Dwarf versus Chaos Game 1

Some new models purchased from Ebay arrived so after the song-writing portion of the day, Space Monkey tried out a Dwarf army I developed while I tried out a Warriors of Chaos army. At 750 points, it is not ideal for the high-priced Chaos army...but hey, the models were painted, I had an opponent, what else could I do?

The Dwarf army was pretty tight:

Thane with Rune of Shielding (2+ Ward v. Shooting & Magic Missiles), Master Rune of Spite (4+ Ward) and Rune of Stone (+1 to save), making him pretty tough to kill and "only" 152 points.

10 Thunderers with the nasty Dwarf Handguns. I did give them shields, giving them a 5+ save. (150 pts)

17 Dwarf Warriors with Veteran, Musician, and standard bearer. (202 points)

13 Longbeard Rangers with a veteran, Musician, and Standard Bearer with Runes of Battle (+1 to combat Resolution) and Stoicism (Count as double strength). This unit has the Scout rule, 248 points. 

Total:752 points.

Facing them would be my most awesome, newly arrived Mafioso Evilosa

Led by a Mafia Don with Treason of the Mob, Call to Glory, and Flickering Fire. With a Spell Familiar and Conjoined Humonculus I figured to get off some good magic. 205 points.

10 Mafia Made Men with a Champion, Standard Bearer with Banner of Wrath, Mark of the Capo (-1 to be hit by shooting, -1 to be hit in Close Combat), and a shield giving them a 3+ Save verse Shooting and 2+ in close combat. 253 points. 

12 Mafia Made Men as above except with Musician and Blasted Standard (5+ Ward verse shooting), 292 points.

750 points. Yes, a 2 point deficit :-)

Space Monkey built a completely symmetrical field with ruins in the center, trees to my left and ruins to my right (and the reverse for him).  I won the pre-game set-up roll and elected to set up a unit first, thus completing set-up first. Good and bad decision...I unwisely set up my larger unit first on my left in the open, thus allowing him to plant his Thunderers opposite them. My smaller unit went on my right and he planted the warriors opposite them. I then put my General in the center of the larger unit to my left and he put the Thane in his Warriors, then put his Longbeards behind the central ruins. 

We then rolled for turn. We both rolled 2s, but since I finished setting up my units first, that meant I won. Bwooohahaha, my error paid off!

Chaos Mafia Turn One

Basic. March forward 8". Try to cast Treason of the Mob (enemy unit attacks itself). My roll was high enough after re-rolling one die with Blood of the Mob and adding 3 with the Conjoined Homonculus but the Dwarf magic resistance dispelled it. 

Dwarf Turn 1

His Warriors marched forward the full 6" and his Thunderers fired at my Warriors. Three hits led to 2 wounds of which I could save just one. I took my first casualty. 

Chaos Mafia Turn Two

My Made Men on the right advanced just 3". Here was my thought: we started 24" apart. I moved forward 8", leaving 16". He moved forward 6" leaving 10, 2" too far for me to charge. If I marched 8 he would get the charge. If I moved forward 3", it should leave 7"...too far for him, perfect for me.

Meanwhile, my Made Men on the left advanced a full 8". I suspect this was illegal in retrospect as I think I might have been within 12" of his Rangers but that just now occurred to me as I typed this. *sigh* So much to remember.

This time I was successful in casting Treason of the Mob on his Thunderers. They would attack themselves. Excellent! Needing 4s to hit, 4s to wound, and 5s to save, I figured he would lose 2 -3 and perhaps need a break test. Perfect! 

Until only 2 of his guys hit themselves and neither wounded. 

Pointless magic my old friend

You've come to mock me once again.

Dwarf Turn 2

No movement.

Thunderers hit 3 times, wound 2. One I Armor saved, one I Ward Saved. Sweet! They are working they way they are supposed to. Shooting and Magic are about the same.

Chaos Mafia Turn 3

I announce two charges. The Made Men on the left had his Rangers in sight and made it with an inch to spare. Good, that was the one I was worried about. I almost didn't bother to measure on the right since, as seen above, I was a solid 1" within range. But I did measure...and was about a quarter inch short.

Somewhere my math went wrong. Either I set up too far back or he did. Either way...I was short! Because of the nature of people we are, he offered to allow the charge to hit home and I refused.

Oh, well. I did cast "Call to Glory" on my unit on the left, but he used all 4 of his dice to Dispel it, thus letting the Blasted Banner hit his Warriors. Well...sort of. I rolled a 2 for number of hits, then failed to wound. 

Pointless magic my old friend...

But at least I had some close combat. With him being 6 wide, I had 5 guys with 2 attacks each and one with 3. My Sorcerer/General (yeah, I know...in close combat, he can't cast. Oops) did wound one, but it was saved. My warriors?2 wounds, , 1 save, but 1 kill...

except then we remembered his save was one better in close combat. Re-rolled and he saved both. 

Yep, my awesome hand to hand unit, with full force, just did a combined ZERO casualties. 

On the bright side, I saved his paltry wound. 

So let's see...equal rank bonuses, both have Banners, both have musicians, tie...no, wait, he has that rune giving him +1 Combat resolution. My warriors broke. At least I had not waited 14 years to put a premier hand to hand unit into combat only to see them break at the first sign of resistance...these broke just a week into my desire to play them.

And ran 5". Fortunately, he only pursued 2. Would have been more fortunate if this occurred on his turn...

Dwarf Turn 4

He declared 2 charges. On my left, his charge into my fleeing unit overran them and destroyed them.  But hey, look at the bright side...his Warriors charged by other Made Men. Here we go.

His Thane hit just one time and could not wound. His Warriors hit twice, zero wounds. With the Mark, they needed 6s. Excellent, my plan was working.

I struck back. 9 Hits. Now we are getting somewhere. Of course, only 3 of those wounded. And he saved all 3. 

He had a rank bonus of 2. I had a rank bonus of 1. He won the combat by 1. I had a leadership of 8, now modified to a 7. I rolled an 8. He overran me.

He wiped out my entire army in four turns. 

I did a total of 1 (one) one casualty in the entire game. Three magic phases. 2 Hand to Hand combat rounds with 9 of "the best hand to hand core units in the game" and a mighty Champion. 

One casualty. 

Pathetic.

Check out the picture above: that is the casualties experienced by each side during the game.

Space Monkey asked if this happened to me often. 

I remember when I was about 10 playing a game of Risk where my opponent had Quebec and Peru. I went against each of those with almost 20-1 numerical superiority in each case...and lost both. 

Since then I have never had anything remotely close. I lose occasionally, but it is always a close game. I have never, ever, ever lost by over 1000 points in a 750 point game. (I did 17 points to him; he did 750, + captured 2 banners for another 200, plus would get 3 table quarters for a total of 1250 points to zero). 

So here is the traditional picture of the survivors. Considering the bloody nature of the battles we typically fight, this is pretty unusual to see...complete units.

If that is not the definition of a Massacre, I don't know what is. My Banner of Wrath did the only casualty I caused in the entire game.

I suppose you could argue my set-up was flawed in allowing his Thunderers to shoot. I would buy that argument much more if it had ANY impact on the outcome. He shot down one guy. That guy did not remove a rank bonus, did not cause a test, or in any way affect the outcome. Ironically, it was one of only two actual kills in the entire game.

I broke in two hand to hand combats without ever taking a casualty in either. 

*Sigh*. 2 failed break tests wiped out my once-proud Mafia. Time for a re-match.