Horned Gobbo II write up

Hi All,

So, Horned Gobbo II is over, and it was a great event. Going in I was aiming for top 5-having the list (and practice) to hopefully pull it off...

GAME 1: Dawn Attack vs Jeff's Goblins.

Righty, so a great "get you into it" game with some unfinished business. Jeff stole a draw from me game 5 of Runefang. Needless to say I was not playing for a draw this time!

We deployed:

The thing in the middle was played as difficult terrain and the huts are a single building-so are the tent things. Ruined pillars are impassable...temple of skulls are simply hills.

Turn 1:
I shuffled up slightly, but mainly set up for the cannons. I used the classic Hellblaster/HPA/stank trick to get within 24 inches for a turn 1 shot. 12 shots at gobbo chariot = dead chariot. As a result = 2 doomdivers, 2 spear chukkas and 1 rocklobba panicked, 35 Goblins ran off the board, along with a 2nd chariot and 5 wolf riders!

Though in return a cannon exploded, and the stank took 2 wounds from a misfire, so it all balanced out...

Though Jeff didnt have much luck as his rocklobba misfired and the foot of gork failed to cast.

Turn 2:

More shuffling with the intent of drawing the squigherd out.

I also drop a comet in amongst the panicked artillery to try clear some of it out. The hellblaster shot off a mangler and the stank takes out a Doomdiver-panicking the other one (I'm sensing a theme). My vanilla knights also release the fanatics who die from being in a building. 

So the Mangler needed a crazy big roll..yup in it goes through the stank and the halberds.

1 wound on stank and 5 dead Halberds = I got off lucky! I scroll foot. Comet domes down and fails to take off any artillery...I was going to have to do it the old fashioned way.My vanilla knights take a pump wagon to the face and are run down.

Turn 3:
Up go the detachments into the face of the squigherd and the archers jump on the mangler killing 9. My artillery does nothing of note, but another comet is on it's way down!

The Gobbo hero charges the detachment, however he and the archers are wiped out by the comet along with some squigs and handlers. 5 goblins also die to an IF Foot that misses the demis and then I get to place it on top of the squigherd killing a few more. The artillery however does kill 2 demis from the unit that is off warmachine hunting.

Turn 4:
Warmachine Demis get into the artillery and spend the rest of the game killing it all.There is an awkward lull before the storm. IF iceshard on squigs wounds the Archlector.

Squigs fail animosity and then fail to charge the demis. The pump wagon then (thankfully) misses the demi's flank. The warmachine killing continues-panicking the 3rd chariot off the board.

Turn 5:
The demis front charge the squigs while the stank gets the flank.

IF comet (3rd one this game) kills 18 halberds. Squigs get destroyed.

The comet then comes down taking out the small goblin unit.

Turn 6:
The ICKS kill the pumpwagon, and I stop foot.

Result: 15-5 to me.

In the end it was the comet that won me the game. Great showing with 3 in total...making up for the 1 that failed to come down last time we played!

GAME 2: BLOOD AND GLORY VS HUGH'S HIGH ELVES

I was very excited by this match up as I was very curious to see the new High Elf book in action-with me on the receiving end - especially with a Frostphoenix lurking...

We deployed:

I got the first turn.

Turn 1:
...was all about the phoenix. Left demis moved up to within (long range) charge to tempt fate if the phoenix survived the cannons...I would rather it duke it out vs the demis then hide behind all the fences! With comet scrolled I went about shooting. Stank does 2 wounds, 2nd cannon is warded, and the 3rd misfires...yeah cannons...woohoo...

So the Phoenix takes the bait and makes the crazy long charge (would have been better if failed-but cant have them all)...and then gets a 4+ ward just in case.

That flank was then rushed by shadow warriors and 2 eagles. I stop a return comet, however the stank takes 3 wounds from RBT and 2 vanilla knights die to archers and the ring of fury.

Turn 2:
ICKS make the silverhelms flee, but get pulled to an awkward place exposing them to the whitelions...so up march the valiant chaff knights to save the day...with the stank lurking to discourage an overrun. My demis not in combat march up aggressively (with harmonic) to draw out the dragon princes who would be more than happy to live up to the fluff and charge in right?

Yup in they go with their own harmonic buff + iceshard on the demis. Vanilla knights take on the whitelions while the demi vs phoenix "fight" continues as a non-event. The shooting phase kills both RBT-panicking a unit of archerrs off the board, and the hellblaster takes out 8 whitelions + a comet is on it's way.

Righty-so the dragonprinces came of 2nd best and were run down by the demis exposing the lvl4...the vanilla  knights tried their best, but died.

Turn 3:
The Demis go into the lvl4 and his bunker-wiping it out with a run down off the board.

The 2nd eagle is thunderbolted, and my comet comes down killing a demi and the silverhelms. In the non-event combat something happened! the Phoenix went down to 1 wound...

Having taken on the vanillas, the whitelions have a go at the ICKS who decide the most manly thing to do would be to flee...err..."tactically withdraw"...so instead they redirect into the stank who is parked up admiring the "fountain of forbidden love". Shadow warriors make it to a cannon and take it out easily.

Turn 4: 
The halberds charge on in and flank the whitelions, the ICKS rally

...and the demis lose by 1 and are run down...the salt in the wound being the phoenix having passed a wardsave to stay alive that round grrr. However I do manage to take out the shadow warriors.

My Demis who had come back onto the board to take out the last remaining archer unit then get magiced and shot. 1 demi dies = panic and flee saving the archers. The phoenix goes and hides from the remaining cannon while the stank is brought down by the Whitelions. My Archlector also takes 2 wounds in a challenge with the s4 BSB while failing to do anything with his s6.

Turn 5:
The combat grind continues, but not for my Archlector who dies :( My lvl4 shows how it is done and thunderbolts off the phoenix boom! My cannon also kills the lvl2 who had left the archers to make my demis choose (not that they had the chance thank to the panic).

I FINALLY finish off the whitlions and we call it.

Result: 20-0 to me due to VP's and having successfully broken the High Elve's fortitude.

MVP goes to the lvl4 who single handly took out the silverhelms, (1 demi), 2 eagles, shadow warriors, and the  phoenix-with the assist from stank and demis.

GAME 3: WATCH TOWER VS PETE DUNN'S SKAVEN

Yay...worst match up for this mission. I was hoping to come across Pete in a mission where there wasnt a nice movement and cannon blocker in the middle of the board where I could use my combat superiority to my advantage... Oh well

We deploy:

Now I made a huge mistake during the "terrain negotiation" phase. The grass stuff was agreed to be "dangerous" when my caffeine deprived brain heard "difficult".

I "had" the watchtower, so Pete got first turn.

Turn 1:
surprisingly mild. Shuffling slaves, 4 dead archers, and the doomrocket overshoots...

I then go straight into Banzi Charge mode to get across the board-2  wounds on demis and 3 dead ICKS thanks to the dangerous grass. My Stank takes 1 wound from mishap...then 3 more from a cannon misfire...my Archlector and lvl4 take a wound each from IF chain lightening (that doesnt bounce...) doing 3 wounds to the doomwheel (finished off with cannon). So far my army has been more skaven than the skaven-I smell a rat.

Turn 2:
The Great Horned one finally decides to turn his eye to the battle...the bell gets a free scorch, which my lvl4 fails to dispel with 2 dice (OMG)  = 2nd scorch on the Halberds (so 42 hits in total) leaving 7 + BSB, Archlector and lvl4. Dont worry! Warpstone token + powerscrolled 13th (really?) = they are all rats! I believe the term is "Skavened". I also lose a cannon as BOTH gutter runner units decided to join the party.

In return my Helbaster takes a unit of gutter runners out ha! + my Banzi charge hits the rats. Demis into slaves, demis into clanrats (points!)...and the stank misses by and inch (of course). I cannon off the warplightening cannon + kill the naked engineer with repeater pistol (my "goal" this weekend was to remember I had one on the stank!). Combat is a big grind.

Turn 3:
HellPit gets itchy feet and smashes into the ICKS. Slaves clip the demis to hold them up as the clan rats get a battering. Gutter Runners take out the hellblaster, my ex-halberds and characters take out the last detachment archer.2 Demis die to magic and the ICKS are removed with some flailing fists before they even get to strike (16 attacks I believe...). the "Skavening" continues. btw: sorry no pics of this turn-they were all super blurry :(

Stank then counter charges the slaves and the vanilla knights go in as well (why not). My cannon fails to wound the catapult.

Turn 4:
Hellpit THEN goes into the demis who had almost made it through the slaves into the bell..nope. ex-halberd rats take the building (and the 20-0 win).

Clan rats die and slaves pop = pic! (ignore the fleeing vanilla knights and celebrate the Empire victory!...)

Turn 5:
lots of failed warp lightening and no cracks call (only spell I threw dice at all game!) + everything moves out of the charge range of the Demis-heck-even the plague catapult decides to explode to stop me charging it (great tactics btw :P).

...and the game ends.

Result:  0-20 loss.

The extra 1000vps for the watchtower was the big difference, otherwise it was a 16-4/17-3 loss. I was never going to win it after I lost the halberds and characters-plan was to tie up all the "building takers" and put the halberds in FTW...almost.

GAME 4: MEETING ENGAGEMENT VS TANE'S DWARFS

WOW this list was down as my "favourite"...after that of the people's champion of course. I'll write it out briefly for all who didnt see the lists:

Anvil with 2 scrolls
bugman
Ranger BSB with challenge rune
Dragon slayer
27 longbeard rangers-banner of 1d6 break test and throwing axes
38 warrior rangers
21 miners
2x5 miners
2 cannons with rune of forging-one flaming
gyrocopter.

And here is how it deployed...

Talk about ballsy!

Turn 1:
Anvil gives stank half movement and I lose a cannon.

My demis then (no surprises) gets challenged into the Longbeards...oh no. Good thing my bus is there to rush to give inspiring presence and BSB! Somehow I get Iceshard AND harmonic convergence into the combat = we draw!

+ I blow up the gyrocopter for good measure....

Turn 2:
1 unit of miners come on (anvilled into cannon) and the warriors flank in.

My Demis kill Bugman (yay!), only lose combat by 2 and hold! Heroic Demis FTW. the 5 miners take out the cannon and overrun into my engineer.

The rest of my army then turns up.

Yup...go big or go home! My notes say "win by heaps" and I run both units off the board (this is why you take infantry in an Empire list...8 ranks of steadfast makes demigryphs awesome).
The traffic jam:

Engineer dies and miners into hellblaster.

Turn 3:
Big miners come on in a more dwarfy fashion.

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng (the cat says hi)

Note the Dragon Slayer biding his (or her-they all have beards and can't be assuming) time. The 2nd small miner unit comes on, but the anvil fails to get it anywhere. the cannons do 1 wound to the stank, and the Hellblaster dies.

So the important combat-archers in flank, vanillas in front of the miners:

I win this and run them down. The detachment archers then kill THREE miners from the 2nd unit (I believe this is their only successful "to wound" shooting of the tournament). In other news I unwind the mess-crucially to get the demis facing the artillery I have to reform the ICKs only 4 wide...

Turn 4:
Stank cannoned off. Demis charge and kill a cannon...the ICKS set up for the 2nd cannon (still 4 wide...)

Turn 5: 
The Dragon Slayer comes out, anviled into the flank of the ICKS, kills 3, they break and are run down! Wow..overrun into demis.

The demis are so taken back that 6 attacks + 2 from the riders all fail to hit...but the dragon slayer meets his (or her) fate thanks to stomp. My big unit of archers shoot off the remaining miners.

And we call it given there is nothing I can do turn 6 (fail to reach cannon with charge).

Result: 14-6 win.

The Dragonslayer single handedly cost me a 16-4 and so takes the MVP award. I was getting a little ahead of myself and forgot to take into account the anvil charge...yes I was out manoeuvred by a dwarf...Tane got my favourite opponent vote. A fantastic game where I got VERY LUCKY turn 1 and successfully built on that luck.

GAME 5: BATTLELINE VS NEIL WILIAMSON'S GOBBO ARMY

What a nice framing of an event - Goblin armies-especially suited given it was the Horned Gobbo II.This time I wouldnt have the advantage of "general and BSB here-everthing else over there" to ride, so I was going to have to play smart...

We deploy:

So the challenge for me (being hopelessly out deployed) was how to control the wave of stuff coming at my left flank while swinging my right flank round fast (and safe) enough to get into the points...made slightly more difficult by the gobbos getting first turn...

Turn 1:
Gobbos shuffle up with only 1 block suffering animosity. Shooting = 2 dead demis (1 from each unit-thanks doomdiver and spear chukka) and 1 wound on stank.

My Right Demis then long range charge the pumpwagon, the ICKS shuffle forward to keep the pressure on the wolf riders looking to sneak behind. On left flank my Vanilla knights move to counter any movement. Magic = harmonic on hellblaster and IF comet - right in the middle of the gobbo pile! Shooting = dead trolls (harmonic on hellblaster = win), dead rocklobba x2, and 1 cannon explodes (chess-like trade). Detach archers remove the charmed shield effect. Demis take out pumpwagon and overrun into chariot.

Turn 2:
Left flank looks like this:

While squabbling night gobbos take both blocks out of action.Wolf riders animosity into ICKs-who win and fail to catch the surviving wolf (doesnt rally and runs off board eventually).

 2 vanilla knights die to doomdiver. The Magic phase from now until turn 5 are dominated by failed magic mushroom rolls (yeah-really bad luck). Chariot dies. 

So Demis charge the spear chukka (take it out). Halberds and ICKS set up to swing flank:

My detachment springs a very risky trap by charging the wolfriders - Iceshard IF'ed. the other demis swift reform so the wolf pursuit run = into the demis-iceshard was to make sure I''m not wiped out, but also to force the failed restrain roll. 

And it works! Hellblaster promptly removes the gobbo hero on wolf, stank wounds itself with a misfire, cannon takes out doomdiver...comet now s7...

Turn 3:

Both blocks squabble thanks to double 1 animosity (again!). Forest Gobbos + general, lvl2, BSB and 2 assassin things leave the building. Comet comes down killing the 2nd Doomdiver and 11 night gobbos who panic (lose fanatic) and flee towards my lines...Gork Fix it IF'ed  = 7 dead forest gobbos. I then scroll the vortext Demis win the wolf combat. 

My Demis then solo into the squigs with Iceshard support (costing me 2 levels from the IF). Huge combat = squigs explode killing a demi. Hellblaster shreds the fleeing gobbos to thin the ranks. 

Turn 4: 

Fleeing gobbos rally. Chariot charges Demis flank. forest gobbo unit squabbles (seriously!) Chariot wins, Demis are steadfast, hold and reform to face. 

Demis and Halberds charge the spear chukka to force unfavourable fanatic release-and to get the double overrun into the gobbo block (who had reformed to face the oncoming combat). Demis kill the chariot, Hellblaster kills mangler which panics forest gobbo (wiht general and standard of discipline BSB) who flee to the board edge... Halberds and demis get overrun into forest gobbos

Turn 5:

The general's unit rallys. Night gobbos charge the demis...and the pump wagon falls just short (man-nothing was going right for the gobbos!). the fanatic hurls itself into the forest (having survived a cannon snipe attempt the turn before). Both Gobbo blocks are beaten and run down.

My turn 5 consists of the hellblaster killing the pumpwagon. 

Result: 19-1 win, or more correctly, a 1-19 gobbo loss. I won the game just as much as the gobbos lost it. Once again, it was a case of jumping in and capitalising on a chance. MVP was the Hellblaster

OVERALL RESULT:

I ended the event on 68 battlepoints, which + perfect sports (which everybody got = awesome) and perfect paint score = 4th in battlepoints, however there were 3 people on 69 battlepoints = I came 6th. Also good to see that the top 6 scores were very close.

So I achieved my goal of top 5 on points, but with the duplication I just missed out on the ranking. Interesting that top 2 were skaven, and the other 3 were 2 ogres and "push them forward (with skill)" WoC. 

Big thanks to Ray for TO'ing and Pete Dunn for the usual work that goes into the events + 5 tables were terrained by other people -so thanks for providing awesome tables to play on. Next event I'll have to provide a table as well.