Showing posts with label Empire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Empire. Show all posts
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Dear Empire Players
Dearest Empire Players,
We of the Wood Elf and Beastmen community are so sorry to hear about what happened to your army with the new book. We are so sorry about the appropriate readjustment ..er.. I mean "nerf" to your already ridiculous access to warmachines. We are so sorry to learn that you not only gained Monstrous Cavalry that have a 1+ armor save but also gained another excellent cavalry unit that's Stubborn to further add amazing synergy with the new units. We are so sorry to learn that your ridiculously low priced core units were raised to appropriate levels and that your generals now provide the Lizardman "Cold-blooded" to their unit for break tests.
We are sorry to learn that your Steamtank is no longer auto-slain by spells like Purple Sun or Pit of Shades. We are also so sorry to learn that your new rare selections have provided you with mobile artillary and augment options that make any close combat army break into a cold sweat. We are so sorry you lost your ability to gain 2 -6 dispel dice or so automatically in a magic phase by virtue of spamming warrior priests. We are also sorry that your detachments gain the benefits/special rules of their parent unit.
We are so sorry that your army became even more balanced and versatile than ever. We are so sorry that you have to rely on intelligence and skill rather than bombarding your opponent from your deployment zone with almost as much artillery as Dwarfs get and gunlines. We are so sorry you gained access to not only dragons but also griffons and pegasi! So sorry that you have now gained so much versatility that you can handle any army! We are so sorry that you can take characters that exist solely to assassinate other characters for cheap. We are also sorry that your new rare selections are just as cheap as your other warmachines yet provided amazing benefits to the army.
It has to really suck to be an empire player right now and have a balanced army....
Love,
The Wood Elf and Beastmen community.
p.s. Stop whining, your book is awesome. Jackasses
Sunday, December 4, 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Battle Report Feb 2nd - The Wild Hunt vs Knights of the White Wolf
This past Wednesday I got to go up against my buddy Erik's Knights of the White Wolf Empire army. The entire army is cavalry based and is modeled like the old Empire theme where all the knights wear wolf pelts and use great hammers (Great weapons). It's a pretty mobile army with a lot of punch and I had a great time against it.
The mission type was Scenario 4 - The Breaking Point mission. The Beastmen had a Fortitude of 7, Empire 6 and the goal was to get the other army down to 2 Fortitude points to break the army.
I'll enclose some images of the battle then use the Battle Chronicler software to give you a full run of the battle. The game went fairly quick due to us being embroiled in combat turn 1.
Deployment (please do not note that neither army is painted - we just assembled them!)
Deployment looked like this:
The deployment zone was 9" on each side and 15" up - creating a large box. I deployed in a stacked manner in order to support charge - which I must say I'm glad I did.
Turn 1 Beastmen- Beastmen move up and form a battle line ready to meet out the charges incoming. The Great Bray Shaman casts Miasma on the Center KoT unit reducing their Movement, Init, BS and WS by 3.
Turn 1 Empire - several charges are unleashed as the Knights charge headlong into the Beastman line. The Bestigors lose 1/4 of their number and deal out some fairly decent wounds themselves. All units end up holding with the exception of the Arch Lector being slain by the Beastlord.
Turn 2 Beastmen - Beastmen Gor units counter-charge the existing combats making it a huge melee battle in the center of the board. The GU3 Gor unit kills the War Altar and the Bestigors slay the members of the Knights unit allowing the charging Gors to overrun into the Minotaur battle.
Turn 2 Knights - Gor units continue to lay into the Armor save 2 up knights while the Minotaurs take another loss reducing their number. The Minotaurs and Gors lose combat by 2 and end up having to make a break test. Both pass - oddly enough but Minotaurs lose their Frenzy.
Turn 3 - Beastmen - Melee ensues yet again more killing and Bestigors move to better get in range to attack.
Turn 3 Empire - Minotaurs finally kill the center unit and the Gors overrun into the other Knight unit. The 5 unit combat results in - Pistoleers die, Beastmen lose combat by 1 and the Great Bray Shaman unit flees the battle.
Turn 4 Beastmen - Great Bray Shaman unit rallies and turns around. Minotaurs march to get into better position to charge next turn.
Turn 4 Empire - Pistoleers move and shoot up Great Bray Shaman's unit but not enough to cause a panic test.
Knights in combat continue to slug it out against the two units.
Turn 5 Beastmen - Great Bray Shaman unit charges Pistoleers. Pistoleers stand and shoot and get locked into combat with the Gors. Minotaurs charge the Knights in combat.
Turn 5 Empire - This is the final round for the game. Pistoleers get overrun by the Gors and defeated. The battle standard bearer unit enmeshed in combat finally dies and yields the Beastmen a victory.
Game Reflections:
The Beastmen are not a bad army, they have some decent Special choices and their Gors are not that bad. The main thing that makes the Beastmen in my opinion workable is the Primal Fury. Hatred is huge when it can persist every turn. It make not look like it but every single unit at the end of the game was down to at least 25% capacity. Even though the Knights were striking last and were toughness 3 - they had a really brutal 2+ armor save that the Str 3 onslaught of the Gor's attacks just couldn't dent. At one point Erik had a unit flanked on 3 sides and still won combat because I could not get a wound to stick due to the 2+ armor. I think some alternate deployment strategies will help me more in the future.
Had Erik done 1 more wound in the first round of combat on my Great Bray Shaman melee and caused me to break the entire army would have been probably overrun - so the dice favored me that game.
Overall I'm enjoying the Beastmen, they are a nice little break from my Wood Elves and a completely different army in every regard.
The mission type was Scenario 4 - The Breaking Point mission. The Beastmen had a Fortitude of 7, Empire 6 and the goal was to get the other army down to 2 Fortitude points to break the army.
I'll enclose some images of the battle then use the Battle Chronicler software to give you a full run of the battle. The game went fairly quick due to us being embroiled in combat turn 1.
Deployment (please do not note that neither army is painted - we just assembled them!)
Deployment looked like this:
The deployment zone was 9" on each side and 15" up - creating a large box. I deployed in a stacked manner in order to support charge - which I must say I'm glad I did.
Turn 1 Beastmen- Beastmen move up and form a battle line ready to meet out the charges incoming. The Great Bray Shaman casts Miasma on the Center KoT unit reducing their Movement, Init, BS and WS by 3.
Turn 1 Empire - several charges are unleashed as the Knights charge headlong into the Beastman line. The Bestigors lose 1/4 of their number and deal out some fairly decent wounds themselves. All units end up holding with the exception of the Arch Lector being slain by the Beastlord.
Turn 2 Knights - Gor units continue to lay into the Armor save 2 up knights while the Minotaurs take another loss reducing their number. The Minotaurs and Gors lose combat by 2 and end up having to make a break test. Both pass - oddly enough but Minotaurs lose their Frenzy.
Turn 3 - Beastmen - Melee ensues yet again more killing and Bestigors move to better get in range to attack.
Turn 3 Empire - Minotaurs finally kill the center unit and the Gors overrun into the other Knight unit. The 5 unit combat results in - Pistoleers die, Beastmen lose combat by 1 and the Great Bray Shaman unit flees the battle.
Turn 4 Beastmen - Great Bray Shaman unit rallies and turns around. Minotaurs march to get into better position to charge next turn.
Turn 4 Empire - Pistoleers move and shoot up Great Bray Shaman's unit but not enough to cause a panic test.
Knights in combat continue to slug it out against the two units.
Turn 5 Beastmen - Great Bray Shaman unit charges Pistoleers. Pistoleers stand and shoot and get locked into combat with the Gors. Minotaurs charge the Knights in combat.
Turn 5 Empire - This is the final round for the game. Pistoleers get overrun by the Gors and defeated. The battle standard bearer unit enmeshed in combat finally dies and yields the Beastmen a victory.
Game Reflections:
The Beastmen are not a bad army, they have some decent Special choices and their Gors are not that bad. The main thing that makes the Beastmen in my opinion workable is the Primal Fury. Hatred is huge when it can persist every turn. It make not look like it but every single unit at the end of the game was down to at least 25% capacity. Even though the Knights were striking last and were toughness 3 - they had a really brutal 2+ armor save that the Str 3 onslaught of the Gor's attacks just couldn't dent. At one point Erik had a unit flanked on 3 sides and still won combat because I could not get a wound to stick due to the 2+ armor. I think some alternate deployment strategies will help me more in the future.
Had Erik done 1 more wound in the first round of combat on my Great Bray Shaman melee and caused me to break the entire army would have been probably overrun - so the dice favored me that game.
Overall I'm enjoying the Beastmen, they are a nice little break from my Wood Elves and a completely different army in every regard.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Die Manthings! Die!
Friday I had the chance to throw down with my Beastmen against my friend Roy's Empire army. It was a fun game and my Beastmen did a lot better than I had hoped. I've documented the battle but due to time constraints I'll only post a few turns. Perhaps next game I'll remember to post the battle the next day and make more time to do so.
The Empire army that Roy was using was fairly basic but effective.
Arch Lector
5 Warrior Priests
6 Units of 24 Swordsmen
1 Hellblaster Volley Gun
2 Great Cannons
This battle report will be a bit truncated since the first few turns were primarily moving into position and I am short on time to post this due to being really tired after my 1500 point tournament for 40k today.
Deployment:
Battle Summary:
Turn 1 - Empire and Beastmen move into positions. I'm wary of Roy's Hellblaster Volley gun so I maintain a 25" distance from it until the second turn.
Turn 2 - Harpies get destroyed after they fly behind the Empire units to marchblock by the Hellblaster and both Great Cannons misfire doing nothing. Beastmen manage to Ambush behind Great Cannons and I cast Pit of Shades on his units killing several models.
Turn 3 - Empire set's up to attack and prevents flanks while Beastmen Ambushing Gor unit kills a Great Cannon.
Turn 4 - Empire General unit charges and kills Ambushing Gors. Great Cannon kills a minotaur. Beastmen fail several charges and only manage to get a single unit of Gors into close combat with a unit of Swordsmen. Swordsmen fail and flee but winning Beastman unit is now open to flank charges.
Turn 5 - this was a fairly brutal round - remaining Cannon kills a Minotaur and a Gor unit suffers massive casualties and flees, Bestigor unit is charged from behind but manages to win the combat becauese of the River of Blood and the charging Swordsmen flee. Beastman Turn 5 - Fleeing Gor unit rallies but ends up blocking Minotaurs from being able to charge. Bestigors charge a unit of Swordsmen and Roy elects to flee but Bestigors catch the unit and wipe it out providing excellent positioning to charge next turn.
Turn 6 - This was a crazy round - Empire General unit charges and gets locked into combat with newly rallied Gor unit and Bestigor unit is charged by Empire. Cannon kills yet another Minotaur. Beastmen turn - Minotaur BSB charges out of unit and makes contact with Swordsmen along with the Great Bray Shaman Gor unit and wipes them out. Bestigors kill their unit of Swordsmen.
Game ends with Beastmen winning by 403 Victory Points.
Funny things that happened during game:
1. 5 Misfires from Roy's warmachines resulting in his Hellblaster exploding.
2. 2 Tragic irresistible force rolls from the Great Bray Shaman resulting in him losing all his magic levels and not being able to cast anything after Turn 3.
3. Roy's warrior priests being more effective at casting spells this game due to Beastman GBS neutering himself magically. =)
4. Minotaurs not getting into combat the entire game at all with exception of BSB charging out of unit on Turn 6.
Reflections for next game on Wed.
1. Don't worry about taking casualties - just barrel forward. Warmachines be damned.
2. Get Minotaurs into combat - having a 400 point unit sniffing their fingers every turn is dumb.
3. Deploy better, this was terrible deployment on my behalf.
4. Do not forget Spell Cards so that you don't have to ask your opponent what you had during the first turn.
5. Roy and I really need to paint our damn armies!
Wednesday I will use Battle Chronicler to detail my game against Eric and actually provide a worthwhile battle report.
The Empire army that Roy was using was fairly basic but effective.
Arch Lector
5 Warrior Priests
6 Units of 24 Swordsmen
1 Hellblaster Volley Gun
2 Great Cannons
This battle report will be a bit truncated since the first few turns were primarily moving into position and I am short on time to post this due to being really tired after my 1500 point tournament for 40k today.
Battle Summary:
Turn 1 - Empire and Beastmen move into positions. I'm wary of Roy's Hellblaster Volley gun so I maintain a 25" distance from it until the second turn.
Turn 2 - Harpies get destroyed after they fly behind the Empire units to marchblock by the Hellblaster and both Great Cannons misfire doing nothing. Beastmen manage to Ambush behind Great Cannons and I cast Pit of Shades on his units killing several models.
Turn 3 - Empire set's up to attack and prevents flanks while Beastmen Ambushing Gor unit kills a Great Cannon.
Turn 4 - Empire General unit charges and kills Ambushing Gors. Great Cannon kills a minotaur. Beastmen fail several charges and only manage to get a single unit of Gors into close combat with a unit of Swordsmen. Swordsmen fail and flee but winning Beastman unit is now open to flank charges.
Turn 5 - this was a fairly brutal round - remaining Cannon kills a Minotaur and a Gor unit suffers massive casualties and flees, Bestigor unit is charged from behind but manages to win the combat becauese of the River of Blood and the charging Swordsmen flee. Beastman Turn 5 - Fleeing Gor unit rallies but ends up blocking Minotaurs from being able to charge. Bestigors charge a unit of Swordsmen and Roy elects to flee but Bestigors catch the unit and wipe it out providing excellent positioning to charge next turn.
Turn 6 - This was a crazy round - Empire General unit charges and gets locked into combat with newly rallied Gor unit and Bestigor unit is charged by Empire. Cannon kills yet another Minotaur. Beastmen turn - Minotaur BSB charges out of unit and makes contact with Swordsmen along with the Great Bray Shaman Gor unit and wipes them out. Bestigors kill their unit of Swordsmen.
Game ends with Beastmen winning by 403 Victory Points.
Funny things that happened during game:
1. 5 Misfires from Roy's warmachines resulting in his Hellblaster exploding.
2. 2 Tragic irresistible force rolls from the Great Bray Shaman resulting in him losing all his magic levels and not being able to cast anything after Turn 3.
3. Roy's warrior priests being more effective at casting spells this game due to Beastman GBS neutering himself magically. =)
4. Minotaurs not getting into combat the entire game at all with exception of BSB charging out of unit on Turn 6.
Reflections for next game on Wed.
1. Don't worry about taking casualties - just barrel forward. Warmachines be damned.
2. Get Minotaurs into combat - having a 400 point unit sniffing their fingers every turn is dumb.
3. Deploy better, this was terrible deployment on my behalf.
4. Do not forget Spell Cards so that you don't have to ask your opponent what you had during the first turn.
5. Roy and I really need to paint our damn armies!
Wednesday I will use Battle Chronicler to detail my game against Eric and actually provide a worthwhile battle report.
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