Whfb - Dwarves vs Daemons – part 2 – Neil’s list and Battle Report

At the normal club meet on Friday, I faced off against Neil and his latest Daemon list. Having only received that day, I was unable to write up some thoughts beforehand but I was able to look at it on my lunch briefly to give me an idea of what I was facing. Without further a due, here is his list (and mine can be found here):

Neil’s Khorne based list

Characters

Billy the Bloodthirster – Lesser gift (multiple wound 2) – 425pts

Skulltaker – juggernaut, slayer sword, cloak of skulls – 250pts

Herald of Nurgle – bsb, lesser locus of virulence, War banner, palanquin – 240pts

Core

32 Plaguebearers – Full command, Banner of Swiftness – 461pts

10 Bloodletters – Full command – 170pts

Special

4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne – Full command, Razor Standard – 325pts

5 Flesh Hounds of Khorne – 165pts

1 Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

1 Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

1 Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

5 Chaos Furies of Khorne – 70pts

5 Chaos Furies of Khorne – 70pts

Rare

Skull Cannon of Khorne – 135pts

 

Thoughts on his list

I won’t go into a huge amount of depth on his list as didn’t before the game so it is just some initial thoughts on it.

Bloodthirster! I’d never faced one before so was quite excited to see one (though I really didn’t want to get into combat with it….

No Magic! (Yes over use of exclamation marks abound!!!). This is about the first time that i’ve ever seen no magic (normally Lore of Death) in a list Neil’s taken. Sure it invalidates a number of items in my list but that’s always a chance when creating an allcomers list.

Ambushers. His Flesh hounds will have the ability to come on behind my lines, so i’ll have to be careful not to leave any gaps for him to exploit.

In terms of the rest of the list, not much has changed from my initial thoughts. The Skull cannon is a priority for my Cannon and the Furies for the Organ Guns.

Pre-match rolls

The Dwarf hatred roll (setting the tone for the rest of the game) was a one which meant just General vs General.

The Bloodthirsters lesser gift was Cleaving Blow, which gave the Multiple Wounds (2) rule.

For Terrain, we didn’t worry about rolling on the table and just grabbed a couple of woods, a couple of buildings, some obstacles and a hill.

We rolled Meeting Engagement for the scenario and Neil won the choice for sides and picked the side that had the majority of the terrain, figuring he could hide behind most of it.

Deployment

As per the rules we rolled off to see what started off the table. In a spectacular display of rolling, Neil had the following start off the table:

Bloodthirster, Herald of Nurgle, 5 Furies (+ his ambushing Flesh Hounds).

Not to be outdone I had to beat him and rolled the following into reserves.

Cannon, 25 Longbeards, 16 Irondrakes, 16 Quarrellers.

This left me with precisely 3 ‘units’ and all my characters to set up initially!

Neil chose to set up all his available units first and placed a lot of them behind buildings. The exceptions were the Plaguebearers, that were put on the table edge so that the Herald could join them when it arrived and the Skull Crushers and Cannon, placed almost at his table edge.

I had an idea of how I wanted to put my battle line in order to maximise ‘bubbles’ and put everything on the base line so that from turn 2, my other units would come on into that setup. This was my first and the most costly error of the game as it meant the Organ Guns were effectively out of play for the entire game!

Turn 1 – Daemons

In the only action of the turn, the skull cannon shot at one of the Organ Gun, killing 2 on the crew and damaging the fine machine. Burrnoth could only watch helplessly as the daemons taunted him, knowing that he was unable to retaliate.

The Bloodletters controlling their killing instinct, sloped off into the nearby tower raising the blood standard from the parapets.

Turn 1 – Dwarves

With the majority of the enemy out of range, the two engineers turned their charges to the daemons in the nearby building. In a display of complete ineptitude, both machines manged to misfire and fire just 2 shots each resulting, as you might have expected, in zero hits.

Turn 2 – Daemons

Some of the Daemons started to move towards the dwarf side of the table but there was no sign of their reinforcements bar a unit of ambushing hounds that appeared on one flank of the Dwarf lines.

The enemy cannon once again fired, this time finishing what it started and destroying the Organ gun. Burrnoth could only watch, with impotence at the Daemons capering about on top of the infernal machine.

Turn 2 – Dwarves

With the sound of horns and beat of drums, the dwarf reinforcements marched up to join the battle line.

The remaining Organ Gun turned toward the Chaos Hounds and obliterated the warped dogs in a single round of shooting.

The Valkyrie, moved forward and shot the nearest Beast of Nurgle. The boiling steam proving too much for it’s regenerative powers to overcome.

Turn 3 – Daemons

With a terrible roar, that shock the battlefield, Billy the Bloodthirster announced his arrival. The other unit of furies swarmed round him. With much less fanfare, the Herald directed his palanquin to join the unit of plaguebearers.

With the unit of hounds destroyed and the second Gyro now a threat, the advanced unit of Furies retreated behind the bloodletter controlled tower and the 2 Beasts of Nurgle also withdrew back towards the wood.

Rot, Glorious Rot blossomed over the field of battle and the Valkyrie was the recipient taking damage as parts of the machine rusted away.

The Skullcannon continued it’s grow it’s tally of dwarven warmachines, this time adding the Cannon, Lizardbane, to it’s list. Burrnoth could only watch, his rage growing, as the Daemons danced in glee at the destruction wrought.

Turn 3 – Dwarves

Burrnoth ordered the quarrellers to move up at maximum speed trying to get their crossbows in range of something. The Valkyrie flew at the double to the blindside of the plaguebearer unit (in the process forgetting to unload it’s compliment of bombs). The other Gyro moved up (hiding behind the side of the building) to threaten the 2 Beasts of Nurgle.

The Irondrakes and remaining Organ gun fired at the only only available target, the Bloodletters, completely failing to hit anything in the process.

Turn 4 – Daemons

The Daemon flying wing, consolidated together and advanced down the edge of the board. Seeing the bellowing greater daemon and it’s lesser com padres looking at him, the Dwarf Gyro sudden felt an overwhelming urge to be somewhere else at that point.

The unit of plaguebearers advanced now their Herald was present and the nearby Beast moved to intercept the Valkyrie.

The Skullcannon completed it’s task as it removed the final Organ Gun making it 3 for 3.

Turn 4 – Dwarves

The Gryo flew over the Bloodthirster and Furies that had been threatening it and shot into the swarm, taking down one of their number.

The Irondrakes managed to succeed where the Organ Guns hadn’t and finally killed one of the Bloodletters hiding in the nearby tower.

The Valkyrie, dodging the obvious trap the daemons had set, and was able to continue it’s harrassment of Nurgles children taking off another of them.

The Quarrellers and 2 blocks of dwarf warriors started to advance towards the Daemons.

Turn 5 – Daemons

The Skull Cannon decided to, this time, target the Gyro harassing the Furies but in a break from the run of play, failed to wound it.

The Plaguebearers continued their advance towards the dwarf lines whilst the beast continued to try and limit the Valkyries movements.

The flying swarm, backed up by the remaining 2 Beasts, moved round the building and were now in a position to threaten the dwarf lines.

Turn 5 – Dwarves

The dance of the Valkyrie continued and it was able to get behind the plaguebearer unit and unleashed the full power of it’s steam gun into them killing six of the damned. The quarrellers also targeted the unit but the range was against them and only one of the gruesome Daemons fell to the volley.

The Irondrakes, performing a quick reform, targeted the Bloodthirster, burning a wound from it.

Turn 6 – Daemons

The two Beasts of Nurgle, two units of Furies and Bloodthirster all attempted to charge the Irondrakes but with the Rune of the Standard blazing brightly, only one unit of Furies made it in. The Bloodthirster bellowed in frustration as it took another wound in the process. In the resultant combat, the Furies failed to kill any of the dwarves, who killed one in return and two more of them were sucked back into the realm of Chaos as the units grasp on stability failed.

On the other flank, the Plaguebearers also failed to charge the Longbeards in front of them.

The Skull Cannon tried to target the BSB in the Hammerers but the shot fell short and plowed into the ground a few feet short of them.

Turn 6 – Dwarves

The Quarrellers and Valkyrie again combined their fire into the plaguebearers, taking off another complete rank between them.

The other Gyro moved up and killed another fury but they held firm due to the inspiring presence of the General.

In the final move of the game, the Irondrakes killed off the remaining Fury.

Results

It was a draw in the end as the BRB states you must have double the victory points of your opponent.

Daemons – 445 VP’s (Organ Gun – 150, Organ Gun – 145, Cannon – 150)

Dwarves – 235 VP’s (Furies – 70, Flesh Hounds – 165).

There were no bonus victory points.

Conclusions

Well that was…interesting.

This was probably the quickest game of 8th either of us had ever played (about 2 hours long, games at the club are often in the region of 3.5 hours – we aren’t the speediest players).

Neil and I felt that the game had been a bit of a non event and were both left wanting. Between half the armies starting off the board, no magic phase, Neil not wanting to bring anything on until the cannon was neutralised and me sitting on the board edge, virtually nothing happened for the entire game. In the final turn where he was in a position to charge, he forgot about the Irondrake’s Rune of Slowness and it prevented him from getting almost everything into combat.

As I stated in the deployment section, probably my one major error was setting the Organ guns up on the base line. I should have set them up far further forward, where they could reach most of the board. Placing them on the edge just meant the skull cannon could pick them off without them doing anything.

I have come to one conclusion, one cannon just isn’t enough. In this type of army I need to include either a second cannon or a Grudge Thrower. My preference would probably be the GT as this would (1) give a template weapon to my arsenal, (2) allow speculative shots to hidden Ironblasters etc. (3) I’ve not used one this edition. I should have come to this decision a while back but in my other games I had been very lucky and normally struck first with my cannon. With a second long range option, I would still be able to strike back in the event the cannon or GT were destroyed. It would likely mean dropping one or both of the Organ guns as i’m coming to the opinion that I prefer the Irondrakes (though I’d always take them and one OG as a preference).

It’s also worth pointing out that in the entire game the Trollhammer failed to hit at all. Showing once again why I never take the damn thing!! (I just can’t make single dice rolls…)

Sods law but this is one game where the MRo Grungni might have come in handy to protect the war machines.

Next up is likely a rematch vs Luke so I need to decide whether to bring the dwarves again or maybe the Wood elves.

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Beastmen vs Daemons of Chaos – SELWG whfb stage 2 – game 3

Or, “The great regression of skill and ability”

After spending Wednesday evening at Steve’s house with Matt, Pete and Greg in one of our D&D sessions, I somehow managed to wrangle also going out on Friday in order to finish the last of my stage 2 group games, this time against Neil Robbins Daemons (his list). If you’ve read any of my blog you know that I’ve played Neil quite a few times before and I knew I would have to bring my ‘A’ game.

A recap of my list can be found here.

Again i’ll caveat that all mistakes are due to memory (and the lack of notes).

Scenario

In another first for me, we rolled up the custom ‘number 6’ scenario, king of the hill, which replaced the watch tower scenario from the book. This is played as per ‘Battleline, however, you place a hill in the centre of the board with a marker on it. At the end of the game, the player that controls the marker with a fortitude bearing unit, wins.

Terrain

I rolled up 6 pieces of terrain (again) and they were as follows:

3 Marshes!

1 Sanctum (in this case a Dwarf Brewhouse – units in 6″ are immune to psychology and stubborn)

2 Hills (one normal, one scree – which counts as dangerous terrain). These were in addition to the hill you take as part of the scenario (so overall there were 7 bits of terrain).

Secret Mission

I chose take a message and Neil chose stash the cash.

Pre-match rolls

Magic

Khazbar (Great Bray Shaman – Lvl 4 – Shadow) – Ended up with Melkoths, Penumbria, Pit of Shades and Mindrazor.

Wazzock (Bray Shaman – lvl 2 – Beasts) got Wildform and Curse (again).

Great Unclean one (lvl 4 – Death) – got Spirit Leech, Doom & Darkness, Fate and Caress.

24 Horrors – took Blue fire of Tzeentch

10 Horrors (Banner of Swiftness) – rolled Firestorm

10 Horrors (Flaming Banner) – rolled Infernal Gateway

Herald (lvl 1 – Nurgle) – rolled – Plague wind

Deployment

Khazbar shook his head, trying to clear the malaise that had weighed upon him over the last few weeks. At every turn the Daemons had dogged his step. After the first victory against the great horde of Nurgle, he had faced sustained attacks, Daemons repeatedly popping into the mortal realm and attacking before fading away. His once mighty Herd had shrunk, through a combination of casualties and cowardly desertion, to the pitiful remnants that surrounded him. As they slunk into the swamp, that appeared to be his only remaining avenue, his scouts timidly approached jibbering about vast host ahead. Sighing in resignation he ordered the horde forward determined one way or another to finish this.

Beastmen Right flank

Beastmen left flank

Daemons left flank

Daemon right flank

Deployment

Beastmen Turn 1

Following paths out of the mist wreathed swamp, the herd found itself split in two. Khazbar watched as Wazzock led the bestigors and supporting units on his flank, forward at all due haste, in the process boosting both their strength and resilience. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong but ordered his flank forward too.

Harpies are not drunk, just unsteady on the hill (rod indicates the front arc)

Daemons Turn 1

A booming roar echoed over the field of battle and a great bronze skull hurtled down flattening one of the Razorgor. This was too much for the nearby chariot that turned and fled.

With a shriek the Furies charged into the bestigors, Wazzock desperately fended off the multitude of attacks that came his way, sustaining a wound in the process. His body guard took swift revenge, tearing the creatures apart for no loss.

The polar opposite occurred a few metres away as one of the Heralds charged out of his unit and cut down 1 of the bird women, the rest chose discretion over valour and decided to leg it.

Holding one claw over his wound, Wazzock paused to invoke the power of the Chalice he carried and took some satisfaction that the Daemon engine was unable to fire as it was engulfed in a dark rain.

An incomprehensible chittering broke out from one of the small units of horrors and an infernal gateway burst into being and tore through the horde of Gor, taking out a quarter of the unit. Six more horrors then appeared from the warp to join the unit. Zhurock shouldered aside some of his lesser brethren and cuffed Khazbar hard enough to temporarily shake off the malaise affecting him and he was able to dispel the follow up spells.

Hmmmm those furies bear a striking resemblance to my harpies

Beastmen Turn 2

With a roar the doombull charged into the nearest unit of Beasts causing a few wounds and gaining an extra attack in the process. On the other flank the Chariot thundered into the Herald that had made such short work of the harpies and completely failed to cause any wounds despite 4 impact hits. It return it was slapped silly by the Herald and Wazzock and his bodyguard, seeing that they were looking rather lonesome, decided they had a pressing engagement elsewhere and ran past the freshly rallied harpies. Khazbar could only look on in despair as his army crumbled around him.

Right flank strikes

Daemons Turn 2

With Wazzock running, the power of the Chalice was broken and the crew of the Skull Cannon roared praise to their God and shot a flaming ball into the remaining Razorgor, leaving nothing but hunks of charred flesh in its wake.

The Herald that had caused so much damage, finished what it had started and ran down Wazzock and the unit of Bestigor. The Harpies decided they did not want to face this force of destruction and again fled.

The second unit of Furies advanced to block the horde of Gor and the Great Unclean One, not wanting to risk charging through the mist wreathed marsh in front of him, instead advanced to the side of the Gor herd.

The Doombull continued to tear into the Beasts but despite their powers of regeneration blunting his rampage he continued to grow in power.

There used to be a battle line here

Beastmen Turn 3

Khazbar looked to his left and watch the harpies fly off into the swamp but took  some comfort that the remaining chariot on the flank, garnered an smidgen of courage and turned to face the approaching Herald that had decimated the flank.

On his right things were looking a little better, the Ghorgon bellowed and charged in to join his smaller sibling, the two of them making short work of the remaining Beasts. The remaining unit of harpies flew into the large unit of Horrors, sacrificing themselves to ensure they delivered their message.

Seeing some partial success at last, Khazbar ordered the horde to charge the furies blocking their path, making short work of them.

Two’s company

Message delivered!

Daemons Turn 3

The Horrors once again summoned their gateway and Khazbar could only stare stupefied as it tore through the former horde, sucking 8 of the hapless Gor into the realm of Chaos. The Skull cannon added to the carnage and Khazbar was saved as one of the remaining loyal Gor pushed him to one side before taking the brunt of the impact.

The Herald of Khorne charged the remaining chariot and finished his route of the left flank, as it turned tail and fled into a patch of swamp where it sunk taking all the crew with it.

The Great Unclean One’s laughter burbled as it swelled with even more power from the sword it was wielding and it smashed into the smaller Gor unit, leaving half the unit as bubbling diseased carcasses.

Beastmen Turn 4

With a sharp wrench, Khazbar regained control of his mind, realising that the greater Daemon had been toying with him since the start. Looking around he could not help but despair as the Unclean One butchered the rest of the smaller herd herd. The Ghorgon and Doombull rampaging round would be of no help to him and he ordered the few remaining Gor in his horde to form up round him in preparation of their last stand.

Daemons Turn 4

With an almightly rumble, Nurgle’s chosen representative and his beasts charged into the remaining Gor cutting them down with no mercy. Khazbar was saved as the protective amulets around his neck flared up, transporting him to safety but with that the battle was over and he could only slink off to lick his wounds.

Results

Neil – Win + Mission + Battle Complete (15 + 7 + 1) = 23 Pts

Mark – Lose + Mission + Battle Complete + Painted Army (5 + 7 + 1 + 2) = 15pts

Conclusion

What a monumental balls up! That was possibly the worst game of 8th I’ve played in over a year (perhaps ever). Effectively tabled on turn 4 is shockingly bad form. All there is to do is try and dissect what went wrong and never repeat it.

Where do I start? The obvious place is deployment. After the issues I had in the first group 2 game and not knowing the rules around rivers, I let the number of marshes, my fear of their impact and their placement, get inside of my head. I further compounded this by then deciding to split up my army when, from previous play, I knew it was essential to keep everything within the leadership/BSB bubble. I paid the price for this when the left flank just collapsed from panic, putting me on the back foot immediately.

Even then I could have gotten something from the battle but I dithered around with the Gor not moving them forward and allowing Neil to decimate them with magic.

As Neil further pointed out placing the Ghorgon on the flank away from the cannon was understandable but the Doombull had a 2++ against it as it was flaming (which I forgot) and putting them both on the flank effectively took them out of the game. I also should have cast Mindrazor on the small Gor unit ready for the Greater Daemon’s charge.

When looking at his list last year, I knew that I needed to be aggressive and get into combat and with the limited games played I knew I needed to support the blocks with the chariots/Doombull etc, whilst redirecting with chaff. I failed on all fronts but especially with my two blocks of Gor letting him dictate the fights. It was like I forgot how to use the army.

Going further, I think part of the problem was I’ve been watching and reading about Kings of War almost daily since my last game with Paul in December (I need something to occupy me on the commute) and as such, did not have my Warhammer hat on, was not at all prepared, hadn’t looked at the lists since I last played and generally just played terribly.

You know you’ve had a bad game when about the highlight of your tactical acumen was sidestepping a unit behind a marsh to block the charge by the Great Unclean One…

None of this takes anything away from Neil, who played his normal solid game.

I can only apologise to Neil for not giving him more of a challenge (not that I think he was complaining as it allowed him to rack up maximum points), although I think even he was surprised at the number of  unforced errors and cock ups I managed to roll out during the game.

Beastmen vs Nurgle Daemons – SELWG whfb stage 2 – game 2

On Friday I managed to get in my 2nd competition game against Paul Baker’s Daemons of Nurgle army with the Herd of Khazbar the Magnificent. After my trouncing by Dan White’s Empire army in the first of my stage 2 games, I knew that I had to get something from this game to be in with a chance of qualifying for the knockouts. No pressure then!

Again i’ll caveat that all mistakes are due to memory (or the fact that I forgot to take any notes on at least 2 of the turns).

Scenario

We ended up with meeting engagement which is played as per the rulebook but you have to win by 100 victory points to claim the win. I’m not sure i’d ever played this scenario before (or if I had it was way back in the distance past where I don’t remember!) so even though it is one of the least favourite scenario of a lot of players, I was quite looking forward to it as it was something different.

Terrain

We rolled up 6 pieces of terrain (one short of the maximum) and they were as follows:

Statue – Alter of Khaine (gives frenzy – very top left)

Forest (ended up as a venom thicket – top left)

Hill – Anvil of Vaul (gives flaming and magical attacks – centre)

Hill – Scree Slope (Dangerous Terrain – bottom left)

Forest (top right – no one entered it so we didn’t roll to see what it was)

Hill (normal – bottom right)

Secret Mission

I chose stash the cash and Paul chose three and four pence.

Pre-match rolls

Magic

Khazbar (Great Bray Shaman – Lvl 4 – Shadow) – Ended up with Melkoths, Enfeebling foe, Pit of Shades and Mindrazor.

Wazzock (Bray Shaman – lvl 2 – Beasts) got Wildform and Curse.

Great Unclean one (lvl 4 – Nurgle) – got Miasma, blades, curse of the leper and Fleshy Abundance.

BSB (lvl 1 – Nurgle) – rolled – Rancid Visitations

Herald (lvl 1 – Nurgle) – rolled – Plague wind

Deployment

Khazbar was nobodies fool. He would not needlessly expose himself at the outset. This time he would wait, together with the birdwomen, hidden within the trees until he could ascertain the battle plan of the enemy. Let Wazzock take the risks, he was expendable. He was puzzled though. Why had the Nurglings encroached in his domain and where were their leaders?

Turn 1 – Nurgle

Khazbar looked slightly worried as the unit of flying drones disappeared off the field and into the trees not too far to his left. Were they trying to sneak up on his position and ambush him? He summoned the birdwomen closer to him ensuring their silence as a black nimbus surrounded his hand sucking in the light, the shadows growing around them. On the battlefield the sky ripped open and amidst a deep earth shaking roar, a giant bronze skull hurtled down utterly destroying one of the chariots. This was too much for the Gor horde who turned tail and fled, leaving nothing but their spore showing where they were once part of a solid battle-line.

EDIT: If we had read the rules correctly on the night, we would have realised that Paul could not have moved the Plague Drones off the board until turn 2 in order to complete his mission.

Panic!

Turn 1 – Beastmen

Still glancing over his shoulder in case the drones appeared, Khazbar sent spikes of pain into the minds of Zhuroc and Wazzock, reminding them that they needed to be far more terrified of him than the enemy. With fearful looks to the treeline they whipped the panicking Gor back into a semblance of order and turned to face the rest of their brethren. Determined to impress his master, Wazzock cast Curse of Anraheir at the nearest plaguebearer unit. He shrieked as the miscast ripped all knowledge of spells from his mind, eliciting a shake of the snout in disgust from Khazbar.

Turn 2 – Nurgle

The trees on the far side of the field of battle rippled and then melted into a toxic sludge as a great unclean daemon waddled its way forward flanked by two of its heralds, the closest of which moved straight into the nearest unit. It wasted no time and gently blew in the direction of the Beastmen lines, the breath rapidly growing into a vortex of plague that spluttered to a halt just in front of it’s own unit. It giggled as the other herald and the greater daemon both took wounds from the magical feedback.

Tongue licking the gash that had opened in its flesh, grin becoming wider, the Unclean One followed up by casting Curse of the Leper on the closest Razorgor.

Turn 2 – Beastmen

With the magical battle now swung in favour of the daemons (and having nothing to do with the worry of those damn disappearing drones), Khazbar decided that he best get on the field and moved up flanked by the harpies. He immediately fired off a quick succession of spells at the nearest enemy unit and reeled back wiping the blood from his snout as he promptly forgot half his repertoire.

Turn 3 – Nurgle

The nurgle units moved to form a battle-line with the BSB Herald joined the far left Plaguebearer unit. The Great Unclean One shuffled up to anchor the line and with a deep belly laugh, its hands blurred as it flung numerous rancid visitations at the nearest Razorgor, to no effect.

Turn 3 – Beastmen

With a sudden realisation that he was on his own, Khazbar ran forward to join his unit of bodyguards and ordered the right flank to advance.

Bloodhorn bellowed at the nearest Razorgor who moved up to block the plaguebearer unit as the Doombull lost control and with splittle flying from its maw, flew into the greater daemon, the venom thicket lashing out at him on the way through.

Turn 4 – Nurgle

With a crack of thunder the sky split open and a pestilent rain storm started, sluicing skin and muscle off one of the Razorgors. Four of the Gor in the Horde, broke out in boils and fell to the ground shrieking as they erupted.

Ignoring the its growing instability the great unclean one fired a miasma at the doombull and then taking advantage of its weakened state, smashed it to the ground.

Khazbar grunted as a third unit of plaguebearers appeared from the trees and joined the others. The herd would have to engage them soon before anymore reinforcements appeared.

Turn 4 – Beastmen

At the behest of Khazbar the herd advanced at speed, maintaining a discipline in formation seldom seen amongst his kind. Recognising that the decisive moment of the battle was almost upon them, he cast enfeebling on one of the nurgle units. True to form the backlash and explosion took out 12 beastmen, most of them in his own bodyguard, making a charge through the venom thicket a risky proposition.

Turn 5 – Nurgle

Khazbar looked on in disbelief as the enemy seemed to freeze. The only movement was one unit backing up slightly and the two beasts of Nurgle running behind a forest.

(Edit: Completely forgot to take any notes of this turn so its possible there was some magic and/or damage from the Reign of Chaos but with only 3 dice for Paul I’m not sure anything was actually cast).

Turn 5 – Beastmen

With a loud bray, Khazbar ordered the herd to charge. The Horde and Razorgor smashed into the nearest unit decimating a third of them with almost no loss to the Gor. The ensuing instability further reduced the unit. Khazbar and the Bestigor charged into the greater daemon, losing a three of the unit as the thorns from the thicket delivered their deadly poison. The Daemon launched his assault and Khazbar barely flinched as his protective amulets flared and turned aside the worst of the damage and in return he buried his hatchet in the grinning face. Seconds later it was joined by a dozen great weapons as his bodyguard tore into the pulsating mass of flesh and with a final echoing laugh it vanished back into the Garden of Blight from whence it came.

Turn 6 – Nurgle

The melee between the hordes continued. The plague bearers overcame their initial hesitance and cut down a rank of the gor but it was too little to save them and the remaining few dissipated into the ether. The Razorgor in its excitement continued forward, disappearing into the woods. Its compatriot final succumbed to the gentle administrations of the rancid visitations, its body left bubbling as it rejoined the earth.

Turn 6 – Beastmen

Khazbar hurriedly cast mindrazor on the Gor to his left, before joining his bodyguard and the Gor horde in charging the rear most of the plague units. Although causing a large number of wounds, the bearers remained in the mortal plain at the end of the combat.

The other combat ground to a stalemate but with their numbers dwindling, position worsening and loss of their stabilising influence, the remaining daemons withdrew from the field.

Results

Approximately 1187 vs 558 Victory Points in my favour.

Mark – Win + 6 Turns + 1 Hobby (15+1+1=) 17 pts

Paul – Loss + Mission + 6 Turns + Painted (5+7+1+2=) 15 pts

Conclusion

Oh how things could have gone so very differently. The destruction of the chariot from the reign of chaos roll and the panicking of the horde on the first turn, meant I had to take subsequent panic tests with most of my units. With the BSB routing and my general off the board, they were taken for the most part against leadership 7, so it was pure luck that half my army weren’t running from the get go! To say I was worried was putting it mildly and it really threw me, making me very cautious until I got my general back in the line. This cautiousness meant that I didn’t end up in combat until turn 5 which was almost too late to make an impact.

Once again the Gor horde proved it’s worth in combat and really went to town on the Plaguebearer unit, although this was helped by some exceptionally lucky ‘to hit’ rolls on my behalf (in the first round of combat, after rerolls, I hit with all the 25 attacks I was able to make!). Paul also played that combat very well, backing up his unit so that I was unable to get a flank charge with the ghorgon, effectively taking it out of the game. The break test roll of double ones had us on the edge of the seats for a few minutes whilst we checked the rules to see if the unit had been utterly destroyed or was back to full stength (it was the former).

Thinking that i’d lost the doombull to a dangerous terrain check on the charge, on turn 3, was definitely upsetting/deflating (for some reason Paul didn’t think so 😀) and I definitely went somewhat quiet (apologies to Paul for that) until a check of the rules revealed it was only a wound lost.

My shaman general also rode his luck, not only saving all but one of his ward saves when the Great Unclean One put all its attacks against him but then making all his saves from the plaguebearer unit too! Considering my normal 1D6 rolls are low and 2D6 rolls high (to respectively fail saves and break/panic tests), I nearly fell off my seat in shock. The dice gods must have been smiling on me!

I’m starting to get used to having to roll for a miscast every time I cast a spell (ok, a slight exaggeration as it only occurred in 4 of my 6 turns). It doesn’t seem to matter how many dice I roll. At least this time I had a variety of results rather than the repeated dimensional cascades of the last game (only 12 dead from that result this time!). Miscasts or not, i’m still enjoying having a magic phase though I have to now learn that just because I can cast doesn’t mean I should (if only to limit the miscasts!).

All in all it was a very enjoyable game. More tense than the last one, maybe as more was riding on it. I completely misread how Paul was planning on tackling the game. Castling was not something I expected. It was also one of the quickest games i’ve played, probably as there was no shooting phase and with Paul barely moving and no combat really until turn 5, we flew through the turns. One thing i’ve taken away from this game is not to faff around so much and just get stuck in (if only to avoid the Reign of Chaos).

Competition wise I’m not in a particularly good position. Although I got a win, my failure to achieve my missions in this and the last game has massively put me on the back foot points wise. On a plus note, it does mean that I don’t feel under any pressure for my final game. Of course I will be trying to win it and in the process throw a spanner in the works for Neil but Already I am in the position of having to rely on other results going my way.

My third and final game against Neil’s mixed deity Daemons is penciled in for 13 January. After that I’ll be free to try out some other things which I’ll cover in a later post.

SELWG 2016 whfb tournament – Stage 2- Group A – Neil’s Daemon List

In the last of these posts looking at my stage 2 opponents armies, I’ll be looking at Neil Robins Daemons of Chaos. (The first post looked at Dan’s Empire here and the second post looked at Paul’s Daemons of Chaos here).

He is playing a completely different Daemon list to Paul featuring Daemons from three of the four Chaos gods.

I’ve probably played Neil more times than anyone else at the club (Dan is probably second on the list) and so I am well aware of what a wily player he can be. When last I faced his daemons (list and battle report) he had numerous small units of Pink Horrors, a Greater Daemon of Slannesh and a load of mounted Bloodletters. So what has changed?

Characters

Great Unclean One + lvl 4 Lore of Death + Lesser Gift + Exalted Gift – 580pts

Herald of Khorne + Juggernaut + Lesser gift – 175pts

Herald of Khorne + Juggernaut + Lesser gift – 175pts

Core

24 Pink Horrors + lvl 1 Lore of Tzeentch + Standard – 322pts

10 Pink Horrors + lvl 1 Lore of Tzeentch + Banner of Swiftness – 155pts

10 Pink Horrors + lvl 1 Lore of Tzeentch + Banner of Eternal Flame – 150pts

Special

5 Chaos Furies of Nurgle – 70pts

5 Chaos Furies of Nurgle – 70pts

3 Beasts of Nurgle – 180pts

3 Beasts of Nurgle – 180pts

4 Bloodcrushers of Khorne + FC + Standard of Discipline – 305pts

Rare

Skull Cannon of Khorne – 135pts

 

Evaluation

So the most obvious change to the above list is the change of Greater daemon from Slannesh to Nurgle. It allowed Neil to take Lore of Death which is by far his favoured magic lore, if only for the ability to gain extra power dice. I looked up the exalted gifts and they are pretty nice. Getting a potential +2 T or +3 Str on the unclean one is horrible (for me) and would boost both stats to 9!. The lodestone is nothing to be sniffed at either and some of the hellforged artefacts are also interesting.

Furies only have a LD of 2 so will benefit greatly from the Generals leadership, although due to the mixed nature of his army only they and the beasts will be eligible to use it.

He has dropped one unit of Bloodcrushers and instead upped the number of Beasts of Nurgle to 2 units of 3. Probably a good choice as the crushers seemed a glass cannon when we last fought but the beasts are tough, especially with the -1 to hit modifier and 4+ regeneration (and my lack of anything flaming).

He has merged a couple of the units of horrors so he has one large unit. This means it gets the rank benefit when casting (so will get +4). The other smaller units will get +2 as standard. Both will be reduced once ranks are removed as casualties.

The skull cannon will likely be gunning for the Ghorgon (I really should paint a target on it…).

I’m not sure how I will play this one, I’ve only played Daemons once before and that was against Neil! At least this time I have a copy of the daemons errata so shouldn’t have any surprises about the reign of chaos…

I’ve yet to confirm a date for this game.

 

SELWG 2016 whfb tournament – Stage 2- Group A – Paul’s Daemon List

In the second of these posts looking at my opponents armies, I’ll be looking at Paul Bakers Daemons of Chaos. (The first post looked at Dan’s Empire here and the third post will look at Neil’s Daemons of Chaos here)

I’ve only had the pleasure of playing against Paul once before and that was when he was using a Grimgor Ironhide Orc list. I don’t remember the outcome of the game but what I do know is that when facing Paul you have to be careful as he always has the most beautifully painted armies and it is easy to be distracted by them (see the badly taken pictures later in the post to get an idea). I would categorically say (and have done before) that his models are by far my favourite of those i’ve seen at the club.

But enough about the painting, what has he taken in his list?

Characters

General – Great Unclean One – Lvl 4 Lore of Nurgle + 1 Lesser gift – 505pts

BSB – Herald of Nurgle + Razor Standard + Lesser Locus of Virulence + Lvl 1 Lore of Nurgle – 235pts

Herald of Nurgle + Exalted Locus of Contagion + Lvl 1 Lore of Nurgle – 175pts

Core

29 Plaguebearers + FC – 407pts

29 Plaguebearers + FC – 407pts

30 Plaguebearers + FC + Banner of Swiftness – 435pts

Special

1 Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

1 Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

Rare

3 Plague Drones + FC – 210pts

 

Evaluation

Now before I even attempt to put down anything meaningful, the first thing I want to do is take my hat off to Paul for using a completely themed Nurgle army including the magic lore. Before getting back into WHFB in 8th edition, I was used to not being able to mix and match chaos god followers and it still seems wrong to be able to take followers who hate others (e.g. Nurgle hate Tzeentch), so I always appreciate it when someone is true to their God (as it were).

His entire army all has at least a 5+ ward, poisoned attacks and when attacked in close combat nmes are at -1 to hit. Poison poses an issue for me as most of my army has no armour and relies on toughness to survive, something that poison will negate. Most of my army has a higher weapon skill than his so the -1 to hit puts us on an even footing.

His choice of lore actually works against me as at least 3 of the spells reduce, WS, I and T. One improves his poisoned hits from 6+ to 5+ and two of the other spells wound if the target fails a toughness test. I’ll have to be careful what I choose to dispel.

His 2 Heralds will likely each go in 2 of the 3 plaguebearer units. The BSB, apart from upping the units AP to -2 (of no use against me) also confers a rule where all of them will auto wound on hits of a 5+ (similar effect to the spell Blades of Putrefacation). The other herald gives the rule that the unit will gain an additional str 4 hit when they hit on a 6+.

I’m not quite sure what to make of the Great unclean one. It is quite literally a monster but has an exception toughness of 7 meaning that the highest strength attacks I have in the army will wound it on a 5+

On a happy note, he has no shooting so i’ll be expecting plenty of combat to take place!

This game is booked in for 16 December.

 

Dwarves vs Daemons – SELWG comp practice game 1 – part 2

Scenario

We agreed to follow all the variables of the comp rules, so the first thing to roll was the scenario:

We rolled – Take and Hold. This is played as per Battle of the Pass (so lengthways on the table) but differed in so far as, victory goes to the general with the most UNIT Fortitude in his opponent’s half at the end of the game. It turns out that neither of us paid attention to what we rolled and paid no attention to the victory conditions…

Secret Mission

We then had to select our secret mission:

I chose: Hero Hammered – to kill the most amount of NME heroes.

Neil chose: Stash the Cash – to capture and hold a piece of scenery in the opposing NME’s table half.

Terrain

We rolled 4 pieces:

Anvil of Vaul Hill (units within 6″ have flaming and magical attacks) – placed on the south of the map

Scree Slope (Dangerous terrain) (placed on the north of the map)

Mysterious Forest

Building with 3 pieces of wall (counting as hard cover) – NOTE: we messed up and forgot to place the walls.

Neil won the roll to deploy the first bit of scenery and the hills went in the deployment zones and the building and forest in the centre. Neil eventually won the roll to see who deployed first (after we made the same dice roll five times on a row!)

I failed to make extensive notes so any errors are due to my memory and the pictures were taken on a camera phone (and rushed), so excuse the quality.

Deployment

Barlin looked around from his position in the Silvergate Guard, satisfied that the deployment had gone to plan. Immediately to his right Drugin commanded the old grumblers with a unit of quarrellers to his right. Burrnoth had set up his war machines on the hill behind the line with a commanding view of the battlefield. The slayers had been placed on the right flank where they could surge forward and cleanse their shame without jeopardising the line. The left flank would be held by the Harek and his guard of irondrakes, backed up by a second unit of quarrellers.

The final units moved into position just as the daemonic hordes appeared

The organ gun was entrenched, hence the walls round it in the below photo.

Turn 1

The chaos horde stormed forwards with 2 loose formations of winged monstrosities screening the centre troops. Barlin and Harek exchanged a look as they felt an enormous surge of the winds of magic and mentally braced themselves for the inevitable onslaught.

Barlin felt a ripple in the winds and a shadowy pit started to appear under the organ gun. He focused his thoughts, straining and the pit faded away. At the same time Harek was forced to dispel a miasma that was convalescing over the unit of quarrellers. Both of them had broken into heavy sweat and realised that they were facing not just a formidable caster but a greater daemon. They were both taken aback and recovering from the initial wave of magic, when the second wave struck and and were unable to prevent this from impacting. The Silvergate Guard felt their strength ebb away whist the grumblers had a malaise settle on their minds.

The daemonic engine then fired at the organ gun but it fell short, ploughing through the Silvergate guard.

The dwarf return fire was less than spectacular. The cannon struck the daemonic engine and the crews satisfied grunts were cut short as the shot bounced harmlessly off. Both quarreller units unloaded into the advancing furies and cries of dismay were heard as every bolt missed. Burrnoth leant his expertise to the Organ cannon yet a damp fuse meant it only spluttered out a pitiful few shots that failed to make an impact. He frowned and started to inspect the machine to ensure greater performance when next it fired. Barlin concentrated and was able to remove the Hex on his unit and then ordered the gyro to reposition closer to the warmachines.

Turn 2

One of the units of furies launched into the sky dropped down to attack the cannon and tore through two of the crew. The other unit tried to follow suit but got tangled up together falling in a heap a few feet on from where they started. The rest of the daemons slowed their approach and one of the khornites mounted on a juggernaut peeled off to join his compatriot in the centre of the lines. Harek felt the greater daemon try to cast the pit of shadows again and invoked the runes struck on his staff, wiping the spell from its alien mind. He nodded in satisfaction and he felt Barlin dispel another attack. There would be no more magic cast for the minute. His satisfaction was short lived as the reign of chaos struck, smashing into the unit of quarrellers to his right.

The gyrocoptor charged into the flank of the furies in an attempt to save the cannon. Although killing one, his efforts were futile as they ripped the final crewmen apart and turned their attention to him. The slayers could contain themselves no longer and moved towards the bloodcrusher unit advancing on their flank. Harek ordered his unit of irondrakes forward and they proceeded to fire at the beast hiding under the eaves of the house, cutting it down, their flaming shots ensuring that it would not be regenerating at any point in the future. Burrnoth ordered the organ gun to fire at one of the juggernauts and the hail of shot ripped it apart. The unit of quarrellers on the right flank fired on the other Herald and it screamed in rage as several bolts tore into its flesh.

 Turn 3

The daemon horde continued forward, the second unit of furies made it off the ground without mishap and swooped down to attack , their claws piercing one of the organ gun crew. The bloodcrushers charged into the slayers the juggernauts tossing bodies into the air and trampling a rank and a half in a few seconds. Not to be outdone, the slayers struck back with glee hacking 2 of the beasts and riders apart. The Herald in the centre tried to emulate those of the unit he had started the battle with, charging towards the quarrellers but misjudged the distance and left himself dangerously in the open. The Keeper was distracted by the horrors moving into the house and lost its grip on the winds of magic. The horrors nearby started to jibber frantically and a flaming gateway materialise in front of them. Barlin took no chances with whatever nightmare might have sprung forth from such a portal and slammed his staff on the ground wrenching the spell from their minds and scattering it to the ether.

Burrnoth couldn’t take the potential loss of another of his beloved machines and piled into the furies, pistols blazing as he blasted several of daemons from their feet. He was too late as the remainder slew another of the crew. The right flank quarrellers peppered the remaining herald with bolts and there were a few smiles as it faded out of existence. The drakes fired at the beast to their right causing several wounds. The slayers and the bloodcrusher continued to hack at each other. The reign of chaos claimed a few of the shieldbeards but they shook their heads muttering about how this wasn’t as powerful as it had been back in the day, when whole units would have been wiped out.

Turn 4

Barlin could only watch as the skullcannon charged into the quarrellers, smashing the unit apart, Drugin could be heard yelling at them to hold and that and the looks from the longbeards ensured they stayed where they were. On the other flank the Bloodcrushers charged the irondrakes. Carnage ensued as nearly half the drakes were cut down but inspired by Harek they struck back incinerating 3 of the 4 riders. The furies finished off the cannon crew and Burrnoth struck back in revenge nailing one with a headshot. The slayers finished off the remaining Bloodcrusher grumbling over the lucky ones that had met their end. Noticing the devastation that the daemonic engine had caused to the quarrellers, they turned to face it, hopeful that it might provide more of a challenge.

Burrnoth continued to shoot dead furies as they clawed ineffectively at his armour. The slayers charged into the daemon cannon eager to get to grips with a new foe just as it finished off the last of the quarrellers. The other quarreller unit fired everything into the remaining beast, the magical/flaming shots causing it to dissolve and sink into the ground it’s life force expended. The irondrakes finished off the final crusher with ease and reformed to face the Keeper who suddenly looked very worried. Durgin had been watching the advancement of one of the units of horrors and order his unit to charge into them. Barlin taking this as his cue advanced with the hammerers.

Turn 5

The Keeper of secrets shot past Harek and slammed into the quarrellers making short work of the doughty dwarfs. Drugin and the longbeards tore through the unit of horrors and single solitary daemon was left remaining. Seeing that, the remaining horrors backed off as quickly as possible. The slayers finished off the daemonic engine and turned to help the beleaguered Gyro in the centre.

Drugin dispatched the remaining horror and ordered his unit to reform towards the next unit in sight. Barlin ordered the charge against the horrors hidden building but the heavy armour of the Silvergate guard prevented them reaching their target. Harek ordered his unit to turn and face the Keeper of Secrets, firing on the turn and causing it to flinch as burns appeared on its back

Turn 6

The 2 visible units of horrors continued to retreat out of the dwarves reach and the keeper ran away from the irondrakes it’s speed catching them by surprise as it outdistanced their weapons. Burrnoth finally finished off the last of the furies and the other mob of furies sacrificed one of their number in order to bring down the gyrocoptor that had frustrated them.

Barlin ordered the charge and the hammerers assaulted the building but despite inflicting several casualties their attack was repelled. Burrnoth glanced over his shoulder and decided that he would be better off heading away from the keeper. Not that he was scared mind. The slayers then charged in and finished off the last of the furies. At this both sides recognising an unspoken truce withdrew from the field of battle.

Conclusions

Well after chatting, Neil and I both realised that we had completely misread the scenario objectives. Both of us would have deployed completely differently had we clicked on (and Neil definitely would not have retreated his Pink Horror units. As it stood we both agreed it was a draw. We had both obtained our secret objectives and I had the edge in victory points.

Shooting was woeful for the dwarves. It may have made more of an impact if I had positioned my units to prevent the furies charging. After the cannon was charged I should have backed up the hammerers to prevent the 2nd unit of furies having the space to get in. This would have given me another round of organ gun potential carnage.

The slayers performed exceptionally well. I forgot how good they can be. It helped that there was no shooting on the other side as they are often a priority for that. I had a large stroke of luck in both spell eaters destroying their targets (Pit of Shades and Infernal gateway). After that, the magic phase was somewhat ineffective.

The Irondrakes were a solid anvil and managed to dish out a massive amount of damage in one round. The Hammers did nothing all game bar anchor the line. This is something I should probably be aware of. Most opponents know how damaging they can be and will avoid them so I probably need to be more proactive in getting both them and the slayers into combat. I can then use the quarrellers as flank chargers, rather than them receiving the charge, although with Groth, they will hold their ground (unless they are wiped out in one go…)

It was a good game against a great opponent and I learnt a lot about my tournament list and some of its strengths and weaknesses. It is doubtful i’ll get another practice game before the group stages start.

 

 

Dwarves vs Daemons – SELWG comp practice game 1 – part 1

So on Friday I had a chance to play a warm up game against Neil Robin’s Daemons. I regard Neil as one of the better players at the club. Two years ago he won both the 40k and WHFB (with Nurgle daemons) comps and last year he was semi finalist in the whfb (with Lizards)  and won 40k again. I’ve played him a number of times in the last few years with the first number of games being classified as ‘an education’ (he wiped the floor with me) but I have learnt more from him then any other player. The last few games have been mixed – 1 draw and 1 win for me (the win was due to a cascade on his slann but i’ll take it!). He is a great sport so when he proposed switching our Kings of War tester game to a whfb warm up, I jumped at the chance.

Neil’s Army – Daemons of Chaos (EDIT: added in spells and lesser gift rolls from the game)

Keeper of Secrets (Lore of Shadow) + 2 * Lesser Gifts – 530pts

He rolled ASF and D3 impact hits for his gifts and Pit of Shades, Miasma, Enfeebling foe and the Withering for spells

Herald of Khorne + Juggernaut of Khorne + Lesser Gift – 175pts

He rolled a 2+ ward save vs first wound

Herald of Khorne + Juggernaut of Khorne + Lesser Gift – 175pts

He took blade of blood (+1 STR)

4 * Bloodcrushers of Khorne (Full command) + Razor Standard – 335pts

3 * Bloodcrushers of Khorne (Musician + Standard) + Standard of Discipline – 230pts

14 * Pink Horrors (Standard) + Gleaming Pennant – 197pts

Rolled Treason of Tzeentch

10 * Pink Horrors (Standard) + Banner of Swiftness – 155pts

Rolled Infernal Gateway

10 * Pink Horrors (Standard) – 140pts

Rolled Pink fire of Tzeentch

10 * Pink Horrors (Standard) – 140 pts

Rolled Glean Magic

6 * Chaos Furies – 84pts

6 * Chaos Furies – 84pts

1 * Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

1 * Beast of Nurgle – 60pts

1 * Skull Cannon – 135pts

Thoughts

I’ve not played DoC before so had limited ideas on what to expect. Like all chaos armies I would expect him to start as far forward as possible and limit my shooting as much as possible. It should be magic heavy and I must choose with care what spells to try and destroy and dispel the rest as much as I can.

For me I have several priority targets:

Skullcannon – should be targeted as the priority by my cannon as it will surely be targeting my warmachines.

Beasts of Nurgle – Irondrakes primary target as fire based attacks will negate their regen

Keeper of Secrets – If possible take him out with everything to neutralise the magic phase

Bloodcrushers – Slayers should try and hit them at the earliest opportunity together with hammerers.

For the rest, I’ll just wing it and try not to cock up deployment as usual 🙂