28 May 2014
Welcome everybody, to yet another fantastic retelling of a bunch of fat guys beating up everyone unfortunate enough to get in their way.
AKA: I finally got to play again after a month!
Today we have the thrilling tale of Jim Bob, the mighty Mawseeker Tyrant himself, facing off against a blender. Truly, it is a tale for the ages! Will Jim Bob get his smoothie, or will the blender falter on an ice chunk that is slightly too big?
Wait...
*reads notes*
Blender vampire! Jim Bob, the mighty Mawseeker Tyrant himself, is facing off against a blender vampire lord!
That makes more sense.
Anyway, this is the first time I have ever faced vampires, and also, the first time my bloodsucking opponent had ever faced ogres. Neither of us were really sure how this was going to go. All I had going into it was some vague rumors that apparently the blender lord was really nasty and that they had ethereal stuff. So, I made sure that everyone but the tyrant had a cheap as dirt magic weapon, brought 2 firebellies (because that's what you do when you want a tyrant), and got ready to see how it would go. I had zero expectations going in, so the result came as a surprise.
Without further ado, lets see our players.
In this corner, weighing in at....quite a bit, is Jim Bob, the Mawseeker! Accompanying him is:
Tyrant: mawseeker, tricksters helm, heavy armor, great weapon, seed of rebirth
Bruiser: bsb, heavy armor, ironfist, crown of command, dragonhelm, tormentor sword
Firebelly: level 2, dispel scroll, biting blade, ironcurse icon
Firebelly: level 2, talisman of preservation, warrior bane
Ironguts (9 models): full command, standard of discipline, lookout
Ogres (5 models): ironfists, full command
Mournfang (4 models): heavy armor, ironfists, bellower, gleaming pennant
2 sabretusks
Leadbelchers (4 models): bellower
Maneaters (4 models): 4x extra hand weapons, standard, bellower, banner of swiftness, swiftstride, ItP
Ironblaster
In the blue corner, weighing in at a dusty 75 pounds, is Kit Chenade, the blender vampire, and his companions:
(BV) Blender Vampire - typical blender, from what I've heard. Was riding a horse and had a 2+ armor save. General, level 1 vampire. He had the signature as his only spell.
(HV) Hero Vampire - another level 1 vampire, though with the lore of death (he had spirit leach), had a magic book that let him drop random amounts of dice to randomly cast a spell.
(W) Wizard - Level 4 vampire. Had the signature, raise dead, curse of years, and winds of death
(ME) Mortis Engine - time bomb extraordinaire. I definitely learned to respect these.
(CC) Corpse Cart - had a necromancer on it, I think. Was the 4th channeling unit he had.
(B1) Banshee
(B2) Banshee
(BG) 10 Black Guard - on horses. 2+ armor. Lances. Still cheaper than cold one cavalry. *sigh*
(G) 50 Ghouls - poison attacks everywhere.
(Z) 50 Zombies - I hope he didn't have to pay too much for these. They suck.
Now, for the main event! Ready, go!
Deployment
----------
Deployment was typical for me. I dropped the sabretusks first on the flanks, then started dropping for match ups. My opponent dropped his ghouls and zombies first, then dropped the black guards. Seeing as that was the only heavy armor that he had, I set up the ironblaster across from them. I figured the mournfang would be a good matchup for the zombies, and wanted a firebelly in a decent position to take fireball shots at each of the banshees.
Turn 1 - Vampires
-----------------
For the first turn, the vampires began their march forward. Well, as much as shambling dead can march, anyway. My opponent was wary of getting charged and of getting shot, so he did not move far. His ghouls, zombies, and the corpse cart all moved forward and took cover behind the wall, while the black guard moved forward to make me come to him. The banshees moved forward to try to draw out attacks.
I believe the general strategy that my opponent had in mind was for me to come to him, while using his superior magic phases (4 wizards channelling and a level 4 wizard compared to my two wizards channelling, both maxed out as a level 2) to whittle down my forces. This was both of our first attempts at ever playing against either of these armies (he'd never played against ogres, I've never played against vampires), so neither of us knew what to expect.
Speaking of the magic phase, it did not turn out how he wanted. It was a low dice count (5-3). He tried casting Winds of Death on 3 dice and failed. He used his remaining dice to use one of the books that give different spell effects, got the withering as his spell, and then got that spell completely shut down. As a result, magic did nothing.
Since vampires don't have any shooting, he was done after that pathetic magic phase.
Turn 1 - Ogres
--------------
The ogres were unsure of what exactly they were going to be facing, so they played things cautiously. The sabretusks moved forward to get ready to redirect if needed. The ironblaster moved over to get a good shot at the blackguard. The maneaters get set to charge the blackguard should they try to charge the ironblaster. The ironguts and the ogres move forward to give the firebellies a better shot at the banshees, and the leadbelchers move into range to take a shot at either banshee should they survive the firebelly barrage. The mournfang don't want to get into combat with the banshee, so they stay back while the firebellies do their jobs.
Speaking of doing their jobs, the firebellies completely fail at it. Both firebellies get their fireballs dispelled, but one makes up for it by casting flaming sword on the leadbelchers.
Said leadbelchers figure that overkill is the best kind of kill. 19 shots, 8 wounds. The leftmost banshee evaporates. The ironblaster takes a shot at the blackguard and takes out 2 of them. The driver is feeling pretty smug after that.
Turn 2 - Vampires
-----------------
The vampires did not move much. The blackguard move behind the forest to get into cover, though my opponent forgets that ironblasters are chariots as well. I found out later that he forgot that 1) flank shots go through the entire line, and 2) you have to be facing the opponent you want to charge on the next turn. Had I known, I would have pointed this out. At the same time, though, how often do you get presented with the perfect flank shot?
I'm not really sure why he didn't move the banshee forward to try to interfere with the mournfang. I think he just forgot that it was ethereal. Again, this was our first time against each of our respective armies, so we were figuring things out. That one banshee would have done quite well against the mournfang, and probably would have beaten them outright.
Magic went better. It was still a low casting phase. He tried to cast the signature spell on his blackguards, which I stopped, and tried winds of death again, which I decided to use my scroll on. This wasn't a great idea. Sure I stopped the spell, but in all honesty, it really wouldn't have done much to me anyway. I probably would have been better off taking the winds and keeping the scroll for a nastier magic phase (like next turn).
Turn 2 - Ogres
--------------
The second turn played similarly for the ogres as turn 1 did. I did some repositioning, then got ready to try to take down the banshee again.
Magic was pretty even. After all the channels have been taken into account, it was 8-7. I tried a level 2 fireball on the wizard in the back using the firebelly with the ironguts, which was dispelled. I tried using the same wizard to cast flaming swords on my leadbelchers. My opponent learned from the overkill from last time and spent the rest of his dice to stop that. That left me two dice, which I used to drop a 4 wound fireball onto the second banshee's head. It, too, evaporated with a small scream.
Now that the ethereals have been taken out, I was free to focus on shooting. The leadbelchers took aim at the wizard in the back. We determined through a dice roll that there was enough of a gap between the corpse cart and the zombies (there was a little more space than the report shows) to allow them to shoot without the wizard getting cover. 9 shots, 1 wound. Rather pathetic shooting, boys. The ironblaster had much better luck, and took out 4 black guards. I was feeling pretty good about myself, but I knew that I needed to get into combat soon, or eventually a magic phase would go his way and do a lot of damage.
Turn 3 - Vampires
-----------------
Again, the vampires did not make much effort to move. If I had a heavy shooting list, this would have been heavenly (especially if I had heavens *buh dum tish*).
The writer of that last joke has been fired.
Anyway, he moves his black guards into position to charge the ironblaster, and moves the mortis engine over a bit for a little more coverage. As the turns go on, its range is getting bigger, but I don't know enough about it to be worried yet.
Magic was very one sided in his favor. 11-6, and I was really regretting using my scroll earlier. I let the first spell through, and immediately regretted that decision. He cast his signature on his blackguard, and all of my shooting was undone. He cast a second signature on the corpse cart, giving all of his nearby units ASF and healing a wound on the wizard, taking him back to full health. I kept all of my dice back, waiting to dispel curse of years. He didn't cast it. Instead he went for another winds of death, and rolled double 6s. So now I'm facing a full unit of black guard, his units are all buffed, and I didn't spend a single dice.
That miscast was pretty bad for him, though. He rolled a 5, blew up 2 of his zombies, and caused a wound to himself. Then, he placed his template and rolled a misfire, causing another wound to himself and taking out 5 more zombies. Ouch.
Turn 3 - Ogres
--------------
On my turn, I got everything ready to destroy the blender lord. I have heard nothing but horror stories about how powerful this guy was, so I wasn't taking any chances. I placed my sabretusk in position to redirect, got the maneaters positioned for a rear charge, and brought my ironguts over. I finally remembered that my second sabretusk was there and started moving him up to go wizard hunting. I tried to charge the zombies with the mournfang, but missed by 2. So, instead of charging into the rotting dead and turning them into mulch, they plod slowly along toward them. Not the time for a leasurely stroll, guys. The ogres move forward a bit, but don't feel confident enough to run in just yet.
For magic, it was another close one: 8-6. I spend 3 dice on a fireball targeting the wizard, but it gets dispelled. I spend another 3 dice on flaming sword, and it gets dispelled too. Finally, I figure that I had 2 dice left, I may as well try to get something out of it. So, like an idiot, I throw the weakest fireball I can at the black guards. Double 6s. The fireball deals a single hit, completely fails to wound, and the miscast result was a 4. The resulting explosion rips apart 2 ironguts, almost kills a third, wounds the tyrant, wounds the bsb, and... completely misses the firebelly. He stays on this side of the void, and avoids punishment for all the harm that he did. He'll be getting his just desserts after the fight. The ironguts are NOT happy with him.
Shooting didn't go too hot either. The ironblaster hits the back guy directly in the face, resulting in just a single (re)death. The leadbelchers blast the wizard, but he makes all of his regen saves.
Turn 3 and still no close combat. Weird.
Turn 4 - Vampires
-----------------
The black guards take a run at the sabretusk blocking them. He fails his terror check completely and runs for the hills. He tries to chase it down, hoping to get it and run into the ironblaster, but rolls short and stops an inch from the ironblaster. The rest of his army is staying back, still content to use the walls as cover.
Magic went well for him. I was able to stop one signature on the black guard, but he spends the rest of his dice on the book and on raise dead. The book casts enfeeblement on the ironguts, and the raise dead drops some zombies in front of my ironguts.
Turn 4 - Ogres
--------------
Finally, some combat. The ironblaster charges the flank of the black guards, the maneaters charge the rear of the black guards, and the ironguts plow through the 2 zombies that were made. Meanwhile, the mournfang charge the zombies and the ogres charge the corpse cart. The non-fleeing sabretusk gets behind the wizard (not that he'll be there long), and the leadbelchers just sit there and look pretty, getting ready to charge the ghouls should they get in the flank of the ogres.
Magic was decent. I tried to cast flame cage on my ogres, but it gets shut down. Same with flaming sword. So the only thing I get off is a second level fireball straight to the wizards face. He explodes nicely into a bunch of little chunks.
Shooting was non-existent this turn. I should have taken some potshots at the ghouls, but I was just so excited to actually have combat that I forgot about it completely.
As for combat, lets take it from left to right. The ironguts plow through the two zombies and crash into the side of the black guard. The ironblaster deals a wound with his impacts, the maneaters rolled an 11 and deal 4 impacts, and the ironguts don't really do anything with theirs. The tyrant issues a challenge, and we look forward to seeing killy lord vs blender lord. Before the spectacle, the maneaters and the ironblaster deal another couple of wounds. Finally, it is time for the main event: Tyrant vs Blender: Who will win?
Place your bets everyone, place your bets!
In a stunning upset, the blender failed to do a single wound, and the tyrant deals one whole wound in return!
Yeah, it was rather disappointing.
Still, I won by exactly enough to have him crumble down to the last wound, so all of my guys reform to face the rest of the battle.
The ogres also roll a 10 and smash in with 5 impact hits (though only one of them was from the firebelly). 4 of them wound, but the 3+ regen saves it. The firebelly does nothing. In actual combat, the ogres lose a singe guy to the dark aura of the mortis engine, but nothing else. They then do 2 wounds, and crumble does the rest. They reform and get ready to meet the ghouls.
Finally, the mournfang run through the zombies like a lawn mower. The zombies struck first, due to the ASF they received from the corpse cart this round, but they fail to cause a single wound. In return, the mournfang kill a total of 18 of the smelly bastards, and another 12 die to crumbling. Great job, boys!
Turn 5 - Vampires
-----------------
The mortis engine proves its worth, and single-handedly does more damage than the rest of the entire army combined. It charges into the ironguts, handily avoiding the tyrant. The ghouls try their luck at the ogres, and the zombies...just stay in combat with the meat grinder.
There is not much left for magic on his side. He gives one attempt at the book, which I throw all of my dice at, and he's done.
He had lost a few models to the crumble from losing his general, and his last remaining vampire takes over as the new general.
Finally, combat. Lets do the less interesting combat first. His now lackluster horde of zombies is torn to shreds by the mournfang, who stomp around a bit before reforming to face the ghouls. The horde of ghouls deal about 6 unsaved poison wounds to the ogres, and lose about 10 of their number in the end.
For the fun part: All of my units in the area take a few wounds from the dark aura. Not a lot, but it still hurts. It deals a few impact wounds to the ironguts. The bruiser fails to cause any wounds. The firebelly steps up, inhales, and proceeds to light off the bomb that the mortis engine seems to be built around. It goes up in a massive mushroom cloud and wreaks havoc on my units. It completely one shots my leadbelchers. 12 wounds: 100-0 in no time at all. The ironblaster makes a lucky 6+ armor save to keep it among the living. The maneaters lose all but one of their number, which runs in panic (I forgot that they were immune to psychology. Oops.) The ironguts lose another 3 of their number. The ogres are in range and I lose all but one of them. The ghouls take some losses, but its nothing compared to what I had just been through. The mortis engine bomb easily makes up for the rest of the army in that one shot.
Turn 5 - Ogres
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In the final round of combat, the ogres charge everything they can into the ghouls. The ghouls do their best, but do not manage to kill a single ogre before getting completely wiped out, ending the game. I didn't even bother with magic, as I just wanted to see what they could do through brute force. Turns out, quite a bit.
So, now that the dust has settled, what have we learned?
1) Tyrants do not blend
2) If you don't have shooting, don't hang back. It seems to me that vampires are never going to get the charge (except for the chariots, the banshees, and the black guards), so they should just shamble forward with the full understanding that they will get charged. If nothing else, it stops a lot of shooting. At the same point, though, the shooting was far less effective than just getting into combat was. Still, since they don't have shooting at all, they need to get into combat so that they can do something.
3) That signature spell is a real piece of work. Nothing quite like having all of your hard work deleted with 2 dice. I need to remember that the signature is a danger and should be higher on the priority list than I had it today.
4) Keep your general in the middle. My opponent would have been better off if he had anchored all of his units around the general, rather than having the cavalry on the flank. That way he has a better chance of avoiding a combo charge while maybe getting a combo of his own.
All in all, though, it was a fun game. Next time I play him I'll be packing lizardmen (he's never played against those before either). He made several very obvious errors, but I think it can largely be chalked up to the fact that this was his first game since Christmas.
AKA: I finally got to play again after a month!
Today we have the thrilling tale of Jim Bob, the mighty Mawseeker Tyrant himself, facing off against a blender. Truly, it is a tale for the ages! Will Jim Bob get his smoothie, or will the blender falter on an ice chunk that is slightly too big?
Wait...
*reads notes*
Blender vampire! Jim Bob, the mighty Mawseeker Tyrant himself, is facing off against a blender vampire lord!
That makes more sense.
Anyway, this is the first time I have ever faced vampires, and also, the first time my bloodsucking opponent had ever faced ogres. Neither of us were really sure how this was going to go. All I had going into it was some vague rumors that apparently the blender lord was really nasty and that they had ethereal stuff. So, I made sure that everyone but the tyrant had a cheap as dirt magic weapon, brought 2 firebellies (because that's what you do when you want a tyrant), and got ready to see how it would go. I had zero expectations going in, so the result came as a surprise.
Without further ado, lets see our players.
In this corner, weighing in at....quite a bit, is Jim Bob, the Mawseeker! Accompanying him is:
Tyrant: mawseeker, tricksters helm, heavy armor, great weapon, seed of rebirth
Bruiser: bsb, heavy armor, ironfist, crown of command, dragonhelm, tormentor sword
Firebelly: level 2, dispel scroll, biting blade, ironcurse icon
Firebelly: level 2, talisman of preservation, warrior bane
Ironguts (9 models): full command, standard of discipline, lookout
Ogres (5 models): ironfists, full command
Mournfang (4 models): heavy armor, ironfists, bellower, gleaming pennant
2 sabretusks
Leadbelchers (4 models): bellower
Maneaters (4 models): 4x extra hand weapons, standard, bellower, banner of swiftness, swiftstride, ItP
Ironblaster
In the blue corner, weighing in at a dusty 75 pounds, is Kit Chenade, the blender vampire, and his companions:
(BV) Blender Vampire - typical blender, from what I've heard. Was riding a horse and had a 2+ armor save. General, level 1 vampire. He had the signature as his only spell.
(HV) Hero Vampire - another level 1 vampire, though with the lore of death (he had spirit leach), had a magic book that let him drop random amounts of dice to randomly cast a spell.
(W) Wizard - Level 4 vampire. Had the signature, raise dead, curse of years, and winds of death
(ME) Mortis Engine - time bomb extraordinaire. I definitely learned to respect these.
(CC) Corpse Cart - had a necromancer on it, I think. Was the 4th channeling unit he had.
(B1) Banshee
(B2) Banshee
(BG) 10 Black Guard - on horses. 2+ armor. Lances. Still cheaper than cold one cavalry. *sigh*
(G) 50 Ghouls - poison attacks everywhere.
(Z) 50 Zombies - I hope he didn't have to pay too much for these. They suck.
Now, for the main event! Ready, go!
Deployment
----------
Deployment was typical for me. I dropped the sabretusks first on the flanks, then started dropping for match ups. My opponent dropped his ghouls and zombies first, then dropped the black guards. Seeing as that was the only heavy armor that he had, I set up the ironblaster across from them. I figured the mournfang would be a good matchup for the zombies, and wanted a firebelly in a decent position to take fireball shots at each of the banshees.
Turn 1 - Vampires
-----------------
For the first turn, the vampires began their march forward. Well, as much as shambling dead can march, anyway. My opponent was wary of getting charged and of getting shot, so he did not move far. His ghouls, zombies, and the corpse cart all moved forward and took cover behind the wall, while the black guard moved forward to make me come to him. The banshees moved forward to try to draw out attacks.
I believe the general strategy that my opponent had in mind was for me to come to him, while using his superior magic phases (4 wizards channelling and a level 4 wizard compared to my two wizards channelling, both maxed out as a level 2) to whittle down my forces. This was both of our first attempts at ever playing against either of these armies (he'd never played against ogres, I've never played against vampires), so neither of us knew what to expect.
Speaking of the magic phase, it did not turn out how he wanted. It was a low dice count (5-3). He tried casting Winds of Death on 3 dice and failed. He used his remaining dice to use one of the books that give different spell effects, got the withering as his spell, and then got that spell completely shut down. As a result, magic did nothing.
Since vampires don't have any shooting, he was done after that pathetic magic phase.
Turn 1 - Ogres
--------------
The ogres were unsure of what exactly they were going to be facing, so they played things cautiously. The sabretusks moved forward to get ready to redirect if needed. The ironblaster moved over to get a good shot at the blackguard. The maneaters get set to charge the blackguard should they try to charge the ironblaster. The ironguts and the ogres move forward to give the firebellies a better shot at the banshees, and the leadbelchers move into range to take a shot at either banshee should they survive the firebelly barrage. The mournfang don't want to get into combat with the banshee, so they stay back while the firebellies do their jobs.
Speaking of doing their jobs, the firebellies completely fail at it. Both firebellies get their fireballs dispelled, but one makes up for it by casting flaming sword on the leadbelchers.
Said leadbelchers figure that overkill is the best kind of kill. 19 shots, 8 wounds. The leftmost banshee evaporates. The ironblaster takes a shot at the blackguard and takes out 2 of them. The driver is feeling pretty smug after that.
Turn 2 - Vampires
-----------------
The vampires did not move much. The blackguard move behind the forest to get into cover, though my opponent forgets that ironblasters are chariots as well. I found out later that he forgot that 1) flank shots go through the entire line, and 2) you have to be facing the opponent you want to charge on the next turn. Had I known, I would have pointed this out. At the same time, though, how often do you get presented with the perfect flank shot?
I'm not really sure why he didn't move the banshee forward to try to interfere with the mournfang. I think he just forgot that it was ethereal. Again, this was our first time against each of our respective armies, so we were figuring things out. That one banshee would have done quite well against the mournfang, and probably would have beaten them outright.
Magic went better. It was still a low casting phase. He tried to cast the signature spell on his blackguards, which I stopped, and tried winds of death again, which I decided to use my scroll on. This wasn't a great idea. Sure I stopped the spell, but in all honesty, it really wouldn't have done much to me anyway. I probably would have been better off taking the winds and keeping the scroll for a nastier magic phase (like next turn).
Turn 2 - Ogres
--------------
The second turn played similarly for the ogres as turn 1 did. I did some repositioning, then got ready to try to take down the banshee again.
Magic was pretty even. After all the channels have been taken into account, it was 8-7. I tried a level 2 fireball on the wizard in the back using the firebelly with the ironguts, which was dispelled. I tried using the same wizard to cast flaming swords on my leadbelchers. My opponent learned from the overkill from last time and spent the rest of his dice to stop that. That left me two dice, which I used to drop a 4 wound fireball onto the second banshee's head. It, too, evaporated with a small scream.
Now that the ethereals have been taken out, I was free to focus on shooting. The leadbelchers took aim at the wizard in the back. We determined through a dice roll that there was enough of a gap between the corpse cart and the zombies (there was a little more space than the report shows) to allow them to shoot without the wizard getting cover. 9 shots, 1 wound. Rather pathetic shooting, boys. The ironblaster had much better luck, and took out 4 black guards. I was feeling pretty good about myself, but I knew that I needed to get into combat soon, or eventually a magic phase would go his way and do a lot of damage.
Turn 3 - Vampires
-----------------
Again, the vampires did not make much effort to move. If I had a heavy shooting list, this would have been heavenly (especially if I had heavens *buh dum tish*).
The writer of that last joke has been fired.
Anyway, he moves his black guards into position to charge the ironblaster, and moves the mortis engine over a bit for a little more coverage. As the turns go on, its range is getting bigger, but I don't know enough about it to be worried yet.
Magic was very one sided in his favor. 11-6, and I was really regretting using my scroll earlier. I let the first spell through, and immediately regretted that decision. He cast his signature on his blackguard, and all of my shooting was undone. He cast a second signature on the corpse cart, giving all of his nearby units ASF and healing a wound on the wizard, taking him back to full health. I kept all of my dice back, waiting to dispel curse of years. He didn't cast it. Instead he went for another winds of death, and rolled double 6s. So now I'm facing a full unit of black guard, his units are all buffed, and I didn't spend a single dice.
That miscast was pretty bad for him, though. He rolled a 5, blew up 2 of his zombies, and caused a wound to himself. Then, he placed his template and rolled a misfire, causing another wound to himself and taking out 5 more zombies. Ouch.
Turn 3 - Ogres
--------------
On my turn, I got everything ready to destroy the blender lord. I have heard nothing but horror stories about how powerful this guy was, so I wasn't taking any chances. I placed my sabretusk in position to redirect, got the maneaters positioned for a rear charge, and brought my ironguts over. I finally remembered that my second sabretusk was there and started moving him up to go wizard hunting. I tried to charge the zombies with the mournfang, but missed by 2. So, instead of charging into the rotting dead and turning them into mulch, they plod slowly along toward them. Not the time for a leasurely stroll, guys. The ogres move forward a bit, but don't feel confident enough to run in just yet.
For magic, it was another close one: 8-6. I spend 3 dice on a fireball targeting the wizard, but it gets dispelled. I spend another 3 dice on flaming sword, and it gets dispelled too. Finally, I figure that I had 2 dice left, I may as well try to get something out of it. So, like an idiot, I throw the weakest fireball I can at the black guards. Double 6s. The fireball deals a single hit, completely fails to wound, and the miscast result was a 4. The resulting explosion rips apart 2 ironguts, almost kills a third, wounds the tyrant, wounds the bsb, and... completely misses the firebelly. He stays on this side of the void, and avoids punishment for all the harm that he did. He'll be getting his just desserts after the fight. The ironguts are NOT happy with him.
Shooting didn't go too hot either. The ironblaster hits the back guy directly in the face, resulting in just a single (re)death. The leadbelchers blast the wizard, but he makes all of his regen saves.
Turn 3 and still no close combat. Weird.
Turn 4 - Vampires
-----------------
The black guards take a run at the sabretusk blocking them. He fails his terror check completely and runs for the hills. He tries to chase it down, hoping to get it and run into the ironblaster, but rolls short and stops an inch from the ironblaster. The rest of his army is staying back, still content to use the walls as cover.
Magic went well for him. I was able to stop one signature on the black guard, but he spends the rest of his dice on the book and on raise dead. The book casts enfeeblement on the ironguts, and the raise dead drops some zombies in front of my ironguts.
Turn 4 - Ogres
--------------
Finally, some combat. The ironblaster charges the flank of the black guards, the maneaters charge the rear of the black guards, and the ironguts plow through the 2 zombies that were made. Meanwhile, the mournfang charge the zombies and the ogres charge the corpse cart. The non-fleeing sabretusk gets behind the wizard (not that he'll be there long), and the leadbelchers just sit there and look pretty, getting ready to charge the ghouls should they get in the flank of the ogres.
Magic was decent. I tried to cast flame cage on my ogres, but it gets shut down. Same with flaming sword. So the only thing I get off is a second level fireball straight to the wizards face. He explodes nicely into a bunch of little chunks.
Shooting was non-existent this turn. I should have taken some potshots at the ghouls, but I was just so excited to actually have combat that I forgot about it completely.
As for combat, lets take it from left to right. The ironguts plow through the two zombies and crash into the side of the black guard. The ironblaster deals a wound with his impacts, the maneaters rolled an 11 and deal 4 impacts, and the ironguts don't really do anything with theirs. The tyrant issues a challenge, and we look forward to seeing killy lord vs blender lord. Before the spectacle, the maneaters and the ironblaster deal another couple of wounds. Finally, it is time for the main event: Tyrant vs Blender: Who will win?
Place your bets everyone, place your bets!
In a stunning upset, the blender failed to do a single wound, and the tyrant deals one whole wound in return!
Yeah, it was rather disappointing.
Still, I won by exactly enough to have him crumble down to the last wound, so all of my guys reform to face the rest of the battle.
The ogres also roll a 10 and smash in with 5 impact hits (though only one of them was from the firebelly). 4 of them wound, but the 3+ regen saves it. The firebelly does nothing. In actual combat, the ogres lose a singe guy to the dark aura of the mortis engine, but nothing else. They then do 2 wounds, and crumble does the rest. They reform and get ready to meet the ghouls.
Finally, the mournfang run through the zombies like a lawn mower. The zombies struck first, due to the ASF they received from the corpse cart this round, but they fail to cause a single wound. In return, the mournfang kill a total of 18 of the smelly bastards, and another 12 die to crumbling. Great job, boys!
Turn 5 - Vampires
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The mortis engine proves its worth, and single-handedly does more damage than the rest of the entire army combined. It charges into the ironguts, handily avoiding the tyrant. The ghouls try their luck at the ogres, and the zombies...just stay in combat with the meat grinder.
There is not much left for magic on his side. He gives one attempt at the book, which I throw all of my dice at, and he's done.
He had lost a few models to the crumble from losing his general, and his last remaining vampire takes over as the new general.
Finally, combat. Lets do the less interesting combat first. His now lackluster horde of zombies is torn to shreds by the mournfang, who stomp around a bit before reforming to face the ghouls. The horde of ghouls deal about 6 unsaved poison wounds to the ogres, and lose about 10 of their number in the end.
For the fun part: All of my units in the area take a few wounds from the dark aura. Not a lot, but it still hurts. It deals a few impact wounds to the ironguts. The bruiser fails to cause any wounds. The firebelly steps up, inhales, and proceeds to light off the bomb that the mortis engine seems to be built around. It goes up in a massive mushroom cloud and wreaks havoc on my units. It completely one shots my leadbelchers. 12 wounds: 100-0 in no time at all. The ironblaster makes a lucky 6+ armor save to keep it among the living. The maneaters lose all but one of their number, which runs in panic (I forgot that they were immune to psychology. Oops.) The ironguts lose another 3 of their number. The ogres are in range and I lose all but one of them. The ghouls take some losses, but its nothing compared to what I had just been through. The mortis engine bomb easily makes up for the rest of the army in that one shot.
Turn 5 - Ogres
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In the final round of combat, the ogres charge everything they can into the ghouls. The ghouls do their best, but do not manage to kill a single ogre before getting completely wiped out, ending the game. I didn't even bother with magic, as I just wanted to see what they could do through brute force. Turns out, quite a bit.
So, now that the dust has settled, what have we learned?
1) Tyrants do not blend
2) If you don't have shooting, don't hang back. It seems to me that vampires are never going to get the charge (except for the chariots, the banshees, and the black guards), so they should just shamble forward with the full understanding that they will get charged. If nothing else, it stops a lot of shooting. At the same point, though, the shooting was far less effective than just getting into combat was. Still, since they don't have shooting at all, they need to get into combat so that they can do something.
3) That signature spell is a real piece of work. Nothing quite like having all of your hard work deleted with 2 dice. I need to remember that the signature is a danger and should be higher on the priority list than I had it today.
4) Keep your general in the middle. My opponent would have been better off if he had anchored all of his units around the general, rather than having the cavalry on the flank. That way he has a better chance of avoiding a combo charge while maybe getting a combo of his own.
All in all, though, it was a fun game. Next time I play him I'll be packing lizardmen (he's never played against those before either). He made several very obvious errors, but I think it can largely be chalked up to the fact that this was his first game since Christmas.
), and it would have put more pressure on your opponent to either expose the wizard or make some other rash mistake.
But, I agree, with odds as they are, you were good with your targets.