14 Mar 2006
Well, I played in my first tournament this weekend. There were only 12 players and we each played 3 games. It was just a local affair for those in our group. The battles were each 2250. My list was the following:
Tyrant "Grimmjak Spinecrusher " HA, Tenderizer, Gut Maw, Wyrdstone Necklace
Bruiser: BSB "Gorebash Cragfist" HA, Lookout Gnoblar, Skullplucker, Greedyfist
Butcher: "Gashrend Splaydrock" Dispel Scroll, Bangstick
Butcher: "Jangor Chopspikie" Dispel Scroll (x2)
3 Bulls: Ironfists, Light Armor
3 Bulls: Ironfists, Light Armor
3 Ironguts
5 Ironguts: Standard Bearer, Warbanner
21 Gnoblars
21 Gnoblars
9 Trappers
3 Yhetees
Gorger
3 Maneaters: Heavy Armor, Cathayan Longswords
The butchers ran around by themselves, the BSB went with the maneaters and the Tyrant went with the unit of 5 ironguts.
FIRST ROUND: Orcs
Result- Loss by 330 pts. (Minor Victory for the Orcs)
This was a match between another rookie player. We failed to finish the game and only got through turn 3. Since my army is basically 100% melee and it takes two turns to close with the enemy, I just wasn't able to earn enough victory points in 3 turns to pull out a win or draw. 300 of his victory points came from having more troops in near the center objective than me. 180 pts for him came from killing a butcher in the woods. This board had a special rule that each turn there was a 1 in 6 chance of taking d6 STR 5 hits (like tree-singing). It was my mistake putting the butcher in the woods, but he got awful lucky on his rolls to be able to kill the butcher. We also counted the points wrong for my 2nd butcher, giving him VP's for him because he was at 2 wounds. I later learned he had to be BELOW half wounds to give VP's. Thus making this a draw technically, but I didn't figure this out until much later, so he got credit for the victory. Besides this would have probably given me a harder draw for round 2, so its really a moot point.
He also rolled almost the maximum possible on his wounds with fanatics. My magic rolling was pathetic and I couldn't get anything off. I didn't use my gnoblars well and as a result never got the maneaters in position to do anything. They also bickered like 3 times which was really annoying. While neither of us played well, I felt that I probably could have pulled the victory out had the game gone a full 6 turns. He also forgot to deploy his giant and only rolled for animosity on turn 3! So a really sloppy game here. I sure would like a rematch!
ROUND 2: Empire
Result: Minor Victory for Ogres (I think by like 500 pts or something)
He had a hellblaster and two cannons and a unit of handgunners that shot me up pretty bad as I crossed the table and he just held his line. The table generated D3 dispel dice so magic wasn't much of a factor, but I did get off trollguts before a volley from the hellblaster which saved my ironguts from destruction. This proved pivotal because they hit his lines in tact and proceeded to just chew threw his line like a hot knife through butter.
The maneaters got reduced to almost nothing from shooting and I spent the last 3 turns running out of the charge arc of his knights and trying to deny him the victory points for the BSB. I made a couple of dumb mistakes like charging the hellblaster with the gorger and fleeing an empire charge with my yhetees (who then failed to rally and ran off the board). I did manage to run down the cannons and hellblaster later in the game and get easy victory points. One of my gnoblar units did get in a hilarious multi-round combat with his flaggellants. The flagellants kept widling away at their numbers but the little guys somehow held and never broke. It was a totally meaningless battle at the end of the game, but fun non-the-less. But my gnoblars bickered at several key moments and really let me down. He outplayed me in the early game, but I recovered and pulled out the win. This game went the full 6 turns.
ROUND 3: Dwarfs
Result: Massacre for the Ogres (1100+ points difference)
I really thought this was going to be a tough battle. I had never played the dwarfs before and from everything I'd read, I was probably going to get beaten to a pulp by his massive blocks of rock hard infantry. He had an organ gun, a bolt thrower a unit of slayers and everything else was 25+ blocks of infantry. No other shooting units. Also, this was the most experienced player I faced in the tournament. He told me afterwards that he had done well at a few large tournaments but that he had always played chaos in the past.
Anyway he got first turn and proceded to concentrate all fire on the irongut unit (which had my general). Meanwhile I ran my yhetees up the left flank toward the slayers with an eye on a charge through some impassible terrain. He held his entire line on turn one as I moved everything full steam through what looked like a nasty choke point in the middle of the field. There was a rule that reduced movement by 1 on a failed leadership test (swirling winds on a desert board) so I couldn't advance at my full rate and keep the line together. He inched his slayers forward on turn 2 and continued to blast away with his artillery inflicting heavy casualties.
On turn 3, I saw my chance with the maneaters lined up for a charge on the slayers. I knew my yhetees could get a rear charge as well and I felt I could probably wipe them out and not get stuck. It turns out I should actually have held the yhetees back because the maneaters slaughtered the unit of 8 (I had reduced it from 10 with some magic) to a man before even needing to roll the yhetee attacks. I could have then overrun and been in a good spot on his flanks. Since the yhetees and maneaters were facing each other, I couldn't overrun anywhere and got flank charged by a big unit of dwarfs on his next turn. I don't think he knew maneaters were stubborn. He actually only did 2 wounds on a single maneater but of course won combat handily. No matter, I knew I was good with a BSB and stubborn and held easily.
Then I switched my bruiser to the maneater flank and brought in the yhetees and the general (yes, just the general, his unit had been reduced to zero from the dwarf artillery!) and a single irongut (which had survived from early shooting). That was enough to win combat and I think I outnumbered him by this point so he autobroke. I pursued with the yhetees (who ran off the board) and maneaters (just in case and also to get into better position for a future charge on his flank) and wiped yet another unit out.
All the action in this battle was on the left flank. I did put a unit of bulls out in the middle in order to pull him out of position for another flank charge. It worked as they fled and left a unit exposed. I tried it again later in the game and the bulls rolled a 3 for their flee and got caught but I was able to still charge the unit and wipe it out. I also used the bulls to wipe out the organ gun. My gorger played no roll really coming in on turn 4 and charging the bolt thrower crew, only managing one casualty in 3 rounds of combat.
The last turn was truly my most successful of the entire tournament. He had dropped the oathstone on his unit with the BSB as I flank charged on one side with the maneaters and from the front with the Tyrant and an irongut. Predictably (for this tourney) my gnoblars bickered and failed a charge to charge the other flank. No matter, I rolled really well and managed to get off Bullgorger on the maneaters! The Tyrant challenged and got 2 or 3 wounds only on the champ. I think the irongut managed one or two wounds but then came the maneaters! They wiped out 8 dwarfs! He had only a handful of dwarfs left in the unit, lost combat and autobroke and I ran him down.
I got some extra points for getting the yhetees and trappers off the board (it was part of the scenario) which contributed to the massive point differential, but clearly this was the best game I played all day and maybe my best game ever. I didn't do anything too dumb, though I might have been more creative in protecting the Tyrant's irongut unit.
THINGS I LEARNED:
Especially since I'm a new player, I learn something from every game. Sometimes its tactics, sometimes its rules for unique situations, sometimes its just how the game flows. In these games I found myself wishing I had just stuck the 3 ironguts in with the other 5 and made a big unit of ironguts. This unit won the game for me vs. the empire and if I had had more of them in the last or first battle, they would have been more of a factor. The unit of 3 just never did much. The boards were all full of terrain and even though I didn't have that many units to begin with, I found myself tripping over my own units and unable to get into the positions I wanted with my units. I also found out that Bullgorger can be an awesome spell in the right situation. Lastly, maneaters on the charge, especially a bull charge can wipe out almost anything in the game.
I will rate units (in how they performed) like this:
Gnoblars: D
Too much bickering. They never got in any meaningful combats. In my previous battles they have helped a lot, but for the tourney they were just clogging up the charge lanes.
Trappers: C-
They also failed to do much and bickered often. I didn't always use them the right way and in the end they didn't do much
Ironguts: A-
The small unit did zilch, but the big unit was rock solid (when it managed to get across the battlefield)
Yhetees: B
They didn't turn the tide, but proved very mobile and useful and created havoc with the enemy's battle lines
Gorger: C+
He was doing great in the first game because he came in on turn 2 but the other games he mostly just created some nice distractions that allowed my other units to do their things.
Bulls: B-
My original list didn't have the ironfists and I'm glad that I ended up putting them in. They were a versatile unit that I didn't mind losing even with the extra cost for LA and ironfists. I like the flexibility of having a 4+ save when I get charged or having 12 attacks when I get off the charge.
Maneaters: A
When I protect these guys and use them correctly they are worth their weight in gold. If they get off the charge its "Good night, Irene". I think the WS 5 for the longswords really makes a difference, especially against dwarves who have ridiculous weapon skill. Its hard giving up the STR 7 great weapons, but the longswords worked well, even against heavily armored dwarves. I pretty much built my army around this unit and the big irongut unit and it payed off. You might destroy one hammer, but the other one was bound to fall eventually. No one could take out both the maneaters and the guts and once they got into his battle lines, it was just mopping up from there. (Of course I used support charges in conjunction with these two heavy hitters to pull it off, but these guys and the ironguts pulled down the lion's share of the VP's for me)
Butchers: C+
I didn't roll very well with them. They got off a couple of key spells but for the most part didn't play a major factor in the games. The bangstick was particularly disappointing. I may just leave it home next time. It got to the point where my opponents didn't even bother dispelling it, it just causes so few casualties. The bonecruncher spell was also a joke. I probably got it of 8 or 10 times and only caused 3 or 4 kills with it. Strength 2 really is pathetic, armor save or no armor save. But in their defense, the first game I rolled bad and the game never got going anyway. The second game had a rule giving extra dispel dice so they weren't very effective. And the third game was against dwarves.
BSB: C-
I really didn't need him. I also think the skullplucker and greedy fist are a bad combo. I won't use them again. After the amount of 1's I rolled in the tourney, I may give him the Dragonhide banner if I use him again.
Tyrant: B-
The gutmaw + tenderizer is a great combo. I challenged with him every chance I got and nothing could stand up to him. He was often running around with 6 wounds. While it might have been a case of overkill (literally
) I had fun running around with the unstoppable Tyrant. I also really didn't need the ward save. Maybe I should have given him a big name instead. Also, I rolled horrible for his attacks, never getting more than 3 wounds even in challenges. Really bad rolling with the tenderizer or the Tyrant might have been an 'A'
SYNOPSIS:
I ended up getting 5th out of the 12. Not bad since I started out with a loss. I only finished 1 pt. behind the guy in 4th place. It was only a small local tournament, but it was a lot of fun. My opponents were good sports and overall it was a great experience.
If you made it this far- thanks for reading!
Tyrant "Grimmjak Spinecrusher " HA, Tenderizer, Gut Maw, Wyrdstone Necklace
Bruiser: BSB "Gorebash Cragfist" HA, Lookout Gnoblar, Skullplucker, Greedyfist
Butcher: "Gashrend Splaydrock" Dispel Scroll, Bangstick
Butcher: "Jangor Chopspikie" Dispel Scroll (x2)
3 Bulls: Ironfists, Light Armor
3 Bulls: Ironfists, Light Armor
3 Ironguts
5 Ironguts: Standard Bearer, Warbanner
21 Gnoblars
21 Gnoblars
9 Trappers
3 Yhetees
Gorger
3 Maneaters: Heavy Armor, Cathayan Longswords
The butchers ran around by themselves, the BSB went with the maneaters and the Tyrant went with the unit of 5 ironguts.
FIRST ROUND: Orcs
Result- Loss by 330 pts. (Minor Victory for the Orcs)
This was a match between another rookie player. We failed to finish the game and only got through turn 3. Since my army is basically 100% melee and it takes two turns to close with the enemy, I just wasn't able to earn enough victory points in 3 turns to pull out a win or draw. 300 of his victory points came from having more troops in near the center objective than me. 180 pts for him came from killing a butcher in the woods. This board had a special rule that each turn there was a 1 in 6 chance of taking d6 STR 5 hits (like tree-singing). It was my mistake putting the butcher in the woods, but he got awful lucky on his rolls to be able to kill the butcher. We also counted the points wrong for my 2nd butcher, giving him VP's for him because he was at 2 wounds. I later learned he had to be BELOW half wounds to give VP's. Thus making this a draw technically, but I didn't figure this out until much later, so he got credit for the victory. Besides this would have probably given me a harder draw for round 2, so its really a moot point.
He also rolled almost the maximum possible on his wounds with fanatics. My magic rolling was pathetic and I couldn't get anything off. I didn't use my gnoblars well and as a result never got the maneaters in position to do anything. They also bickered like 3 times which was really annoying. While neither of us played well, I felt that I probably could have pulled the victory out had the game gone a full 6 turns. He also forgot to deploy his giant and only rolled for animosity on turn 3! So a really sloppy game here. I sure would like a rematch!
ROUND 2: Empire
Result: Minor Victory for Ogres (I think by like 500 pts or something)
He had a hellblaster and two cannons and a unit of handgunners that shot me up pretty bad as I crossed the table and he just held his line. The table generated D3 dispel dice so magic wasn't much of a factor, but I did get off trollguts before a volley from the hellblaster which saved my ironguts from destruction. This proved pivotal because they hit his lines in tact and proceeded to just chew threw his line like a hot knife through butter.
The maneaters got reduced to almost nothing from shooting and I spent the last 3 turns running out of the charge arc of his knights and trying to deny him the victory points for the BSB. I made a couple of dumb mistakes like charging the hellblaster with the gorger and fleeing an empire charge with my yhetees (who then failed to rally and ran off the board). I did manage to run down the cannons and hellblaster later in the game and get easy victory points. One of my gnoblar units did get in a hilarious multi-round combat with his flaggellants. The flagellants kept widling away at their numbers but the little guys somehow held and never broke. It was a totally meaningless battle at the end of the game, but fun non-the-less. But my gnoblars bickered at several key moments and really let me down. He outplayed me in the early game, but I recovered and pulled out the win. This game went the full 6 turns.
ROUND 3: Dwarfs
Result: Massacre for the Ogres (1100+ points difference)
I really thought this was going to be a tough battle. I had never played the dwarfs before and from everything I'd read, I was probably going to get beaten to a pulp by his massive blocks of rock hard infantry. He had an organ gun, a bolt thrower a unit of slayers and everything else was 25+ blocks of infantry. No other shooting units. Also, this was the most experienced player I faced in the tournament. He told me afterwards that he had done well at a few large tournaments but that he had always played chaos in the past.
Anyway he got first turn and proceded to concentrate all fire on the irongut unit (which had my general). Meanwhile I ran my yhetees up the left flank toward the slayers with an eye on a charge through some impassible terrain. He held his entire line on turn one as I moved everything full steam through what looked like a nasty choke point in the middle of the field. There was a rule that reduced movement by 1 on a failed leadership test (swirling winds on a desert board) so I couldn't advance at my full rate and keep the line together. He inched his slayers forward on turn 2 and continued to blast away with his artillery inflicting heavy casualties.
On turn 3, I saw my chance with the maneaters lined up for a charge on the slayers. I knew my yhetees could get a rear charge as well and I felt I could probably wipe them out and not get stuck. It turns out I should actually have held the yhetees back because the maneaters slaughtered the unit of 8 (I had reduced it from 10 with some magic) to a man before even needing to roll the yhetee attacks. I could have then overrun and been in a good spot on his flanks. Since the yhetees and maneaters were facing each other, I couldn't overrun anywhere and got flank charged by a big unit of dwarfs on his next turn. I don't think he knew maneaters were stubborn. He actually only did 2 wounds on a single maneater but of course won combat handily. No matter, I knew I was good with a BSB and stubborn and held easily.
Then I switched my bruiser to the maneater flank and brought in the yhetees and the general (yes, just the general, his unit had been reduced to zero from the dwarf artillery!) and a single irongut (which had survived from early shooting). That was enough to win combat and I think I outnumbered him by this point so he autobroke. I pursued with the yhetees (who ran off the board) and maneaters (just in case and also to get into better position for a future charge on his flank) and wiped yet another unit out.
All the action in this battle was on the left flank. I did put a unit of bulls out in the middle in order to pull him out of position for another flank charge. It worked as they fled and left a unit exposed. I tried it again later in the game and the bulls rolled a 3 for their flee and got caught but I was able to still charge the unit and wipe it out. I also used the bulls to wipe out the organ gun. My gorger played no roll really coming in on turn 4 and charging the bolt thrower crew, only managing one casualty in 3 rounds of combat.
The last turn was truly my most successful of the entire tournament. He had dropped the oathstone on his unit with the BSB as I flank charged on one side with the maneaters and from the front with the Tyrant and an irongut. Predictably (for this tourney) my gnoblars bickered and failed a charge to charge the other flank. No matter, I rolled really well and managed to get off Bullgorger on the maneaters! The Tyrant challenged and got 2 or 3 wounds only on the champ. I think the irongut managed one or two wounds but then came the maneaters! They wiped out 8 dwarfs! He had only a handful of dwarfs left in the unit, lost combat and autobroke and I ran him down.
I got some extra points for getting the yhetees and trappers off the board (it was part of the scenario) which contributed to the massive point differential, but clearly this was the best game I played all day and maybe my best game ever. I didn't do anything too dumb, though I might have been more creative in protecting the Tyrant's irongut unit.
THINGS I LEARNED:
Especially since I'm a new player, I learn something from every game. Sometimes its tactics, sometimes its rules for unique situations, sometimes its just how the game flows. In these games I found myself wishing I had just stuck the 3 ironguts in with the other 5 and made a big unit of ironguts. This unit won the game for me vs. the empire and if I had had more of them in the last or first battle, they would have been more of a factor. The unit of 3 just never did much. The boards were all full of terrain and even though I didn't have that many units to begin with, I found myself tripping over my own units and unable to get into the positions I wanted with my units. I also found out that Bullgorger can be an awesome spell in the right situation. Lastly, maneaters on the charge, especially a bull charge can wipe out almost anything in the game.
I will rate units (in how they performed) like this:
Gnoblars: D
Too much bickering. They never got in any meaningful combats. In my previous battles they have helped a lot, but for the tourney they were just clogging up the charge lanes.
Trappers: C-
They also failed to do much and bickered often. I didn't always use them the right way and in the end they didn't do much
Ironguts: A-
The small unit did zilch, but the big unit was rock solid (when it managed to get across the battlefield)
Yhetees: B
They didn't turn the tide, but proved very mobile and useful and created havoc with the enemy's battle lines
Gorger: C+
He was doing great in the first game because he came in on turn 2 but the other games he mostly just created some nice distractions that allowed my other units to do their things.
Bulls: B-
My original list didn't have the ironfists and I'm glad that I ended up putting them in. They were a versatile unit that I didn't mind losing even with the extra cost for LA and ironfists. I like the flexibility of having a 4+ save when I get charged or having 12 attacks when I get off the charge.
Maneaters: A
When I protect these guys and use them correctly they are worth their weight in gold. If they get off the charge its "Good night, Irene". I think the WS 5 for the longswords really makes a difference, especially against dwarves who have ridiculous weapon skill. Its hard giving up the STR 7 great weapons, but the longswords worked well, even against heavily armored dwarves. I pretty much built my army around this unit and the big irongut unit and it payed off. You might destroy one hammer, but the other one was bound to fall eventually. No one could take out both the maneaters and the guts and once they got into his battle lines, it was just mopping up from there. (Of course I used support charges in conjunction with these two heavy hitters to pull it off, but these guys and the ironguts pulled down the lion's share of the VP's for me)
Butchers: C+
I didn't roll very well with them. They got off a couple of key spells but for the most part didn't play a major factor in the games. The bangstick was particularly disappointing. I may just leave it home next time. It got to the point where my opponents didn't even bother dispelling it, it just causes so few casualties. The bonecruncher spell was also a joke. I probably got it of 8 or 10 times and only caused 3 or 4 kills with it. Strength 2 really is pathetic, armor save or no armor save. But in their defense, the first game I rolled bad and the game never got going anyway. The second game had a rule giving extra dispel dice so they weren't very effective. And the third game was against dwarves.
BSB: C-
I really didn't need him. I also think the skullplucker and greedy fist are a bad combo. I won't use them again. After the amount of 1's I rolled in the tourney, I may give him the Dragonhide banner if I use him again.
Tyrant: B-
The gutmaw + tenderizer is a great combo. I challenged with him every chance I got and nothing could stand up to him. He was often running around with 6 wounds. While it might have been a case of overkill (literally
) I had fun running around with the unstoppable Tyrant. I also really didn't need the ward save. Maybe I should have given him a big name instead. Also, I rolled horrible for his attacks, never getting more than 3 wounds even in challenges. Really bad rolling with the tenderizer or the Tyrant might have been an 'A'SYNOPSIS:
I ended up getting 5th out of the 12. Not bad since I started out with a loss. I only finished 1 pt. behind the guy in 4th place. It was only a small local tournament, but it was a lot of fun. My opponents were good sports and overall it was a great experience.
If you made it this far- thanks for reading!
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition"
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition"
