Company of the Damned Battle Report: 2800 points of Wood Elves vs. Warriors of Chaos

Last night I had two friends over to get a game of Warhammer with my Wood Elves.  I brought my list I posted the other day  here and Brock brought the following:

The Warriors of Chaos army list is roughly:

Daemon Prince, Level 4 Nurgle

20 Nurgle Warriors with Halberds and BSB

2 Nurgle Chariots

1 Nurgle Gorebeast Chariot

3 Skullcrushers

9 Marauder Horsemen w/ L2 Shadow

Warshrine of Nurgle

Chimera

5 Nurgle Chaos Knights

Deployment:

During deployment I showed my hand too soon and deployed my Glade Guard too early.  This and the fact that my opponent knows all my deployment tricks (where as I will deploy on one side of the field with my fast moving units then in the next movement phase zip over to the other side of the battlefield to engage a flank) made it difficult to pull off my normal chicanery.  Brock was smart in that he deployed his chariots and knights on the far right flank hoping that I would take the bait and deploy the Waywatchers near the Knights so that his Skullcrushers had full access to the Glade Guard on the left side.   Fortunately I was patient and after noting my Glade Guard deployment mistake, I continued with my pre-game plan and thus we have our deployment.

I chose to make the mysterious forest a Venom Thicket.

Turn 1

The Arrow of Kurnous hit the Daemon Prince in the face doing a wound which he then failed to save!  First Blood to the Wood Elves!

The Wood elves got the first turn which was the classic switch to the other side of the board to do battle routine.  The Glade Guard and Waywatchers stayed static however which benefited them greatly as they were able to do six wounds (4 were no armor saves) to the Skullcrushers and reduced them down to 1 model (I was very, very pleased with this turnabout).  The magic phase was uneventful as the Daemon Prince was able to block my spell casting with an irresistible force dispel and a subsequent matching when I attempted to cast Miasma.

The Warriors of Chaos also had a good turn where the entire army shifted hard to the right and I wasn’t able to stop them.  The Spellweaver blocked Stream of Corruption but could not stop Curse of the Leper being cast upon the Daemon Prince.    The Daemon Prince failed to cast Rancid Visitations on the Wildwood Rangers. (phew)

Turn 2

The Treekin charged the Daemon Prince while the Dryads and Treeman moved into position (I had no choice really because the chariots were coming next turn).  The magic phase was a huge success as not only did a Pit of Shades veer off target and nail the Warshrine (destroying it) but also I was able to get Okkam’s Mind Razor off  on the unit of Treekin.  The Shooting phase was a huge success also; I was able to Sniper the Level 2 to death via Waystalker (fast becoming my favorite character) and the Waywatchers/Glade Guard batted clean up on the remaining 9 Marauder Horsemen.  The Treekin took 2 wounds from the Daemon Prince (saving 2 others on their 6+) and dealt 2 more wounds to the already wounded Daemon Prince.  The resulting combat was a tie and both units stuck in there.  I was disappointed as I was hoping that I would blow through the Daemon Prince and smash into the chariots.

Sadly I knew then that I would be taking those on the chin.

Over all, turn 2 was a pretty big success as I was able to delete an entire unit via archery, another by magic and tied up his most destructive character with my heavy infantry.

The Warriors of Chaos decided that they had had enough of my tomfoolery and charged, a lot.  The Daemon Prince attempted to cast Curse of the Leper which was blocked and failed to cast the bigger version of Fleshy Abundance.  Brock cursed as I breathed a sigh of relief.  The impact hits from the chariots did 3 wounds to the Treekin and the Daemon prince and the Chariot Warriors did an additional 3 (I rolled 3 6’s to save).  The Treekin attacked back almost pulping the Daemon Prince with their strength of 8 attacks but he made his ward save but they did an additional 2 wounds each to the chariots but sadly their luck had run out and they were overran by the chariots which ended up slamming into the Treeman.  The Chaos Knights and Dryads fought and the Knights lost one of their own as they trampled the Dryads and smashed into an Eagle.

Turn 3

Turn 3 was a fairly brutal phase for the Wood Elves.  The Wild Riders slammed into the Chaos Knights that were engaged with the Great Eagle.  Meanwhile the rest of the army moved forward to get into position for a multicharge or receive one next turn.  The Daemon Prince blocked the Pit of Shades but was unable to halt the Miasma that tagged his Chaos Warriors or the Mindrazor on the Wild Riders.  The Glade Guard had marched but the Waywatchers began their reign of terror on the Warriors removing 5 guys in one salvo.  Close combat was pretty wild as the Wild Riders killed all but 2 Knights who in turn pulped the Great Eagle before being overrun.  The Wild Riders then slammed into the Chaos Chariot while the Treeman made short work of the already damaged chaos chariot but in turn taking 4 wounds.

The Warriors Turn 3 was just ugly.  The other chariot crashed into the Wild Riders while the Warriors of Chaos charged the Wildwood Rangers.  The Daemon Prince wiped out a unit of Glade Guard by dealing 15 Strength 5 wounds because the unit failed 4 toughness tests.  The Chimera used its breath weapon on the Treeman and killed it.  In close combat the Wild Riders were reduced down to 2 due to Impact hits but were able to kill one of the chariots before being wiped out totally.  The Warriors of Chaos and the Wildwood Rangers fought to a standstill, both of the units suffering casualties (the BSB died to my general in a challenge) but ultimately ending in a push. 

Turn 4

Turn 4 for the Wood Elves was a do or die as the Daemon Prince was in my flank and I would give up a ton of points if he survived and charged me.  So I decided to go for broke.  I charged the Warriors with my Eternal Guard, flew my Eagle behind the Daemon Prince in case he charged the archers and I also moved my archers to face the Daemon Prince.  The Spellweaver attempted to cast Mindrazor but even with her +5 she failed.  The Daemon Prince died when the Waystalker and his Waywatchers downed him with a flurry of arrows that ignored armor saves.  The Wildwood Rangers and my General died but the Eternal Guard were able to run down the Warriors after combat.

Brock decided to go for broke and charged and obliterated my last Great Eagle while his Skullcrusher, not wanting to be shot up by Waywatchers the next turn rearcharged the Eternal Guard.  The Eternal Guard lost combat and only were saved by the Stubborn LD9 reroll thanks to the BSB.  The Eternal Guard then failed to combat reform on LD6.

Turn 5

The phase was rather eventful as the Chimera was destroyed by a Pit of Shades while the Nurgle Chariot fell to massed arrow fire.  The Eternal Guard and BSB died to the Skullcrusher (WTF?)

The lone Skullcrusher, the last bastion of Chaos and the only survivor from the turn 1 onslaught charges the Waywatchers and beats them in combat.  He rolls a 6 when he needed a 7 to crash into the Glade Guard.  He still catches the Waywatchers who rolled a 5 on their flee distance.  The Glade Guard pass their panic test and settle in for the final turn.

Turn 6

The Wood Elves pivot and first reduce the initiative on the Skullcrusher by 3 then the spellweaver manages to land Withering on the Skullcrusher reducing his toughness to 2.  The Glade Guard then unloaded into the Skullcrusher doing 11 wounds of which he failed enough to die!

Wood Elves win.

What was learned:

This game was an excellent game to test out the new army with.  I made some deployment errors and despite not being able to fully utilize the Shadowweaver, it was totally worth it taking Lore of Shadow.  The Forest Spirits have definitely taken a hit in their offensive capabilities but I think synergizing spells like Withering or Mind Razor will help counteract that loss of Strength. 

The Wildwood Rangers are not an anvil unit, I should have positioned them nearer to the Treekin.  I did not wish to charge the Daemon Prince solo but due to deployment and where he ended up, I did not really have a choice.  The Wildwood Rangers however did very, very well with their WS5 and Str5 against the Warriors.  They reduced their saves to a 6+ and despite the Mark of Nurgle, and killed well. 

I should have pursued the Skullcrusher right off the bat, as I would probably had more units left at the end of the game.  I am glad that I managed to kill the Warshrine by accident as I was concerned about extra buffs.  During our game fortunately nothing spectacular came out of the challenges other than models dying. 

I will need to wither any unit I am going to engage with the elves, that or get mindrazored.  Even with a great weapon and Init 8, my general was hard pressed to do enough damage before return attacks hit him back.  Wildriders are absolutely great, they are just perfect for what you need to do with that unit – full offense. 

Archery is not as great as it used to be, the loss of the no-movement penalties hurts in that less hits were being scored than I was used to.  Fortunately I roll a lot of 6’s so Poisoned attacks helps a lot.  I may try a game or two with Trueflight after his list has survived another five or six match ups. I think the terrain in this game also saved the Warriors bacon a lot as I did not have many shooting opportunities due to the manor house and fence in the middle of the table. 

Brock had a good time and was pleased that he almost tabled me.  There are definitely some growing pains with this new army set up but I think that I’ll be successful with it.

Closing Thoughts:

1.       I need to make sure I stick to my game plan on how I want the attack talons to work.  Due to poor deployment I had to break off the Eagles to give “easy points” targets to my opponents or make them stress the +3 rear + charge resolution they provide in combat. 

2.       I need to position my archers a lot better.  Now that they will be fairly more static, I need to ensure my deployment doesn't block line of sight or prevent them from being shot due to close combat.

3.       The Eternal Guard and Wildwood Rangers are great if used in tandem.  If used by themselves, you need to rely heavily on luck.

4.       Lore of Shadow is an excellent choice for the Wood Elves.  It helps counteract the lack of high strength in the army.

5.       The Waystalker is a holy terror.  Brock remarked that had he been smarter he would have tried to nail the Waywatchers and Waystalker with Rancid Visitations early on in the game.

6.       Impact hits annihilate this army.  This hasn't really changed from the last book but due to the increase in offensive might on units like Wild Riders, they really need to get the charge off and prevent units that can do impact hits from doing so.

7.       Always Strike First is incredible as it increased the offensive effectiveness of the army in close combat.

8.       Nurgle is a douche and I hate that army.

As I continue using the newer units and learning how the army has changed, I will post up more reports.

That’s it for now.

Black Sheep Brawl - Tournament Results!

This weekend I had the pleasure of competing in the first annual Black Sheep Brawl at Borderlands Games in Salem, OR.  Chris Bailey and Paul Wilworth of the Order of the Black Sheep gaming club organized and ran this 2400 point Warhammer Fantasy tournament.  The event was filled to capacity with 32 players and had a fairly diverse assembly of armies.  The Brawl was a three round tournament that used the standard basic rule book scenarios with a few modifications.  My cohosts from The Deployment Zone Podcast and I as well as a large number of the Ordo Fanaticus gaming club were in attendance at the event.  We will be putting out a special 6.5 episode which covers the Brawl.

I chose to bring my Wood Elves since there was going to be a painting portion in the overall judging and also because it's my favorite army.  As I mentioned earlier, there was a fairly diverse group of armies that showed up to the event and oddly enough there were seven dwarf armies present (ungh).  I believe every army was present with the exception of Beastmen and Dark Elves.  The tournament was  roaring success and the energy and attitude was both very, very good.  Everyone at the event had a good time and Chris managed to garner a rather large amount of prize support for the event.  There were several prizes and awards given out at the end of the tournament and I personally look forward to the next Brawl.
My list for the Black Sheep Brawl:
Highborn, extra hand weapon, Bow of Loren, Arcane Bodkins, Scout Kindred
10 Waywatchers
14 Glade Guard w/ Standard Bearer and Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame
14 Glade Guard w/ Standard Bearer and Musician
10 Dryads w/ Branch Nymph
6 Wild Riderds w/ full command
6 Treekin
1 Great Eagle
1 Great Eagle
Level 4 Spellweaver, Rageth's Blades, Rhymer's Harp, Lore of Life
Noble, BSB, Asendyl's Bane, Dragon Helm, Light Armor, Hail of Doom Arrow
18 Eternal Guard w/ full command

My first opponent was Tim (TJP on the Ordo forums) and his Warriors of Chaos army.
His army was composed of the following:
Level 4 Sorcerer Lord - Nurgle
Level 2 Sorcerer
20 Marauders, full command
Hellcannon
Warshrine
18 Warriors w/ Mark of Khorne and Extra hand weapons
18 Warriors w/ Mark of Tzeentch and Halberds and a BSB Hero
2 x5 Marauder Horsemen
3 Trolls
5 Warhounds

The first scenario was the Battle of the Pass that had an additional scenario rule that the Donkey Keg Cart worth 500 vps at the end of the game if you have possession of it at the end of the game.  The deployment for the Warriors of Chaos was primarily centralized near the center.  I think Tim's strategy was to control the center and surround the cart.  I deployed heavily to in the center so that I could easily swing to the right and own the flank.  Tim got first turn and at first the game was swinging his way until the bottom of round 2 when he lost both units of Marauder Horsemen, his Warhounds, and his Level 4 on the disc.  Over the course of 4 more rounds Tim had everything except his Warshrine and his Battle Standard Bearer slain and I scored a victory with 2532 vps to 713.  Tim was a great opponent who also pointed out a rule that I had been incorrectly playing which was that flying units may charge over others.  That adds a whole new level of annoyance to my strategies!

The second game I played against John and his Warriors of Chaos.  He had a substantially different list than Tim and this game was played on the second table.  John had the following units in his army:
1 Level 4 Sorcerer Lord on a Disc
1 Level 2 Sorcerer Lord on a Disc
30 Warriors of Chaos with halberds, Blasted Standard and Mark of Tzeentch
30 Chosen of Chaos with halberds, Banner of Rage and Mark of Tzeentch
1 BSB Exalted Hero
2 Warshrines

The second scenario was the first battle mission - Battle Line with all terrain being mysterious.  A river bisected the table and successfully split the board.  John deployed his Chosen on one side of the table and his 2 sorcerers, warshrines and his Warriors on the other.  I set up almost my entire army in the center and left side of my deployment zone.  My goal was to avoid his Chosen and pick apart his army and deal with the Chosen last.  The double war shrine was pretty tough since he was able to augment his Chosen twice a turn and give them some serious punch.  In the first turn I managed to slay his General on the disc then I Dwellers Below'd his unit of Warriors reducing them by 17.  The Chaos Sorcerer on a disc and Warshrine paniced and ran through the unit of Chaos Warriors causing them to flee.  The next turn my Great Eagles ran off 2 units off the board while the Chosen continued to march toward their targets - my archers.  In the end I managed to destroy everything in his army except the Chosen who I fed a unit of Glade Guard and 2 Eagles and my Wild Riders to keep them from running through the army.  I ended up scoring a victory with 1600 vps to 713.  Thank you for the fun game John!

The third game was played on the second table again and this time instead of Warriors of Chaos I got to fight John's brother Chad and his Chaos Dwarves.  This was a seriously fun game and I got to see just how strong the new Chaos Dwarf army was.  The scenario was the Blood and Glory mission with the addition of three to four smoke elementals that provided cover modifiers to shooting and when charging or fleeing you rolled an additional dice and discarded the highest if you charged through it.  The smoke elementals drifted 1d6 per turn.
Chad decided to bring the following:
Level 3 Sorcerer Prophet on Bale Taurus
2 Level 2 Daemonsmiths
2 Dreadquake Mortars
12 Infernal Guard w/ Fireglaives
30 Internal Guard w/ Great Weapons
Castellan BSB
8 Bull Centaurs

Once again I did not get first turn and got to see first hand how powerful the Dreadquake Mortars are as they shelled and caused my Treekin, Glade Guard and Waywatchers to stay put for the first turn.  The Dreadquake Mortar causing all of my affected units to take Dangerous Terrain tests whenever I moved is crippling to the Wood Elf army since mobility and movement is one of their strengths.  On my turn I managed to charge his Bull Centaurs in the flank with my Wild Riders and hit his General on the Taurus with my Eternal Guard.  My Spellweaver Dwellered half of his Infernal Guard with the BSB in it reducing them by 13 models, and I caused his Bull Centaurs and General to flee combat costing Chad one of his standards.  Turn 2 reduced my Treekin down to three models and he managed to reduce one of my Glade Guard units by 4.  The bottom of turn 2 resulted in the General being charged, challenged and caught as he fled combat which provided me with a 720 to 0 victory over the Chaos Dwarves.

The tournament results were listed here.  I went 3-0 through the entire tournament and ended up winning Best Overall and was crowned Grand Champion of the Black Sheep Brawl 2012!
This was the Trophy I received:

The results:
Winners:
Overall: John Kersey - Lord of Awesome
Brush Master: Moses Jones
Exalted General: Maurice Maynard
Most Excellent Opponent: Ellie


I would like to thank Chris and Paul and all the others for running an excellent tournament and I had an absolute blast.  I am also pleased that the Wood Elves made a killer showing and winning the entire tournament was an excellent way to start the new year!

The next day my Alabama Crimson Tide won the National Championship over LSU!  ROLL TIDE!!!

Holiday Havoc - 3k Tournament for Toys for Tots

This past Saturday I participated in the Holiday Havoc Toys for Tots tournament at Dice Age Games in Vancouver, WA.  It was a small tournament only having ten players, I would have liked to have seen more but I think due to scheduling and the holiday season that we could only get what we could.  The tournament was based off the holidays and so each scenario was designed with a holiday theme associated with it.  The tournament organizer Jim, did an excellent job of setting up the tables and pre-labeling the Mysterious Terrain.

The tournament had the following qualifications/restrictions/features:
1. Closed list - I rarely play against someone and not exchange lists before hand so this was a tad bit weird for me.  It didn't matter however since all my opponents and I exchanged lists anyway out of habit.
2.  Pre-determined mysterious terrain.  Each table had the terrain already established and a key was placed on each table.
3.  3000 points, no Grand Army Rules.  (Perhaps my favorite feature of the entire tournament)
4.  Everyone needed to bring a Christmas themed model to be their Santa's Helper.  I had a Snoopy wearing a Santa hat for mine. He was righteous.
5.  Everyone had to pay $20 in the form of a toy for Toys for Tots or you could buy one of the predetermined Toys at the store as well.

The other big thing I wanted to establish was that this was termed a "Friendly tournament" where we are grading Sportsmanship as an important factor. The prize support was entirely based off raffle tickets rather than "so and so won all his games so he gets the prize".  It really helped create a more friendly atmosphere for the tournament in general.

Since the tournament was a "Closed List" tournament, I was not able to obtain my opponent's lists.  That makes it hard when I'm attempting to recreate the lists in Battle Chronicler so I'll have to do a shoddy summary for all three games.  If my opponents send me their lists via the Ordo website then I'll do another report where I  show some battle scenes.  I realize it would be 1000x easier to do this if I took pictures but my god damn SD card got fried on my phone and SanDisk is slower than hell getting me a replacement. grrr.....

All three scenarios can be seen here since Raindog managed to obtain 3 copies of the scenarios and posted them on the Ordo.  They can be found here along with some pictures taken.

Game 1: Wood Elves vs. Lizardmen

This scenario was "Battle for the Pass".
The Special Rules: Each player had a Santa Statue in their deployment zone.  You needed to capture your opponents while still maintaining control of yours.

Lizardmen are a tough army against opponents with high strength.  They are exceptionally difficult for Wood Elves to defeat when they have big blocks of models and lots of monsters.  My opponent Mike and I had a great time, it was a really close game til the last turn where he managed to turn the tide with his general.

This game I set up with all my flying units and fast cavalry on the left flank and the rest of my army near the right center. When it became my turn I shifted all my army to the right side and decided to overpower and dominate his flank.  This tactic was working out very well and I was confident of a victory until my opponent got Throne of Vines off and then Flesh to Stone at +4 Toughness two turns in a row on a unit of Saurus Warriors.  My plan had been to blow through that unit, reform and hit his Temple Guard in the rear with Treekin/Eagles and hopefully wipe out the left and center flank.  Sadly, my Treekin were not able to break the unit until the last turn.   My Eternal Guard, Treeman and Dryads were grinding against one of his Ancient Stegadons and his general on a carnosaur.  Mike secured victory in the last turn by killing the last Eternal Guard at the top of turn 6 and his General using the Blade of Realities slaying my toughness 10 Treeman by scoring a single wound.

I lost this game because of 3 major factors:
1.  I did not want to annihilate my sportsmanship score by shooting his General off his carnosaur turn 1.  I should have done this because the Blade of Realities was perhaps the most deciding factor of our game.  Oh well =).
2.  I wasn't able to prevent Throne of Vines and Flesh to Stone from being cast 2 consecutive times in a row which was absolutely brutal.  I can't complain much because this is the same tactic I use on my Treekin to make them Toughness 9.  Huge, huge help to my opponent getting those spells off.
3.  I should have maneuvered my Wild Riders into a better position because I threw a 296 point unit into a block of Temple Guard unsupported due to overrun.

Overall, it was a few errors in judgement but a great game nonetheless.

Wood Elves lost 16-5 by a 400 point victory margin.

Game 2: Wood Elves vs. Orcs and Goblins

The scenario was "Watchtower".
The Special Rules:  The watchtower was Santa's sleigh and if you controlled it you were able to have it attack for you.  Those reindeer don't mess around.  The sleigh functions as both the Watchtower and an Oathstone.

I have a love/hate relationship with Orcs and Goblins.  I either completely annihilate them or I get thrashed.  I played against Matt who brought a rather impressively balanced Orcs and Goblins army.  He brought 2 Giants and 2 units of Black Orcs in it.

I once again set up on the left side and had the intention of dominating a flank and getting behind my opponent's lines.  This game I was playing rather aggressively but I made so many errors in judgement and had some pretty monumentally bad rolls that cost my the utilization of 1/4th my army for most of the game.  I started out pretty well on his left side, killing one unit and causing panic for a few others and having them run off the board.  I unfortunately didn't read the table rules about the special terrain and ended up losing half my unit of Waywatchers to a Sinister statue, that was a huge issue.  That was my first of three big mistakes in the first turn which haunted my the rest of the game.  The second came when I flew my Spellweaver over and she attempted to Dwellers Below his unit of Night Goblins.  I failed the casting attempt and ended up taking 2 wounds from a Spear Chukka and she died the next round from a Doom Diver.  The third and final error was misunderstanding where the Flaming Banner was and charging the unit with his general and 20 black orcs with flaming attacks with my Treekin.    Matt was able to get a lot of good charges off and his Night Goblins were dynamite at holding up my Wild Riders for 4 turns.
I also learned a new rule - you get +1 combat ress for holding the higher ground!
My archers also decided to almost all run off the table in the same turn, was rather sad =(.

I was doing very well in the beginning and it was beginning to look like I might break his army along one of the flanks until a few major errors in judgement happened.  In the end I lost, he still had his unit of 50 boys, an orc chariot, a unit of Night Goblins and other unit of Black Orcs on the board while I only had my Treeman, 2 eagles, 14 Glade Guard and my Wood elf hero on an eagle on the table.  Substantial victory to Matt and I had a great game.  Matt displayed a LOT of great sportsmanship and received my favored opponent choice.

I lost this game due to these factors:
1. I am always preaching about "Never single charge a unit, always combo charge, know what you are charging into, etc..".  Well... you have to practice what you preach.  Charging my Treekin unsupported into that unit of Flaming bannered Black Orcs was very ill advised.  It cost my a 390 point unit at the bottom of the second round and I was backpedaling in the center after that the entire game.
2.  I did not read the table terrain rules, I really regret doing that since I would have played a bit better on the flank and probably had more success on his flank than I did.
3.  I failed 3 crucial LD10 tests in a row.  This cost me 2 units of Glade Guard and my Waywatchers/General.  I was able to salvage one Glade Guard unit at the end but losing my ability to shoot for 3 turns crippled my army.
4.  I was too aggressive on the right flank and center.  I should have held off another turn before making my decision to control the center of the board.  Had I been able to slink around the back and get the appropriate placement I wanted I would have done a lot better.

Wood Elves lost again 18 to 7.

Game 3: Wood Elves vs. Empire.

The scenario was: "Blood and Glory".
Special Rules:  None

I played against my friend Roy's Empire army.  Roy had bunkered himself in behind a couple of fences and had spread out his army pretty well.  I decided to attack his flank when he began to Mortar the hell out of my army.  Three turns of him not rolling anything but "HIT" on the scatter die was a bit frustrating.  It was looking like I might lose the game before I even hit his line because he had reduced 4 units, 3 of which contained 6 Fortitude points down below 25%.  I was actually fleeing with my General.  The game was looking to be in Roy's favor and the Wood Elves were looking to go 0 and 3 for the first time ever in a tournament, (Hell me going 0 and 2 was a first!) until the top of turn 3 when I performed the following actions that turned the tide.
1. I discovered the Wyrding Well and began to replenish my depleted units.
2. My general rallied on a 2.
3.  I charged his 50 man block with his general and a banner with my Treeman.  He rolled 10, 10, 12 for his two leadership tests and his distance and runs off the table.
4. Treekin/Eagles/Eternal Guard defeat 2 units and cause Roy to fall below his fortitude and I win.

Wood Elves win 19-5.

Roy, Mike and I ended up winning the Raffle at the end of the tournament and I picked up this bad boy:

The tournament was an awesome and fun time, I bend my cap to Jim for running it.  I also wanted to thank Dice Age Games for hosting the tournament.  They had quite a selection and an excellent gaming space.

It was also a great mental check for me.  It was good to see that even with some really big mistakes that I shouldn't have made but I did, my army is still able to hold up pretty well even when things are not going my way.  Now I can say "I made this mistake and that mistake" etc... but that should in no way diminish my opponent's win.  They did well and I can't complain that I didn't have a good time.  I did not play my army the way I normally do and because of it I lost 2 games and almost lost a 3rd.

I'll be hopefully providing Battle Chronicler reports when my opponents send me their lists and I can show you the highlights.

I'll be going over all of these again on our podcast The Deployment Zone and thanks for reading!

By Daemons...be driven! Wood elves vs. Daemons of Chaos

Friday night yielded two rather fun games of Warhammer Fantasy for me.  I had the chance to take on a rather unconventional but fun Daemons of Chaos list.  We had decided to play at 3000 points with no grand army rules.  I've always had a bit of trepidation going up against Daemons since they are incredibly tough and have the uncanny knack of killing everything they go up against.  I had originally planned on using my Beastmen since I wanted to get more practice with them but I couldn't create a list at 3k that I was happy with (oh the joys of making "the list") so I chose to use my Wood elves.
So... here are the two lists brought.

Chaos United 

General - Daemon Prince - unmarked w/ ASF power and no armor saves power.

20 Bloodletters w/ full command

Herald of Khorne on Juggernaut 

3 Bloodcrushers w/ Standard bearer/mus

Herald of Tzentch w/ Loremaster? of Beasts power, Level 2

20 Pink Horrors w/ full command

Herald of Nurgle on Paliquin? Level 1 - annoying Miasma spell and Always strike last power - seriously F Nurgle.

20 Plaguebearers

Herald of Slaanesh - Level 1 

20 Daemonettes w/ full command

6 Flamers of Tzeentch

5 Nurglings

5 Seekers of Slaanesh

5 Chaos Furies

Opponent:  Derek

3000 Pts - Wood Elves Roster - The Great Hunt, War Host of Athel Loren

Waywatcher Lord Sylvos Greystorm the Huntsman, Ranger General of Athel Loren (1#, 244 pts)

1 ×Wood Elf Highborn, 244 pts (General; Scout Kindred; Hand Weapon; Longbow; Extra Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Extra Attack)

1 The Bow of Loren

1 Enchanted Shield

1 Arcane Bodkins

The Stalkers of the Silent Path (10#, 240 pts)

10 Waywatchers, 240 pts (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon; Longbow; Extra Attack; Scouts; Skirmishers)

The Farstriders of Lady Dreamsinger (14#, 196 pts)

14 Glade Guard, 196 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Longbow)

1 Banner of Eternal Flame

The Twilight Host (14#, 186 pts)

14 Glade Guard, 186 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Longbow)

The Handmaidens of Durthu, the Verdant Rage (10#, 132 pts)

9 Dryads, 132 pts (Causes Fear; Skirmishers)

1 Branch Nymph

Archdruidess Nysa Greystorm the Storm Maiden, Hierophant of Athel Loren (2#, 330 pts)

1 Spellweaver, 330 pts (Level 4 Upgrade; Hand Weapon; Longbow)

1 Great Eagle (Flyer; Stomp)

1 Glamorweave

Lady Nepenthia Dreamsinger, Stormsinger of Athel Loren (1#, 125 pts)

1 Wood Elf Noble (Battle Standard Bearer), 125 pts (Hand Weapon; Battle Standard Bearer)

1 Armour of Fortune

The Spears of Loren, Storm Wardens of Coeth-Mara (19#, 303 pts)

18 Eternal Guard, 303 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std)

1 Guardian

1 Razor Standard

The Wolfkin, Feral Knights of Durthu (6#, 390 pts)

6 Tree Kin, 390 pts (Causes Fear; Flammable; Scaly Skin)

The Outriders of Twilight, Huntsmen of Kurnous (10#, 296 pts)

9 Wild Riders of Kurnous, 296 pts (Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Spear; Light Armour; Fast Cavalry; Magic Resistance (1))

1 Wild Hunter (Spear; Light Armour)

10 Elven Steed

Scryah, the Last Shadow (1#, 50 pts)

1 Great Eagle, 50 pts (Flyer)

Gwynador, the Scion of the Sethayla (1#, 50 pts)

1 Great Eagle, 50 pts (Flyer)

Dornatha the Verdant Rage (1#, 285 pts)

1 Treeman, 285 pts (Causes Terror; Flammable; Large Target; Scaly Skin; Stubborn; Thunder Stomp)

Cyre Winterwolf, the Storm Lord of Athel Loren (2#, 171 pts)

1 Wood Elf Noble, 171 pts (Hand Weapon; Longbow; Spear; Light Armour; Shield)

1 Great Eagle (Flyer; Stomp)

1 Dragonhelm

1 Stone of the Crystal Mere

Total Roster Cost: 2998

We played two games - the first one ended in a draw but at around turn 4 I realized I hadn't been keeping track of what happened per turn so I asked if we were going to play another and was told "hell yes".  So...we have a battle report for 1 game!

Game type: Battle Mission 1 - Battle Line
Deployment: 12" from long board edge
Mysterious Terrain - 2 Forests

Deployment:

As you can see the Daemons chose to consolidate their strength in the center and placed their fast moving units on the left side.  The Wood Elves chose to lean a little more to their left as well but with all the flying units in the army my opponent knew I could pick and choose what flank I wanted per turn.  I chose to keep my Waywatchers nearby this game for fear of his Flamers of Tzeench.  I however forgot three very important things - skirmishers, 6" move and 18" range shots.  Meh...anyway.  Daemon's got first turn which was unfortunate...

Turn 1 - Daemons of Chaos

The Daemon's first turn went pretty well.  the Flamers reduced the Waywatchers down to 3 models from 10 but they held their ground after a successful leadership test.  The Nurglings moved right in front of my line to serve as a speed bump so that Derek could maneuver his units better.  The Magic phase went pretty well for the Daemons: Wyssan's Wildform was cast on the Daemonettes, Phantasmagoria went off (I seriously hate that damn spell), Amber Spear and Miasma were dispelled.

Turn 1 - Wood Elves

The Great Hunt decided to do a little switcheroo here.  The Treeman and Eternal Guard charged the Nurglings, crushed them in combat and the Eternal Guard overran into the Bloodcrushers.  The Glade Guard with the Flaming banner killed a Bloodcrusher.  The rest of the army as you can see moved to the far right side of my opponent's flank while my Dryads moved up to prevent a flank charge on my Treekin.  Magic phase went well for me, I was able to get Throne of Vines off and hit my Eternal Guard with Regeneration and my Treekin with +4 Toughness making them T9.  Regrowth was dispelled on the Waywatchers =(

Turn 2 - Daemons

Here is where I began to sweat bullets a bit.  The Daemonettes and Bloodletters charge my Treekin.  The Plaguebearers charge my Treeman.  The Furies and the Seekers manage to swing up on my flank and rear.  The Magic phase fortunately was hugely favorable to me, the Herald of Tzeentch miscast Wyssan's Wildform on the Daemonettes and lost 4 or so Horrors to the explosion and lost the rest of their magic dice. The Flamers of Tzeentch absolutely vaporized the Dryads which was ...lame.  The Treekin, Eternal Guard and Treemen won their combats but the Daemon's held with minimal losses.  I began to respect the Monsters and Monstrous Infantry of the Wood Elves more and more.

Turn 2 - Wood Elves

This turn went well for the Wood Elves as far as shooting went.  I multicharged the hell out of the Plaguebearers with my Eagles and Hero.  I rear charged the Bloodcrushers with the Wild Riders.  The Spellweaver still had Throne of Vines up cast Regrowth on the Waywatchers restoring 4.  Regeneration was dispelled on the Eternal Guard but I still got Toughness off on the Treekin making them T9 once again.  The Treekin lost combat by 1 but still held with a 6.  The Plaguebearers and their multicombat didn't really do much and the Plaguebearers lost by 2 and were fine.  The Bloodcrushers weathered the storm well against the Eternal Guard and won the combat by 1 but both Wild Riders and Eternal Guard held.

Turn 3 - Daemons

The Daemons managed to get a pretty good magic phase going - Miasma was cast and nerfed the hell out of my Treeman.  Phantasmagoria was cast again which screwed my Glade Guard but we'll talk about that in a minute.  Flickering Fires of Tzeentch was cast inflicting 2 Str 6 shots on my Glade Guard.  The Flamers of Tzeench still on their unholy rampage inflicted enough casualties to make my Glade Guard run.  I rolled like a  2, 6 and 5 which meant I was running (thx phantasmagoria) and I failed my BSB reroll as well.  Lovely.  The nerfed Treeman and Eagles still manage to obliterate the Plaguebearers finally.  Here is where we screwed up and the Eagles and Treemen should have just reformed after winning but we overran a D6.  I think we were tired but that's ok it didn't impact the game much at if at all.

Turn 3 - Wood Elves

The Wood elf eagles flew behind the Treekin combat while the Treeman did his lumbering beast thing.  The Spellweaver had Regrowth and Throne of Vines dispelled as well as Flesh to Stone.  She did manage to get Regeneration off on the Eternal Guard.  The close combats continued to grind out, each side holding or only losing 1 or 2 models after disruption.  The Glade Guard that were fleeing ran off the table while the other archers put some hurt on the Flamers of Tzeentch.

Turn 4 - Daemons

Turn 4 went pretty well for the Daemons.  Bolt of change and Flamers reduced my recently regrown Waywatchers down to just my General.  The Daemonettes were boosted with Wyssan's Wildform and the Treekin were hexed with Curse of Anwhatever.  The Treekin ended up dying in close combat finally and the Daemonettes and Bloodletters reformed to face the two Eagles in their rear.  The Bloodcrushers died against the Eternal Guard, Wild Riders and Hero...finally..


Turn 4 - Wood Elves

This round went well I think.  I charged the Bloodletter block with both Great eagles and the Hero hoping to  do enough wounds to slow them down.  The Spellweaver got absolutely nothing off this turn since she rolled a 2 and a 1 for power dice.  The General joined the Glade Guard and killed the remaining Flamer (yay!)  After my charges were resolved I immediately realized my mistake in that I should have charged the Bloodletters with my Eternal Guard or Wildriders and not the Hero but oh well.

Turn 5 - Daemons

I began to get tired cause I dont really remember where he moved his Pink Horrors but I do know that I was pretty effective at dispelling his casting except for Phantasmagoria got off AGAIN.  The Eagles and Hero were slaughtered and the Bloodletters slammed into the flank of my Treemen that was engaged with the Daemonettes when the Bloodletters caught a fleeing eagle.  The Treeman however still held!

Turn 5 - Wood Elves

The Wild Riders rear charged the Bloodletters block while the Eternal Guard flank charged the Pink Horrors.  The unit champion of the Eternal Guard was slaughtered by the herald of Tzeentch.  The Bloodletters and Daemon Prince were killed by the Treeman and Wild Riders.  The Daemonettes were still holding tough however.  The Pink Horrors lost by a lot and lost a rank of models but managed to combat reform.  The Spellweaver was able to cast Regeneration on the Eternal Guard but Throne of Vines, Regrowth and Flesh to Stone were dispelled.

Turn 6 - Daemons

Not much happened this turn other than the Daemonettes reducing the Treeman down to 1 wound and the Pink Horrors holding firm against the Eternal Guard.  The Treeman whiffed on his attacks against the Herald and once again Phantasmagoria was cast  and the Treeman held!  Glean magic was cast which stole Regrowth and replenished some of the Horrors lost in the previous round.  Grr...

Turn 6 - Wood Elves

This round went well but almost went badly.  I managed to get Throne of Vines, Regrowth and Flesh to Stone off on the Eternal Guard.  The Wild Riders did a valiant charge to assist the ailing Treeman.  I had hoped that the 6 Wild Riders left would be able to turn the tide and kill the Daemonettes.  I was wrong.  The Daemonettes chewed through the Treeman and the Wild Riders, killing both units.  The Eternal Guard managed to wipe out the Pink Horrors and secured the win.

The Wood Elves win against Daemons of Chaos.

I made some tactical errors that game as far as charges and placement of certain units.  Over all however I liked that this game was just brutal.  I will continue to use the Spellweaver and Hero on Great Eagles.  That worked out very well for me and I'm sure that in time they will be shot off their mounts but I'll just have to exercise caution around warmachines.

MVP's for Daemons - Flamers of Tzeentch - killed 3 units that are very essential to the Wood Elf army.
MVP for Wood Elves - Treekin - holding out that long against 2 melee blocks which allowed me to get into position = huge.

I really enjoyed this army.  Props to Derek for using a Daemon Prince and all 4 heralds for his theme.  I think that having all 4 powers present lead by an unaligned really gave me pause since I wasn't sure how to prioritize targets well.  This army was also deceptively brutal.  Loremaster Beasts meant that he could at any time turn into a Dragon or augment every character with +3 str/attacks.  Frightening synergy with Heralds/Daemons.  Great game Derek, thank you!

Hope this wasn't too long of a read, I'll be working on a method to shorten the Battle Reports and make them a little better.  I'll also be going over this battle and the draw I had on the new Podcast called
The Deployment Zone . (Also located on iTunes).

Thanks!

Ogre Kingdoms vs. Wood Elves.

The other night provided me with a first hand look at the new Ogre Kingdoms army in action. Ever since the new book came out I’d been dying to see how the Ogres perform on the battlefield and so when Nick asked me to bring my “pansy leaf bitches” to the table to give his Ogres their crucible, I readily agreed! When Nick requested that we play at 3000 points, I was jazzed since that meant I’d be taking on a fully kitted out Ogre army.

I’m going to depart from this anecdote briefly to segue into point levels and 8th edition games. Having played a ton of games now in 8th edition, I feel that there is definitely a sweet spot for point levels in this edition. In 7th edition 2250 seemed to be the best mix of points/units but I’ve found that less is not necessarily better in 8th. I tend to prefer playing at 2500 and above for the standard friendly/competitive game. 2500 points is really where you see the balance settle in to the game in 8th edition and you can understand what the developers had in mind. The game play in 8th edition is so streamlined that the larger point level battles really take no longer than some of the smaller point values. When I play a game the difference in time between playing at 2500 points and 3000 is almost negligible.

The newer army books that have come out for 8th edition: Orcs and Goblins, Tomb Kings and now Ogre Kingdoms all seem to function very well and seem very balanced at 2500-3000 points. When you go below that level you can begin to see some glaring issues that make each army not function as intended. I will attempt to take on each of the 8th edition armies at 2500 and at 3000 points in the next few months and provide a battle report with turn by turn accounting.

Getting back on point with the post, I was really excited to play the new Ogres and see how they perform. The army has received several critical upgrades and new units that have really changed how the army works. You still have a bunch of fat guys running around looking for food, but now they have bigger and meaner friends to help. The addition of new monsters and warmachines to the army also has really augmented their effectiveness and provided some much needed versatility. I have to say that I’m fairly impressed that the authors managed to write yet another army book that is decent in every phase of the game.



I’ll provide the list that Nick brought and then make some comments on how the units performed against my Wood Elves. I’ll also give a brief summary of the synergy that we saw during our game(s) and how well the army worked. I don’t remember what magic items each char had with the exception of the magic banners.

The Roaring Maw Clan

General – Level 4 Slaughtermaster - Nick chose to use a Level 4 as his general using the Great Maw as the lore. Granting access to Lore of Beasts, Death and Heavens in addition to the updated and highly effective Lore of the Great Maw is a pretty formidable boost. After our game Nick said he would probably find the points to allow for another caster or two in order to get Wyssan’s Wildform or Miasma into his army. Even without a lot of augments this caster was unbelievably difficult to kill. I believe he had a 4+ ward save and had taken the Gruts Sickle arcane item.

-The Grut’s Sickle item is pretty amazing for what it does. It essentially turns your Wizard into a Level 6 caster due to the +2 to all spell attempts. Now let’s also evaluate one other thing – Lore of the Great Maw. Taking into account the Lore Attribute – Bloodgruel (roll a d6, on a 1 you take a wound, 2-6 you recover a wound and receive +1 to the next casting/dispel attempt) and the boost from the Grut’s Sickle is pretty sick. Having your Slaughtermaster casting spells at +7 when it’s not a Storm of Magic game is kind of …..wtf? Now I do realize that if your caster rolls double 1’s when he uses Grut’s Sickle he’s killed outright but that’s well worth the risk to get an additional +2 to +3 to your casting attempts.

- Lore of the Great Maw went through some substantial changes that I really have to comment on before going further. In my game with Ogres, two spells seriously defined how bad ass Ogres can be using their main Lore: Trollguts and Toothcracker. Providing all units within 12” +1 to Toughness and 4+ Regeneration with 2 spells is ridiculously powerful. It get’s even more ridiculously powerful when that unit is a Horde… Anyway, the Lore of the Great Maw has been altered and rewritten to be incredibly effective AND fitting for the army. Another big change is that all the Ogre spells are no longer “Stays in Play” but rather Augments. The tactic to let the Ogre caster get his buffs off and then dispel them next turn with little effort is now over. You really need to counter these new spells or suffer the consequences.

• Spinemarrow – granting units of Monstrous Infantry Stubborn is brilliant, allowing the spell to affect all units within 12”…genius!

• Bullgorger – +1 Strength is never a bad thing, especially when it can affect all units within 12”.

• Toothcracker – as I mentioned before, brilliant spell.

• Braingobbler – make a unit suffer a panic test? Not a bad hex.

• Trollguts – as mentioned earlier, Regeneration is already awesome but every unit within 12” getting it? What….? Ouch.

• The Maw – haha this is a great spell. I had it cast on me twice during our game and both times it was pretty effective. The fact that the template makes you roll an initiative test to take a Str 3 or Str 7 hit is pretty awesome. Even if you pass…you fail! I can see this spell being devastating against low initiative armies – Lizardmen, Beastmen, Undead, etc..



Bruiser – The Bruiser he brought was his Battle Standard Bearer and I don’t remember if he had anything special on him like a Standard or a Ward Save. Obviously it’s a tough Ogre with plenty of attacks.



Hunter – The Hunter he brought was his Warmachine hunter. I remember him using that Harpoon Spear a few times until I got annoyed enough to shoot him up in about Turn 4. I really like this hero choice and if I were running Ogres I would definitely take this option and put him with a few Sabretusks and give him the +1 movement name. He’s pretty durable and can take out any warmachine or serve as a pretty awesome flank charge unit.



Firebelly – Ha ha, man…what a great choice to add to this army. Pacific Islander theme aside, this was a great choice (despite the fact that he was playing Wood Elves that have flammable units). The lore they added behind his hero selection is pretty awesome and having to deal with a Toughness 5 caster that can get up to 4 flaming attacks and has a Breath weapon? He also had an item called the Hellheart which is a one use item that causes all enemy casters to suffer a Miscast within 5d6” inches.



7 Ironguts – The Ironguts were tough and annoying before this new book came out and they still are now! Nick took 7 Ironguts with the Dragonmaw banner. Aside from the Racial Universal rules there were really no changes to the Ironguts in this book other than I believe point costs. Nick used the Dragonmaw banner which allowed his Ironguts to reroll 1’s during the turn they charge and also provided the standard bearer with a Str3 ice breath weapon that gives the enemy unit Always Strikes Last. No…not annoying at all! This unit is where he placed his General and it served as a pretty effective bunker and flank unit with a few of his other selections.



17 Ogres – Yeah…Nick said he wanted to play with the new Horde rules and the cheaper Ogres. I’ve fought this type of unit before a few times in the old book and wasn’t took terribly worried about it. Using this unit with the BSB and with another selection I’ll mention later does cause me to worry and did! 51 Attacks from hungry fat men should make anyone cringe.



6 Leadbelchers – Of all the units in this new army book that were revised, the Leadbelchers I think got the best treatment. They had their canno…gun rules changed to where they no longer blow each other up. They do not suffer penalties for Moving and Shooting or Multiple Shots and have a BS3. They also fire d6 Str4 Armor Piercing shots now rather than artillery die worth. This unit became my primary focus and probably will continue to since these can effectively remove a unit a turn if you roll well.



4 Mourn fang Cavalry – Wow is all I can say. These are truly some vicious heavy cavalry. A unit of 4 is outputting 28 attacks at Str 4 after inflicting d3 impact hits if the charged. Having seen these models in action, my opinion of them is that they need to be a flank unit or have support from the flank when they charge. I was able to wipe them out with my Treekin and Treeman because I was able to charge them and take them out without their friends. The stats on these guys are nuts however, 3+ armor save and a 6+ parry for 65 points? One Ironfisted Mournfang costs the exact same as a single Treekin model in the Wood Elf book. That’s a pretty damn cost effective model for the damage output it can provide. Excellent new unit and I can foresee people using two of these units in groups of 3 in order to get nasty flank charges in.



Ironblaster – Yet another new addition that doesn’t suck! The fact that it is a chariot with Str 10 grapeshot is … interesting….yes we’ll say interesting. This unit’s ability to move and shoot is pretty damn frustrating; I had to ensure I was far enough each turn to avoid getting Grapeshot by the damn thing. I can foresee this unit being heavily utilized against high armor opponents – Warriors of Chaos come to mind. I was able to kill it with a well rolled volley of arrows but not after it had decimated most of my Dryads.



Stone horn – This is a pretty good monster to use in the Ogre army. I was not overly impressed by this beast in our game however. I was able to butcher it with my Eternal Guard and Eagles with relative ease. I was fortunate in that I was able to charge it before it could charge me, the 3d3 impact hits that it can cause probably would have done more damage than I care to think about. I’m almost tempted to say that I’d put a Hunter on this bad boy and let those two go hunting together. That would be an annoying and hard to kill combo since you’d need to deal with 10 attacks at Str 5/6 and 10 wounds to kill them both.



Thundertusk – Yeah… I hate this model! How do you make the playing field level against Ogres? Put a friggin monster with a 6” Always Strike Last bubble in range! This model should be an automatic choice in any Ogre army. You can move around and fire shots with your misfire free Stone thrower and provide support to any unit that you are close to who is in combat. Nick used his Thundertusk with his Horde’o’Ogres and his Mournfangs…. No…that wasn’t SUPER ANNOYING AT ALL for a high initiative army like Wood Elves…. This model became my priority after slaughtering his annoying Leadbelchers. This single monster can turn the tide for an Ogre army that is facing an army that normally could remove enough models in the Ogre’s unit to take the bite out of whatever charge the Ogres had gotten off.

Example: You charge a unit of 20 Warriors of Chaos (5x4 formation) with 6 Ogres. The Ogres manage to kill 1 on the charge with Impact hits and then the Warriors of Chaos swing at Initiative 5 and hit on 3’s and wound on 4’s. The Ogres lose a model and suddenly lose 3 attacks and their rank bonus. Hopefully the Ogres swing well but probably not and they’ll lose combat based on static res. You now change the situation where the Ogres get all their attacks first, suddenly the Warriors of Chaos don’t have as many attacks or ranks.

The Thundertusk is an amazing addition to the Ogre army and quite frankly it should strike fear into the hearts of any high initiative army out there.





That was Nick’s list he brought at 3000 points. His strategy was to rely on his Thundertusk, Stone horn, Mournfangs and Ogre horde to dominate one side of the board while his Ironguts, Ironblaster and Leadbelchers forced his opponent (me) to direct fire and resources into removing them before they could seriously hurt me. It was a damn good strategy because I had to do exactly that.

I’m going to briefly summarize the two games we played. Two games? Hehe, yes two games.



Game 1 – Blood and Glory.

Wood Elves – First Turn:

Wood Elves focus fire all their shots into the Leadbelchers. Wood Elves kill all 6 Leadbelchers and the Firebelly with an excellent round of shooting! The destruction of the Leadbelchers cause a panic test on the Ogre Horde with the BSB. Two rolls of 10 cause the Ogre Horde to pivot and run through the Ironguts, Mournfang Cavalry and the Stonetusk. Ogre Horde due to footprint runs off table, Ironguts fail Leadership test and also run off table. Wood Elves win. …



We reset.



Game 2 – Battle Line!



After our brief battle, we moved a few pieces of terrain and went at it again. This game was substantially different and really showed the devastating power of the Ogre Kingdoms.

The Wood Elves set up near the center of their deployment zone and I had my fast moving units and fliers set up on the right. I had my Eternal Guard and Treekin side by side with the Treeman slightly behind and to the right of the Treekin and the Dryads off to the left of the Eternal Guard. I had both units of archers up on a hill and far enough apart so that when I moved them forward they would not block each other. The Wild Riders, Waywatchers, and Eagles were all on the right side of the board. Nick set up his army really heavy on his left side keeping his Ogre Horde, Mournfangs and Thundertusk in the center. I think he had planned on moving forward with his big units and wiping me out on my flank with his shooting/artillery. I know he wanted to take advantage of this Always Strikes Last bubble and he was able to capitalize on it for a little bit before I removed said annoyance from play.



The game proceeded with the Wood Elves pulling their normal nonsense of sweeping forward and moving the entire army forward and to the left which flanked his entire army. The Ogres attempted to counter-maneuver by doing a few reforms and realigning their big blocks of troops to accept the frontal charges. The major engagements lasted a few rounds and resulted in many Ogres and Wood elves being placed in the dead piles. The Ogres almost had an unstoppable assault when they failed 2 charges against my Treekin with his Stone horn and Ironguts. That allowed the Treekin to move and charge his Ogre bulls instead because had he gotten that charge off and beaten the unbuffed Treekin, he would have been able to slam into my Glade Guard and Waywatchers which would have been very bad. Nick did manage to wipe out most of my archery in one round by getting what was left of his Leadbelchers and Ironblaster into position and shredding 2 units of Glade Guard. The later turns were primarily me buffing and resurrecting models while he furiously attempted to kill my Toughness 7 spellweaver. Nick was not amused when Dwellers Below began to whittle his army down turn by turn but he did get payback when he dropped 2 Maw spells on me later on.

The final turn resulted in a few charges to wipe out fleeing or almost dead units and the desperate attempts by the Ogres to get one charge off that would have probably resulted in an Ogre victory – and that was his 2 Ironguts who had rallied on double 1’s charging my Treekin who had 1 wound left in the unit.



Three major events provided me victory at the end of the game:



1. My opponent did not dispel the stays in play Throne of Vines which provided me with several serious boosts to my spells. Especially Flesh to Stone and Regrowth! The ability to add +4 toughness to a unit saved my bacon more times than I care to admit in this game. Toughness 7 Eternal Guard and Toughness 9 Treekin are nigh unstoppable! Also, the Hellheart magic item that his Firebelly had was used and my Spellweaver was in range. Fortunately I rolled a 3 and negated his Miscast. Nick was annoyed =) It was also insanely helpful when he cast the Great Maw on my Eternal Guard twice and I suffered little due to my high toughness.



2. I was able to determine charges this game. Nick was smart this game and hid his Leadbelchers behind his Ironguts and kept them out of my kill zone for a few turns. I was however able to use my Treekin and Eternal Guard as a fairly effective wall to allow the rest of my army to maneuver where I could get my charges off.



3. I was able to kill the Thundertusk quickly and break his Horde with the BSB in it by multicharging with my Treeman, Treekin, Eternal Guard and 2 Eagles. My Wild Riders and Dryads proved to be invaluable by flank/front charging his Thundertusk and wiping it out before the block of 18 Ogres could blender my units.



I would have preferred to do a Battle Chronicler battle report for this game because it was really fantastic. In the Podcast for the Deployment Zone: Episode 0, I’ve remarked about this game and how well it went. Next game I play will be this Wednesday and I should be able to provide a BC battle report for that.



This battle went all six rounds and the deciding factor was that my Wild Rider champion killed his Slaughtermaster in a challenge and gave me those extra points which granted me a victory with a different of 115 VPs!



When the game was over, we both had less than a dozen models combined left on the table. I’m finding that more and more 8th edition games that go the full six turns and end up being really enjoyable result in both sides being almost fully decimated.





Reflections about the battle:



Ogre Kingdoms have serious synergy now in their army. The Lore of the Great Maw and the caster options allow for serious magical dominance. The option to take a Level 2 and cast as a Level 5 is also a very attractive option which will allow people options for their Lord/Hero options. The army is now rather flexible and able to reasonably handle just about any army with the same amount of difficulty. I am impressed with the new book and it makes me really, really want to start an Ogre army but that will have to wait till after I collect/paint the Bretonnians.



I hope this is helpful to anyone who is going to play or play against the new Ogre Kingdoms army!