Orcs and Goblins v D of Chaos, 500 points

Space Monkey and I had a bit of time and a hankering to roll some dice, and he is looking to get more established in the rules. We were debating between 500 points and 1250 points. Ultimately, we went 500. In a sense, this is good...much easier to study the rules when you can, if necessary, play the entire game in about a half hour. On the dark side, it meant I did not roll out this monstrosity...

He has a Treeman Ancient in the process of being modded into a D-Prince. And Deathnarok TOWERS over that monstrous model.

For point of reference, here is Deathnarok next to a properly sized Arachnarok.

Of course, in 1250 points, Deathnarok would not last long as his laser-guided Skullcannon does d6 S10 wounds...and I have no way i can think of to drop a ward on Deathnarok.

Anyway, I threw together a list with a Savage Orc Shaman w/Lucky Shrunken Head, 14 Savage Orc Big Uns w/ champ and standard and 9 Savage Orc Boar Boys w/Standard Bearer and Champion.

We decided to keep it simple, just Battle Line. I won roll for side of table and planted my Boar riders basically center of table so they could go where needed. He had something making his 'Nettes able to ignore dangerous terrain so planted them behind some dangerous terrain to my left, I threw the infantry on top of the hill on my left with the Shaman inside.

I then won the roll for first turn.

O&G Turn 1

I made both my animosity rolls, marched the Savage Orcs forward and kept pace with the Boar Riders. I figured he would most likely be out of range of the Gaze of Mork...or possibly Gork...and passed on magic.

DoC Turn 1
He advanced 3". He wa trying to set it up so I would charge his 'Nettes and get held up, then flank charged. Good plan. Since he had no magic we elected to eschew the rolls on the table.

O&G Turn 2
The boar riders passed their test, the infantry...fails. Squabble. No movement or magic for them. Argh! I can assure you, even in a learning game, I have no intention of advancing my boar riders unsupported into the teeth of his entire army. So turn 2 consisted of me failing animosity and passing the turn.

DoC Turn 2
If he moved it was maybe an inch or so. He had his trap set and no need to move.

O&G Turn 3
Stop me if this sounds familiar. The boar riders passed their test, the infantry...fails. Squabble. No movement or magic for them. Argh! I can assure you, even in a learning game, I have no intention of advancing my boar riders unsupported into the teeth of his entire army. So turn 3 consisted of me failing animosity and passing the turn.Remind you of anything? Hint; I copy/pasted the results of turn 2.

DoC Turn 3

Seeing me fail animosity again, he  advanced his Bloodcrushers to force a charge should I fail again. Oh, not a likely one...I would need a 9 to make it... He also advanced his 'Nettes, angling them to receive the charge from my Boar Riders. If I got stuck he would have the easy flank on the boar riders. We are maybe 5 minutes int the game and halfway done already...

O&G Turn 4

Wonder of wonders, I passed my animosity with both units. I figured my 19 attacks in the front row, 3 in the back, plus 6 more Boar attacks for a total of 28 potential attacks against his wimpy nettes gave me a pretty good chance to one-turn wipe them out so I declared that charge and also declared the less likely Savage Orc infantry v Bloodcrushers charge to hopefully keep them off my flank if things went sub-par.

I advanced the infantry only 5" with a failed charge. Boar riders made it in easily.

I got to attempt a spell and got off the gaze of Gork...or possibly Mork, I cannot be sure...and it got through. Even better, because I had a unit in combat it would be S5 instead of S4 do to the lore attribute. Too bad I rolled a "2" to wound...

He has to declare a challenge, my unit champ accepted and duly died to his herald, who even got a point of overkill. He also did a wound with his 'Nettes that was unsaved. Not to worry, I still have 19 attacks...6 wounds...he saved 5 of them. Needing 5+. Aaaaaagggghhh. Oh well, here come the boars...and he saved all those wounds as well. I lost the combat. Gone was my frenzy. Gone was my ability to minimize the casualties caused by his herald. Gone was my chance to get out of the path of his Bloodcrushers. I am in trouble...

DoC Turn 4

He makes the blindingly obvious flank charge. If I could not hurt 'nettes with Frenzy and choppas, how will I do against his combined forces and lacking those advantages?

By the time we got around to his Crushers attacking I had but 2 riders left. I somehow put 1 wound on one of the Crushers and then was gone. Here was a tough choice. Overrun or reform to face the infantry? His 'Nettes could reform but not overrun. There was a chance if he overran with the Crushers that he would get stuck in front of the 'nettes, blocking them and presenting his flank. Even if he cleared their face he would have to reform in turn 5 and hope to charge in the bottom of turn 6.

He reformed to accept the charge from my infantry with the 'Nettes there to catch any potential overrun.

O&G Turn 5

Well now. I have lost 43% of my army and done 1 casualty and 1 wound to him with them. Furthermore, that was my hammer unit...all I have left is my anvil unit. Of course, being Savage Orc Big Uns with the charge they can still do some damage by virtue of having frenzy, extra hand weapons and S5 on the charge...

So in I go. I declare a challenge, knowing I will likely lose it, but it will minimize the number of attacks coming back at me. He makes short work of my champion. No worries, I unleash something like 24 S5 attacks and end up doing I think 5 unsaved wounds. In combination with the 1 wound done early, that puts down everyone in the unit but the champ who does me the favor of crumbling to instability. 

DoC Turn 5

He does the only thing he can and charges. Then again, lets look at the 'Nettes history; they wiped out a unit of Chaos Knights last time out, this time out out-fought and held in place for the easy demolition a unit of Boar Riders. I think he SHOULD charge and be happy about it.

He declares a challenge with his herald. Having lost my champion, I only have my Shaman available. However, if he is in a challenge and gets killed by the high-initiative, 4 attack herald I lose my 5+ War Paint and it goes back to a 6+. I decline the challenge and move to the back row. Oh no, I lost 2 WS3, S3 attacks...okay, S4 this round, but still, who cares. I will take the Lucky Shrunken head...

Herald hits hard but mostly fails to wound. His 'Nettes do better but Lucky Shrunken Head adds about 3 extra saves and I end up losing maybe 3 or 4 models, he ends up taking a whooping this turn. Turns out about 24 attacks needing 4 to hit and 2 to wound can even damage 5+ ward guys. He loses about 1 more model and when the instability clears I have an advantage, but less S.

O&G Turn 6
His attacks do a couple casualties to me, I do 5 or 6 to him. When the smoke clears he has just his unit champ and herald standing. I have I think 7 Savage Orcs and a Shaman, still ducking challenges. Evil cackle.

Doc Turn 6
I put a second wound on his herald and another on his champ. Poor Space Monkey saw what had looked like a game in the bag turn into another tabling. Such bad luck.


What Went Right
Lucky Shrunken Head. Period. It was worth about 10 saves...in a game I ended with 7 models (and 8 wounds) total. The law of combat effectiveness tells me every one of those saves was about a 4 effective attack swing as I did not lose 3 attacks and he "wasted" one on a save I normally do not make. If I do not have the Lucky Shrunken Head he probably tables me on turn 5.

Oh, and the only spell I attempted was successful and got to use the lore attribute, the first time I have remembered that little nugget and had it matter. At least, it WOULD have mattered had I wounded him, which I did not. Still worth taking the Shaman for the Lucky Shrunken head, but as usual magic underwhelms for me.

What Went Wrong
You give me the change to send 9 frenzied, extra hand weapon wielding Savage Orcs into a 10-15 strong core infantry block not named tzeentch-marked Chaos Warriors 100 times, I take that opportunity 101 times and thank you for the opportunity. 6 wide with a champ I have as many as 28 S5 attacks probably needing 4s to hit (including the boars). I am going to do some damage.

Unless, of course, I fluff a large number of attacks/wounds and he saves 90% of those I inflict...that failure not only to wipe him out but actually being unable to inflict any appreciable damage on him put me in a deep hole.

It was a deeper hole due to back to back failed animosity rolls by the intransigent Savage Orc Big Uns. Instead of charging across the field hurling insults and bodily stench at whatever was across the field from them, they took some time to relax atop a hill and argue whether the worms tasted better fresh out of battlefield churned dirt or after an acid rain.

Overall
Very fun, surprisingly challenging battle. With two armies combining to have one 4d6" range spell that did nothing, it took us 4 turns of maneuver-counter maneuver to come to grips and once we did the game had some wild swings that went from looking like I would be tabled early to him battling the law of diminishing returns as his best unit got trampled by my infantry and his 'Nettes, awesome against cavalry, forgot how to fight and started doing a Minion slap-fight (because Despicable Me references are always awesome) at exactly the wrong time.

Good time, lot of learning opportunity for Space Monkey to pick up the game and he will be back. Probably with more 'nettes...because they have been his MVP both games.

Oh, and lets return to those thrilling days of yesteryear with a survivor pic...

Warrios of Chaos v. DoC

So Space Monkey has been working on painting up some DoC for a while. He is using it as practice for when he paints his High Elves, figuring even if you mess it up a bit...it is Chaos, still will look good.

He has enough painted up for a 1250 point game so we decided to try a small one. I speed-built a list of Warriors...which means I went with the old reliables. I started with a block of Chaos Warriors with shields and full command. They fullfill multiple purposes; if we roll up Watchtower, they give me a great unit to throw in there, if we roll up Blood and Glory I have a pretty reliable standard, and they are just a great choice anyway...rugged, tough fighters in any scenario.

Next I picked a unit of Skullcrushers because...well...they are awesome. A unit of Knights, and I had just enough points left for an exalted hero with shield to be my BSB (with Rampagers standard) on a juggernaut and another on foot to be the general.

We rolled up Blood and Glory which is probably my second favorite scenario (right behind watchtower) but since he only had 2 banners and this was going to be more of a learning game, we elected to just play battleline instead. And even that we modified. We really just set up our armies without paying attention to what the other guy was doing.
 I put the big block of charriors on my right, the Skullcrushers in their left, the Knights behind the crushers.

He put his Bloodcrushers opposite my Skullcrushers, Bloodletters behind them, his Skullcannon on their right (from my perspective), his slaanesh damonettes on the far right (cleverly disguised as with elves for their better looking models) and hiding behind that 40k building in the far back left corner is a modified Ancient Treeman being converted into a D-Prince.

I won the roll to go first.

WoC Turn 1
Since I had not been able to fit in either Marauder Horsemen or the H-cannon and had no magic, I had a threat range of base to base. I advanced far enough that he had a possible but unlikely charge of about 17"...he would have needed a 10 with his Bloodcrushers. My Warriors advanced behind me and I started swinging the knights out wide to the right. (We had ruled the ruins in the center of the table buildings that could be moved around/through no problem, their only function was line of sight blocking, which was bad for me. I wanted him shooting his cannon at them, not my multiwound models).

DoC Turn 1
Space Monkey set his trap. He moved the Bloodletters and Bloodcrushers back, making it all but impossible for me to get the charge. He also flew his D-Prince out of sight but facing the middle of the table. If I advanced my Skullcrushers they would get combo charged, in the front by the Bloodcrushers and in the flank by the D-Prince.He moved the cannon forward and aimed it at my Skullcrushers...and as you can see in the picture above, I had taken my character out of the unit, so a well-placed cannonball could take out a Skullcrusher AND my BSB.

Oops.

He had no magic he wanted to try, so on to the shooting phase. His movement backwards was an excellent plan. It meant he would get at least 1 and possibly two turns of shooting at me and get the charges if he so desired. Furthermore, I believed I had nothing to deal with his cannon or D-Prince and thought the Skullcrushers v Bloodcrushers was a fair fight.

If you have read any of my past battle reports and/or ponderings, you know getting my guys into fair fights is seldom part of the plan. I like to go in with overwhelming force so even if I fluff my rolls I win and when I win, I want them to need snakeyes to avoid running. He flipped the script where I would have a whittled down unit being victimized by being on the wrong side of an unfair fight. I was already planning a most un-Warriors like strategy of running behind the nearby building to get out of sight of the cannon and save whatever was left of my unit. If he came to me we would fight but I was not going into the valley of death.

If you are a long-time reader, you also know when I have shiny new models I want to put on the table, they have a history of...well, unperforming seems to generous. Such as the Shaggoth, who got shot off the table by Dark Elves in two turns. Or Galrauch who never got a spell off and never got into combat. Or...well, he had three units I would have been excited about if I were he. The cannon was one.

Apparently being within eyesight of me is bad news for other people's models as well...because it promptly misfired and blew itself up.

Meanwhile, his weakest unit was way out on my right. He tried to cast something, his book chart forced a test and his herald took a wound, then I dispelled whatever he tried.


Not a good turn for DoC.

WoC Turn 2
His cannon blowing up changed things. Now I just had to get to where when he flank-charged my crushers I could flank charge his. I moved the Warriors into the ruins and angled them to get him when he got me, moved my knights over to face the daemonettes, and put the BSB back with the Crushers.

DoC Turn 2
Now he had to come to me. His Daemonettes charged the Knights, his Crushers charged mine. While the 'nettes made it handily, he WOULD have made it with his Crushers...if not for that retrograde move back in turn 1. He came up 2" short and had moved back 2.5".


It did shuffle him forward to where I would need an 8 to get him...

His herald and my Champion went into a challenge. He got 2 wounds through so got overkill. Then the knights did what they do, chopping down 4 or 5 of those peasants in front of them, saving everything else he hit me with. He lost another 5 or 6 to instability and after one round of combat I had 4 of 5 knights standing and he had 1 'nette and the Herald from what had been 10+ Herald. Things are looking good for the Warriors.

WoC Turn 3
I thought the smart play would be to make him come to me or combo-charge the Warriors and Crushers  but the fun play would be to declare the charge with the warriors on his Bloodletters and Crushers on his Crushers so that is what I did.

Note that both of these were much closer to "fair fights" than I like to get involved with...but I made both charges.

Except they turned out to not be all that fair. My Exalted declared a challenge, his champion Bloodletter accepted. I got overkill, rolled on the table, failed my LD test and became a Spawn...I did a couple wounds, he took more from instability and his unit shrunk precipitously.

Meanwhile, my Skullcrushers turned out to have a few advantages...such as higher strength due to ensorcelled weapons, more base attacks for the riders, frenzy which he does not get, and an extra Hero character throwing frenzied attacks...I had something like 19 extra S5 attacks wounding on 4s. He lost his last wound to instability.

But all was not well in the world of the Warriors.

Remember that herald and single 'nette? Well, his Herald got past the saves of 2 knights and the last two knights could not muster a single wound against him. They lost the combat...and ran. I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever had knights run. Wiped out? Sure. But RUN? Never.

DoC Turn 3
Well, he naturally declared the charge with his 'nettes and ran down my Knights. Whoa.

Meanwhile, the only un-engaged unit was his D-Prince, so he came to visit the Skullcrushers.

So my Exalted BSB and he went into a challenge. He hit with every attack, wounded with all, I saved most. I hit him with half, wounded once.

Against his Herald and Bloodletter, he had maybe 3 attacks, did a wound. I had about 13 attacks...and hit 1, wounded zero. But won anyway because of ranks/banner, etc. He passed LD test.

Warriors Turn 4
I am 100% engaged so no moving, shooting or magic...straight to the battle phase. He again did a wound with his Bloodletters. I again could not wound, though this time I "only" had 10 attacks to his 2...and again I won based on ranks, banner, and he passed LD.

This time I saved all the wounds his D-Prince did and he did not save mine, failed his test and died to instability.

DoC Turn 5
The winds forced my Bloodcrushers to take a LD test on 3d6 and take a wound for every point I failed by...so a Crusher died outright. I finally put a wound on his Herald and we called it a game.


What went right:
His cannon blowing up was the game, really. Had it hit the crushers and taken one or more out (67% chance) and also done in my BSB I would have had little choice but to run hide behind the building or get wiped out in just a couple turns.

My BSB out-fighting his Lord-Level D-Prince was ridiculous. By Skullcrushers performed quite well against his Bloodcrushers.

What Went Wrong
My knights being unable to compete with daemonettes? Really? Getting run down? It was hilarious but completely unexpected. And hilarious.

My Warriors verse the Bloodletters lasted about 6 rounds of combat. His last guy staid single-handed through 3 or 4 rounds. I was in shock.

Overall, very fun, he got to see what his army played like on the field. Definitely a strong build, it gave my borderline power-game build all it could handle and was a misfire away from maybe running me completely off the table.