3600 Dwarfs v 3600 Ogres

These young whippersnappers have been keeping me busy doing stuff called NOT playing Warhammer, but Kev the ogre and I decided to correct that so off we went. I wanted to try out the new Dwarf book...yes, it has been so long since I played the Dwarf book is still new to me...

 I wanted to try out the new Irondrakes, etc. I figured he would be playing the Skaven so took a couple cannons, a flame cannon and an organ gun...the cannons would go after the H-Pit Abomination which always rips my lips off, if they found a way of getting it early then I would have something to deal with the Screaming bell and Doomwheel.

 Meanwhile, I put strollaz Runes all over the place so I could Vanguard as many units as possible. I had 2 blocks of Longbeards (20 for potential Watchtower scenario, and 30), a 25 strong Hammerer block, 1 10-strong thunderer, a couple gyrocopters, including one with Vanguard.

 My plan was simple. The Hammerers would go dead-center in my battle line, keeping the other blocks within 12" meant they would be stubborn with a re-roll, allowing me to theoretically whittle them down with shooting and then they would have to slay every dwarf to get points.

 That beardy Kev went and foiled my plan, bringing Ogres and rolling up Dawn deployment.

Most of my rolls were really nice...I planted a cannon in the right corner with beautiful fire lanes and protected by a mysterious river with a 20 strong Longbeard Block with thane to protect it. Next to that was the second cannon and my Runelord on Anvil. Just in front of him were the Irondrakes with Stollaz so they pushed well forward pre-game to control the center.

 In the center were my 30 Longbeards in hoard formation controlling a ton of space. Getting towards the left I had a mini-artillery park of steam cannon and Organ Gun. They were protected by a mysterious forest straight ahead but could easily hit either the killing zone in the center of the table or the left flank should he sweep around that one.

I had one vanguarded Gyrocopter and the Irondrakes, but missed that the 30-strong Longbeards had it. This would turn out to be a fortuitous mistake...

The only problem was the Hammerers, who were meant to be dead center, were stuck on the left flank. Oops...

For his part, his rolls were much worse. His 8-strong (!) Leadbelchers were stuck well off to the left (out of sight on the picture above) and his right flank was very crowded with a stonehorn, unit of...bulls? in fron, another unit of ironguts behind them, and maneaters behind them. He managed to only have 10 units to my 11 so got to go first. Or had to, depending on point of view...

Ogre turn 1
The sinister statue in the center of his line (the OOOOOOLLLLLLDDDD school giant) puts a wound on his regular bulls, then hits the general 4 times....and musters 3 "1"s and a "2". It would be my last bad roll until the game was decided...

The ogre lines made a general advance but had no charges. He gets off Flamestar with irresistible force, only to see the only wound saved, roll an 11 on the mis-cast table essentially making his special character a level 0 speedbump for the rest of the game...

His Ironblaster cannon overshoots the Irondrakes and puts a wound on the Anvil of Doom. His Leadbelchers can only muster 3 hits in 20 shots and kill 1 Longbeard. Overall this turn was a huge fluff for the ogres.

Dwarf Turn 1
I move the 20-strong longbeards towards the Leadbelchers. I really have no interest in getting closer to that firestorm, but this march actually opens an enfilade on his unit of Mournfangs.Ialso do slight retrograde with the Hammerers because I am an idiot.

They are a hard as nails combat unit. Oh, sure, they die easily if anything with decent strength hits them...but they dish out a ton of pain. He has a clogged up flank...I need to keep it clogged.

My cannon enfilade works perfectly as the two cannons both hit the Mournfangs in the flank and there is no more Mournfang unit on the board.

Meanwhile, the Trollhammer Torpedo fires out of the Irondrakes, putting 3 wounds on his Ironblaster and the rest of the unit finishes it off.

The thunderers, organ gun and steam gun combine to take out three bulls.


I have not played a shooting army since trading away the Wood Elves for the Beastmen. This is the most effective shooting phase I have ever had; 3 Mournfangs, an Iron Blaster, 3 bulls, the center of his line ripped out, leaving 8 Leadbelchers with a long shot at some longbeards and 3 bulls to take on 10 Irondrakes...his other flank crowded in on itself...I am instantly in control of this game.

Ogre Turn 2
The dice turn in his favor. His Gorgers, for the first time ever, arrive, 4 strong, and come on my back edge behind my 30 Longbeards. He declares charges all over the field, and they are easy to make charges. It hurts I erred in taking my BSB out of the Hammerer unit thinking A) the Rune of Slowness was on their banner and B) they were going to die to the combined charge they were about to receive. So no -d6" to his charge.

Not that it mattered...he moves forward 1" with the Stonehorn and 2" with the Ironguts as they both fail spectacularly. Meanwhile, his Bulls take 4 wounds when the Irondrakes stand and shoot them to ribbons.His level 0 charges my Gyrocopter and his general breaks out of the now 3 strong unit.

The Leadbelchers get a whopping 34 shots and do a handful of wounds.

The gyrocopter and character cannot hurt each other, but I fail my test, flee and get run down. The Irondrakes beat the Bulls, need a 4 to run down the remaining one...and he lives by an inch.

Dwarf turn 2
Well, that double-failed charge was a stroke of luck, but the Hammerers are still grumbling, knowing they will get smacked around next turn. Where is the rest of the army? Just like those young punks to be off gallivanting doing nothing while the mighty Hammerers do all the work.

At least the BSB rejoined to bolster them and potentially inhibit the forthcoming charge.

I need a 9 to reach his leadbelchers but decide to charge anyway rather than let him keep shooting my Longbeards without fear.

In the center I don't want his Gorgers charging the rear of my Longbeards, and then getting smacked in front by his bulls. I make those combo charges, I don't receive them so needing a 10 I declare the charge.

Both make it.

He needs like 3s to make charges and fails. I need 9 and 10 and make it. Bwoohahaha. As Gimli said, Dwarves are "wasted on cross country. We Dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances." I am going to count 13" as a short distance...

I have his Gorgers lined up for an enfilade. To cannons speak...4 Gorgers leave the table having done nought but occupy cannons that had no other target.

This lets my steam cannon and Organ Gun concentrate on his general who eats their fire and walks off wounded three times.

In close combat we both expect his leadbelchers to win. This is stupid thinking...I charged (S5) with a strong, tough, armored unit. Sure, he is strong and tough too...but I hit on 3, he hits on 4, we both wound on 5, I have a save.

I beat the Belchers, need a 5 to run them down...he lives by an inch.

The 30-strong Longbeards in the center terrorize his bulls, killing them and running down the BSB. wow, could things be going any better?

Ogre Turn 3
There was an outside shot he could get two units into combat the first turn on my left flank. It is now turn 3 and time for the Stonehorns and Ironguts to charge again.The Stonehorn makes it with ease despite my Rune of Slowness. The Ironguts...are you kidding me? They fail. They needed I think a 4 and could not make it happen even without the rune.

His General charges the hapless Organ Gun. It is not long for this world...

Everyone rallies. Uh oh.

When he had most things running, it looked good. I still do not think I can stand up to him face to face in combat...Ogres are fast, tough and strong. With bad WS.

His name character enfilades the Longbeards with a breath weapon and kills 5.

The Stonehorn does 3d3 Impact hits. He gets...9. Max possible. He does fail to kill 1, but before the battle with his most fearsome troop starts I am down essentially a third of my unit, from 25 to 17. He then fluffs most of his attacks and does no further wounds, and the Hammerers kill the Stonehorn outright in one go.

Wow. behold the power of multiple attack S6, high WS guys v low WS.

Dwarf Turn 3
I charge his Leadbelchers again on the right flank with my Longbeards. Not much else they can do...he wins a shooting battle between his 20-30 shots/turn v my 0 shots, but I figure to do okay in cc. I do NOT charge his 1 bull with my Irondrakes. I want to fire that Trollhammer Torpedo again!

Meanwhile, my Longbeards charge his Level 4 wizard...that should end well for me I should think.

I fly the gyrocopter over to look at his single bull.

Shooting is pretty awesome as I take out his level 0 wizard, kill the single bull with the Trollhammer. His level 4 also dies. His Leadbelchers lose but refuse to break.

 Ogre Turn 4
Two turns too late his Ironguts charge the Hammerers. His general and some random unit of Bulls make a combined charge on the Flame cannon, the Bulls in front and General to the side.

Improbably, the Flame cannon survives and stands. Even more improbably the Hammerers take out his Ironguts in one go. I have no explanation for this.

Dwarf turn 4
The game is flying as there is little left to do. With him having no wizards left I am DOMINATING the magic phase...getting off the armor save boost has twice saved multiple Longbeards, the Wrath and Ruin is wounding Maneaters, Bulls, etc left and right...

I have very few targets left with the cannons as all but one of his 5 remaining units are engaged in combat and that one is behind a forest.

I charge my Thunderers into the Flame Cannon battle thinking I have Resolute and a chance...

The Longbeards force the Leadbelchers to flee off the table and are basically out of the game themselves, being in the far right flank across the board while the only remaining ogres are in my left flank deployment zone...

He finishes off the flame cannon, does lots of wounds to the Thunderers but they stick around.

Ogre Turn 5
His 2 Maneaters charge the flank of the 30-strong Longbeards. Why not, they have nothing else to do...

His Great Weapon Ironguts (?) charge the meatgrinding Hammerer unit. They battle fiercely, heavy losses both sides, I am down to 3 guys, he has 2, both wounded. Unfortunately, his unit Champ killed my BSB in a challenge. Fortunately, I passed the break test.

My General takes his champion in a challenge, he needs 6s to save the 2 wounds, gets them both, then adds insult to injury by wounding the general but I win combat anyway and reform to face them.

He wipes out the thunderers but gets stuck in the worst place possible...in front of the cannons.

Dwarf Turn 5
Unopposed, the Anvil Wrath And Ruins his bulls to death. The Cannons take out his general. The Hammerers and ironguts, both having great weapons, strike simultaneously. He does three wounds, wiping out my Hammerers. I do about 5 wounds...killing his last two unit members as well. Simultaneous mutual death. It was awesome.

His Maneaters break and get so far away that next turn would be me charging, him fleeing, then regrouping. Actually, they went through a mysterious forest, so I probably could not have seen them...we called it off since that was all he had left on the table.


What Went Right
Multiple wound-causing cannons getting enfilades on his Mournfangs and Gorgers before they could engage was unbelievable. I think he made a mistake not taking into account his positioning would allow me to shoot down his flank...but I made the right decision on  what to shoot at.

Additionally, when his already-clogged flank failed charges 3 of 4 attempts it allowed my single unit of Hammerers to take them on piece-meal and grind up the entire left flank, thus allowing the rest of my army to overwhelm him.

Finally, hitting those two low-percentage, high-risk, high-reward charges was a game-winning bit of luck. It got me out of precarious situations...if his leadbelchers get to sit back taking 20,30, 35 S4 shots a turn my Longbeards are going to die.

Meanwhile, multiple multi-wound causing weapons is a REALLY bad match for the ogres. If I enfilade a skaven unit, sure, I might do 5 or 6 casualties...who cares? Do 5-6 wounds (or 16...) to a Mournfang unit or Gorgers...well, that is a different story. I actually thought I would see skaven and against them the cannons would be nice but not stupid powerful. As it was, I think I fired the cannons 4 times each, had to reroll thanks to rune of forgning at least 5 of the 8 shots....and ended up never having a misfire, leading to some HUGE damage.

What Went Wrong
I definitely showed some rust in several decisions, but really, very little went wrong. I had a couple fluffed rolls but they were at times and places that did not hurt me overall.

He did a TON of damage. My 25 man Longbeards ended with 6 or 8 guys left...my 30 strong had I think 14 or so guys left...my hammerers, thunderers, gyrocopter, BSB, Steam cannon and Organ Gun all died...but the damage was spread out.

Really, I think it came down to my cannons being able to enfilade his key units and those failed charges. Do less cannonball damage and he can do some things. Get the Hammerers in a tough spot against a Stonehorn and Ironguts turn 2 and suddenly I don't have one unit holding up 3-4 units.

Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a really fun game. I love that I was able to vanguard 2 9and should have been 3 units, though if my Longbeards were further forward it would not have let me kill his Mournfangs, overshooting into his Maneaters...)

I like the Dwarf army has the option to push forward far enough to not have to sit back and gunline. At the same time, I kind of feel like I might have taken too much artillery...it was nearly 20% of my points, I just added it up. Sadly, Dwarfs are so expensive that taking say 2 less pieces would not let me take another combat unit. As is, nearly 50% of my points were in cc units and, including characters designed to make them even more CC oriented, well over 50% of them.I only had one unit of Thunderers so maybe a second one of them, but the nerf-bat they took makes that questionable.

Regardless, Kev said he liked the combat feel of the army and did not feel overwhelmed by the artillery/shooting and, in fact, thought he had more overall shooting. Not sure about that, though the 8 leadbelchers putting out 8d6 shots, his Ironblaster...they were fierce.

Anyhow, great time with great opponent. Looking forward to the next game. At this rate, that will probably be about 2016...

Warriors of Chaos versus...does it really matter?

As always, click on the pics for full-size glory

Kev and I had planned to play a really big game. Unfortunately, little things like...modeling, painting and, most importantly, building the @#$%^& army list got in the way so we settled in at 3600.

I built an atypical army for me; no Marauder Horsemen, only one unit of Knights, no Dragon Ogres, and 3, count em 3 units of Chaos Warriors are all quite unusual. Furthermore, I included a D-prince as my general...which means instead of my normal unbreakable army (LD 10 with re-roll staying within the bubble) I would be counting on LD 8.

I built it with a 45 strong Marauder horde with mark of khorne and great weapons. They would come on the most important side whenever the dice were with me, probably the back line via Wulfrik the Wanderer's ability.

Then I planned a really strong battle line; 2 12 strong units of chaos warriors with shield and mark of tzeentch intended to flank a 12-strong Chaos Warrior unit with great weapons and mark of khorne.

On one flank would be 10 Chaos Knights with khorne and on the other 3 Juggernaut Knights. The D-prince would fly around wherever needed to muck things up. Throw in a Dragon Ogre Shaggoth to hit tough targets and the H-cannon for a little distance shooting and I feel equipped to battle anything.

So lets start counting set-up mistakes.

We rolled up battleline. He would be playing the Ogres.

Ogres setup. 

And I would be playing the Warriors of Chaos.

The Warriors of Chaos set-up

All directions are from my point of view because, lets face it, I am the only one that matters :-)

He planted the new Iron-blaster cannon on a hill on the left flank. I responded by planting the H-cannon on the left corner. I had good line of sight to the entire field, I am happy.

He plants his giant just to the right f the hill the iron-blaster is on. I put my Dragon Ogre Shaggoth behind the house so he cannot shoot me with the iron blaster, planning to intercept the giant with my great-weapon wielding monster hunting Shaggy.

Your idiot alarm probably just went off. Giants are so-so against line troops but get them in a battle where they attack first...like, for instance, against a great-weapon wielding Shaggoth who is Always Strikes Last, for instance...and the giant's ability to pretty much keep the opponent from ever getting a chance to attack makes him a very poor target. But surely one mistake is all I would make, right?

He puts his Stonehorn next door. I know I am going to put either my Knights or Juggernauts opposite them so carefully measure off to leave space for them and put down...wait for it...THE MARAUDER HORDE.

Yep, the centerpiece of my offensive strategy to sneak in his back line and run rampage is now clogging my set-up under my "unit he must account for that will control space" theory. It would be a good setup...if it did not wreck my PLANNED setup. Huge, huge, huge error.

He launches some Ironguts.

I counter with my Knights, 10 strong. Hmm...fast moving, hard hitting shock troops...setting up opposite something they will take multiple turns to put down if they are not wrecked first. Set-up is not going well.

I then start deploying in depth and anchor my Ranger Banner carrying Skullcrushers of khorne on the right behind the forest.

Analysis
It has been a while since I played so I more or less went with my "I designed the army to control space, make you come to me, force lots of combats" set-up instead of the one I designed the army around.

Fortunately, the WoC are flexible enough to withstand such an error. And lets face it...my standard set-up is pretty strong. I have fast, dangerous units on either flank so there will be no rolling up my lines. I can advance in a line and, with more available units across the front force advantageous combats. The set-up is poor because it is not the plan I built the army around...but it is a very strong set-up anyway.


Ogre Turn 1
He starts his Leadbelchers wheeling around the mysterious forest on the right threatening KR8-KR...wait, not chess notation, sorry about that...threatening  a flank shot at my Juggers. Everything else makes a measured advance up the middle except the Cannon on the hill.

Winds blow a 3 and I dispel his Comet. His Iron Blaster misfires and does nothing to itself.

Analysis
Strong first turn. He set me up to have long charges that I needed to try anyway or risk getting charged with impact hits. Ogre impact hits can hurt. His Leadbelchers needed to move to get a shot and if I pursue them I risk doing nothing else with my Juggers. Meanwhile his center is extremely strong.

WoC Turn 1
I declare the charge with my knights against his Stonehorn. I then roll a 3/3/1 for the fail. I advance everything in a row. I move my Juggers to make it so if he advances the Leadbelchers I should get a turn 2 charge but he will not be able to shoot his entire unit.

I 6-dice the Purple Sun and total about a 15 including my level 2. He then dispels Pandaemonium. As usual for me, magic is pretty dominant...

The H-Cannon scatters well away from anything. It will not fire again all game...

Setting the trap; charge my horde, do some damage, take a Warriors of Chaos unit in the side

Analysis
I figured to miss the one charge. I needed a 10 to make it. But with his cannon up on the hill I could not sit back and let him blast away. Plus I have been torn to shreds by the Leadbelchers a few times in the past so would not be surprised to see them wipe out my Juggers in one turn. I had to be somewhat aggressive.

He forced me into that position, so good on him. I erred here with my D-prince. I did not want to peak him out in the open to get shot my the Iron Blaster so did nothing with him.  That was a mistake. Taking models is fine unless I plan to do nothing with them.

Ogre Turn 2
He declares two charges; Mournfangs against my Marauders, Stonehorn against my Knights.

His Stonehorn then rolls triple 1s for distance. Fail. His Mournfang fail their charge by 1" and pass both dangerous terrain tests. He moves everything else slightly forward.

Winds; he rolls two dice at Harmonic Convergence; both are "6"s. I then Infernal Puppet his roll to the worst one on the chart, he loses 3 levels and is never a factor after that.

His Ironblaster goes perfect; the carry lands it on Wulfrik, the bounce hits the rest of the unit. I make my "Look Out Sir!" roll and he kills 5 marauders. It will not successfully fire again.

Meanwhile, 4 of his Leadbelchers have sight to my Juggers; 11 shots result in 1 wound which I save. Remember that save; 1 for 1 at this point.

Analysis
He advanced pretty quickly giving me some tempting charges. I think he mis-guessed how many Leadbelchers could fire. He made a couple of good, aggressive charge declarations that could have put some hurt on me and hit some poor luck. We are about to have massive contact, and the benefit to getting the charge is well worth the penalty of minor positional disadvantage for failing.

WoC Turn 2
I declare several charges; the H-cannon Rampages forward about 11", doing nothing constructive.

The Juggers crash into the Leadbelchers. The Knights charge his Ironguts. The Shaggoth charges the Giant to keep it from hitting the Knights should they not be gone by his turn. The Marauders fail by an inch to charge his other unit up front.

In a shocking development my magic fails to achieve the casting score on the Purple Sun and he stuffs whatever else I tried. But wait, Magic will have some success in this game. Just not in the first two turns...

The Juggers prove awesome; the hit 7 times and put 5 wounds on him. The mounts do 2 more. 7 wounds dished out; nice. I save all 5 wounds he gets on me (yeah, he was hitting well). 6 for 6 on saves. I run him down.

A clever observer might see a rarity; I am using 2 proxies in this unit. See if you can find them...

Meanwhile, the Giant Yells & Bawls. Needing a 10 or less, I promptly roll...11. Standard Bearer and choosing proper combat order to the rescue. Re-roll passes.

I see your size and raise you this giant axe. Which I will never use...

Last but not least, here comes the thunder; my Chaos Knight unit champ takes on his Bruiser; I hit thrice, wound once; he hits back 4 times, 3 wounds, I ward save 1; 7 for 10 on saves.

Hack, slash, slay. No rinse, lots of repeat

The BSB does 2 wounds, the knights another 13. Things look good. He breaks and flees a whopping 10" which is pretty good. Not as good as the 12" I pursue and hit another unit...

Hey, where did our army go? Slow-pokes.

Analysis
Well, for a successful turn, that was brutal. The Leadbelchers being gone is great. I am at least two turns from the Juggernauts being relevant, though, and his Ironblaster can take all 3 out with one well-placed shot.

My knights can be hit in both flanks, his Mournfangs are about to do some nasty stuff, his Giant can keep my Shaggoth from ever using his axe...the reward does not out-way the risk. I might be in trouble even though the table looks good at the moment.

Ogre Turn 3
The Mournfangs and Ogre Bulls smash into my Marauders. Not worried. I will absorb lots of casualties, be steadfast, and hold him in place for the counter charge.

The Stonehorn makes the long charge and hits a unit of Chaos warriors. I am not worried, they are designed to laugh on nonsense like this; he might be running if not stubborn after I put a couple wounds on him and use banner and ranks to win the combat.

For a second time he gets a spell off; the irreistible force costs him a wound and gives him +1 T. The Ironblaster mis-fires and splits in two.

The Giant does thump with club. I fail the test, he does 7 wounds, Shaggy died without ever taking his axe off his shoulder. Ouch.

The Stonehorn does 5 impact hits, 3 wound, I fail all three saves and the ward as well. 7 for 16. The warriors then swing...and wound him once. Which he saves. His rider does another wound, I duly fail both saves. His thunderstomp does 6 (six) hits, 4 wounds, I save 1. 8 for 26 on saves.

Still steadfast, but now there are just 6 guys left. He did over half the unit in during that one turn.

Meanwhile, my chaos knights pt a barrel of attacks on his BSB, can only wound him once. My regular knights do 1 more wound. The exalted puts a second wound on the BSB. The horses finish off the BSB and do one to his regular guys.

He kills one knight in return, I run him down. His wizard breaks, his gnoblars break; I have wrecked his center.

Apparently he wants vengeance. Looking around, he spots my Marauders.

No problem. Counter charges to the left and right to wreck you with my steadfast army. 

6 impact kills start us off. Wulfrik gets in a challenge with his...Maneater? Whatever the wizard is. Does 1 wound Takes 1 wound...Wulfrik seldom performs for me. My level 2 Chaos sorcerer does wound a Mournfang, so I feel a little better.

then his Ogres hit 12 of 15 tries needing 4s. Uh oh. His Mournfangs start scratching biting, clawing and hacking; 23 Marauders lay dead before they get to swing. But they DO get to swing.

They do 8 wounds to the ogres, 5 to the Mournfangs..and the Mournfangs save 2. Fie upon thee, Great Weapons. Do some damage! (actually, I am pleased with doing 11 wounds in one turn but I cannot admit it, right?)
He stomps for 3 and thunderstomps for another 6.

He did 32 wounds in one turn; I fell one wound short of decreasing his ogres to no full rank. If I were steadfast I would still be there. I am not, am not...I flee, he overruns into my Great Weapon khorn threshers.

Someone explain my plan to Kev. His failure to co-operate has me worried about outcomes

Analysis
I thought flanking the knights and almost assuredly wiping them out would have been a strong move. My Warriors would have needed a 12 or more to charge successfully. Not doing that let me wreck his unit, get into Groesus and chase off a couple units he would need.

Who is getting ready to turn Groesus into Grease? Us.

Other than that I like his turn. Very destructive.

The stomp/thunderstomp/impact hits were lethal, lethal, lethal. I thought 20 wounds taken was way on the high side and was not worried about my Marauders hanging around. I figured to lose the combat, but figured it would not be by a lot and I would wear him down. Wulfrik 's failure followed by being one figure too few attacking his Bulls was costly but that was good positioning by him.

I was now worried; his Mournfangs impact hits and attacking first could put a hurt on my great weapons. If I had at least one rank left I still figured to put his Mournfangs down, but if I would have enough survivors was an open question.

WoC Turn 3
The Knights have Groesus' flank. Auto-charge; I must declare challenge, figure to limit the damage he does, use flank charge, standard, battle standard and ranks to make him run.

I bring my D-prince into action, flank-charging the Ogres. I will hope he must accept my challenge, he has 1 wound left, I should slay him outright, win the combat and with luck he will run. At worst he has one guy attacking me. I should win this combat.

I hesitate about what to do with the H-cannon. Ultimately, I do not want the giant joining in against my Warriors because at the moment it looks like his stonehorn, mournfangs and ogre bulls are going to be roughing me up pretty good. In a desperation maneuver, I charge into the giant.

Meanwhile, I flip my unengaged Warriors in the forlorn hope the khorne threshers can hold up his Mournfangs for a turn so I can get into action.

Inexplicably, I forget he slew my champ earlier. I use my unit champ against Groesus; I do get a wound through, dies in return. Groesus stays...barely.

His Giant does the Thump with Club and, with I2, inexplicably I pass. I then wound him once, but he sticks around for more.

I want the Stonehorn unengaged if I can break his ogres; maybe a failed break test will do what my army cannot. I wound it once, he saves; he does 3 wounds back, I save 1; his rider then does another one, the Thunderstomp kills another, I flee and he overruns.

His fortune against the Threshers is worse; he only does 2 wounds and I save 1. The Rhinorxes whiff; I then retaliate with 12 wounds. No more Mournfangs. Being frenzied, there will be no turning to face the Stonehorn. I move away

He accepts my challenge, I do indeed kill his wizard, he flees, I run him down. Perfection.

Analysis
Unintentional cheating aside, a near perfect turn.

I would have like Groesus to go away. His magic weapon is FIERCE. His ability can be lethal. I had a shot at his Giant...did not do much, but it is something, right? The Mournfangs are gone, the bulls are gone...in one turn I went from feeling like I was in deep trouble to liking where I was at.

Except I really felt like his Stonehorn alone could take out the rest of my Chaos Warriors. I was down to the D-prince for magic and he had nothing useful. As usual, we combine to do one wound (no casualties) despite both having a level 4 and 2 level 2s. Magic is its typical irrelevant thing.

Ogre Turn 4
His wiz continues to flee. His Gnoblars wuto-rally due to Groesus. His Ironblaster rear-charges the knights. His Stonehorn goes to face my assembled avengers.

Hisgiant headbutts my cannon, doing a wound. I do not get to attack.

My Exalted, forced to challenge, knows he will die but makes a valiant effort, hitting 4 times and getting off 3 wounds. Groesus hits just once, multiplies to 2 wounds...down goes my BSB.

Meanwhile, only 2 knights are facing his Blaster; they do wound him twice. The rhinox is the only thing to hit and puts down 1 knight.

By the time we get done adding ranks, banner, wounds, his rear charge...I win. His cannon breaks, Groesus breaks, I run down Groesus, the Gnoblars break again...

I was expecting a fight, not a group hug

Analysis
When his Ironblaster charged my knights in the rear I was nervous. I knew my BSB was going to die; with his multiplying wound thing, he could have gotten plenty of overkill. I was expecint lots of Impact damage, the +2 for hitting me in the back, me only having 2 knights involved...recipe for disaster.

I benefited from some good fortune at the right time and suddenly I liked my chances overall.

WoC Turn 4
I turn the Juggers to see off the Gnoblars. I turn the knights to see off the wizard and/or Iron Blaster. I turn the khorne threshers and tzeentch-marked Warriors to face his Stone Horn and move the D-Prince to not be in the way.

I do get off 3 spells; Flickering Fire does the minimum 2 hits, zero wounds. Baleful sees him pass his LD test. Pandemonium gets off, probably should have done Call to Glory but...

His Giant does thump with club and unbelievably I again pass initiative. I think I even wounded him this turn

Analysis
Most of this turn played itself; Nothing else I can do with Knights and Juggers at this point, it is either form to receive charge or try to run from the Stonehorn. Again, maybe getting the Exalted...but going to a S4 without shield and 2 wounds instead of S4 with shield and parry save does not seem very effective strategy to me.

Wherever you go I will be right here waiting for you

Ogre Turn 5
Stonehorn chooses to charge the tzeentch marked block of warriors. His Wiz rallies an inch from the table edge, his stoneblaster continues to flee (and does so the rest of the game, leaving the table in turn 6).

Ironically, after spending the game rolling 2s, 3s and a 5 for the winds, he now rolls something like 9 or 10...with no usable spells to cast.

The Stonehorn does what it does; 4 impact hits, 2 wounds, I save zero. I hit him 8 times, do 4 wounds, he saves 2. He thunderstomps for just 1. We tie, I have musician and win. No more frenzy for him.

Look Who is Coming to (have you for) Dinner

The Giant yells and bawls, my H-cannon is unbreakable.

Analysis
Touch choice between charging the tzeentch marked guys who probably cannot hurt him but should withstand the charge and charging the great-weapon wielding guys who you could conceivably break...but who might one-turn slay your Stonehorn is a dilemma I was glad it was him facing. No right answer, just a couple forlorn hopes.

Ultimately at this point I think, retroactively, it was ever so slightly a better choice to go after the threshers; if he could break them, there was a slim chance the other unit would break and he could run them down in turn 6. Conversely, breaking the tzeentch guys could not force a test on the frenzied threshers.

Honestly though I do not think there was a "right" answer here.

As it turns out, he was in a bad spot and in deep trouble.

WoC Turn 5
The Juggernauts finish the formality, charging the fleeing Gnoblars and finishing them off.

The Knight charge the wizard, kill him on the way in. The D-Prince rear-charges the Stonehorn, the threshers flank him; the prince hits 4 times but can only wound the Stonehorn 1 time. the knights hit 10 times, can only do 2 wounds. He kills three of the threshers, but they hit 21 times and get through a whopping 7 wounds. Turns out not charging them was probably the right move because they are th only thing I had that could touch him...

The only model he has left is the giant and in the bottom of the 6th the H-cannon absorbs two wounds, then finishes off the giant to table him.

Overall Analysis

This game was fantastically fun. My first charge seemed devastating but put me in a precarious position. Then when he massacred my Marauder horde in one turn, his stonehorn single-handedly wrecked a unit of warriors and my knights and Juggernauts were basically out of the game, it did not look good.

It seemed I had nothing that could touch his stonehorn, Mournfang Cavalry, or Ironblaster; my defensive units were not surviving, my offensive units were not creating mayhem and magic....phshaw, that stuff is worthless for me.

I think had he flanked and destroyed my knights he might have won. When he went for broke, however, it gave me time to get my units of Chaos Warriors into position to start tag-teaming his tough units. When the Great Weapon wielding Chaos Warriors went to work they were a buzz-saw, chewing through everything they touched. Definitely a game-winning unit.

There were a couple bad moments where he could have won convincingly and a couple where I thought I was going to rampage through him in about three turns. In the end, it was in doubt until the 5th turn when it turned irrevocably in my favor and from there the only question was who would die, H-cannon or Giant.

We both enjoyed the game a great deal, got to see some fierce units in action and I think that 32 casualty blitz he threw at me put to shame the best efforts my theoretically super-deadly knights have ever put forth.

Hope for more games like this one. Love 8th edition.

Seems like there were a lot more of us a couple hours ago...

The traditional survivor picture.

Empire vs. Ogres 2k 2012-05-19

Marius Leitdorf surveyed the battlefield. Off to his right a village where the Sigmarites used to worship, one of their shrines decaying on the far side. Beyond the village, a mysterious looking river rolled along and disappeared. On his left, a strange looking forest, and beyond it a tomb of skulls where the chaos horde (which had driven out the Sigmarites years ago) used to sacrifice to their evil gods. Beyond, a fence, and beyond that, more forest, a river, and a swamp.  A small lump of a hill rose up straight ahead.

Marius consulted his mount, Daisy. She had given him good advice in the past. Behind Marius, his Unusual Bearer Jorge (other Counts had Standard Bearers. But Marius found that boring) snorted derisively, wondering how he had ended up serving The Mad Count.

After consulting Daisy, Marius began issuing orders. "Steam Tank, right flank, behind that large structure. Handgunners, next to the Steam Tank. Greatswords, center with your Halberdier detachments flanking at four wide. Volley Gun, to the left of the Halberdiers. Knights of the Inner Circle, set up in the forest on the left." Some of the men looked at him askew, but the Knights knowingly regarded the Ranger Standard which would allow them to safely move through the terrain (The Ranger standard gives the unit Strider) He sent Jorge, one of the accompanying Warrior Priests, and another Captain to join the Greatswords. That should allow the center to hold effectively. The other Warrior Priest he had join himself and Daisy accompanying the knights.

The plan was to have the Greatswords hold the center line, while the Steam Tank and Knights circled outside and the shooters chewed up the enemy from afar. Even the thick skin of the Ogres will have a tough time surviving against the deadly bullets of the Empire.

Surveying the battlefield, Marius congratulated Daisy on a sound battle plan. This would be for Blood and Glory!

Looking across the field, Marius finally thought to pay attention to the approaching Ogres. To Marius left, a creature was crawling out of the river. It looked very cold. Absently Marius wondered if he should reconsider the dip in that river he had been planning after the battle. Near the creature, there were three ogres riding large pig looking things. Next to them, a group carrying what looked to be cannon barrels. In the middle of the field, a bunch of tough looking Ogres carrying all manner of fierce looking weapons, including a Butcher and a (whatever their other character type is. Help me out here Kev). On the right, more cannon-weilding ogres and a bunch of small creatures riding on what looked to be a catapult pulled behind another large pig creature.

The Winds of Magic began to swirl. A fiery cloak appeared around one of the groups of Ogres. The Ogre-Mage cursed as a great Maw opened over some of the Ogres, nicking them with its teeth.

The Ogres' center advanced in a rush, brandishing weapons and bellowing voluminously. The pig creatures on both flanks lurched forward, and the creature from the swamp crawled forward. The cannon-weilding Ogres on Marius right blew away 4 of the Handgunners before they could even bring their weapons in line. The other Leadbelchers, as the Inner Circle Preceptor informed him they were called, fired at the Greatswords. One of them fell.

Marius struggled to maintain control, but his insanity got the better of him. He flew into a terrible rage, cursing the Ogre gods and screaming that the Butcher's mother was a half-troll. (I rolled three times for Marius' Mad Count special rule. Every time I failed the leadership test, and every time I rolled Insane Bravado giving him Stubborn, Frenzy, and making it so he could not refuse challenges.)

The Steam Tank's Engineer generated steam without trying to push the boiler too hard, and managed to keep it under control. The Knights and Marius attempted to charge the Ogre-Pig-Cavalry, but were unable to catch them as they fled the charge.

The Winds of Magic swirled again. The Warrior Priests prayed and an ethereal shield (Shield of Faith: 5+ ward in close combat) materialized around the units they accompanied.

The Steam Tank attempted to fire a cannon ball at the larger group of Ogres, but something went wrong with the boiler (misfire). The Tank suffered some damage, but was still quite capable of continuing. The Engineer and the Marksmen from both Handgunner units fired at the enemy standard bearer, all failing to cause any harm. The rest of the Handgunners fired at the same unit, ripping holes through one Ogre. The Volley gun, although one barrel jammed, managed to finish off the injured monster-man.

The Ogres in the center, enraged at losing one of their number surged forward, charging the Greatswords and the Halberdiers to their right. The impact of the charging Ogres felled three Greatswords and three Halberdiers. The Halberdiers to the left counter-charged the Ogres, catching them in the flank.

The Ogre-Mage cursed once again as a great mouth opened up, this time over the pig-knights who had just regained their composure. Again, all they suffered was a nick to one of them too slow to completely escape the great Maw's teeth.

The Leadbelchers opened up again, felling 6 more Handgunners.

The great melee ensued in the center. The Warrior Priest, Jorge the Unusual Bearer, and Captain 13 (as Marius liked to call him) tore into the Ogres, dealing significant damage. The Halberdiers managed to rip a couple holes in the great monster-men as well. The Greatswords and Ogres struck simultaneously. Several times the Ogres struck what would have been crushing blows, only to have their attacks deflected by the ethereal shield the Warrior Priest had summoned. Their were still eight Plate Armored bodies that lay crushed on the ground when the blood-spray cleared. However, there were also four of the great Ogre corpses slashed to pieces on the ground. Unable to stand up to the concept of these puny humans besting them in combat, the Ogres began to flee. Jorge ordered his men to press the attack, but they were unable to catch the fleeing Ogres.

Having been abandoned by their parent unit, the other unit of Halberdiers crumbled under the might of the charging Bull Ogres. All but one of them were killed outright without doing a single wound in return. The remaining soldier attempted to flee, but was trampled to death as the Ogres continued on with the momentum of their charge (they pursued and easily caught him).

The Marksmen in both Handgunner units were just barely able to keep their men under control as they watched the nearby route of their Halberdier brethren. (Rolled 7's needing 7's for both units.)

The Steam Tank's engineer powered up the boiler without incident. Marius once again lost his senses. In a Frenzy he charged forward at the Swamp-thing, leaving the Knights no choice but to follow him. (I notice in the picture my knights are a man down, I cannot recall how that happened, although it was probably the Leadbelchers, or perhaps the catapult.) The Halberdiers and Greatswords charged the fleeing Ogres, the Halberdiers managing to run them down. The Steam Tank rolled forward into the Leadbelchers near them. (This is when I discovered how cool semi-random movement is. There is no charge, so there is no charge-reaction. Kevin wanted to flee which would have resulted in a failed charge. In looking up how far the Stank would go, I discovered that because it is technically random movement there is no charge, and no charge reaction.)

The Handgunners turned to face the Ogres now behind them. The Volley Gun crew wheeled the great gun around to face them as well.

The winds of magic swirled. Once again ethereal shields appeared.

The Hangunners were too preoccupied with their maneuvers to get a shot off, but the Volley Gun managed to get off a sizable volley (22 shots). They killed three Ogres, sending the rest running for the hills.

The Steam Tank ground two of the Ogres into the ground. The third tried to bash the armored behemoth with his cannon. Seeing it was futile he fled, leaving the great metal monster parked on the bodies of his dead friends.

The Swamp-thing and its handlers fought ferociously, but were only able to fell one of the Knights. Marius' Runefang flew about hacking bits off of the monster (3 wounds in 3 attacks with the Runefang. Forgot about Frenzy or it may have been four.) The Warrior Priest was too focused on maintaining his Shield of Faith to manage an effective assault. The Knight Preceptor managed to finish off the creature with his lance.

The remaining Leadbelchers pounded forward and caught up to the Volley Gun. They killed one of the crew on impact. The Pig-Knights charged Marius and his knights trampling some of them.

The sole Leadbelcher continued fleeing. The 3 Ogres who had fled for the hills thought better of it, and turned around to return to the battle.

The Winds of Magic swirled again, and again the Maw appeared, but this time over the Greatswords and Halberdiers! The mouth was much larger this time (cast at the higher value for the 5" template rather than the 3"). When the Maw disappeared, 6 Greatswords and 4 Halberdiers were gone too. They held their ground, but were visibly shaken by the event. (One of them failed the first attempt at the Panic test.)

The Leadbelchers easily killed the crew of the Volley gun, and set about crushing the machine before turning to face the remaining Empire soldiers.

The Pig-Knights proved deadly combatants, managing to slay four of the Knights of the Inner Circle. However, Marius and the Warrior Priest managed to kill two Ogre Knights, with the Empire Knights finishing off the third.

Marius once again began raving, and ordered his men to attack the Ogres who had destroyed the Volley Gun. However, they were unable to set up for the charge, and had to settle for facing them and waiting for an opportunity. The opportunity would not come.

The Steam Tank managed to generate steam without incident and rolled into the Pig-drawn-catapult. The remaining Halberdiers wheeled around and approached the Leadbelchers and Butcher. The remaining Greatswords went to inspect the river beyond the Sigmarite village. (I was trying to hide my standards since they would not be able to reach the enemy without getting shot to pieces.)

The Marksmen opened up at the returning unit of Ogres. They missed completely. However, the rest of the Handgunners managed to take down the unit's standard bearer. Seeing their last standard fall, the remaining Ogres observed the better part of valor, and left the field.

Survivor Shot

1 Stank
3 Knights
1 Marius Leitdorf
2 Warrior Priests
12 Handgunners
5 Greatswords
2 Captains of the Empire (including Jorge the Unusual Bearer)
8 Halberdiers

I had a lot of things go my way in this battle. From Marius getting the best possible result on the Mad Count table every turn, to the Maw misfiring 2 out of 3 times it was tried.

I tried much harder with my deployment, such that I was actually factoring deployment into my army building (I know this is basic, but I don't often do it). I think I did a good job this game. Things broke right for me several times, but I was set up to take advantage of the breaks.

I discovered I love the Warrior priests. Diving Fury (Hatred) is strong when it applies not only to the unit he is in, but also any detachments. Also, a 5+ ward in close combat is great against strong enemies. Against weaker enemies I might go for the re-rolling of failed wounds, but in this game the Shield was great. Also, innate bound spells are great! You can roll irresistible and get the benefit, but not the negative. The Volley Gun is a terror when the situation is right. It managed to fell 3 Ogres in one volley due to: short range, 22 shots, S5 and Armour Piercing.

We both did a lot of damage, and we both took a lot of damage. I had a lot of fun in this game. I think Kevin did too.

Chaos Versus Ogres

I had not played the Ogres yet and was very excited about doing so. Well, okay, I played them in Warbands...but that doesn't count.

First off, Warbands is so limiting that you don't get a real feeling for what troops can do. For example, Tomb Kings desperately need mass Magic to be effective. In Warbands, the simply can't have it.

Second, armies that are small numbers are disproportionately punished in Warbands for bad rolls. If you only have 2 guys and one bad roll means one of them dies...well, every so often you are going to have a bad roll. There is no margin for error in Warbands.

So anyway, I was really looking forward to this game. Ogres have the strength to be a threat to Chaos, they have the toughness to take a lot of damage and with multiple wounds, they can strike back more frequently than a lot of armies. Plus, there is something vaguely disquieting about attacking a small unit of 4 models, wounding 16 times, and seeing half the unit stil standing there....

Of course, they also struggle to hit striking back due to their low weapon skill, they have such limited armor that they take wounds anytime they are wounded, and their missile range is pretty limited. (I mistakenly thought it was 12" except for the Hunter...turns out the Maneaters have 24" range).

So the potential is there for some epic close combat encounters.

I got a wild hair Friday night and decided to try gluing the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth without pinning, so a last-minute adjustment to my army was needed. Fortunately, Kev is an easy going guy, so the adjustment was simple; we each added 265 points to our armies which let me fit him in...well, okay, I gave him an extra hand weapon, so 275 points.

We rolled and I ended up with a 2000 point and he a 1500 point army. I think if it had been the reverse, I would have lived with it but A) the poor Ogres have yet to win a game and B) I did not want to Massacre him in a game where he had no chance which I probably would have done in that case...unless we altered the scenario to something like Ambush which actually just occurred to me when I typed that.

Oh well.

We really wanted to go a game under Lord-level characters, so we settled on 1750+265.

I went with the 1750 point list from this post and added the Shaggoth. Good times.

Goals:

1) Get off a charge with the Knights

2) Win a challenge that allows me to roll on the Eye table

3) Do some damage with the Shaggoth

THE SET-UP

The terrain was interesting. On both sides we had hills, a small stream entered and left the field about the center on one flank, and there was another stream in one deployment zone. He won the roll for table edge and took the side he was standing on. I had to deploy first.

I had a simple plan: group my units of Warriors in the center, my Knights on the flanks, and my Battle Standard Bearer in the center, ideally within 6" of all of them so my entire army would be Stubborn leadership 8, giving them an 89% chance of passing any test.

So the first unit I placed was a unit of Warriors in the valley between the hills. He placed his Leadbelchers opposite them. I placed my other unit of Warriors a bit to their right...and realized I had already made a mistake.

I would have at least 2 units outside of range of my Battle Standard Bearer if I put the Knights on the flanks as planned. And I knew he had a Gut Magic spell that forces me to take Leadership tests and a magic item he could take that made those tests -3. So that could really hurt.

Anyway, I put a unit of Knights outside each unit of Warriors and the Shaggoth in the hole between them. The Battle Standard Bearer went behind the Shaggoth and my General joined the Knights on the right since he was loading up his left flank with Bull units. He had Maneaters in teh center, Gnoblars everywhere and a Scraplauncher. I did NOT see that coming. Fortunately, I had Wulfrik, 16 Marauders and they could enter from any table edge at some point.

OGRE TURN 1

I won the roll and chose to have him go first. I thought the max range he had was the Leadbelchers at 12" and as a result, I thought the entire battle would be fought from 12" or less (except the Scraplauncher).

Well, if he is within 12",I am within charge range with my Knights and Shaggoth, and not far removed from the Warriors charging as well. Therefore, having him move first meant I might have a first-turn charge.

He moved about everyone forward.

He cast the Gut Magic Spell that added Regeneration to a unit of Bulls on my right flank. Not good. My Dispel failed.

He then tried some other random spell but failed to cast it.

Then came my first shock: His Maneaters had 24" range and were able to shoot at my Warriors. No damage done.

His Scraplauncher had no Line of Sight.

Chaos Turn 1

I had deployed over an inch behind my center line which meant I was out of charge range.On the bright (?) side, Wulfric rolled on!

I was not ready for him yet. I wanted him to come on when Kev was engaged in hand to hand so I could flank or rear charge him. Now I had a choice: I could come on my right flank under cover of the stream to threaten his flank. That, however, would mean I was across the field from his General, which was Wulfrik's target.

Alternatively, I could come on behind his Scraplauncher to take it out. Again...I would be BEHIND the General and moving 4-8" a turn, probably never catch him moving 6-12".

His Yehtees on the hill meant I was in danger if I came on that flank, but I thought I could protect against the flank charge so entered a little less than half way on my left flank which allowed me to threaten his General unit. (Is it just me, or do I sound like I have studied too many chess games? 'He moves B2 to K4, threatening p3-p4, Q-R8 check, Kk5-Q1, KB1-K1 Mate)

My Knights on the right performed a slight retrograde allowing them to face the 2 or 3 units of Bulls coming over the hill. My left flank Knights moved to charge the Yehtees should they charge my Marauders.

Ogre Turn 2

His rear-most Gnoblars bickered. No big deal, they were blocked out of the action. He moved his Bulls on my right flank up to the top of the hill, a unit behind them, and his Butcher to their flank.

I THINK this is the turn his Gorger arrived.

He advanced up the middle with other troops but the Yehtees proved too far away to charge.

His Maneaters opened fire but again failed to wound any Warriors.

Then came Episode 493 in Warhammer things I find funny. His most effective units got into the action as the Scraplauncher killed a Marauder. First blood to...the Gnoblars?

Seriously? I have Chaos Warrios, Chaos Knights, a Dragon Ogre Shaggoth, an Exalted Hero, Wulfrik...Kev has Maneaters, a Tyrant, Leadbelchers, Yehtees...and the GNOBLARS draw first blood? Whatever.

It was pretty funny.

His magic phase gave +1 Strength to the back-up unit of Bulls on his left (my right) flank.

Chaos Turn 2

My plan worked to perfection. He was in range of mass charges. My Wulfrik-led Marauders charged his Leadbelchers in the flank. My Knights on the right flank charged his Bulls on the hill. My Shaggoth charged his Maneaters. My Warriors charged some Gnoblars maybe?

Well...ALMOST perfection. He did the one thing I did not anticipate...he fled his Leadbelchers.

I actually agree with the decision. He got no stand and shoot, I had Wulfrik and 2 extran ranks of Marauders hitting him in the flank, the failed charge meant he would flank charge with the Yehtees and frontal charge me with his Tyrant and Ironguts. He would PROBABLY rally with the Leadbelchers in the center of the field.

Well, anyway I moved my Battle Standard on top of the left hill so he would be within 6" of the Marauders and turned my left Chaos Warriors to face his Gorger. My Knights moved to get out of the gorgers line of sight.

On the right flank, my Frenzied Knights went to work. 16 attacks needing 3s to hit and then 3 to wound. Sweet, 10 wounds! Nothing to complain about there!!!!

Until he Regenerated 6 of them. Wow, already his less than 100 point Wizard has been more valuable than entire magic-based armies I have used before with over 1000 points invested in making magic powerful.

He then had just 9 attacks back wounded me twice. Needing 2s to save...I failed one. Awesome. I need worse saves so I can save 60% :-)

I still won the battle handily: 4 wounds + outnumber + Battle Standard to 1 wound + he needs insane courage. He did not get it, but his flee bounced through the second unit of Bulls whom I then hit...bypassing his Butcher and I think yet another unit of Bulls who would have had a charge if I was still atop the hill. All in all, that combat went better than could have been drawn up for me.

My Shaggoth went to work. With 2 hand weapons, he had a massive 6 attacks. 5 hit. 3 wounded. A Maneater died. Then the other Maneater wounded me back 3 times. At first we thought it meant a drawn combat but then realized the Shaggoth had unit strength 6, not 3, so I outnumbered him. His Stubborn Maneater then failed his test, broke and ran.

I caught him...and ended up right in front of the fleeing Leadbelchers. Hmm.

I think this was when my Warriors charged in, devastated his Gnoblars, but I don't remember. All in all, awesome turn for me.

Ogre Turn 3

His Yehtees did indeed flank charge my Marauders and then he made what, in retrospect, might have been a mistake. He charged his Tyrant-led Ironguts into the front.

Which meant Wulfrik could fight. And could challenge his Tyrant who, per Hunter of Men, could not refuse.

His Gorger charged my Warriors.

His Leadbelchers rallied. His fleeing Bulls...on my Shaggoth's right, but out of line of sight....also rallied. Uh-oh...

The Yehtees were awesome, slaying 3 or 4 Marauders. The Bull Charge killed a couple more. His regular Bulls killed one or two.

And Wulfrik, who consistently has underperformed, dying without wounding, went to work on the Tyrant. He saved both wounds, then went and wounded the Tyrant 4 times...who could save just one and, having taken a wound for some armor prior to the battle, he one-turn killed him! Yes!

I instantly said, "I forfeit, Kev wins via Massacre." I was really excited. About time something I looked forward to playing performed to expectations.

I finally got to roll on the table! I got a +1 to my armor, making Wulfrik better yet.

Still, I lost the combat by a handful. Fortunately, I was within 6" of the Battle Standard Bearer and passed my test, being Stubborn thanks to the Banner of Chaos (my own slight renaming).

Over on the other flank, it was more of the same. I had the charge, slew a couple Bulls, took no damage in return, he fled, I pursued...right to a couple inches short of his freshly rallied Bulls.

Meanwhile, his Gorger benefited from my "must declare a challenge" rule. Since he was alone, he could not deny it. Therefore, instead of having 3 Frenzied guys attacking, I had one...who, after taking 2 wounds, did not get to attack at all.

I still won the combat with rank bonus, outnumbering, and banner, but since the Gorger is Unbreakable, it did not matter. I would have to actually slay him to win. Good luck with that, let me know how it turns out.

Chaos Turn 4

Okay, my priority here is pretty simple. I need to make sure my Shaggoth doesn't get shot. Simple solution? Remember the Gnoblars that bickered? Perfect charge target. Here I go!

My left flank Knights charged his Yehtees. My Battle Standard Bearer could rear-charge his Leadbelchers or flank-charge his Ironguts. Since I would be outnumbered and not remove his bonuses, I went after the Ironguts.

So that was an intriguing combat; My Battle Standard Bearer was flanking his Ironguts who were frontally committed against the Marauders who were flanked by the Yehtees who were facing the Knights. Awesome.

The Knights killed 2 Yehtees and hurt the third, a Marauder wounded a Bull, Wulfrik killed a Bull, the Battle Standard Bearer killed a Bull. He could only kill one Marauder in return, he broke all over the place, my Marauders ran down his Ironguts, my Knights ran down his Yehtees.

I also, being under Frenzy, had to charge his Bulls. I killed one or two, he fled, I over-ran not only him but the other fleeing unit of Bulls. I had now taken out that entire flank except one unit of Bulls and the Butcher with one unit of Knights bolstered by my Exalted Hero General.

The Shaggoth slew 5 Gnoblars, but their rank bonus and outnumbering meant it was a drawn combat. Whatever. Run, you little nits!

With a nice 9 attacks needing 3s, I flailed away at the Gorger. I did not wound him even once. He killed 2 Warriors. I won the combat with static combat resolution. He laughed and decided to stick around for another round.

Ogre Turn 4

His Scraplauncher charged my Warriors. His Bulls began crossing my deployment zone towards my Warriors hissy-fit fighting the Gorger, supported by his Butcher. His Leadbelchers advanced towards my rampaging Knights.

The scraplauncher slew a couple Warriors, but my BSB meant they were stubborn. I rolled a 9...but they were close enough to the BSB to re-roll and passed. Every roll going my way.

The Leadbelchers finally opened fire. Something like 18 or 20 shots. 4 wounds. 2 not saved. I lost 2 of my Knights, finally giving him over 50% for them.

I killed 5 more Gnoblars and this time they fled the Shaggoth who chose not to pursue.

Again, I swung 9 times and this time 6 hit. That is better. 6 hits needing 5s...should do a wound or two. But whiffed completely with not one roll over a 4. His Gorger killed another Warrior or so and was eating away at my advantage.

Chaos Turn 4

I turned my Knights to face his Leadbelchers, turned my Shaggoth to get behind them, moved my Marauders and BSB to pin them down.

My other Knights started heading towards his Gorger/Bulls.

Only one close combat right now: the famous Gorger. And something weird happened this turn; I got a wound on him!

It only took 27 rolls needing a 3 followed by 5. I should have done slightly less than 6 wounds by this point and had done one. Hmm.

He, of course, killed another Warrior.

Ogre Turn 5

His Leadbelchers charged my Exalted Hero/Knights on my right flank. His Bulls moved towards my engaged Warriors. His Butcher moved forward.

I won the combat. His Leadbelchers broke and died.

The Gorger slew another Warrior.

Chaos Turn 5

Not much to do but get the Knights on my left close enough to MAYBE save my Warriors and seize table quarters. Oh, and charge into his Scraplauncher with Wulfrik and company who promptly did enough wounds to cause his Scraplauncher to break and I over ran it.

No wounds by the Gorger this turn.

Ogre turn 6

His Bulls got the rear-charge. They were too close to Bull charge, but killed 2 warriors. And with the least attacks I had on him all game, my last 2 Warriors killed the Gorger at long last. Inspired by their great feat....they promptly failed their break test and fled off the table. He pursued right off the table which meant he had exactly one model left on the table.

Chaos Turn 6

I charged his Butcher with my Knights and BSB, a tremendously stupid move.

See, I MUST declare a challenge. If he rolls well and I roll poorly, he could kill by BSB and all the combat resolution in the world won't save me. Fortunately, my BSB won the duel and took bloody revenge for him hacking down my warriors. It was a decisive revenge.

ROUND-Up

Okay, the Knights ROCKED this battle. One unit punched up with an Exalted Hero single-handed wrecked an entire flank. I destroyed 2 units of Bulls and a Leadbelcher.

Furthermore, when I destroyed the units, it led to fortuitous movement that took me out of range of units he had well-set up to flank charge me if I were held up for even a single turn. So I was very fortunate in that regard.

Getting the charge on his Maneaters allowed the Shaggoth to win a combat he probaby would have lost otherwise since just one of them was able to wound him THREE times. Of course, the Maneaters had to have been disappointing to Kev as they took I believe 12 shots without ever doing a wound.

The Marauders were good at protecting Wulfrik ad letting him actually do what he does best. IN combination with a BSB keeping them in the fight regardless of casualties, they were able to survive 12 casualties to deliver my killing machine to the places he needed to be.

It was cool rolling on the table even though the result was one I ended up never taking advantage of...but that is okay I was super happy to roll on the table.

The Battle Standard Bearer w/Banner proved well worth his points, even if he did not "do" the points worth. He kept my Marauders and Wulfrik around long enough for my Knights to arrive and take care of the Yehtees. He kept my Warriors alive long enough for Wulfrik to arrive and slay the Scraplauncher. All in all, he contended with Wulfrk and my Knights for MVP.

The Shaggoth did everything I wanted him to. He got into combat, did some damage, and generally controlled the center of the field.

Only the Warriors did not meet or exceed expectations. Taking I believe it was 5 turns to kill the Gorger was really, really pathetic. Of course, I was playing them wrong.

I thought I took the version with Khorne and...I am not sure what. I played them with that Mark and no upgrades. They should have been striking last with no Frenzy but with Strength 6. Instead, I had them striking first with Frenzy and with S4...but no other upgrade. Oops.

Still, Math Hammer suggest 27 swings should be good for 17.82 hits. 17 hits needing 5s to hit is good for 5.88 wounds. In other words, 3 - 4 turns at the outside should have been plenty. The extra turns were tough and ended up costing them their lives.

I would say this battle confirms a couple things. Needing 4s to hit, it was just too hard for the Ogres to get damage through.

As for my goals:

1) Epic success. The right flank Knights charged almost every turn except the first and 5th I think. The Knights on the left only got off two charges, but both led to Ogre disaster.

2) Wulfrik did the deed and got the roll. I am happy now.

3) Oh, yeah, the Shaggoth rolled. He destroyed a unit of Maneaters and a unit of Gnoblars. He did 11 actual casualties...1 Maneater and 10 Gnoblars. This is the type of result I was hoping for.

He is a fun model and I look forward to painting him.

The traditional "We won and survived" Photo op.

Overall, it was a pretty fun game. I think some tactical choices by Kev slanted the battle in my favor; he knew my Knights would have Khorne, so with a bit of patience, he could have forced me to charge Gnoblars with my Knights and, knowing I was likely to overrun them, set up one unit of Bulls to accept the charge and another one (or two) to counter-charge my flanks. That would have given him a starting static combat resolution of +2 (+1 for flank, +1 for outnumber) while removing my Battle Standard bonus and given him at least a chance. He had enough units to do that on one flank.

Then again, that is a trap that takes a lot of patience to put together and with the hill placement, it might have taken 2 more turns to set up. With my Shaggoth and Warriors advancing up the middle and my left flank having spare Knights, he might not have had time.

The Scraplauncher only fired 1 time, the Leadbelchers did not fire until the game was over, and that worked out in my favor.