#98: A new age of warfare… Generals Handbook 2017 Overview

I'm going to open this particular article by expressing how monumentally huge the GHB17 is. The amount of content in the book is truly something to behold, and shakes up the game in the best way possible, just before it threatened to become a little tired. Because of this, I'm not going to do a page-by-page overview or we would be here until Christmas! I will instead be doing an overview, touching on all of the major changes as well as the winners and losers of the new Handbook.

Rules of One have had two join their number. You can't re-roll or modify the dice roll for who takes priority each turn, and you can no longer double up on Artefacts (or their equivalent). Both of these are reasonable and logical changes, and I don't think anyone will be too upset by this. It further guides the direction of the game.

We have six new Matched Play Scenarios as well, several of which will be very familiar! For example, Duality of Death is very reminiscent of Three Places of Power, except that there are only two objectives, they can be held by Heroes and Behemoths, and non-Behemoth Heroes heal the same number of wounds as the points they scored. Suddenly, that pesky Daemon Prince has become insanely hard to shift! Battle for the Pass is essentially Border War, but playing the table longways, making for of a choke point in the middle of the board. Scorched Earth is a scenario of note, that actually allows you to voluntarily destroy Objectives in your opponent's territory for D3 scenario points. Not only do you deny your opponent an easy objective, you can get some cheeky points as you pillage it!

I'll drop in a paragraph here regarding the inclusion of Siege Scenarios. Sieges are some of the most cinematic battles in the Fantasy genre, and now we can play them out! While it is far on the Narrative end of the spectrum, I think it's great that they're taking the time to facilitate players of all inclinations.

Now, what we've all been chomping at the bit to discover, the meat and potatoes of the book; points, allies and Allegiances!

Regarding points, as most of you have already heard, there are sweeping discounts across many factions on their units. Some have been tweaked by ten or twenty points, while others (Ironjaws, rejoice at the 100 point discount on Maw-Crushas!) got significant reductions, posing the compelling question as to whether you can justify leaving home without them. Others, such as (unsurprisingly) Skyfires, Kurnoth Hunters and Prosecutors with Javelins, got bumped up a touch in price to better reflect their efficiency and martial prowess. Of what I've seen (as I said, there is a ton of content in here. It's almost overwhelming!), most points changes on units have been appropriate and reasonable. There's also the Massive Regiment mechanic, which offers a tempting discount on a unit if you take a maximum-size unit. For example, Plaguebearers of Nurgle are 100 points for ten models, but if you take a full unit of 30 models, you're only going to pay 270 points! Bargains galore can be found, when already discounted units get cheaper again when taken in large numbers. As I shift from Blades of Khorne over to the numerous Skaven, this is obviously something to get excited about.

On the other side of the coin, the majority of Warscroll Battalions went up in cost significantly! Many of the Blades of Khorne Battalions increased in price by 80-100 points each, and other factions seem to be no different. At first, when I saw this, I was pretty gutted. Part of the drive to collect and paint was to complete the most advantageous Battalions to give myself the lowest drop/maximum artefact army I could engineer. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Battalions will be a little more unique, one-drop armies will be few and far between, and players will have to think hard as to whether they can afford to take boots off the ground for the benefits of the formation. Interestingly, this ties in neatly with the Rule of One regarding Artefacts, as well as the Allegiance-specific Artefacts. You're only going to get a couple, and you're going to have to think hard as to which ones are going to be given to which privileged Heroes.

I think that the increase in cost of Battalions is going to translate to cultivating a smarter way of playing the game, particularly when it comes to settling on a list. No longer will every Sylvaneth army be a Gnarlroot Wargrove, as each player will have to weigh up if the cost of the Battalions involved is too expensive to also allow them to field a reasonably sized army.

I also want to touch on how great I think the Allies mechanic is. Not only does it allow for the inclusion of great strategic and theme elements that would otherwise break Allegiance (all of a sudden, the Gargant lurking in the Ironjawz army box makes a whole lot more sense), but it curbs the craziness of armies such as the Beastclaw/Kunnin' Rukk mixed Destruction list. Don't get me wrong, you can still create those mixed Grand Alliance armies, but at what cost? You'll be missing out on all of the great Allegiance Abilities, Artefacts and Command Traits. Another dilemma for every player to ponder…

Then we kick into probably the most fascinating part of the book. Allegiance Abilities have been gifted to a ton of factions in all four alliances. While the Grand Alliance abilities remain very similar to days gone by, the army specific ones have gotten many players worked into a frenzy! I thought I'd briefly touch on my favourite from each Grand Alliance and then explore more thoroughly the Allegiance which will be my primary focus.

First up, Destruction offers the goods for Ironjaws. While the other two main factions (Beastclaw Raiders and Bonesplittaz) have up-to-date Battletomes, Ironjawz were beginning to lag behind a bit. The Ironfist was brutal, and Brutes were something to be feared, but the more table time the army got, the more it began to show its limitations. It only had three units, four Heroes (not including Gordrakk), and suffered heavily at the hands of a bad match up. And while the fundamental foundations of the army have remained, Ironjaw players now have an extensive toolbox upon which to draw from. From piling in and punching on out of sequence, charging more reliably, and (most importantly) being able to draw from their allies to stopgap any weaknesses and shortcomings they might have, its beyond reasonable doubt that Ironjaws have received a new lease on life! As mentioned earlier, the Maw-Crusha got a pretty tasty discount too, making that key game piece an easier purchase.

Speaking of Maw-Crushas and Ironfists (because, lets be real here; they were already in just about every existing Ironjaw army…), Ironjaws have been blessed with two Warscroll Battalions, which both require the above as their compulsory elements! This makes Ironjaws a very realistic one-drop army with some incredibly cool special rules.

Next comes Death, a Grand Alliance with probably the most loyal and die-hard base of players. There's something about Death players, that they just refuse to play any other alliance, making do with the tools that they have. And while they have a lot of fantastic units and incredible combos, they suffer from having an alliance split into so many factions that their only two options are Grand Alliance armies or FEC. I mean, of course there was always the minor factions that dedicated players would do their utmost to make work, notably Nighthaunt and Soulblight (being two of the only ones able to meet Hero and Battleline requirements with any shred of competency), and wouldn't you know it… Guess which two got their own Allegiance Abilities! I'm not saying its the answer to all of their problems, but with AA and pretty flexible Ally factions, prospects have definitely opened up for those with vampiric tendencies. And while there are a lot of Nighthaunt fanboys out there, who indeed have much to rejoice about, I'm going to focus on one of my favourite factions in the whole of fantasy; the vampires of the Soulblight!

Vampires have long been a staple of the fantasy genre, and in the history of Warhammer in all of its renditions, they were the perfect, menacing, ever-present villain. The Von Carsteins were the quintessential arch-enemy of the Empire, and despite Manfred being the last one fighting the good fight, the vampire strain is keeping on strong. The part of Soulblight that makes me most excited is the return of Bloodlines, a throwback to the Old World when the different dynasties ruled and went to war in their own unique way. Well, now you have four distinct Bloodlines to pick from. Whether you like martial prowess, superior casting abilities or traversing the battlefield at breakneck speed, there's a dynasty for you. As well as that, there are some pretty amazing artefacts that perfectly reflect the haughty, self-obsessed nature of the vampiric Lords and Queens; my top pick would have to be the Sigil of the Sanguine Throne, as I think it offers the most mileage. But I'd love to know from all the Death players out there; how do you feel about what's on offer?

Order was a tough choice when deciding which I was most excited about. Wanderers and Seraphon received a great deal of love, and Free Peoples were definitely up there when it came to improvements overall, but I had to go with Fyreslayers for one reason alone. They have been at the bottom of the popularity ladder for a very, very long time for a variety of reasons. It's not to say that they were bad, but they had the immense misfortune (along with Pestilens) of having their moment in the sun pre-GHB, when AOS was in a lull. They were also a financially straining army to collect (until, of course, that incredible Start Collecting box!), and so it was rare to see a full army of them. But, boy oh boy, are they loving life now! From their Ur-gold Runes to their Ash-plume Sigils, the infantry-heavy army of naked Duardin mean business. Building upon the existing synergies in the army, I think that the clever use of Runes will be absolutely pivotal to claiming decisive wins against their foes!

And lastly, Chaos. A Grand Alliance near and dear to my heart, how could I deny a trip down memory lane by focusing on a beloved army of the past… Brayherds! Beastmen are back, they are back in greater numbers and they… are… pissed. While they suffered at the hands of the Compendium Cleanse (we're getting to that, don't fear), the loss of a few special characters was far outweighed by the benefits they have received. Not only is a Brayherd army significantly cheaper to field now (remember how we mentioned Massive Regiments?), but units may now be placed in Ambush to arrive turn one on any board edge at least 9" away from the enemy, many of the elements from the Old World named characters have become command traits or artefacts, and just when you think you couldn't take another blow to the back of the head with the Nostalgia Hammer…

The revered, the legendary, the truly magnificent Herdstone makes it's triumphant return! Not only does this automatically give your army a deployable piece of Damned/Deadly terrain, depending on if you're Brayherd or not, but it very concisely explains how big it can be. So adversaries of the goat people, you need not fear. There won't be some 12"-wide Line of Sight-blocking terrain with five wizards lurking behind it. Even in my local meta, there are already people leaping all aboard the Brayherd train, and it brings a proud tear to my eye. For a bit of context here, I played Beastmen through the majority of 8th Edition Fantasy, when they were truly one of the two worst armies in the game. So, it warms my heart to see them once more marching to war to the sound of out-of-tune horns and drunken bleating.

I've given each of these the briefest of insights for you, and could easily spend an entire article breaking down each and every Allegiance to a tactically minute level, but that's best saved for another day.

It's now time to talk about Grundstok Thunderers. For those of you who haven't heard yet, the Thunderers had their Warscroll just about re-written in the GHB17, to state that the whole unit is armed with Aethershot Rifles (stock equipment) and only one of each other weapon may be included in the unit. This came as quite a shock to Kharadron Overlords players, who had spent the last few months begging, borrowing and bartering to gather together enough of one weapon to kit out a unit with all the same guns; the two most popular culprits being the Aethercannon and the dreaded Grundstok Mortar. Now, I can understand why Games Workshop made these changes. I can also understand why KO players are upset by this, as KO is actually quite a recent release. What I can say is that I believe this update (and the price adjustment on Aether-Khemists) was a decisive move to shift Kharadron Overlord toward their intended play style, instead of one of the most horrific gun line armies in all of the realms. Could this issue have been foreseen? I think so; give players powerful 30" guns on an entire unit, and then offer them an option to make them belt-fed, and it's only going to go one way. It's easy for me to say, as I have no emotional or financial investment in KO, but if you're a KO player, where do you go from here? Does this change how you're building your army?

And one more point I want to hit before I bring this article in to land is the FAQ, Forge World war scroll updates and the Compendium Cleanse. I'm glad to see day one FAQ's, and from what I can see, they were very clear and concise. I was glad to see clarification of the sequence of Hero Phases in regards to the Blood Tithe, as well as finally putting to rest the whole "Do Bloodsecrator banners stack?" debate. Spoiler alert…

They don't.

The Forge World updates were great. The Mourngul got toned down a touch, points moved here and there, but one thing I was overjoyed with was the Skaven Warlord on Brood Horror. I approached Forge World on Facebook about a week ago, inquiring as to why the SWoBH didn't have the Hero keyword. Well, I don't know if other people had asked the same question too, but they went and gave that scroll the royal treatment. Not only did he gain the aforementioned Hero keyword, but the Brood Horror's attack profiles changed significantly, and it is terrifying. The model did go up 20 points, but I'll gladly pay that for my nefarious warlord to be elevated above the rank of Behemoth.

Probably the biggest change in the Forge World scrolls was everyones favourite Sorcerer to hate; Sayl the Faithless. At his hands were many armies reduced to a pile of corpses, ash and bruised pride thanks to a rather hasty assault by such terrifying units as Bloodletters or Warpfire Projector-armed Stormfiends. Well, thanks to one minor tweak, those strategies are a thing of the past. His spell, Traitor's Mist, will from henceforth be only able to affect units with the Slaves to Darkness keyword. This is not only a change for the better, but tones him down considerably, prevents him from being an auto-include in every mixed Chaos list ever, and conveniently facilitates his cheaper points cost (dropping 40 points!). I think everyone outside the Chaos Grand Alliance is gonna be pretty satisfied with this change.

Lastly, we have to talk about the Compendium Cleanse. Essentially, what has happened is every Warscroll that doesn't have a current model either got rolled into a generic war scroll of their parent faction (e.g. Tretch Craventail and Queek Headtaker are now considered alternative models for the Skaven Warlord scroll) or they were stripped of their unique titles and given a generic war scroll, that in most cases, was not all that useful for its points. There were also many units that were stripped of their Keywords (a lot of Bretonnians are no longer Free People).

I will say this, knowing that there are a fair number of people who were displeased by this move on the part of Games Workshop.

This was inevitable.

Games Workshop sells miniatures, and they're not going to support products that they no longer produce. By keeping these scrolls in mainstream gaming, and in many cases, incredibly powerful on the table, they would be actively encouraging people to go to places like eBay, Buy Swap Sell pages, etc, and spend their money there.

Their focus, and as a publicly owned company, rightly so, is to make their game accessible. They don't want a first-time hobbyist to realise that the character they need to take their army to the next level on the table top has been out of production for the last five years. Games Workshop is consolidating their product and putting all players, old or new, on an even playing field with the same options. This is as much about the balance of the game as it is about sales. A Skaven player joining the hobby today would have had a distinct disadvantage to someone who started playing Skaven five years ago, through no fault of either player, purely based on availability. By consolidating scrolls, this problem is minimised.

I know people are upset, and I don't want to sound like I'm uncaring, or that I'm happy about it either. All of my beloved Beastmen characters, Gorthor the Beastlord, Malagar, Morghur, the list goes on; they're all gone, dissolved into the oblivion of obsolete game data. This was a huge hit, but I understand why it had to happen for the health of the game. The priority for GW is to finish transitioning from WFB to AOS, and I believe that this ripping off of the band-aid is the last step in doing that. I'm gonna miss a lot of the heroes (and anti-heroes) from the Old World, but hopefully we will see more and more heroes and villains as the Realms unfold.

I'll say it now; I'm so excited for this new era of gaming. Age of Sigmar, despite it's birthing pains, has swiftly become my favourite table top game above all others. I'm excited that some less-loved factions have received their due attention. I love that the new factions joining the game are thematic and bursting with lore. I love the level of miniatures being produced. I love that we will inevitably see much more diversity between armies, even from within the same allegiances. What a time to be in the hobby! I've barely scratched the surface today, but I hope you're as excited as I am about this rendition of the game we all love.

Let me know in the comments what army you'll be focusing on post-GHB17! Do the new Allegiance Abilities sway you toward collecting a new army, or perhaps dragging an old one out of retirement?

Next week, I'll be breaking down my plans for Clan Pestilens, as well as their Allegiance Abilities, and the finer points of their infectious ways of war! Keep an eye out.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Gabe

#97: Grey Knights 2017 Codex Review

With 8th Edition settling in to all of our brains, the wondrous assault of codexes has begun. Games Workshop has promised ten before the end of the year, and we've already got three of them! Space Marines was, of course, the first to drop; and with it came the select few who moaned about Marines getting all the attention, like they're not some kind of super-popular user friendly poster boys that spearhead the 40k universe and in turn, the game. But we've become accustomed to this after literally every space marine release.

To be honest, I wasn't overly stressed about picking up the new Space Marine codex, as there were three others that had my attention. Specifically, i was extremely excited for Grey Knights, Chaos Space Marines and, of course, Death Guard (hit the shelves already, Morty!). Thankfully for me, unfortunately for my wallet, both the GK and CSM codexes hit shelves yesterday, and while I will be dedicating a significant amount of content to CSM in the future, tonight I want to focus solely upon Grey Knights, look at whats changed, and what new tech we have at our disposal!

First thing's first. If you've been keeping track of the 40K scene, you would know that there are four new unit entires in the codex. The first two are the Stormhawk Interceptor and the Stormtalon Gunship. This is actually a pretty big deal for Grey Knight players, as one of the biggest shortcomings of the army is ranged high-strength, high-damage shooting. Storm bolters and Psilencers, while insane against a lot of things, just can't get the job done against things like Land Raiders and Knight Titans. Even Psycannons really struggle, only having AP-1… This left most GK players having to sort out their issues in close combat, which is much easier said than done in a lot of cases. Nemesis weapons are brutal, especially when combined with Hammerhand, but with the addition of the two fliers, we now have access to very mobile, very powerful gun platforms capable of crippling even the most powerful of units!

My personal pick of the two is definitely the Stormhawk Interceptor. Not only is it a little more durable at T7, but it packs significantly more firepower and gains plenty of bonuses against units with the FLY keyword; perfect when dealing with threats that can outmanoeuvre footslogging ground forces.

The third unit is the mighty Chaplain. As if we weren't spoilt enough already with support characters, we now have access to Terminator Chaplains! With a 6" LD9 bubble, a 6" Re-roll To Hit bubble, a 4+ Invulnerable save and all the standard Grey Knight perks (packing Psyk-out Grenades, being a Psyker, Daemon Hunters and so on), the Chaplain actually looks like a fantastic utility character that will get plenty of mileage! He's great at buffing those around him, he has full access to the new Psychic discipline and can punch on with the best of them. A definite winner from this codex!

Lastly, and probably most anticipated, is the inclusion of a Grand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight armour. Holy wow! Talk about bringing a gun to a pillow fight. While Grand Masters are amazing, and Dreadknights are a force to be reckoned with, the blending of the two together has single-handedly created one of the most terrifying HQ choices in the game so far! Don't believe me?

This T6, 12-wound monster rocks a 2+ save, an absolutely brutal combat weapon (if you go the Greatsword, you're hitting on 2's re-rolling 1's at S10… Yikes!), two ridiculous shooting profiles, and if that wasn't enough, he can cast and deny two psychic powers each phase and rocks an improved 4+ Invulnerable save. Pretty amazing, right? That being said, all of this doesn't come cheap. A fully equipped GMiDKA weighs in at a whopping 285 points! But as you'll see later, he's worth every point with the right combination.

The rest of the unit entires remain largely unchanged.

Now, we get into the really cool, army specific stuff. Firstly, if I run a Battleforged Grey Knight army, all Troops gain the equivalent of Objective Secured (awesome!), and every Psyker in my detachment receives +1 to cast and deny Psychic Powers… WHAT?!? Suddenly, this Psyker-heavy army has become incredibly dominant over the psychic phase (as if it wasn't already!). Fantastic.

New warlord traits are pretty handy! While there are a few minor buffs and auras, I think the two standouts are Nemesis Lord (add 1 to the Damage characteristic of your Warlord's melee weapons) and Lore Master (your Warlord knows an additional Psychic power). Voldus comes with this as standard, giving him some serious mental abilities.

It wouldn't be a Codex without some Relics of Titan, and they did not disappoint. While there are a few in there that are… let's say, less than mind-blowing, all have their uses. The Fury of Deimos is a nifty Rapid Fire 3 relic Storm Bolter that offers some added punch. The Banner of Refining Flame is perfect for all of your Plaguebearer-toasting needs. And the Soul Glaive has returned as one of the most potent melee weapons in the Grey Knight Arsenal. There's also a pretty sweet Relic hammer in there, that if combined with Nemesis Lord, has a damage profile of 5!! No D6, no variables. One hit from this is gonna straight up obliterate most infantry characters!

I do want to give special mention to the Cuirass of Sacrifice, which essentially gives you a 5+ "save-after-your-save" against wounds and mortal wounds. While its not a sure thing, it may keep your prize hero alive for a smidge longer!

The new Sanctic Discipline is pretty special too! While Purge Soul, Hammerhand and Gate of Infinity were carried over directly from the Index, we see the return of Vortex of Doom (for some juicy mortal wound output!), Astral Aim (line of sight-blocking terrain? What line of sight-blocking terrain?) and the golden power to rule all powers; Sanctuary. Sactuary is amazing. If it's cast on a unit, that unit gains a 5+ Invulnerable save. If it already has an Invulnerable save, add 1 to that save. You already know where I'm going with this, but theres one more piece to the puzzle.

Stratagems.

Sixteen of them. And while a few are very situational, there are at least five or six that are insanely good! These range from being able to Combat squad a unit mid-game, casting an additional power with one of your units, piling in twice in the combat phase, shunting twice with Interceptors, even a cheeky Orbital Bombardment, the list goes on… but there are three I want to focus on.

The first is Psychic Onslaught, which adds 1 to the Strength and AP of all Psycannons, Heavy Psycannons, Psilencers and Gatling Psilencers in a GK unit (read Dreadknight).

The second is Only in Death Does Duty End, which allows you to shoot or fight with a GK Character after he's been slain (go down swinging!).

And lastly, and easily my favourite, Heed the Prognosticars; at the start of your turn, and lasting until the start of your next turn, add 1 to a GK character's Invulnerable save.

Heed the Prognosticars.

Sanctuary.

Grand Master in Dreadknight Armour.

Suddenly, the very expensive beatstick has a 2+ invulnerable save. You can increase his damage output in shooting with Psychic Onslaught. You can increase his damage output in combat with Nemesis Lord. And if someone manages to kill him, you can punch on or shoot both your amazing guns on the way out!

And that is why I think the Grand Master is the absolute shining star of this Codex! The amount of support and buffing you can give him, with pretty incredible mobility, is actually obscene.

But you know what they say; the best laid plan rarely survives contact with the enemy. I'm very keen to try out the codex with a couple of different builds before I get too carried away! All in all, it's a fantastic release, and as a GK player, I could not be happier!

I'll be doing a review of the CSM book soon, so if you're a little more inclined toward anarchy and carnage, I'll be catering to you too!

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#96: BCGT Game 3 - Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs. Stormcast Eternals 2000 Points

 After catapulting back into the centre of the player pool, I was drawn against a good friend of mine with his very well thought-out Stormcast Eternals army. It had devastating shooting potential with a massive 9-strong Longstrike Raptor unit, some really tough elements in the form of a 10-strong Liberator unit augmented by a Lord-Castellant, and some crazy movement tricks in the form of a Lord-Aquilor and a Vanguard Wing! Here's the list.

Lord-Aquilor (General) - Staunch Defender, Mirror Shield, Wind Runner
Lord-Castellant - Mirror Shield, Lantern of the Tempest
Knight-Azyros
10 Liberators
5 Judicators
5 Vanguard Hunters
2 Fulminators
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
3 Prosecutors w/Javelins
9 Vanguard Raptors w/Longstrike Crossbows
Vanguard Wing

So, it goes without saying that I had some major concerns when it comes to the well-being of my heroes. With the Aquilor able to teleport to table edges accompanied by the Raptors, and the Liberator wall able to jump between Prosecutor units, I was going to be seriously outmanoeuvred. This left me with a difficult dilemma. How do I catch an army in combat that is so fast, so evasive, and so devastating at range?

Going against this army forced me to think outside the box. Where my opponent had the ability to react to any moves I made, my only hope of winning was to give him a move so extreme, that he would have no other choice than react to it and it alone.

The scenario was Take and Hold, which means at any point from the start of Turn 3, if someone holds both objectives, its a major win. That was my glimmer of hope. My deployment was split into two halves. The whole Bloodbound contingent of my army will be dedicated to protecting my objective (represented by the white counter), while my Murderhost and Bloodthirster had a very specific job in mind. Slaughter their way to the enemy objective and claim the instant win. 

Knowing full well the possible carnage that could be inflicted if the Letter Bomb made it into the Stormcast lines, my opponent castled in one corner, having the ability to leap around the board later in the game. The movement tricks made deployment an easy task for him, leaving a unit of Judicators just within range of a long bomb by the Bloodletters. 

Elsewhere on the board, he dropped two units of Prosecutors on the back board edge to give him some more options for movement shenanigans. As you can see, behind the left-hand realm gate, his objective counter was completely unoccupied...

I made a 10" push with my Letterbomb, and whipped my Hounds and Skullmaster behind them to keep out of their way and allow them to launch unimpeded across the board. Then I made the decision to give my opponent first turn. There were two reasons for this; firstly, I wanted the option of double turning with the Letter Bomb and at this early stage of the game, there was only one unit within reach that would have exposed me horribly against a potential double turn back. Secondly, there wasn't a great deal of danger to my army from the Stormcast. All of his really scary ranged units were well out of range, and he wasn't about to expose his General and Raptors to a turn one death by launching within range of my juicy targets and in turn within range of my raging, murderous war host. 

This turned out to be the right choice. While he was able to get all of his buffs off, he was indeed out of range of a lot of his shooting, and much to my opponent's dismay, his Knight-Azyros decided that now was a great time to shine his light brightly, and drop in a little earlier than planned. He landed on my left flank in an attempt to draw my small unit of letters away from the horde and exterminating them. Beside that, his turn one was largely uneventful.

There was a small shuffle down the flank, and a hail of bolts, but I was able to avoid any high-value losses. The 10-man Bloodletter unit got mowed down, to protect the well-being of the nearby Azyros; a wise move. The only real major move he made was shuffling his Fulminators forward and sideways, a decision he would quickly regret.

Given a far more attractive target, my Letter Bomb did what it did, and broke the sound barrier crossing the board to punch on with the Dracothian cavalry. Unfortunately, my Slaughterpriest had a wee mental breakdown trying to give them +1 To Hit, and suffered three mortal wounds; not ideal, but Damned Terrain and numbers still gave them a Mortal wound trigger on a 4+. Even with all of this, I was only able to kill one and mildly wound the other. I'd like to quickly note here as well, that this tournament, I played the letter bomb at a disadvantage to accommodate the fact that their official base size has been changed to 32mm which obviously affects how many models can reach their foes and in turn, their damage output.

On my objective, I dropped the Bloodsecrator, and then bubble-wrapped all of my heroes in Blood Warriors and Reavers. The Bloodstoker was the only one to venture forward to whip the Thirster.

Then came my big play. I got the double turn, and my relatively healthy Letter Bomb retreated from combat (much to their disgrace in the eyes of Khorne) and retreated to flood the objective. They were joined by the Hounds and the Skullmaster (who had last turn pushed straight up the centre of the board. My Thirster, a shameful disappointment so far, pulled his finger out and decided that he could manage six wounds to kill the nearby Prosecuters, preventing any surprise Liberator arrivals. 

It was at this point that my opponent realised what a precarious position I had managed to put him in. I had successfully applied so much pressure to his objective, that he had no choice but to dedicate his entire army to prevent an instant defeat if I won priority on turn three. And he didn't pull out any stops. The Aquilor/Raptor pairing shuffled back into their corner to get in range of everyone, the Vanguard Hunters entered the board, Judicators moved into range, and the Azyros began his sprint to aid his brothers. 

In his scramble to prevent a loss, my opponent was desperately looking for a way to get bodies onto the objective in time. I'd managed to push all of his "board edge" tricks far away from being able to contest it, but in a casual comment (knowing that neither of us were going to reach the podium, and in the spirit of not tricking him out of a win, I pointed out that he could move his far-right Prosecutors toward the centre, then use the Vanguard Wing ability to daisy chain buffed up Liberators into the heat of the battle. He then capitalised on the move by using every shooting attack possible against the remaining Bloodletters, neutralising a huge threat, and opening up a path for his army to march onto the objective.

If luck permitted, of course. 

To only add to the intensity of the game, with everything on the line, my Thirster, Hounds and Skullmaster all piled into the resolute defenders of Sigmar, and unleashed absolute hell upon them. The Bloodthirster finally decided that his deep-seated fury would overflow in a whirlwind of murder and bloodshed. The Liberators were absolutely butchered, and only managed to wound a single hound. This was another nail-biting moment, as I still needed five models and no nearby models to hold the objective. If he'd killed three hounds it would have been game over. But alas, he now faced a horribly vital Battleshock test. If he rolled a 4+, the Liberators would be slain, and a major victory would be mine! With a small audience at this point, the tension was palpable. 

The dice launched into the air.

It bounced across the battlefield.

A two.

Heartbreak. 

Having escaped a sudden and brutal demise, the Stormcast retaliated with the fury of Sigmar's hammer. The Bloodthirster drew the unfortunate attention of the Vanguard-Raptors and was turned into a punctured ballon by the ruthless snipers. The rest of the army dedicated all of its attention to slaying the Hounds and Skullmaster, reclaiming the objective for their Chamber. 

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to chew his way to my objective, and with the knowledge that with one objective each, the minor victory would be decided by victory points, The Aquilor/Longstrike pairing jumped to my back board edge and spent the rest of the game picking off high-cost targets such as my Bloodbound heroes. 

The game ended in a minor victory to my opponent based off Victory Points.

I'm actually really satisfied with how I played this game. I made a lot of right decisions, pulled out a double turn to force immense pressure onto my opponent. I knew that if I had any hope of winning, I couldn't let him control the board, despite his plethora of movement tricks. So I gave him threats that he simply could not ignore, dictating where he had to move, rather than where he could move. 

In the end, I played for the scenario, and almost got him. It came down to a single Battleshock with 50/50 odds in an absolute nail biter! I have no regrets regarding the comments about the Liberators being able to move, as I don't think it would have been very sportsmanlike to try and hide that, and it only delayed possible defeat, rather than negating the possibility. 

My opponent was a good friend, and as always, the game was entertaining and exciting from start to finish. I walked away from the game with no regrets on how I played. I did all I could, and Lady Luck denied me. 

I ended up finishing around 20-24th, with a Major Loss, a Major Win and a Minor Loss. I wasn't able to get many Hero Kills, which really, really hurt my end result. All in all, it was a fantastic event with a very high quality of players, and I recommend Brisbane City Grand Tournament to anyone who is able to attend in the future!

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#95: BCGT Game 2 - Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs. Seraphon 2000 points.

After the utter defeat suffered at the hands of Tzeentch and his fickle minions, I found myself second from the bottom of the leader board; not somewhere I really wanted to be. But the day was young and there were chances for redemption yet.

My Round Two opponent was playing Seraphon, almost exclusively comprised of Skinks, with a handful of Kroxigors and Salamanders thrown in for good measure. The scenario was Three Places of Power (one of my personal favourites), and while two of his Heroes rode atop Engines of the Gods, his other two (a Priest and a Starseer) were horribly vulnerable with only four wounds apiece. I was confident that I could win the scenario, and with the abundance of units in my opponent's army, the Blood Tithes would surely be flowing!

Unfortunately, some of the images from pre-game and my opponents first turn have been lost, but I will summarise it very quickly for you. He deployed a refused flank as seen below, with a unit of Skinks holding the woods in the centre (see right side of photo) and a single unit of Skinks in the other far corner, posing no threat to anyone. I think my opponent made some significant errors in deployment, based on the single fact that he deployed all four of his Heroes (the crucial scoring elements of the scenario) all within a 6" radius of each other. At this point, I became satisfied that I would not be losing this game, purely based on objectives, and that two of them were likely to be wholly uncontested by my foes.

While I won the choice of first or second player turn, I chose to give first turn to my opponent. His shooting was incredibly short ranged, and he was a little too far away for my Letter Bomb to get a convincing multi-charge. As I was not too worried about any severe Battleshock checks or getting into combat, I was also not too worried about planting the Bloodsecrator's banner yet.

My opponent's first turn was pretty uneventful. The Engines of the Gods achieved nothing of note, both rolling abilities that were outside range of my units, and every buff available went onto the unit of Kroxigors on the far left flank. Other than that, he pushed forward toward the left objective, falling just short of being able to claim it with his green Stegadon. His only other move was to pop two units of five Chameleons up into combat with my two Slaughterpriests, Bloodstoker and Bloodsecrator in an attempt to disrupt my key combos. They did very little, but thanks to their bonuses in cover, suffered fewer casualties in return than I would have liked.

Then came my first turn. The usual plethora of buffs and bonuses were placed upon my Letter Bomb, which launched up the battlefield at an alarming rate. My Bloodthirster was also keen for a piece of the action, lining up the Engines of the Gods for a cheeky double charge, to not only lock them in combat and deny them any charge bonuses, but also to pin them in place off the objective and put the Thirster to work tallying up some points.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Murderhost was putting miles in. The Hounds loped up the centre of the board to clear the unit of Skinks lurking in the trees, while my Skullmaster claimed my right hand objective with no intention of moving anytime soon. The Bloodletters beside him had ill-willed intentions for the Skinks in the back corner of the board and began their long march to do battle with them. One of my Slaughterpriests left the combat in the forest to eventually lay claim to the central objective, protected from harm largely by the wall of Khornate Daemons before him. 

I decided (perhaps foolishly) to charge in with my Blood Warriors into the Kroxigors (while sneaking the Gorglaive into the blue Steg). With all of their buffs and re-rolls, I had little hope for the Blood Warriors survival, but knew that not only would they be able to punch out some Mortal wounds thanks to Gorefists, but that they would all be able to pile in and attack, regardless of whether they lived or died. The Krox unit has the potential to be terrifying and I didn't want it rampaging around a few turns later unchecked and undamaged. 

The Bloodletters made a cataclysmic charge, managing to draw nine units into combat with it! This was perfect, as several of these units were Skink Handlers which consist of only three one-wound models. Blood Tithes for the taking, skulls for the reaping! I even managed to drag the green Steg into combat, which was perfect, as he would later bottleneck that part of the battlefield and block other charges against my Bloodthirster, who backed up his abysmally awful game one performance by failing a 6" charge. 

The Flesh Hounds easily made it into combat...

…while my two units of Reavers charged into the woods to clean up the Chameleon threat that had presented itself to my Heroes. 

In a fairly predictable outcome, my Warriors got butchered by the Kroxigors after I chose the Bloodletters to strike first, who single handedly claimed five Blood Tithes from one round of combat! The Hounds absolutely murdered the Skinks in the centre, and while my Bloodletters took several wounds in return from pile ins, they were still very much a threat! On my own turf, the Reavers and heroes made short work of the Chameleons.

My opponent spent his turn moving onto the objective with both of the Engines, and managed to strip eight wounds off my Bloodthirster with an Engine and a cheeky Arcane Bolt. His Kroxigors then charged into my remaining Bloodletters and obliterated them with a flood of attacks. 

And this, right here is where I made a significant mistake. While the Kroxigors were definitely a threat, I really should have pitched my Bloodthirster into the Stegadon. The green one was holding the objective, and was already damaged by my Hellfire Breath from last turn, and was worth an extra two Tournament Points for being a hero over 10 wounds killed. Instead, I charged the Kroxigors. 

Left to their own devilish devices, my Hounds pounced on the isolated Handlers, survivors of the Letter Bomb's fury. They did not survive the raging dogs of slaughter! 

On the other side of the Battlefield, my Bloodletters (who I forgot to move for a turn, go me!) finally made it into the Skinks in the back corner with predictable results. 

On the hot side of the battlefield, things were getting scrappy. The green, wounded Steg, remained on its objective, while the blue Steg had made a dash for my Slaughterpriest. He was intercepted by my remaining unit of Blood Warriors, who were blessed with Bronzed Flesh. My Hounds also continued their killing spree, bounding into the last remaining Kroxigor after my Thirster finally went down to the giant lizards. 

The Blood Warriors did what Blood Warriors so love to do! After being challenged by the Stegadon, my Priest in the centre decided it was a good time to blow the Engine's face off with a full strength Blood Boil, and the Warriors just mopped up, claiming me two oh-so-tasty Hero Kill points. 

The game ended with my Blood Warriors attempting to slay the second Steg, and I got him to within three wounds of death when the game ended. A very convincing and bloody (the way it should be) major win to the Blades of Khorne. 

My opponent was a gentleman throughout the game. He had attended the tournament to play three games and have fun, and had mentioned that he wasn't expecting to win the event. He'd pulled an old Fantasy army out of retirement for a run, and by all accounts, he had a great day. There's no doubt that with some tuning, Seraphon can be absolutely brutal, but I don't think his list included enough durability or damage output to counter the threats in my army. His shooting didn't really get a chance to shine, and the Kroxigors were the only real combat threat that had me worried (and rightly so, they killed the 10 Blood Warriors, five Flesh Hounds, Letterbomb and Bloodthirster, claiming responsibility for 960 victory points!). I think that his army would benefit hugely from picking up one or two more serious heavy-hitters. A carnosaur, perhaps? I don't know the Serpahon particularly well, but I can tell you that I would have been sweating bullets if he'd included a Bastiladon in his list!  

I think that when he deployed all of his heroes on the one flank, he put himself in a position that made it very hard to compete for the scenario. I had two objectives to myself for the majority of the game, and the scoreboard reflected that.

All in all, I was happy with the result, and I returned to the middle of the scoreboard after round two. This matched me against a truly, truly terrifying Stormcast list. Check in for the next battle report and event wrap up!

Thanks for reading. 

Gabe 

#94: BCGT Game 1 - Battle Report - Blades of Khorne Vs Disciples of Tzeentch "Duck Shoot"

After all the planning, build up and frantic painting (40 Bloodletters base coloured and 5 hounds fully painted in six days!), the morning of the tournament had finally arrived. To start the day off well, I decided it would be a great idea to drop my Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster on the road in front of my house and shatter it into six different pieces… Great. Tzeentch was already at work! Fortunately, my round one opponent hadn't left home yet and had a Bloodthirster that I was able to use in place of my pile of broken plastic! (Im exaggerating a little; he is definitely fixable, but considering the time restraints, I was very thankful for mates helping me out! The only other change to my list was to swap out a ten-man Bloodletter unit from my Murderhost and replace it with five Flesh Hounds. This was almost exclusively decided by how much time I had compared to how many models I had to paint! In hindsight, the Hounds turned out to be a great utility unit.

So, with iced coffee in hand, we kicked off round one, and it was Escalation. And here's what I was facing…

Allegiance: Disciples of Tzeentch

Lord of Change (General)
Tzaangor Shaman
Tzaangor Shaman
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
10 Marauders of Tzeentch
9 Skyfires
9 Skyfires
6 Skyfires

Yep. It was a pretty baller Tzeentch list. And usually, I'd be concerned, if it weren't for the fact that I was guaranteed first turn and every unit in my army aside from Heroes is Battleline, meaning I'm deploying right on the doorstep of my opponents army! Despite the challenges I would face, my adversary for equally terrified of the brute force and sheer numbers my army represented.

My deployment was pretty straight forward. The Murderhost took centre stage, flanked on either side by Blood Warriors, while the small Reaver units sat in the corners to park on objectives and force my opponent to dedicate elite shooting units to cleansing objectives of half naked barbarians! My Bloodthirster was forced to deploy in my backfield (being a Behemoth), while all five of my other characters deployed in the woods on the hill, poised to buff the necessary units. 

My opponent's deployment was a little more restrictive. His front line consisted of overlapping Marauders, with his wall of Skyfires lurking behind them. Lastly, the Lord of Change towered over the battlefield, ready to cause havoc and carnage with a turn of his wrist. The table was set, the armies were arrayed in all their glory and it was time for a titanic clash between might and magic. 

Before we got too carried away, I made my pre-game Murderhost rush. My small unit of Bloodletters and Hounds only moved 6", but the 30-strong Letter Bomb was making sure Tzeentch knew what was about to go down, launching a whopping 10" before the game had even started. I was very carful to leave a tail on the unit to daisy chain back and remain within range of those juicy buffs. In a decision that shocked absolutely nobody, I then chose to take first turn. 

With the Thirster's "Run and Charge" command ability, the Bloodstoker's whip, the Talisman of Burning Blood, a Portal of Skulls and a cheeky +1 To Hit from the Slaughterpriest's prayers, this unit of Bloodletters was ready for business. I knew that if I had any hope of winning this game, I was going to need to scrap for the scenario, and in a situation where numbers talk, I needed to remove as many boots on the ground as possible. This would also expose his damage dealers for the rest of my army to start punching on. 

Elsewhere on the board, I was beginning to make moves to assert dominance of the battlefield. I knew that my opponent was very mobile, and while my focus was almost completely dedicated to the other two objectives, the Reavers would force my opponent to isolate a unit of Skyfires to clear them off. They were also daisy chained back to within range of my Bloodsecrator, making them immune to Battleshock. If my opponent wanted that objective, he would have to clear it to the man. 

Backing up the main offensive, my Skullmaster and Blood Warriors raced up to lay claim to the central objective. The Bloodthirster rampaged forward as fast as he could to apply pressure and pose a deadly threat to any interlopers near either of my two prioritised objectives. The remaining Daemons pushed up, while the second unit of Blood Warriors put themselves between the enemy and my other unit of Reavers lurking on the farthest objective. 

My first Blood Tithes came very easily. Thirty Marauders were obliterated in a single round of combat. This was perfectly to plan, as now every wound I caused for the rest of the game would be on high value targets, and there was nothing to protect them. I'd gotten maximum possible Tithe's considering my opponents clever deployment, and all of my units were immune to Battleshock. 

Having seen his expendable minions butchered in a storm of violence, the Lord of Change chuckled to itself and prepared to enact its perfectly complex plan. In my bravado, I chose not to auto-dispel Infernal Gateway, as I was confident that the Bloodletter unit could take it on the chin. What I failed to take into consideration was the fact that both Tzaangor Shamans had damage spells too, and could down their potions (probably decaf… they seem like the type to drink decaf) to double-cast. All of a sudden, I was pushed under that oh-so-important 20 strong mark. The Skyfires wasted no time in launching across the board and drawing back their eldritch longbows. 

The shooting phase was not as horrific as what I was expecting! That's not to say that it didn't do anything, but I only lost 5 Blood Warriors from the centre unit (still terrifying in combat!) and 8 wounds off my Bloodthirster. Several more Bloodletters from the Bomb were slain at the hands of the bestial marksmen. That stung a bit, but the units were still standing. The Thirster's combat effectiveness diminishes very slowly, so I was happy with the fact that he was still alive, and still capable of unspeakable damage. 

I learnt the hard way just how powerful Skyfires were in combat! Charging in and activating with the central unit first, they blended the Blood Warriors, who dragged down a disc with their dying breath. The Skullmaster proved his worth, being ground down to a single wound by the Tzaangors, but the D3 damage threatened by the discs were proven unworthy of slaying a champion of Khorne, as he managed to pass all seven 5+ saves. He wasn't done reaping skulls just yet… In the top left, the Lord of Change charged into the battered remnants of the Letter Bomb, and pasted five more, leaving four stragglers alive. I chose to take casualties from the front rank, removing the unit from combat and allowing them to move and charge freely next turn should I win priority. 

On my right flank, the rest of the Murderhost were on the receiving end of another unit of Skyfires. My Bloodletters got the first swing after activations in the central combat, stripping this unit of their crazy re-rolls, and killing two discs and wounding a third within an inch of its life. In return, the Bloodletters were wiped out with unrelenting discretion. 

Continuing to prove just how good these "ranged" unit are at combat (against Reavers… so the bar was set pretty low, but they got the job done), the smallest unit of Skyfires wasted no time in claiming the bottom left objective. It was unlikely I was going to get that back, but the Reavers served their purpose. They were an expendable unit that i wanted to draw as many units as I could away from my two priority objectives… Which, coincidentally were in dire trouble.

With five attacks each, the Flesh Hounds sunk their teeth into the badly hurt Skyfires, another chicken-archer hitting the dirt. With the Blood Warriors preparing to plough into the lethal bowmen, I was confident of clearing the right flank. With two of the three Skyfire units locked in combat, and a nice bank of Tithe points, I was getting ready to send in the second wave!

I won priority, much to my opponents dismay, as my Bloodthirster gripped his axe and began swinging his Bloodflail in anticipation. Thankfully all of my buff pieces were still in place, and both Priests got their prayers off. The Thirster was ready to rumble, and I wasted no time in slingshotting into the Skyfires, choosing to hit the end of the row to minimise return damage. The Bloodletters chose to be restrained, and instead of launching into combat, I moved within 6" of the objective in an attempt to either deny my opponent or claim it should combat go well. The Blood Warriors charged in to assist the hounds, while I forgot to push the Bloodstoker up to the objective as well. This wasn't necessarily bad, as each Hero killed would be an extra victory point (models over 10 wounds, i.e. Bloodthirster) would surrender an extra two points. 

I had the option to go after the Lord of Change with a long run-and-charge with the Bloodthirster, but I'm a firm believer in playing for the objective, and when objectives are held by the most models within 6", he still only counts as a single model. The Skyfires needed to die. 

My Bloodthister didn't wound with his Flail, did a single Mortal wound with his Hellfire Breath, and then inflicted a grand total of two wounds from his seven D3 damage attacks. If ever a Greater Daemon choked under pressure…  What a disgrace. Thanks to Bronzed Flesh, he took no damage in return but the Skullmaster was finally laid low by the twitching, erratic bird men. 

On the other side of the board, the disc-riders activated directly after the Thirster's woeful display of "Slaughter", and I was pleasantly surprised to tank the damage. I lost four hounds and a single Blood Warrior, and in return, gutted three archers. I was really hoping to wipe them out entirely, but it wasn't to be. At least I still held the right objective. I was losing bodies fast, and the ones that survived weren't pulling their weight all that convincingly… 

With the end of my turn, I knew that I hadn't done enough damage. So when my opponent started his Hero Phase, I was all too eager to spend my Blood Tithe and pile in with my Thirster; one more chance to redeem himself! Aaaaaaand...

The choke! Two rounds of combat, two pile ins, fourteen attacks with a Mighty Axe of Khorne, and I managed to inflict four wounds… Four. What a disappointment! My opponent then took things nuclear, sending the Bloodthirster, the last Flesh Hound, the Bloodstoker and Bloodstoker to oblivion. To top it off, he Folded Reality and replenished another four discs to the right hand unit, while his entire shooting phase and combat phase was dedicated to slaying the Blood Warriors still engaged in combat. The centre of the board was firmly in the control of the Disciples. 

There really wasn't much more left for me to do. My last ditch play was to try and smoke the Shaman in the central Dais with two cracks at Blood Boil, and claim a cheeky victory point for killing a Hero, but it wasn't to be. The mop up was swift and concise, with the Lord of Change making quick work of the lonely Reavers, while my two Priests spent the dying moments of the game head butting arrows. My opponent has wiped me off the board, bested me on the scoreboard, and got seven bonus points for the hero kills. With no hero kills, and only 180 points of Marauders killed, I was sitting tidy in second last place going into round two. 

That's not to take anything away from this game. There was a lot of hype around the grudge matches and this was no different. It was a testament to the match up that both of us were genuinely terrified of the other's army, but we both knew it was going to be a cracker of a game. At the end of turn one, it was so up in the air and it genuinely could have gone either way. I shattered the first layer of the army with brutal efficiency, and quickly put a huge amount of pressure on, while my opponent skewered more than a few models in their flight around the board. Regardless of the outcome, I was pretty gutted about the Bloodthirster. Both myself and my opponent were in complete shock at his performance. Six rolls to wound on a 3+ re-rolling 1's, Rend 2, Damage D3, and I roll five 2's… I can't even be upset because there's nothing I can do against that kind of luck. I'm also not planning to hide behind that as an excuse for my loss. My opponent played flawlessly, and was thinking two turns ahead; and it showed in the final result. He went on to win the tournament in style (see below; I wasn't kidding about the style), and in a time of year where everyone is making their final push to qualify for the Australian Masters, this win will hopefully launch him into that Top 16 in Australia! 

One game in, I'm very happy with my list. The Bloodletter Bomb is truly terrifying, and going into Round 2, I was confident I could pull out a win. My goal for the GT was to finish in the top half of the player pool and kill more enemy heroes than I lost. So far, things were not going to plan…

As always, thanks for reading. Your support is very much appreciated! 

Gabe