannon still trying to repair itself). Combat however is a lot more productive as the Slann is killed by many flagellant fails. This is where I made a “mistake” (the flagellants were toast either way). I queried the initiative of the sallys-who are I4. With this in mind I figured the sallys would charge to wipe me out before I struck –completely forgetting that they are really there to destroy at range + I did not realise the movement + shoot range of the sallys. So I make the decision to reform to face the sallys instead of the saurus block (who were the obvious choice for the charge).
The cannon also dies-no cohort overrun L
So as I should have seen the Saurus charge the flagellants and the sallys move the flame the halberds. In the pic note that the sallys are out of halberd charging arc.
Shooting results in 24 dead halberds OUCH. I believe I flee (as somehow appear in next photo a bit further back...) In the combat I martyr 2 and kill 4 saurus (from 7 wounds). 4 flagellants die in return.
Turn 5
So my Halberds magically appear back from where they were last pic-must have rallied or something.
Also please note how far away the top cohort unit is from the halberds-not really a flanking threat...I cast unbreakable anyway as a precaution (more worried about more flame!)
So having been told to make this the last turn the lizardmen throw caution to the wind and declare a charge from the cohorts onto the halberd flank. Needing a double 6-and they make it OMG. Then with a 3 dice magic phase they dispel the unbreakable. From the last photo please note the “auto off the board” if the halberds flee.
The sallies flame the other unit. We don’t bother rolling it-I just pass a panic test haha.
In the tense last combat, I kill 3 skinks, who kill 5 of me in return. Losing by a lot, I close my eyes, ask for more of that Sigmar luck the unit has last game and pass my break test!
Adding up the points I won by 907. I say “I won”, but what I really mean was that my flagellants won the game.
A good game, and finally won the mission setting up first. Yay for flagellants striking first due to initiative and kicking ass (Despite depleting their own reserves in the process). Even though they finally died at the end, they more than got their points back many times over.
As a result of the game, we take a coastal tile from the lizards and get a bonus point due to all or nothing.
Game 3 vs High Elves. Grudge match vs Glen-straight up fisty cuffs.
Round three and I see on the board a match up vs High elves-even though we had no opposing tiles. This could only mean 1 thing: Grudge match vs Glen. I quickly consulted my team mates and got myself the match.
We were even assigned to the same gaming board we played on last time (gross super bouncy GW gaming board: look fantastic, horrible to roll lots of dice on!).
His list was:
Prince on foot with GW, 4+ ward, 2+ armour in a unit of 20 swordmasters: FC and banner of sorcery.
Lvl4 with Shadow
Lvl2 with life
BSB on foot with stuff
40 spears
10 archers
5 DPs
5 Reavors
1 Eagle
So super fast flank and solid infantry line-my Flagellants and those Swordmasters were NEVER going to meet if I could help it!
So we set up
The High Elves got first turn. Their turn started with a long range charge attempt from the swordmasters on the pistoliers. A S&S reaction kills 1 swordmaster-and they fail to reach the Pistoliers. The fast flank moves up. At this point I gave the reavors a challenge-they have to lap my army haha.
The magic phase saw wither fail to cast, me letting flesh to stone cast on the spears (my lvl4 losing concentration), then ominously, a failed casting of Dwellers...Shooting kills 1 pistolier and puts a wound on one of the cannons.
My turn got off to a great start with the pistoliers finding themselves march blocked. The rest of my army moved to engage the blocks; I opt to set the flagellants against the archers.
In a small magic phase, I get pha’s up.
Shooting was not much of a show-the mortar decides to blow up and I kill 6 spears and 1 Swordmaster with the cannons. Xbows fire daisies at the swordmasters, and the pistoliers kill 3 reavors.
Turn 2
The tit-for-tat around the dance floor continues. The eagle (marched blocked) and Reavors move around the forest to get behind my lines. The DP’s charge my pistoliers, who kill 1 with S&S.
The rest of his army stumbles up, querying how to deal with the road blocks. I then dispel Flesh to Stone before his lvl2 IF’s Dwellers killing 22 Halberds from the general’s unit. Lvl2 and lvl4 take a wound each for the effort.
Shooting fails to do anything and the DP’s butcher the pistoliers.
My turn starts with an awkward decision; I have to 5 wide the general’s unit to keep them combat effective. Gross. Sensing plenty of turns left in the game, I opt to bide my time. In the magic phase, I get a big Time warp up and also make the general’s unit unbreakable. The xbows kill 2 swordmasters, and the cannons kill 7 spears.
Turn 3
The DP’s, eager for more blood declare a charge on the xbows, who sensibly flee, drawing the DP’s into comfortable charge range of the support halberd unit.
A 4v4 magic phase seemed promising for me until the lvl2 IF’ed Dwellers AGAIN, killing 19 halberds + the W.Priest in the 2nd halberd unit. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. However the lvl2 dies for the effort and the lvl4 takes another wound.
Seeing a game winning flank charge from the flagellants on the spear block, it was only suiting that they fail to make it haha. Oh well. To make up for it my support halberds charge into the DP’s. My sisters move to block the swordmasters from supporting the DP’s if everything goes wrong. I then IF Time warp-once again to keep the Elves honest. The cannons manage a frustrating 2 wounds on the eagle. In the combat, my CRes wins the day-the halberds running down the DPs and getting into position for a good charge on the lvl4 in the building.
Turn 4
So the combat starts...with the eagle failing a charge on a cannon. The swordmasters and the spears both charge their road blocks. I scroll and dispel the magic phase. Long range fluky shooting puts a wound on my lvl4. The sisters are cut down (though not before doing a bit of damage despite forgetting the +1 attack). The swords overrun into the general’s halberds-getting an “unusual situation” charge. The Spears reform to face off with the flagellants. I was a little annoyed with the swordmaster overrun –my halberds were just a wee bit too far forward. Oh well.
So time for my counter charge...kinda. The support halberds charge the lvl4 in the building-Glen forgot to move him out (therefore balancing out my halberd mistake). Rolling a massive snake eyes for my magic phase I try to cast light of battle on the general’s unit...and fail to cast. Sigh. The cannons then open up, killing 2 archers, and finishing off the eagle. The lvl4 dies a horrible death. The swordmasters+prince butcher 14 halberds who manage to kill 4 in return. A quick look over my notes and I confirmed what I suspected-the unbreakable from the general had NOT been dispelled. Woot for writing battle report notes!
Turn 5
Turn 5, and reavors finally make it into a cannon. The magic phase results in a hasty dispelling of the unbreakable prayer. The archers fail to wound the cannon on 2 wounds. The cannon combat is fantastic. The reavors kill 2 crew, and the remaining crew kills 1 in return, and then holds. Noice. My notes for the swordmaster combat go like this:
“swordmasters kill heaps = snake eyes”.
I guess you all know what that means....SUPER FEATHER HATS AND CODPIECES FTW
My turn 5 and the combat starts proper. The flagellants and halberds co-charge the spear unit. I Then get a big phas and a big timewarp up. The spearelves manage to kill 2 halberds and 5 flagellants before the flagellants kill the Spears to an elf. The BSB kills a token flagellant, then dies with a failed break test. In the other combat, super BSB defensive kit = I actually win the combat! Sadly the Prince and his body guard were having none of that and held.
Turn 6
Not much to say really, The Prince cuts down the BSB and the cannon holds 2 rounds of combat woot!
HOWEVER. Super fluky archer shooting (long range, moved, through units, through terrain) kills my lvl4. SUPER FUSTRATING. But thems the breaks.
I had a chance to charge in and do heroic stuff to the swordmasters, but a quick math thingie in my head told me that I did not have the bodies in the unit (thank you dwellers) to absorb the wounds and CRes out the sword masters + no W.Priest for hatred, so the game ended like this:
Valten and the Prince shook hands and called it a day.
Post battle adding up the points resulted in a draw. If the lvl4 hadnt died to super shooting, it would have been a win as I was up by just under 100 points. However, the game felt like a draw. There was a crucial failed charge from the flagellants (needed a 5 to get in) that could have pulled the game my way in a big way. Had that charge got off I suspect I could have taken the Spears in 1 or 2 rounds of CC, allowing my halberds to grind down the swordmasters. But oh well-should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.
A fantastically fun grudge match though. Glen has very quickly become one of my top 3 favourite opponents in WHFB + I also super fan boi his painting skills haha. He also made noises of resurrecting his Vampire Counts army. If that is true (and if you’re reading Glen DO IT), I can’t wait to take on the hordes of zombies, skeletons, grave guard etc with the might of my feathered hats, super cod pieces, spiky halberds and black power.
I’ll get him next time though...
Day two to follow shortly :)
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