24 Mar 2015
As I said in my other thread (which can be found here: http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=29771.0), I've thought of a way to try to negate the first turn advantage. Basically, the opponent gets their magic phase on your turn. If you get the first turn, then your opponent gets to start off with their magic phase.
The game looks like this:
- Player 2 magic
- Player 1 movement
- Player 1 shooting
- Player 1 combat
- Player 1 magic
- Player 2 movement
- Player 2 shooting
etc.
So, now that you have a good idea of how the turn is going to go, lets take a look at our contenders in the 2500 point weight class!
On my side, we have the mawmaster and his gorger pals!
(I1) 9 Ironguts: full command, standard of disc
(O1) 3 Ogres: AHW, champ
(O2) 3 Ogres: AHW, champ
(M) 2 Mournfang: gleaming pennant, musician
(L1) 4 Leadbelchers: bellower
(L2) 4 Leadbelchers: bellower
(S1) Sabretusk
(S2) Sabretusk
(S3) Sabretusk
(G1) Gorger
(G2) Gorger
(I2) Ironblaster
(I3) Ironblaster
(H) Hunter: armor of destiny, great weapon
(SM) Slaughter Master: talisman of preservation, dispel scroll, great weapon
(B) Bruiser: BSB, Runemaw, great weapon
I am fighting against some nasty end-times combo elves, lead by a level 4 beasts wizard:
(GG) 29 Glade Guard
(DR1) 5 Dark Riders
(DR2) 5 Dark Riders
(W1) 5 Warlocks
(W2) 5 Warlocks
(WR1) 7 Wild Riders
(WR2) 7 Wild Riders
(WR3) 7 Wild Riders
(FP) Frost Phoenix
(MoP) Master on Pegasus: 1+ armor, sea dragon cloak
(B) BSB: banner of the world dragon
(W3) Wizard: level 4 of beasts. Has savage beast, wildform, amber spear, and transformation
(A) Assassin: sword of anti-heroes
Let's see how it went!
Ready, fight!
Deployment
----------
He spread his army across the board to maximize the amount of space he can cover with vanguards.
I tried to make sure that my irongut bunker was covered on all sides. I was obviously thinking that I would be facing a lot of charges from the front, so I was deploying to maximize chaff usage.
Turn 1 - Combo Elves
--------------------
My opponent won the first turn. For magic, I tried to cast two spells. The first was bonecrusher on the wild riders directly in front of the ironguts. It was dispelled with gusto. The remainder of my dice went toward casting bubble trollguts, which effected all of my main units.
He had a lot of movement thanks to vanguards, and now I was facing a mess in the flanks. The wild riders held back a bit, and basically got themselves into a decent charge range for later.
His right side dark riders shot my sabretusk to death. The left side dark riders tried, but flubbed all of their shots, so my puppy lived. His poison glade guard shot my ironblaster, but thanks to trollguts, it only took one wound. New magic setup is working great so far.
Turn 1 - Ogres
--------------
For his magic phase, he tried to dark bolt my ironblaster, which was dispelled. He then tried to cast wildform, but failed to cast, so no magic for him.
I moved my hunter up to threaten the glade guard, moved my ogres over to chaff up the wild riders, moved to shoot the dark riders that took out my sabretusk, and got the ironblasters ready to work. Meanwhile, my left puppy charged the flank of the warlock unit, looking to cause some hurt, and kills a warlock. The warlocks stick around and reform.
For shooting, the leadbelchers took out 3 of the dark riders in retribution for killing their cat. The other group shot at the wild riders, but didn't manage to get any of them. The wounded ironblaster took a shot at the master. He rolled a 2 on his ward save, and I rolled 3 wounds on him. I'm so happy that I don't have to deal with that jerk this game. The second ironblaster takes a shot at the wild riders, misfires, and a gnoblar gets stuck in the barrel. It is now just a fancy looking chariot for the next two turns.
Turn 2 - Combo Elves
--------------------
For turn two, my magic phase was alright. I got bubble guts off, but bonecrusher and spinemarrow were dispelled.
The wild riders charge the ogres, who flee, and they redirect into the first ironblaster. I stand, since running is just giving up the ironblaster. The wild riders move into position in the river, the phoenix moves up, and the warlocks come around to handle the hunter. The glade guard move up to get better shots.
For shooting, the dark riders on the right shoot a wound off the leadbelchers, but nothing spectacular. The glade guard only manage to shoot 2 wounds off of the fleeing ogres.
In combat, the wild riders win combat (but lose a few), the ironblaster runs, and the wild riders overrun into the second ironblaster.
Turn 2 - Ogres
--------------
My opponents magic phase was completely shut down. He threw an amber spear at my ironguts, which bounced onto the leadbelchers. He rolled a 1 to wound, which stopped the spear in its tracks. I dispelled wildform with everything I had.
One of my gorgers comes on and moves up to threaten the glade guard. The hunter moves forward to do the same. My ogres charge the warlocks. The other ogres rally and reform. I move the leadbelchers up into close range on the wild riders, and get the mournfang ready for a countercharge. The ogres get an ogre charge and kill off a warlock, only losing one of their own.
My leadbelchers make use of their close range and shoot off a good chunk of the threatening wild riders, leaving 4 and 2 left.
Turn 3 - Combo Elves
--------------------
The winds roll for me was terrible. 3 dice to 3, but I did manage to get trollguts off on my ogres
Combo charge! The wild riders, dark riders, and the phoenix all run into the leadbelchers. My leadies fail their fear test against the phoenix, but still manage to kill a wild rider. Both groups run, but the right group evades its pursuers. The warlocks kill off the ogres, but get brought down to two.
The glade guard shoot off one of my ogres, but I still have 2.
Turn 3 - Ogres
--------------
Another failed magic phase. I blow my scroll to ensure that wildform doesn't make it onto the glade guard.
I combo charge the glade guard with everything, but the ironguts miss their charge by 1. The stand and shoot takes out 1 ogre. The leadbelchers rally and turn to face. The mournfang were poorly positioned and despite what it shows, everything was out of their charge arc. My second gorger comes on to try to threaten the wild riders. The pillow fight continues at the ironblaster conflict.
The hunter accepts the assassin's challenge, and the two of them start swinging. Each takes a wound from the other. The gorger takes out 4, the ogres take out another 4, and I win by a good amount. Steadfast 10 holds.
Turn 4 - Combo Elves
--------------------
Magic wasn't very good. Nothing much really happened.
His phoenix and wild riders charge my leadbelchers and end up killing them. He runs away with the dark riders and the other wild riders. His warlocks charge my hunter and kill my dog. The 4 extra combat rez lead him to winning by 1, but the gorger is unbreakable, and both of the other 2 pass their tests. The hunter kills off the assassin, so good for him!
Turn 4 - Ogres
-----------------
Magic was the end of it for my opponent. He 6-dices transformation, gets IF, turns into a giant dragon, then immediately falls down a hole. Without his general, he doesn't have much hope. My ironblaster is set up to shoot the phoenix, and the gorger is a threat to a lot of his stuff. I'm going to charge the glade guard with my ironguts and just the impact hits should wreck him.
Overall, my new magic setup was a rousing success. Everything flowed smoothly, and I was able to get up some defenses before he was able to shoot my cannons out from under me.
Trollguts was the real workhorse this game, as it saved me wound after wound.
Now, it may not have been the best test, since my opponent was giving beasts a try this time around, and we both agreed in the end that it was not the best choice for his list, as it is far too short range for how much he wanted to spread out.
I hope you all enjoyed the report, and I will be sure to post another report the next time I get a chance to play using this setup. I loved the list I was playing. It had plenty of drops, and lots of shooting. The hunter was a strong threat (though I should have charged him away from the sabre. No reason to donate CR), and the gorger made for a really nice surprise attacker. I intend to keep rolling with this list for a while. If I change anything, it would be to drop an ironblaster to add a butcher so that I can play around with different lores, but honestly, LotGM works so well with this army that I'm not sure that I want to move away from that.
The game looks like this:
- Player 2 magic
- Player 1 movement
- Player 1 shooting
- Player 1 combat
- Player 1 magic
- Player 2 movement
- Player 2 shooting
etc.
So, now that you have a good idea of how the turn is going to go, lets take a look at our contenders in the 2500 point weight class!
On my side, we have the mawmaster and his gorger pals!
(I1) 9 Ironguts: full command, standard of disc
(O1) 3 Ogres: AHW, champ
(O2) 3 Ogres: AHW, champ
(M) 2 Mournfang: gleaming pennant, musician
(L1) 4 Leadbelchers: bellower
(L2) 4 Leadbelchers: bellower
(S1) Sabretusk
(S2) Sabretusk
(S3) Sabretusk
(G1) Gorger
(G2) Gorger
(I2) Ironblaster
(I3) Ironblaster
(H) Hunter: armor of destiny, great weapon
(SM) Slaughter Master: talisman of preservation, dispel scroll, great weapon
(B) Bruiser: BSB, Runemaw, great weapon
I am fighting against some nasty end-times combo elves, lead by a level 4 beasts wizard:
(GG) 29 Glade Guard
(DR1) 5 Dark Riders
(DR2) 5 Dark Riders
(W1) 5 Warlocks
(W2) 5 Warlocks
(WR1) 7 Wild Riders
(WR2) 7 Wild Riders
(WR3) 7 Wild Riders
(FP) Frost Phoenix
(MoP) Master on Pegasus: 1+ armor, sea dragon cloak
(B) BSB: banner of the world dragon
(W3) Wizard: level 4 of beasts. Has savage beast, wildform, amber spear, and transformation
(A) Assassin: sword of anti-heroes
Let's see how it went!
Ready, fight!
Deployment
----------
He spread his army across the board to maximize the amount of space he can cover with vanguards.
I tried to make sure that my irongut bunker was covered on all sides. I was obviously thinking that I would be facing a lot of charges from the front, so I was deploying to maximize chaff usage.
Turn 1 - Combo Elves
--------------------
My opponent won the first turn. For magic, I tried to cast two spells. The first was bonecrusher on the wild riders directly in front of the ironguts. It was dispelled with gusto. The remainder of my dice went toward casting bubble trollguts, which effected all of my main units.
He had a lot of movement thanks to vanguards, and now I was facing a mess in the flanks. The wild riders held back a bit, and basically got themselves into a decent charge range for later.
His right side dark riders shot my sabretusk to death. The left side dark riders tried, but flubbed all of their shots, so my puppy lived. His poison glade guard shot my ironblaster, but thanks to trollguts, it only took one wound. New magic setup is working great so far.
Turn 1 - Ogres
--------------
For his magic phase, he tried to dark bolt my ironblaster, which was dispelled. He then tried to cast wildform, but failed to cast, so no magic for him.
I moved my hunter up to threaten the glade guard, moved my ogres over to chaff up the wild riders, moved to shoot the dark riders that took out my sabretusk, and got the ironblasters ready to work. Meanwhile, my left puppy charged the flank of the warlock unit, looking to cause some hurt, and kills a warlock. The warlocks stick around and reform.
For shooting, the leadbelchers took out 3 of the dark riders in retribution for killing their cat. The other group shot at the wild riders, but didn't manage to get any of them. The wounded ironblaster took a shot at the master. He rolled a 2 on his ward save, and I rolled 3 wounds on him. I'm so happy that I don't have to deal with that jerk this game. The second ironblaster takes a shot at the wild riders, misfires, and a gnoblar gets stuck in the barrel. It is now just a fancy looking chariot for the next two turns.
Turn 2 - Combo Elves
--------------------
For turn two, my magic phase was alright. I got bubble guts off, but bonecrusher and spinemarrow were dispelled.
The wild riders charge the ogres, who flee, and they redirect into the first ironblaster. I stand, since running is just giving up the ironblaster. The wild riders move into position in the river, the phoenix moves up, and the warlocks come around to handle the hunter. The glade guard move up to get better shots.
For shooting, the dark riders on the right shoot a wound off the leadbelchers, but nothing spectacular. The glade guard only manage to shoot 2 wounds off of the fleeing ogres.
In combat, the wild riders win combat (but lose a few), the ironblaster runs, and the wild riders overrun into the second ironblaster.
Turn 2 - Ogres
--------------
My opponents magic phase was completely shut down. He threw an amber spear at my ironguts, which bounced onto the leadbelchers. He rolled a 1 to wound, which stopped the spear in its tracks. I dispelled wildform with everything I had.
One of my gorgers comes on and moves up to threaten the glade guard. The hunter moves forward to do the same. My ogres charge the warlocks. The other ogres rally and reform. I move the leadbelchers up into close range on the wild riders, and get the mournfang ready for a countercharge. The ogres get an ogre charge and kill off a warlock, only losing one of their own.
My leadbelchers make use of their close range and shoot off a good chunk of the threatening wild riders, leaving 4 and 2 left.
Turn 3 - Combo Elves
--------------------
The winds roll for me was terrible. 3 dice to 3, but I did manage to get trollguts off on my ogres
Combo charge! The wild riders, dark riders, and the phoenix all run into the leadbelchers. My leadies fail their fear test against the phoenix, but still manage to kill a wild rider. Both groups run, but the right group evades its pursuers. The warlocks kill off the ogres, but get brought down to two.
The glade guard shoot off one of my ogres, but I still have 2.
Turn 3 - Ogres
--------------
Another failed magic phase. I blow my scroll to ensure that wildform doesn't make it onto the glade guard.
I combo charge the glade guard with everything, but the ironguts miss their charge by 1. The stand and shoot takes out 1 ogre. The leadbelchers rally and turn to face. The mournfang were poorly positioned and despite what it shows, everything was out of their charge arc. My second gorger comes on to try to threaten the wild riders. The pillow fight continues at the ironblaster conflict.
The hunter accepts the assassin's challenge, and the two of them start swinging. Each takes a wound from the other. The gorger takes out 4, the ogres take out another 4, and I win by a good amount. Steadfast 10 holds.
Turn 4 - Combo Elves
--------------------
Magic wasn't very good. Nothing much really happened.
His phoenix and wild riders charge my leadbelchers and end up killing them. He runs away with the dark riders and the other wild riders. His warlocks charge my hunter and kill my dog. The 4 extra combat rez lead him to winning by 1, but the gorger is unbreakable, and both of the other 2 pass their tests. The hunter kills off the assassin, so good for him!
Turn 4 - Ogres
-----------------
Magic was the end of it for my opponent. He 6-dices transformation, gets IF, turns into a giant dragon, then immediately falls down a hole. Without his general, he doesn't have much hope. My ironblaster is set up to shoot the phoenix, and the gorger is a threat to a lot of his stuff. I'm going to charge the glade guard with my ironguts and just the impact hits should wreck him.
Overall, my new magic setup was a rousing success. Everything flowed smoothly, and I was able to get up some defenses before he was able to shoot my cannons out from under me.
Trollguts was the real workhorse this game, as it saved me wound after wound.
Now, it may not have been the best test, since my opponent was giving beasts a try this time around, and we both agreed in the end that it was not the best choice for his list, as it is far too short range for how much he wanted to spread out.
I hope you all enjoyed the report, and I will be sure to post another report the next time I get a chance to play using this setup. I loved the list I was playing. It had plenty of drops, and lots of shooting. The hunter was a strong threat (though I should have charged him away from the sabre. No reason to donate CR), and the gorger made for a really nice surprise attacker. I intend to keep rolling with this list for a while. If I change anything, it would be to drop an ironblaster to add a butcher so that I can play around with different lores, but honestly, LotGM works so well with this army that I'm not sure that I want to move away from that.