29 Jun 2014
Tragedy! 4500pt Game vs Slaneesh
So, after driving down to a local store nice and early (to also see what was available at the stores swap meet and to avoid traffic), only one other player showed up for the small tournament that was scheduled for today. Fantasy is gaining ground at this store over 40k (very robust scene, 20-30 player tournaments), but this weekend the stars aligned against us.
Lucky for me, I only wanted to play and have fun; and the other player is a friend of mine so we said screw it, grabbed a table and decided to throw together a 4500 point game to make up for the disappointment. Its a good thing though: thats about what I had with me in Ogres, and really I just wanted to play a massively fun game, and thats what I got. My Army (had to go big on characters to make the points work):
-Tyrant-Glittering Scales, Mawseeker, Sword of Swift Slaying, Ironfist
-Slaughtermaster- Lv4 (LotGM: Trollguts, Toothcracker, Bonecrusher, Spinemarrow); Hellheart, Armor of Destiny, Ironfist (lesson learned: in an army with this many mean characters, no real need for the AoD on the SM)
-Firebelly- Lv2 (Fireball, Flame Storm); Dispel Scroll, AHW
-Bruiser BSB: Greedy Fist, Enchanted Shield, Ironcurse Icon, Heavy Armor
-Hunter on a Stonehorn- Shield of Ptolos, Beastkiller, Potion of Speed, Harpoon Launcher
-18xIronguts Standard of Discipline, Full Cmd (Tyrant, SM, BSB in here)
-16xOgres Ironfist, Full Cmd (Firebelly here)
-Sabretusk
-Sabretusk
-3xYhetees
-3xMournfang HA, IF, Mus, Dragonhide Banner
-3xMournfang HA, IF, Mus
-4xLeadbelchers Mus
-4xLeadbelchers Mus
-Giant
-Ironblaster
-Thundertusk
What he had (Slaneesh for the most part):
Sigvald the Magnificent
Sorcerer Lord Lv 4 on a 2-headed Dragon
Sorcerer on a Warshrine
Sorcerer
BSB
Bus of Chaos Knights with enscrolled swords and 1+ saves and Strider (banner?)
25-ish Warriors (Sorcerer here)
20-ish Warriors (BSB Here)
20-ish Chosen (Sigvald Here)
20-ish Marauders w/ Flails
6 Dragon Ogres (Great Weapons)
HellCannon
Marauder Horsemen
We roll and get the Watchtower for a scenario. I win the roll to own the tower, but unfortunately, since I didnt bring any Gnoblars, I have no core infantry, only Monstrous Infantry, so cannot set up in the tower. Crap. He is going to go first and I am going to have a hell of a time getting him out. Here is the set up with the Horsemens vanguard:
Side View
Turn 1:
My opponent surges forward with everything so he can get the watchtower. We are playing the pond as a river, and lucky for me he cannot march through it (we roll raging torrent). He casts a leadership Hex on my Hunter/Stonehorn. I manage to dispel everything else. His hellcannon mis-fires, but result is nothing of note.
For my turn, I figure Why not? and take some of the large charges with the Bull Horde into his dragon ogres (after all, he would charge next turn if I did not) and, knowing that the Horsemen would flee, charge them and make the redirect into the Dragon w/Sorcerer Lord. Otherwise, I move my yhetees, Giant, and Sabretusk up on the right flank, thinking I can make short work of that Warmachine and bring my flankers around. In the magic phase, I begin to realize my error when, thinking I was lucky to get Flame Storm and a Hit onto the Hellcannon. But, I learn how dumb that is when I only get a single model (since the handlers are ignored) at S4 and that clearly does nothing. Damn.
My shooting is kind of a bust. I manage to pick off 3 Chaos Knights with the leadbelchers, but the IB misfires (spins) and the Thundertusk does nothing. In combat, I manage a wound each (impact hits) on the Sorcerer Lord and the Dragon, and he gets 3 on my hunter. Combat is a draw (big disappointment for my opponent). On the other side of the field, things go hugely in my favor, my mass Bull Horde kills 4 Dragon Ogres plus some wounds and only takes 2 in return. 47 S4 attacks and good rolling will do that. Pursue takes them into the Marauders.
Turn 2
My friend charges the leadbelchers, who flee; redirects to the other unit with the same reaction; my luck holds that they only bounce out of the other side of the MF and dont hit the table edge. The MF hold on the Generals Leadership and now his Knights are open to countercharge. His Dragon Ogres rally and he reforms the Chosen to face the sudden Ogre Horde threat. However, the big move was occupying the tower with 25 chaos warriors. Damn. Magic again does not go well for him, the only spell he gets off is the Leadership one on my hunter (again, he was very confident he would win combat). His hellcannon misfires! a second time.
My ogres smash his Marauders, but because the pursuit move started so closely, the full weight of ogres are not brought to bear and 7 survive
and he makes a the miraculous INSANE LEADERSHIP roll of double 1s. Damn again. On the other side of the field, the sorcerer and dragon throw all their attacks into the hunter, eventually killing him (only 1 wound). The stonehorn rolls well on the slain rider and gets hatred, then proceeds to eat the Sorcerer Lord in revenge. I win combat by a mere one, but the isolated, saddened Dragon decides he has had too much and flees a mere 4 inches, and the stonehorn runs off the table running him down.
In my turn 2, I charge big across the table, rolling super high thanks in part to swiftstride (lots of 10s, 11s, and 12s), and unfortunately, none of it matters because yhettees, giants and sabretusks, dont get impact hits and the MF are set at D3. The Mournfang units both take a single wound from dangerous terrain. Oh, and I rolled low, but anyway there are no impact hits on buildings for the Guts. One unit of Leadbelchers rallies, but the doesnt get the signal to reform and keeps running off the table.
In a low dice magic phase (4 vs 2), I do manage to get trollguts off on the Ironguts. The big shooting event is that I manage to kill a couple of chaos warriors and also take all but 1 wound off the Warshrine (sorcerer makes his ward sv). The remaining leadbelchers mow down the horsemen to 1 remaining. In combat, I learn that I really seriously underestimated that damn Hellcannon, as both my Yhettees and Sabertusks fail their fear test (terror minus fear), and it easily handles the combat. They both run. The Giant charges into the Dragon Ogres, and I am worried until he Yells and Bawls, ending the combat phase before the enemy gets to attack back. Automatically winning by 2 sends the dragon ogres fleeing again. Giant reforms (depiction in the next picture shows him at a wrong facing, he wouldnt stand-upright off the hill). The ogres easily kill all the marauders, and reform. At the tower, the Irongut assault party wins by a few, but steadfast is a real bitch here and I bounce back. The Mournfang double charge doesnt go so great, the dragonhide banner really saves their hide, and I win by a mere 1 for charging downhill. Of course, the Chaos Knights hold. Damn.
(You will notice the stonehorn is only at the edge of the table, this is due to a rule mis-reading where my opponent told me I didnt get a move, just placed at the edge. He was a good sportsman: later when I looked more closely and found the portion, he gave me the move)
Turn 3
My opponent charges the MF and gets the clip with this Warriors unit; the Chosen w/Sigvald charge the Ogre Horde, as does the shrine, and the hellcannon ignores the giant and charges their rear(!crap!) His lone horseman charges the leadbelchers (and dies soon after). He rolls big for the Magic phase, getting 10 dice and, before he can celebrate, I pop the Hellheart, rolling a 5 for 25 inches (hooray). He begins his extreme lucky streak with miscasts, loses a grand total of 2 chosen and 6 power dice not quite what I hoped, but enough to shut his magic phase down as I now had 8 dispel dice. Combat goes poorly for the ogres this turn. The two mournfang units are beaten by a hair, the dragonhide banner unit flees (and so I lose the banner), but the other holds. The ogres lose by a whole lot, killing a few chosen and managing to take the remaining wound off the warshine (so the sorcerer is on foot). Needing double 1s, the ogres/firebelly flee with my dispel scroll, to be run down by the hellcannon.
In my Turn 3, I do my best to get revenge, charging the Giant at the sorcerer on foot, the stonehorn and sabertusk into the remaining Chaos Knights, and the Ironguts back at the watchtower. The yhettees and the mournfang rally and the fleeing sabertusk runs off the table. I once again reposition the Thundertusk in anticipation of the chosen charging my Ironguts. I manage another casting of Trollguts on my Ironguts. My Ironblaster kills 2 Warriors and the bounce into the building takes out one from the inside, and the leadbelchers do a couple wounds on some warriors. In combat, the Giant takes a wound, but in return swats the crap out of his sorcerer (although still dead, I would have loved him to have just been picked up and stuffed in a pouch). Combat at the tower is once again a small win for me, but steadfast keeps them in place. The stonehorn plows through the 3 remaining knights without slowing down and overruns into the chaos warriors (with a 12 for next turn).
Turn 4
Things are not going well for my opponent, but he still holds the tower. In an attempt to bog me down further in the process, he charges his chosen into the ironguts. In the magic phase, he miscasts on Cacophonic Choir, but the feedback once again doesnt hurt him. However, the spell really hurts the targeted Thundertusk to the tune of 5 wounds (damn thats a ridiculous spell, he rolled 10 hits). His hellcannon continues its streak of !misfire! and for its final act, rolls the one that doubles the strength and counts as a hit (but cannot be fired any more), which allows him to take off the one remaining wound on the Thundertusk who dies ashamed for not having done anything in 3 turns this game
Starting with the Stonehorn, he smashes through the flank of the warriors, who dont manage to wound him back, and the remaining 4 warriors are run down (including BSB, he should have run this combat last). Sigvald challenges, which my Tyrant accepts. Id been playing it too safe with him so far and I wanted to see how he would do. I usually only run SMs as my generals, so I didnt have a good feel for Tyrants. Both characters survive combat. The chosen dont manage much against the Ironguts because of trollguts and some lucky rolling on my part. The Ironguts and my BSB smash them apart, he runs and is chopped down. Sweet.
My Turn 4 I am getting desperate to get these damn steadfast warriors out of the tower. The stonehorn is useless as he doesnt get impact hits against the tower and the giant unreliable. Ironguts it is once again. And just in case the game continues, I move the giant to help out with the damn hellcannon. The yhetees make another attempt at the hellcannon (whos pivot in the previous turn put him in their charge arc). In my magic phase, he dispels Trollguts, but allows Toothcracker through. This time, I send in the BSB and the Tyrant with the champion, as I realized that I had been playing it too safe so far, they were far better than I realized in HtH, and Id lose anyway if I couldnt pry these cheeky slaneesh bastards out of the tower.
The yhettee combat is a meaningless victory. My assault party does a whole bunch of wounds, but it is not enough and the warriors still hold the tower. And, to end the game, I roll a 6 damn!
So, despite nearly wiping my opponent off the board and having half my army still on the table, my ogres LOSE to the slaneesh Warriors of Chaos!!! (boo!)
Overall, it was a massively fun game. I never get to just play with so many toys, so it was a great substitute for the failed-tournament. Here are some things I learned:
-Stupid Hellcannon
-Hunters on a Stone Horn are actually better than expected, if only because the stonehorn lasts that much longer (5 more wounds). Shield of Ptolos not so useful here. Maybe if on foot or against elves.
-The stonehorn is actually very good against Warriors of Chaos, they have a harder time with it than expected. I did get a nice run of luck though. I previously stopped taking them much because I played against a lot of elves and empire, all who shot him off the table.
-Another low magic dice game for me made me wonder if the firebelly was worth it.
-I normally take the SM as my general, and I gave him a ton of protection, which turned out to be a waste of 50 points. With the Tyrant and BSB, he was totally useful but not in danger.
-A horde of Ogres will destroy a lot on their own, it took a triple charge, including a monster in the rear, a chariot, and a special character.
-A big horde of Ironguts is the same, but they are totally neutered by the Watchtower.
-The giant actually performed pretty darn well given his bad reputation (and always getting shot to death by elves and empire). And he was a ton of fun to play with (good pun?).
-The jury is still out on the Yhetees, but they are fast and strong.
-Ogres really do not have a good answer for the watchtower scenario as I see it right now. This is the second game where steadfast kept me from taking the tower, and despite beating the opponent handily otherwise, I still lost. If I had only taken some Gnoblars, I would have been able to put them in their from the beginning since I started off with the tower. Then again, theyd have probably been wiped out.
-Stupid hellcannon
So, after driving down to a local store nice and early (to also see what was available at the stores swap meet and to avoid traffic), only one other player showed up for the small tournament that was scheduled for today. Fantasy is gaining ground at this store over 40k (very robust scene, 20-30 player tournaments), but this weekend the stars aligned against us.
Lucky for me, I only wanted to play and have fun; and the other player is a friend of mine so we said screw it, grabbed a table and decided to throw together a 4500 point game to make up for the disappointment. Its a good thing though: thats about what I had with me in Ogres, and really I just wanted to play a massively fun game, and thats what I got. My Army (had to go big on characters to make the points work):
-Tyrant-Glittering Scales, Mawseeker, Sword of Swift Slaying, Ironfist
-Slaughtermaster- Lv4 (LotGM: Trollguts, Toothcracker, Bonecrusher, Spinemarrow); Hellheart, Armor of Destiny, Ironfist (lesson learned: in an army with this many mean characters, no real need for the AoD on the SM)
-Firebelly- Lv2 (Fireball, Flame Storm); Dispel Scroll, AHW
-Bruiser BSB: Greedy Fist, Enchanted Shield, Ironcurse Icon, Heavy Armor
-Hunter on a Stonehorn- Shield of Ptolos, Beastkiller, Potion of Speed, Harpoon Launcher
-18xIronguts Standard of Discipline, Full Cmd (Tyrant, SM, BSB in here)
-16xOgres Ironfist, Full Cmd (Firebelly here)
-Sabretusk
-Sabretusk
-3xYhetees
-3xMournfang HA, IF, Mus, Dragonhide Banner
-3xMournfang HA, IF, Mus
-4xLeadbelchers Mus
-4xLeadbelchers Mus
-Giant
-Ironblaster
-Thundertusk
What he had (Slaneesh for the most part):
Sigvald the Magnificent
Sorcerer Lord Lv 4 on a 2-headed Dragon
Sorcerer on a Warshrine
Sorcerer
BSB
Bus of Chaos Knights with enscrolled swords and 1+ saves and Strider (banner?)
25-ish Warriors (Sorcerer here)
20-ish Warriors (BSB Here)
20-ish Chosen (Sigvald Here)
20-ish Marauders w/ Flails
6 Dragon Ogres (Great Weapons)
HellCannon
Marauder Horsemen
We roll and get the Watchtower for a scenario. I win the roll to own the tower, but unfortunately, since I didnt bring any Gnoblars, I have no core infantry, only Monstrous Infantry, so cannot set up in the tower. Crap. He is going to go first and I am going to have a hell of a time getting him out. Here is the set up with the Horsemens vanguard:
Side View
Turn 1:
My opponent surges forward with everything so he can get the watchtower. We are playing the pond as a river, and lucky for me he cannot march through it (we roll raging torrent). He casts a leadership Hex on my Hunter/Stonehorn. I manage to dispel everything else. His hellcannon mis-fires, but result is nothing of note.
For my turn, I figure Why not? and take some of the large charges with the Bull Horde into his dragon ogres (after all, he would charge next turn if I did not) and, knowing that the Horsemen would flee, charge them and make the redirect into the Dragon w/Sorcerer Lord. Otherwise, I move my yhetees, Giant, and Sabretusk up on the right flank, thinking I can make short work of that Warmachine and bring my flankers around. In the magic phase, I begin to realize my error when, thinking I was lucky to get Flame Storm and a Hit onto the Hellcannon. But, I learn how dumb that is when I only get a single model (since the handlers are ignored) at S4 and that clearly does nothing. Damn.
Turn 2
My friend charges the leadbelchers, who flee; redirects to the other unit with the same reaction; my luck holds that they only bounce out of the other side of the MF and dont hit the table edge. The MF hold on the Generals Leadership and now his Knights are open to countercharge. His Dragon Ogres rally and he reforms the Chosen to face the sudden Ogre Horde threat. However, the big move was occupying the tower with 25 chaos warriors. Damn. Magic again does not go well for him, the only spell he gets off is the Leadership one on my hunter (again, he was very confident he would win combat). His hellcannon misfires! a second time.
In my turn 2, I charge big across the table, rolling super high thanks in part to swiftstride (lots of 10s, 11s, and 12s), and unfortunately, none of it matters because yhettees, giants and sabretusks, dont get impact hits and the MF are set at D3. The Mournfang units both take a single wound from dangerous terrain. Oh, and I rolled low, but anyway there are no impact hits on buildings for the Guts. One unit of Leadbelchers rallies, but the doesnt get the signal to reform and keeps running off the table.
Turn 3
My opponent charges the MF and gets the clip with this Warriors unit; the Chosen w/Sigvald charge the Ogre Horde, as does the shrine, and the hellcannon ignores the giant and charges their rear(!crap!) His lone horseman charges the leadbelchers (and dies soon after). He rolls big for the Magic phase, getting 10 dice and, before he can celebrate, I pop the Hellheart, rolling a 5 for 25 inches (hooray). He begins his extreme lucky streak with miscasts, loses a grand total of 2 chosen and 6 power dice not quite what I hoped, but enough to shut his magic phase down as I now had 8 dispel dice. Combat goes poorly for the ogres this turn. The two mournfang units are beaten by a hair, the dragonhide banner unit flees (and so I lose the banner), but the other holds. The ogres lose by a whole lot, killing a few chosen and managing to take the remaining wound off the warshine (so the sorcerer is on foot). Needing double 1s, the ogres/firebelly flee with my dispel scroll, to be run down by the hellcannon.
In my Turn 3, I do my best to get revenge, charging the Giant at the sorcerer on foot, the stonehorn and sabertusk into the remaining Chaos Knights, and the Ironguts back at the watchtower. The yhettees and the mournfang rally and the fleeing sabertusk runs off the table. I once again reposition the Thundertusk in anticipation of the chosen charging my Ironguts. I manage another casting of Trollguts on my Ironguts. My Ironblaster kills 2 Warriors and the bounce into the building takes out one from the inside, and the leadbelchers do a couple wounds on some warriors. In combat, the Giant takes a wound, but in return swats the crap out of his sorcerer (although still dead, I would have loved him to have just been picked up and stuffed in a pouch). Combat at the tower is once again a small win for me, but steadfast keeps them in place. The stonehorn plows through the 3 remaining knights without slowing down and overruns into the chaos warriors (with a 12 for next turn).
Turn 4
Things are not going well for my opponent, but he still holds the tower. In an attempt to bog me down further in the process, he charges his chosen into the ironguts. In the magic phase, he miscasts on Cacophonic Choir, but the feedback once again doesnt hurt him. However, the spell really hurts the targeted Thundertusk to the tune of 5 wounds (damn thats a ridiculous spell, he rolled 10 hits). His hellcannon continues its streak of !misfire! and for its final act, rolls the one that doubles the strength and counts as a hit (but cannot be fired any more), which allows him to take off the one remaining wound on the Thundertusk who dies ashamed for not having done anything in 3 turns this game
Starting with the Stonehorn, he smashes through the flank of the warriors, who dont manage to wound him back, and the remaining 4 warriors are run down (including BSB, he should have run this combat last). Sigvald challenges, which my Tyrant accepts. Id been playing it too safe with him so far and I wanted to see how he would do. I usually only run SMs as my generals, so I didnt have a good feel for Tyrants. Both characters survive combat. The chosen dont manage much against the Ironguts because of trollguts and some lucky rolling on my part. The Ironguts and my BSB smash them apart, he runs and is chopped down. Sweet.
My Turn 4 I am getting desperate to get these damn steadfast warriors out of the tower. The stonehorn is useless as he doesnt get impact hits against the tower and the giant unreliable. Ironguts it is once again. And just in case the game continues, I move the giant to help out with the damn hellcannon. The yhetees make another attempt at the hellcannon (whos pivot in the previous turn put him in their charge arc). In my magic phase, he dispels Trollguts, but allows Toothcracker through. This time, I send in the BSB and the Tyrant with the champion, as I realized that I had been playing it too safe so far, they were far better than I realized in HtH, and Id lose anyway if I couldnt pry these cheeky slaneesh bastards out of the tower.
The yhettee combat is a meaningless victory. My assault party does a whole bunch of wounds, but it is not enough and the warriors still hold the tower. And, to end the game, I roll a 6 damn!
So, despite nearly wiping my opponent off the board and having half my army still on the table, my ogres LOSE to the slaneesh Warriors of Chaos!!! (boo!)
Overall, it was a massively fun game. I never get to just play with so many toys, so it was a great substitute for the failed-tournament. Here are some things I learned:
-Stupid Hellcannon
-Hunters on a Stone Horn are actually better than expected, if only because the stonehorn lasts that much longer (5 more wounds). Shield of Ptolos not so useful here. Maybe if on foot or against elves.
-The stonehorn is actually very good against Warriors of Chaos, they have a harder time with it than expected. I did get a nice run of luck though. I previously stopped taking them much because I played against a lot of elves and empire, all who shot him off the table.
-Another low magic dice game for me made me wonder if the firebelly was worth it.
-I normally take the SM as my general, and I gave him a ton of protection, which turned out to be a waste of 50 points. With the Tyrant and BSB, he was totally useful but not in danger.
-A horde of Ogres will destroy a lot on their own, it took a triple charge, including a monster in the rear, a chariot, and a special character.
-A big horde of Ironguts is the same, but they are totally neutered by the Watchtower.
-The giant actually performed pretty darn well given his bad reputation (and always getting shot to death by elves and empire). And he was a ton of fun to play with (good pun?).
-The jury is still out on the Yhetees, but they are fast and strong.
-Ogres really do not have a good answer for the watchtower scenario as I see it right now. This is the second game where steadfast kept me from taking the tower, and despite beating the opponent handily otherwise, I still lost. If I had only taken some Gnoblars, I would have been able to put them in their from the beginning since I started off with the tower. Then again, theyd have probably been wiped out.
-Stupid hellcannon
