16 Oct 2013
tl;dr version - game didn't go through to the end, was just about a draw around top of turn 4 (his turn). Would have ended with more than likely a draw by bottom of 6, come down to the wire though.
Lists:
Empire -
Level 4 caster, lore of life
BSB w/hvy armor, halbred
2x Engineers (not sure equipment)
50x Halbred users w/full command
10x bowmen skirmishers
10x bowmen skirmishers
3x Demigryhps with riders (no riders on the model, confused me on deployment, more on that later)
3x Great Cannons
2x Hellblaster Volley Guns
Steam Tank
My list:
Tyrant w/Butchers Blade, Giantbreaker, HA, Dragonhelm
Butcher w/Lore of the Maw, Hellheart
Firebelly w/Lore of Fire, Dispel Scroll, Great Weapon (just using what the model has on display)
11x Ogres w/full command
4x Ogres w/bellower and champion
2x Sabretusks
2x Sabretusks
6x Leadbelchers
Thundertusk
Ironblaster
Board was setup for a tournament this Saturday in Bowie, MD. NOVA tourney rules/setup. He won the roll for setup, elected I go first. (skipping ahead) Setup looked like this from left to right, my side. Ironblaster (rear), 2x Sabretusks, 4x Bulls, all on the left flank. Leadbelchers, Thundertusk, and large Bull unit with Tyrant and Butcher just about dead center. Right flank 2x Sabretusks. He had a great cannon far left, demigryphs up from that cannon on the left, 2 hellblasters near the middle, 2 cannons far right back. Bowmen near Hellblasters, large unit of Halbred dudes just off set right of center, and the other unit of 10x bowmen next to them.
My spells: Bullgorger (meh), Braingobbler, and Fireball, Flaming Sword of Rhuin (yaaay)
Turn 1. He went first. He rolled 4 wounds on the steam tank for charging over a fence, totally random bad luck roll there. He advanced the bowmen, both units, and the demigryphs full march. Halbreds slightly up. Magic was meh, he maybe got off a spell to get a wound back on the steam tank and give them a spell that meant if I was in hand to hand combat, end of turn I take 2d6 str 3 hits (cant remember spell). Shooting was hell. He did a wound on the Thundertusk, wound on the Butcher, wound on the Tyrant, couple wounds on the Leadies and the Ogre unit on the left flank opposite the demigryphs/cannon. I advanced nearly everything forward. Shot the Sabretusks up the side to block/redirct the demigryphs on the left. Right side moved those sabretusks up to threaten the two cannons ignoring the bowmen, center everything moved up to get ready for charges against the steam tank, bowmen, and halbreds. Magic was meh, got off Bullgorger on the Bull unit, that was about it.
Turn 2. He charged the demigryphs on the left flank towards the unit of Bulls avoiding my redirectors. I think they were blocking the unit, but I went ahead and let it through. This is about the time I realized they were knights mounted on those things... had I known this I would have deployed the Bulls near the large Bull unit/Thundertusk, and not out on the flank. Leadies would have been there. He felt bad about it, I didn't mean to bust his balls, but that was a pretty big deal considering it would have changed a lot on my side. Magic, I dropped Hellheart. Rolled a 6. First time ever. He rolled miscast whatever it was that caused a Str10 small template, one wound on Wizard, killed 10+ of his Halbred guys. Totally worth the 50pts. He rolled for lost dice, 6, magic phase over. Demigryphs ran through the bulls, that was the end of that, Ironblaster was safe on that left side, he was moving anyhow to make it out of their arc. He dropped the Thundertusk with the cannons. Hellblaster did more wounds on the Leadbelchers and large unit of Bulls. More pain on my end, not really anything else significant. He did take some shots at the Sabretusks on the right with the Bowmen, but only 1 wound inflicted. My turn two, I charge the bowmen in the middle, shoot the steam tank with the Leadbelchers, magic goes about the same except I torched an engineer with my Firebelly Fireball. Bulls ran through the Bowmen like nobody's business (Tyrant did 6 wounds alone on 8 attacks). I held there and reformed to face the Halbred unit and be prepared for either a Steam tank charge or Halbred unit charge. I did a couple more wounds on the steam tank, leaving it with 4 by the time it was said and done.
Turn 3. More shooty, more magic, no real change in anything. Cannons kept raining down, Hellblasters were just plain devestating. Killed something like 3+ Leadies, couple bulls, etc. He killed the Ironblaster with a cannon. He reformed his Halbred guys to try to take the charge from the Ogres (making 8 ranks so he could be steadfast). Bowmen moved into my deployment zone on the right to get some points for that. Sabretusks were shot on the right flank, killed one, surprisingly they passed their Ld on a 4! Woot! My turn 3, finished off the Steam tank, charged Halbred unit, charged cannon on the right, charged cannon on the left with sole tusk. Leadies moved forward to line up against the Hellblasters. Combat saw my Ogre unit killing about 12-13 that turn, he rolled with the BSB no worries and held. We were held up there for a couple turns, but he eventually ran and I caught him to pull the draw.
There are other small details I am forgetting, but nothing too terrible. All in all I was really pleased to see that Ogres hold up that well against such a heavy gunline almost specifically tooled for an Ogre army. 3 Great Cannons with 2 Hellblasters and a Steam Tank is just about ideal for dealing with us. I wouldnt have moved that Halbred unit forward, and made me absorb another round of shooting if it were me. But, I think he wanted to see how they did in combat.
Lessons learned:
- Go after Hellblasters very quickly. They are devestating with an Engineer nearby. Hitting on 3-4s, wounding on 3s with no armor saves (he was getting anywhere from 12-20 shots per turn) is just nasty for us.
- Ignore Steam Tank (for the most part) until the artillery is somewhat dealt with
- Casting was dealth with, decently, just using 2 level 2s (one dispel scroll and hellheart)
- Sabretusks were freaking brilliant for dealing with artillery. Loved them.
- Leadbelchers should have been on the far left flank to deal with the mysterious ghost knights (no models) ontop of the demigryphs. Mostly my fault for not asking exactly what that unit was though.
- Bulls did just fine, no real need to spend the extra points on Ironguts.
Possible changes:
- Tyrant swapped out for a Level 4 Slaughtermaster with Lore of the Maw so I can try to get Trollguts. That regen would have saved a ton of points.
- Drop the Firebelly for another Butcher with Beasts or Death
- Drop out Firebelly for a Bruiser with BSB
- Drop down Leadbelchers and a unit of Sabretusks to try to fit one unit of 3x Mournfang Cav
- Possibly swap out Bulls for Ironguts to get a magic banner of some sort
See anything I need to change? Any questions, comments, or concerns are greatly appreciated. Really trying to get back into things and so far I am really enjoying Fantasy again.
Cheers,
-Brian
Lists:
Empire -
Level 4 caster, lore of life
BSB w/hvy armor, halbred
2x Engineers (not sure equipment)
50x Halbred users w/full command
10x bowmen skirmishers
10x bowmen skirmishers
3x Demigryhps with riders (no riders on the model, confused me on deployment, more on that later)
3x Great Cannons
2x Hellblaster Volley Guns
Steam Tank
My list:
Tyrant w/Butchers Blade, Giantbreaker, HA, Dragonhelm
Butcher w/Lore of the Maw, Hellheart
Firebelly w/Lore of Fire, Dispel Scroll, Great Weapon (just using what the model has on display)
11x Ogres w/full command
4x Ogres w/bellower and champion
2x Sabretusks
2x Sabretusks
6x Leadbelchers
Thundertusk
Ironblaster
Board was setup for a tournament this Saturday in Bowie, MD. NOVA tourney rules/setup. He won the roll for setup, elected I go first. (skipping ahead) Setup looked like this from left to right, my side. Ironblaster (rear), 2x Sabretusks, 4x Bulls, all on the left flank. Leadbelchers, Thundertusk, and large Bull unit with Tyrant and Butcher just about dead center. Right flank 2x Sabretusks. He had a great cannon far left, demigryphs up from that cannon on the left, 2 hellblasters near the middle, 2 cannons far right back. Bowmen near Hellblasters, large unit of Halbred dudes just off set right of center, and the other unit of 10x bowmen next to them.
My spells: Bullgorger (meh), Braingobbler, and Fireball, Flaming Sword of Rhuin (yaaay)
Turn 1. He went first. He rolled 4 wounds on the steam tank for charging over a fence, totally random bad luck roll there. He advanced the bowmen, both units, and the demigryphs full march. Halbreds slightly up. Magic was meh, he maybe got off a spell to get a wound back on the steam tank and give them a spell that meant if I was in hand to hand combat, end of turn I take 2d6 str 3 hits (cant remember spell). Shooting was hell. He did a wound on the Thundertusk, wound on the Butcher, wound on the Tyrant, couple wounds on the Leadies and the Ogre unit on the left flank opposite the demigryphs/cannon. I advanced nearly everything forward. Shot the Sabretusks up the side to block/redirct the demigryphs on the left. Right side moved those sabretusks up to threaten the two cannons ignoring the bowmen, center everything moved up to get ready for charges against the steam tank, bowmen, and halbreds. Magic was meh, got off Bullgorger on the Bull unit, that was about it.
Turn 2. He charged the demigryphs on the left flank towards the unit of Bulls avoiding my redirectors. I think they were blocking the unit, but I went ahead and let it through. This is about the time I realized they were knights mounted on those things... had I known this I would have deployed the Bulls near the large Bull unit/Thundertusk, and not out on the flank. Leadies would have been there. He felt bad about it, I didn't mean to bust his balls, but that was a pretty big deal considering it would have changed a lot on my side. Magic, I dropped Hellheart. Rolled a 6. First time ever. He rolled miscast whatever it was that caused a Str10 small template, one wound on Wizard, killed 10+ of his Halbred guys. Totally worth the 50pts. He rolled for lost dice, 6, magic phase over. Demigryphs ran through the bulls, that was the end of that, Ironblaster was safe on that left side, he was moving anyhow to make it out of their arc. He dropped the Thundertusk with the cannons. Hellblaster did more wounds on the Leadbelchers and large unit of Bulls. More pain on my end, not really anything else significant. He did take some shots at the Sabretusks on the right with the Bowmen, but only 1 wound inflicted. My turn two, I charge the bowmen in the middle, shoot the steam tank with the Leadbelchers, magic goes about the same except I torched an engineer with my Firebelly Fireball. Bulls ran through the Bowmen like nobody's business (Tyrant did 6 wounds alone on 8 attacks). I held there and reformed to face the Halbred unit and be prepared for either a Steam tank charge or Halbred unit charge. I did a couple more wounds on the steam tank, leaving it with 4 by the time it was said and done.
Turn 3. More shooty, more magic, no real change in anything. Cannons kept raining down, Hellblasters were just plain devestating. Killed something like 3+ Leadies, couple bulls, etc. He killed the Ironblaster with a cannon. He reformed his Halbred guys to try to take the charge from the Ogres (making 8 ranks so he could be steadfast). Bowmen moved into my deployment zone on the right to get some points for that. Sabretusks were shot on the right flank, killed one, surprisingly they passed their Ld on a 4! Woot! My turn 3, finished off the Steam tank, charged Halbred unit, charged cannon on the right, charged cannon on the left with sole tusk. Leadies moved forward to line up against the Hellblasters. Combat saw my Ogre unit killing about 12-13 that turn, he rolled with the BSB no worries and held. We were held up there for a couple turns, but he eventually ran and I caught him to pull the draw.
There are other small details I am forgetting, but nothing too terrible. All in all I was really pleased to see that Ogres hold up that well against such a heavy gunline almost specifically tooled for an Ogre army. 3 Great Cannons with 2 Hellblasters and a Steam Tank is just about ideal for dealing with us. I wouldnt have moved that Halbred unit forward, and made me absorb another round of shooting if it were me. But, I think he wanted to see how they did in combat.
Lessons learned:
- Go after Hellblasters very quickly. They are devestating with an Engineer nearby. Hitting on 3-4s, wounding on 3s with no armor saves (he was getting anywhere from 12-20 shots per turn) is just nasty for us.
- Ignore Steam Tank (for the most part) until the artillery is somewhat dealt with
- Casting was dealth with, decently, just using 2 level 2s (one dispel scroll and hellheart)
- Sabretusks were freaking brilliant for dealing with artillery. Loved them.
- Leadbelchers should have been on the far left flank to deal with the mysterious ghost knights (no models) ontop of the demigryphs. Mostly my fault for not asking exactly what that unit was though.
- Bulls did just fine, no real need to spend the extra points on Ironguts.
Possible changes:
- Tyrant swapped out for a Level 4 Slaughtermaster with Lore of the Maw so I can try to get Trollguts. That regen would have saved a ton of points.
- Drop the Firebelly for another Butcher with Beasts or Death
- Drop out Firebelly for a Bruiser with BSB
- Drop down Leadbelchers and a unit of Sabretusks to try to fit one unit of 3x Mournfang Cav
- Possibly swap out Bulls for Ironguts to get a magic banner of some sort
See anything I need to change? Any questions, comments, or concerns are greatly appreciated. Really trying to get back into things and so far I am really enjoying Fantasy again.
Cheers,
-Brian
8th edition: 4-6-1 (as of Dec 2013)