Fantasy OFCC 2012 - The Tale of Awesome, Part 1

This years OFCC for Fantasy has come and gone.  I had a great time as I would have expected.  For those who are unaware of what OFCC is, it stands for the Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge.  They hold two every year, one for Warhammer Fantasy and one for Warhammer 40,000.  While this does qualify as a huge event due to the fact that there are well over 80 people playing, it is not a tournament.  The best way to describe OFCC is a tournament for hobbyists.  The event took place on June 23 & 24 at the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay in Vancouver, WA.  They had a nice convention center area that could house a room full of gamers for a weekend.

The event is designed for every person who is entered to get five games over the weekend.  The Ordo Fanaticus spans from Oregon to Idaho all the way up to Vancouver, BC and OFCC is a way for all the gaming clubs to get together and have fun once a year.  My gaming club, Team Tourettes (I know clever name), spends the entire year after OFCC collecting and painting  (and scheming) the next army we are going to play.  Last year I played my illustrious Wood Elves and went 4-1, this year I played my nefarious Beastmen and again went 4-1.  While I seriously doubt I'll go 4-1 with Bretonnians next year, I fully intend on having fun regardless!

I will briefly recap what my opponents took and my five games (during OFCC) and the three I played outside the event.  If I attempt to battle report all 8 games this will be the longest blog post of all time so I will just summarize and if anything super special happened I'll mention it.  I had a total of 8 games over the weekend plus two more on Wednesday night (6/28) for a total of 10 games in a week.  I think it's safe to say I am all Warhammered out!

We will be doing a full recollection of our games and the weekend on Episode 17 of The Deployment Zone podcast.

The list I brought was detailed in the previous post where I chose to bring 2800 points of Beastmen.  That list can be found here.

Game 1 - The Five Coins.
Opponent: Matt Harrison of Da Mommas Boyz
Army: Warriors of Chaos
Game Results: Loss 

This match up had five coins spread evenly across the center of the board and the objective was to collect all five coins.  My opponent was Matt Peterson who brought Warriors of Chaos.  I enjoyed Matt's army, he had a fully themed Slaanesh army complete with Chaos Lord on a boob worm.  He brought a variety of models, some chariots, spawns, knights, marauders etc..  The game was going remarkably well for both of us, we had been dealing a fair bit of damage to each other until the top of the 5th turn where I failed not one but four charges and left myself stranded and out of position in the center of the board.

Matt, being  the excellent general that he is, rolled me up like a carpet from the flank with his Chaos Knight bus and that was game.  I ended up with a loss for the first game!

Matt also won my Favored Opponent pin for the event.  It helps to start drinking early with your opponent after a game!

Game 2 - Master Mage
Opponent: Chris Zakel of Da Mommas Boyz
Army: Beastmen
Game Results: Win

This match up provided Loremaster to one wizard in your army and a casting bonus of +1 per rank up to +3.  So my Great Bray Shaman was casting spells at +7.  I played against Chris Zakel who was fielding a pretty awesome Beastmen list with Centigors, two minotaur units and twin Ghorgons.  This game did not start off well because I got first turn and chose to say "to hell with it" and threw a large Purple Sun that was not dispelled and killed a Ghorgon, a unit of Gors and the unit behind it.  This event caused another unit to turn and flee and go off the board.  I asked if we would like to restart and play without the master mage rules and pretend that 1st round hadn't happened and Chris's response was "naw that's ok, that's how the dice go sometimes".

So the game ended with Chris killing a full 1/3rd of my army until he was finally wiped out.  I had a great time and so the Beastmen  scored their first win of the day.

Game 3 - King of the Hill
Opponent: Jordan Ross of CHOP!
Army: Warriors of Chaos
Game Results: Win

This match up had a rule that at the end of the game there were bonus points for controlling the hill in the center.  I fought yet another Warrior of Chaos army, this time he had a Sorcerer using Lore of Heavens.  I was surprised by this choice but it served him very well.  The game went very smoothly, we were selecting our charges wisely but in one turn Jordan lost 2 units and I was able to wipe out a good portion of his army and scored a win.

So the great thing about team CHOP! was that every time one of their club did something well, they would stand up and shout CHOP! and the rest of the team would shout it right after.  I had a great game and look forward to seeing more shirtless drunken Canadian wrestling in the aisles next year.

 Game 4 - The Road Warriors
Opponent: Greg Matthews of Da Mommas Boyz
Army: Ogre Kingdoms
Game Results: Win

This match up had  a road going down the center of the table edges connecting deployment zones.  The goal was to have as many units in your opponents deployment zone and on the road as possible.  My hat's off to Greg for doing what I do for all my lists which is name every unit and keep that theme going.  His entire list does not have a single entry that isn't named.  Bravo Greg!   This game Greg got screwed by panic tests, there is no other way to say it.  First turn his Yhetees charge the Ghorgon, lose and flee. The Yhetees then flee through the leadbelchers who then flee through Ironguts, Ogre Bulls and the Maneaters.  So at the top of turn 2 I have several units just disappear due to charges and etc... I did not like that his army was plagued by bad leadership and offered to restart our game but I have to say that Da' Mommas Boyz are excellent sports, Greg like his teammate Chris declined and said "It's just how it goes sometimes!"  He still proceeded to kick ass with his 3 giants.  This list was fantastic, I really enjoyed playing it.

Game 5 - Blood and Glory!
Opponent: Tycho Carlsen of Da Mommas Boyz
Army: Vampire Counts
Game Results: Win

This match up was a modified Blood and Glory where Monsters also granted you 1 Fortitude.  This game was a grind fest, every unit was severely reduced by the end of the game.  Minotaurs had the Doombull, my Bestigors had 11 left and the Gor horde was down to 18.  I tried to cast Purple Sun like 4 times and never got it off and the one time I did Tycho dispel scrolled it.  I shook my fists at the heavens!  In the end I managed to kill enough banners in his army to illicit a win at the bottom of Turn 5.  I got to see the full power of a fully functional Mortis Engine.  I also now regret not having a way to kill it sans spells from far away!
In the end I had a great time and Tycho was  a great opponent.

I ended up playing three games with the Wood Elves this weekend as well, all three games I was pretty bombed but pulled out a 2-1 record.  Lost to Moses Jones's of the Put a Skull on it club Dwarves on Friday night - while Moses contends that that game shouldn't count I will beg to differ.  I was sober enough to carry the army without mishap henceforth sober enough to play!  I scored a victory against Andrew Clafin's Dark Elves of the Mongering Mongrels, that was a blast!  Finally, I can't remember my last opponent's name but he was a daemons of chaos player and I defeated them at the bottom of 4.

This was such a wonderful weekend and I look forward to doing it again next year!
Here are some images of the event and my team!:
First off here is Team Tourettes!:

Left to Right: Jeremy, Larry, Jimmie, Eric (in back), Neil, Darron, Tom and John (me).

I'm going to link the Ordo Fanaticus gallery here as well as posting some of the pictures I took that turned out well.
Ordo Gallery

This is part 1 of what will be 2-3 parts of the OFCC 2012 Fantasy pictures.  I'll do one or two more updates showing some of the "better" pictures as well as more galleries once they are put up by my team mates or other Ordo members.

Thanks!

OFCC 2012 Bound!

It's been a year in the making... the anticipation for yet another two day NERD SAFARI!  This year I will not be taking the Wood elves but rather my Beastmen!  It looks to be a pretty busy event this year with twice as many people almost as the last.  Team Tourettes and I will be taking the field dice in hand, ready to reach that goal of .15% Blood Alcohol Level and 50% success rate!  My cohosts of our podcast the Deployment Zone , Bryan and Josh will also be making their debuts on the Points Pinata team!  We will hopefully be able to hook up with Andrew Sherman, Jake Hunter and Mark Dieter of the Ohiohammer podcast Saturday night to link the Blood in the Sun II event and OFCC 2012 into a single podcast.  Here's to a weekend of gaming!

I'll be playing 5 games against 5 other Ordo Fanaticus members and I tell ya it'll be more fun than a bag of hammers!

Here is the list I'm using for this year's event:
2800 Pts - Beastmen Roster - The Raucous Host, Warherd of the Drakwald


Total Roster Cost: 2800


Rorg Doombringer, Horned King of the Drakwald (1#, 301 pts)
1 Doombull, 241 pts = (base cost 235 + Shield 6)
1 Sword of Swift Slaying, 25 pts
1 Armour of Fortune, 35 pts


The Blood Guard of the Doombringer (5#, 305 pts)
5 Minotaurs, 305 pts = 5 * 55 (base cost 55) + Musician Mus 10 + Standard Bearer Std 20


Ruld Soulstealer, the Prophet of Ruin (1#, 280 pts)
1 Great Bray-Shaman, 235 pts = (base cost 200 + Level 4 Upgrade 35)
1 Talisman of Preservation, 45 pts


The Bane Knights of the Soulstealer (29#, 388 pts)
28 Bestigor Herd, 354 pts = 28 * 12 (base cost 12) + Musician Mus 6 + Standard Bearer Std 12
1 Gouge-Horn, 24 pts
1 Banner of Eternal Flame, 10 pts


Trogar the Render, Harbinger of the Doombringer (1#, 206 pts)
1 Wargor (Battle Standard Bearer), 116 pts = (base cost 85 + Heavy Armour 4 + Shield 2 + Battle Standard Bearer 25)
1 Gnarled Hide, 15 pts
1 The Beast Banner, 75 pts


The Fleshtearers (40#, 345 pts)
39 Gor Herd, 327 pts = 39 * 8 (base cost 7 + Extra Hand Weapon 1) + Musician Mus 5 + Standard Bearer Std 10
1 Foe-Render, 18 pts = (base cost 17 + Extra Hand Weapon 1)


Borcha the Horned Huntsman (2#, 266 pts)
1 Wargor, 91 pts = (base cost 85 + Heavy Armour 4 + Shield 2)
1 Razorgor Chariot, 145 pts
1 The Brass Cleaver, 30 pts


Jorga the Shattered Axe (1#, 80 pts)
1 Tuskgor Chariot, 80 pts


Malacar the Untamed (1#, 80 pts)
1 Tuskgor Chariot, 80 pts


Thorns of Spite (5#, 30 pts)
5 Ungor Raiders, 30 pts = 5 * 6


Thorns of Malice (5#, 30 pts)
5 Ungor Raiders, 30 pts = 5 * 6


The Shadowhunters (18#, 144 pts)
18 Gor Herd, 144 pts = 18 * 8 (base cost 7 + Extra Hand Weapon 1)


Da'Kor, the Bloodbeast of Drakwald (1#, 275 pts)
1 Ghorgon, 275 pts


The Sirens of Drakwald (5#, 70 pts)
5 Harpies, 70 pts = 5 * 14 (base cost 11 + Scouts 3)


Composition Report:
Points of Lords: 581 (0 - 700)
Points of Heroes: 472 (0 - 700)
Points of Core: 709 (700 - Unlimited)
Points of Special: 763 (0 - 1400)
Points of Rare: 275 (0 - 700)

The list is a bit character heavy but it fits a theme I was going after.

I'll post updates after the event, see you after!

Realm of Battle Board - Completed!

So this is the continuation of the previous WIP post for the Realm of Battle Board I was working on. I will pick up right where the last post left off in order to have continuity!

So having dry brushed and completed the rocky terrain and broken earth, I took some Dheneb stone and Ogryn Flesh wash and painted/washed the skulls that were recessed into the board.  I then took the Behr - Aged Parchment (Ivory) sample and did a 50/50 mix of the Espresso Brown and the Aged Parchment.  I took the mixed paint and dry brushed the entire board.

Step 8

As you can see, the ivory/espresso mix worked out well to lighten the board without washing out the detail.  i.e. I got lucky that it didn't look bad!







Step 9 - Preparation
Before you begin to mix your flock you will want to take a moment and cut out about 3 or 4 sections of painter's paper to lay on your work surface.  These sections should be about 5'x5' if you can swing it.  You will then place your RoBB tiles upon them one at a time and use the paper as your work surface for the next few steps.

Step 10 - Flock

So the most involved part of this entire process was picking out and identifying the type and color of flock I wanted to use on my Realm of Battle Board. I literally had 23 different combinations and mixtures assembled before I put together what I wanted.  I chose to use a 50% blend of Woodland Scenics Dark Green Static Grass Flock and 50% of Gale Force 9's Green Static Grass.  I blended 12 canisters of the Gale Force 9 and an equal amount of Woodland Scenics and it almost filled a tupperware bin that you will see in future pictures.

It was not enough, next time I need to probably buy at least 20 canisters of the GF9 flock and mix that with equal parts Woodland Scenics.  I had just enough to almost cover 8 boards, I had to sacrifice my last tub of Games Workshop Glade Grass to cover one of the boards.

Anyway here is what I used:

Step 11 - Actual Flocking
I mixed up a container of 2 Elmer's Glue and equal parts water.  The consistency of pancake batter is an excellent goal to shoot for for this.  You don't want it too thin nor do you wish it too thick.

If you will notice, I used a 2" brush to spread.  You don't want anything smaller cause you really want to do this fairly quick.






I then painted the glue on starting with a corner and spreading my way out a section at a time.  As soon as I had painted a section, I would drop the flock on it and leave about an inch of the glue grass-free.  I would then continue painting out using the inch I had left as the starting point.  There is an excellent example of this on the Games Workshop site Here.

Once I had covered a board it looked like this:

Once I had covered the board like thus, I pressed down with my palm and patted down the flock.  Once that was completed I waited about 5 minutes and turned the board on it's side and banged all the loose grass off of it and onto the pre-cut sections of painters paper under it.



I then moved the tiles to locations to dry:

After that was completed, I took the loose paper and folded it to then funnel the reclaimed static grass mixture to pour back into my tupperware container to use on the next tile.












Example:

It was so much easier to gather the loose grass having taken the time to secure a good method to keep it in one place.  Not to mention - not having static grass go everywhere when pouring into something is kinda awesome.



Step 12 - Drying overnight
Once the boards are flocked, I set them about half an inch apart on the table and left them to dry overnight.
Once that was finished the next day (or 3 days later in reality) I turned the boards over on their side and was able to reclaim more loose grass.

Step 13 - Sealing your Board.

I had purchased 4 cans of Sealer from the Armory when I bought my primer.  Having checked online, I was pleased to discover that while Armory's primers sucked a massive donkey dick, their sealer did not.  It was well rated and very, very few issues had been reported with it.  So, having my confidence in their product renewed, I set about sealing the boards.  I went through 2.5 cans of sealer.
Rules for Sealing I discovered:
1. Open the garage door
2. Wear a mask or something over your mouth
3. Have a fan blowing out of the garage.
4. Glasses or goggles don't hurt to use either
5. Spray light coat then heavy coat then light again.
6. 1st light coat I let dry for 15 minutes
7. 1st heavy coat I let dry for 1 hour.
8. 2nd light coat I let dry for 15 minutes.
9. Done!

Step 14 - Post images of your completed Realm of Battle Board on your blog.

Thoughts and Reflections:

Now that this is complete and I have had time to reflect on how I did this project.  There are several things I would have done differently.
1. I would have used a better primer. - Army Painter, Citadel/Games Workshop, etc..
2. I would have purchased more Gale Force 9 Green Static Grass flock.  I bought 10 which gave me 12 canisters, I would have been more comfortable with 20 and would have definitely had left overs for future projects and terrain. (I ordered 10 more never fear!)
3. I would have intermingled a few different shades of grass into the mix.  I love the color I chose but a bit more variety would have been nice.
4. I might have used a lighter basecoast brown for the board.  Next board I may use only the Citadel realm of battle board Scenery kit on it and see how that turns out.

This entire project took just over 12 hours combined to prime/paint/flock/seal.  Totally doable in a weekend if you have the time or over a couple evenings while your wife watches The Real Housewives of New York marathons with her cousin on the couch.

sigh...

Anyway, I look forward to playing with this and you all may expect some terrain posts in the near future as I get that and my garage playing area together!

Thanks!

Realm of Battle Board - WIP part 1

Like any gamer who realizes that with a wife pregnant with twins his ability to hang out at the pub or game store will be impacted, I decided to remedy the situation by throwing money at it.  A few months back I purchased a large amount of terrain and a Realm of Battle Board in order to start turning my garage into my own private gaming den.  Having done a lot of research I decided to test out some options and finally set out a game plan.
Enter the Realm of Battle Board!
Initiating Operation: Home Field Advantage!
Things you will need to paint your realm of battle board:
1. Large working area w/ lots of light (I'm 50% there)
2. Painters Paper and Tape
3. Multiple 2" brushes - trust me it's so helpful when you are doing multiple colors and you don't have to rinse/dry/wring out a brush.
4. Cheap but good paints (Home Depot has some see comments later in post)
5. Paper plates for pallets
6. Good primer - also see comments later
7.  A lot of white glue or super glue
8.  Flock or Static Grass by the ton
9.  Porn
10. Extra batteries for your camera when it dies unexpectedly.
11. Paper towels

Step 1 - Wash the boards in the tub to get the packaging coating off.

I would recommend at this step to use a sponge as well.  Scrubbing the boards really helped get the coating off.









Step 2 - Lay out boards to dry after wiping the with towel (Also allows you time to set up your workstation downstairs)

As you can see I have 8 tiles laid out, I ordered the Realm of Battle Board expansion as well.










Step 3 - Set out your work area and tape down the painters paper on your work surface area.

As you can see I have laid out all 8 pieces over 3 folding tables.  I can not recommend the use of painters paper during this project.  Priming, flocking and just general ease of clean can not be overlooked.







Step 4 - Priming

 Ok - Insert Rant here:
First off - you should never skimp on good primer, regardless of the fact that it may cost you 15.00 a can.  I was a stupid asshat and decided to try to save money on primer and instead of doing research for a more viable option or asking friends; I went and bought The Armory - Black Primer.
Seriously - what a piece of crap primer.
1.  After testing proper distance on other surfaces, you have to be 9.5 inches away otherwise the primer dries too quickly in the air and ruins your surface.
2.  After priming the surface, the primer turned into fine dust and literally began to fall off the boards

and get every god damn where.
3.  As you can see the pictures to the left, I used up an entire can and had spotty, shitty coverage.
4.  Had I actually bought a good primer or one that doesn't turn into a can of compressed shit, I wouldn't have had to take the boards back up stairs and wash them in the bathtub AGAIN to get all the excess powdered primer off them before just getting irritated and basecoating it with Pure Black Behr paint.



Step 5 - Basecoating w/ Brown

Here is also where my camera batteries died so we switched to my camera phone.  I used Behr Expresso Brown to basecoast the Realm of Battle Board.  The paints I'm using during this project all came from Home Depot.  I went to their paint department, found colors I liked that were Acrylic and bought half-pint samples of the paint for 2.49 each.  Was a KILLER deal.

Anyway - I hope you can see the dark brown with the shitty light and picture.







Step 6 - Basecoating with Grey

Next I used the Grey paint to paint up the stone tiles and elevated areas.

Step 7 - Drybrushing 50/50 White/Black mix then 75/25 White/Black mix.

As you may see here, I have highlighted and drybrushed the stone work texture of the rock on the battlefield.  The next step and update will show the skulls painted and then the realm of battle board drybrushed with the bleached bone/ivory/parchment colors.





Thanks!

The Deployment Zone's - Tamurkhan Throne of Chaos Final Campaign Results!

"On the day of the final battle, the Chaos horde moved as one towards the great city, a great strung out line nearly a dozen leagues across advancing in the darkness before dawn from the south-west.  There was little order or unity, but with Tamurkhan's reappearance and transfiguration a sense of purpose and destiny had fallen upon the horde again, a purpose that would not be denied.  This was to be the day of days, the day when  the merciless gods looked down and rewarded glory and punished failure - a red day, a day of blade and spell and claw, of carnage and triumph.  For Nuln, perhaps, it was the end of days..."


The massed horde stood before the city of Nuln, the River Aver and the Upper Reik serving as the only barrier between the city and imminent death.  The defenders of Nuln looked upon the massed horde with great fear and despair, there stood the promise of death.  The defenders had entrenched themselves well in the levees and prepared to punish the Chaos horde when they attacked.  


Through sorcery and mayhem, the sky darkened before the sun had reached it's zenith and cast the battlefield in an unnatural darkness.  It was then that the assembled masses of Tamurkhan were given the signal to attack and the deafening sound of hundreds of thousands of throats roaring in unison caused many a bladder on the defender's side to weaken.  Then the horde attacked...


Magic, arrows and artillery flew through the air causing explosions and great gout's of flame erupted all over the battle field as the battle was joined.  Daemon, dragon, man and monster all fought in a clash of steel and claw.  Many times the defender's line would buckle only to receive reinforcements at the last moment to prevent from being overrun.  Knightly orders would slam into the Chaos horde's line and flatten hundreds beneath their charge only to be instantly swallowed up by the enemy when they were able to close ranks.  Trolls and Ogres would barrel forward only to evaporate in a crimson mist as cannon balls and rocket batteries exploded into them in fire and blood.  Tales of bravery and despair ran rampant through out the day, the steely resolve of the defenders versus the unholy savagery of the horde. 


The battle raged on for hours with tens of thousands of warriors dying in an orgy of blood and slaughter.  Sayl the Faithless and his Kurgen host fled the battlefield after the gauntlet of Nuln artillery had annihilated half their forces.  Kazyk the Befouled and his Rot Knights finally were decimated after rampaging through the lines of the Opposition and slaying a full fifty times their number.  Countess Elspeth von Draken astride her Carmine Dragon smote the Great Unclean One named Tallyman using her Death magic.  Slowly the key points of the Opposition's lines held against the unstoppable onslaught.  Tamurkhan seeing that his horde was failing against the anvil of the Opposition realized the Throne of Chaos was slipping from his grasp.  Tamurkhan ordered that one final ritual begin to unleash a host of plagues upon the world that would ravage mankind and put the Throne of Chaos firmly within his grasp. This is when the Countess's Champion, Theodore Bruckner astride his Demigryph mount Reaper was ordered to stop Tamurkhan no matter what the cost.  


Bruckner and the assembled host of dozens of knightly orders blazed their way through the very heart of the Chaos horde to reach the Maggot Lord and his great Toad Dragon.  Elspeth and several other wizards rained magic down and managed to finally slay the mightly Toad Dragon while Theodore challenged Tamurkhan.  Tamurkhan charged Theodore in a berserk rage only to be encased in magical fire, it's amethyst flames scouring  his plagued skin and causing him to howl in agony.  It was during this moment that Reaper set upon him and ravaged the Maggot Lord's body, claw and beak tearing great chunks from his flesh and gouging massive furrows in his body.  The enchanted axe of the Maggot Lord descended and brought down Reaper but not before the dying animal had taken his toll, Theodore hopped free as his loyal mount died beside him and drew his blade.  Tamurkhan, his body a torn ruin, fell to one knee gushing blackened maggots from his awful wounds.   It was then that the great grey maggot erupted from the body of Tamurkhan as it had many times before.


"The obscene creature lurched forth like a striking cobra and fastened itself over Theodore Bruckner's terrified face, crunching through leather and bone and pulsing and writhing within the flesh, delicate bones splintering like pistol shots as the maggot forced its way down.


The talisman around Bruckner's neck burst into furious life, like a burning star unleashed in the night.  In a roaring flash there was nothing but blackened crumbling bone where the Countess's champion had stood, and in an instant later even that had been consumed, and Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord with it." 


With the death of Tamurkhan, the daemons of Nurgle on the field of battle burst into flames and turned to ash within seconds.  The Chaos horde broke and fled from the field of battle, despite the numerous attempts by other Chaos champions to rally.  


And so ended  the saga of Tamurkhan, he who sought the Throne of Chaos...


However... there is still one who's story has yet to be told.  "Blinded by burning metal, abandoned and scorned by his people. He who had risen so high - who men called Faithless - was left a beggar upon the road in a realm of the lost and desolate.  Condemned by the Dark Gods to his black penance.  A stranger in a strange land, but far from helpless."  His story shall also be told...

Tamurkhan, Throne of Chaos - Phase Six Results:

The Throne of Chaos

I am pleased to announce that the Tamurkhan, Throne of Chaos Campaign has reached completion.  I have had so much fun running this online campaign which is unlike anything I have had the opportunity to manage before.  This phase used the special scenario "The Battle of the Bloody Levees" which was worth a whopping 7 Campaign Points to the winner.  Here is the breakdown of the battles reported over this month long phase.

Total Games Reported this Phase: 48

Total Opposition Wins/Points Total:  24 - 136 Campaign Points

Total Chaos Horde Wins/Points Total:  20 – 117 Campaign Points

Total Draws: 4
Special Scenario played (Battle of the Bloody Levees): 25

Narrative Battles:  11
Storm of Magic:  3

Total Campaign Points

Opposition: 336

Chaos Horde: 335

Total Games Reported over Entire Campaign: 252 games.

The Opposition WINS the Tamurkhan, Throne of Chaos Campaign by the Deployment Zone by ONE point!  

Notable Battles for Phase 6:

Dwarfs vs. Chaos Dwarfs (Legion of Azgorh) - 3400 points - Cincinnati, Ohio

Tony and his friend Jacob squared off against each other in a 3400 point battle of dwarf love.  This battle could easily be described at the ideal "Pretty Hate Machine" since both sides were chock full of warmachines and tanks.  Jacob was using a twin Iron Daemon and twin K'Daii Destroyer list against Tony's massive blocks of great weapon warriors and cannons.  This battle used the Battle of the Bloody Levees rules but did not take advantage of the Chaos Host rules.  

The Chaos Dwarves scored a victory in this game at the end of turn 6 by a slim margin of 233 Victory Points.  

Tomb Kings vs. Skaven - 3000 points - Winnipeg, Manitoba

Jeremy and his wife Peggy decided to iron out their marital differences in a friendly game of Battle of the Bloody Levees.  Both armies that were taken were definitely NOT suited for the scenario since Peggy chose to bring a Tomb King army with 2 big units of chariots and Jeremy brought a Screaming Bell, a Plague Furnace and two Doomwheels.  Having read the battle report, the river seemed to be the MVP of the game since it destroyed both Doomwheels, the Furnace and an entire unit of chariots.  In the end Peggy managed to score a win for the Opposition by a fairly large margin of almost 1100 Victory points.  Apparently Jeremy's Grey Seer poofed into the realm of chaos when he got a little excited trying to cast warp lightning.

Empire vs. Horde of Chaos - 3000/3750 points - Somewhere in the UK

Takuo and Mike squared off in yet another Battle of the Bloody Levees but this time they used the Hordes of Chaos rule.  Takuo had a really good Empire army put together chock full of artillery, the new toys and two massive blocks of halberds flanked by Reiksguard and Greatswords.  Mike chose to mix Warriors of Chaos, Beastmen and Daemons together with him using an absolute ton of Marauders, Chaos Warriors and Gors.  The patron of the Chaos Horde was a Paragon of Change so he was using a lot of magic to augment his army.  This game lasted five turns and ended up with the Hordes of Chaos running rampant all over the Empire.  

Warriors of Chaos vs. Ogre Kingdoms - 2800 points - at Ancient Wonders in Tualatin, OR

My friends Bryan and Jeremy squared off in a preparation game for our OFCC event.  Bryan was playing Warriors of Chaos while Jeremy was using his favorite the Ogres.  This was Bryan's first Warhammer Fantasy game and it resulted in  Bryan scoring a big victory!  Score a win for the Chaos Horde.  Well done Bryan!

The Great Hunt, War Host of Athel Loren vs. The Delicious Pustules - Wood Elves vs. Chaos Host - 3600/4500 points - at Ancient Wonders in Tualatin, OR

My friend Larry and I squared off to battle each other for the final game of my Tamurkhan campaign.  I had wanted my last game to be against a Nurgle themed army and who better to play against than Larry!  Larry is a diehard Nurgle fan and I could count on him to make a fluffy, fun and awesomely themed Nurgle Chaos Host using the Hordes of Chaos rules for scenario six.   Here is a quick image of the set up before we played and sadly my batteries died cause John can't be bothered to change them out more than once a year...

The white and green line in the center was to represent the river (we couldn't find blue felt so we made due with a 40k road turned upside down).  As you can see the board was set up fairly straight forward with a few hills, some forests and the big river.  The battle was supposed to take place outside the city so having a lot of random terrain didn't seem fitting for a blasted battlefield.  

I brought 3600 points of Wood Elves against Larry's frightening 4500 points of Warriors of Chaos and Nurgle Chaos Daemons.  I was able to score first turn and as a result I was able to slay the general's unit of Chaos knights and shift my battle line to one side of the board.  This allowed me to avoid a pretty devastating chunk of Larry's army including his Sorcerer of Nurgle and line up near the river to receive the charges.  Using the river as my main facet of defense, I was able to stand firm and take out specific units I needed to and gain the upper hand by the bottom of turn 3.  It also was an extraordinary help that Larry was rolling pretty shitty and I wasn't.  By the end of turn four I had slain Larry's general, the BSB and a good 1/2 his army while only losing less than 1/5 of mine.  Larry looked at the board and realized that he wouldn't be able to kill enough by the bottom of turn six to catch up and so he decided to concede the game and Wood Elves scored a much needed victory for the campaign.  

This game was the final game of the campaign and I had not compiled points yet, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Chaos Horde was six points ahead of the Opposition before my game and after it the Opposition was ahead by a single point.   Thanks for the game Larry!  Also, I would like to point out that Larry is an exceptional opponent.  He doesn't usually make mistakes and while he has the tendency to blurt out tapestries of expletives that would make a sailor blush, he always does his best to make whatever game he is playing enjoyable.  

I would like to thank every person who participated and reported games to me over the past six months.  This was a pretty large time investment but I had a great time running this campaign.  I would also like to point out that most of the games reported were from all over the country rather than just the Pacific Northwest.  This shows that our podcast and my blog are being listened and read by a very diverse group of gamers and that is awesome!

The three winners of the raffle will be announced during Episode 16 of The Deployment Zone podcast which will be available via iTunes or our website soon.  (Link to the website is in upper right hand corner of the blog).   On behalf of Bryan, Josh and I we would like to thank everyone who participated in the Deployment Zone's first online campaign and based on the numbers and participation we received for this event over such a long period of time, you can bet I'll be willing to do something like this again in the future.

Thank you again!