WHFB – Dwarves vs Luke’s WoC – part 1 – lists and thoughts.

With the completion of my KOW group games and the new edition of 40k not out until June, I thought i’d try and get in a few games of whfb.

Like me, Luke was a former player who took a break (you can see from the pictures in this post that his figures are very much oldhammer and I love his banners) and came back to warhammer late in the day so both of us are still very much into 8th ed. As such I proposed a series of games against him and having multiple armies I asked him what he had never played in 8th. Of the one’s easily to hand, it was Dwarves and Wood Elves. In order to give him a competitive game I said i’d bring Dwarves to start with and then later on i’d give wood elves a go (and offered him the use of any of my armies for the evening, if he wanted to try something else). Having decided the race, I then offered him the choice of what sort of army he wanted to face: Full gunline, all melee or combined arms. He wanted to try a bit of everything for the first game (and as we were playing a series of games, I could bring something different next time). So with that said (and after some good advice from the EEFL forum – which of course I then mainly ignored ;p), I decided on the following list:

The Throng of Karak Silvertop

Characters – 658pts

Knoffles Silvertop – (General) Lord – Shieldbearers + GW + Ro Fortitude + 2 * Ro Iron – 271pts

Drugin Silvertop – (BSB) Thane – MRo Gromril + GW – 126pts

Harek Silvertop – Runesmith – Ro Stone + Ro Spellbreaking + Shield – 93pts

Barlin Silvertop – Runesmith – Ro Stone + Ro Spellbreaking + Ro Furnace + Shield – 98pts

Burrnoth Strongarm – Master Engineer – 70pts

Core – 626pts

Quarrellers (14) – Standard + GW – 205pts

Dwarf Warriors (39) – FC + GW – 420pts

Special – 749pts

Hammerers (36) – Musician + Standard + Ro Valaya – 589pts

Gyrocoptor – 80pts

Gyrocoptor – 80pts

Rare – 465pts

Irondrakes (17) – FC + Brace of Drakeguns + Ro Slowness – 320pts

Organ gun – Ro Accuracy – 145pts

List thoughts

Though there are elements of what i would normally include the build is somewhat different in order to give Luke a flavor of different dwarf options.

Although I love the model and this is my preferred build if I take him, I would not normally take a dwarf lord, if only because for the points I could fit in another unit! He is however great fun and is the head of Karak Silvertop so for fluff I love taking him in lists (and he is amazingly tanky and it will give Luke a chance to play against him). This build gives him a 2+ armour save, 4 str 6 attacks (and 2 str 4 attacks) and a toughness of 7 with 6 wounds. Almost monster stats, all in someone that still maintains the lookout sir rule!

The two Runesmiths are often staples and with the BSB are known to Dwarf players as the holy trinity. I’ve kept them as bare minimum build so they have a 2+ save and a ‘dispel rune’ each.

I’ve gone for a BSB build I don’t normally take as I wanted to try it out. I have been taking the MRo Grungni because as standard, that gives him a 4+ ward (with a 3+ armour save) and a 5+ ward vs shooting for anything within 6″. I found that this was quite situational so decided to keep him cheap and quite hitty with a 1+ armour save and great weapon. I did toy with giving him a Ro Iron to add another wound but taking more characters than normal meant I tried to keep loadouts at a minimum.

The Master Engineer I would normally give a BoP and Ro Stone but again with points restrictions he is being fielded as standard. I nearly dropped him but with only 1 warmachine in the list, I wanted to maximise it’s potential and use him as a guard.

I’ve fielded shield beards as an anvil recently (mainly as the models were painted) with mixed success, however I decided their defensiveness wasn’t good enough and neither was the damage output. I have found that 8th seems to be more about damage output and so this left me with a dilemma. Having decided I wanted to take a horde, did I take a horde of GW longbeards (this comes to almost 625 on the nose), Warriors or Quarrellers. In the end I went with GW warriors as I have previously taken a horde of Quarrellers (so wanted to try something different) and also it allowed me to include a small unit of quarrellers anyway to make up the core tax and to counter any chaff. It’s worth noting that due to the poor initiative of dwarves, taking great weapons doesn’t really impact them as you normally strike last anyway.

I produced a gzillion lists in the run up to the game (it’s one of the elements that is head and shoulder above KOW) but decided that I wanted to bring a horde of hammerers. The potential damage output of this unit is obscene with 40 str 6 attacks (or str 7 if you charge). I’ve given them the magic banner with Ro Valaya so that, as standard, I am always dispelling on a +4 (or as a lvl 4 wizard lord equivalent). It also allows any remains in play spells to be dispelled on a 3+ each turn. This combined with the 2 channel attempts and 2 dispel runes means it should help to tie down the magic phase.

2 Gyro’s round out the special choices as they are fantastic chaff and the 2 flame templates will mince large low toughness units.

As i’ve stated before, Irondrakes are one of my favorite units and work as both an anvil and highly effective shooting unit (especially with the Ro Slowness). This is one of the reasons I will now rarely take shield dwarves.

The final element of the army is my single warmachine, an organ gun. It has a single Ro Accuracy, which when combined with the Engineer will give it a standard 2+ to hit, or 3+ at long range (15-30″). Added to the ME artillery dice reroll ability should make this pretty effective (assuming I roll well on the 2 art’ dice and it isn’t killed in a turn or 2).

I consider this a true dwarf combined arms list rather than a gunline. Yes it does have a number of shooting units and the number may be greater than other armies but for dwarves this is almost a minimum and only one warmachines is practically unheard of! I’m sure i’ll regret not taking a cannon but this list is not about warmachines. I’ll leave them for another day when I don’t take the lord and so have more points to spend.

The hammerer unit will go front and centre with the lord and bsb in it. The Irondrakes will be set up forward and will do their normal retreat each turn to try and maximise their shooting. Their priority will be the trolls. The quarrellers will likely be to one side of the hammerers (or GW dwarves) and will aiming to remove all chaff. If they are attacked, one of the hordes can counter (though with their stand and shoot and GW’s, they should be able to hold their own somewhat).

Luke’s Warriors of Chaos list

Nurgle Daemon Prince – level 4 Lore of nurgle, flight, chaos armour, charmed shield, sword of striking, dragonbane gem, scaled skin, soul feeder, Chaos familiar – 525pts

Exalted hero (bsb) – Disc of tzeentch, halberd, enchanted shield, MoT, tzeentch third eye – 241pts

Throgg – 195pts

5 chaos hounds – 30pts

5 chaos hounds – 30pts

21 Chaos Warriors of Nurgle – FC, MoN, halberd, banner of swiftness – 444pts

5  Chaos trolls – additional hand weapons – 190pts

Marauder horse – champion, standard, javelins, flails – 110pts

Warshrine – MoT – 135pts

Warshrine – MoT – 135pts

Hellcannon – 210pts

3 Skullcrushers – champion, standard, ensorcelled weapons – 254pts

When he sent it through, he said he wanted to try a double shrine list and the only point of the shrine is to maximise the chances of good rolls on the eye of the gods table and it also has a bound spell that allows D3 eligible characters/champs within 12″ to roll on it when cast. This explains the number of unit champions. I’m not sure if two is over kill though.

He also stated that he wanted to try Lore of nurgle rather than death. The lore is a good all round one. There are no terrible spells but it does also lack a killer spell too.  I will need to be careful of curse of the leper, as that spell reduces toughness which is one of my strengths. One of the spells also increases the regen save by +1 which would be filth on the trolls.

He also got caught out on blood and glory in the recent comp and so has ensured banners in every unit.

I’m also not sure if he has taken a prince before. If he has, he must have been quite lucky as 8th is often a cannon heavy meta and it is not well protected against them. As I don’t have one, I will have to contend with a 1+, 5++ (2++ vs fire). Knows 5 spells, channels on a 5+. Flies. Hits everything in my army on a 2+ and is at -1 to hit (so everything in my army hits on a minimum of 5+) and he regains wounds on a 6 in combat. Frankly this is a beast, though is over a fifth of his points in one model so it has to be high on the list to kill. *sigh* where’s my cannon. 

He also included the standard unkillable (although surprising killable) bsb, with a 1+ (3+ in combat), 3++ save (rerolling ward rolls of 1). I do think that the discs have to be the most under-priced mount in the game (well with perhaps the exception of the shieldbearers).

I’ve not faced Throgg before but he will obviously be going in the troll unit which makes that my number one target for the irondrakes. If they get some hits then the organ gun will be tasked with finishing them off (if it is still there, as it’s primary target has to be the prince and Luke has to be thinking that the organ needs to be gotten rid of early).

He has 3 sets of chaff and the quarrellers will be aiming for them asap with priority going to the unit nearest the organ gun (with perhaps the mauraders first if possible of only due to it having a champion).

 The gyros will generally be a nuisance but will primarily try and tie down the hell cannon as that could mince my large blocks.

And with all that said, I decided to post this early and give him a heads up in case he happens to read this before Friday. I’m nice like that.

A trip to the folks and down warhammer memory lane.

I was at my parents for the bank holiday weekend and while down there I finally had time to go through and catalog the Miniatures stored there. I’ll probably cover that further down the road as I took very few pictures (though it included all my Orcs and Goblins, many of which are oldhammer figures), however I did come across a few gems whilst delving in cupboards and boxes.

The first being my copies of the warhammer fantasy battle 3rd edition rule book and army book. These are still some of my favourite GW publications ever. The rule book alone, on almost ever page, contains multiple paintings and drawings, including many by (but not exclusive to) the great john blanche! The only others GW book that comes close to the enjoyment I get flicking through this, was the 40k equivalent of the day.

No wonder the book was so big when so much of it was artwork

The army book, as well as containing every army, also gave sample armies from well known names from back in the day (complete with mullets on many!). It included one of my favourites Kevin ‘Goblin Master’ Adams.

One thing that jumps out is the difference in painting styles on miniatures from them to today. There also seemed to be a preference to varnish everything.

The second ‘gem’ I came across were 2 large boxes of white dwarf magazines and citadel catalogs and at the top was issue 123 which contains one of my favourite ever battle reports (3rd ed. rules between chaos and Orc and goblins). Forget the modern day report with pictures and battle chronicler, it was very much a narrative affair with sketched maps (in the same manner as the report in WD120). If you run across a copy, I recommend giving it a read. 

The third and final ‘gem’ were 34 citadel halfling models and the halfling hotpot. These hail back to when you could still take them in Empire armies. Now I will say straight off the bat that these were bought for my sister and were painted in the main, by her, when she was still in primary school so at some point I will have to dig out the dettol to strip them. 

However, the reason I count these as one of my gems is simply because I love the sculpts. Every one of them is unique and tells it’s own story from the lady armed with just a broom, to the professional militia man, to the peddler, to the multitude eating or drinking. They all have such character and I think they sum up why oldhammer figures are so collectible.



Eighth Edition for Life

Just a quick post today. Although i’ve been playing and enjoying a lot of Kings of War this year, I still have a massive hankering for 8th edition warhammer fantasy.

Many of the dedicated older forums (Herdstone, Asrai etc.) have seen massive reductions in footfall since AoS (although some of the admin said it occurred before then). Most is down to the fall of the old world but in some cases (such as with the oldhammer forum) it was likely due to the creation of a facebook group and most members just post there. Some of the forums have even been taken down for extended periods (which is one of the reasons I started the blog as I retain control over it and my posts will stay up as long as I want…)

A group of the players that still love and play whfb 8th edition have set up a new* forum. It is very active and everyone is really helpful and friendly, so if you still want to post about and discuss 8th ed, I really recommend giving in a visit (I can be found posting under the name Knoffles).

Eighth Edition for Life – http://eefl.freeforums.net/

* ok by new I mean in the last few years though i’ve only just found it.

Evaluation of the Herd of Khazbar the Reborn (KOW)

As normal, now the games are completed i’ll take a look at the list and try and give an evaluation of how I think each element performed and what (if anything) I would change for future games.

I’ll recap my list and then comment.

Herd of Khazbar the Reborn

Khazbar (Shaman) – Heal + Myrddin’s Amulet – 130pts

Wazzock the Renewed (Shaman) – Heal – 120pts

Zhurrock the Mighty (Great Chieftain) – Chariot + Bows + Fire Oil – 205pts

(Brutox) – 220pts

(Brutox) – 220pts

Tribal Spirit Walkers (Horde) – Brew of Strength – 260pts

Longhorns (Regiment) – 145pts

Stampede (Horde) – Brew of Sharpness – 305pts

Guardian Brutes (Horde) – Blessing of the Gods – 255pts

Beast Pack (Troop) – 70pts

Beast Pack (Troop) – 70pts

Evaluation

Shamans. Absolutely fantastic. Heal was a 100% required as an upgrade and I found myself using it more than bane chant. If anything, I need to take an additional shaman but mounted, so they can keep up with the herd when it marches and still heal.

Chieftain on Chariot. I found myself always using him in conjunction with one of the Brutox and they worked really well together. The bows and fire oil upgrades did almost nothing and I probably wouldn’t bother with them going forward. I do feel that to get the most out of him I probably need to give him wine of the elven kind so he has nimble (though this is pricey). The question is whether he is worth the points when another spirit walker horde is only a bit more.

Brutox. I love these models though I’m not convinced on their ability to cause damage (I don’t like the random element of the attacks but the CS 2 is nice). They work well on the flanks and are pretty survivable (if I remember the regenerate!). Being large gribblies, they also have the bonus of drawing an opponents attention to them. I would definitely take one (or two) again.

Tribal Spirit Walkers. One word: amazing. I love this horde. It does suffer from being fragile as anything so it needs supporting with a second horde! The crushing strength item was a good purchase but I only included it as I had points spare.

Longhorns. I struggled to use this unit effectively. I found it too fragile and the lack of attacks compared with other units was really noticeable.

Stampede. Another fantastic unit. The brew of sharpness item really assisted its damage output, though I would be tempted with adding the additional movement item for a cheaper version. This will definitely be a mainstay in future armies.

Guardian Brutes. Again I really like this unit. Defence 5 makes a real difference and giving them elite always helped in attack. I would use them again with no hesitation.

Beast Packs. Fantastic chaff. I do need to learn to use them effectively as I was hit and miss in their application. 2 troops are prerequisites in any list.

Going forward

I need more chaff pure and simple. This realistically means Harpies (gargoyles? I forget the name) as I only own 10 beasts and also have 10 harpies. I could include a troop of hunters (and will try them) but I prefer the increased movement of the flying birdwomen.

As stated above I want a mounted Shaman in the list as it will allow it to keep up with the fast movers.

I fell afoul of large flyers in a number of my games and had nothing comparable with that depth of movement. As such I will also be swopping one of the Brutox for a chimera in order to try it out at some point. This also makes me want to support it with the avatar of the father, as a flying wing (so may mean the other is removed).

Lycans seem to be one of the go to unit selections and I could try them using my Minotaur models but I prefer not to proxy where possible.

So what will I take in my next list? If I use Herd, it will probably be:

Spirit walker horde – 230pts

Spirit walker horde – 230pts

2 * beast packs – 70 * 2 = 140pts

Stampede (blessing of the gods) – 285pts

Guardian brutes – 230pts

2 * shamans (heal) – 120 * 2 = 240pts

Avatar (heal + wings) – 345pts

Chimera (wings) – 210pts

Harpies – 90pts.

Very few items in the list and has a similar number of drops as the comp list.

There is however a good chance I’ll try a different army. I have some elves I’ve been itching to use…

KOW – Herd of Khazbar vs Alex’s Elves – SELWG Competition game

My final game of the group stage was vs Alex Mountain and his Elves. I’ve faced Alex a couple of times before at Warhammer and he can be a canny opponent. He was particularly good at using Chaff in that system, so I was expecting this to carry over to this one.

Alex’s Elf list – 2000pts

Kindred Archer Horde – Brew of Keen Eyedness – 295pts

Kindred Archer Horde – Jar of Four Winds – 285pts. (They may look suspiciously like unpainted 5th edition Bretonnians in the pictures but Alex assured me that yes they were in fact elves, with extra large sunhats on. It was funny but in the course of the game he had to explain this to 4 or 5 others who for some inexplicable reason had come to the same conclusion as me).

Hunters of the Wild Troop – 135pts

Hunters of the Wild Troop – 135pts

Kindred Tallspears Troop – 100pts

Silverbreeze Cavalry Troop – Brew of haste – 160pts

Stormwind Cavalry Troop – Diadem of Dragon-kind – 170pts

Stormwind Cavalry Troop – Potion of the Caterpillar – 160pts

Bolt Thrower – 90pts

Dragon Kindred Lord – Ensorcelled Armour – 345pts (Again this in no way looked the slightest bit like a Zombie Dragon with an undead rider but instead completely resembled a haughty elf riding his noble dragon).

Mounted Mage – Inspiring Talisman – 125pts

As normal I’ll take a look at his units and then try and see if I can guess his deployment.

His entire army has elite, allowing him to re-roll 1’s on the hit roll. This is possibly one of my favourite army wide rules.

Horde of Archers – With 20 attacks, hitting on 4+ and a standard 24″ range, these will project a solid area of denial. One of the units will have a range of 36″ due to the Jar and the other will hit on 3+.  I won’t lie, these do worry me somewhat as if they focus on the same target, they will be deleting units pretty quickly,

Bolt Thrower – I’ve found bolt throwers hit and miss with just 2 attacks. They do have a 48″ range so will be threatening my forces from the first turn. Their piercing is somewhat wasted on my army so overall i’m not too fussed about this unit.

Silverbreeze Cavalry – This is the last of his ranged units and what he would have used as chaff in the previous system. With the brew of haste it would have a range of 11″, the most of any unit on the field. They also have nimble and bows so they could easily delete my chaff from the get go and start chipping away at other units/get in the way. They are a prime target for my limited ranged units.

Hunters of the Wild – This unit pumps out a lot of attacks for their size and with Vanguard, they could potentially be in my face really early on and he has 2 of them. They do need to attack first as with their low nerve (10/12), they’ll die to a stiff breeze. They are also a prime target for my Chieftains ranged attack as even a few wounds could remove them.

Kindred Tallspears – This unit is probably the closet to chaff in his list in terms of points. I suspect their sole use is to get in the way of anyone going for his hordes.

Stormwind Cavalry – The troops only have 8 attacks but hit on a 3+ with TC (2) and have a def of 5+. Again the nerve is low at 11/13. He will definitely be wanting to get these guys in the flank to maximise their potential. One of them also has a breath attack (10) which can so some damage.

Mounted Mage – This guy is fairly bare bones with heal (3) and Bane Chant (2). I think his primary job is to buff the 2 hordes.

Dragon Kindred Lord – another filthy flyer 😉 with ensorcelled armour. I just need to try and ensure he doesn’t get behind my lines.

This is the most amount of shooting i’ve come up against so far, so it will be a good experience for me. I would expect the Archer hordes to make up the centre of the lines with maybe the bolt thrower in between them. The mage will likely be nearby to throw on a bane chant.

Everything in his army, with the exception of the 2 hordes and the Dragon Lord, have a top nerve of 13 or less so should be easy to remove.

He also has the same number of drops as my list (11).

To recap my list.

The Herd of Khazbar the Reborn – 2000pts

Khazbar – Shaman – heal + Myrddin’s Amulet – 130pts

Wazzock the Renewed – Shaman – heal – 120pts

Zurrock the Mighty – Chieftain on Chariot – bows + Fire Oil – 205pts

Beast Pack – Troop – 70pts

Beast Pack – Troop – 70pts

Tribal Spirit Walkers – Horde – Brew of Strength – 260pts

Longhorns – Regiment – 145pts

Stampede – Horde – Brew of Sharpness – 305pts

Guardian Brutes – Horde – Blessing of the Gods – 255pts

Brutox – 220pts

Brutox – 220pts

Terrain

We rolled map pack 5, from  Neil’s terrain generator, which gave us 4 buildings, a wood, a hill and 24 inches of obstacles. After deployment it looked like this:

Scenario and Deployment

The game was Dominate which was nice, as I hadn’t played this yet and due to the fortuitous placement of the woods, might give me an edge with my army wide pathfinder.

Alex won the roll for sides and the armies after deployment looked like this. (his right most hunters vanguarded up to the wall and those on the other side of his lines moved up to the building.

He then won the roll for first turn which he took.

Turn 1 – Elves

The Elven right flank surged forward with the hunters, Stormwind Cavalry and his Dragon Lord making the most of the lack of Herd on that side of the board. There was little movement on the other side of the board with the exception of the Silverbreeze that moved to cover the nearby heavy cavalry.

His massed shooting opened up, the herd lines withered under the deluge of arrows with one of the beast packs left as a pincushion.

Turn 1 – Herd

Zurrock seeing an early chance in the game, unleashed the Brutox and he charged in alongside to wipe out the Silverbreeze Cavalry. Unable to contain its bloodlust, the Brutox overran towards the Stormwind who had been cowering behind.

In the centre the Stampede forced the longhorns forward to act a emergency chaff. The brutes also moved up to take advantage of the cover.

The Spirit Walkers, their numbers replenished by the duel heal thrown on them, swung round to join the Brutox in forming a new battle line to tackle the Elven flanking force (conveniently making sure the dragon couldn’t get behind the lines).

Turn 2 – Elves

The rain of Arrows continued with the remaining beast pack doing its job and ensuring more valuable targets were spared. The Longhorns were subject to the brunt of the shooting and failed to survive the fire. The Herd ranks were starting to thin rapidly.

Faced with a slavering monster, unable to escape its charge arc and with no ranged support to help them, the heavy cavalry realised they were going to have to do more than just posture. They swallowed deeply, charged in and managed to waver it. It was hard to tell if the horses or elves were the more terrified of what was sure to occur next, with all eyes rolling and the whites showing.

The flanking force moved up to form a coherent line with the lord on dragon showing what dastardly underhanded tactics the elves would stoop to by flying forward and fitting into the smallest possible gap between the table edge and the flank of the Brutox.

Remember, NOT a Zombie Dragon!

The bottom horde of archers thought that no-one would notice that were Bretonnians if they stayed as far away from the action as possible.

Turn 2 – Herd

The Brutox, ignoring it’s waver, and Chieftain charged into the Stormwind Cavalry and barely raised a claw in anger before the Elves ran off the table. The Blood drunk monster regenerating as it savored it’s first taste of elf.

Knowing that their lines were in trouble due to the position of the Dragon, the left flank pushed up aggressively with the Brutox covering the rear of the Spirit Walkers (this was one situation where the oversized base actually worked in my favour!).

In the centre, the Guardian Brutes moved into the forest followed closely by Khazbar. Wazzock stayed with the Stampede, remaining out of the range of the nearest horde.

Turn 3 – Elves

The hunters that were still hiding in the eves of the large tower, spun round as the recognised the threat that was rapidly approaching from the other side of the buikdings. The Elven Phalanx moved over to block any potential charge from the Stampede, now that the hunters had been re-tasked. This move also opened up the firing lanes for the two hordes to target the Guardian Brutes but the cover impeded their aim and the damage for fairly insignificant. The Bolt thrower had but one option and shot into the writhing mass of animals making up the stampede.

On the other flank, the Hunters and Stormwind combined to charge the Spirit Walkers felling half their number. Despite, in a move reeking of fear, charging the Brutox in the flank, the Dragon rider failed to remove it.

Turn 3 – Herd

Zurrock and accompanying Brutox (who continued to regen), finished their flanking maneuver and moved up to now threaten the Elven shooters.

The Spirit Walkers, blood raised, counter charged the hunters and made short work of them. The Brutox also counter-charged but into the Dragon causing a few wounds but more importantly disordering it (I cunningly also forgot to roll to regen the 10 wounds on it – probably as we forgot to mark the wounds up!).

In the centre, Khazbar invoked the power of his amulet, first healing and then bane-chanting the Brutes. They then stormed into the flank of the Spear elves and that fight was only ever going to go one way. The Stampede and Wazzock then moved up in support. The Herd were now threatening the elven shooters that had caused so much damage early on.

Turn 4 – Elves

The remaining Hunter troop moved to block the herd charging the flank of the shooters.

The Stormwind and Dragon Lord both charged into their respective targets (Spirit Walkers and Brutox) and both units were removed as a consequence (Alex, ever the gent, did say I could roll the regen when we realised there were no wound counters on the model and it hadn’t been done but I refused as it was a comp game and frankly that will teach me for not remembering my own armies rules!)

                                     .

Turn 4 – Herd

Eager to clear a path to the hordes of archers that had killed so many of their herd, the chieftain and Brutox tore through the hunters that stood in their path.

Wazzock cast a heal on the Stampede before sending it forward where it crashed into the nearest archers. Elven bodies were pulped under the crushing bodies and despite cowering in the mud, their mettle held under the gaze of the nearby mage and they held their ground.

Turn 5 – Elves

Realising that they needed to support their brethren in the centre, the Bretonnians Elven archers marched forward with all haste. The mage also moved up.

The Dragon Lord and Stormwind cavalry both moved up to the woods and rather than engage in honorable combat they both used their breath weapons to torch the woods. As Khazbar looked to be burnt to a crisp, their was a flash of green and he disappeared.

Turn 5 – Herd

The Stampede again charged the archers and this time their nerve broke and they fled from the field. The Brutox then proceeded to trample the bolt thrower and crew into the ground.

Zurrock moved towards the centre ready to contest it.

Turn 6 – Elves

The remaining archer horde turned and tried to remove the Stampede but the legendary elven archery skill deserted them facing a sea of ferocious animals.

The Dragon Lord, mage and Stormwind Cavalry all moved in to contest the centre of the battlefield.

Turn 6 – Herd

In the final turn of the game, the remaining herd units rushed towards the centre of the board. Zurrock charged the Dragon Lord, inflicting minor injuries and Wazzock moved up to support.

Results

Alex won having the requisite 200pt advantage in the centre circle (640pts vs 325pts). The Stampede was not able to get entirely into the centre circle so did not count towards the total.

In terms of kill points, Alex and his sleazy, untrustworthy elves, back stabbed 1150pts of the noble Herd, whilst the Khazbar eradicated 1075pts of the elven vermin.

(Herd Remaining: Shaman – 120 + Stampede – 305 + Chieftain – 205 + Brutox 220 = 850)

(Elves Remaining: Archer Horde (jar) – 285 + Stormwind Cav (Diadem) – 170 + Dragon Lord – 345 + Mage – 125 = 925).

Conclusion

I always really enjoy my games against Alex, they are normally close run affairs and this was no exception. During the game there was tension, beaded sweat on brows, swearing (that was me), disgraceful dancing with glee (that was me again), instant karma (due to the aforementioned dancing) and a good amount of laughs.

I made some errors straight off the bat on this. I should have deployed one set of buildings more in the centre of the board as this would have obstructed the lanes of fire. I guess i’d been caught out before with obstacles and the impact of crossing them whilst facing archers, so didn’t want them to impede my movement. I was reasonably happy with my deployment though.

Probably my greatest mistake was moving up in the centre way too early. If i’d either set up further back or retreated in the opening move, it would have limited the early shooting and thus the units killed off and might have meant i’d been able to concentrate on the flanking elven force. But more to the point I should have waited until my own flanking force had moved up and was threatening the flank of the archers before moving my forces forward.

Forgetting to role regen on the Brutox when it had suffered 10 wounds was poor and that could have been the difference between that unit dying or lasting another turn.

It is worth mentioning that Alex managed to bane chant one of his archer hordes every single turn on two dice. A feat i’ve not seen or even managed with my 3 dice BC.

As things go that loss is likely to mean a bottom two finish in the group (i’ll probably be fighting the bottom spot with Tony). Neil will probably top it and Dan has a good chance of second though that will likely depend on his match with Alex.

Kill points will decide which 2 runner ups will progress through after the 2 top spots in each group but after my poor first game vs Neil, where I failed to route anything, I seriously doubt i’m in with a chance of scrapping through.

 

Hobby update – Beastpacks/Chaos Hounds and next up.

It’s been bugging me that I had one element of my Kings of War competition army that wasn’t painted and so I finally knuckled down and ‘finished’ off the 2 troops of Beastpacks. 

Lacking inspiration and to ensure continuity with the rest of the army, I followed the same procedure as the wolves in the Stampede. This meant they looked pretty bland (grey with a blue wash and dry brushed) so I added a few extra bits of detail ensuring the scales/spines were green with a bit of highlighting to signify they might be poisoned. 

I still need to base them but at least I now have a fully painted comp’ army.

Next on the painting table list is to revisit the ghorgon/Brutox models and add more detail to break up the brown and then I may even (shock horror) open up the space marine box, as I’ve been reading a number of the ’40k battles’ series recently and this together with the new rule set, actually has me interested (ok quite excited) about trying it out again! I’ve briefly covered/shown part of my paint scheme in a previous post (dark green with tiger stripes on an orange background as the chapter logo). They will of course be a chapter of my own devising but are currently leaning towards being scions of the blood angels, mainly as loving the fluff around their curse and having just finished off the novel Flesh Tearers it reinforced this. (This might possibly change as previously I leant towards imperial fists but found them a bit boring. But that’s the joy of creating your own chapter, you can play a few games and try out the army styles first, especially as it will just be some friendly games at the club).

With the break from the traditional shades of red on the marines, I might the have to paint the Death Company (once bought) red with black crosses as at least then they will tie back to the parent chapter but as a mirror image as in this chapter those with the curse are more revered for having embraced their fathers final wish for vengeance and blood. Those who hold off from the curse see themselves as having the unenviable duty of overseeing the chapter to ensure its continuality for the next generation. A necessity before they can allow themselves to embrace their fathers legacy. Needless to say, with their larger than average Death Company, the chapter operates on the fringes of the imperium and will normally only commit to solitary actions against targets where total annihilation is required. Their home world’s location currently remains a mystery but it is rumoured to be deep within Xenos territory, on a planet previously colonised but long forgotten by imperium records.

KoW – SELWG comp update

I’m not planning on doing many updates for this (bar my normal battle reps) but enough has happened in the leagues that I thought i’d post an update. regular updates are posted on the club forums.

As it stands, the leagues look like this:

Abyssal

As normal Dan Neil and myself have stormed ahead on the number of games played and I’m currently languishing in third in the self styled ‘group of death’. My battle reports can be found here:

Vs Neil’s Abyssals

Vs Dan’s Dwarves

Vs Tony’s Herd

As for the rest of the games, the following passage is a bit of a write up of the top of the table clash between Neil and Dan (written by Neil).

Going the full 7 turns in the Kill scenario i was the lucky victor, by the smallest of margins (200pts).
As you could imagine a cagey affair with either player looking for the smallest advantage.

With his Gem of Zellak Dan enjoyed the advantage in deployment by putting his main force on side of the board.
However he left his Rangers isolated on the other side, hoping to shoot off some way wood Hellhounds. Not quite routing
the Hellhounds, the Rangers paid the price later.

With the limited manoeuvrability the Dwarfs held their lines with the Brock Riders trying to get round my flank.
The Arch Fiend was able to remove both Flame Belchers before they could cause much damage.

There then followed a serious of combats which saw both sides take casualties. Dan had a nasty surprise when a unit of Succubi
got into the flank of a horde of Shieldbreakers with 50 attacks.

The last turns came down to my horde of lower Abyssal’s v the two Greater Earth Elementals. The Lower A’s were able to rout
one GEE & then reform to avoid the deadly flank charge from the other.(1250 v 1450)

The other game also featured Dan & the President.
Not many details here, but Dan won 2000 v 825.

Basilia

The first (and so far only) game in Basilea league was played between Darren & Martin, with Darren the Victor. Here is a brief account from Darren.

It was tough going though, in one melee I threw 92 dice by attacking a unit in both its flank and to its front, and still only inflicted 8 wounds. With such dicing even Martin couldn’t stop himself laughing.

But I still won the game, so I think I should be awarded an additional point for overcoming such a ruthless & unscrupulous opponent………I’m referring to bad luck……. not Martin.

As far as units lost and points please see below.

I lost:

1 Zombie Legion @ 190
1 Zombie legion @ 190
1 Revenant cavalry @ 200

Total lost= 580

Martin lost:

1 Bombard @ 110
1 Shieldbreaker @ 250
1 Shieldbreaker @ 250
1 Crossbows @ 260

Total lost = 760

Orphidia

So the Ophidia league has been rather busy lately with 3 games to report.

Neil & George faced off in Kill & pillage with a resulting draw, advantage to Neil with 1285 v 1130. I believe a report is to follow.

Neil V Alistair resulted in a win for Alistair 1405 to 595, not sure of the scenario.

Please see below for a report from George’s battle with Alistair (from George’s perspective). Win for George 1360 v 435.

So we have a real rock, paper, scissors developing in this league with draws making the league very tight.

George vs Alistair – Scenario: Kill

Alistair killed: 435pts

George killed: 1360pts

Our battlefield layout played into my hands a bit as we had three buildings spread out diagonally with woods between the gaps in the centre, which effectively divided the battlefield in two and forced us both to split our forces accordingly.  I deployed my chariots, gladestalkers, seaguard and mage on my right with a hill directly in front of them – opposite were Alistair’s werewolves and troll hordes, screened by ghoul chaff.  In the centre i arranged my two palace guard regiments and banner bearer so they were screened on their left by trees and buildings and next to them filling my line between the sea guard and the palace guard were my heavy cavalry – opposite them was Alistair’s spearmen, deployed between a building and a set of woods, and his Wraiths.  On my left i deployed my light cavalry and flying hero on the far side of another building, and my woodsmen in the wood between the two buildings – while Alistair deployed his heavy cavalry and archers horde opposite them as this was otherwise a very open flank and perfect for cavalry.

Alistair gave me the first turn, which saw me promptly turn my light cavalry 90 degrees and hightail it to the other end of the board where the rest of my army was arrayed.  I moved my seaguard, scouts and mage onto the hill where they were able (with some very good dice rolling) to pepper & weaken (the trolls) and eventually break (in subsequent turns) Alistair’s Werewolves. The ghoul screens were destroyed in combat but they did break my gladestalkers and threatened to do the same to my seaguard.  Alistair kept pressure up by sending in the wraiths, but by the time they got through my light cavalry and hero arrived on the flank and started shooting.  Eventually i charged these guys on three sides – and got only one wound – only a very lucky (jammy) double 6 broke them.  Alistair got a charge on the flank of one of my chariots with his trolls but they were then out of position which allowed my cavalry time to manoeuvre, charge and destroy the trolls who had been weakened by some very lucky shooting.

in the centre i was able to charge down the undead spearmen with a palace guard regiment and position my other regiment so the open gap between the woods on Alistair’s side and the building in the middle of the table was covered on two sides by my palace guard.

on my left, Alistair quickly moved to redeploy his archers and cavalry against my army, but the undead units weren’t quick enough and by the time they arrived i had my palace guard arranged to face them.  the revenant cavalry got charged by both units and despite hindered chargers, were routed.  Alistair’s horde of arches tried to shoot one unit down but were unsuccessful (sight of relief there) and were then charged and broken in turn.  The soul reavers made a play through the woods on my side of the table but were opposite a regiment of woodland troops who did nothing to them (those cavalry have 20 attacks, thunderous charge 2, crushing strength 2, 3+ to hit and 6+ to save????) but they did hold up the cavalry long enough to effectively neutralize them for the rest of the game.  They did get on to my right flank but by the time they go there (turn 7) the rest of my army had turned to face them.

in summary, my maneuvering at the beginning at the game helped immensely to neutralize Alistair’s deadly cavalry but it was a lot of fortunate dice rolling that helped everywhere else.  I got routed results often just as i needed them, often by only a single point and sometimes only by rolling a jammy double 6.  My shooting was also quite a bit more effective than the dice should have allowed for as well so Alistair was quite unlucky there but it was a very fun game and as i have found with KOW it really was down to the wire as the soul reavers were unlucky not to break my woodsmen sooner, and had the werewolves lasted another turn they would have been breaking my chariots and probably turned my flank there.