Had a hilarious game against Derick's Orcs and Goblins "Spider Rider Army" last night. Games against Derick are always entertaining (even when he's using Kitson's Brets) - he's a great sport (as you shortly see), takes risks and most importantly is focused on getting a positive gaming experience happening for both players as opposed to winning at all costs. This is really important because I find that the attitude of the other player has a substantial effect on my attitude towards the game.
Derick's a top bloke for sure and I always look forward to our games.
I've played his O&Gs a couple of times with Dwarfs and smashed them up twice so was fairly confident going into this one. I'm still using my Tin Soldiers list (but starting to eye up a unit of Ironbreakers... would that I had them for this game). Derick simply grabbed a list at random from a selection he's created - turns out this particular list was the one he took down to Runefang in Wellington earlier in the year. This was something like - 3 x 7 spider riders, 3(?) x 6 spider riders, 2 x SO Boar Boyz, 1 x SO Boar Boy Big 'Uns, L4 SO Shaman on boar, gobbo boss on giant spider, couple of SO bosses on boars, 2 x 2 snotling bases, giant. It's a lot to face down but most of it (the spider riders for example) are soft targets and a bit hopeless in combat (especially against Dwarfs - even if you remember Hatred - we forgot it most rounds :p). In the past I've been able to wittle down the boar boyz (who are all Immune to Psych so have to be killed off completely) and take down the giant, meaning that the spiders riders are bereft of the hard hitters required to cause the wounds that might capitalise on them getting a flank charge. Even with a flank charge the spider riders bounce off pretty much everything bigger than a warmachine crew (certainly against the big blocks it's a fruitless task).
Anyway...
The BIG hindrance when playing with O&Gs is the ridiculously crippling effect of Animosity. That said, if you have good rolls with this (i.e. no 1s or a lot of 6s for the extra movement) they can actually be quite dangerous. Case in point, Derick deployed with a refused center (strong flanks, nothing in the middle) and his right flank force (which was virtually unopposed once my Organ Gun misfired at just the wrong time and couldn't fire for a couple of turns) only failed ONE animosity test in the whole game and by that time it was far too late to save my poor stunties from being overwhelmed.
Instead of doing a turn by turn I'll highlight a few of the many amusing episodes that occured:
Turn 1 O&G magic phase. L4 gets a Dwarf Warrior with Gaze. Then his head "disintegrates in an explosive flash of green Waagh energy" attempting to cast Gork's Warpath. Scratch 330 points right there.
Fortunately Karma balanced out when my Hammerers were charged in the flank by SO Boar Boyz in turn 6. Two contacted (blocked by spiders, long story...), killed the 2 they could hit, Hammerers lost by 1. "Stubborn on 9", I say. Famous last words - double 6. "Not to worry, reroll from the BSB", I say confidently. Famous last words - 5 and 6=11. Hammerers cut down giving Derick 335 points and the banner. Fortunately the BSB had solo charged some nearby Spiders in the previous turn and wasn't cut down two. Bizarrely my Dwarf Lord had also abandoned the Hammerers early to solo charge the Orc General (smashed him) and then later joined the Longebeards. So I guess it could have been a LOT worse. My how we laughed though when the Hammerers twice failed their break check. Not the first time I've lost them but certainly proving stubborn on a 9 isn't the be all and end all. Might be time to buy some Slayers :)
Warmachine fire. Sigh... TWICE the cannon overhot one unit but stopped short of a second (short bounce). One shot misfired and stuck in the ground. The highlights of the warmachine shooting was being bang on in turn 3 against the giant (3 wounds from the cannon, 5 wounds from the grudgethower) who promptly died and fell on some nearby Spider Riders (killing 3), and vaping a unit of SO Boar Boyz with the Organ Gun (although the accompanying Boss survived and went on to smash up the Gyro - poor placement, my fault).
The end result? A draw 110pts in Derick's favour. Had the Shaman not self-immolated it would have been a minor victory. Had the hammerers not chickened out it would have been 300 in my favour. So, can't really complain about the result and, as I've found with all my Fantasy games, I much prefer a close game or a draw that is hard-fought as opposed to a massacre to either opponent. So so unlike 40k.
I love it!
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