750 points Goblins v DoC

Space Monkey and I threw together a last minute game. I don't have all my models here at the house, a lot are out at Fixed Dice's house...so I decided to make an all-night Goblin army.

Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 2
20 Night Goblin Spearmen w/full command, 2 fanatics
20 Night Goblin Bowmen w/full command, 2 fanatics
10 Spider Riders with Short Bows
Mangler Squig
8 Squig Hoppers
and the one non-Night Goblin, a Doom Diver

He brought a Herald giving ASF in a unit of daemonettes, 3 bloodcrushers, and a skullcannon.

I put the Spider Riders on the left, had a hill in between, then the Mangler Squig in front opposite his Crushers who were in front of the 'nettes, my Bowmen behind them, to their right the Squig hoppers in front with the Shaman in the Spears behind them, and to the right my Doom Diver. He threw the Cannon on the hill on his right (my left) and off we went.

DOC Turn 1
The cannon hit the mangler and killed it, taking 4 Night Goblins with it...which did not matter because, seeing a unit destroyed, they panicked and ran off the table as did the Doom Diver.

Night Goblin Turn 1
The Spider Riders advanced and fired at the 'nettes, doing no wounds. The Squig Hoppers bounded forward...4". On 3d6. Hmm. I drifted left with my Spearmen, tried some magic, but lost concentration.

Doc Turn 2
His Crushers charged my Squig Hoppers. The fanatics released and missed him by about a sixteenth of an inch. I did one wound with the Hoppers, he killed all but one and that one fled. I forgot to test for the night Goblins for unit breaking. Oops. His Cannon took out 3 or 4 more Night Goblins.

Night Goblin Turn 2
Spider Riders failed animosity and moved straight towards his 'nettes. Night Goblins tried to face his Crushers. The Fanatics planted themselves into terrain and died. The Spider Riders again did nothing with their bows.

DoC Turn 3
Nettes moved around, crushers turned to face my unit of Night Goblins. He charged the Spider Riders who fled planning to regroup and shoot. His winds chart did a wound to his herald.

Night Goblin Turn 3
Spider Riders failed to rally. magic Vortex went off, doing a wound to the 'nettes.

Doc Turn 4
Crushers charged the Night Goblins, 'nettes declared charge on Spider Riders who fled off table. He hammered me in combat, I fled, got run down and tabled.

What Went Right
Though I forgot to use his Mushroom, having a level 2 was funny. He did manage to put one casualty on the DoC...the only actual casualty they suffered.

What Went Wrong
Having LD5 on most units (Riders had 6) meant his opening salvo essentially ended the game. The Mangler and fanatics were all I had that were even a slight threat. I called off the turns slightly incorrectly because I fired 3 times with the Spider Riders, though never did a casualty with them.

I wanted to try out an all-night goblin army. It is not a good idea and will not be attempted again...but it was fun.


Also, I really dislike the new google feature which is why no pictures. I have several on my phone but getting them on here is not functioning.

2800 Beastmen V. Empire

2012 was a lost year in gaming. 4-1/2 games of Warhammer was all I got played. So I am making a conscious effort to make sure I get regular games in this year. With that in mind, I challenged any of the Starving Crazed Weasels to a game. Fullur accepted the challenge.

As usual, I put off the misery of list-building til the last possible second, then hastily threw one together Friday after racquetball. Perhaps feeling excessively euphoric after running the table, going 5-0 in cut throat and never letting Scott and Tim COMBINED score 15 in any single game, I built a nigh-invincible list of beastmen.

Then this morning on my way out to the game, thinking about some of the tweaks I had done, I realized the points did not make sense. Got to the game and re-calculated. Sure enough, that last tweak had put me over the allowance for characters.

So I hurriedly tried to tweak it and it just became a jumbled mess I was unhappy with and did not want to play.

So I went back to the Orc and Goblin army I played twice last year and greatly enjoyed.

Of course, when I figured out Fullur had put off list-building and was finishing his, I decided to try one more time to tweak the Beastmen.

Thing is, my first Beastmen build had two giants...way out of the ordinary for me. Giants stink up the joint FOR me but are devastating AGAINST me. I knew he would be playing the Steam Tank and thought it would be funny to club it with a special Giant attack.

Well, when I went to re-tweak the list I randomly started in the "Rare" section and took out a giant, put in a Jabberslythe. Flying enemies routinely give me problems and in the WoC game my D-Prince was awesome, flying around wreaking havoc. So I would use that power for me.

Ultimately I ended up with a playable list and we rolled up battleline.

As always, click the picture to see all of it

From my standpoint I made a couple errors in setup. The Giant went on my far right. The Steamtank ended up on his left. This happened because I dropped the giant early, my head in other places. However, the weaknesses were minimal and the overall set-up was exactly what I wanted.

My horded up Gors with a couple Wargors in it would control the center of the field. The 20-strong Gors with Great Bray-Shaman would protect their flank while having its own flank anchored on the Wizards tower. The Minotaurs could either sweep between the house and the tower or follow the 20 gore and get some nice combo charges.

Meanwhile, the Empire crowded itself. Post-game, Fullur was rather harsh on himself about his set-up, and it is easy to see why.

The Knights were off on a flank with one unit angled to join what would inevitable huge amount of combat in the center of the field. The Knights of the Inner Circle with their strider banner would come out of the Blood Forest and try to roll up a flank. They were probably a bit too far from the action but with a potential 14" move, not a huge deal.

It was in the center his problems existed. The gunners should have been 5 wide and 2 deep. That would have allowed him to put both combat units in front. Instead his 30 strong Greatswords took up space, the wide lines of gunners did likewise and he had no place for the spearmen flanked by 2 Halberd detachments except backing up the greatswords.

Strategically speaking this was disastrous. General Robert E Lee won a lot of nearly unwinnable battles simply by having numerical superiority at the point of contact despite being outnumbered by far in any given battle.

Clogging up his close-combat units like this would give me both numerical superiority in the overall battle AND superiority at the point of contact.

The tank could conceivably move really quick so putting it on the edge of the field was fine; this kept it away from my units strong enough to be dangerous to it (the Giant and Minotaurs) and potentially let it shoot horizontally into my lines.

He won the roll to go first

EMPIRE TURN 1
Marius, even with the BSB re-roll, failed his test. Ranting and raving, he stupidly moved forward 4". Fullur had planned to march close to 10 to get into combat quickly (and set up turn 2 flank charge with his Knights, incidentally) and this unfortunate roll disrupted that plan.

The steam tank used 3 SP to roll forward 8" and get in position to fire down my line, potentially doing lots of damage.

His 10 knights moved to get in position to countercharge me if I charged his greatswords or charge my flank if I failed a charge. He carefully weighed his options with the Knights of the Inner Circle and ultimately put them at a range where I would be statistically likely to fail to charge with my Giant...but have to try anyway lest his knights charge me and get the strength bonus.

He had no magic he even wanted to attempt. I used the Chalice of Dark rain on the theory it looked like we would be in combat on turn 2; he was moving aggressively and I had every intent of attempting to get close enough to ensure he could charge next turn.

His cannon was still able to fire, hit 2 Gor but killed just 1. The tank failed its Chalice roll and could not fire. I like my use of it. Probably the tank does 3 - 5 casualties at most...but with a 1-use item, you use it when you can. There was no guarantee it would not be most valuable right now.

BEASTMEN TURN 1
I wwas going to play aggressively as well. I rolled I think a 10 and hit his Knights of the Inner Circle. I had high hopes for this battle. His S3 or 4 guys should struggle to wound me and I was stubborn on a 10.

Then I made a move that could make or break the entire game. My Minotaurs had line of sight to the flank of his other knights. He thought I could not fit between the Wizard Tower and the house, but I had checked prior to setting the minos up and knew they did fit. I declared a charge needing I think an 8 or so...and rolled a 10. I passed the Dangerous Terrain tests for rampaging over obstacles and slammed into his flank.

It was at this moment the Knights wished it was night

I marched the Gor horde forward and moved the 20 gor to flank charge the greatswords after they slammed into the Horde.

Then I thought carefully about the Jabberslythe. I did not want his tank grinding me but I needed to get to the cannon. Aha! The Aura of Madness rule could force a wound or two on it with luck...I checked distance from his BSB...out of range...sweet! I aggressively planted the Jabberslythe in front of his handgunners. I would take a round of shooting and then probably wreck that flank with my monster.

To your uneducated eye that looks like a Necrosphinx...but a Jabberslythe it is

In my ecstatic state over making two possible but unlikely charges, I completely forgot to move either my Chariot or Ungor Raiders.

Magic: I rolled 9, got 2 from the Herdstone and channeled one. For the first time ever, I maxed out my power dice.

He quickly passes his first few Aura tests...and then his cannon fails so badly it is gone, and his Master Engineer thinks that was such a good idea, he also dies of fear. This is instantly my most successful magic phase ever and I have not cast a spell yet.

I boosted the Mystifying Miasma at his knights facing the minotaurs. He could not dispel it...all 4 attributes decreased by 2. He stopped me adding to their misery with the Curse of Anreheir, but I gave Wyssans Wildform to the Minotaurs and then cast the Miasma at the base level on his greatswords.

My most successful magic phase ever with magic being cast. Just brilliant.

The Knights and Giant went simultaneously. He got 3 wounds through. Ouch, that was....unexpected. Then his horse put a 4th wound on me. Super ouch. I would have expected 4 wounds if he had S6 from the charge...not from S3.

I rolled Jump Up & Down. Between 2 and 12 S6 hits. This would be fun. I passed my Fall Over test....and then rolled snake-eyes. 2 hits. Sigh. At least both wounded...but he saved one. Fortunately, I passed my break test but that was a tough pill to swallow. I should have done way more than 2 wounds. And taken less than 4.

Lets hope the boosted Minotaurs could make up for it against his weakened Knights. The Doombull has potentially 3 impact hits; it should not surprise you to learn he elected to do 1. It wounds. The other two minos also wound with their impact hits. He promptly saves the S6 hit (whch should have been S7...) and fails the S5s..two knights down. I am good with that.

The Bloodkine kills his unit champ in the challenge. The Doombull kills 4 knights (2 saved or it would have been a massive 6...even so, killing 4 Knights with one round of attacks is nothing short of awesome), the regular guys finish off the unit and I overrun something like 2".

EMPIRE TURN 2
Marius passes his test. Empire's turn to charge.

The Greatswords go after my 20 strong unit. I instantly realize my mistake and assume my Great Bray-Shaman will be leaving the table soon. I just hope somehow, someway I can survive the combat and find a way to stay in place.

Meanwhile his Spearmen charge the Jabberslythe. Whoops...did not anticipate that, either.

His tank thunders along 12", getting ready to heat-blast my Gor horde.

I stop the first two priest attempts to buff his Greatswords, using all my dice to do so thinking he only has one Hammer of Sigmar. Oops, he uses his OTHER Battle Priest to cast it on the Spearmen. I debate using my Dispel Scroll but think I might need it at a more key point in the battle so let it go.

The Steam from the tank hits 9 Gor but can kill just 1. His handgunners put two wounds on my Minotaurs. Could be painful, but not too bad...I will be wiping those handgunners out with said Minotaurs on my next turn.

He chooses the combat with the Jabberslythe first. His Captain promptly wounds the Jabberslythe whose spurting blood bile cannot wound him back. The Slyth is angry though, and hits all 5 attacks, killing four puny humans.

Said Puny Humans then wound the Slythe twice more, taking two sputing blood bile wounds in return for their efforts. I roll a 2 for Thunderstomp and both wounds...and I win the combat. Being steadfast, he stands but I am not sure how I feel about this; they wounded the Slythe thrice in one round with lowered WS. What will they do at full strength?

His Knights revert to form this turn, doing not one wound. I jump up and down and this time do not roll snake-eyes...I roll a 3. Yes, with between 4 and 24 potential attacks, I get 5. Grr. Anyway, I naturally fluff one of the 3 hits but he does me one better, failing both save attempts and failing his Steadfast LD test, then getting run down by the Giant who runs into the blood forest.

Guffawing madly, the Giant runs into the Forest to check his height against a tree

It is only fair to point out that each time I rolled for "Jump up and Down" I was literally imitating the Giant by "guffawing madly". I can only assume the dice punished me for this with their pathetic rolls...and Fullurs' dice rewarded me for the entertainment value by rolling even more pathetically.


Marius can only do 1 wound to my unit champ. It is enough to keep me from attacking him, but no overkill. I start to feel hope I might be able to keep this combat close and find a way to not flee.

His Captain and Warrior priest each kill a Gor. Still not too bad...his three heroes did a combined 3 wounds. They should have one 5 or 6 I should think. I am doing well here.

My Great Bray-Shaman shows them how a hero should fight, killing the Warrior Priest. Fullur looks crest-fallen....that was a big, unexpected loss.

I have primal fury for the first time ever. I have passed it. I roll 11 attacks...and 2 hit. Then I reroll and now 8 hit. Much better. I inflict 5 wounds, but he saves 4. My hope flickers. I needed to do a few wounds there to have any hope.

His Greatswords only do 4 wounds, but it is more than enough. I decide to break...and roll snake-eyes for distance. What is going on with these rolls?

He overruns and is safe from my horde. I am not ecstatic about that.

Beastmen Turn 2
The Minos make the obvious charge into his handgunners. I use the tactical wheel to get in his center and close the door, now in position to overrun into his halberd detachment.

The Gor horde makes the less likely but ultimately successful charge to support the Jabberslythe.

I move the chariot out of his charge range with the Greatswords, move my Ungor raiders to get a shot at them, move the Giant towards the combat with the Minos.

Without my Great Bray-shaman I have 2 level one Shadow Bray-Shamans with Miasma. He stops the first, but I get the boosted version off against his Spearmen, then max it with a 3, reducing him to zero WS, I...he is in trouble.

The Minotaurs are putting out ridiculous numbers of attacks between their base, frenzy, and Bloodgreed. The handgunners melt away without doing any harm and the Minos slam into the Halberd detachment.

Meanwhile, the Wargor kills his Captain in a challenge, my other wargor wounds his battle priest, the Gor kill 10 spearmen, the Jabberslythe kills 5, does another with a thunderstomp (in two attempts)...he cannot roll insane courage...I slam into his other handgunners...

The Gor horde hits the flank of his Halberd detachment in their overrun. This will not end well for his out-matched unit.

We look at the field. His 25ish remaining Greatswords with Marius, 2 Halberd detachments (one of which has about 5 seconds left to live, the other about 6 seconds) and Steam tank against...my entire army less the 20 Gor and Bray Shaman.

I ask him if he feels like he has any chance in this game. No. It would not be fun for him and, for that matter, me. All that is left is tabling him and what is the fun in that? The outcome is a foregone conclusion so we pack it in.


What went right
Everything. My flank charge with the Minos wrecked a key unit of his Knights and ensured that I was in combat with my strongest unit constantly. My spells were well-timed and devastating. My horde buffed with a couple Wargors was death incarnate, wiping out everything in its path. My Giant single-handedly took out his second strongest unit WITH HORRIFIC ROLLS. His two cannons (tank and actual cannon) combined to do two wounds....the same number as the rest of his shooting combined.

My plan worked pretty much the way I drew it up; the horde in the center controlled space and, even when I unexpectedly saw him bypass the horde with his best unit, I knew I had the rest of his army now in bad, bad position. Magic weakened him, sheer volume of attacks finished him.

What went wrong
The aforementioned pathetic dice rolls by the giant, the large numbers of unexpected wounds suffered by the Giant and Jabberslythe. And file this under what went right...those never hurt.

The one truly harmful thing was his taking out my Great-shaman and Gor contingent. And even that was not too bad...it took his Greatswords out of the active battle for at least 2 turns and more likely 3 so they would never be a factor in the battle again.

It was a fun game and it was brutal watching a Doombull-led, frenzied, Bloodgreed enhanced Minotaur unit take on a weakened Knight unit and then just wreck anything softer without even trying.

I am likely to try a Jabberslythe again. His lack of any save at all is a severe hit, but he performs a valuable role and, against low S troops that have low volumes of attacks, he has a chance to do some massive damage.

I am unlikely to lay without taking a herdstone and two or three bray shamans throwing around Mystifying Miasma and Wussans Wildforms at every opportunity. Turning dangerous units into wimpy punching bags is unbelievably strong.

I do enjoy the Beastmen army. Of course, their battle plan is pretty simple; weaken w/magic, get into close combat, deal out massive quantities of high S attacks. Rinse in blood, repeat.


Thanks for the game Fullur and you will get me next time.

4k Warriors of Chaos versus 4k Skaven

As always, click on the pictures to expand them (and also let you see the stuff cut off by being to the right of what shows)

Lately I have been doing a lot of experimenting. After dozens of games with the Warriors of Chaos, I pretty much know their ins and outs. I like the way they play. I like playing with that army. But I also like to switch it up so I have had a couple games using dwarfs, a couple using High Elfs and even my debut appearance with the Beastmen.

Kev and I wanted to play a big game, and the only army I could do that large without proxying was back to the one I love best, the WoC. I do not mind proxying within reason...frankly, with our groups financial resources and time commitments, it is pretty much a must to keep the game going. But if I can play with or without it, I will go the one route almost every time.

This is mostly for me...so I can keep straight in my own mind which models are where as that determines my tactical options.I tend to forget stuff sometimes and it becomes problematic when I make key mistakes because I forgot which of my units I meant to do something with.

Well, the first time I put the list together, I centered it around Galrauch. I love dragons, but seldom used them in 7th edition as they tended to be pretty over powered. In 8th, I feel fine about using them as they are not nearly as strong (?).

Unfortunately, one of my old bugaboos came back to strike that plan down; modeling. I hate metal models with a passion. Almost impossible to glue together without pinning...which I have yet to successfully do. So I tried to magnetize the wing...and it fell off this morning. So I had to retool the list.

Changing it around to keep a dragon in cost me my beloved Dragon Ogres. On the other hand, I think it came up with a build much stronger than the one with Galrauch.

I knew kev would bring either the Ogres or Skaven. If the Ogres, then I would basically just keep everything within 6" of my BSB and try to keep him from getting impact hits on the charge. If he brought Skaven I would try to get my unit of Chaos Warriors into his H-pit Abomination along with the Shaggoth and hope, and try to stay away from the Doomwheel and Plague Furnace.

He brought the Skaven. then we rolled a classic; the Battle line. I have not played this set-up in 8th yet, so even though it is "old", it is kind of new, too...

I feinted with my set-up, planting some Marauder Horsemen on my extreme right flank. With their Vanguard move and their role as Fast Cavalry, they could get where I needed them when I needed them. Their entire job was to go after anything he had like the Warp Lightning Cannon (present), Jezzails (present), or miscellaneous weapon teams I did not want hitting my knight (present, present, present, present).

By the time we were done setting up he had the Doom Wheel on my extreme left, Jezzails on the right, and kind of spread across the field. I packed in the center. The plan was drive up the middle and, depending on how the battle was going, use a block of tzeentch-marked, hand weapon and shield Chaos Warriors to hold him up while my Knights did the heavy lifting.

Warriors of Chaos....ASSEMBLE

I won the role for first turn. This made me happy.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 1
Perception matters when playing Warhammer. For example, in my various games I have;
1) thrown everything I had at the Abomination, had it kill my character designed specifically to kill the HPA, finally killed it by focusing over 1k points on it...only to have it come back and kill my Shaggoth and a few other things. I fear the HPA
2) Had weapon team after weapon team remove my armor saves. I fear them.
3) Had Queek single-handed wreck a 10-man unit of Knights. I fear him,
4) Had the plague furnace wipe out everything it touches. I fear it.
5) Had the Doomwheel  do mass carnage and only be stopped by a lucky charge with my Knights. I fear it.

So my perception of the Skaven is their specials are unkillable, they do not let me have armor saves, and they are good at putting down the WoC.

So my goals were to keep him from shooting as much as possible, take every shot I could at his tough stuff with magic, and keep as much as possible stubborn.

My Marauder Horsemen thundered forward, one unit planting itself in front of the Jezzails, the other in front of his Warpfire Cannon. I then rolled 12 for power dice.

Usually first turn magic is not so helpful. In this case I had flown my dragon riding General/Lord Wizard up close to him hoping to get lucky and Infernal Gateway his Plague Furnace away. But then I remember the damage Queek has done...Infernal on his Storm Vermin.

I roll 6 dice, do not get irresistible, and he chooses to feedback scroll it. I get 11 hits,  strength 7. Oh, I wish those were reversed...anyhow, I put down 9 Storm Vermin. This is already one of the 2 or 3 best magic phases I have ever had. 

I then get off Pandemonium, his attempt to Dispel fails. I then use my last dice for Flickering Fire at the Warp Lightning Cannon, he again rolls low and I wound it 3 times. Wow. I got everything off. That is the best magic phase I have ever had. And it will only get better.

Time for shooting. I often forget about my throwing axes. I prefer them to javelins because, though their range is shorter, their strength is higher. When I hit I want to wound. And hit I do. All 5 hit the Warp Lightning cannon. Only 1 wound sticks....but that, combined with the Flickering Fire, is enough to get rid of the Warp Lightning Cannon. I do a happy dance.

On the right my shooting is equally good as I hit the Jezzails 4 times, do 2 wounds and he flees. Lots of shooting I will NOT be facing in turn one. I do not even care when the H-cannon scatters wide of anyone.

We both agree this was a tremendously successful turn for me.

Skaven Turn 1
His doom wheel careens towards me a whopping 14". Feeling jealous, the HPA manages a 13" move which crashes into my Marauder Horsemen. Some Storm Vermin come along for fun.

Queek charges my Marauder Horsemen. I am about 4" from him. I can flee, be within range of my BSB, recover and shoot next turn. For one of the few times I can recall, instead of standing, I flee. And my plan falls apart when I flee 7", he charges 11". Oops.

Oh, well, they cost 71 points, they got rid of his deadly 90 point Warp Fire Cannon. I will take that trade. And now Queek is where I want him...not charging me.

His Weapon team with the giant propeller tries to charge the Shaggoth. I am not familiar with that weapon...I thought it was another shooter, but I guess it would have done massive damage. Failed charge is good for me. the jezzails rally. He makes a general advance, time for magic.

He tries wither. I dither about it for a while, counting and recounting his power dice and my dispel dice. With a Dispel Scroll in my back pocket, I stop it.

He attempts Cracks Call...doubles! Miscast! I use Infernal Puppet to modify it to a dimensional cascade, his level 4 disappears, and to add insult to injury...I dispel the spell.

His doomwheel then mis-fires and rolls 15". That takes it off the table. We cannot find rule and decide to make it same as pursuing off table. He is having horrific luck so far...though the 14", 13" and 15" moves on 3d6 kind of tell you he is rolling high...just at the wrong times.

So as you can tell, we were uncertain about one rule. I was dead wrong about another. I had in the back of my head you could not shoot on the turn you garrison a building. You can. His Globadiers unleashed on my Dragon-riding Wizard. Fortunately, of his 13 globes, only 1 wound got through, and that to my Dragon. But it was an unexpected, terrifying wound.

My T6 meant nothing, the ward on my rider was pointless. His globes could put me down with ease.

In close combat, his HPA impact kills 1 Marauder Horsemen, his Assassin another, then he rolls Avalanche of fists, gets 12 hits, 9 actually hit (needing 4s), 6 wound, bye-bye all my fast cavalry in one turn. He is actually winning at this point, 142 points to 90.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 2

I have lots of choices. I am the Warriors of Chaos...there is really only one answer. Charge! This turn I remember to test leadership for my cannon. He fails. And rampages....3". Triple ones. I roll an unbelievable number of those.

I also manage just 3 power dice.I channel another.

As I charge, he chooses to flee with his weapon teams. My Knights fly through and redirect onto his storm vermin. I combo-charge his Queek unit and am uncertain what to do with the dragon. I had declared a charge on that unit, but by choosing a different order kept him out of the combat, I should have flown him away from the globes. I erred.

I get Infernal off with irresistible on the Globadiers. I again roll 11 hits, this time at S8.; 9 Globadiers are no longer with us. I feel better.

My knights in his clan rats on the left do what Knights do, he dies in droves, though he does kill one Knight. He flees, I chase. He runs 6", I chase....5". Grr.

My other Knights and Chaos Warriors also do well. I challenge with my unit champ; Queek fails to kill him when I parry save, everyone else dies, Queek flees, I pursue, and a feared model is no longer with us.

At this point I am feeling pretty good. He is down his general, his BSB, rats are fleeing, and I control the center of the field.

Then again, he still has the Plague Furnace, Doom Wheel, and HPA...all of which I struggle to wound.

Skaven turn 2

I knew I had given my flank with the Chaos Warriors. I hoped to run further. Then again...with a 3+ armors, 5+ ward, I should last a while. I just want to keep his Furnace busy while I wipe out everything else.

His fleeing rats leave the table, the Furnace charges into the Warriors, slaves combo charge me, the Doomwheel moves a more modest amount.

He gets a big number for Withering on the Warriors. I do not dare chance it, I burn my scroll. He then mis-casts with the seer thanks to Pandemonium, I modify it to reduce levels, he is now a level 0. Magic is ruling for me.

The Doomwheel fires and I lose a Chaos Warrior. Well, that is not a terrible outcome. It could have been much worse. For two turns I have lost just one Chaos Warrior total to his Doomwheel.

Well, he gets 6 Impact hits, 5 wound, and my vaunted armor save/ward save combo saves....zero. Zip. Nada.

*Sigh*. I finally get saves...good saves...and whiff on them all. Then his shroud attack wounds 6 more, this time I save....1. 10 Warriors down before I have lifted a weapon.

But the Warriors step up to the plate. I kill 8 of his slaves. None of his plague monks. His slaves get 1 wound through, but this time I save it. then his wrecker ball of doom gets 10 S5 hits off, 7 of them wound, and I save just 3.

Well now. I had 21 Warriors about 30 seconds ago. Now I have 3. That 3+/5+ combo is not so good, is it then?

My BSB being right there lets me stay, being stubborn and all. So, uh...some good news, I guess.

Meanwhile, he had also charged my knights with his rats. I allocate one attack to his unit champ, kill it. Then I do 8 more wounds. The horses kill 4 more. His 20 attacks hit 13 times, wound 7, and I save 5. So yeah...3 knights dead already. Out of 5. He flees, I overrun.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 3
I had about as good of turn one as could be believed, beginning to end. Then his plague furnace and clan rats turned it around. I have a badly damaged unit of knights, an all but dead unit of warriors...who I had counted on holding him up for three or four turns...I was reeling.

It gets even worse when the H-cannon fails his test again and pounds forward about 6". I just have not had good success with that thing.

My Knights, being frenzied, and my Warriors, being dead, combined to now give me a path to attack his Plague Furnace. I had really mixed emotions about this. The furnace is unbreakable, does massive casualties throughout combat, and I have no faith in my ability to take it down no matter how much I throw at it.

Ah, smurf...charge. In go the knights. Shaggoth flanks the slaves. Chaos Warriors flank the slaves. They are going down. The dragon rider charges his last globadier. Might as well.

I remember to roll Wulfrik and his 47 marauders on, they come behind his recovered jezzails.

I roll 3 for power dice again. I whiff on Infernal. I cast Purple Sun towards his Doomwheel but it falls short by 24". Well...it was a long shot, but I had little else to do.

My Sorcerer lord takes care of business and the Globadier heads for the bone pile.

His shroud attack does what it does...kills 2 knights, a chaos warrior and a slave. My BSB kills the Seer on the bell. I am happy.

The knights do 7 wounds. The Chaos Warriors, with little left to attack, swing at the Furnace and manage a wound. Those facing the slaves then kill 4. His Plague monks manage 7 wounds and this time my armor works great, saving 6 of them and my ward the 7th.

The furnace then whacks the warriors thrice, I save none, many more dead.

His slaves explode, killing one of the fresh block of warriors and 2 plague monks.

Skaven turn 3
He charges the Shaggoth with some warlord guy. His clan rats charge the H-cannon. His HPA slams into my general on a dragon.  And then his feared shooting phase opens up.

His doomwheel is out of range, but the jezzails kill a Chaos Warrior. then his weapons teams with the templates each kill 9 Marauders. 18 guys killed in a heartbeat. *GULP*

I am really not liking this right now. His bell could kill my knights, warriors, and other warriors on its own. A 2 or 300 point model is tying up well over 1000. His 230ish point A-bomb is something I expect to kill my 700 point Dragon/Wizard in a couple of turns. I am unsure how the rats/cannon combat will go. And I have nothing left to deal with his doomwheel. I cannot withstand another turn of that lethal shooting with my Marauders.

On the other hand, I have a clear lead at this point. I have the situations I try to set up; I have vastly more force involved in 2 of the 3 combats from a points standpoint. I have an unbreakable unit hopefully holding up another unit for a while. And I have a clear magic advantage.

Close combat is a little better. His assassin and clan rats cannot wound the h-cannon. The cannon kills a couple rats.

His HPA only gets 2 impact hits, 1 wounds, and I ward save that. The Talisman of Preservation/mark of tzeentch combination to give me a 3+ ward is going to be HUGE. I get a wound through with my wizard, even though I get just 1 hit. Wow.

He then gets the flailing fist result, and rolls a whopping 13 attacks. 5 wound....and I ward save all of them. The Dragon hits all 6 times, 4 of them wound, he regenerates two. In just one turn I put 3 wounds on him. I start to feel hope.

The plague furnace kills another knight and warrior with its shroud attack. His Warlord wounds the Shaggoth 3 times, but I somehow save 2. Saves aplenty.

My BSB then wounds the Furnace 2 more times, the knights kill 11 plague monks, my Chaos Warriors kill the last 4 0plague monks, the Shaggoth wounds the Bell, and then I thunderstomp his warlord, but he saves one of the two wounds. The Furnace then hits the big block of warriors 8 times, I take 6 wounds and save just 3.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 4

I move my Sorcerer on disc towards the HPA. I have a vague idea of using the flaming attack on the HPA to stop the regeneration.

My Marauders charge the jezzails who flee but are over-run and I hit his rat ogre thing which dies easily.

I then get Infernal off with irresistible. I do 10 S10 hits. I wound him 9 times. This will be it for the HPA...until he regens 7 of them! He still has 1 wound left. I just...can...not...kill...that...stupid...thing.

The great part is I modify the mis-cast to a 7. He is hit by the template. He is wounded by the template. Do I even need to mention he regenerates it? Stupid unbreakable, unkillable beast.

Meanwhile, the H-cannon decides to get rid of his annoying assassin but can only wound it once, losing a crewman in return.

The Sorcerer then wounds the HPA twice and...wonder of wonders...IT DIES! YES! Victory is mine! There is n stopping me now. It is gone and...what? He rolled a 6? It comes back...with 2 wounds...an inch away and ready to get more impact hits since he gets next turn...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There is no stopping that stupid thing.

The bell wounds my Shaggoth. He has no plague monks left. My BSB wounds the Bell twice and the Knights finish it off. Shaggy kills his warlord.

Take that, Skaven rats!

Skaven turn 4

Skaven turn 4
The HPA charges back at my wizard on the dragon. His Doomwheel kills the last Chaos Warrior of my big block with its shooting.

I save his only impact hit. I which at him. He gets the "Avalanche of flesh" attack. Does the HPA ever do a reasonable number of attacks? I fail the I roll but ward it. He hits 7 more times, 6 of which wound, 5 of which I save. The Dragon then puts him down again, doing the 2 necessary wounds.

And he...comes back. As Rat Swarms, this time. Much better.

His Assassin kills another crewman. The Cannon kills the assassin.


Warriors of Chaos Turn 5

Okay,  at this point I am feeling pretty good. His doom wheel is not as tough as the Furnace, which I took down. Sure, I had to use 10 knights, an exalted hero, a shaggoth, some magic, and 31 Chaos Warriors...but I took it down.

I mean, sure, I was throwing as many as 23 S5, 49 S4, and 5 S8 attacks at it for multiple turns...but I took it down. Sure, I lost over 20 chaos warriors and a handful of knights...but I took it down. Sure, I....ah, smurf, who am I kidding. I am not confident in my ability to take down the Doomwheel in the next 2 turns.

At the same time...he cannot do near enough damage. I have wiped out almost his entire army.

The Dragon decided to leave the swarms for the knights, flew over them at his weapon team...which fled. I redirected onto his clan rats. The Knights charge the swarm.

And here comes the whiff factor. The BSB puts 4 wounds on the swarms...but the knights under perform. Completely. Four wounds. Wow, really? Fortunately, the horses do just as much, 4 more wounds, the swarm melts.

The cannon kills another storm vermin after he saves half the wounds.

Now we will see what a Chaos Sorcerer on a Chaos Dragon can do against ranked up Clan Rats. This is the type of situation I typically avoid...I like to combo charge and bring overwhelming force. I do not like things that might be close combats or risking 695 point models without being pretty sure I have the advantage.

However, the game kind of got out of hand a bit. He has done a lot of damage, but it has been spread out. So he has very few points at this juncture. So even if I get hammered, it makes it arguably a better game...and if not, it does not really matter a lot.

Well, all three of the Wizards attacks kill. He strikes before the dragon, but only wounds 1 time, which I duly save. Then the Dragon kills 5 with his breath, 3 with base attacks and 4 with his thunderstomp.

Totally epic. I did a whopping 14 casualties in one round...he cannot stand, I pursue off table, his non-fleeing weapon team breaks. I am duly impressed by the power of the dragon.

Skaven Turn 5
He fails to rally anything, his weapon teams flee off the field.

Shooting will be bad; Shaggy is the closest to his doomwheel, and is immune to the effects,. He tries to restrain. Fails. He fires...or rather, mis-fires. He takes 6 S6 hits. His doomwheel blows itself up.

His last weapon team mis-fires...blows up.

He does manage to put a wound on the H-cannon, though, so at least that went right.

Warriors of Chaos Turn 6
My Knights, being frenzied, must charge. The Scree slope forces dangerous terrain tests. My BSB duly rolls a 1, I do not ward save it. The others all pass.

He kills a Storm Vermin, in a challenge my champ kills his, my other knights kill 2 more, he kill the last Chaos Dwarf, then the cannon kills 4 more. He breaks, runs, flees table.

Skaven Turn 6


Conclusion
Well then. On the one hand, I am really not fond of tabling my opponent. On the other hand, I think Kev takes it better than anyone. And he thought it was an enjoyable game, so I am not going to dwell on that aspect too much.

What went right?

 Well, first off, my plan worked beautifully. His force ended up being split into distinct elements whereas mine was almost all centered and working in concert. As a result, I had 2-1/2 - 1 points advantages at almost every point of contact. This spread my casualties out very well to where I lost just three units despite taking dozens of casualties. Meanwhile, I got rid of some dangerous guys without taking much damage. Queek, I am looking at you here.

Second, I played very well. I can count on one hand the number of mistakes I made: forgot to use the warshrine on turn 1 (minor, not really relevant), forgot to roll LD test for the Cannon on turn one and to roll for Wulfrik on turn 3. I was able to minimize his shooting which let me get into hand to hand before he could whittle me down to manageable sizes.

Third, I had a fair amount of good fortune with lots of irresistible without being harmed by mis-casts, whereas his mis-casts cost him his level 4 and level 2 wizards. I also made a pretty fair number of saves. Of course, that meant he had a lot of attempts to wound me...but that is kind of the point of playing an army based around good saves. To make them. I am often disappointed when I either do not get to attempt saves or fail abnormally large amounts. This game I made a lot of saves and I enjoy that.

Fourth, he had some timely very bad fortune...like his low impact hits, his weapons teams mis-firing on command and his being struck repeatedly by miscasts that were devastating.

Regardless, this was an extremely entertaining game. In retrospect, it was a demolition beginning to end...but for about 4 turns it felt like I was fighting uphill. We had epic, grinding combats that lasted multiple turns. We had crushing charges and stellar defenses.

One great moment was when I smurf-slapped his HPA with 10 S10 hits and laughingly said, "You only need to regen 7 to survive" only to see him do just that. What a great, memorable moment.

Or seeing said A-bomb come back with wounds once and then again as a swarm. It began to feel like I would never be rid of that thing. I just did not know how weak swarms are.

Which leads me to another point. I often point out that person x or y is a better player than I am. Part of that has to do with research.

I don't.

I cannot tell you how many times in the game I had to ask wounds, strength, abilities, etc. of the various Skaven rats. I had no idea they even had a close combat weapon team. As he pointed out, the team had a giant propeller blade...I just thought it was another gun of some sort.

I also had no comprehension of the sheer destructive power of the template guys who nearly wrecked my Marauder horde.

Yet some guys in the group know the 'enemy army" nearly as well as they know their own. This is a valuable skill as it allows you to dictate who you want to fight against who, and when you want them to do so.

Looking back, I should have had everyone attacking the Bell, not the Monks (or Furnace...I actually think it was a screaming bell, not a plague furnace...) from turn one. But thinking I could not touch it, I let it live much too long. Once I got around to attacking it, I killed it in relatively short order. Not knowing the Skaven book very well altered in-game decisions.

So studying the opponent is a valuable tool for improving play. Not knowing them is a handicap. Though not necessarily a game-breaking one. It just makes it a bit tougher.


Overall, this was a very, very entertaining game. I was on pins and needles for 4+ turns....which in a 4k game means for about 5 hours. Great game, great time, thanks for the match, Kev.

Only one thing left to do; Survivor group photo

High Elf Versus Brettonians, Blood and Glory

Liam and I set up a game at 2900 points. Why 2900 you ask?

I looked at the models I had and started there. 10 Swordmasters. 17 White Lions. 5 Dragon Princes plus I could use 5 Silver helms as unit filler. 2 Repeater bolt Throwers.

Throw in some Wizards with various items to ensure a big magic phase. Figure out I needed 475 points in HERO level characters.

Decided to try the horde of Lothern Sea Guard. Had I remembered I had a chariot...that would have appeared as well.

Check out the spears poking through from the second rank. Good times.

Anyway, we rolled the scenario and three consecutive times came up with meeting engagement. That has been Liam's last two games and one of those was with me so we re-rolled until we got something different. Ended up being Blood and Glory.

I had a BSB, banners in the Swordmasters, White Lions and Sea Guard so I was in good shape with 6 points there. He had a whopping 11 banners. Unlikely to win via scenario rules...I would need points.

I knew he had double trebuchets. One of the reasons I seldom play High elfs is because they do not really suit my play style. I try to keep my casualties low, make sure the troops engaged have the capability of doing something and are therefore worth taking.

Against S5 templates I have no save and am wounded on twos. Horrible, horrible match up. On the bright side, I do have two units with either S5 or S6 so his 1 or 2+ armor saves can be hit by those, plus the RBTs will theoretically allow no armor save because I plan to penetrate ranks after I take out his Trebuchets.

Well, I set up the White Lions in a forest to my left. It was a mysterious Forest, but I thought I would play against type and not treat it as impassable terrain as I usually do.

 On the other side of the forest I planted my LSG unit (and later all my characters went in this unit) with another Mysterious Forest to the right and the Dragon princes angled to flank anyone who hit the LSG in the front.

Above this set-up were my small block of 12 Archers, then one RBT on the ground to the right of the second Mysterious Forest, another on a building with Swordmasters there to protect it.

This was a badly flawed set-up. I was thinking the RBT had S10 when they single-shot. Their assigned task was to take out his Trebuchets. The Swordmasters I set up hidden by the building, but I faced them wrong so they would take two turns to threaten any upcoming unit.

I would have been better off putting a RBT to either side of  the LSG and concentrating on the Knights. Not knowing my own stats is inexcusable.  

HE Turn 1

I march the White Lions on the left. Cannot remember the Mysterious result but it ended up having no effect.I make a lesser advance with the archers. Across the field I am looking at Knights flanked by Knights flanked by Knights...so...yeah.

Time for Magic. I get max dice. Throne succeeds. I then put Flesh to Stone and one Wyssans on the LSG. He dispels the second Wyssan. So here you see my battle plan. Now I have as many as 50 S4 attacks with re-roll to hit and T6.

Even charging Knights are only wounding on a 4. Now I have a tough, rugged army.

Of my 35 shots 5 wounded...a little low, I should have wounded with about 9. He then proceeded to save all of them but one. So about one wound light by math.

My RBTs targeted his Pegasus Knights because it was at this point I figured out the lower S thing. The first one missed, the second saw its hit discarded by the Enchanted shield.

The theme begins.

Brettonian Turn 1

His Pegasus Knights and hero fly towards my RBT on top of the building. I am not worried...I am on a building, so untouchable by fliers.

Well...actually not. Turns out I invented that rule in my own head. For some reason I was thinking Cavalry, fliers, and monsters could not attack garrisons. I was wrong. Not knowing the rules is not good.

Anyhow, he maxes out on Magic dice as well. He dispels Throne and Flesh to Stone.

Now, the clever reader instantly says Rules Error. Flesh to Stone is an Augment spell that lasts until the casters next magic phase. If it is successful it cannot be dispelled, stopped, removed, etc.

Now...I built this army specifically around having these Augments on my units. I know he will probably get all the charges based on his superior movement. No big deal...I took Okrams Mind Razor with one Wizard along with Wand of jet.

On the key turn I will be using the Power Stone, Wand of Jet, and power Scroll hiding out on my wizards to have him facing a S8/T 6 or 7 Always Strikes First mass attack unit.

And now, by not knowing my own rules, I changed my entire strategy.

Not once in the entire battle did I A) use the aforementioned magic items, B)remember to use the Lore of Life attribute or C) use the strategy I built the army around.

Anyhow, I block his Iceshard and Comet, in both cases only tying him because the High Elf Archmage adds +1 to Dispel.

The first Trebuchet scatters. So far, so good.

The second one kills 18 of 21 possible LSG when it hits.

T4 not as good as T6. Instead of wounding on 5s he was wounding on 3s.

His peasants then kill 5 of my small archer unit.

HE Turn 2

Again my White Lions march on the left. Next turn they can charge the trebuchet on that flank.

This time he dispels Throne, I get Wyssans off and I then Miscast with Flesh to Stone, putting a wound on each of my Wizards and losing the rest of my power dice.

He is moving a big block of Peasants up towards my second RBT so I weirdly break my own rule of concentrating fire and unleash everything...RBTs, LSG, at them. The RBTs kill 4 and the LSG kill 6.

The RBT never hit again in the entire battle.

On the bright side, the remaining 7 archers put a whopping 5 wounds on the Questing Knights and he only saves 4.

Brettonian Turn 2

His Pegasus Knights charge my RBT on the building. His Pegasus Hero charges the other one. Everyone else...knights, the peasant horde...advance on the LSG.

Magic all gets shafted. he again dispels Wyssans. Both Trebuchets hit, though one partially scattered. I lose another 15 LSG this turn. I have now lost 33 of them to two turns of shooting.

His peasant bowmen shoot down 6 more of the small archer unit, leaving just one who stands.

I wound the Pegasus hero once in a minor upset, he kills a crewman. I pass my test.

On the building I wound him TWICE, but he saves the first with armor and ward saves the second. But he whiffs. Drawn combat. Go-go gadget garrison!

HE TURN 3

He dispels most things, I get regrow off, put back three LSG.

The White Lions charge....the peasants. Why? Why? Why?

The Trebuchet is RIGHT THERE. It is the correct target.

Another play error. I really erred time and again in this game.

Well, the White Lions did what high WS, S models with re-rolls do and slew 9 peasant bowmen. They do none in return and break. His Treb fails LD test so will not shoot for a turn. I fail LD test to combat reform and chase the Peasants but do not catch them.

Brettonian Turn 3

He announces charges on my LSG with Grail Knights and...knights Errant? Knights of the Realm? I stand and shoot his Grail unit, wounding twice but he saves them both. He then fails both charges. His other knight unit charges my lone archer and I elect to flee. I do not want him overrunning into my LSG.

His magic is good, getting the Comet off irresistibly.

High Elf Turn 4

The unit that charged the lone archer presents its rear to my White Lions who charge it. The lone archer...rolls insane courage. Worst possible result for me.

He is now blocking my Dragon princes who, instead of charging, are now trapped behind ONE model.

Tired of playing poorly, I elect to play unbelievably badly. The idea is with the BSB and Crown of Command, I am Stubborn on a re-rollable 9. I am effectively unbreakable.

Yet for some inexplicable reason I break off my wizards and run them into the nearby Mysterious Forest. Oh, by the way...the Crown of Command was on my Archmage, not my BSB. So now my unit is not stubborn.

My shooting and magic all fail. Now my non-stubborn unit is facing 20+ S6 attacks with T3 and no Stubborn. I am probably going to need Insane Courage to stick around.

On the bright side, the White Lions kill 4 knights plus their champ, forcing him to flee and I pursue.

Brettonian Turn 4

This time his Grail Knights make the charge. He rallies everyone else.

And then the Comet hits. And r9olls 9". All my Wizards are now individual units and three consecutive times he rolls 13 hits. 3 dead wizards.

He then kills his Pegasus Hero (which had wiped out my RBT)kills 6 Grail Knights and 6 LSG. I will take the LSG/Grail Trade...

Which frees up his Trebuchets to kill 7 Swordmasters.

In the challenge his one guy kills my champ, I wound his character 5 times, he saves them all. Nobody runs.

High Elf 5

The solo archer has to get out of the way of my Dragon Princes, so he suicide charges the freshly rallied Knights as the White Lions, thinking I need to get that banner, rear-charge the unit next to them. The Dragon Princes then flank his Grail Knight/Champ.

My Dragon princes lay waste to his Grail Knight. My LSG do wound his hero 5 times, but he saves them all. Still, he breaks, I run him down.

The archer, to the surprise of nobody, dies, but the White Lions wound his Knights Errant 10 times, killing 6 of them. He kills 3 back, breaks, I run him down as well.

Bretonnian Turn 5

He begins a strategic retreat. We debated calling it, but a hasty points calculation discovered I was ahead. He would need to do lots of damage with his Trebuchets so we played it out.

12 White Lions die to Trebuchet.

High Elf 6

I do flank charge him with my Swordmasters on his peasants. He can treb me to death anyway with just 3 left. I actually win the combat, he has to test on a 6...and that is what he rolls.

Brettonian Turn 6

His Pegasus Knights charge my Swordmasters, I do a wound or so, he kills them all.

His trebuchets cannot finish off my LSG, leaving like 2...but I fail my re-rollable 9 LD test. I roll a 5, am about 5-1/8" from table edge but declare them off anyway and he gets the win via scenario rules.


Retrospect
Honestly, at this point I was pretty disgusted with the High Elf army. I built the army around Augment spells but at this point was thinking...they would never be in effect when they mattered. People would just dispel them on their turn.

Furthermore, all the shooting was very ineffective. Yes, I had 35 shots at first but just did one wound. S3 is still S3 and against armored troops with a back-up ward, that does nothing.

But after thinking about it...oh, how wrong I was. I had all the tools to not just win that game but win it handily.

With better set-up I would have gotten the Dragon Princes and Swordmasters into multiple combats. My LSG would have had 25 or 30 guys around between taking fewer wounds and using the Life attribute. My Wizards would have been alive. I would likely have had S9 on the key turn by using the tools I built into the army.

Furthermore, the shooting was much more effective than I gave it credit for. I just failed to focus my shots and it was my tactical errors that reduced the effectiveness of the shooting.

He outplayed me in set-up, in knowledge of key rules, and garnered a well-deserved victory.

And it was the best kind of game; enjoyable throughout and led to me rethinking a couple of things. Playing different armies is good...