"May the army with the most legs win" - final FluffyCon playtest game

Or words to that effect is Derick's traditional "good luck" to his opponent when using his Spider Riders :)


Well, this post sees the last in a surprisingly long (and fruitful) series of game playtesting my recently acquired Empire army for the FluffyCon tournament to be held in Auckland in 3 weeks. This will likely be my last post for a similar amount of time as I'm back to work (and working my butt off) which means no more night games, no weekend time... no life. Hopefully the investment I've made in game terms reaps a decent reward at the tournament but essentially, win or lose, I've enjoyed the fluffy games immensely and I get the feeling the majority of my opponents have too. It's inspired me, in my look at a 2250pt Empire force to use at other tournaments this year (and early next year... DogCon 2010 has now become the long-term goal), to try hard to keep with a fluffy feel.

Anyway, the game...


Key to this battle was a house/building almost in the middle of the table. This made each of us divide our armies (not usually a great thing). In the opening turns thanks to some awesome dice skills (which blew away half of Derick's army and almost Derick himself) I quickly knocked out 2 Spider units and a unit of Squig/Spider Hoppers on my right. Derick generously self-destructed the Doom Diver and this resulted in my 5 Knights with Great Weapons facing down a Gobbo Spider Chariot and a Giant (spider of course). The Giant was exactly where I wanted him, deployed on the flank to hide from the Cannon. What really impressed me was that the Gobbo Chariot eventually charged the Knights (as predicted), only killed one (not as predicted), took a wound in return and broke (most unpredictable!). The Knights (taking advantage of not having to takea Terror test) overran into the Giant. They managed to take a wound of it before getting smashed. The surviving Knights fled the table.

The Flagellents, posted roughly on the same flank as the Giant managed to charge it as it ambled around a forest (still avoiding the cannon although the crew fled from a failed Terror test and over 3 turns never managed to rally). Killing off their mates the Flagellents (rerolling hits and wounds) dialled up enough wounds to kill the Giant in one round of combat and the good luck continued as he fell backwards, landing harmlessly (for me) on the nearby forest.

The Spearmen stuffed around trying to decide whether to take the building on the left or the right. The left was getting mighty crowded with the Swordsmen, various detachments and the Reiksguard Knights all looking for some action.

Play of the game was the Warrior Priest marching out to stand in front of the Orc General's unit of Savage Orc Boar Boyz. A pretty stupid idea until you consider that a) they had to charge him and, b) fleeing from their centre would force the Boar Boyz to hit the building with almost 1/2 their unit thereby stopping them from getting involved in the game for at least a couple of turns. The Warrior Priest was one lucky/unlucky SOB though - a Mortar shot at the Boar Boyz deviated right onto his head. Fortunately he only took one wound as a result and managed to heal this back later in the game. That was close!

Oversight of the game was that this still allowed two characters to get slungshot out into the Swordsmen. Runner-up for oversight of the game was getting all four of my characters within 12" of the Orc General with Shaggas. EIGHT strength EIGHT attacks later and my General was but ribbons of flesh on the floor. Incredibly (thanks to a Spear detachment counter-charge) I won the combat but both Orcs held easily. Even more incredibly I won combat again in the next round and both Orc characters rolled a double 6 and broke. The General escaped (for now...) but the other Orc Hero ran right into the Reiksguard Knights...

While this little drama was going on, despite attempting to divert me with a highly annoying surviving Spider Rider the Reiksguard (sans Priest and therefore a little less confident) charged into the Savage Orc Boar Boy Big 'Uns (cripes what a mouthful!). They did well, winning the combat for a couple of rounds. After some great shooting the "hit the house" Boar Boyz were reduced to two models and were able to flank charge them. Magical rerolls and my sudden inability to pass armour saves resulted in the unit evaporating. By this point I had several units nice and close (the Swordsmen and their Spear detachment chasing after the aforementioned Orc characters, some Free Company, the Huntsmen who had taken up residence in the building, the Wizard...). Everybody passed their Panic checks (amazing!) except the Free Company. A messy and very short (and brutal combat) ensued as the Swordsmen got up close and personal with the enemy. Unfortunately the combat was extremely unsuccessful and everyone flippin broke and ran. The Swordsmen were run down and the Spear detachment ran into the building (splat!).

The Orc General failed to rally and 11 hits from a Conflagaration of Doom sorted him out nicely before he had the chance to try again.

By this time (jumping around a bit now, sorry) I'd moved the Pistoliers from the extreme right flank to the extreme left flank and having taken care of a unit of Spider Riders on the way over they not only dealt with the two surviving Boar Boyz who had hit the Knight's flank but also a Gobbo riding his Giant Spider.

A nice fat Conflagaration finished the L4 Orc Shaman off in a most fitting (and fiery) manner and at the end of the game Derick was left with 2 bases of Snotling hiding in a wood in his deployment zone.


So what was the wash up?

I lost: General, Swordsmen, both units of Knights, all the detachments except the Handgunners and the Cannon. I had 3 quarters but thanks to better shooting than combat ability had no enemy standards. Killed an enemy Lord, three Heroes and (obviously) the enemy general.

Derick didn't lose (sorry mate): the Snotlings (contesting a quarter). He's also killed off my General.


VPs for Dave - 1960 (enemy losses) + 300 (character killing bonuses) + 300 (table quarters) = 2560VPs

VPs for Derick - 826 (enemy losses) + 140 (character killing bonuses) = 966VPs


A difference of 1594 = 17-3 win for the men of the Empire! (woot!)


Derick had some (very) poor luck with magic that contrasted with my excellent luck in magic and highly focused shooting (thanks for Lesson Four Trent!). I think I outdeployed him and was especially pleased with the luring of the Boar Boyz. Don't feel too sorry for old Derick though. Earlier that afternoon he smashed a cheesed up Orcs and Goblines (replete with dodgy calls and "tactics") with the fluffy Spiders - the army certainly has the goods!

And there it is - the end of an extensive series. Hopefully I've learnt something from all of this (and the lesson is not that I'd be better off using Dark Elves) and can get some exciting games at FluffyCon. The event itself is shaping up to be a cracker with a good sized field, some new players, and (I suspect) some quite radical armies.


Cheers for reading. In the interim feel free to read over older posts but check back again soon... I don't think I'll be able to wait till post-Fluffy to add to the blog especially now that I'm toying with lists for a 2250pt Empire list.