12 Jan 2015
Well, first game of the new year, and I decided to go with my Empire warriors, who have yet to see much more than a bit of glue for repairs! It was amusing, I had actually happened to leave a large portion of the army at home, but my opponent was also wielding Empire, and had plenty of spare troops to let me borrow a few of the models to fill up my list. Also, my opponent asked if I wanted to try the End Times Magic phase, and I was like, "Sure, this is essentially a training game for me anyways, might as well soak it all in."
It was 1500 points, and a lot of good fun! I have a few opinions left at the end of the report. No pictures sadly, as I decided my guys weren't even all on the field and I was proxying some of the troops with his stuff.
So, here's mine:
Wizard Lord, 3-Light, Horse, Talisman of Endurance (Alone, not in any unit)
Luthor Huss (So Excited to Play with this guy!)
Captain BSB, GW, Meteoric Iron Armor
31 Halberds, FC (With BSB)
9 IC Knights, FC, Steel Standard (With Luthor)
10 Handgunners, musician
20 Greatswords
Cannon
...In retrospect, not much on the field; I had a lot of points in characters, which is somewhat okay for Ogres, but not so much for my Empire. Being End Times magic, I had all the Light spells, which I was excited about, since I've never played Light magic before. So yes, this game has, up to this point, 3 firsts: 1st game as Empire, 1st game of End Times magic, and 1st game with Light on my side
His List (from memory):
General, Horse, Runefang, 5++ from some source
Captain BSB, stuff
Battle-priest, stuff
Wizard, 2-Metal, stuff
40 Swordsmen, FC (I believe) (all footed characters here)
10 IC Knights, FC (General here)
6 Demigryphs, FC (I believe)
That was it. His list was definitely more tourney-tuned, but hey, I might as well face a hard list to get myself thinking about winning! Also, this is my first game against Demigryphs (so, 4 firsts now lol).
We did Battleline, and the terrain was more or less a tower in the middle and some stuff around the edges that never came into play. He deployed, from his right to left (my left to right) his Knights with General, the Demis, and then swordsmen. I deployed, from my left to right, Cannon, My Knights with Luthor opposite his, Greatswords, Wizard behind Greatswords, Halberds in 6-wide formation (only because I was having a hard time with them on the movement trays, but it worked out better in the end), and Handgunners on the right flank. He gets to go first via the +1 to finish deploying.
T1(him):
Movement: He inches everything forward, while moving the Demis "mostly" behind the building to hide from the cannon.
Magic: He showcases how the ET stuff works, and ends up getting the 5++ prayer on his swords and blasting 2 halberds with Searing Doom. Also, he Plague-rusts my Greatswords, knocking them to 5+.He gets a couple buffs off as well.
Shooting: He has no shooting, so I'll skip it from here on out.
CC: 1st turn, nothing yet!
B1(me):
Movement: I declare a charge from my knights to his, needing only a seven... and roll a 3, 2, 2. DOn't even get to use the Steel Standard reroll. So, I stumble forward to give him an easy charge. I then scootched my G-Swords and Halberds around to face the impending Demigryph charge.
Magic: I get the -1 to hit buff on both my knights and Halberds, and I get a magic missile onto his swords, killing two.
Shooting: My cannon rolls and manages to hit two of the Demigryphs, but I only end up doing 2 wounds to the first one, who soaks up the shot. Handgunners shoot into the swords, killing 2-3 of them.
CC: Not Yet!
T2:
Movement: Easy charges from knights into my knights, and demis into halberds. Shifts the swords forward.
Magic: He enhances his demis and knights with the +1 to hit buff from the Metal lore. The Greatswords lose another point of armor, knocking them to a useless 6+. I think the rest of the phase is stopped by low rolls.
CC: His knights do a number on mine, and although Luthor chips a wound off the General, I end up losing the combat but holding for the round, with 5 knights and Luthor left to his full unit. I forgot my Hatred rerolls
. Demigryphs rip apart like 12 halberds, who do no wounds back and hold (while I forgot the Captain's 3d6 roll effect) via steadfast. I think I also forgot to attack with the BSB
B2:
Movement: Greatswords get an auto-charge into the Demigryph's flanks. That's it.
Magic: I roll REALLY poorly, and don't get any of the spells that I needed off. I ended up giving the Greatswords Time Warp so that they can attack at initiative and get a bonus attack in the front ranks.
Shooting: Cannon has absolutely no shots, as the knight fight is blocking its full view. The handgunners put a couple more wounds onto the swords, however.
CC: I have Luthor challenge and go Beast-mode (rolling a 3 on his avatar buff), but then the General's Runefang cuts him down whilst he failed 2 4++'s (I rolled double 3's, so disheartening; I think at that point I knew I had lost, but was just gonna play it out for the fun/experience). He also happened to have two of his horse kick two of my knights clear off their steeds (with double 1's on armor saves...). Yeah, that fight went well :/ lol... So, I was on Leadership 3, and guess what? I ROLL A 3!!! Totally silly, but we were smirking the whole way through it. The Greatswords, in the meantime, managed to put a few wounds into the Demigryphs, and now with the added attacks of the BSB, I managed to almost kill a full rank of Demigryphs; they still managed to do enough damage, and after their Stomps still had me lose, but Stubborn and steadfast kept me going for at least one more round.
T3:
Movement: His swords attempt to charge my greatswords in their flank, but missed the charge by a bit; everything else is tied up.
Magic: I don't actually remember what he gets off, but I think he gets a few buffs off on the two units in combat.
CC: His general cuts down the last two knights, and they fail to restrain and set up a perfect line-shot for my cannon
... The demigryphs, however, kill off all the halberds, leaving the BSB alone, and as the Greatswords did a couple more wounds, the BSB broke and died, and the demis reformed to front-facing the Greatswords.
I immediately conceded at that point, seeing as all I had left was a slightly wounded Greatswords unit, handgunners, a wizard, and a cannon, to his nearly full-health army. We rolled the cannon just to see if I would shred apart his knights (just for fun), and I ended up measuring about 5" away from the unit, then rolling 2 for the initial and 2 for the bounce :*) So yeah, what silliness!
However, I did gain a LOT of insight from that game! And we both had fun, which is always good regardless of victory.
Insights:
1. I forgot a lot of the special rules that my characters brought to the field; I think I need to make some index card "cheat-sheets" to have on the field to help me remember what I need to remember to field the army properly.
2. Luthor's Avatar mode would have been better spent first turn either A) targetting the unit and wiping it out with 6 str 9 attacks, or B) targetting the General and slaying him, who was single-handedly dominating my Knights with that damned Runefang! (auto-wound, no armor saves, vs knights... ha...). But the fact that I didn't make either 4++ was just a tad annoying, but hey, that's dice for ya! (I can't even recall the number of times that I had my killy-challenge Tyrant killed by the enemy lord before he could even swing, so I'm used to it!)
3. I should have swapped my greatswords and knights in the deployment; if I had realized how truly nasty a Runefang was to heavily armored units, I would have much rather had the extra bodies to just soak up that unit; plus, the str5 greatsword attacks could put at least a small dent in the 1+ armors! Also, I think that Luthor's beast-mode would have done wonders against those Demigryphs, easily killing 1-2 of them single-handedly. But, you live and learn!
4. My opponent suggested this: Handgunners work much better with a champ that has the Hochland Long-rifle, to initiate character sniping. He said run 2-3 units of 10 with champ/HLR, and then just focus down enemy BSBs and wizards. I like that, and will consider it in the future.
5. Lore of Light is a very interesting lore, and I felt was a very useful one! My opponent, however, has mentioned the power of Metal for imperial forces, and so I'll probably try it out in my next game, just to test the waters. It's nice having access to ALL the lores now!
6. Shoulda had a Priest with the halberds; I didn't mention this yet, but without the hatred reroll I actually missed like 8 of my 12 basic attacks! It was unfortunate lol... I had created this 1500 list from shaving down my 2500 list that has the War Altar in it, which covers the need of Priests in the units, but I didn't think to replenish that need in this list; so, I'll have a re-look at the characters and their builds.
7. End Times Magic is actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The magic phase takes a little longer, yes, but with both of us having just one wizard apiece, it felt somewhat balanced and I didn't feel too jilted when I couldn't get a spell off; both of us had an equal amount of success and struggle (like rolling a 1 for the number of dice to cast/dispel a big spell), and the fact that you can cast one spell multiple times was actually rather amusing. It definitely changed the game, but now with some experience, it didn't change it to the point of unplayability/un"fun"ness.
So yeah, an excellent game with a good opponent and a hard list to train myself upon. I'm actually pretty excited about my next game, and I can already tell that with a bit more tailoring I can have a very solid 1500 list.
It was 1500 points, and a lot of good fun! I have a few opinions left at the end of the report. No pictures sadly, as I decided my guys weren't even all on the field and I was proxying some of the troops with his stuff.
So, here's mine:
Wizard Lord, 3-Light, Horse, Talisman of Endurance (Alone, not in any unit)
Luthor Huss (So Excited to Play with this guy!)
Captain BSB, GW, Meteoric Iron Armor
31 Halberds, FC (With BSB)
9 IC Knights, FC, Steel Standard (With Luthor)
10 Handgunners, musician
20 Greatswords
Cannon
...In retrospect, not much on the field; I had a lot of points in characters, which is somewhat okay for Ogres, but not so much for my Empire. Being End Times magic, I had all the Light spells, which I was excited about, since I've never played Light magic before. So yes, this game has, up to this point, 3 firsts: 1st game as Empire, 1st game of End Times magic, and 1st game with Light on my side
His List (from memory):
General, Horse, Runefang, 5++ from some source
Captain BSB, stuff
Battle-priest, stuff
Wizard, 2-Metal, stuff
40 Swordsmen, FC (I believe) (all footed characters here)
10 IC Knights, FC (General here)
6 Demigryphs, FC (I believe)
That was it. His list was definitely more tourney-tuned, but hey, I might as well face a hard list to get myself thinking about winning! Also, this is my first game against Demigryphs
(so, 4 firsts now lol).We did Battleline, and the terrain was more or less a tower in the middle and some stuff around the edges that never came into play. He deployed, from his right to left (my left to right) his Knights with General, the Demis, and then swordsmen. I deployed, from my left to right, Cannon, My Knights with Luthor opposite his, Greatswords, Wizard behind Greatswords, Halberds in 6-wide formation (only because I was having a hard time with them on the movement trays, but it worked out better in the end), and Handgunners on the right flank. He gets to go first via the +1 to finish deploying.
T1(him):
Movement: He inches everything forward, while moving the Demis "mostly" behind the building to hide from the cannon.
Magic: He showcases how the ET stuff works, and ends up getting the 5++ prayer on his swords and blasting 2 halberds with Searing Doom. Also, he Plague-rusts my Greatswords, knocking them to 5+.He gets a couple buffs off as well.
Shooting: He has no shooting, so I'll skip it from here on out.
CC: 1st turn, nothing yet!
B1(me):
Movement: I declare a charge from my knights to his, needing only a seven... and roll a 3, 2, 2. DOn't even get to use the Steel Standard reroll. So, I stumble forward to give him an easy charge. I then scootched my G-Swords and Halberds around to face the impending Demigryph charge.
Magic: I get the -1 to hit buff on both my knights and Halberds, and I get a magic missile onto his swords, killing two.
Shooting: My cannon rolls and manages to hit two of the Demigryphs, but I only end up doing 2 wounds to the first one, who soaks up the shot. Handgunners shoot into the swords, killing 2-3 of them.
CC: Not Yet!
T2:
Movement: Easy charges from knights into my knights, and demis into halberds. Shifts the swords forward.
Magic: He enhances his demis and knights with the +1 to hit buff from the Metal lore. The Greatswords lose another point of armor, knocking them to a useless 6+. I think the rest of the phase is stopped by low rolls.
CC: His knights do a number on mine, and although Luthor chips a wound off the General, I end up losing the combat but holding for the round, with 5 knights and Luthor left to his full unit. I forgot my Hatred rerolls
. Demigryphs rip apart like 12 halberds, who do no wounds back and hold (while I forgot the Captain's 3d6 roll effect) via steadfast. I think I also forgot to attack with the BSB B2:
Movement: Greatswords get an auto-charge into the Demigryph's flanks. That's it.
Magic: I roll REALLY poorly, and don't get any of the spells that I needed off. I ended up giving the Greatswords Time Warp so that they can attack at initiative and get a bonus attack in the front ranks.
Shooting: Cannon has absolutely no shots, as the knight fight is blocking its full view. The handgunners put a couple more wounds onto the swords, however.
CC: I have Luthor challenge and go Beast-mode (rolling a 3 on his avatar buff), but then the General's Runefang cuts him down whilst he failed 2 4++'s (I rolled double 3's, so disheartening; I think at that point I knew I had lost, but was just gonna play it out for the fun/experience). He also happened to have two of his horse kick two of my knights clear off their steeds (with double 1's on armor saves...). Yeah, that fight went well :/ lol... So, I was on Leadership 3, and guess what? I ROLL A 3!!! Totally silly, but we were smirking the whole way through it. The Greatswords, in the meantime, managed to put a few wounds into the Demigryphs, and now with the added attacks of the BSB, I managed to almost kill a full rank of Demigryphs; they still managed to do enough damage, and after their Stomps still had me lose, but Stubborn and steadfast kept me going for at least one more round.
T3:
Movement: His swords attempt to charge my greatswords in their flank, but missed the charge by a bit; everything else is tied up.
Magic: I don't actually remember what he gets off, but I think he gets a few buffs off on the two units in combat.
CC: His general cuts down the last two knights, and they fail to restrain and set up a perfect line-shot for my cannon
... The demigryphs, however, kill off all the halberds, leaving the BSB alone, and as the Greatswords did a couple more wounds, the BSB broke and died, and the demis reformed to front-facing the Greatswords.I immediately conceded at that point, seeing as all I had left was a slightly wounded Greatswords unit, handgunners, a wizard, and a cannon, to his nearly full-health army. We rolled the cannon just to see if I would shred apart his knights (just for fun), and I ended up measuring about 5" away from the unit, then rolling 2 for the initial and 2 for the bounce :*) So yeah, what silliness!
However, I did gain a LOT of insight from that game! And we both had fun, which is always good regardless of victory.
Insights:
1. I forgot a lot of the special rules that my characters brought to the field; I think I need to make some index card "cheat-sheets" to have on the field to help me remember what I need to remember to field the army properly.
2. Luthor's Avatar mode would have been better spent first turn either A) targetting the unit and wiping it out with 6 str 9 attacks, or B) targetting the General and slaying him, who was single-handedly dominating my Knights with that damned Runefang! (auto-wound, no armor saves, vs knights... ha...). But the fact that I didn't make either 4++ was just a tad annoying, but hey, that's dice for ya! (I can't even recall the number of times that I had my killy-challenge Tyrant killed by the enemy lord before he could even swing, so I'm used to it!
)3. I should have swapped my greatswords and knights in the deployment; if I had realized how truly nasty a Runefang was to heavily armored units, I would have much rather had the extra bodies to just soak up that unit; plus, the str5 greatsword attacks could put at least a small dent in the 1+ armors! Also, I think that Luthor's beast-mode would have done wonders against those Demigryphs, easily killing 1-2 of them single-handedly. But, you live and learn!
4. My opponent suggested this: Handgunners work much better with a champ that has the Hochland Long-rifle, to initiate character sniping. He said run 2-3 units of 10 with champ/HLR, and then just focus down enemy BSBs and wizards. I like that, and will consider it in the future.
5. Lore of Light is a very interesting lore, and I felt was a very useful one! My opponent, however, has mentioned the power of Metal for imperial forces, and so I'll probably try it out in my next game, just to test the waters. It's nice having access to ALL the lores now!
6. Shoulda had a Priest with the halberds; I didn't mention this yet, but without the hatred reroll I actually missed like 8 of my 12 basic attacks! It was unfortunate lol... I had created this 1500 list from shaving down my 2500 list that has the War Altar in it, which covers the need of Priests in the units, but I didn't think to replenish that need in this list; so, I'll have a re-look at the characters and their builds.
7. End Times Magic is actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The magic phase takes a little longer, yes, but with both of us having just one wizard apiece, it felt somewhat balanced and I didn't feel too jilted when I couldn't get a spell off; both of us had an equal amount of success and struggle (like rolling a 1 for the number of dice to cast/dispel a big spell), and the fact that you can cast one spell multiple times was actually rather amusing. It definitely changed the game, but now with some experience, it didn't change it to the point of unplayability/un"fun"ness.
So yeah, an excellent game with a good opponent and a hard list to train myself upon. I'm actually pretty excited about my next game, and I can already tell that with a bit more tailoring I can have a very solid 1500 list.
34 Gnobs! Over 3 Packs of Trappers! Woot!
Gibblet, Nibblet, Crunchybit, and Snorti! (For rules clarification on dwarf Snorri banner )
New book WLD: 21/11/3 - Got trounced by one of the "Khaine" elf armies... Stupid new rules...
Gibblet, Nibblet, Crunchybit, and Snorti! (For rules clarification on dwarf Snorri banner )
New book WLD: 21/11/3 - Got trounced by one of the "Khaine" elf armies... Stupid new rules...