OK vs VC, 1500 points

This is my first battle report and it should be a relatively brief one.

OK:
+ Lords + (305pts)
    * Slaughtermaster (305pts)
        Lore of the Great Maw, Wizard Level 3: SpineMarrow, ToothCracker, Trollguts
            Hellheart, Warrior Bane

+ Heroes + (272pts)
    * Bruiser (148pts)
        Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armour, Ironfist, Relic Sword
    * Bruiser (124pts)
        Heavy Armour, Sword of Striking

+ Core + (376pts)
    * 7 Ironguts (376pts)
        Full Command, Razor Standard

+ Special + (374pts)
    *4 Leadbelchers
    * 2Mournfang Cavalry (160pts)
        Champion, Standard Bearer
            Heavy Armour, Ironfists
    * Sabretusk Pack (42pts)


+ Rare + (170pts)
    * Ironblaster (170pts)
 
VC (From Memory)
1 level 4 Necromancer
1 level 2 Necromancer
2 units of Zombies (20 or so each)
1 Horde of skeletal spearmen with an ethereal something or other in it. 
6 Crypt Horrors
1 unit of Grave guard (15ish)
1 ME.

Deployment:
OK:
ST out on the left flank.  Poor placement as there weren't anything for them to hunt really.
Next is the Ironblaster behind a fence.
Lining up opposite the Spearmen are the leadbelchers.
Gutstar with the Ironguts and characters are to the right of the 'belchers.
Mournfang to the right of the Gutstar.

VC:
The VC are deployed in a cluster around the ME.
Directly in front of the ME are the Crypt Horrors.
On my left (ME's right) are a unit of zombies with the level 2 necromancer. 
On my right (ME's left) are the Grave Guard.
Behind the ME are the 2nd unit of zombies with the level 4 necromancer.
In front of the first unit of zombies and next to the Crypt Horrors are the Spearmen.

1st Turn
OK:
I win the roll and start off first.

Movement:
I move the ST's up the flank but hold off on the other units hoping to Take out the ME with the Ironblaster and thin out the Spearmen. Essentially I move NOTHING.  After doing this I wondered if it was the right choice and regretted it immediately.  However, it was the right choice. . .

Magic: Cast Trollguts on MF.

Shooting: Ironblaster falls short and kills some spearmen as do the LB. 

CC: nothing

VC:
Movement: Moves all units up in mass.

Magic: Casts Invocation of Nehek (IoN), which was terrifying.  He also casts a spell that gave him an abbreviated movement phase.  This is why I was glad I hadn't marched forward because now the CHs were in charging range. 

Shooting: Nothing
CC: Nothing.

Round 2:
Movement: Charge the Gutstar into the CHs.  Charge the MFs into the GG.
Magic: Trollguts onto the MFs.
Shooting: Ironblaster can't hit the ME because of the CHs in CC, so fires grapeshot into the skeletons as do the 'belchers.
CC:  CHs are heavily damaged, with no wounds to the Gutstar.  MF eat a few GG and win the CR.

VC
Movement: Ethereal leaves the spearmen and charges the LB.  This basically neutralizes the 'belchers as they can not strike it.  Other units are stationary. 
Magic: Hellheart!  This shuts down the magic phase and causes a wound on each of his necromancers.  I don't think this was necessary for me to win the match, but it certainly was sufficient.  Without IoN he was pretty much dead in the water. 

Shooting: ME shouts at MF, No wounds. 

CC:  CH are beaten.  GG is worn down some more.  Ethareals beat the 'belchers and cause them to flee. 

Turn 3-6.
I don't quite have time to go into too much detail on the rest of the game.

Gutstar Slams into ME defeating it and eventually a unit of zombies with the help of the ST.  'belchers flee off the table.  Spearmen charge the Ironblaster eventually causing it to flee.  GG are defeated by the MF.  2nd unit of zombies flee into a building and hold out until the end of round 6.

Highlights:
Hellheart:  This is my first time using one and it didn't disappoint.  My opponent was playing a themed army and very much relying on his magic phase.  Closing down an early one gave me all the advantage I needed, even if it didn't kill his general or 2nd caster.

MF:  I was very pleased with how the MF did against the GG.  I am new to WH and always get a bit nervous when I see two models up against a dozen plus.  However, they did not disappoint.  Having multiple attacks from the mournfangs themselves, the ogres on top and polishing off CC with some stomps made short work of this opponent. 

Fluff:  Both my opponent and I appreciated the ending, with the zombies held up in a shack with the necromancer holding out against a horde of hungry ogres.  Nothing like a good trope inversion to end a game!

Lowlights:
Ethereal: I'm not sure how I'm going to handle ethereals in the future.  Any suggestions?  I'm thinking a firebelly might be a good place to start. 

Gutstar:  I played a gutstar because I was nervous about a unit of ethereals and I wanted to have a unit with magical items.  I want to move away from *stars and try something a little more interesting.  We'll see what happens in my next match. 

Ironblaster:  I took the ironblaster to take out the ME.  It failed to do that in the first round and then was prevented from doing it in the 2nd because of unit placement (CH where in CC so I'd have to hit the ME directly, which seemed unlikely).  I'm still learning the rules and this certainly was educational. 

I hope you enjoyed this BR.  Please excuse any shortcomings in my descriptions of the game or grammar.  Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions!
Thanks,
Gerade

Oh yeah, to be explicit: I won!  First win ever!  so I guess that makes me 1-2-0.

Congratulations on your first win!

If you don't mind, I'll offer a couple suggestions to make your future bat-reps a little easier to read...

-Clean up the formatting on your own army list. Also, remove the point costs of individual items, that's actually a big no-no from Games Workshop that they've put on this site (and all the others...). Basically, tighten it up, remove all the extra spaces, and it won't look so spread out and off. How you did the shorthand for the VC army list actually works almost a little better!

-I'd put some bolds and italics in to emphasize the different steps (like, bold the players' turns, italicize the individual phases), so that it doesn't look like a blur of text straight down. Idk, but I find it helps to read them when you can pick out each of the segments.

-Pictures! Pictures are amazing. You don't even have to use Battle Chronicler like Jimmy and some of the other tyrants use; I just try to take pics of the game with my phone as I'm playing (I usually do 1-2 pics at the beginning of each player turn showcasing the field). I find it also helps people with following along with what's going on.

----

Sounds like a pretty sound beating of VC. I feel that we have a strong matchup against them, with the exception of their killy lords and the screamers; deal with those and you've got the game!

Firebellies are definitely one of our best ways of beating ethereals, but another way to beat them is through static combat rez. Granted, not something we have much of in the game, but if you can get a flank charge on them, or throw a large pack of Gnoblars, you can potentially outgrind them (but, the one time I did that, I got lucky as my opponent whiffed many attacks lol). But yeah, Firebellies are our #1 option, and then a character with a cheap magic weapon is the other choice. If you run a Deathmaster or Death-Butcher, you could potentially leech them too, but I think the Fireballs can put out more overall firepower (har har) in the long run.

Mournfang love T3 infantry blocks. They go through them like hotcakes! Ironblasters can be very useful, but I'm finding that they're not as much of a necessary piece as I've played more games. The fact that nobody hardly runs monsters anymore out of fear of cannons makes the need of cannons go away lol...

But yeah, good job on your game! Hopefully the win will push your troops' morale forward into more victories! But don't worry; early on, almost everyone loses the bulk of their early games; I didn't get a win till like my 5th game And now, I'm double wins over losses (oh yeah, I'm so amazing lol... j/k).

Congrats on the win! I really appreciate your report! Through this community, we are able to read/watch others games and help our own skills.

Yes, gotta clean up your lists for publishing. GW has more Lawyers than game developers these days and they stalk the internet like the Inquisition.

Sounds like you played a solid game.

A few tips if I may:
1. I think you could go without the Razor Standard. With STR 6 before buffs, your already turning a 2+ into a 5+. Most heavy infantry carries heavy armor and a shield. This means 4+. Without razor standard, you send that completely off the table. In other words, you only get benefits from it against the hardest units, in which case you have taken a ton of that away already. Standard of Disc is a better option as leadership is our biggest weakness. If you absolutely want a standard to buff your guys, Dragonhide all the way. Note: Dragonhide is ideal for mournfang!

The other lil suggestion I have is the sabertusks. Split them up into 2 units of 1. This gives you double the chaff power to redirect the enemy into compromised positions. Particularly against VC, I had a sabertusk charge a zombie block in the rear. The zombie unit was already in combat, but that little cat slaughtered them by inflicting about 2 wounds a turn, charge, and rear. That alone negates all of his static combat Rez and could either tar pit his tarpit, or cause that tarpit to melt faster than he expects. Either way, 1 cat is a huge advantage!

 

Thanks for the suggestions, gentlemen!

I've adjusted the original post and will probably keep futzing with my style for the next couple of reports I do.  Also, expect to see more pictures next time.  In an earlier game I tried to take pictures and found myself a bit overwhelmed with that and actually playing the game.  You know, I consider myself relatively intelligent but then I realize I can't do things like take pictures and play Warhammer. . .

I should have my Firebelly painted by my next match and I'm excited to deploy him!

I noticed the Razor Banner wasn't useful here.  I chose it to round out my core points and because I'd found it useful as a can opener against dwarfs and Empire knights.  VC are not near as tough, are they?  I'll take a second look at the dragonhide banner next time. 

I almost immediately regretted deploying the sabretusks as a one unit.  It would have been nice to have a second drop in the deployment phase to place my ironblaster optimally.  Not having played VC before I had no idea how important it would be to crush in combat resolution and now I can see the advantage of a few extra units piling in.  Live and learn!

Thanks again.