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.
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