The Turn Four Plan - FluffyCon playtesting

If you haven't read the backlog of excellent IF online magazine articles, do so now.

Ok. You are now probably a better player.


One of the things that I believe (as per one of the articles in said mag) is that as one improves as a player, the more one is able to think ahead. When I started out I was really micromanaging and agonising over every little decision (long-term opponents will recall this method of play which nearly led to me being nicknamed Indecisive Dave or D-d-d-d-Dave because I kept changing my mind) without a view to the overall battlefield and flow of the game. Sooner or later you move from this stage into looking at the bigger picture of the whole turn where you attempt to impose a plan on the enemy. Then you start thinking about your opponent's turn.

Then... a long way down the track... you start thinking 2 or 3 turns ahead. About this time you've started to realise how incredibly complex this game can be and how good the top players really are!

In my most recent game I achieved it - the Zen of Thinking Three Turns Ahead. And it was a beautiful, glorious thing.


I played DE Phil (hereafter known as Phil3*) yesterday at his place (which was awesome - we played in his carpeted garage in front of a masive projection screen as SA shattered Australian cricket by winning their first test in Oz EVER - excellent). For the first two turns I looked to be in the red but stuck to my guns. Phil3's army is a fluffy covering with a solid and deadly centre of 2 Chariots and 24 Witch Elves with the Cold One Banner accompanied by a Hag BSB with the Standard of Slaughter (+D3 to combat res). The whole plan involved taking a charge with Unbreakable Spearmen, counter-charging on one flank with the Free Company and charging into the other flank in the next turn with the Flagellents in turn 4.

Miraculously that is exactly what happened! Except that, one their way in the Flagellents beat the snot out of some interposing DE Spearmen and the Free Company, instead of hitting the Witch Elves, ended up beating up some Dark Riders.

While the Reiksguard swept majestically into the Shades and Assassin and then, shortly after, the RXB Warriors my brave lads went to work on the Witchies. A dead Hag BSB and a score of dead Witch Elves later and they were headed for the hills. With a chariot and 10 Corsairs remaining (the victorious Flagellents and Spearmen would have overrun into the surviving Sorceress) Phil3 called the game.

Of course, he also helped things along immensely by miscasting with his General and rolling the legendary double 1s. Nice work Phil :-)


What was extra great was that I played this game with version 3 of the fluffy Empire list in which I've dropped the Arch-Lector and Helblaster for a Warrior Priest and 10 Huntsmen. The list worked really well - practically the whole army is Ld8 (characters spread around parent units and Knights - parent units providing leadership to detachments). Ld8 is NOT awesome, but in this game it worked remarkably well. Further playtesting will prove the folly of this assumption I'm sure but for now things are humming along nicely :)

Now if only every game consistently had a turn four plan...




*Phil1 - Star Dragon Phil aka Philfy aka self-proclaimed establishing leader of that shoddy ADC outfit
Phil2 - other High Elf Phil, shortly to be Wood Elf Phil, aka Wouster7 aka Jolly Asian Phil
Phil3 - Dark Elf Phil... what the heck is it with guys named Phil playing various Elven races???

Playing catch-up with Skaven - FluffyCon playtesting

The Lone Asian is one of my favourite opponents - the fact that Nick has yet to beat me actually adds an extra edge to our games as he is going for the throat and I often find myself desperately fending him off. The games are usually close and the turning point is generally in my fourth or fifth turn when I take advantage of a terrible mistake Nick has made.

This gamed turned history on it's head. Nick did make a mistake - in deployment when he placed his Rat Ogres and Globadiers (this is FluffyCon list; hence the Rat Ogres) on almost the opposite side of the battlefield from his General. The Rat Ogres quickly proved their reputation, fleeing the board after my Reiksguard Knights impaled and ran down a unit of nearby Giant Rats. The Knights (reduced by an irresistible Warp Lightning and Globadier fire) then spent the rest of the game running away from a Clanrat unit they could not hope to beat. They managed to assassinate the Warlock before being dragged down by the innumerable Skaven.

Oddly enough the same situation was happening on the opposite flank with the GW-Knights against another Clanrat unit but this time there was no one to assassinate. When it came time to finally charge (left with no other option) the Knights fluffed fantastically and were run down.

Artillery put the fear in Nick (aside from the Helblaster which, true to form, catastrophically annihilated itself shooting at a valuable target - Slaves). The Mortar rained death from above with alarming regularity, quickly reducing the Skaven Warlords Clanrat bodyguard to a point where he was no longer interested in charging the Spearmen (he spent most of the game trying unsuccessfully to reach the Plaguemonks and ended up dying to a gallant last turn charge by the Pistoliers!). The Cannon was frustrated by the lack of solid targets (which is of course what I expected playing Nick). I foolishly let slip my cunning plan to snipe the Assassin (who was hanging out with 3 Tunnelling Rats) so Nick tucked him away safely. My one shot at the Skaven General overshot. The Cannon also comprehensively nailed a Jezzail before the Handgunners finished them off is a superb display of shooting skill.

The 3 Tunnel Team rats spent 4 turns in epic combat with the Free Company detachment the lone survivor (a rat) then charged the Crossbow detachment in the flank and was soundly clubbed to death. Amusingly, much like the Knights, this was mirrored in another part of the battlefield as a single surviving Gutter Ruunner tried his luck against the single file flank of the Handgunners. He died a similar fate.

The Plaguemonks drove all before them, obliterating the Flagellents in a gruesome display of extremely capable dice rolling. In return the Spearmen detachment cleverly sacrificed themselves charging the flank of the Plaguemonks. Frenzy meant they had to pursue and while the Spearmen were caught it also meant the Plaguemonks were forced to charge the full strength Swordsmen unit with accompanying Arch-Lector and BSB in the last turn. After wiping out a unit of Slaves the Pistoliers hit the Skaven General, causing a wound and taking none in return. Having conveniently cross-fired the Boss Rat the Swordsmen then beat down the Plaguemonks after Nick's dice turned on him and chased them off in the last turn.


The end result was a hard fought for draw which could have been a defeat for me had Nick deployed better. Problem is he learned his lesson so the next game is sure to be even more of a challenge! Great game Nick - let me know when you have that table at your place and I'll come over for a game and return the favour :-)

When karma realigns... Dark Elves die - FluffyCon playtesting

Funnily enough I'd actually met Phil (not Stardragon Phil... or other High Elf Phil... this is another Phil) at Tin Soldier earlier in the year. He popped along as a spectator and was so impressed by the Dipped Dwarfs of Disastrous Decimation that he resolved to immediately dip an army of his own. Phil's good mates with Ray and getting back into serious Fantasy, having played since... well, almost before I was born (jokes... but certainly for a while!). He even had a 2nd edition reference card which used the same modifiers and many of the same charts.

Old school!


Anyway, Phil brought his 'fluffier than thou' Dark Elves:

Sorceress on Dark Pegasus
Sorceress on Cold One (one of these chicks had an extra spell thing)
Hag BSB

24-ish Witch Elves
20 Spear Elves
11 (?) RXB Elves
2 Cold One Chariots
6 or 7 Dark Riders
2 and a bit ranks of Corsairs with 2 hand-weapons
5 Shades hiding an Assassin

It was so fluffy that no one had Hotek or the cheese-ward and the RXBs and Spears didn't have shields! Flufftastic!

By contrast I felt like the cheesemonger that I am with my Empire lads. And unfortunately they were about to prove how effective Empire can be (my dice rolling was... off the charts).


- cannon nailed a chariot turn one, 5 Witch Elves turn 2

- Mortar rained death on the Spears

- Helblaster left one Spearman alive after 22 shots translated to 8 dead Spears. The survivor fled the board.

- Handgunners and Pistoliers combined to smash the Corsairs at range. The two survivors fled the field

- the Wizard and Crossbows all but wiped out the RXB Elves. The surviving Elf charged the Reiksguard Knights, miraciously holding them up for a turn but getting run down in the next.

- Flagellents Frenzy-charged the Shades. Assassin popped out and was forced to accept a challenge by the Prophet of Doom. Prophet died (one wound). Remaining Flagellents martyred a friend to get Hatred and wiped out the Shades. Assassin broke, escaped and rallied which was fine as he then caught 8 wounds in the face from a Fiery Blast courtesy of the Wizard.

- Wizard went on to roll an IF 2D6 Fiery Blast against a riderless Dark Pegasus (Sorceress died to Pistolier fire, Peg chased off the Mortar). 12 hits later it was a smoking corpse.

- The Spears took 7 wounds from the charge of the remaining Cold One Chariot, held (Unbreakable). Broke it in the next turn.

- GW-Knights charged the Dark Riders (who did stand-and-shoot, other option was to flee the table - awkward placement). With 5 attacks from the Knights and 5 from the horses they killed all the Dark Riders off on the charge.

- Cold One-riding Sorceress shot down by Pistoliers

- eventually left with "just" the Frenzied, BSB-led Witch Elves - they were lured around by the Crossbow detachment, then the Spear detachment (who were caught) but then flank-charged by the Swordsmen unit. Witch Elves managed to hold for two rounds but in turn 5 took a charge in the other flank from the GW-Knights who killed 4 and combined with static res broke the Witchies despite their reroll. The Witch Elves were damn scary but after losing Hatred and Frenzy definitely much less so. Trent is right - Dark Elves without Hatred... not so good.


End result? A sound thrashing for Phil who was an absolute gentleman throughout the game and a stand up good sport.


Empire losses - Spear detachment, Cannon, Mortar, 1/2 the Flagellents (to magic)

Dark Elf losses - everything plus I got 4 quarters, 2 standards (maybe 3, can't remember if the Dark Riders had one), the General, and bonus points for the Heroes*

VPs for Phil = 328
VPs for me = 2820


So a convincing 20-0 win for the Empire and the universe can again sleep easy after the butchering I recevied from Derick's soft Spiders a couple of nights ago :-)


Game organised against Nick's (The Lone Asian) Skaven on Saturday night (another unit of which I have finished painting).



* Taking Heroes/Lords at FluffyCon is a scary proposition. Each Lord killed gives away an additional 80VPs (that's on top of being the General if they are) and each Hero gives away an additional 40VPs on top of their normal cost. Makes taking a Lord and 3 Heroes less appealing!

The continuing issue with playing Empire - FluffyCon playtesting

You must have experienced one of those games where very little goes your way - the dice are against you; for some reason you couldn't strategise your way out of a paper bag; your models are armed with rainbows and hugs instead of swords and fiery magical doom and need some serious fitness training for lack of catching opponents IF they somehow miraculously manage to break them.

Not to take anything away from Derick (who is just a lovely guy) but come on - how broken is his Spider Riders army!?!?! :p

Derick's army is pretty well known around the place because frankly no one else is mad enough to field an army made up in the majority of models that are T3, 5+ save with shortbows and no ranks or banners. Unfortunately Spider Riders don't make up the WHOLE army - the juicy core of Boar Boyz, Boar Boy Big 'Uns, hitty characters with Shaggas et al, a L4 Shaman and the fact that everything Orcy is also Savage... that little lot can hurt if you don't take care of them quick smart.

Which is exactly what I failed to do.

Here are the high/lowlights of this extremely self-destructive game.:

- first shot, cannon blows up

- first shot, first barrel, helblaster blows up (again)

- just because Spider Riders usually miss doesn't mean they always will. Pistoliers take 2 casualties and Panic through the brave Reiksguard Knights. Fortunately the Pistoliers rally (eventually taking the Giant to 1/2 wounds and destroying the Goblin Chariot. Then they died to one of the many Tapdances that Gork was wont to do in this game). Unfortunately the Knights panicked from the Pistoliers little jaunt through their ranks. The Knights fled the board.

- on the opposite flank the GW-knights met a sticky end at the hands of a Squig Herd.

- the Orc Shaman, being Frenzied, was forced to charge the Flagellents. He lost the combat and ran (failed to catch him). Then he auto-fled my charge in the next turn but failed to go far enough to get off the board (by a couple of inches). Then he rallied. Then I was magically annihilated. The Flagellents then took a flank charge from 5 Spider Riders who beat them twice, keeping them still long enough for the Shaman to Fist of Gork them and the Squigs to rear-charge.

- MVPs the Swordsmen took a charge from some Spiders and Gobbo Boss on Giant Spider. BSB wailed on the Boss in their challenge. Combination of ranks, standards, numbers and the supporting flank charge by the Spear detachment broke both units. Spider Riders caught. Boss caught in a charge in the following turn. Actually the Spear detachment are the MVPs - caught the Gobbo boss, took out the Doomdiver, fled another charge but rallied to contest a quarter. Swordsmen played no further part in the battle. But they did survive which pretty much set them apart from almost everyone else.

- Spear block and Lector smashed multiple times by Boar Boyz with two attached characters. Derick eventually tired of the combat, dispelled Unbreakable and caused the survivors (Lector on two wounds and the standard bearer) to flee.

- Wizard's first spell miscasts (rolling triple ones). Derick gets a free spell (Tapdance). By the time Derick rolls up the same miscast result later in the game (it occurs to me we referenced the general miscast table instead of the Greenskin miscast table - oops!) my Wizard was dead from the mighty Tapdance. Sigh.

- last straw - two Spider Riders charge 8 Crossbows, beat them and force them to flee in the last turn.


So, I had the Swords and BSB and Spear detachment left at the end of the game. Derick had - L4 Shaman, Squig herd, 2.5 Spider Rider units, Boar Boyz, two fighty characters (including General and a hero on 1/2 wounds), 1/2 strength Boar boy Big 'Uns, 1/2 strength Giant.

2112VPs to Derick. 888 VPs to me. 1224VP difference.

16-4 loss for the Empire to the mighty Spider Riders!


Bah.

The continuing hilarity of playing Orcs and Goblins - FluffyCon playtesting

I have three games over the next three days (what it is to be on holiday) and last night finally managed to play Aaron who I've wanted to play for ages! He was using an O&G army that looked like this:

Blorc General with kit
Blorc BSB with kit
Gobbo Shaman
3 x 22/23/25 boyz with choppa/shield and FC
2 Night Gobbo blocks with 2 Fanatics each, one with bows, one with spears
5 Spider Riders
Giant
Doomdiver
2 bolties
10 Arrer Boyz
Squig herd of random exloding death
Boar chariot

This was an EXCELLENT game (a very pleasing pattern as of late) with so many brilliant, hilarious and downright weird moments. Here are the highlights:


- First shot, first barrel - Helblaster explodes. Hrm.

- First shot, cannon misfires. Second shot overshoots the Boar Chariot by an inch but doesn't bounce quite far enough to hit the Boyz behind. Third shot (having lost two crew - see Squig Hoppery Death later in this summary) hits the Giant with an absolute peach of a shot and takes 5 wounds off him! The Giant is finished off by the Crossbows (who only wounded once!) which in turn not only saved by GW-Knights from the Giant but also ended up resulting in the death of not only a bolt thrower (taken out by the GW-Knights) but also the 25-Orc block on the other flank (flank-charged by the GW Knights). The Cannon's last shot, at the Goblin Shaman who had abandoned his unit, falls short by an INCH! Grrr!

- The Mortar reigning death onto Goblins before helping me understand how incredibly crap it is against toughness 4 Orcs.

- the GW-Knights fantastic tour of the battlefield taking out the Arrer Boyz, watching the Giant drop dead right next to them (as opposed to on top of them), surviving two enfilading bolt thrower shots, taking out one of said bolt throwers and finally, hitting the large Boyz unit in the flank and running them down.

- the Reiksguard Knights luring out a Fanatic (that's what I'm calling it anyway), failing (along with the Pistoliers) to break the bow-armed Gobbo unit on the charge (Insane Courage/Insane Stupidity Gobbos - nice one Aaron!), breaking them in the next turn, running them off the board, returning and taking out the Doomdiver and remaining bolt thrower, taking the big Orc block in the front, holding, and (with the GW-knights) running them down in the last turns of the game.

- useless git of a Wizard failing to cast spells then thinking "surely there's no way that Fanatic will come this way AND roll high enough to reach me". Splat!

- The Boar Chariot charging the Flagellents in turn 2, taking 5 turns to kill them off (only just). Bit gutted the last guy died as the chariot was eventually flanked by the Swords and BSB who failed to kill it (had one wound left by this point). Chariot killed the Flagellent, broke thanks to the Swordsmen in the flank, and ran through the same Fanatic who killed the Wizard. 6 impact hits on the Fanatic = splat. 4 Fanatic hits on the Chariot = smash!

- Squig Hoppery Death. Oh man, how awesome was this?!! Hoppers hit the Swordsmen and are counter-charged by their Spear detachment. Hoppers lose combat and explode. 12". As in, everything within 12" takes D6 str5 hits. Result? 6 out of the remaining 7 Spearmen from the detachment die. 5-man Crossbow unit dies. 2 Swords die. 2 Cannon crew die. 1 Mortar crew and a wound on the Mortar. 4 Spearmen from the big block. 3 Orcs, a wound on the Board Chariot (lol) and 2 Flagellents. Carnage!!!

- the surviving Spearman from the detachment passes his Panic check and totally gets in the way of the two remaining Orc blocks in the centre, preventing charges and annoying the hell out of Aaron :-)

- charge of the Spearmen and solo charge of the Lector into the Orc BSBs block of Boyz. Empire lose the combat and hold. Lector flank-charged by the Orc General's unit in the last turn - they wave pom-poms as the Lector is busy in a challenge with the Orc BSB. Spears break. Lector is Unbreakable and ends the game continuing his challenge against the BSB, surrounded by 40+ angry Orcs and the "unable to attack anything" Orc General.


A win to me by 230VPs which I think is an 11-9 but really pretty much a draw - an outstanding game against an opponent interested in the win but more interested and amused in the just plain ridiculous goings on throughout the game. My anticipation in playing Aaron was totally justified.

Tonight I'm back to killing off the Greenskin menace but this time it's Derick's Spiders again - more magic, more speed, less static res and here I am with no toughness and no armour.

Now... where did I put my Dwarfs?... :)


Just kidding - Empire all the way baby!

Training for fluffiness - an extreme step sideways

Well, not too extreme but a sideways step nonetheless. With the recent purchase of a complete Empire army I now have my sights set on entering FluffyCon with an altogether more dynamic, exciting, varied and psychologically fragile force. After no small amount of asking around various experts and posting a few lists on WAU (for those that at least consider themselves experts) I settled on the following list for a series of practice games starting with one at the City Guard today:


Arch Lector - Dawn Armour, Barded Warhorse, Biting Blade
Captain - BSB, Armour of Meteoric Iron, Sword of Might
Wizard - Level 2, Wizard's Staff, Dispel Scroll

20 Flagellents - Prophet of Doooom!
25 Spears - FC, Shields; Detachment - 9 Crossbowmen; Detachment - 9 Free Company
20 Swordsmen - FC, Shields; Detachment - 5 Crossbowmen; Detachment - 8 Spearmen (shields)
10 Handgunners
7 Knights - FC, Warbanner
5 Knights - Great Weapons, Musician

5 Pistoliers - Musician, Outrider Champ with Repeater Pistol
Great Cannon
Mortar

Helblaster Volley Gun


4PD + 2 bounds
5DD + 1 scroll
138 models


Comments back essentially describe it as a standard Empire army. FluffyCon is using the panel-judged, tiered-comp system and I'm told to expect the base score for Empire, possibly a +1 but not likely. The Arch-Lector setup is not optimal (no Speculum for example) but otherwise it's straight-forward. I'm ok with this as I see the army as a lot of fun on paper and today's game proved it was a lot of fun on the field.

Research and friendly passer-by commentary suggests that Empire have psychological issues (i.e. low leadership) and spend a lot of time running away or cowering in fear. This will undoubtedly prove challenging (and it did today!) but will also make things amusing and interesting so that's fine. The Imperial Banner is an option (rerolls for psychology tests including Panic) but I'd like to avoid that for FluffyCon at least.

Anyway, the game...


Tony contacted me by email requesting a game which was very flattering and of course I immediately had my suspicions why he'd chosen me :-) Turns out my suspicions were well-founded - Vod was trying out his Werewolf themed Warriors of Chaos list (as a potential FluffyCon list) and it was something to be feared. Vod was running:

Lord on Disk with 2+ armour and 3+ ward vs mundane attacks (5+ ward vs magic)
6 Nurgle Knights with Banner of Always Frenzied
4 Nurgle Ogres
3 Dragon Ogres
2 Spawn

Followed up closely (or preceeded by):

20 Slaanesh Marauders
12 Slaanesh Warriors
4 x 5 hounds
5 Marauder Horse with Spears
Hellcannon


So some fast scary (Fear-causing) hitty stuff with lots of chaff and some good anvils to boot.

This was a great game - here are the defining moments of what was a tight, cagey and well-played (by both of us I'm happy to say) battle:

Centrally deployed, the Helblaster unloaded on turn 2 on the only thing it could see - 5 damned annoying Marauder Horsemen. 6 shots on the first barrel, misfired on the second. Result? Remaining two barrels fire off 10 shots each and the Helblaster is consumed in a (self-inflicted) fiery inferno. The Marauder Cav are but a smear on the ground.

On the other flank, Vod's Hellcannon is not to be outdone. It's first shot results in a Chaos Dwarf crewman getting eaten. It's second shot sends it rampaging forward. It's third never happens - the Hellcannon fails it's leadership test at the start of the turn and rampages forward some more (into a forest). It spent the rest of the game in combat! (seeing off the GW Knights and in the last turn meeting up with the Arch-Lector and his mates - more on that later).

The left flank was a shambles - facing off against the recently deceased Marauder Horsemen and a subsequently panicking unit of Hounds the large Knight unit first failed a fear check charging against the Dragon Ogres, then fled their charge, then panicked as the intervening Pistoliers were cut down attempting to divert another charge from the Dragon Ogres. In the final turn the brave Knights managed to charge some Hounds (the ones who had panicked earlier) and run them down. Way to go lads - 226pts well spent :/

In the middle my glorious 25-strong unit of Spearmen were stuck behind 9 Crossbowmen (comments about deployment issues ringing in my ears). They spent most of the game shooting at Hounds and the Nurgle Ogres but panicked when the Flagellents (who had sacrificed themselves trying to slow down said Ogres) died to a man. The Spears took the Ogre charge, ably supported by their Free Company detachment but both units broke from combat after losing by 1 (the Free Company auto-breaking, the Spears fluffing their break test). The Spears failed to rally and fled the table.

Moving further to the right the 10 Handgunners took a serious toll on the Marauder block and killed one of the Spawn. They survived the game almost making them my MVPs...

but that award goes to the Swordsmen, Arch-Lector and BSB. Sighting an opportunity for glory (or at least, glorious sacrifice) they charged into the Nurgle Knights (who were baited by a 5-man Crossbow detachment). The Lector killed one in combat and one with Soulfire. Miraculously the Swords survived much of the return attack and even more miraculously the Knights broke and were run down! Ye-ah! In their rush the Swords ploughed into the reduced Marauder block behind. They took a flank charge from the Warriors but thanks to the Lector's prayers (making them Unbreakable) held nicely despite taking punishing casualties. Tony managed to dispel the unbreakability in my next magic phase but didn't stop the Wizard's Transmutation of Lead on the Warriors. Now hitting and wounding on 4s (!) they failed to cause ANY damage. The Marauders similarly fluffed! Thrashing around them mightily the Swords, Lector and BSB killed enough Marauders to win the combat by one! Thinking this would buy me a little time I was thrilled to see the cowardly Warriors break (yes!!!) and run far enough to impale themselves on the nearby Spearmen (who had not yet run away). The Swords were rear-charged by the flying Chaos General who failed to harm the Arch-Lector in their challenge. This broke the Marauders who failed to rally in the last turn. Thinking they saw the light at the end of the tunnel the Swordsmen waved their pom-poms as hard as they could, cheering on the Lector as he once more survived the feeble attacks of the Chaos Lord. The Lord (who had by this time taken 2 wounds from Soulfire - excellent) broke but escaped. Having come all this way, seeing off the Warriors, Knights, Marauders and Chaos General they took a charge in the final turn from the surviving Spawn and the wretched Hellcannon.

Having played a great game all the way through and looking at a draw (which against Tony I would have been very proud of) I lost the combat and promptly failed the break test and reroll. This panicked the nearby GW Knights (who had fled and rallied after fighting the Hellcannons earlier). 3 sucktastic dice rolls = 700+ point swing.


Glorious.


It was a great game and I really felt like, having done so well despite several failed fear checks and the disastrous break test at the end, I had somehow and somewhat proved my mettle as a Warhammer general. Do not fear gentle readers - I have a LONG way to go! But losing the game (by a bit less than 1000VPs) when until then it looked like a very minor loss against Vod and against that army... gosh it felt like a real achievement.

And as good as I might get one day, I don't think I'll ever be able to control the evil cubed arbiters of fate.


Games against Phil (yet another Phil!) and hopefully Aaron later in the week.

Farewell to a Legend - Game Three (Doug vs Reid)

Amongst those collected together to play that day was one Reid Pittams. Apparently Reid is pretty damn good at Warhammer. I don't know this for sure, not yet played him though I hope to one day at a tournament - him winning Orctoberfest could just be propaganda and brain-washing. I decided to sit this round out and watch the master(s) at work.

Doug and Reid were more than a little concerned that I was taking notes and photos of their game! :p


Doug's list is (roughly) below. In the ultimate battle of Chaos vs Chaos, Reid took the following:

Level 1 Slaanesh Herald
Level 2 Tzeentch Herald (BSB)
Block of Daemonettes, Bloodletters, Plaguebearers (about 20-stong each I think)
3 Fiends
4 Bloodcrushers
5 Furies
6 Flesh Hounds

Nasty stuff but about as soft as Reid could get with the models he has available.


Both armies set up on the cusp of their deployment edges and got down to the serious business of proving who better at being... chaotic.


Reid won the first turn and began a general although somewhat hesitant advance. Magic resulted in not much happening and it was over to Big Man to launch his attack.

Doug sped the chaff (Hounds) up to the middle of the board with a unit of Marauder Cav somewhat suicidally facing off against the Fiends on his extreme right. The Knights faced off against a nearby unit of Bloodletters.

Reid refused to charge and shuffled around a bit in front of the Hounds. The 'Crushers angled towards the deadly Knights and the Furies flew over the Maruaders next to the Fiends. Flickering Fire from the Horrors caused a wound on a Spawn attempting to block in the Daemonettes and Fleshies on Doug's left and a couple of magic missiles from the Tzeentch Herald finished it off!

Doug refused to charge! The Hound screens manouevered to direct the possible Daemon charges in the next turn and the blocks moved up in support. Marauder Cav threw their axes into the Furies and to everyone's surprise killed two!

Reid decided it was time to get in there and get spill some blood. The Daemonettes charged some Hounds who failed their Fear check and fled into the Flesh Hounds. The Bloodletters charged another unit of Hounds who failed their Fear check and fled behind the Knights. The Fiends charged the Marauders who, surprise surprise, failed their Fear check and also fled behind the Knights. reid ummed and ahhed and eventually redirected the Fiends into the Knights (mostly to see what would happen I suspect). The Plaguebearers also charged some Hounds (there were a lot on the board!) who actually held! Incredible! The Tzeentch Herald moved within his unit of Horrors to get line-of-sight for his magic. Drain Life went off killing 4 Hounds from a couple of units, 2 Chaos Warriors and a Chosen. The 'Bearers stomped the Hounds and overran into the Forsaken (Doug claiming this was a calculated gamble... hrm...). The Fiends managed to kill a Knight before taking 4 wounds in return and popping from combat res and the resulting fluffed leadership test. Result!

Doug refused the charge! I nearly screamed with frustration but bit my lip hard. Another Spawn ambled into the Daemonettes and the Warriors moved forward to support in the next couple of turns. The fleeing Marauder Cav rallied but an interesting discussion developed over whether they could move freely after rallying. The first response was yes but as Doug pointed out the ruling specifically mentions only Fast Cavalry who have chosen to flee can move on the turn they rally. As the Maruader Cav had fled as a result of failing a Fear check (and being outnumbered by the chargers) it was determined they could not move. The other unit of Cav tried their luck, chucking axes into the Furies, but didn't manage to kill off any. In combat the Spawn took two wounds from the Daemonettes and one was eaten in return. The Spawn of course held (being Unbreakable). the Plaguebearer/Forsaken combat the Exalted Hero (who had earlier joined the unit) killed the 'Bearer champ in their challenge. One Forsaken died before their 15 return attacks killed two Plaguebearers. Outnumbered by Fear-causing enemies the Forsaken and Exalted auto-broke and were cut down. the Plaguebearers overran into the recently rallied Maruader Cav who wisely chose to flee.

The remaining Furies chased off the already fleeing Marauder Cav. Bloodcrushers went into the little Warrior unit. Charged by Bloodletters the Chaos Chariot failed it's Fear check (how about that then?). The 'Letters redirected into the Knights. The Horrors backed away from the approaching Chosen. Drain Life killed off the Spawn in combat with the Daemonettes, 2 Chosen (ouch!), and 2 Hounds. The Hounds fled as a result, straight into the waiting arms of the Bloodcrushers. Splat! Against the Knights the Bloodletters managed two kills (neither of these being from Killing Blow). The 'Letters lost one in return and the Knights held! The 'Crushers lost their combat agains the Warriors by 1 but took no wounds at resolution.

Doug's Chariot rallied but the Hounds fled the table. There were no charges but the Maruaders managed to finish off the Furies in a spectacular demonstration of axe throwing madness. Against the Bloodcrushers the Warriors lost 5 men (!) auto-broke and were caught. The Bloodletters lost by 1 against the Knights (there were only 2 Knights left!) but passed their Instability check.

With two turns remaining Reid threw the Daemonettes and Flesh Hounds into the front of the large Warrior block. The Horrors shuffled and Tzeentch Herald bailed from the unit before they were charged by the Chosen. The Plaguebearers flanked the Knights in combat with the 'Letters and the Crushers turned to hit the Chosen or Warriors. 6 str6 missiles into the Chosen killed 3. One Knight fell to the Bloodletters and Plaguebearers and the 'Letters lost 1 in return. The surviving Knight broke (at -3 to leadership, not a forgone conclusion) and was cut down by the 'Letters as the Plaguebearers ran into the Chariot. Against the big Warrior block the Daemons caused no wounds (!). 2 Daemonettes died and the Fleshies took a wounds from combat res.

Doug's fifth - the Chosen launched themselves into the Horrors more than ready to bring the pain. The Chariot auto-broke and fled off the table. 19 attacks from the 6 Chosen resulted in 6 wounds, 5 Horrors dying in the combat (one of these was from combat res). The big Warrior block again took no wounds but dished out two to the Daemonettes and another two to the Flesh Hounds.

Unfortunately the game was up for the Warriors as they were hit in the rear by the Crushers. Drain Life killed a Chosen. The Chosen then reaped the Horrors - 9 (!) dying from the melee and resulting "break" test - 5 Horrors remained. The Crushers killed 3 Warriors, the 'Nettes tagging 1, the Slaanesh Herald (who had by now finally made it's way into the combat) killed 2. The Warriors killed a Flesh Hound but subsequently auto-broke and were cut down. Bah.

Bottom of the sixth and it was basically game over. Unsurprisingly the Chosen finished off the Horrors and claimed the quarter they were in and the surviving unit of Maruader Cav contested another.


Surviving Chaos Mortals - less than 1/2 of the Chosen, unit of Marauder Cavalry (one standard and one quarter held)

Surviving Chaos Daemons - Daemonettes, Flesh Hounds, Bloodcrushers, Bloodletters and Plaguebearers (one quarter held, 3 standards and General/Hero-killing bonus)


Ouch.

Farewell to a Legend - Game Two (Al)

Doug had a couple of friends over during the day who were not necesarily new to Fantasy but had perhaps limited experience against a wider variety of armies and opponents. I was happy to oblige one of these friends (Alan) and even happier to swap with Doug and use his Chaos Mortals army (he tried the Dwarfs against Dave's TKs - a game I had declined to everyone's amusement).

The change from Dwarfs to Chaos was certainly an exciting one! Doug had:

Exalted on barded Steed (only Hero choice in the army)
Big Warrior block
Little Warrior block
Little block of Chosen with Warbanner
Knights
Chariot
2 Marauder Horse units
3 Spawn
6 or so Forsaken
4 units of dogs (one of which was mutated - poison attacks and a 6+ armour save)


Alan was using Beastmen.

To briefly summarise I won the game after losing the Chariot and big Warrior block to some Bestigor and nasty Minotaurs led by a Doombull. Pretty much everything else in Alan's army died off quickly but I couldn't move quick enough to catch up with the cowardly (but deadly) surviving units.

The Knights were AWESOME. Nothing in Doug's army was marked but they were extremely kick-ass. They demonstrated this in their next game against Reid's Daemons, taking a charge from a unit of Fiends and killing them off at the loss of one Knight.

The multiple units of Hounds, combined with some fortunate rally tests really put the kibosh on Alan's charges. Bait/flee, rinse, repeat, smash. Excellent.

The Spawn were amusing and frustrating (for both of us - Alan had a couple too).

Chosen are INSANE (this too was demonstrated in Doug's following game against Reid).


Overall, a fun game against an enthusiastic opponent. Certainly wasn't clear cut as I struggled to maneouver my fast and hitty elements painfully slowly around the flanks as the horrible Minotaurs reaped a high tally in the centre.

Farewell to a Legend - Game One (Nick Snr)

Lol, Nick Snr. He's going to kick my ass for that.

Nick and I are often in touch via email discussing Warhammer and it's intricacies and characters. He's a great guy and a great player. I faced Nick at Fields of Blood (Lizards vs Woodies) and came away with a convincing win. We hadn't played since and this looked to be a good opportunity as we were both trying out "fluffy" lists (the only restriction of the day was that lists/armies had to conform to FluffyCon guidelines.

Nick was fielding Orcs and Goblins which Dwarfs should have an advantage against. Of course I blew it in good old Stunty fashion... :/

The O&G army was frankly enormous, including:

Orc Shaman
Black Orc BSB with killy gear
2 Big Night Gobbo blocks (with a couple of Fanatics each)
2 Big Orc blocks and another block of Orc Archers
Couple chariots
4 Trolls
Couple of Wolfboy units
2 bolties and a Stonethrower
Giant


The key issue was a couple of forests in the middle where the main fight would obviously take place but it would be damn difficult to get multiple units involved due to all the difficult terrain.

I ended up losing the game by about 250VPs or slightly more. The small Warrior units were pretty hopeless, wandering back and forth for most of the game, unable to get the flanks of the Orc blocks that they so desperately wanted. The Cannon and Grudgethrower did some good work, taking out the Orc Stonethrower, a chariot and bits and pieces of a couple of units. Getting into a shooting match with 25 Night Goblins when you are standing on a hill is definitely a bad idea (a lone Quarreller survived this uneven duel). My hate of Giants was reaffirmed as the Rangers fled in Terror and were run down and the Giant got into the back of the Hammerers. He was eventually toppled by the Thane General. The Longbeards did well, holding against an Orc block in their flank and beating off the Trolls but breaking in the last turn.

The Miners and big Warrior block were fairly hopeless, managing to take out a Night Gobbo block and the Orc Archers but just being too slow to catch the O&G artillery on a hill.


A well-deserved win to Nick who playing to his strengths. Miscasting with his Shaman three times and surviving nicely helped too :-) (I thought they were supposed to explode!?)


Oh... and I forgot Hatred for most of the game as usual. At least I'm consistent (at being inconsistent).

Farewell to a legend

Doug (Mutator) is leaving. Going to Palmerston North (or somewhere down south) for work reasons. Doug is (in my eyes at least) one of the great legends of the NZ Warhammer scene. He sets the bar for attitude, army composition (bearing narrative and fluff in mind first and foremost), enthusiasm, sound advice and considered opinions. It is one of my great regrets that I wasted so many years playing 40k and as a by-product did not get to know Doug until recently. He is a stand up gentleman of the game and now he's going... going... gone.

And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.


To bid him fond adieu some of the lads got together at his place for a one-day gaming binge. Doug's garage has been the gaming location of choice for the seedy underbelly of the Warhammer community (I'll cop some flak for that comment) - somehow he's managed to fit 4 tables in amidst the collection of novels, old D&D books, copious amounts of models, and dubious cans of acetone and other chemical concoctions (all mostly legal in nature) which is all the more freaky because Doug smokes like a chimney stack. Every other Friday night those in the loop inconsistently gather( gathered... sniff) in the hallowed grounds of the family garage to lay waste to each other (and their armies). Beer, Warhammer, good mates, and dishing out punishment on the table. Good times.

Great times.

Anyway, the procedure for this day was basically get in some games, hang out, shed some manly tears and wish Doug good luck with the sheep down the way.

Crushed by a better army/better dice/better player

Phil (not Star-Dragon Phil) took up the offer of a game on Sunday so in War-of-the-Beardesque style the Dwarfs took on the High Elves. Phil's awesomely fluffy army was (and I may not have this entirely correct):

Prince (General) on foot (in White Lions)
Prince BSB with Silver Helms
2 x Level 2 Mages
Spear block - full command (FC)
Lothern block - FC
Big block fo White Lions - FC
Silver Helms - FC
Dragon Princes - FC
Lion Chariot
2 Bolties
2 Thrice-damned Eagles of charge-stopping, redirecting, bait-and-fleeing doom


In summary the game was characterised by:

Phil being a better player - a solid plan that took advantage of his awesome maneoverability (and my total lack of), decent shooting and quite frankly terrifying magic (6PD+bound - Ring of Fury - totally trumped my 4DD + magic resistance on the Longbeards). Mind you... 3 irresistible force Flames of the Phoenix's (Phoenii?) helped some... I on the other hand put the Hammerers SO far out of position they may as well just stayed in the box. Ugh.

Phil having a better army - with flexible shooting, great movement, some magical niceness, decent leadership, mix of armour, static res, a chariot, march blockers and diverters... his army is waaaay better than what the Dwarfs could muster. A flexible and quite fluffy force - still small, this is High Elves after all - but very capable. Nice work Phil!

Phil having better dice than me - I put this one last because really it's a poor general who whinges, bitches and moans about the dice "Ohhh... I was so unlucky. Ohhh... his dice were so much better. Ohhh... I want to blame random number generators for my failings and inadequacies" etc. Fact is though - his bloody dice were on fire. I don't know where the Lucky Dave shirt was but I sure as heck wasn't gettin any of it! Aside from the 3 irresistible forces (and admittedly a miscast in the last turn which took a wound off one of the Mages) points of note and the difference in our luck include:

- the Lion chariot moving through the wood 3 times and flippin surviving!
- me failing a fear check needing 9
- the Lothern Seaguard shooting dead my general - 5s to hit; 6s to wound; 2s to save = dead Dwarf :/
- me fleeing with my Thunderers a mighty 1" - that's right. Double ones to flee, minus one for being short and fat = 1" flee move. Equals dead Thunderers.
- my cannon blowing up with it's first shot (again)
- hitting the Prince BSB, wounding and then rolling a '1' for D6 wounds with the Grudgethrower (2+ and he's dead... sigh)


Long and the (Dwarfishly) short of it was a loss by 1009VPs which I think is around a 15-5 or so.

I lost HEAPS of stuff. Phil lost 1/2 the Silver Helms, an Eagle, 1/2 the chariot, 1/2 a Mage (from the miscast), one of the bolt throwers and the Spear block when he decided to make things "interesting" and rear charge the Longbeards (they bounced and were run down).

Phil is (naturally) a great sport but it was a tough match up and I'd rather not enter FluffyCon hoping for a nice draw to see me through. It's not much of a game plan is it?


Back to the drawing board...

Training for fluffiness

And so begins a few months of play-testing as I strive for optimum levels of fluffiness in my Dwarfs. It's like the montage of training scenes from Rocky but instead of running up and down stairs and whacking that bouncing punching thingy it's more like wading through marshmallows and punching bunny rabbits. Um...

Derick and I haven't played for ages (as evidenced by me forgetting Dwarfs Hate Greenskins) but it was great to see him, have him over last night and thrash his sticky Spider army. Derick's lads are uber-fluffy - as Nick puts it, "hamstringing yourself". There are however some dangerous elements that would be underestimated at your peril. For example:

- the L4 Shaman (who is not the General). Derick had some terrible luck given that my FluffyDwarfs only have 4 dispel dice (and no scrolls) - he didn't miscast but almost every spell failed to cast by '1'. With the Shaman in combat he attempted Waagh! with 4 dice and even with the +2 to cast for being in combat STILL failed to cast! We both agreed that things might have been very different had the spell gone off!
- those damn Savage Orc Boar Boy Big 'Uns! Gosh but they're hard. Fortunately they had no choice but to charge the Hammerers led by the ASF Thane. Pain time for the Orcsies.
- The other characters - specifically the Boar-mounted General with Shagga's but also the other guy with Martog's Basha (WS6). At str5 on the charge with Ironback Boars... well, it hurts. My Rangers found this out (to their detriment) as 9 died on the charge and the last one failed his break test and was unsurisingly run down. An intersesting option for Derick is to combine his mounted characters together to make character units. The Gobbo on Giant Spider combined with the General, other Orc Hero and/or even the Shaman have a high enough unit strength to break ranks and can cause a heinous amount of casualties. Even Dwarfs would be struggling...
- the Giant. I've had bad experiences with Giants. I was VERY fortunate to kill the Giant off with the ever-awesome Grudgethrower with two direct hits and three wounds with each hit. 2D6 str6 hits is not my idea of fun. Don't like Giants.


The Dragonslayer was interesting. He took a charge from a unit of Spider Riders, took a wound and dished out two in return, losing the combat by a musician. Being Unbreakable of course he couldn't care less. Even better at initiative 4 (four!!! A Dwarf with initiative 4!!!) he killed the two in contact before they could take a swing at him in the next round. This didn't bother the rest of the Spider unit because they were dead after taking a little Warrior block in the front and Miners in the side.

The Gobbo chariot was popped in the first turn by the Cannon.

The Longbeards and another small Warrior unit never saw combat. This is problematic I suspect in that I'm going to have trouble maneouvering all these short-legged lads into the right places to make good combat happen. They keep getting in each others way.


Around turn 4(ish) we called the game. Derick had his characters left and a unit of Spider Riders. I had lost the Rangers and a smattering of other models but all the units left were well-above half-strength. Clearly Dwarfs have some serious advantages against this list and I wondered if it's still too hard. More playtesting coming up but I suspect when I hit something with a little more... hit... I'll be in for it.

Dwarfs vs N.K.O.T.B.

That's New Kids On The Block by the way.

Andrew and I arranged a game last week for today and I was keen to test how hard the new Chaos list is. Andrew is currently running:

Lord on Steed
Sorcerer
BSB with Rapturous Standard
3 x 15 Chaos Warriors
Chariot
2 x 5 Warhounds
2 x 5 Knights

Slannesh marks abound in the list so practically everything barring the Hounds is immune to panic, fear and terror but crucially NOT immune to psychology so still able to flee as a charge reaction.

I ran the same list I took to the Tin Soldier tournament earlier in the year - rock hard Shieldborne Lord with Hammerers et al (refer to previous posts around June if you want the full breakdown, justification and previous experience of the list).

Key to the battle was a wacking great piece of impassable terrain in the middle of my deployment zone. This forced me to split my army - blocks on the left, chaff on the right. It's been too long since I've played Dwarfs and there were some errors with the deployment but overall I figured I could cope and make gains later in the game. The shooters faced off against a Warrior block, a unit of warhounds, the chariot and BOTH units of Knights. Hrm... My Cannon misfired and exploded with it's first shot at the chariot which was a pity. The Organ Gun then smashed three knights from their saddles. Having read the rules carefully the Runesmith (suicidally deployed on the flank with the Thunderers) went solo and Rune of Challenged the remaining two knights away from the Organ Gun (able to be used as they are not actually Immune to Psychology). He fled the charge (obviously) but the useless git then failed to rally and with enormous strides for one so vertically challenged, fled the board. Luckily I didn't need the two scrolls he was packing as Andrew was busy miscasting, losing a magic level and leaving him rolling two dice to cast a spell requiring '12' to successfully go off. Eventually the Chaos Lord and chariot (with one wound left) did for the Quarellers which panicked the Thunderers into the last Knights after the Organ Gun had a go at the other unit (and then died to their charge). Net result was nothing left for me on my right and Andrew left with the Lord, the unit he was slungshot out of, the chariot on one wound, and 3 knights.

Meanwhile Andrew was realising that impassable terrain was as much a problem for him as it was to me. Unable to attack the flank of the Hammerers his BSBs unit took a frontal charge - the Lord promptly carved up the BSB and his silly (but awesomely effective - if it is allowed to work) Rapturous Standard (the BSB was compelled to accept the Lord's challenge). The Warriors were broken and escaped and were broken again (and escaped again!) which netted the Hammerers two banners. A charge from the Chaos Lord into their flank and Andrew learnt why Dwarf Tanks/Lords are not to be trifled with - the Lord bounced and ran. The Hammerer's pursuit took them to the Warriors coming back from the devastation on my right flank. A quick beat-up later and the Hammerers had their third banner and the last 3 knights provided them with their fourth. By the end of the game the elite Dwarfs had nearly done a circuit of the battlefield. Most satisfying. Poor Andrew got a bit sick of me saying "ok, you have a banner... I have 2 ranks, 3 (or 4) wounds, outnumber, banner which is a warbanner (Rune of Battle)... double ones for the break test".

The other major fight was another Warrior unit (with Sorcerer) stalemating against the Longbeards (with my BSB). The Sorcerer and BSB slapped at each other ineffectually for 4 or so combat rounds before the BSB finally finished the poor sod off (again, the Sorcerer was compelled to accept the challenge). Eventually the Warriors were broken and caught, the Longbeards taking a banner themselves.

Due to my poor deployment the Dwarf Warriors never even saw combat. Sigh...


Andrew was left with the Chaos Lord and a Warrior unit. I'd lost the shooty chaff with the exception of the Grudgethrower and Gyro and still had the three blocks (and hence most of my points). With the five banners collected and holding two table quarters the end result was a win to me by just over 1700VPs. Not bad for Dwarfs - the big win is very hard to get.


Afterwards we both agreed that Andrew would have been better off putting the Knights either on the other flank or putting a unit on each flank. Good lessons about grinding - Chaos Warriors are hard for sure but they lacked the static res to see off the stunties and couldn't dish out the wounds expected due to their toughness and armour (and my awesome luck/dice skills). Warriors are damn expensive (16pts each with gear!) with WS and initiative 5 and a 2+ save in combat they are certainly the business. Unfortunately against the Dwarven elite they had their work more than cut out for them. Andrew's not keen on the Marauder models so it's a case of finding a way to make the Warriors work. Not sure how myself but min-sized units might be a start. The Knights are potentially very scary (Rage banner would be very very nasty) but were well shot up by the time they found a worthy target (the Hammerers) and hitting them in the front meant they were always going to stuggle.


Despite the result a most excellent and entertaining game and Andrew took the learning experience in his stride.

Back to Stunties - looking at FluffyCon late Feb 09

Well it's a slow news day - what with the American election and it being voting day here in New Zealand - so I thought I might as well wax lyrical on getting back into Dwarfs for a bit.

I caught a game against Stuart who is new to the club but has played Fantasy before (like a hundred years ago or something) so it was mostly a bit of a retraining exercise for him learning to play and a retraining exercise for remembering why Dwarfs suck. No, not suck. It's just so hard to kick some serious ass and control the game with Dwarfs. Problem is, even with a new army book (which will be out sometime in the next 25 years... one can but hope) I very much doubt they will change the movement value of 3. This is absolutely crucial to the nature of the race but at the same time, combined with the fact they have no monsters or cavalry and the only thing that can move decent distances is the Gyro, despite the fact they can always march the low movement really cripples the army. You really are forced to castle up and play defensively and pretty much anything else (including a Strollaz Rune setup with the pre-first turn 6" move) is just a variation on that theme.

Anyway the game was a massacre win to me despite my Cannon and Organ Gun exploding in classic reliable old Dwarf fashion (someone please explain why it feels like Skaven shooting is more reliable than Dwarf shooting please). This was definitely due in part to some good luck on balance, the relative inexperience of my opponent, and the ridiculous hardness of the Longbeards in a 1500pt game.

Still, having come from playing Lizardmen and Brettonians recently with their fantastic mobility and hard-hitting charges... well, Dwarfs are more than a little frustrating.

So Big Nick is running FluffyCon and, given the natural comp boost Dwarfs will get in this environment (see earlier and my "Dwarfs suck" comment) I thought it prudent to not only take advantage of the comp boost they are likely to receive by taking the army but, due to the nature of the "Hard Caps" at the event (and knowing as a result I won't be facing anything too heinous), I could run a slightly more adventurous list than might otherwise be possible.


Here is the list as it stands (with much playtesting to be done - everything that follows is theoryhammer I'm afraid):

Thane (General) - Runes of +1 str (str5), +1 attack (4 attacks total) and Always Strikes First, Rune of Stone, Shield (1+ save in combat)
Thane (BSB) - Runes of 1+ rerollable armour save, magic resistance (1), immune to fire
Dragonslayer

19 Longbeards - full command, rune of double unit strength, shields
20 Warriors - full command, shields
10 Longbeard Rangers - musician, shields, throwing axes, great weapons
10 Warriors - shields
10 Warriors - shields
10 Thunderers - no shields
10 Quarellers - no shields

15 Hammerers - full command, rune of immune to fear/terror, shields
10 Miners
Grudgethrower - rune of accuracy, rune of burning
Cannon - rune of burning

4DD and a magic resistance (1) character
2PD
125 models

2000pts exactly


Flicking through the list, a couple of things stand out:

- no Lord option
- no Runesmith (and therefore no scrolls or pool dispel dice)
- no Rare choices
- 53% is Core choices (7 Core choices in total)
- 11% magic items and runic tricksiness (difficult to keep this down I felt)
- Longbeard Rangers (!)
- 3 units of Warriors


For me the big part of the list is the Rangers and 2 small (10-man) Warrior units. My feeling here is to absorb the charge with the big blocks and counter attack with the smaller units. Alternatively the small Warrior blocks can bait and flee (as much as Dwarfs can) in order to setup the aforementioned counter-charges (they don't have musicians but they do rally on a '9' sp hopefully...). The Longbeard Rangers have the potential to be AWESOME - if they don't get shot up and magicked to bits. They are hideously expensive but a str5 stand-and-shoot reaction (str5!), great weapons or hand weapon/shield, and WS5/str4(6) in combat makes them actually quite versatile. And they can Scout although I don't expect they will ever be able to do so.

Hopefully I still have enough shooting to force my opponent to move and engage. The Cannon is there for the occasional big nasty and to take out chariots. The grudgethrower is there for anti-infantry, anti-heavy cav or counter-battery fire (good guess ranging and the scatter reroll makes this an awesome all-round warmachine).

I'll be playing a series of games over the next couple of months to figure out how the army works and whether my theories are just pipe-dreams or if I'm really on to something.

Brettonians 8 (Dead End)

Well yesterday saw my last game with Antony's Brettonians and what a game it was!!! Lezle is one of my favourite opponents - we don't actually play each other often (he jumps frequently between Fantasy, 40k and Mordheim) because he has a great sense of humour and an eye for the narrative side of the game. Straight away it was determined our two Generals (both mounted on flying monsters) would simply have to clash in the middle of the board in epic combat... man-a-mano. Lezle is a real life knight (well... he rides a horse - called Abby for ayone who's interested - and does sword-fighting and other knightly stuff) so I really felt like I had something to prove!

Lezle used a Vampire Counts army, again built with available miniatures and fun in mind but it's still VCs and as a result still effective and reliable. He had a fighty boss on Abyssal Terror (probably the worst option but you see, Lezle isn't fazed by that at all) with Hatred/Fury and Carstein Ring, 2 Dreadknight Vamps with Infinite Hatred and one had the Periapt, 2 Skellie blocks, Zombie block, Ghoul block, Graveguard block, 4 Wraiths and Banshee and the icing on the cake - 6 Blood Knights. I had painful recollections of the last time I played against Blood Knights. Hrm...

For two turns a unit of Mounted Yeoman bravely baited the Blood Knights on my extreme right flank, keeping them from making a right mess of... well, anything they touched really. Lezle was ready to charge his General (on the opposite flank from the Blood Knights) into the Realm bus with BSB until I explained what would happen (static 7, champion challenges, even with max overkill Vamp general loses by 2, next turn my general charges in - game over Vampire Counts). The two buses easily smashed up the Ghouls and a Skellie block with an accompanying Dreadknight Vamp but the resulting overruns put me waaay out of position and a reform in my turn resulted in the Realms charged by the Wraiths and the Errants charged by the Zombies (gah - tarpit hell). Meanwhile the Pegs and little Realm unit bounced off the Graveguard with the other Vampire after they were flanked by the second Skellie unit. Ouch.

The Blood Knights, having chased off the Yeoman, about-faced and headed towards the action in the middle of the board. A combined charge from the Grail Knights into the front and the Brett General into the rear of the Graveguard did for them; the Grails overran into some Skellies and mashed all of them but ONE (the unit champion) in Lezle's turn. They killed off the last one in mine but were then charged by the Blood Knights and, being unable to flee due to Immune to Psych (yay), died horribly. My General overran from the Graveguard towards the Vampire Lord on Abyssal Terror and it looked like we'd finally get our epic boss fight.

The Vamp Lord charged in and after Infinite Hatred and Red Fury had done it's work I needed to pass one ward save to keep him alive but it was not to be. In a twist of fate however the Hippogryph failed it's monster reaction test and promptly became Unbreakable. Lezle fluffed his rolls in the following turn and the Hippogryph started tearing the Abyssal Terror a new one. This combat was still going on when the Blood Knights plowed into the back of the Hippo.

The Realms eventually beat down the Wraiths (thanks to the BSB and his magical death stick) but only the BSB and Damsel survived. They charged into the flank of the Zombies which was finally enough to break them and wipe them out. This left the Errants with just enough time and space to charge the Blood Knights (who had just overrun into the Hippo) in the flank! Result!

In the final combat the Errants smushed some Blood Knights, the Hippo finally died but so did the Abyssal Terror. At the end of the game Lezle was left with his General on two wounds and 3 Blood Knights (still an astounding amount of points there!). I had the Errants above half, a Damsel and BSB, the Paladin leading the Errants (who challenged the VC general - thank-you Gromril Great Helm!), some Peasant Archers and a unit of Yeoman. As the peasant units both were holding table quarters I won by 450VPs so really it was a very close game!


What an outstanding end to the Brettonian saga! In my 8 games I've played a variety of opponents and armies. I've learnt lots about less familiar aspects of the game - some hard lessons for me (and some for my opponents - hehehe). Won some, lost some. Just how it should be.

Having spent quite some time "army whoring" (nice way of saying it Dave) I've decided to go back to my roots and once against castle up with the little bearded lads. Time to remind all and sundry how shooty and static-ressie stunties are. There are more than a few outstanding grudges to be called out so I'll be loading up the old Organ Gun once more and taking on the unwashed masses. Andrew's new Slanneshi Chaos Mortals army (with the mega - seriously these guys are HUGE - Knights of Dooom!) is high on the list.

And while I'm distracting the unwary with Dwarfy killiness... the Vampire Counts get closer and closer to completion. Bwahahahahaha!



Thanks to all the people I played with Brettonians. Your patience (and knowledge) helped me out immensely. Maybe next time I have to face Brettonians I won't wet myself in absolute terror. As long as the next time I play them I'm not facing Marcello maybe I'll be ok :-)

Brettonians 7 (Grimlock smash!)

Actually that's a bit misleading because I wasn't playing Empire (with a Mace of Helstrum wielding Arch-Lector), I was playing Dave's/Doug's/Dan's Ogres. Still felt like Grimlock smash! though.

I learnt in this game (I would like to remind you dear reader that yes, I am still learning how to play this game) the value of being able to "out-chaff" your opponent. I was severely out-chaffed.

Dave had an excellent plan that saw all his Leadbelcher bait on one flank, the Hunter and Gnoblars on the other (2 units of Trappers using his Ld9 in the same manner as a General!) and most everything else in the middle. As he mentioned afterwards, having 3 immune to panic units in the centre (Slave Giant, Maneaters, Ironguts with BSB rerolling psych tests - essentially immune) is a most helpful buff to the army overall. The Leadbelchers swept majestically down my left flank, shot up the Grail Knights and promptly parked themselves in the way of my strike units (the 2 9-strong lance formations). Charge them - they flee. Stay - get shot and/or the rest of the army closes for the charge. Result? Out-chaffed.

So where were the Men-At-Arms and Yeoman and the little Realms? Faffing about trying to beat up the Gnoblar block and Trappers! They promptly did this (a later charge and overrun saw off one of the Trapper units and the Sabretusks) but were then forced to charge the Ironguts and their BSB mate. Despite the Men-At-Arms hitting their flank at the same time the writing was on the wall and the following turn both units were smashed.

The Brett General threw himself away trying to charge some Bulls who fled. Hunter in the flank = dead Large Target on a stick mate. Hippogryphs are NOT Dragons. Lesson learnt, tick that box.

The Peg Knights were very nearly knights of the match. After taking a charge from the Maneaters and accompanying Butcher and General (and only losing one wound) they fled and rallied. Fled their charge the second time. Rallied and charged them, winning by 2 (!!!) but failing to break them (Maneaters are Stubborn etc). Curses. We reckoned that would have been something like a 1000pt swing (Maneaters, General, Butcher, General-killing bonus, and the two banners they captured earlier) but it just wasn't to be. A surviving Peg broke in the last turn but rallied in mine so at least they survived (albeit below half strength). And even if I had beat them (which would have been damn awesome) I still would have lost by around 400-500pts at least.

Ouch.


So a hard lesson against a better player but then games against Dave are always highly educational and enjoyable (and much appreciated - thanks mate for giving me a call and coming over!).

This afternoon's game against Lezle's Vampire Counts should be interesting. Failed Fear and Terror checks playing the Ogres have me wondering how I might fare against one of the army masters of all fear-causers. Lezle's Lord flies around (quite bravely) on an Abyssal Terror. So... how about a bit of one-on-one boss killing action Lezle? :-) We're definitely going to have some Knight-on-Knight action and I know from experience how hard Blood Knights are!


Oh yeah... woopah! 50 posts!

Battlecry 2009

The Lads - led by The Venerable, Old and Wise Nick Buckby - have been discussing the possibility of a WHFB tournament at Battlecry in February. Excellent. The draft player's pack looks great too.

Word on the street is that the points cap will be 2K and despite the fun I'm having with the Knights I getting a hankering for a return to Stuntyville. The possible changes from my 2250pt list are rather simple but I might take the opportunity to try a few other things out. The biggest (and easiest) change is to just take out the Dwarf Lord on Shieldbearers. For a 2000pt game he's really a giant points sink I can't afford (something like 280pts if I remember correctly). This won't worry the Dwarfs too much as they will still be Ld9 - a huge advantage for an army not taking a Lord option, although it doesn substantially reduce killing power in combat. If I drop some Hammerers (slightly less reliable without the Lord) I could slot in a Slayer character which could be amusing, or another Thane to act as a General (instead of the Runesmith).

The other interesting thing about the Battlecry tournament is the 'hard cap' that will be applied to lists before they are actually comp-scored. In a way this is like objective comp scoring but it's more like a first step before a subjective process. Examples of the hard cap include no duplicate Rares, max 44 models with shooting capability and so on. A great idea I think as one of the reasons for the tournament is to encourage new players into the scene (and softer/friendlier armies are a way of doing this).

All in all I'm very excited about the prospect of a 2ooopt tournament. OTT (Over-The-Top) is down in Hamilton the week before Battlecry and I think I'll take Bretts to that so they get at least one run in a tournament next year.

Brettonians 6 ("Hates you...")

Ah the catch-cry of Dark Elf players everywhere. Oh how I hate the army-wide Hatred rule.

Anyway, generally a fun game against Glenn. Neat watching his Sorceress kill off her Spearmen meatpuppets with the Sacrificial Dagger; even more amusing watching her miscast twice. Glenn's tooled up Assassin single-handedly did for the Grail Knights and his tooled Cold One Knights with Hydra Banner BSB did for... well, everything else unfortunately. The game could pretty much be summed up by my last turn efforts - the Men-At-Arms beat off (one of the four) chariots that were zooming round the board while my Realm Knights failed a Terror check caused by the Cauldron of Blood, promptly dropped the banner they had just captured, and legged it off the table. The Blessing was not kind, not kind at all. Only Peasants survived the game - perhaps an indication that sometimes its better to not have the Blessing in the first place?

I threw the boss away - he tried to charge the Sorceress' Spear block but they failed Terror and got away (what is it with Dark Elf player not telling you what's in their army? I realise you don't have to identify the unit the Assassin is hiding in, but it would be nice to know one was lurking out there somewhere!). Had he made the charge then doubtless the Assassin would have smashed him anyway. He then panicked when the CoKs butchered the Errants. They caught up with him a turn later. Alas poor Brettonian Lord.

Other than the punishing loss (by about 750pts), good fun.


Psychology is, I suspect, a major weakness of the list so I've organised a game vs Lezle's Vampire Counts next week to get my head around just how bad it could be. Knowing the problems I'll be having with Etheral troops and the Terror/Fear causing army that I'm facing it's probably going to be an uphill battle (with Lezle receiving +1 combat resolution for having the hill! lol) but he's a great opponent and loads of fun to play against so it will be a worthwhile use of my time regardless.

Brettonians 5 (Always Struck First)

Ah, High Elves. How I loathe their printine white robes and perfect sparkling teeth. Phil (not Star Dragon Phil) asked for a game last week so I picked up the gauntlet and we faced off on Sunday at the club. Phil is a great guy - a wonderful opponent and, as this battle was to demonstrate, an exemplary sport. His good humour and capacity for sheer cheerfulness is super-human and it's an attitude that is very much inspiring.

Anyway...


In short, Phil was almost mercilessly pummelled flat. My nickname jumped into sharp relief as I made a ridiculous number of armour and ward saves (so many 6s...). One unit of 6 Realms took a charge from 6 Silver Helms and their attached Hero friend and held for three turns until my Errant bus and BSB were ready to charge them into the ground. Phil was failing Panic and Terror and break tests all over the place. Four Mounted Yeoman broke 14 or so Lothern Seaguard (winning by one) which caused a nearby Spear block to panic.

The key moment came when the Errants wth BSB charged 18 Swordmasters and the Elf General in the front. Thinking they might need some help the Brettonian Lord on Hippogryph hit their flank and the Pegs hit the other. Despite losing 4 Knights and a wound off the Pegs (damn ASF! Mind you, the Elf General failed to kill off the Errant Champion in their challenge) the noble Brettonians butchered 10 Elves, comprehensively smashing them. All 3 units pursued, the Elves run down and the Pegs capturing the first of what would eventually be 3 banners (the Errants capturing another from the Silver Helms late in the game).

My truly dirty luck was confirmed when the Pegs charged the Dragon Princes in the front and beat them silly, the Hippo boss charged the Lothern Seaguard who failed their Terror check and fled, and the Yeoman took no casualties from an Eagle's charge, turned around in their saddles, and beat it silly in the same round of combat (3 wounds from the 6 attacks they had).

In the end I had lost a unit of Yeoman, the 6-man Realms and a smattering of other Realms and Errants. Due to my ineptitude the Grails never even saw combat!


Phil had just awful luck throughout the game. His magic was almost completely ineffective, his combat troops were cut down by the lance strike of skilled knights and (fortunate) peasants, and his leadership tests were pants. At the end of the game he was quite convinced he'd had a lot of fun. Damn but he's a good sport! The weekend before I took a harsh beating from Scott and felt every lost unit keenly (and showed it I'm sorry to say - sorry Scott). Phil on the other hand just couldn't have the smile wiped from his face no matter how bad things got - even on my fifth consecutive "ward save on a 6" he was going strong.


Phil's the man!

Dead Reckoning

Had Nick over for a game on Friday night and he generously allowed me to field a heinous Dwarf/Brettonian/bare bases alliance to substitute the Vampire Counts list I posted on the WAU forums to see how it worked. The list is:


Lord - Lord of the Dead, Nightshroud, Sword of Battle, Master of the Black Arts, Dark Acolyte, Crown of the Damned, Dispel Scroll

Wight King - Sword of Kings, BSB

Necromancer - Van Hel's Danse, Corpse Cart, Book of Arkhan

15 Skeleton Warriors - full command (-muso)

15 Skeleton Warriors - full command (-muso)

10 Skeleton Warriors - full command (-muso)

20 Zombies

6 Dire Wolves (I only fielded 5 - forgot the extra one for both units)

6 Dire Wolves

20 Graveguard - full command (-muso)

5 Black Knights - barding

5 Black Knights - barding

Varghulf

4 Cairn Wraiths and a Banshee



8PD - 2 bounds
5DD - 1 scroll


Having been informed that practically all of Nick's not inconsiderable ranged attacks counted as magical the Wraiths promptly hid in a big forest in the middle of the board. They didn't do much for a couple of turns but eventually frightened off some Slaves, screamed the Warpfire Thrower to death and charged the Skaven General's unit in the flank in a mighty combined charge late in the game.

The Wolves and Knights were killed off pretty quickly, managing to take out some Globadiers and 5 Jezzails before copping Ratling Gun fire and static res death. Wolves suck major in combat but could be useful for screening. I didn't have the magic resources to keep them or the Knights alive unfortunately (with only one Vampire the magic phase is extremely localised - an interesting learning point in and of itself).

The Skeletons were TERRIBLE at inflicting casualties (bearing in mind this is against Clanrats and Slaves) but were awesome as static res providers. They took the charge well, lost a lot from combat res but were resurrected back with ease.

Nick's impatience won me the game eventually - his General's/BSB's unit charging a Skellie block, failing to break it, and getting flank-charged by the afore-mentioned Wraiths and, with the help of Danse, the Necromancer and hit Skellie mates. Causing fear is awesome although I suspect against Skaven this is somewhat exacerbated.

The Varghulf was MEAN. He beat-off some silly Tunnellers who charged him, Terrored off some Jezzails he tried to charge, then minced up Clanrats in a combat that, combined with the Graveguard saw off a Clanrat block and two accompanying Warlocks.

The Zombies never saw combat but contested a quarter with some Gutter Runners. I'm thinking I will pursue the idea at Fields '09 of making it that only units with a banner (their own) can capture/contest a quarter.

The Graveguard were nuts - I'll just have to take them, they're so good!



So in the end a comfortable win for the Vampire Counts (Count... there's only one). Looking forward to collecting the army starting most likely in the Christmas holidays.

Brettonians 4 (Return of the Realms)

As in, this time, they didn't panic off the board before they had a chance to move :)

To be honest Nick's Skaven put the fear in me when playing Bretts. Or, to be more precise, the Jezzails, Warp Lightning Cannon and magic phase put the fear in me. Nevertheless last night I had the chance to get in some more practice against those diverting little ratbags and Nick obliged.

The key moment of the game was spotting an opening Nick had left to the General's and BSB's Clanrat unit's flank. The Grails took their chance, charging two Globadiers who were unable to stand-and-shoot (Banner of Chalons this! ha!), chose to flee and the Grails hit the Clanrats where it hurt (that is to say, in the flank) via the 'Enemy in the Way' rule. With static 4 (outnumber, banner, BSB with Warbanner) it wasn't going to be clear cut but the boys in pink and yellow (what the hell Antony?! Such manly colours!) did me proud with 3 wounds from their charge (3 models able to attack). With flank, 1 rank and their banner the Ratties were down by 2, fluffed the test and reroll and were run down. I had the chance to get A LOT more stuff involved in this combat but the Men-at-Arms, overrunning from a nearby combat, stopped 1 inch short (curses!) and my General, solo charging into the flank of the Plaguemonks, failed to do enough damage to break them (a good overrun would have put him in the back of the Skaven General's unit).

So 2 misplaced Globadiers and a space just wide enough led to Nick's rapid demise. A counter-charge by some Clanrats into the flank of the Realm bus and the front of the Errants failed to impact, the Errants beating their opponents and running them down, the Realms also beating theirs and turning to face for the continuing melee. The Brett General was charged in the flank by the thrice-damned Censer Bearers and the Hippo took a wound (failed toughness test on a 6!) but despite breaking from combat managed to outpace both pursuing units. In my turn the Pegs (who had been quite busy dealing with Slaves... groan) rear-charged the Plaguemonks and the small Realm unit charged the Censers. The Generall rallied. Two Realms died before any combat could take place (I friggin HATE Censer Bearers) but they were still soundly thrashed. The Pegs overran into Jezzails who in turn had pursued some Yeoman who had embarassingly failed to make a dent in them with their charge. Bit of a mess it was.

Nick called it at the start of the 5th - the Warp Lightning Cannon had one shot into the Errants before they charged. I had given the accompanying Paladin the Virtue of Immune to Panic from shooting and magic missiles (an EXCELLENT virtue! Also makes the unit hate missile troops!) so the Cannon would be inevitably charged. On his extreme right Nick still had 4 Jezzails, a full-strength Clanrat unit and 1 Globadier (who has somewhat amusingly rallied right in front of the Clanrats, preventing them from moving). I'd lost both Yeoman units, a couple of Realms from both units, a Grail Knight, almost 1/2 the Men-at-Arms and an Errant but had three quarters (and one contested) and 3 banners.


A good game for Brettonia, especially after the beating Scott gave me on Sunday (still burns a little).


Nick will be back on Friday and I'll be subbing a trillion models to run a Vampire Counts army against him. I'm sure psychology will prove to be fun in that battle :)

Brettonians 3 (Orcs is da best)

Brettonians are not... at least not this time.

Played Scott's magic/chaff-heavy Orcs and Gobbos on Sunday. Something like this:

L4 Shaman
L2 Shaman
L2 Shaman
BSB on Boar
Black Orc block
2 Orc Boyz blocks
5 Trolls
3 x 20 Night Gobbo Archers with 2 Fanatics each
2 Pump Wagons
2 Wolf Chariots
2 5-Strong Wolf Riders
2 bloody Bolt Throwers (sum total of these being 70pts)

The game started with Scott querying the fact I had five characters and asking me to point out the rule that allowed this. Despite my own protestations and claims of having seen numerous Brett armies (e.g. Marcello's Bretts which he has not only used for years but has also taken to more tournaments than I've been playing toy soldiers) with 5 characters he was not convinced. Antony shortly put him in his place with a derisive scoff.


I knew it was going to be a duff game when in Scott's first turn ONE Bolt Thrower killed 3 Realm Knights from the bus (containing Damsel and BSB) and they panicked and fled off the table, taking some nearby Yeoman with them. Excellent. Over the course of the game the Bolties tagged - the Realm bus/Yeoman, 2 Errants in the last turn which panicked the unit and took them below 25%, 2 Grail Knights (of the two they could kill) and the Hippogryph. Bugger. A good 800pts there are least.

Magic did for me - my meagre 3 dispel dice (after the first Damsel had legged it with the Realms) couldn't hold off the awful Greenskin magic phases. Scott assured me however this was the toned down list :) Ouch.

By the end of the game I had nothing left - well ok, the Errants were on the table but they were busy running away. I'd managed to kill off most of the chaff in Scott's army but all his blocks, a unit of Gobbos, the accuresed Bolt Throwers and the Trolls were still fine. Horrors. Terrible game, worse for the fact that I learnt nothing more than - avoid Bolt Throwers where possible, and if you're having a bad luck day then you are fairly screwed no matter what you try. Sigh...

The best part of the experience was watching Antony's heart break as he saw his models being casually butchered.


Well, I have a game lined up against Phil's High Elves (not Star Dragon Phil) next Sunday so that should be fun. After all, how good could Elven Bolt Throwers be?

Brettonians rewrite - a better Brett

I'd like to preface this by thanking Dave Grant for lending me his army both during Fields of Blood (Lizards) and after Fields of Blood (Brettonians). Dave has taught me a lot about the game (most recently last night at Dougs when he turned a devastating massacre against Nick into a mediocre draw because, well... that's his playstyle... - he calls it trying to kill every model in the enemy army; I call it over-reaching) with his enthusiastic dialogue on "tactics", "experimental" army design (what did happen to that Chieftain on Steg Lizard army with 9 - or was it 12 - Krox?), and of course the smashing games I've played against him and watched him play against other people. His grand advice helped me pummel Phil (in the nicest way possible) when I needed to the most. Thanks Dave :)

Having said all that, Dave's Bretts I just do not get. Just don't understand them. So in search of the cheese that Brettonians are supposedly legendary for - the sort of cheese I've been so consistently beaten by - I went to the master of all that is broken lists, Mr Kitson*. Antony happily (albeit with great caution) has lent me his Bretts and they are a quite different monster to Daves. In fact, for a start, they have a monster!

I've tweaked the list a bit more, making it extra hard. I'm not really one for taking hard lists generally (at least I don't think so...) but this somehow feels right.


2250 Brettonian list of DOOOOOOM!


Bretonnian Lord (390) - Knightly Vow, Heartwood Lance, Enchanted Shield, Virtue of Discipline, Tress of Isoulde, Hippogryph

Sweet! Finally, a big, nasty, flying Terror-causing beastie to play around with!

1 Paladin Battle Standard Bearer (124) - Battle Standard Bearer, Knightly Vow, Sword of Might, Virtue of Duty
1 Paladin (130) - Lance, Shield, Knightly Vow, Gromril Great Helm, Virtue of Purity
1 Damsel of the Lady (120) - The Silver Mirror, horse
1 Damsel of the Lady (105) - Dispel Scroll, horse

5 Grail Knights (230) - Banner of Chalons

3 Pegasus Knights (165)
5 Mounted Yeomen (87) - Shields, Musician
5 Mounted Yeomen (87) - Shields, Musician

7 Knights of the Realm (217) - Warbanner
6 Knights of the Realm
8 Knights Errant (201) - Errantry Banner
25 Men-at-Arms (140) - Standard, Musician
10 Peasant Bowmen (85) - Skirmishers, Standard, Musician

Casting Pool: 4
Dispel Pool: 4
Models in Army: 80
Total Army Cost: 2249

* Sorry, not true. Simon is now the master black belt of broken lists.

Brettonians 2 (Rat's Revenge)

A coincidental meeting with Nick on Gmail (god bless live chat) yielded a game on Sunday night (Nick having use of the car unexpectedly and determined to good on our last game - a close draw). Another chance for me to have at those dastardly Skaven; taking them on with the shining virtue and sharp lances of the Brettonian nobility is a most worthy pasttime.

I made no changes from my previous list (which is basically Dave's list without Large Target Killing blow but with Dispel Scroll) but was happy to enter the game with a much better idea of what the toys do (i.e. remembering Virtue of Discipline). Nick had made several changes including reducing the gear on the Warlord (so that he's basically a living leadership buff and not much else), removing the Warpfire Thrower, and putting in some Poison Rat Swarms. The issue he really encountered in this game was that the Warlord simply couldn't be everywhere at once to provide leadership support. This is the problem with Skaven - at the core they could have excellent leadership, but without the general they suffer enormously. The plan is to attack where the General isn't if you can't attack him directly and take him out of the equation (difficult to do when he's sitting in the back rank of his unit and that unit is covered by 2 or 3 others).

This idea somewhat came to fruition and over the course of the game I lost half the Grail Knights (Censer Bearers... ugh); the Peg hero (useless git he is too - won't be taking him when I get Ant's knights); and the Peg Knights to an irresistable Warp Lightning and failed panic check on the surviving Knight in turn 4 (curses! - after they forced a Clanrat block to flee a flank charge and had seen off the Warp Lightning Cannon - sweet revenge having some trees beat the Warlock to death thanks to Master of Wood). Nick also had one quarter and the Men-at-Arms' standard (after they charged a Clanrat block and fluffed/broke... losers). In the end, Nick had left: a clanrat block, a 1/2 strength Clanrat block, full strength Plaguemonk block, General, BSB, 1 Globadier.

Shooting from the Skaven was particularly poor and magic not much better - the Blessing of the Lady really is quite awesome when it works! Quite a different situation from the last game where magic and shooting smashed me good.

The highlight of the game was the surviving 1/2 strength Clanrat block containing the Skaven BSB and a captured standard - they rolled Insane Courage for three consecutive combat rounds. Argh! So many points just out of reach (the unit itself, the BSB, 2 banners, reclaiming the captured banner, contesting a table quarter!)!

In the end it was a win to the noble sons of pseudo-France by just over 1300VPs :-)

Magic was great in this game - one Damsel cast Howler Wind which Nick let through - stopped the Ratling Guns from killing anything (remains in play for the win! Nick forgot to dispell it in his magic phases) including by shooting into combat once I'd engaged so they were effectively neutered. The same Damsel took a wound in combat and later managed to heal herself (Gift of Life). Master of Wood on the other Damsel sucked up Skaven dispel dice as Nick managed for 4 turns to save his wood-lurking Jezzails but eventually got through 3 times - once taking out a nearby Warlock-Engineer and twice to kill off 5 Jezzails. Excellent. Magic is good when you know you've used all of your spells to good effect.

Characters - the big change I reckon (once I get hold of Ant's knights) will be taking out the Peg Paladin - probably for another small Realm block. Would also lose the Treb, Reliquae and some Skirmishing Archers for another Realm block if I had the models available. The Damsels are excellent - I can see why Marcello runs three. Magic resistance is great but they also get some useful casting off at times.


Looking forward to getting into the club on Sunday and hopefully out to the Garage Irregulars on Friday night to try the Horse-boys out on some different opponents and armies.


In terms of Nick's play - in the post-game discussion I was most adamant that the success of the army largely depended on the use of the 4 Slave blocks to divert/flee/bait/get in the damn way and set-up the best counter-charge options with massive static res Clanrat blocks. The Questor bus went into the Insane Courage Legends (Clanrat block) who held - they were subsequently flanked by a full strength Slave block (flank and 3 ranks to res) but the Slaves were beaten down by the Knights on the flank and fled. Virtue of Disclipine is GREAT! Thanks for the inspiration Antony :) Nick's BSB with Warbanner adds a lot to his combat troops - a very good choice.

Dead tangent

I've had a bunch of bits and pieces sitting in a cupboard at home and a nagging (in a positive kind of way) wife at my throat trying to have me get rid of them so on Sunday I finally got it together to drop it all into the club and our Bitz Collective - a massive collection of Fantasy/40k/some indescribable bitz. It's freakin huge. In the lead up to this offloading of miscellany I was thinking about what I might take in return.

By sheer coincidence I met Justin in the carpark before the club started and was able to look over some stuff he had been trying to sell earlier at the AWC bring-and-buy without success. These were Rackham miniature, something I have little experience with, but I was most taken with several minis and before I knew it I had the makings of a Vampire Counts army! A fortuitous rummage through the Collective yielded a stack more awesome old stuff and I am now well on my way to having some serious Dead Toy Soldiers action happening.

I picked up from Justin the following:

An Elemental of Darkness to use as a wicked counts-as Varghulf:

http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/fiche_produit.cfm?type=366&ref=FRELTN01&code_lg=lg_us&pag=1&num=13

4 Ira Tenebrae to use as Cairn Wraiths:

http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/fiche_produit.cfm?type=420&ref=FRELTN02&code_lg=lg_us&pag=1&num=13

An Earth Elemental to use as a Skellie block filler:

http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/fiche_produit.cfm?type=222&ref=FRELTR01&code_lg=lg_us&pag=1&num=13

And this scary bugger to use as a Banshee or possibly a Wight King:

http://www.rackham-store.com/boutique_us/fiche_produit.cfm?type=28&ref=FRMVSP03&code_lg=lg_us&pag=1&num=3


Filched enough from the Collective to make 10+ Black Knights and the start of a Skellie block.


Excellent.

Brettonians 1 (Scourge of the Skaven)

Nick came round for a game tonight - back to Skaven after having a muck around with Dwarfs at Fields. Nick's list is MUCH nastier now with a few important changes - this is no bad thing; I found his preious list simply too easy to overcome.

Warlord - Weeping Blade, Enchanted Shield
BSB - Warbanner
Warlock - standard kit
Warlock - standard kit
3 units of Clanrats - full command, 2 with Ratling Guns, 1 Warpfire Thrower
3 units of Slaves
Big Plaguemonk block - Banner of burning Hatred
Bunch of (7?) Plague Censer Bearers
2 Globadiers
2 Globadiers
5 Jezzails
5 Jezzails
5 Tunnellers - poisoned hand weapons
Warp Lightning Cannon


The majority of the discussion after the game focussed on the equipment carried by the Warlord. Nick is going to try Languisher Sword, Enchanted Shield and Bands of Power for a while and see how that works out.


Meanwhile I was struggling along with Dave's bizarre Brettonian list which is just so foreign to me - I might as well have been playing a different game! The one change I made (was able to make with the models I have) was swap out Virtue of Killing Blow on Large Targets for the ignore outnumbering one (Discipline) and give one of the Damsels a scroll.

So it looked like this:


Lord - Barded Steed, Virtue of Discipline, Grail Vow, Lance, Shield, Gromril Great Helm, Mantle of the Damsel
Paladin - Pegasus, Grail Vow, Enchanted Shield, Wyrmlance
Paladin - Barded Steed, Questing Vow, Insignia of the Quest, Sword of Might, Battle Standard
Damsel - Steed, Silver Mirror
Damsel - Level 2, Prayer Icon of Quennelles, Dispel Scroll
6 x Knights of the Realm - Full command
20 x Skirmishing Archers - Full command, Braziers
7 x Questing Knights - Full command, Warbanner
3 x Pegasus Knights
5 x Mounted Yeoman - Shields, Musician
Grail Relique - 6 Battle Pilgrims
6 x Grail Knights - Full command, Banner of Chalons
Trebuchet
25 x Men-at-Arms, Standard, Musician


What weirded me out was:

Minimum Relique of stubborn guys - just no idea how to use them. Charged a SLAVE block, fluffed, broke (BSB busy elsewhere - I guess this is the problem), run down.

How flippin expensive 6 Grail Knights are, especially when you are facing a Warp Lightning Cannon, 10 Jezzails and 4 Poison Globes.

20 Skirmishing Archers - seriously, wtf? I just don't get this.

Questing Knights - str5 mounted great weapons.


The army wasn't nearly as monumentally hard as I thought Brettonians to be - in fact it seemed incredibly fragile. The Blessing of the Lady was pants and just wouldn't work for me (funny, it always seems to work for my opponents when I'm the one playing against Brettonians!).

I managed to weather a couple of turns of shooting (painful turns they were too!) before getting off a raft of charges. Pegs (Censer Bearers), Grails and Mounted Yeoman and Questors (those three all into the Plaguemonks; Questors in their flank), Realms (Tunnellers), Peg hero (Globadiers), Relique into Slave block. Everything except the Relique caused immense casualties which was satisfying (something like 18 dead Plaguemonks on the charge, 4 Censer Bearers (1 self-inflicted), 2 Globes, 5 Tunnellers - panicked Slaves near to them). Realms got an overrun into a Clanrat block but in my eagerness to run down the Plaguemonks the Grails and Yeoman trapped themselves facing a forest and the reforming was painfully slow. The Questors eventually held back to get the charge against some poorly aligned Slaves, managed to restrain pursuing them, and got a vicious last turn charge into the Skaven General's Clanrat block (without the BSB being nearby). Skaven General (3 wounds) and 3 rats were blitzed and combined with static res of 3 (rank, standard, battle standard) and ignoring the Skaven outnumbering they botched the break test and were run down.

We totally up and it was a draw (179VP difference) which I suppose given my ineptitude was quite pleasing. I think I'll ask Antony if I can borrow his Brettonians - I can make Dave's work for me (they obviously work for him so it can't be a bad army - just a bad player!) but what I really want (and haven't used in Fantasy yet) is a nice big flying Terror-causing beastie. Antony has just the thing (boss on Hippo). Having had a taste of the flying charge (Pegs and Peg-mounted hero) I'd be keen to explore this area further. My one remaining Peg Knight (after the somewhat disastrous charge into the Censer Bearers which killed off two) went on to charge and run down the Warp Lightning Cannon and Warpfire Thrower - ended up overrunning into the flank of a Slave block and bit off more static res than he could chew).

Anyway, despite my initial misgivings I think I'll be sticking with the horsey-lads for a while yet. They are clearly an army to be feared and respected - if they can get the charge :)