Regarding Retribution Tournament Report

This Regarding Retribution report has been written from memory and any mistakes are entirely the fault of my failing memory.

So on Saturday I attended the Sad Muppet Society 1 day tournament in Basingstoke.  4 games, one of 1,000pts and 3 of 2,000pts.

A big thank you to all the guys who ran it, everything went so smoothly!

So during the summer I started up Ogre Kingdoms as a departure from my safety zone of Wood Elves and decided to give them a go in what would be my 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th games with them.

My armies:

1,000pts

Bruiser, HA, GW, Gnoblar Thiefstone, Fistful Laurels, 
3 Bulls, 2xHW
3 Bulls, 2xHW
3 Ironguts (IG), Bellower
4 IG’s, Bellower, Standard
8 Gnoblar Trappers
3 Leadbelchers

2,000pts

Tryant, Tenderiser, Wyrdstone necklace, Luck Gnob,
Butcher, Siegebreaker, Skullmantle,
Butcher, Bangstick, dispel scroll
Butcher, dispel scroll

3 Bulls
3 Bulls, 2 x hw, bellower
3 IG’s, Bellower,
3 IG’s, Bellower,
4 IG’s, Bellower, Standard
9 Trappers, snareflinger
20 Gnoblar Fighters

3 Yhetees

2 Gorgers




GAME 1

Against Andys Empire. 
Interestingly Andy and I had played for the first time a month earlier to get practice for this tournament.  That had been a fun game so always good to start with a friendly face.
His list from memory was something like (Andy if its wrong sorry!)
Mounted Priest as general, A lvl 1 mounted wizard with staff to allow him to roll 3 power dice, 5 pistolliers, 2 units of 5 knights, unit of crossbowmen and a Hellblaster.

In my deployment zone was a large impassable rock to the left, and a very large building just outside the zone to the right.  There was a hill in the middle of Andys side and a rock formation over to the left flank.

Due to this we both set up facing the middle, although as I was so squeezed I sent my 3 IG’s to go around the building.

The early 3 turns were dominated by shooting.  Firstly my Leadbelchers managed to have one of their number in range of the advancing pistoliers.  A roll of the artillery dice came up with a 10 and there were no more pistoliers.  In response the Hellblaster fired and rolled 10, 8, 10 smearing a unit of bulls messily over the ground.
The Crossbows, killed a Leadbelcher causing them to flew and then rally next turn and the Lvl 1 wizard took 3 turns to fireball the 8 Trappers to death!

My other 3 bulls charged the Knights with the Priest, didn’t do well and broke, they pursued along way and caught the Bulls.
As this unit was so far forward it could not pull back only charge either the Leadbelcher or 4 IG’s with my Bruiser.  Rightly fearing the wrath of the artillery dice both knight units declared a charge on the IG’s.  Unfortunately for the Empire the unit further back without the priest failed their fear check.  The Ogres managed to win the first round of combat, but the knights held until my next turn when the Leadbelchers flank charged.

At this point with 3 turns left each I think it was nearly equal and I had a choice of pulling back to safety for the draw or going forward.  If I could get into combat I would win, but I would have to weather a round of shooting and magic!

I’m Ogres so I went for it and Lady luck smiled as the Hellblaster had 2 dud barrels and only 2 hits causing no wounds, I dispelled the fireball for the only turn of the game and the corossbows only put 1 wound on the Leadbelchers.  My turn, the Bruiser and both IG units hit the other knights hard (the flanking ones had taken a shot by the Hellbalster in turn 3, killing and routing them, they rallied and came back!)

The Leadblechers managed to kill 4 crossbows and with 200points per table quarter a massacre was mine!! 

GAME 2

Against Richards Dwarves. 
Not an anvil or Thorek in sight, IMHO a very balanced list.

Again from memory, Lord carried on shield, Thane, Runesmith, unit of warriors, unit of longbeards (runesmith and thane here), unit of hammers (general here), unit of thunderers, unit of crossbows, 5 Miners, 1 cannon, 2 organ guns.

This game had the extra victory conditions that each of us would place a building at least 12 inches in from the short table edges and 12 inches in from our deployment zones.  You gained an extra 500pts for having a unit in a building at the end of the game. 

Scenery was a large long hill on my left flank, about 10 inches in and reaching between deployment zones.  Richard had a wood in the front middle of his deployment zone and there were some areas of hard cover/LOS blocking in the middle nearer my zone.  As a result the right flank was fairly open and this was where we both placed our buildings and fought most of the battle. 

Turn 1, not much as neither of us really moved.  My Trappers went for the Cannon the only thing on Richards right flank and my unit of 3 bulls moved forward towards it joined by a butcher.  Shooting saw the cannon miss sniping the butcher, but the 10 thunderers deployed in the centre wood kill 3 Bulls! Thankfully we passed the panic check..
His crossbows occupied his building

Turn 2, one gorger arrived and threatened the Organ gun on Richers flank, everyone else moved forward.  Shooting the organ gun killed the gorger outright!  The other organ gun hurt the 3 IG’s.  No miners.  Cannon grapeshoots Trappers off table

Turn 3, my 20 Gnoblars finally stopped bickering long enough to take the building!!  500vps secured by a 40pt unit!  Charge my other 3 IG’s were in range of the building and charged the crossbow!.  My lone Bull on the left charges the cannon crew, I cause no wounds the crew kill him out right! The second gorger arrived to threaten the Organ gun in the middle of his lines.  Everyone moved forward ready to charge next turn.  The IG’s killed 3 dwarves for no wounds in return and the dwarves broke and fled the building.  This caused panic checks on lots of his forces and the Organ gun on the flank failed and ran straight off!  The Dwarves all moved up to prevent my bull charge and the miners came on the flank behind my 4IG with siegebreaker Butcher.  The Organ gun killed the last IG in front of it.

Turn 4, Charge! My plan was to charge the Tyrant and 3 Bulls with 2 Hand weapons into the Longbeards to my left and the 4 IG’s into the warriors to the right while the Yhetees looked at the Hammerers preventing them from turning to help unless they expose a flank.  However it was not to be the Dwarf Lord had the rune of challenge and the Yhetees had to charge him or flee.  Not wanting to spoil my plans (and knowing they couldn’t take the ranked unit on their own) they fled.  17 Inches!!!  Everyone else went in and I even cast +1 str on the Bulls.  I win the combats (Tyrant challenges and kills unit champ), he passing break tests on 7’s.  His turn the Miners rear charge my 4 IG’s, I loose combat but hold. Tyrant challenges and kills Thane, he passes another break test on 7.  Hammerers move ready to flank charge Tyrant.

Turn 5, Butcher with Bangstick charges into Longbeard combat.  4 IG’s on the flank kill the last miners and a number of warriors finally breaking them, we pursue and fail to catch them!!  Tyrant challenges and kills runesmith, I win combat Longbeards hold on a 6!  Hammerers charge the flank and the warriors rally.  The organ gun and rallied crossbows start shooting the building to try and get my IGs out!
My Tyrant is on the flank and challenges his lord accepts!  Lord causes a wound on the Tyrant.  I have 5 attacks, needing 4’s to hit and 2’s to cause D3 wounds.  1 hit!, 1 wound he fails to save and I roll the D3, 1 wound the dwarf lord survives.  I loosed combat and have to take 3 break tests (one for bulls, Tyrant and Butcher as they all charged separately)  needing 4’s I fail all of them.  The dwarves pursue and catch both my bulls and Tyrant!! My other nearby butcher breaks as well!!

Turn 6, Neither Butcher rallies!! My 4 IG’s charge the rallied warriors, win combat, they break and I fail to catch them again!!  They rally in Richards last turn and his shooting from the Organ gun kills the IG’s in his building.

A solid win to the dwarves 11 tournament points to my 1!

A great game of Warhammer that was tense, tactical and in the balance all the way up to the end of Turn 5!!  Thanks Richard 

GAME 3

Against Johns Orcs and Goblins.  This was a vast army and if I forget things sorry!! (I also have not played O’n’G’s since their book came out so not familiar with them!)
A special character on a boar that gave his leadership 10 to units within 18, A lvl 1 Gob wizard in chariot, a very big unit of biguns, 4 large units of night goblins, squid herd, squig riders, 5 wolf rider, 3 units of 5 spider riders, 2 bolt throwers, doom diver, rock lobber.

This game called for one building to be placed in the exact middle of the table and if you had a unit in it at the end you gained 500vps. 
The roll off for choice of side was critical as one deployment zone have had a 12inch long impassable rampart just in front of it directly between the zone and the objective building!  I won and gave that side to John.

This would mean that it would be nearly impossible for his infantry to reach the objective in time especially when we only managed 4 turns. 

I think this proved a frustrating game for both of us. 
Firstly the scenery prevented John getting the objective which gave me an almost automatic 500vp boost, then the size of his army meant that animosity tests etc took along time and there were a number of times when we had to stop as we were unclear on rules.  There was never any real arguments, but with the time pressure hanging over us I think stopped the game being good for both of us. 

John deployed to have most of his army attack the objective building on my right flank, with the 2 bolt throwers, wolf riders, 1 spider rider, 1 unit night goblins and doom diver on my left.  I had 3 IG’s, 1 butcher and the yhetees facing them.  Over the four turns, both gorgers entered on this side killing a bolt thrower and doom diver and setting up for more charges.  The IG’s survive the fanatics and dual charged the Gobs with the Yhetees, killing them on the break! 

On the right the big fight never got going, first fanatics slowed things down, then the squig herd exploded in front of both armies, then I managed to get the panic causing spell through with my butcher wearing skullmantle, he failed the ld 9 panic test with a unit of gobs and as his units were bunched up the unit fled through the other 2 units of night gobs, the wizard and the Big’uns.  The other front unit of nights gobs failed the ld 10 test and fled in front of the Big’uns.

By the end of turn 4 I had my gnoblars in the building (the second 500vps they claimed for me) and on the right I had killed the squid herd, squid riders, 1 unit night gobs and the wizard due to catching him with the pursuit of my 4 IG’s again joined by the siegebreaker butcher. 

The only real damage to my army had been caused by the fanatics and squid herd exploding.  I had only lost my trappers and half of a unit of Bulls.

11 Tournament points to me, 1 to John.

GAME 4.

Last game of the day against Dans Ogres!! I’d never played against Ogres with mine so this would be interesting.  Dans Army looked completely different to mine.
2 Bruisers, 3 units of 4 Bulls full command, SLave Giant, Scrap Launcher, 4 Iron Guts full command, 20 Gnoblars, 5 Lead Belchers, 1 Gorger.

The special victory condition was that killed the opposing general gave you 200 points not 100.

A very large 5/6 level hill covered the whole left corner of Dans deployment zone  as I looked at it.  We both had a small wood in our zones and I had a large impassable mountain in the right flank of my zone about 10 inches in from the table edge. 

Dan spread his army out across the board.  With his Leadbelchers and scraplauncher on my left flank on the large hill, then 4 Bulls, the giant, 4 Bulls with Bruiser, Gnoblars, 4 Bulls, 4 IGs with general.

I placed my two bulls units on my left facing the belchers, then my IG’s across the middle with my Yhetees on the far right facing his IG’s.

Really dominating the magic won this for me combined with having more units.  The Belchers moved up, but I positioned my bull units so that to shoot at one he presented his flank to the other.  He did, killing one unit, but my flank charging bulls with the +1 Str spell routed them off the table.  The scraplauncher lasted one turn before my skullmantle Buthcer forced a LD test on it and it ran never to be seem again.

On the right flank my Yhetees ran over the mountain into the middle leaving his general and IG’s facing only my trappers who march blocked them.

In the middle we danced slightly neither wanting to give the charge, I moved my gnobs up so that his bulls could only charge them (because of wheeling a 4 wide unit), then I charged the bulls with 3 IG’s, butcher and Tyrant and his gnobs with 3 IG’s and Yhetees.  His bulls died and ran.  His Gnobs died and ran. 

His turn his giant and 4 Bulls with bruiser tried to charge my 3 IG’s and Yhetees who fled.

My next turn saw me setting up and getting more spells off (by this time most units including characters had the buff spells on them improving stats)  His giant and Bulls dual charged my 3 IG’s who had +1T and stubborn he had failed to dispel.  I lost but passed my break test as stubborn, next turn giant flank charged by 4 IG’s.  They all ran and were caught.

The final two turns saw his last Bulls and IG’s with general arriving from the flank to face my whole army!  My Trappers had killed an IG while march blocking them and when his IG’s broke from the final combat (his bruiser general had died to my Tyrant) it was only my unit of Gnoblar fighters that rolled high enough to catch them!!

The last word of this battle report should go to Dan’s Gorger, who arrived first and tried to kill one of my butchers.  In my next turn one of my gorgers arrived and blocked it.  Dans Gorger them proceeded over the next 3 turns to kill both of my gorgers single handed!! 

A massacre to my Ogres!  12 Tournament points.

Overall I finished 7th out of 40, which as I was using an army I was relatively new to I was very pleased with.  A good fun time.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this!!

good job!

Braingobblering the ogre players scraplauncher was a good tactic if they are not within the generals leadership. It is always fun to pick off the low leadership units that stray away from the safety of the general.

Dwarves are always tough. It is tricky to get a unit across the board after all the shooting and still be able to do enough damage to a dwarf unit to win combat.

Thanks for the BR.