Auckland will be awash with gore and spare body parts come late-September!
I'm running a Fantasy tournament as part of the annual City Guard "GuardCon" gaming convention called Fields of Blood. Looks like it's going to be a real ripper of an event with substantial player attendance forecast - looks to not only be the biggest Fantasy event on the gaming calendar but also potentially the biggest Fantasy tournament that NZ has ever had!
26th and 27th September at Takapuna Grammar School here in Auckland. If you haven't requested a registration and player's pack let me know. Flick an email through to:
fieldsofblood2009@gmail.com
2250pts, 6 rounds, fully painted armies only, tiered 8-judge panel composition system.
Check out http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73641 for updates.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Experiences using Daemons and VCs
Continuing with my habit of "borrowing" other people's armies I caught up with NZs own Skeletor - Glen Tibbles - for a couple of games using one of Reid's Daemons lists. Despite losing a big unit of Plaguebearers and Nurgle Herald to an horrific charge by a unit of Blood Knights with Hellfire Banner I came away with a comfortable win with just the VC General surviving the engagement. The night was young so Skellie cranked out more Skellies - this time the accursed Tomb Kings. Was sweating it as usual against TKs, losing a unit of Fiends to a chariot charge before a unit of Flesh Hounds at some Skeleton Archers and the Tomb King himself thank to some impressive ward-saving (and some poor luck on Glen's part). A short while later they were munching through the rest of the army and he had no answer to that or the Plaguebearers regenning the Chariot's attacks, or the Flamers barbecuing whatever they touched. Or the Bloodletters tearing the Bone Giant a new one. Brutal game.
Then I grabbed Ray's Daemons that he's using for Tin Soldiers. Ray and I had a already had a couple of games - one where he'd massacred a Warriors of Chaos list I'd thrown together (now there's an army book you need to practice with!) and one where I'd beaten him down with the dirty Runefang Dark Elf list. Thought I fancied my chances using the Daemons against Pommy Dave's Tin Soldier list (the High Elves masquerading as Wood Elves thing). Boy how wrong was I! Butchered pretty badly, only the Plaguebearers surived that little encounter! What really caught me was the lack of cheap redirectors and chasing units in Ray's list. I'd be a fan of having a couple of solo Fiends for those two jobs.
Next on the list of things to do was play Ray's Tin Soldier 2 Daemons using Reid's TS2 VCs - not a good matchup for the Vampires in this particular instance. Despite the bad matchup the Vampires walked away with a solid victory - the Daemons being left with 1 and 1/2 Flesh Hound (that's models, not units) in the end. What really made the game was a fresh and rather enormous unit of Zombies springing up which not only trapped some Flesh Hounds in combat but got right in the way of the Nurgle block who couldn't get into the action quick enough. By the time they touched something (Grave Guard) they were surrounded and the combat ended with Hellfire Banner Black Knights in the side, Ghouls in the rear and Grave Guard (and VC General in the front). Plaguebearers lost by 9 or so at one point and poof! Gone burger.
Last night it was decided Reid had better get a least one game in with his army before TS2 so he threw down against those damn dirty Dark Elves again. The Darkies put in a sterling effort and considerable overtime and the VCs were left with the Grave Guard and annoyingly unkillable Black Knights (and a BIG unit of raised Zombies). I'd lost the Black Guard and some Crossbowmen but looked on the board like a 15-5 win or thereabouts. This is all excellent stuff as I move closer to building/having/fielding my ownVC army later this year in preparation for DogCon 2010. Beating Reid is always pretty sweet too - once in a blue moon type stuff for me and a victory to savour :) I think he's got me 3-2 at the moment and one of those wins to me was sheer dumb luck (Empire vs Orcs - an unrecorded FluffyCon practice game where he failed a ld9 test in the last turn and a bunch of stuff ran off; basically I was on the ropes big time and the dice turned it around).
Then I grabbed Ray's Daemons that he's using for Tin Soldiers. Ray and I had a already had a couple of games - one where he'd massacred a Warriors of Chaos list I'd thrown together (now there's an army book you need to practice with!) and one where I'd beaten him down with the dirty Runefang Dark Elf list. Thought I fancied my chances using the Daemons against Pommy Dave's Tin Soldier list (the High Elves masquerading as Wood Elves thing). Boy how wrong was I! Butchered pretty badly, only the Plaguebearers surived that little encounter! What really caught me was the lack of cheap redirectors and chasing units in Ray's list. I'd be a fan of having a couple of solo Fiends for those two jobs.
Next on the list of things to do was play Ray's Tin Soldier 2 Daemons using Reid's TS2 VCs - not a good matchup for the Vampires in this particular instance. Despite the bad matchup the Vampires walked away with a solid victory - the Daemons being left with 1 and 1/2 Flesh Hound (that's models, not units) in the end. What really made the game was a fresh and rather enormous unit of Zombies springing up which not only trapped some Flesh Hounds in combat but got right in the way of the Nurgle block who couldn't get into the action quick enough. By the time they touched something (Grave Guard) they were surrounded and the combat ended with Hellfire Banner Black Knights in the side, Ghouls in the rear and Grave Guard (and VC General in the front). Plaguebearers lost by 9 or so at one point and poof! Gone burger.
Last night it was decided Reid had better get a least one game in with his army before TS2 so he threw down against those damn dirty Dark Elves again. The Darkies put in a sterling effort and considerable overtime and the VCs were left with the Grave Guard and annoyingly unkillable Black Knights (and a BIG unit of raised Zombies). I'd lost the Black Guard and some Crossbowmen but looked on the board like a 15-5 win or thereabouts. This is all excellent stuff as I move closer to building/having/fielding my ownVC army later this year in preparation for DogCon 2010. Beating Reid is always pretty sweet too - once in a blue moon type stuff for me and a victory to savour :) I think he's got me 3-2 at the moment and one of those wins to me was sheer dumb luck (Empire vs Orcs - an unrecorded FluffyCon practice game where he failed a ld9 test in the last turn and a bunch of stuff ran off; basically I was on the ropes big time and the dice turned it around).
The Runefang Files - Blogspot ate my Fecking Posts!!!
So I haven't been back for a while but had posted up reports of my games at Runefang 2. Thought I'd see if anyone's been reading the blog and left any comments. Lo and behold my posts for the other 4 games (!) have disappeared! What the hell?!
Had a little cry and decided I couldn't be assed rewriting the uber-essays that were the round 2-5 reports so here are the summaries (which hopefully stick to the site and don't randomly wander off into internetial oblivion).
Round 2 - Vampire Counts
Tough list with 2 Skellies block, big Grave Guard unit, 2 units of Zombies, 2 Corpse Carts, Wraiths with Banshee, big unit of Wolves. Drakenhof on BSB meant Grave Guard weren't going anywhere, Forbidden Lore on Vamp General meant magical fun times and an ethereal Vamp in the Wraith unit meant they had the potential to be quite a handful.
Cleaned up the Wolves first. Shot down one Zombie unit before charging it with Dark Riders and finishing it off easily (they had a banner so it was quite the bargain). Shot a Skellie unit to pieces and managed to shoot down a Corpse Cart. Manticore spent the game chasing around the Wraiths who feared the 5 str7 attacks I'd be inflicting in a challenge with either the Vamp or the Banshee. Black Guard discovered how hard the glass ceiling is - taking on the regenning Grave Guard was only going to end one way. Was a bit hacked off at my stupidity in this regard - should have bailed the BSB from the unit and hidden in a nearby forest or just led the Grave Guard around by the nose. Hydra and Spear block did for the other Zombie unit (and another banner). Last turn lost the Hydra to a barrage of fire magic from the VC General which was highly annoying (he just managed to kill it) but not before it had eaten the other Corpse Cart. Vampires were left with the unkillable Grave Guard bunkering the Lord and BSB and a unit of Skeletons. 12-8 win to me.
Round 3 - Anvil Dwarfs
2 units of Quarellers, Organ Gun, Rune of Forging Cannon, big Hammerers, little Hammerers, big Longbeards and a couple of small Warrior units and of course the fecking Anvil or Stupid Doom. Blew through some Warriors and the little Hammerer unit and the Back Guard buried themselves in the big Hammerer unit for most of the game, eventually killing them all off and chasing down the Dwarf BSB. Hyrda Terrored off the Longbeards and ended up eating them in a later combat. Useless DE General got stuck into the Runelord and after 4 rounds of combat managed not only to NOT kill him but also lose the Manticore and break. My last turn he fails to rally. Dwarf's last turn the powered up Anvil kills the remaining Black Guard (BSB left alive on one wound!), the Hydra (gah!) and a unit of Dark Riders. Ass. 12-8 win which could (should) have been a sweet sweet victory (had the Runelord died when he was supposed to it would have been in the bag I reckon... probably looking at an 18-2 win).
Round 4 - Lizards
Very nice and well-balanced Lizardmen list from Greg Rae who is just getting into Fantasy - good player and a very enjoyable game. Engine, Slann, 2 units of Terradons, lots of skirmishing Skinks, two one-Salamander units, 2 Krox units, 2 Saurus Spear units, Jag Charm Scar-Vet. Nice list but didn't help convince me Lizards should be in tier 4 :) Close game with some cagey play from Greg, lots of fleeing from charges. Good ol' three-dice leadership tests were awesome - reminded me why I enjoyed playing with Lizards so much. Made a big mistake with the Cow, charging the Engine (trying to kill the Priest). Fluffed big time and was fortunate to hold for ages after Saurus charged me in the flank but eventually broke and run down. Game kinda petered out a little in the end but otherwise very very good fun and probably the most enjoyable game of the weekend. 11-9 loss.
Round 5 - Dwarfs
Fast becoming NOT a fan of playing Dwarfs. This one had a Flame Cannon and Organ Gun, 2 units of Quarrellers, big blocks of Slayers, Hammerers and Ironbreakers, Shieldbearer Lord, BSB, Runesmith in a block of Warriors, Miners. Felt a bit sorry for my opponent as a dismembered a unit in each turn. Highlight was a combo charge against the Ironbreakers - Spearmen in the front, Black Guard in the flank, Cow in the rear. Won by 11 and ran them down with Black Guard hitting 5 surviving Slayers (after shooting casualties), Cow flew off the table, and Spears pursued ready to come around and hit Quarrellers later in the flank. Only thing left in the end was the Hammerers and Lord (was never going to try that one on) and 2 Miners. If the Miners had broken to the last charge it would have been 20-0. As it was happy to finish with a 19-1 win.
30% + tier 2 + hardass army meant I got absolutely comp-hammered out of any kind of contention. Maths was right though - a 15-5 win average would have seen me just about podium. As it was placed 24th out of 32 (?) players.
Was VERY flattered to receive Best Sportsmanship with 4 of my 5 opponents voting me their favourite player. This is an amazing award to get in a tournament as it is essentially the only element of the event judged by the participants themselves. Very very cool and very pleased to receive it. Nice to see an example of a bastard army not spoiling sports scores which is a theory put out by some people after recent events.
Overall had a helluva good time. Met some wonderful people down in Wellington and even the skin-heads (Hagen et al) managed to impress. HUGE thanks to Pete Dunn who put myself, Nick Irvine and Neil Williamson up in the palatial mansion that is Che Pete - very cool place. Kudos to the winners of the event - a great bunch of guys and I'd very much like to get down that way again in the future.
Had a little cry and decided I couldn't be assed rewriting the uber-essays that were the round 2-5 reports so here are the summaries (which hopefully stick to the site and don't randomly wander off into internetial oblivion).
Round 2 - Vampire Counts
Tough list with 2 Skellies block, big Grave Guard unit, 2 units of Zombies, 2 Corpse Carts, Wraiths with Banshee, big unit of Wolves. Drakenhof on BSB meant Grave Guard weren't going anywhere, Forbidden Lore on Vamp General meant magical fun times and an ethereal Vamp in the Wraith unit meant they had the potential to be quite a handful.
Cleaned up the Wolves first. Shot down one Zombie unit before charging it with Dark Riders and finishing it off easily (they had a banner so it was quite the bargain). Shot a Skellie unit to pieces and managed to shoot down a Corpse Cart. Manticore spent the game chasing around the Wraiths who feared the 5 str7 attacks I'd be inflicting in a challenge with either the Vamp or the Banshee. Black Guard discovered how hard the glass ceiling is - taking on the regenning Grave Guard was only going to end one way. Was a bit hacked off at my stupidity in this regard - should have bailed the BSB from the unit and hidden in a nearby forest or just led the Grave Guard around by the nose. Hydra and Spear block did for the other Zombie unit (and another banner). Last turn lost the Hydra to a barrage of fire magic from the VC General which was highly annoying (he just managed to kill it) but not before it had eaten the other Corpse Cart. Vampires were left with the unkillable Grave Guard bunkering the Lord and BSB and a unit of Skeletons. 12-8 win to me.
Round 3 - Anvil Dwarfs
2 units of Quarellers, Organ Gun, Rune of Forging Cannon, big Hammerers, little Hammerers, big Longbeards and a couple of small Warrior units and of course the fecking Anvil or Stupid Doom. Blew through some Warriors and the little Hammerer unit and the Back Guard buried themselves in the big Hammerer unit for most of the game, eventually killing them all off and chasing down the Dwarf BSB. Hyrda Terrored off the Longbeards and ended up eating them in a later combat. Useless DE General got stuck into the Runelord and after 4 rounds of combat managed not only to NOT kill him but also lose the Manticore and break. My last turn he fails to rally. Dwarf's last turn the powered up Anvil kills the remaining Black Guard (BSB left alive on one wound!), the Hydra (gah!) and a unit of Dark Riders. Ass. 12-8 win which could (should) have been a sweet sweet victory (had the Runelord died when he was supposed to it would have been in the bag I reckon... probably looking at an 18-2 win).
Round 4 - Lizards
Very nice and well-balanced Lizardmen list from Greg Rae who is just getting into Fantasy - good player and a very enjoyable game. Engine, Slann, 2 units of Terradons, lots of skirmishing Skinks, two one-Salamander units, 2 Krox units, 2 Saurus Spear units, Jag Charm Scar-Vet. Nice list but didn't help convince me Lizards should be in tier 4 :) Close game with some cagey play from Greg, lots of fleeing from charges. Good ol' three-dice leadership tests were awesome - reminded me why I enjoyed playing with Lizards so much. Made a big mistake with the Cow, charging the Engine (trying to kill the Priest). Fluffed big time and was fortunate to hold for ages after Saurus charged me in the flank but eventually broke and run down. Game kinda petered out a little in the end but otherwise very very good fun and probably the most enjoyable game of the weekend. 11-9 loss.
Round 5 - Dwarfs
Fast becoming NOT a fan of playing Dwarfs. This one had a Flame Cannon and Organ Gun, 2 units of Quarrellers, big blocks of Slayers, Hammerers and Ironbreakers, Shieldbearer Lord, BSB, Runesmith in a block of Warriors, Miners. Felt a bit sorry for my opponent as a dismembered a unit in each turn. Highlight was a combo charge against the Ironbreakers - Spearmen in the front, Black Guard in the flank, Cow in the rear. Won by 11 and ran them down with Black Guard hitting 5 surviving Slayers (after shooting casualties), Cow flew off the table, and Spears pursued ready to come around and hit Quarrellers later in the flank. Only thing left in the end was the Hammerers and Lord (was never going to try that one on) and 2 Miners. If the Miners had broken to the last charge it would have been 20-0. As it was happy to finish with a 19-1 win.
30% + tier 2 + hardass army meant I got absolutely comp-hammered out of any kind of contention. Maths was right though - a 15-5 win average would have seen me just about podium. As it was placed 24th out of 32 (?) players.
Was VERY flattered to receive Best Sportsmanship with 4 of my 5 opponents voting me their favourite player. This is an amazing award to get in a tournament as it is essentially the only element of the event judged by the participants themselves. Very very cool and very pleased to receive it. Nice to see an example of a bastard army not spoiling sports scores which is a theory put out by some people after recent events.
Overall had a helluva good time. Met some wonderful people down in Wellington and even the skin-heads (Hagen et al) managed to impress. HUGE thanks to Pete Dunn who put myself, Nick Irvine and Neil Williamson up in the palatial mansion that is Che Pete - very cool place. Kudos to the winners of the event - a great bunch of guys and I'd very much like to get down that way again in the future.
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