It is always tough to know how to review a new book. On the one hand, it is almost impossible to do it without comparing it to the old book. "Oh, their points went up? Now they are terrible (even though they do the same thing). "Oh, that magic item went away? I needed it"!" without seeing the new one that is...maybe not better but perhaps equal yet different.

On the other hand, it is in many ways a new book. It is balanced against itself and other current books (in theory anyway; many people think Games Workshop puts little to no effort into balancing.) as opposed to against the previous incarnation or previous enemy books.

Of course, since I have a relatively extensive collection of Warriors of Chaos models, I look at it hoping that the models I have will still be useful, allowing me to field a competitive but not overwhelming army.

With that in mind, I did what I typically do; I casually glanced at the cover and then sped to the magic item section to see if the underappreciated, possibly overpowered Banner of the gods had made the cut.

See, in the last book I used that banner to essentially turn my entire army unbreakable. That meant you had to kill every model in a unit to get points for it. Against Chaos Warriors and Chaos Knights, their armor made that a difficult task. Marauders were so cheap they could be taken in ridiculous numbers. It was tough getting points off that version of the army. In comparison to that, the Crown of Command was ridiculously overpriced because it only worked for one unit.

Naturally, since I am literally the only person I ever heard of taking it, that banner was not popular enough to make the cut and is gone. So back to the front of the book to look at this one on its own merits.

The cover art is what it is; skulls hanging everywhere, a decent drawing of a fierce warrior whose like shall not appear anywhere within the pages and some nice flaming axes. The next 23 pages are a mix of bad story-telling and slurred artwork. It is not until page 24 that there is any value in the book. That is where we encounter the army-wide special rules.

The Gone

So long, farewell, and don't forget to write. The Will of Chaos rule is gone. Since it duplicated the mark of slaanesh and was invalidated by the mark of khorne it is no big loss, but the loss of flavor is a little unfortunate. I like the differentiation of things such as High Elf ASF v. Dark Elf Hatred, or the Beastmen Primal Fury rule for example.

Of course, the irony here is that I think I only ever rolled for the Will of Chaos once in the entire run, so it is not as if the loss is a huge deal.

The New and Changed

The Eye of the gods table is back and expanded, so now it is easier to get and some of the things are pretty cool. There is a remote chance (saw a guy math-hammer it out at like 2% per game) of gaining a D-prince. This is good if it replaces a unit champion...but a pretty bitter blow if you lose an exalted hero or chaos lord. See..you lose the points for whatever model gets the boon.

The marks are back and little changed; the mark of tzeentch is better as it helps with ward save re-rolls and channeling. Nurgle is better in close combat (a true -1 to hit instead of a hit to the WS which sometimes mattered not at all) and non-existent against shooting.

Special Characters: Lord Level

In the old book I used a handful of the special characters, and the only one that regularly made the cut was Wulfrik. He was good for bringing a large unit on the opponents back line and completely awful in combat. He has an awesome stat line and somehow managed to fluff his attacks every time out. I think he once killed his target and otherwise lost every time...including to a unit champion.

I cannot think offhand of any special characters that are no longer with up. Archaon is still overcosted and pretty much not worth taking. Galrauch came down in points and seems a good value. Kholex could wreck some things, though it is questionable if he is worth the hefty price tag.

Valkia got better but more expensive. Vilitch the Curseling seems unchanged off the top.

I could see myself taking Galrauch to fill two goals; use of a dragon and magic. Why play fantasy if you do not enjoy the elements of fantasy? People who whine about magic crack me up. Go play historical. Fantasy is all about swords, sorcery and monsters. At least, well-written fantasy is.

Unfortunately, they shafted the other Lord-level character I would take. Sigvald the Magnificent lost two valuable attributes; first off, he cannot re-roll his stupidity test. Having had him fail it at least once every game I took him, that hurts. Worse, they took away his special rule that let any unit with him have the strider rule.

In the end, the special characters in this section are pretty disappointing; they do not let you alter army structure, cover up holes in your list, or do anything particularly unique. Pass on all.

Generic Characters; Lord Level

The generic Chaos Lord remains what he was; a death merchant par excellence. He will almost always hit on 3s even against Lord-level characters, with high S and T, great I and lots of attacks. Pop him on something like the oft-maligned manticore and you have someone who can single-handedly wreck units of the enemies' deadliest fighters.

Chaos Sorcerer Lords got better as they now have access to better lores.

It is the D-Prince that really changed. I already took him fairly regularly. In the old book I would bump him up to a level 4, creating a highly mobile wizard that could wreck small units on his own in close combat or destroy big ones with magic. He was pricey.

Now he is cheaper, though somewhat weakened by Tendrils of tzeentch no longer being an option. On the bright side, he can now take armor and some magic items. Oh, and...now he is unbreakable. A 4 W, T5, WS 9 4+ 4++ close combat monster that is unbreakable? Oh, if I must...and of course there are rumored to be ways to make that 4++ a 3++ that re-rolls "1"s...which I will neither confirm nor deny. I will just say he is a much better general than the Chaos Lord ever could hope to be.

Special Characters: Hero Level

Wulfrik is far less useful than he used to be. Instead of his own Ambush type rule, now he uses the rule book version. The shift from "Come on the board at the side I want you" to "Come on a board side that may or may not be helpful" moves him from "a real positive every game" to "meh". Mobility is king when you have a slowish guy roaming away.

Throgg is popular in the Warhammer community at large. I am not a huge fan of Chaos Trolls and am unlikely to use him. Festus the Leechlord has some uses but the model is so repulsive I have a hard time seeing my way clear to using him.

Scyla Anfingrim is better; no random movement, the highest LD of any model in the book (yes, the highest you can get other than him is LD9, he has LD10) and pretty affordable. It is tempting to take him for the army general. But he is not very survivable and not a particularly scary close combat guy.

Overall I am a little disappointed. Wulfrik used to really be beneficial but now he is pretty meh. I like special characters, but these all feel...well...generic. Except Throgg, who I do not use.

Generic Characters: Hero Level

Not much change here except getting better. The Exalted heroes are still equal to or better than Lord-level characters for most other armies. The Sorcerers get access to better lores from the rule book. Bucket full of win.

Core

The natural inclination is to look at the Marauders first and think "this is a disaster".

Their points cost increased 50%. Their upgrades for Great Weapons tripled. The much less useful Flails (perhaps the single most over-rated item in the game) doubled. The extra hand weapon option is gone entirely...sure am glad I have dozens of models that are no longer game legal.   The cost for marks of khorne and tzeentch went up significantly for every model past 15.

And certainly, in a vacuum, comparing them to what they were last book will lead to this conclusion. However, in the new book, there are other benefits elsewhere in the book that may make these changes worthwhile.

First, the good; they are still flexible. You can still build a unit capable of putting out 31 S5 attacks with ablative wounds. Or you can build a tarpit with a 5+/5++ save. You can make them hard to hit or survivable. You can horde them up.You can make them one-hit wonders that count on breaking the opponent in the first round (flails, I am looking at you).

Next, the bad; if you could take a Marauder with 2 attacks at S5 that always strikes last and no save, how many points would it be worth to add a point of WS, S, T, I, LD and an extra attack that still always strike last while having a 4+ save? Would it be worth it at 8 points per model?

Or if you prefer defense and gave them light armor, shield and mark of tzeentch, so now they have S3, 1 attack, I4 and 5+/5++, how many points for the same adds of 1 WS, S, T, I, LD, extra attack, but a 3+/5++ save? Would it be worth an extra 7 points/model?

Let me put it in perspective for you; I routinely include a 20 strong of defensive minded troops with full command in every list. This prepares me for both Watchtower and Blood and Glory games.

Marauders: 230 points.

Warriors of Chaos: 340 points.

The Warriors are better in every stat except wounds and M. You have to be really, really tight on points to take the Marauders over the Warriors.

But wait; what if we go offensive, with great weapons, mark of tzeentch for maximum damage?

50 Marauders w/great weapon; no armor save, 2 attacks each. 580 points

50 Chaos Warriors with the benefits above (including the 4+ save) and 3 attacks each:980 points. Now there is a difference; but you will get more out of 30 horded up chaos warriors than 50 marauders for just 20 more points.

I can think of no sutuation where 50 Marauders >30 Chaos Warriors.

In fact, the Marauders seem to have one efficient use now; 10 of them can be a nice Mage Bunker.

On the bright side the Forsaken have moved into the Core section. They also gained Chaos Armor, so they now have a save. They are fast moving, have the potential to hit somewhat hard hitting. Then they crippled them by making them more expensive than a tooled up Chaos Warrior but not unbreakable.

Lets compare 10 Forsaken to 10 Chaos Warriors, both tooled up as much as possible:

Forsaken will end up with Mark of...lets say khorne to give them Hatred. 210 points for 15-25 attacks (assuming ranks of 5) at WS4, S4, 1 Static Combat Resolution.

Chaos Warriors with same mark, additional hand weapon to use their initiative; 210 points with full command. 25 attacks with higher WS and Initiative, 2 SCR.

But the Forsaken do have 2 extra points of movement...

I guess they would be good to go after war machines or chaff. They are fast enough to cause some problems and between their T4 and Chaos Armor, they have some survivability. But the opportunity cost of losing more Chaos Warriors hardly seems worth it.

Chaos Warhounds are now true core. Cheap, they have the same uses as forsaken.

Chaos Chariots are now core. Not a good idea to use entirely as your core, they can be a tremendous line breaker if used in conjunction with a unit that needs just the little extra oomph to win a combat. I love their inclusion here.

Marauder Horsemen are essentially the same.

Overall the core is outstanding. 6 choices and honestly, all 6 have value and could see use. Total win. If I sounded harsh above, it is only because math-hammer says most always it is better to take Chaos Warriors.

Special Units

If the hallmark of a good book is choices then the Warriors of Chaos have it in spades. The 6 Core choices are dwarfed by the whopping 9 Special choices. Lets see if they suffer the same problems.

First up are the H-striders of slaanesh. Faster than any other ground-based thing in the book, they have excellent I, above average Ws, and typical human S and T. They are fast cav, cause fear, are immune to psychology and have spears, or can replace that with the ASF weapon. Great for seeing off pesky war machines (if they were not cavalry), or chasing off other chaff.

Expensive.

And the opportunity cost is murder; they are competing for space with Chosen, Chaos Knights, Chaos Ogres, Dragon Ogres, Chaos Trolls, the Chimera, the Gorebeast Chariot and the Chaos Warshrine. Are they good enough at their role to make up for taking away points from some or all of those other things?

The Chosen lost the hated 3++ using the EotG table. However, they now get a roll pre-game instead of needing the War Shrine to take a shot at it...which makes sense since the War Shrine got shafted massively and can no longer affect units. More on that later.

Chosen are what they are; Chaos Warriors with 1 extra WS and the chance to roll on the Rewards table. Possibly a good choice, definitely in the discussion for best infantry unit in the game. With WS higher than many Lord-level characters, a reasonable strength and T, they are a threat to kill characters and wreck other elite units.  Their only downsides are they are slow and again, the opportunity cost.

Chaos Knights got slightly more expensive and lost the ability to take the mark of nurgle and then still gain frenzy with the banner of rage. But they are still awesome and well worth the points.

Chaos Ogres are pretty cool. I obviously like stacking up large numbers of good S attacks on a narrow frontage. Add impct hits (and potentially D3 impact hits) and stomp and you have a solid unit. They are a bit of an anomaly in the book with just a WS3. They also have a low I so taking the Great Weapons to give them S6 and letting them go beast hunting (which admittedly makes a mockery of their stomp) is a reasonable option.

My beloved Dragon Ogres are still awesome. With a 4+ save, 4 wounds, incredible M and good LD, they are awesome. With the option of Halberds they can keep their initiative and deal out 10 S6 attacks on 120mm frontage. Too bad they are nearly a third more expensive than GW wielding Chaos Ogres without having the impact hits.

Here is a really nice example of balance; I can see uses for both the Chaos Ogres and the Dragon Ogres. The cost difference seems more in line with the effectiveness differences. Great job.

Chaos trolls are another high attack, low WS, fast moving, hard hitting unit. I think Regeneration is better than the protection ffered the othter monsters, and I can see cases I would take a unit.

The Chimera is interesting. Large numbers of high S attacks are great. The ability to fly and deliver them is outstanding. Having a S4 breath weapon is so much better than a S3 breath weapon that I do think they are very comparable. Having armor save instantly classes him better than any monster in the Beastmen book (which is kind of like saying smelling a fart is better than smelling a skunk; better is true but not really relevant) LD 5? Suddenly he is almost unusable.

I can see a flying circus type thing where a D-Prince general teams up with the Chimera to fly around making combo attacks and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting units. Otherwise? His low LD means he is almost free points for the opponent.

The Gorebeast chariot hits like a ton of bricks. If you need a stormtrooper type unit, this is the one. Oddly, it is slower than the base chariot and with no marching, that can hurt but when it gets there it is going to do damage.

The Warshrine has two problems; first it is an ugly, repulsive model. Second, it no longer buffs units. The Giver of Glory rule is great for unit champs, a little risky for heroes and lords. 

It is hurt by the section it is in. It is arguably the worst choice in the section and, with its now limited usefulness, probably not worth taking.

Rare Units

once more with feeling; choice is good. 7 choices are here in the Rare section.

First off we have the H-cannon. It is almost the same...still the S5, now has to cause a casualty to force the panic check...but now it has a ward save. Well worth the points.

Second is the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth ho got a little bit cheaper. I already used him to good effect and see nothing to change my mind.

The Chaos Giant is like most giants, except his points are cheaper and he can be marked. If you like giants he is an excellent choice and he has his uses. 

Chaos Spawn remain too low WS to really be much use. They are good for holding up key enemy blocks with being unbreakable and have some use there, but with points at a premium in the rare section they will be tough to justify.

The Skullcrushers of khorne are interesting. They got weaker and more expensive than their release. Yet when you look at them as constituted, they are still an excellent value. Strong, fast, rugged, they can deal out a whooping after taking a ton of abuse. 

Any unit that can deal out 6 WS5, S5 attacks PER MODEL plus a stomp, so really 7 attacks while being T4 with a 1+ armor save is pretty solid...yeah, it would be nice to have the T5, but being a 3 wound moel is pretty stout. They are almost a must take and will chack in between 250 and 300 points for just 3 of them...and are STILL worth it. 

The Slaughterbrute model is ugly and expensive. The model itself is interesting. On its own it is madly overcosted. 4 WS3 attacks...meh. Even the 2 bonus attacks are not that impressive. I mean, sure, 6 attacks with S7/S5 is nice, but what are you going to hit? And his pathetic ld if his controller is killed ensures even a unit of skaven slaves has an outside chance at making him flee.

But couple him with a high LD, high WS controller and suddenly he is a beast, hitting on 3s, good LD. 

I really, really wanted to like the Slaughterbrute. Then I compared him to the Shaggoth. He is 1" slower, worse ws, one extra point of S, 1 fewer wound, 1 less I, 1 less attack pre-enhancement, lower LD and equal armor...but depending on someone else. Add an extra hand weapon to the shaggoth and the extra claws to the Slaughterbrute and they cost the same, both have 6 attacks...but the Shaggoth is slightly better unless you really, really need S7, and if so, take the Shaggoth with a GW for S8. 

If one was rare and the other special I could see taking them both...as is, I think the Slaughterbrute combination of expensive, confusing, ugly model and slight disadvantages mean it is a no-go. But certainly a valid choice anyway.

The Mutalith Vortex Beast seems like an epic fail If it does not get off its bound spell and get a lucky 6 it is a fairly weak choice. 3-8 S5 attacks are nothing to sneeze at...but at WS3 you are likely to need at least a 4 to hit. If you do 3 wounds a turn pre-Thunderstomp you are making hay. It is rugged enough to survive for a while, but there are better combat monsters. It really, really relies on getting its magic off.

Speaking of magic...

Lore of tzeentch

The lore attribute is kind of cool except it only works for th wizard that cast the spell so will only be useful on a high level wizard with multiple useful spells...which he will probably not have if marked tzeentch.

Warpfire has the possibility of doing an extra d3 wounds with no armor save. It has a better chance of giving the enemy regeneration. For the rest of the GAME, not turn. High risk, low reward. Very flavorful and fitting. But it really sucks.

Blue Fire is easy to get off. D6 S6 hits...so an average of 3.5 S3.5 hits. Typical magic missile. In my eyes not very useful.

Treason of tzeentch has possibilities. It stops Inspiring Presence and Hold Your Ground. Used in conjunction with the H-cannon it can run some units off the table pretty easily. Good synergy. If it were the Signature Spell the lore would be 100% better and probably useful.

Pink Fire can do some damage with its Sd6...but it is pretty iffy. First you have to get the spell off...then you have to roll well on the artillery die...then you have to roll a decent Strength. Pretty bleh.

Bolt of change is a magic missile bolt thrower that if you get lucky will be S10...and if not is S5. Unlikely to penetrate ranks very often. Worth taking though and easy to cast.

Glean Magic is situational; when it works it is devastating, when the opponent has no useful spells or is out of range it is awful. 

Firestorm is another d6 strength hit. Those are so iffy to use that I have an extremely low opinion of them. It is already so hard to get a spell off that you would like for it to be useful when you get it off. Random S spells are not the answer.

Infernal Gateway is weaker than it used to be. It still has the potential of doing 18 S10 hits...and if I ever hear of it happening I will be surprised because everything has to go right. But it should average 7 S7 hits and that is worth trying, even with the Warpflame idiocy.

Overall, tzeentch would be a half decent lore if you could choose your spells or be sure of getting treason, Infernal and glean. As is, a tzeentch marked sorcerer choosing between tzeentch and metal might lean towards metal.

Lore of nurgle

The lore attribute is one of those cool little extra sauce bits that are great when you get it...an extra point of T or an extra wound is always welcome, even if it only happens one in 6 times. That is strong.

The signature spell, Stream of Corruption, is a breath weapon that you have to cast. It is great...if you want your wizard within 6" of the enemy.

Miasma of Pestilence is great; lower your enemies' WS and I. Of course...do the Warriors, with their WS5, I4 really NEED to lower those two stats? they are likely hitting on 3 and being hit on 4 already. I guess against WS3 guys they now are hit on 5s so it has some value...and if you boost it, even more likely to be awesome. I have succeeded in the past in lowering an enemies WS to 0 with a high S unit and the result was utter carnage. Again, if this were the signature spell it would improve the lore tremendously.

Blades of Putrefaction giving poison is pretty useful. Guys who have lots of attacks and poison like the additional chances to wound...

Curse of the Leper is awesome. Bouncing T up or down by D3 is strong. 

Rancid Visitations is stronger than any magic missile tzeentch offered. Great magic missile.

Fleshy Abundance giving Regeneration 5+ is pretty cool as well.

Plague Wind can wreak havoc on low T 1 wound units...which, by the way, are not something the Warriors typically struggle against. Hordes do not bother the Warriors. 

Overall, a very strong lore. If the rules for these spells were in tzeentch it would make a ton more sense for fluff-bunnies who think tzeenth the master of magic should, you know, have strong magic. But from a game balance standpoint, having a wizard designed for close combat and giving him spells that make sense for it...well done.

Lore of slaanesh

The Lore attribute is another one designed to enhance the wizard's close combat effectiveness. If you are flying around a slaanesh D-prince, upping his WS, I and A makes sense. If you are a more typical sorcerer, sure, they are better than most wizards, but still easily slain even by Empire spearmen, for example, so getting them in close combat is not conducive to effective magic phases. Fail.

The signature spell is S3 armor piercing hits. Lame.

Acquiescence is pretty cool, giving them ASF and random movement. Easy to get off, good effect. Perhaps redundant in WoC, but cool nonetheless. If you plan lots of GW wielding Warriors, it would synergize beautifully with them.

Pavane is palame. Yay, less than 50% chance to do a wound. Not worth the casting.

Hysterical friendly gives either friend or foe frenzy and d6 s3 hits. Uhm...yeah. Is this the Orc and Goblin book with zany "help and hurt us both" nonsense?

Slicing Shards has the punchers chance of doing lots of damage if you can roll high on d6 and work with treason of tzeentch to make them keep failing LD tests. Realistically it will not do much damage.

Phantasmagoria could by that synergy, making them roll 3d6 for LD and discard the lowest. Lets look at the prerequisites; roll up both spells (or all three if you add tzeentch), get both or all three off in the same phase, profit. Good luck with that, let me know how it turns out for you that one game in a hundred when that combo goes off and wins you the game. 

Cacophonic Choir has potential; 2d6 hits that wound on 4+ with no armor saves and, if one wound caused, give ASL and random movement. Pretty funny to hit a steam tank or war machine with it. Especially a war machine...no firing for you next turn. 

Overall, Nurgle is strong, slaanesh has possibilities but the book lores are pretty meh.

Mutations and Powers

D-blade gives random attacks of 4-10 attacks. Could be useful. 

Flaming breath is awesome. 

Chaos Familir is great too. Scaled skin adds survivability. Give it to a D-prince and Chaos armor, mark of tzeentch for a 2+/4++ monstrosity....Burning body is great for hitting regenerating units. Soul Feeder can regenerate wounds in a hurry for a death merchant. 3rd Eye lets Ward Save rolls of 1 be re-rolled...pretty awesome. The other ones are pretty so so. But these are some great powers.

Artefacts

H-fire sowrd; flaming, multiple wounds, and 1 in 6 chance to do extra d6 S4 hits...but a 1 in 6 chance of wounding yourself. Very tempting.

Sword of Change; at first this was an auto-take and vastly undercosted. I was already thinking of how many chaos spawns it would create...then I re-read it. You have to kill a character or monster to have a 50% chance of creating a spawn. Still good...but situational. You have to be pretty sure your guy will kill characters and/or monsters.

Filth Mace gets better as the game goes on but requires mark of nurgle. Boo for requiring the mark.

Helm of Many Eyes is good for armor and ASF, bad for stupidity. Skull of Katam is almost an auto-take. Ooh...might lose a LD point. If your wizard's 8 is being counted on for LD in a unit of Chaos Warriors...LD 8...you already have issues. Take it, channel like mad.

Chalice of Chaos is another...uh....I mean, sure, maybe you get lucky that 1 in 6 times and your Exalted hero becomes a D-prince...oh, wait, less than 1 in 6, you have to pass a LD test....and you give up points for it. The other effects are often good, sometimes unnecessary. It is a high risk, modest reward item. Cheap though.

Pendant of slaanesh requires that mark. Expensive. Marginally useful 

Blasted standard is weaker than it used to be.

Banner of rag requires specific mark and only keeps you from losing frenzy. 

Nothing superpowered here, lots of situationally useful stuff. 

Summing Up

Overall, I really like the book. You have a ton of choices, very few if any "bad" choices...even Forsaken, which were horrifically badly done before, have their uses. You can play a variety of styles, have access to tools to deal with any opponent...but you are not overpowered. It appears to be a well written book.

Go with elite warriors and you will be small in number, tough to kill, but vulnerable to a bad round of combat. Go with Marauders and you will have better numbers but fall like flies. Pick monsters and you can do lots of high S attacks in narrow frontage. Go magic heavy and you can really manipulate stat lines.

Great work, excited to try them out.

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.

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.