04 Nov 2011
I recently attended the Crucible of Lost Souls final with my Chaos Warriors. This was a 2,400 point uncomped tournament run by the Northwest Warriors at Warhammer World. Overall I exeprienced a rollercoaster ride of luck and ended up well down the rankings. I include reports of 2 of my games against Ogres.
My List was:
Plaguefather NzGob, The Magus: Level 4 of Nurgle
Knight of Swords: Exalted Hero of Tzeentch, BSB
King of Clubs: Throgg
Sons of Death: 15 X Warriors of Khorne
The Devils Wind: 5 X Marauder Horsemen of Slaanesh
The Hanged Men: 20 X Marauders of Slaanesh
Devil Dogs, Moonlit Howlers, Starlight Screamers: Three units of 5 X Warhounds
Clubs of Chaos: 5 X Chaos Ogres of Slaanesh
Judgement: Hellcannon
GAME 5 JAMES OGRES
For Game 5, I faced James and his Ogres in a Dawn Attack. James fronted up with a Slaughtermaster, Firebelly, Bruiser BSB and just 3 units: Gorger, Ironblaster and a huge unit of Ironguts in which his characters bunkered.
I had to deploy first and spread out across the front. James placed both of his units in the centre and called for ramming speed.
Around the edges of the major battle, I destroyed the Ironblaster. The Gorger appeared and charged the Hellcannon to reduce my shooting at the Ironguts. I eventually disposed of it after 3 rounds of combat.
However, the Ironguts deathstar moved forward demolishing everything in its path. Magic and shooting slowly whittled down the numbers but it was still a terrifying sight as it arrived outside the building in which my Marauders, General and BSB were keeping a low profile. I was about to unleash a further magical assault when James calmly announced that he was unleashing the Hellheart.
Roll for miscast. Double 1. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. The resulting Dimensional Cascade mangled my Marauders but, fortunately, my General survived the beckoning Warp.
James charged into the building but was hampered by only being able to fight with 3 Ogres and my plucky BSB sent the assault party back with a bloody nose.
Forced to withdraw, the Ironguts were ideally placed for a flank charge by Throgg and the remaining 3 Ogres. I won the combat but James managed to pass his Leadership test to reform and turned to face for the final turn of the game. Grossly outnumbered this looked bad but Throgg pulled out all the stops and killed James Slaughtermaster in a challenge. Despite this, I lost the combat by one and had a bad moment facing a Break Test at -1, fortunately passing to win the game by 865 VPs to 516 VPs.
*Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant = May barbarians invade your personal space
GAME 6 ANDREWS OGRES
Final game of the tournament was Battleline against Andrew and his Ogres. Andrew fronted up with:
Slaughtermaster with Death Magic
Butcher with Law of the Maw
Bruiser BSB
Unit of 5 Mournfangs
2 X Single Sabre Tusks
2 X Ironblasters
Big Unit of Ironguts
Andrew deployed with the Mournfangs on my left and the Ironguts in the centre. I countered by playing a largely refused right flank and Andrew countered that by deploying both Ironblasters on my right to attempt to get flanking fire. My Marauder Horse went down on that side and vanguarded forward to put some pressure on the big guns. Andrews Sabre Tusks and my Hounds deployed across the frontage of our armies.
Andrew engaged top gear and advanced. He caused damage to some of my units with shooting, the Warriors notably taking a few wounds.
I moved Hounds into blocking positions against the Mournfangs and Ironguts and pressed the Magic button. One Cloying Quagmire later and the Mournfangs had lost 4 of their number. I also dealt successfully with the Ironblasters.
Shooting was less successful as the Hellcannon misfired, ate its crew, failed its Leadership test and rolled on the Monster Reaction Chart to find that it could not move voluntarily and would be forced to fire at the nearest visible enemy target. (Not sure if we played this right. As rampage is a compulsory move, does it still affect the Hellcannon in this situation?)
On Andrews next move, the fault in my plan became obvious. As there was only one Mournfang left, it could avoid my blocking Hounds and charge my Warriors, which it did. Striking first with 16 S5 attacks I thought that I would eat the beast. No. The beast not only survived but dished out huge damage. It eventually died after 2 rounds of combat, but I had only 2 remaining Warriors.
Meanwhile, the Irongut Deathstar approached with me whittling down the numbers through magic and Andrew doing likewise to me. We got to the endgame where I could either see the end of my Marauders but get another turn of shooting or magic or I could put all of my remaining units into a desperate charge, hope for some good magic buffs and try to steal the game outright. Charging seemed like the Chaos sort of thing to do and so in they went: Marauders on foot with General and BSB in front, the 2 remaining Warriors and the Marauder Horse into the flank.
Roll the dice for the magic phase. Not so fast says Andrew and reveals the Hellheart. Roll for Miscast. Double 1. For the third game in a row. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh (again). The Dimensional Cascade killed both remaining Chaos Warriors, 5 Marauders on foot and a Marauder Horseman as well as causing a handful of wounds on Andrews Ogres. With sickening inevitably, my General was sucked into the Warp. Despite this disaster and the lack of a magic phase, I still managed to hang onto the first round of combat for a draw but the writing was on the wall and I was destroyed on the second round leaving my Hellcannon the only thing left alive at the end of the game.
Andrew rolled out the winner by 2,041 VPs to 806.
*In dentibus anticis frustum magnum spinaciae habes = You have a large piece of spinach on your front teeth.
My List was:
Plaguefather NzGob, The Magus: Level 4 of Nurgle
Knight of Swords: Exalted Hero of Tzeentch, BSB
King of Clubs: Throgg
Sons of Death: 15 X Warriors of Khorne
The Devils Wind: 5 X Marauder Horsemen of Slaanesh
The Hanged Men: 20 X Marauders of Slaanesh
Devil Dogs, Moonlit Howlers, Starlight Screamers: Three units of 5 X Warhounds
Clubs of Chaos: 5 X Chaos Ogres of Slaanesh
Judgement: Hellcannon
GAME 5 JAMES OGRES
For Game 5, I faced James and his Ogres in a Dawn Attack. James fronted up with a Slaughtermaster, Firebelly, Bruiser BSB and just 3 units: Gorger, Ironblaster and a huge unit of Ironguts in which his characters bunkered.
I had to deploy first and spread out across the front. James placed both of his units in the centre and called for ramming speed.
Around the edges of the major battle, I destroyed the Ironblaster. The Gorger appeared and charged the Hellcannon to reduce my shooting at the Ironguts. I eventually disposed of it after 3 rounds of combat.
However, the Ironguts deathstar moved forward demolishing everything in its path. Magic and shooting slowly whittled down the numbers but it was still a terrifying sight as it arrived outside the building in which my Marauders, General and BSB were keeping a low profile. I was about to unleash a further magical assault when James calmly announced that he was unleashing the Hellheart.
Roll for miscast. Double 1. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. The resulting Dimensional Cascade mangled my Marauders but, fortunately, my General survived the beckoning Warp.
James charged into the building but was hampered by only being able to fight with 3 Ogres and my plucky BSB sent the assault party back with a bloody nose.
Forced to withdraw, the Ironguts were ideally placed for a flank charge by Throgg and the remaining 3 Ogres. I won the combat but James managed to pass his Leadership test to reform and turned to face for the final turn of the game. Grossly outnumbered this looked bad but Throgg pulled out all the stops and killed James Slaughtermaster in a challenge. Despite this, I lost the combat by one and had a bad moment facing a Break Test at -1, fortunately passing to win the game by 865 VPs to 516 VPs.
*Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant = May barbarians invade your personal space
GAME 6 ANDREWS OGRES
Final game of the tournament was Battleline against Andrew and his Ogres. Andrew fronted up with:
Slaughtermaster with Death Magic
Butcher with Law of the Maw
Bruiser BSB
Unit of 5 Mournfangs
2 X Single Sabre Tusks
2 X Ironblasters
Big Unit of Ironguts
Andrew deployed with the Mournfangs on my left and the Ironguts in the centre. I countered by playing a largely refused right flank and Andrew countered that by deploying both Ironblasters on my right to attempt to get flanking fire. My Marauder Horse went down on that side and vanguarded forward to put some pressure on the big guns. Andrews Sabre Tusks and my Hounds deployed across the frontage of our armies.
Andrew engaged top gear and advanced. He caused damage to some of my units with shooting, the Warriors notably taking a few wounds.
I moved Hounds into blocking positions against the Mournfangs and Ironguts and pressed the Magic button. One Cloying Quagmire later and the Mournfangs had lost 4 of their number. I also dealt successfully with the Ironblasters.
Shooting was less successful as the Hellcannon misfired, ate its crew, failed its Leadership test and rolled on the Monster Reaction Chart to find that it could not move voluntarily and would be forced to fire at the nearest visible enemy target. (Not sure if we played this right. As rampage is a compulsory move, does it still affect the Hellcannon in this situation?)
On Andrews next move, the fault in my plan became obvious. As there was only one Mournfang left, it could avoid my blocking Hounds and charge my Warriors, which it did. Striking first with 16 S5 attacks I thought that I would eat the beast. No. The beast not only survived but dished out huge damage. It eventually died after 2 rounds of combat, but I had only 2 remaining Warriors.
Meanwhile, the Irongut Deathstar approached with me whittling down the numbers through magic and Andrew doing likewise to me. We got to the endgame where I could either see the end of my Marauders but get another turn of shooting or magic or I could put all of my remaining units into a desperate charge, hope for some good magic buffs and try to steal the game outright. Charging seemed like the Chaos sort of thing to do and so in they went: Marauders on foot with General and BSB in front, the 2 remaining Warriors and the Marauder Horse into the flank.
Roll the dice for the magic phase. Not so fast says Andrew and reveals the Hellheart. Roll for Miscast. Double 1. For the third game in a row. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh (again). The Dimensional Cascade killed both remaining Chaos Warriors, 5 Marauders on foot and a Marauder Horseman as well as causing a handful of wounds on Andrews Ogres. With sickening inevitably, my General was sucked into the Warp. Despite this disaster and the lack of a magic phase, I still managed to hang onto the first round of combat for a draw but the writing was on the wall and I was destroyed on the second round leaving my Hellcannon the only thing left alive at the end of the game.
Andrew rolled out the winner by 2,041 VPs to 806.
*In dentibus anticis frustum magnum spinaciae habes = You have a large piece of spinach on your front teeth.
I would rather field an ogre horde.