Ok, I've been out of blogging for a wee while - just been struggling along with being on holiday. Tough life ain't it? :)
Anyways, finally got around to writing up a few reports from NatCon at Easter - superb tournament; great time. Only managed to finish 3 of the 8 rounds so far as I left my army list handout with my own army list/book/stuff in Reid's car and haven't managed to get it off him yet so the first 3 I've done from (hazy) memory. Hopefully the remaining 5 battles (all of them great) will be up over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to those who have been patiently waiting for an update and not kicked my ass over the lack of activity :)
On with the show...
Darren had a beautifully modeled and painted Dark Elf army and it was a real treat to face not only a fantastic battlefield force but also a wonderful guy and solid player – what great start to the tournament! A couple of models really stood out – the “Lolth-esque” Cauldron of Blood (giant spider-chick spewing blood – lovely) drew a huge number of positive comments throughout the weekend and I thought his General on Dark Steed (with converted antlers/horns) was brilliant. A superb aqua poppin-fresh paint job set the whole army off nicely and I have no doubt the force gained him not a few "Best Presentation" votes in the beauty pageant.
The list itself was by degrees both standard fare for Darkies and a little different. Hydra – tick. Two bolt throwers – tick. Black Guard – tick. Spearmen – tick. Dark Riders – tick. Two unit of Harpies – tick. There were however some interesting absences.
Master (General) – Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Dark Steed, Shield, Sword of Might, Ring of Hotek
Sorceress – 2 x Dispel Scrolls
Death Hag (BSB) – Standard of Hag Graef, Cauldron of Blood, Hand of Khaine
Assassin – Extra hand weapon, Hand of Khaine
Reaper Bolt Thrower
Reaper Bolt Thrower
War Hydra
17 Black Guard – Full command, Crimson Death (champion), Banner of Murder
5 Shades – Great weapons
6 Cold One Knights
5 Harpies
5 Harpies
5 Dark Riders – Musician
10 RXB Warriors – Musician, Shields
10 RXB Warriors – Musician, Shields
21 Warriors – Full command, Shields, Warbanner
This game and my 7th round against Ken Hays were the two best games of the tournament – it was a close battle from the word go and more than on stalemate situation developed. On my right 10 RXB Warriors held the Knights with Great Weapons in check (win for me keeping that amount of shooting out of the game). The ninjas-in-training (Archers) were far and away the men of the match – a heroic charge through difficult terrain saw them beat Harpies in combat (which surprised both of us!). Now deep in Dark Elf territory they did a sterling job of march-blocking the Spearmen, chipping away at them with bow shots. When the Dark Riders finally showed their noses the Archers were there again eventually helping to route them with the help of the Wizard and his magic missiles. The DE Spearmen were eventually tagged in combat by the Swordsmen and Arch-Lector and soundly beaten but managed to escape and rally on their board edge (curses!).
On the much more dubious left flank the Reiksguard Knights wondered why I had singled them out for guaranteed destruction at the hands of the Hydra and his Shade buddies. The wuss Knights put up a hopeless fight trying to stall the big beastie’s advance and were cut down in short order. Fortunately they died slowly enough to keep the Hydra out of the game for a crucial extra turn and incredibly it was eventually broken in a later combat in Darren’s last turn – unable to rally I secured myself a relatively painful 175VPs.
In the centre, with the realization that Darren’s General had neglected to take advantage of the 2-for-1 Pendant sales that Dark Elf Lords so often frequent the Cannons were having a field day trying to pin him down. His last mistake was to join an under-strength unit of Cold One Kngihts. Bereft of a “Look Out, Sir!” roll he found himself on the wrong end of a cannonball. 6 wounds later he found his last employ as battlefield decoration, strewn liberally across the field. Having received a firsthand demonstration of the dangers of running around in a unit with worrying lack of rank-and-file models the Hag BSB manning the Cauldron caught a cannonball in the chops in the next turn.
With Darren’s Sorceress clocking up the dreaded ‘double one’ on the miscast table he managed to finish the game without allowing any of his characters to survive.
The clever play of the game however belonged to Darren in the centre. I was largely miffed about the presence of the Cauldron but somewhat confused that it had been taken in an army bereft of Khainite troops to take advantage of it’s Stubborn-causing abilities. I needn’t have worried because at the most inopportune moment as Assassin popped out of the Black Guard unit in a head.ong charge towards the Flagellens. He missed by an inch but the Frenzied twits were forced to charge him in the next turn. Not only did he strike first with a bazillion attacks (7) but the little sod, being Khainite and all, was of course Stubborn thanks to the Cauldron (one accursed crew-member left at this point). Stubborn on 10, BSB or not, is one annoying pain in the ass. It did however mean that the exceedingly keen Hydra who got stuck into the Flagellents was pinned in place so that the Spearmen, having smacked through the last two Cold One Knights were there to watch it run off in the last turn.
The result of this tight little scuffle was a 12-8 win to me with a bonus pont gained for nabbing the enemy general.
The Cannons had a ripper game (they eventually both went down to the same Harpy unit – the surviving two Harpies doing for the second Cannon) and I knew I’d pay for their accuracy with some serious karma in a later game in the weekend.
Darren was an excellent opponent – looking forward to this game was well-justified and I hope we are lucky enough to draw each other for a rematch at another tournament this year. A worthy recipient of a grudge match if ever there was one!
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