2400 MSU OK vs Empire - Re-match

Slight changes in the Empire list however the same table with me taking the opposite side this time.

Ogre Kingdoms vs. Empire
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Overview
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Date played: Friday, 9 January 2015

Ogre Kingdoms
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  (T) Tyrant
      - Sword of Anti-Heroes, Armour of Destiny, Dragonbane Gem, Other Trickster's Shard
  (B) Bruiser
      - BSB, Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon         
  (F) Firebelly
      - Great Weapon, Arabyan Carpet, Level 2, Lore of Fire         
  (H) Hunter
      - Harpoon Launcher, Talisman of Endurance, Sword of Might
  (I1) 8 Ironguts
      - Full Command, Banner of Swiftness
  (O1) 3 Ogres
      - Extra Hand Weapons, Musician
  (O2) 3 Ogres
      - Extra Hand Weapons, Musician
  (O3) 3 Ogres
      - Extra Hand Weapons, Musician
  (S1) Sabretusk
  (S2) Sabretusk
  (S3) Sabretusk
  (MC1) 2 Mournfang Cavalry
      - Ironfist, Heavy Armour, Musician
  (MC2) 2 Mournfang Cavalry
      - Ironfist, Heavy Armour, Musician
  (I2) Ironblaster
  (S4) Stonehorn
      - Harpoon Launcher

Empire
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  (WL) Wizard Lord
      - Lore of Heavens (Comet, Chain Lightning, Harmonic Convergence, Iceshard Blizzard), Power Scroll, Opal Amulet
  (W) Wizard
      - Lore of Heavens (Thunderbolt), Dispel Scroll
  (C) Captain
      - BSB, Full Plate, Shield, Standard of Discipline   
  (E1) Engineer
      - Steed, Barding
  (E2) Engineer
      - Steed, Barding
  (H1) Hunter
      - Ring of Volans
  (H2) 28 Halberdiers
      - Standard, Musician
  (S) 20 Spearmen
      - Standard, Musician
  (K1) 5 Knights
      - Standard, Musician, Great Weapons
  (K2) 5 Knights
      - Standard, Musician
  (K3) 5 Knights
      - Standard, Musician
  (DK) 4 Demigryph Knights
      - Musician
  (GC1) Great Cannon
  (GC2) Great Cannon
  (P1) 5 Pistoliers
      - Outrider, Repeater Pistol
  (P2) 5 Pistoliers
      - Outrider, Repeater Pistol
  (LoH1) Luminark of Hysh
  (LoH2) Luminark of Hysh

Deployment
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Ogres win the roll off.

Turn 1 - Ogre Kingdoms
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Magic phase is 8 vs 7 but a 6D6 Fireball targetting the Cannon is still shut down easily enough.  The Ironblaster turns the cannon to splinters.

Turn 1 - Empire
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7 vs 4 for magic, Comet is cast, Harmonic Convergence goes through as I fail to dispel and the Power Scroll is cracked for Chain Lightning however it fails to cast.  Cannon misses the MFC.

Turn 2 - Ogre Kingdoms
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The Ironblaster charges the Pistoliers however the Sabretusk and Ogres fail scattering forward a little.  Ogres charge into the Knights.  Comet comes down and kills the Firebelly, 4 Pistoliers, 1 wound on the Stonehorn, kills a MFC, 5 wounds onto the Ironguts and a Sabretusk.  The cannon drops 3 Ironguts.  In combat the Ironblaster kills the lone Pistolier and overruns 6" forward whilst the Ogres do 2 wounds via Impact hits for 2 in return.

Turn 2 - Empire
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The great weapon wielding Knights charge into the Ogres.  5 Halberdiers drop from dangerous terrain.  Magic phase is 4 vs 3.  Comet is dispeled however this allows an unchecked luminark to fire its laser killing an Irongut and wounding the Tyrant (yes even with a 2+ ward against fire...).  The Ogres drop 2 of the new knights to the fray taking a single wound in return.

Turn 3 - Ogre Kingdoms
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MFC fail a charge into the DGK, whilst the Hunter charges into the Pistoliers who flee then re-directs into the Knights.  This allows the Ogres to charge into the Pistoliers and catch them.  Stonehorn fails a long charge against the Spearmen (wasn't aware that Witch Hunter downgraded Terror/Fear).  Ironblaster misfires.  Ogres take a single wound, Hunter kills 2 Knights via impact hits and overruns 9" (did this to prevent DGK from charging into the Ironguts).  The remaining 2 knights hold.

Turn 3 - Empire
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Both Luminarks and Spearmen charge into the Ironguts whilst the DGK take on the Hunter.  Knights charge the flank of the MFC.  Magic is 8 vs 5 and Iceshard Blizzard onto the Ironguts is dispelled whilst Harmonic Convergence fails to cast and the Ring of Volans follows suite.  Lone MFC is cannoned.  Ogres vs Knights is a stale mate whilst the Hunter drops and the DGK can't complete the charge against the Ironguts.  Ironguts take 3 wounds via Impact hits from the Luminarks and the Tyrant takes a wound from the Empire BSB.  Tyrant kills 3 Spearmen, Bruiser puts 2 wounds onto the Luminark, Spearmen put a single wound onto the Ironguts whilst the Irongut champion drops the enemy BSB, all 3 stomp attacks wound allowing a Luminark to break from combat which panics the nearby Halberdiers 8".  The Knights fail fear however it's not enough to prevent the demise of the MFC.

Turn 4 - Ogre Kingdoms
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Ogres fail a charge into the Knights and scuttle 4".  The Stonehorn drops a DGK with a Harpoon and the Ironblaster matches the damage reducing the unit to 50%.  Ogres take 2 wounds and hold against the Knights.  The Tyrant kills 4 Spearmen as the Ironguts take another wound.  The Spearmen end up with another 5 casualties from attacks and stomps whilst the Luminark takes another 2 wounds.  This causes it to break and flee off the table.

Turn 4 - Empire
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The DGK charge into the Ironguts whilst the Luminark rallies however the Halberdiers continue to run and flee 6".  Magic phase is 12 vs 6 and a powered up Comet fails to cast.  The Luminark powers up but is easily dispelled.  The Cannon rolls a 1 to wound the Ironblaster.  The Ogres do a single unanswered wound to the Knights and it's enough to break them as the standard is cut down.  The Tyrant drops 4 Spearmen, Bruiser does a wound to the Wizard Lord, the Gutlord finishes him off.  The Irongut kills the Witch Hunter and Stomps take out the rest of the unit.  The DGK break and flee 10" whilst the Ironguts reform.

Turn 5 - Ogre Kingdoms
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The Ironguts charge into the DGK who flee 5" through the building, the Ironguts redirect into the Knights who also flee.  The Ogres then charge the DGK who flee back through the building whilst the Ogres chase the Knights off the table.  The Stonehorn charges the Engineer.  Ironblaster does a single wound to a DGK.  Stonehorn turns Engineer into paste and over runs 11".

Turn 5 - Empire
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DGK Rally as does the infantry.  Magic is 6 vs 4 and the Luminark is dispelled whilst Thunderbolt fails to cast.  Cannon kills the Irongut Standard.

Turn 6 - Ogre Kingdoms
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Ironblaster does a single wound to the DGK.

Turn 6 - Empire
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DGK into the Sabretusk.  Magic phase is 6 vs 4 again as the Luminark does a single wound to the BSB and Thunderbolt is once again dispelled.  Cannon fails to kill the Sabretusk however the DGK dispatch theirs easily enough.

Result - Ogre Kingdoms Victory.

Conclusion - More to come later but as a famous MMA athlete once said "I'm not impressed by your performance".

I have just skimmed through the diagrams and I have no idea why you are not impressed. Sure, there might be some moments here and there that might have been better played (and I can't tell really, just speculating, as I haven't read the report yet) but it is your second game with MSU and you showed you can learn from your mistakes and win against the army led by a very good player.

You should be proud and take this victory as a motivation for the future games!

Congratulations on the victory! I will get back to that report when I finish commenting on the previous one

Nice work with the win Jimmy

A couple of passing thoughts.
Why did the sabre and ogres try to join the Ironblaster when charging the pistoliers?
With impact hits and 7 attacks that should have been plenty of damage output. Of note you are likely happier if you don't break them in the first round of combat, but rather the 2nd so your Ironblaster can't be targeted by the cannon! That said I still believe you'd bust through on the charge.

This meant that the ogres and sabre were out of position for use later. Ideally that sabre would have been around to redirect the Demis rather than trying to send in the Mournfang. The demis would win the grind in that combat especially with their numerical superiority.

Obviously the Comet ended up targeting a large area which hurt you. I find comet a really interesting spell to play against, often I gamble that it won't come down such as you did to ensure I get my units in the right place. I  feel in this situation it was the right call, but could the Firebelly, Sabre and Mournfang  have moved to ensure they couldn't be hit even by a large blast?

I was surprised how well the units of Ogres stood up to the knights. Is it worth considering units of Ironguts for the same role? The S6 would make a big difference. Also with Ld8 and a muso they could be rallying on 9s when used for bait and flee tactics.

Finally I think you could have made better use of the Hunter. I would have but him with the righthand sabre and sent them up that flank. This would have made it harder for the Empire to quickly swing around to the midddle as they would be giving flank charges to the Hunter. (My Hunter currently runs Charmed Shield, 4++ and a great weapon to make him a tough cannon target)

Hi Steve

Thanks for the post, sorry for the delay.

I can't remember however I think it had something to do with me hoping for a flee reaction and them running straight off the table perhaps?  That's all I can think of right now.

I feel the same about comet, bit of a gamble that needs to be taken some times unfortunately.  Yes I'm guilty of not positioning units better to avoid it.

Unsure of Ironguts, some parries came into play with the Ogres survival so that would something that is negated when running great weapons.

Thanks again.