#168: Cancon Game 6 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs Legion of Blood

After suffering three losses to only two wins, my goal going into the last game was to simply break even. If I could land a win in the last round, it would finish my weekend off on a high, and I was all about that. I arrived at my table to discover that my opponent was Evie, a familiar face around the Brisbane scene, though we had never actually played.

I knew she was an avid Death player, and I asked the dreaded question.

"How many Grimghast Reapers do you have?".

"None."

Well, alright then...

Eschewing the trends of most of the other death players at CanCon, Evie had built a Legion of Blood army based around Bravery bombing and debuffing, using her array of characters.

Allegiance: Legion of Blood
Mortal Realm: Aqshy

Leaders
Neferata Mortarch Of Blood (400) - General
Vampire Lord On Zombie Dragon (440) - Deathlance & Shield & Chalice - Artefact : Ignax's Scales Coven Throne (260)
Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King (220) - Allies
Tomb Banshee (80) - Allies

Units
40 x Skeleton Warriors (280) - Ancient Blades
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)

Endless Spells
Chronomantic Cogs (60)
Soulsnare Shackles (20)
Quicksilver Swords (20)

Total: 1900 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 300 / 400

The scenario was Focal Points, which is hands down my favourite of the latest set, being a very dynamic and tactical challenge that most armies can compete in to some degree.

Despite how much the first turn rush had betrayed me (or was it my own foolishness...), i chose to take first turn, in order to get bodies on objectives as early as possible. The first order of business was moving up the Spawn and Ungor Raiders, as that would dictate where my main push was. While the Ungor casually strolled onto the central objective thanks to their pre-game move, the Spawn had clearly taken one too many energy drinks, as both of the blasted across the table at breakneck speed! 

Finding myself in a position to use the Gavespawn command ability to its fullest extent, I commited my army in its entirety, with devastating results for my opponent. Facing the full might of fifty Bestigor and the Enlightened, the Skeleton shield wall crumbled and the Dogs were slaughtered. Leaving her with a dozen or so skeletons, and barely any surviving dogs, I'd guaranteed myself a huge numbers advantage. I capped all five objectives in turn one, giving me a grand head start! 

The big unit of 30 Bestigor was the target of most of Evie's incoming damage. Keen to save her Skeletons from imminent death (again?), the Bestigor suffered some pretty horrific Bravery penalties before getting screamed at, and losing a decent number. Despite their casualties and the replenishment of the Skeleton unit, the Bestigor still held a numerical advantage on the objective, and denied my opponent the objective. The Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon slammed into the other unit of Bestigor, causing some real carnage, and taking a negligible amount of damage in return. However, despite her best efforts, Evie wasn't able to claim back any objectives! 

Having dealt with the bulk of Evie's army, with the Enlightened cleaning up the last of the dogs on the right flank, I was in a commanding position on the table, but was also now suffering some pretty serious debuffs. Neferata had made sure that my embattled Bestigor on the left objective had their hit roll dropped through the floor, but even then, they managed to put out some pretty serious damage. With some tough as nails characters left on the board (including a Coven Throne that spent the rest of the game Beguiling my Enlightened), I changed gears into the avoidance game, retreating out of combat wherever I could, and spreading out my units to make sure that objectives were safe. Above, despite the Ungors meeting a predictably bloody end at the hands of the Zombie Dragon, my Spawn and Shaggoth were both in range of the objective, meaning that Evie would have to kill both in order to claim it. Not an impossible task, but it was highly unlikely to only take a single turn, which would buy me some valuable scoring time. 

I was also pretty confident that, even if she did manage to kill my heroes, there was a good chance that I'd generate a spawn from their death, buying me an entire extra turn of objective denial.

At the end of turn two, I'd managed to forge a 16-1 lead, managing to cap all five objectives for two turns in a row. 

Having crippled the Enlightened with Beguile, the Coven Throne got some help from Neferata to butcher the enraptured birds, taking back the home objective. The Tzaangor Shaman also met a terrible end, and then rolled a 1 to generate a Spawn. It wasn't to be!

The Zombie Dragon had remained pretty much unchecked on his rampage across the table, and with the scoreboard running away from Neferata, Evie turned her attention to killing as much as she could. And kill, she did. The Zombie Dragon ignored the Shaggoth, and instead launched headlong into the Bray-Shaman and Ungor sitting on my deep objective, slaying all in her path and healing on the way. The Bray Shaman did what he was meant to and generated a Spawn, denying the Vampire Lord the objective once more, while the Spawn on the left of the photo above moved around to get within range of the objective in the following turn, stacking two bodies on it.

At this point, my opponent conceded, due to some factors outside the event. While I had suffered horrific losses, and hadn't managed to dent any of the big pieces, I had rampaged away on the scoreboard, creating a lead that could not be caught. Evie was great to play, and I'd happily play her again. 

So, there it was. The event was wrapped up, and after a disaster of a Saturday, I'd redeemed myself to a degree on the Sunday, finishing the event with three Major Wins and three Major Losses. I was stoked to have played six people that I'd never faced before, and over the course of the event, I got to meet a ton of really cool people from all over the country. It was great to meet (and play) people from different states and different gaming clubs (got to meet all the lads from Measured Gaming, as well as the legend that is Doom and Darkness). It was a great event for the community, and I feel like, certainly from my experience, that it was a really unifying event for the national community. 

Overall, I finished 88th out of 196 players, which I was alright with. Going into it, I had pretty high hopes of cracking the top fifty, but it's easy to forget that almost every top-tier player in the country was there too, crushing skulls and taking names. I did walk away with one of only Coolest Army Nominations for my Beasts of Chaos, which I equal parts thrilled with and stunned by. Anyone who was following my Road to CanCon knows what a scramble it was to finish that army, but I think that a striking colour scheme partnered with conversions throughout helped it to stand out from the crowd. 

Once again, thanks to all six of my opponents. You were all a delight to play. 

This was my first CanCon, and I'll definitely be going back next year! 

Until next time,

Gabe

#167: CanCon Game 5 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs. Daughters of Khaine

Leading into game five, my mind was full of optimism. After an up and down Day 1, I'd kicked the sunday off with a win, and was hopeful of keeping the momentum going. Knife tothe Heart is not a terrible scenario for me at all, as I have the bodies and speed to get across the board, the units to zone out my back corner, and the ever-present threat of Primordial Calls bringing units on my opponent's back board edge.

Of course, the game was not without its twist, as my opponent had an army just as mobile and tricksy as mine. Dayne was playing a Khinerai-heavy Khailebron list, which posed some serious threats in a game that is so dependant on sudden death, and striking hard and fast.

Allegiance: Daughters of Khaine -
Temple: Khailebron
Mortal Realm: Ghur

Leaders
Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (330) - General - Command Trait : Mistress of Illusion - Artefact : Gryph-feather Charm
Bloodwrack Medusa (140) - Artefact : Shadow Stone
Hag Queen (60)
Hag Queen (60)
Sorceress (100) - Allies

Units
30 x Witch Aelves (270) - Pairs of Sacrificial Knives
10 x Witch Aelves (100) - Sacrificial Knives and Blade Bucklers
10 x Sisters of Slaughter (120) - Barbed Whips and Blade Bucklers
10 x Khinerai Lifetakers (160)
10 x Khinerai Lifetakers (160)
10 x Khinerai Heartrenders (160)
10 x Black Guard (140) - Allies

Battalions
Cauldron Guard (120)

Endless Spells
Aethervoid Pendulum (40)
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)

Total: 2000/2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 240/400

Knowing that this game would come down to who made the first mistake, we both knew going in that the pressure was on and that whoever made the first mistake would suffer greatly from it.

I knew that the major threat in this army was, of course, the 30-strong Witch Aelf unit, and that I needed a way to deal with them. I refer to hindsight a lot, but in this particular game, I chose to take first turn, as I knew I had the speed to get across the board and hit what I wanted. The reasoning was that I wanted to fight the Witches before they received all of their crazy buffs that are available through either prayers or spells. So, for better or worse, I took first turn.

Speed was never really going to be a problem, but the one phrase that seemed to ring true in this game was "Fools Rush In". I didn't need to go in turn one. I didn't need to commit so much of my army in that initial assault and show my hand. I wanted to hit the Witch Aelves before they got Witchbrew to ignore Battleshock, but Dayne had a CP in his list anyway, so the point was moot. But I'd committed, and shock and awe would be my strategy. 

On the right flank, my 30-strong Bestigor launched forward, flanked by the Enlightened and Tzaangor Shaman, close enough to lend battleshock immunity if it was needed. On the left side, my 20-strong Bestigor fired across the table to hit some of Dayne's smaller, less threatening units. The rest of my army was dedicated to zoning out my entire half of the table to keep those pesky Khinerai as far from my objective as possible. 

And in a foolish gambit lay my critical mistake. In an attempt to avoid taking too much damage, and to benefit fully from the re-rolls, I clipped the end of the Witch Aelf unit with my Enlightened, and swung with my Bestigor first, who did a truly horrific amount of damage. They butchered the Black Guard, put a couple of wounds on the Sorceress, and killed fifteen witch aelves.  Dayne took them from the end that the Enlightened had tagged, leaving only a single disc in range to hit, even after pile-ins. There was no two ways about this. I'd completely botched the placement of models for that charge, and I paid the price. Looking back, I'm still baffled as to why I charged the way that I did, but the events were set in stone, and the repercussions would be horrific. 

On the other side of the board, the twenty Bestigor cut a bloody swathe through the ranks of the Daughters, but it was not enough to mitigate the sheer carnage that was about the unfold on the right flank. 

Thanks to a Hero-Phase pile-in and attack from the Slaughter Queen's command ability, the Bestigor were dead before the movement phase even started, leaving the Witches free to launch into the Enlightened, who were helpless in the face of such unrestrained violence. Dayne was forced to drop all of his Khinerai on his left flank in order to deal with the twenty Bestigor threatening his objective. As much as I'd traded two hammer units for some witches and Black Guard, Dayne was still acutely aware of the danger his objective was in on the left flank. 

But his fears were subdued, when he landed a double turn that cost me dearly. The Witches continued their rampage, slaying the Tzaangor Shaman. The Bestigor were cut down by Khinerai, and the Beasts offensive push was completely halted. 

From that point onward, his decisions were made easy. The Daughters of Khaine advanced with clinical precision, removing high-threat targets one-by-one, dismantling the entire army. 

The major victory was well and truly in the hands of the Daughters, along with a ton of kill points. 

This was an incredibly exciting game, despite the outcome. I by no means want to cheapen Dayne's win by pinning my loss on the botched charge. I over-committed and made one small mistake that could have just as easily been overlooked or covered up. Dayne was able to capitalise on my error with crushing results before landing a double turn, and swinging the flow of battle decisively in his favour. 

In hindsight (ah, what a beautiful thing), I really should have handed first turn to Dayne, as it would not only mitigate the double turn into turn two, but also essentially waste a full turn where his army wasn't killing anything. 

With all that said, Dayne got my Best Opponent vote. He was an absolute legend, and we had some great conversations around Warhammer, hobby and general stuff. Great dude, and I'd gladly face him again on the table. 

I found myself with a 2-3 win-loss record going into game six, so my next game would decide if I broke even or bombed hard. 

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#166: CanCon Game 4 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs. Everchosen

After bombing out in Games 2 & 3, I was going into Day 2 of CanCon in a pretty grim spot. I was doubtful of winning all three of my games on the Sunday (though, luck might swing my way), but my goal now of breaking even (3 wins to 3 losses) meant that I could only afford to drop one more game.

The draw was posted late Saturday night, and I was going to be facing a gentleman by the name of Glenn, who was showing everyone that he feared no one and nothing by bringing one of the most renegade armies of the entire event!

Allegiance: Everchosen
Mortal Realm: Chamon

Leaders
Archaon (660) - General
Gaunt Summoner and Chaos Familiars (180)
Gaunt Summoner of Tzeentch (180) - Artefact: Chaos Talisman
Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut (140) - Allies

Units
3 x Varanguard (280) - Ensorcelled Weapons
3 x Varanguard (280) - Fellspears
3 x Varanguard (280) - Fellspears

Total: 2000 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 140 / 400

With a total of thirteen models in his army (17 if you count the Familiars), Glenn was facing an uphill battle with most scenarios. It's not to say this army doesn't have teeth. As it turns out, Varanguard can put out a punishing amount of damage, but they can only be 3 models in one place at one time.

That said, we were playing Relocation Orb, where Archaon would be well and truly capable of holding the Orb and fighting off all challengers if the opportunity presented it.

I was pretty confident in being able to compete strongly on the objective, but that didn't stop me from completely botching my deployment. I started dropping units with the intention of alpha striking, then after considering the scenario (you get three points for holding the objective second as opposed to one for holding first), I changed course. By that point, though, I'd put my Bestigor front and centre, leaving my screens in the back pocket near the Herdstone. All I could do was give my opponent the first turn, and hope that Glenn didn't capitalise too much on my mistake.

Knowing that he needed to make the first round count, he sent his Gaunt Summoner on Disc up onto the Ziggurat to claim the objective, while Archaon soared onto the Temple of Skulls. Fortunately for me, he failed his charge on the scouting Ungor Raiders, but two units of Varanguard hit my lines and caught me by surprise with their double pile-ins! The raiders, spawn and a couple of Bestigor all met horrible ends to the cataclysmic charge.

With the Everchosen committing to combat, it was time to swing back with a counter-punch as hard as I could. The Shaggoth and Bestigor moved onto the objective in order to claim it back from the gnarled hands of the Summoner, while other parts of my army went on the offensive. 

Knowing how lethal the Summoner on foot's spell is to hordes (which played a large role in choosing to go second, so he had no target in range turn one), I knew that he and the Jugger Lord were going to cause me no end of dramas. So, I launched my scalpel unit at them, confident that six Enlightened could handle the two chaotic lords. I managed to turn the Gaunt Summoner into a blood-stained wreck, but the Lord of Khorne proved a little more tenacious, withstanding the onslaught in spectacular style.

I managed to nab the double turn going into Turn 2, and the bounce for the orb was incredibly favourable, landing at the very feet of my Txzaangor Shaman lurking in the ruins, supporting the Enlightened. Knowing that there was no point staying in combat with Varanguard, I retreated everyone well away from them, leaving them isolated for a round of combat. Any phase where my opponent isn't swinging with weapons is a good phase, especially with a squishy army such as mine. I threw all available bodies into the gap between the Varanguard and the Tzaangor Shaman, to make sure that nobody pinched the objective off him.

On the other side of the board, I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I couldn't just leave Archaon unchecked to rampage into my army, so my 30-strong Bestigor, who had retreated last turn from the charging Varanguard, now charged back into the same heavy cavalry, as well as wrapping Archaon in angry, angry bodies. Thanks to my Doombull meeting an untimely end at the hands of the Varanguard, I had a perfectly positioned Spawn to start dropping CP into the Bestigor. Three command points and the charge meant that each Bestigor was swinging with 6 attacks (7 on the unit champion). And while I didn't have any of my usual bonuses to hit that are built into the warscroll, I knew that it was a do-or-die play for that unit. They had to hit so hard that they would take no damage in return. 

And that is precisely what they did.

The Varanguard melted under a flurry of attacks, while I pitched 91 attacks into Archaon, getting only 21 wounds through. It was enough to kill him, however, and while I took 11 mortal wounds reflected back for my troubles, it was a great exchange in my eyes. 

Glenn wasn't about to let that rattle him though, as the carnage continued in his Turn 2. The Jugger Lord had finally fallen to the spears of the Enlightened, but he would be avenged. The third Varanguard unit, who'd had no impact on the game so far, charged into the discs, aaaaand...

Completely whiffed... 5 wounds inflicted. 

This was great news, as it meant that my Enlightened would be hitting back with all of their buffs and re-rolls and delete that unit with next to no effort. There was just one problem. 

I was a moron. 

I rested on my laurels, thinking that I'd gotten lucky and could relax. What I completely forgot was that the Varanguard fighting the Enlightened still hadn't used their once-per-game double pile in. I foolishly activated the Shaggoth next, who was not really in any massive danger of dying, leaving the Discs on the receiving end of ANOTHER pile in. This time, the Varanguard did not whiff (quite the opposite!), killing all five remaining discs. While I was in a commanding position on the table, this was the simplest of mistakes that cost me dearly, and all of a sudden, put a great deal of pressure on my flank. 

Lady Luck once again smiled upon me, with not only a lucky double bounce deep into my territory by the orb, but also another priority roll going my way. I wasted no time in locking down my territory, and using some recently summoned Bestigor and Centigor to lock up and kill the remaining Varanguard. The Gaunt Summoner on Disc made a desperate rush for the objective, before realising it was in vain. So, he instead turned his attention to insta-killing the Shaggoth with his dagger. 

Sadly, it wasn't to be, and the Shaggoth brought his hefty axe down upon the frail wizard. 

I finished this game with a convincing major win, and a huge chunk of kill points. 

I'll start my recap by saying that Glenn got one of my favourite game votes. He was genuinely one of the nicest guys, and was just having a great weekend playing an army that he loved. 

I think that, going into this match, my speed and numbers gave me a significant advantage, as a 13-strong army will always be up against it in the scenario. Luck really went my way with the important dice rolls as well. The orb did what it so often does, and bounces deep into one player's territory, and in this game, it went my way. It actually finished the game square on top of my Herdstone. This luck continued throughout the game, where I won every important priority roll, giving me the opportunity to control the flow of battle. 

The game was not without mistakes on my part, but I was able to cover them up without much punishment... Well, except for the Enlightened! 

Picking my best game/opponent votes was no easy task, but Glenn earned every bit of it! He was an absolute gent, and I'd happily play him again. 

Check back in soon, where I met Daughters of Khaine in round five!

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#165: CanCon Game 3 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs. Maggotkin of Nurgle

So, going into Game Three, I was sitting on a major win and a major loss. The world was still my oyster, and depending on how my third game went, I could still set myself up for a good final placing.

At the same time, taking a loss had changed my approach to games, as I knew I wasn't playing for sheep stations. This let me relax a bit and really enjoy my next four games.

Now, I must apologise to my opponent, because I was well and truly spent going into my third game. Between the heat and hours of concentration, I was beginning to fade. Knowing this, I was hoping for a pretty straight forward game, win or lose.

And, well... This is what I came up against.

Allegiance: Nurgle
Mortal Realm: Ghyran

Leaders
Lord of Afflictions (220) - General - Trait: Avalanche of Rotten Flesh - Artefact: Rustfang
The Glottkin (420)
Harbinger of Decay (160)
Festus the Leechlord (140)

Units
40 x Chaos Marauders (200) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
40 x Chaos Marauders (200) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
20 x Chaos Marauders (120) - Axes & Shields - Tribal Banner - Damned Icon - Mark of Nurgle
6 x Plague Drones (400)

Endless Spells
Geminids of Uhl-Gysh (40)

Total: 1900 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 2
Allies: 0 / 400

I had serious concerns as soon as I saw the list. My opponent, Dalton, could match me on bodies, and while he didn't have the raw killing power that I did, he certainly had the staying power and endurance to turn the game into a war of attrition. And a war of attrition is something Beasts of Chaos want no part of.

My mind was somewhat put at ease, however, when my opponent cracked about six dad jokes in the first five minutes of our game. So, I knew that it was going to be a fun game, no matter what. This was good because high-model-count attrition armies can easily lean toward a somewhat uninteractive experience. But my opponent made it pretty clear from the start that he was there for a good time, and that's exactly what we had.

The Scenario was Border War, which I was indifferent about. On one hand, Dalton could flood the middle of the board with incredibly durable units, and they would be very difficult to shift. On the other hand, he would have to come to me in order to compete on the scenario. I knew I had a task before me, but knowing that his army became a lot more durable after having a hero phase, I took first turn, threw caution to the wind and launched into action.

I was seriously second guessing myself on whether to move up and screen onto the objectives, or to launch across the board and try to rack up the kill count on Marauders early on to give myself a numbers advantage. Thanks to a gung-ho attitude, and judgement clouded by exhaustion, I charged.

The Bestigor went in and started swinging. Unfortunately for me, Glottkin's aura dropped their To Hit roll, and I didn't do nearly enough damage. I'd managed to hack my way through a fair chunk of them, but I knew the counter punch was going to hurt. On the bright side, I took both middle objectives and started posting some healthy numbers.

In response to the initial onslaught, Dalton pulled out all the stops to deliver some devastating blows. Thanks to a hole I had cut in the Marauders, the six Plague Drones had enough space to charge into the back of my Bestigor. And while they didn't have much in the way of Rend, they did have an avalanche of attacks, and the magical support of Festus, who made sure that armour corroded almost as fast as it was pierced. After battleshock, a single Bestigor stood boldy (boldly? Is that what we're calling it?) against the stinking masses. 

On the other side of the table, my Shaggoth was hacking his way through the other unit of forty Marauders, while my second unit of Bestigor attacked the other end. But no matter how hard I tried, he seemed to outnumber me on every objective. Scoring all four objectives for two back to back turns really put the nails in the coffin for me. 

In a last hurrah, my Doombull charged in and hacked the Lord of Afflictions to pieces, but by then it was too late. Dalton had outplayed and outmanoeuvred me. He pulled casualties out of the perfect places and piled in with precision, earning him a well-deserved major win. 

I think Dalton probably had this game from the start. Had I been a bit more cagey, I probably could have stayed in the game a little longer, but I just couldn't get through the bodies. The Harbinger of Decay was vital to keeping his horde alive, and it was a small mercy that the Glottkin failed every attempt of Fleshy Abundance. As it was, I felt like a lot of my units died cheaply, going down without killing much in return. That said, I played Nurgle for quite some time and that's exactly how they win games. 

Get onto the objectives.

Don't die. 

Dalton was a legend to play, and I couldn't fault his sportsmanship or gameplay.

This left me on one major win and two major losses, which wasn't where I wanted to be. My goal was to at least break even with wins and losses, and that was not looking good at this point. I was going to have to pull out something special on the Sunday to salvage some glory! 

Check in soon to find out ;)

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe

#164: CanCon Game 2 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos Vs. Legions of Nagash

Coming off a squeaky win in Round One of CanCon, I knew that I was going to be in the thick of it with all the other winners. I was hoping to come up against another player who had scraped a win, and get a favourable matchup. This was not to be.

When I arrived at my table, I was both overjoyed and filled with dread. I was facing Michael "Rockhampton" Thompson. Fantastic! He's a top bloke, and I'd been to several events where we had never ended up facing. The dread part came from his army list...

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash
Mortal Realm: Not Specified

Leaders
Nagash Supreme Lord Of The Undead (800) - General
Necromancer (110)
Guardian of Souls with Mortality Glass (140) - Artefact: Balefire Lantern

Units
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
5 x Dire Wolves (60)
30 x Grimghast Reapers (360)
20 x Grimghast Reapers (280)

Endless Spells
Quicksilver Swords (20)
Umbral Spellportal (60)

Total: 1950 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400

 Now, I'd played a lot of practice games against mass Reapers, and it was a hard slog. I knew that I was gonna be in for a brutal fight, and that the odds were against me, but the scenario was A Better Part of Valour. That was my glimmer of hope. I had an army that could potentially rush across the board and burn objectives from under Michael's nose. And when that idea crossed my mind, i locked into that battle plan!

Basing my game plan around the questionable strategy called "Fools Rush In", I launched my entire army across the table in an attempt to get the jump on Michael before Nagahs could debuff my army into the dirt. Now, I think I made a critical error in taking first turn, as I could have easily wasted Michael's first turn and still gotten the same results. I would have been outside of most of Nagash's spells, and wouldn't have been risking a double turn coming back at me. But hindsight is a beautiful thing. My Spawn both made mammoth runs (16" and 17" on 3d6), and I charged on in, dropping CP left, right and centre. 

Where I think I went wrong was in taking on both units at once. I really should have launched both Bestigor into one unit of Reapers, flooded the objective, and burnt it. As it was, I managed to kill a fair few Reapers out of both units, but not enough to cap either objective. 

My one saving grace was on my left flank. I managed to launch up the board with my Enlightened, and blend a few dogs to burn Michael's objective on my left. I was careful to approach the dogs from the far end, as the Guardian of Souls with Mortality Glass is a hero I've had experience facing. His charge debuff is crippling, so I made sure to stay outside of 9" of him in my charge phase. 

At this point, I'd fully realised the series of mistakes that I'd made, as Michael claimed a double turn, and put down a monumental chunk of my army. Both units of Bestigor had melted, Spawn were popping everywhere, and the inevitable march on my objectives began.

The highlight of the game came when Nagash popped a Spellportal up next to my Shaggoth and turned him to ash! To add insult to injury, he rolled a 1 when trying to turn into a Spawn. Oh, dear...

The rest of the game was largely one-sided, as I'd lost all of my heavy hitters and was now faced with a wall of Reapers clearing the table of Beasts. Michael ended up claiming a crushing Major Victory with 1900 Kill Points. 

So, where did it all go wrong? 

I think it's easy to hide behind the "bad matchup" and not take responsibility for mistakes, because I've got to be blunt... I made a few. I think there was definitely an avenue down which I could have gone that could end in victory. Sending the Bestigor in at all in the early game was a bit of a waste, as they didn't achieve anything other than dying. I made the right call sending the Discs in on the left flank and burning the objective from under the dogs, but I should have sent only them in, and kept my hammers back for later in the game, when I could summon in more bodies. This would have left a powerful unit in the Discs on a tactically unimportant flank, not worth committing huge resources to killing as they didn't have an objective, but impossible to ignore. Their speed and killing power makes them a huge threat. I went about this scenario wrong and it showed.

Now, despite all my hindsight and newfound tactical acumen in the light of my mistakes, I don't want to take anything away from my opponent. He flat out beat me fair and square, took full advantage of my mistakes, and played the scenario to perfection. To put it in perspective, Michael went on to podium the event, so at no point was his skill or strength on the table in question. 

It was a hilarious game from start to finish, and I'd play Michael again in a heartbeat.

This left me on one major win and one major loss going into Round Three, where I faced one of the gentlemen from Measured Gaming! Catch you then for another Battle Report.

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe

#163: CanCon Game 1 Battle Report - Beasts of Chaos VS. Blades of Khorne

Well, the day had finally arrived. CanCon was upon us, and I was ready to begin my meteoric rise through the ranks. Hopefully...

But probably not...

To throw a complete curveball at me round one, the random draw pitched my Beasts of Chaos against none other than Vorgaroth the Scarred and his mighty dragon, Skalok, the Skull Host of Khorne.

The big...

Khorne...

Dragon.

I'd had some experience facing those big hammer pieces like Skarbrand and such, but Vorgaroth is truly in a league of his own! 1200 points of unbridled aggression and unresolved issues regarding self-control and moderation. The scenario was Three Places of Power, and after quickly assessing my options, I came up with only two.

#1: Throw my entire army at the Dragon and try to kill it.

#2: Ignore the Dragon as much as I could, steamroll as many of his little units as I could, and try and live long enough to get ahead on objectives.

And since I enjoy pretending my problems don't exist as much as the next person, I went with option two. I had a huge number of cheap disposable units, and given how immense the base of this model was, I was confident in zoning him into a position where he couldn't really spread his wings (pun fully intended) and go for what he wanted.

My opponent, Michael, was running this list.

Allegiance: Khorne
Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Leaders
Vorgaroth the Scarred & Skalok the Skull Host of Khorne (1200)
Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut (140) - General - Trait: Violent Urgency - Artefact: Talisman of the Watcher
Slaughterpriest (100)
Slaughterpriest with Hackblade and Wrathhammer (100)
Bloodstoker (80)

Units
10 x Bloodreavers (70) - Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70) - Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70) - Reaver Blades
1 x Chaos Warshrine (160)

1990

As you can see, he'd built the army with one goal, and one goal only. Buff up the Dragon and send it into a planet's worth of people to rack up that kill count.

Knowing that my whole army was on borrowed time, and having the decision of first turn, I chose to go first, and get points on the board as quickly as I could. I knew if the dragon got onto an objective, there would be no getting him off. The Tzaangor Shaman took up residence on the right objective, the Doombull on the left, and the Shaggoth took up residence on the central objective. Unfortunateley for me, I didn't quite get the run rolls I was hoping for with the Bestigor, and couldn't get a screen around him, but it was going to have to do! 

Having capped all three objectives, all I could do was hope for the best. But the sheer power of the dragon quickly became apparent. Between Blood Boils from the Priests and the White-Hot Balefire from the Dragon, my Shaggoth (along with the Aetherquartz Broach) dissolved into oblivion, but I did manage to pop a Spawn out of him, and tag the Dragon in combat, preventing him from charging where he wanted. Despite this cheeky move, he still managed to pile in around the newly created Spawn and kill all 30 Bestigor in one round of combat!

While the damage to my army in the initial clash had been catastrophic, I was not out of the fight yet!

In a stroke of pure luck, I won priority going into turn two, and I knew I had to make the most of it! 

I was coming into a play style that I absolutely love playing. I was facing an impossible task, with the tiniest glimpse of hope, and I had to shift into a gear I like to call "All Losses Are Acceptable Losses".

With the central objective vacant, my Bray Shaman left the relative safety of the Herdstone to make a massive run onto the objective. His accompanying Ungor, originally destined for the charcoal barbeque lit under the Herdstone, gladly embraced the new career trajectory of being a meat shield between their frail overlord and an angry dragon the size of a small building! 

My 20-Strong Bestigors decided that the best defence was a good offence, and careened into the two units of Reavers on my left side. Bestigor did what they were designed to do and butchered everyone in sight. It fed my opponent Blood Tithes, but possible victory comes at a price. On the other side of the table, my Enlightened flew into Michael's back lines, pulverising the other 10 Reavers, leaving him with nothing but a Warshrine and Heroes. 

From this point on, my sole focus was to screen and block. With the Dragon's base being as large as it was, all I was trying to do was give it nowhere to jump, and to force it into charging and fighting things like Spawn and Ungor, rather than my hammer units, or (more importantly) my Heroes on the objectives. 

 For the next two turns, this is exactly what I did. Over time, the Bestigor fell, as did the Tzaangor Shaman and Great Bray-Shaman, but not before they had established a lead on the scoreboard. The Enlightened had been largely uncontested, but when they turned their attention to the Warshrine, they in turn attracted the ire of some raging lunatics. Once again, Blood Boils and Balefire took their toll and wiped out the Tzeentchian birdpersons.

At this point in the game, I had one chance at a win. Because of the mayhem that had unfolded on the right side of the board, my Doombull had largely avoided any conflict and stood on full wounds, racking up a hefty score. With Khorne now holding two objectives, my only hope was to keep the Bull alive for the entire game, which would give me a final score that could not be surpassed by my opponent. With that in mind, I placed Spawn and Ungor in such a way that the Khorne Dragon would not have the movement to get over the top of my line, and wouldn't have the range on his Balefire to hit the Doombull.

Seeing an opportunity to put the Beasts down for good, he enacted a tactically savvy play...

Popping his Blood Tithe to move his Lord on Juggernaut in the Hero Phase, he managed to weave between my screens, before using his normal move to get to within a reasonable charge distance of my Doombull. He was buffed up to the nines by the Stoker and the Priests, and while they took the fight to the three remaining Ungor, the Lord of Khorne was after a mightier skull for his trophy rack! 

I was optimistic about the impending combat, as there was a good chance the Lord wouldn't cut through 8 wounds in a phase, (and the Mutating Gnarlblade would have a fair crack at killing him back) but stranger things have happened, and it was quite possible. Alas, we would never find out, as he failed the charge, finding himself out of combat and off the objective. 

In my final turn, I retreated with the two Ungor that had somehow survived combat with the Khorne Heroes, (in no small part thanks to the now-immense aura emitted by the Herdstone that allowed me to ignore Battleshock) and launched an assault on the Jugger-Lord with some newly summoned Bestigor. In retaliation, the dying moments of the game led to the deaths of all of my models bar the Doombull, who stood battered but triumphant on three measly wounds. 

A Major Victory, but paid for with blood. 

I was stoked to be starting my CanCon campaign out with a big win. I didn't get much in the way of kill points, claiming only three units of Reavers and a Jugger Lord, but I knew going in that I wasn't going to have a huge tally, as such a huge portion of Michael's army was tied up in one model. 

In the end, I think my movement phase and the favour of Lady Luck won the game for me. I was able to restrict the Dragon's movement down to one half of the board, and strongly encourage it to fight insignificant units while I racked up a healthy lead on the scoreboard. It was a very close game, however, and at any time, it could have turned on its head and become a catastrophic loss. 

But regardless of the outcome, it was great to finally play against the Khorne Dragon, and we had countless people stop past the table just to bask in the sheer magnitude of the model!  

My opponent, Michael, was an absolute gentleman, and we both laughed off the Game One nerves to have a really tactical game! 

In Game Two, I face another Michael and his Grand Host of Nagash, so keep an eye out for that on the Facebook Page! 

Until then, thanks for reading.

Gabe

#162: The Road to CanCon - List Reveal and Army Breakdown - Eat Bray Love

Whenever you plan for a tournament, a fair bit of thought goes into it. You have to consider the players pack, the scenarios being played, the secondaries and so on. There are so many factors to consider, and no event is this more true than with CanCon.

The first standout factor is the size of the event. With 220 registered players, it's unique in the sheer volume of players that are in each bracket. Your run for the top is so heavily influenced by the draw.

Not only that, but to hit the podium is going to require an undefeated run, as well as going as close as possible to maxing out secondary objectives. It also means that First, Second and Third will not even play each other. With the draw being as broad as it is, you could very easily get lucky and blitz through with some fantastic matchups. On the other side of the coin, you could hit a top tier player round one, lose and then come up against a second top tier player who lost an unlucky game, plummeting you to the bottom tables in the space of two games.

With that in mind, I'm coming into CanCon with a very relaxed mindset. While I'm by no means going to let myself go down without a fight, I'm well aware that much of my weekend is out of my control. I'll face who I face and try my hardest to win all of my games, but there's a good chance I'll come up against one of the many skilled players going who just have the perfect counter to my list.

With so much up to chance, I came into my list design from a different perspective than I usually would. I designed a list that was, for the most part, going to win or lose games very quickly. Despite the model count, the force kills fast and dies fast, so no matter what happens, I'll be finishing my games, which is a priority for me.

So, I'd locked in Beasts of Chaos as my Battletome, and before I started putting together the army, I had to settle on Greatfrays and Warscroll Battalions.

The Greatfray was pretty easy. I toyed with the idea of not taking a Greatfray for the freedom of picking command traits and so on (Ancient Beyond Knowing, I'm looking at you...). But in the end, I went with Gavespawn. Being able to drop CP into increasing the damage output on a unit combos perfectly with a glass cannon army like BoC. The trait is ok. An extra unbind isn't awful. The artefact is pretty special; sure, there's the risk of mortal wounds coming back at you, but adding 2 to the damage of any weapon is solid! I think it's by far the strongest Greatfray, in regards to both taxes and viability in the game.

When it came to Warscroll Battalions, it was a bit tougher. I knew that I wanted to take one, as it cuts down deployment drops significantly, which is important for an army as fragile as Beasts. Desolating Beastherd is really good, and encompasses a huge variety of units, but my decision to go with a Phantasmagoria of Fate was for two reasons.

One, because of the rules. It's the only Battalion that encompasses Enlightened, which is a unit that I really wanted to include. It also gives every non-wizard unit a 9" Unbind, which is fantastic for at least attempting to challenge those magic-heavy armies. It might not be the most effective defence, but it's something. More importantly, it brings my drops down to one, if I choose.

The second reason was for theme. I wanted to put some extra effort into this army with some conversions and extra touches. So, of the four God Battalions, the obvious choice was Tzeentch. Tzeentch is currently the only subfaction with its own models within the army, and it seemed a shame to turn my back on any options in the book.

So, my army had its framework and it's colour scheme. A good start.

Once I have my foundation laid, my favourite thing to do is to lock in Heroes. The first choice was a Bray Shaman. It's really hard to leave this fellow out. The movement buff alone and the fact that he's a wizard is worth the points on its own. I made the difficult decision to make my Bray Shaman the general. This is primarily because he unlocks Bestigor as Battleline, but being forced to take the extra Unbind as my Trait means that it's not being risked on one of my frontline heroes.

A Tzaangor Shaman was an obvious pick, with the inclusion of Enlightened. He's a fast, flying wizard, and increases the effectiveness of one of my biggest hammers.

The Shaggoth is one of those choices where it was less about gameplay, and more because I wanted to include this model in my army. I mean, his spell lore is fantastic, and he can take a punch, but I'm definitely not taking him for his combat prowess. I've had huge spikes of damage with him, but more often than not, I find that he usually flops.

The Doombull was a bit of a renegade pick. I needed a hero to be the bearer of the Mutating Gnarlblade, and while a Beastlord would probably be a better pick, thanks to his re-rolling 1's to hit and more attacks, there was just something too tempting about a 120-pt Hero walking around with a Damage 5 weapon. On the bright side, he has a convenient little heal built in when he kills a unit (which isn't that much of a stretch, considering his killing power). He's my brawler hero; someone that I have no qualms about launching into pretty much anything. He's big, he's angry, and he cannot be ignored.

With the four heroes locked in for the Battalion, I moved on to the bulk of the list.

I locked in my Battleline first, with two big units of Bestigor, and two small units of Ungor. I mean, Ungor aren't going to kill anything, but if you need speed bumps, zone-blockers or sacrificial lamb (pun fully intended).

I simply had to throw in a unit of six Enlightened. They're just a huge threat. They die to a sword made of soggy tissues, but if they manage to hit something, they hit it hard! I also really like the fact that they're fast, can fly, and can punch an exposed support hero into the dirt with impunity.

I also popped a unit of Ungor raiders in. Nothing special, but the pre-game move gives me the option to put that little bit of extra distance between myself and whatever is trying to bulldoze my more valuable elements.

This left me with 200 points. And these were spent purely with Gavespawn in mind. I spent 100 points to buy two Command Points for those juicy command abilities (meaning that in my first hero phase, I'm sitting on four). The other 100 points went into two Spawn for two reasons.

1: I don't want to have one of my characters meet the Reaper before I can use my Command Ability.

2: There are two because one is very easy to kill and even easier to bomb out on the random move roll...

The last piece of the puzzle is a little artefact that my Shaggoth carries, thanks to the warscroll battalion. The Aetherquartz Broach, which is perfect for an army like this, that so readily uses Command Points. Any item that regenerates Command Points is alright in my book!

So, there you go. My army cuts down to a three-drop, which is nice, and if it needs to, can get across the board in the first turn and punch something to death. While I'm not neccessarily huge on an alpha strike, some match ups may leave me with no other option, as I cannot survive a sustained assault on my army.

As I touched on earlier, the army wins or loses very quickly, and is a blast to play with (and hopefully against).

Going into the event, I'd be happy with 3 Wins 3 Losses, but I would be thrilled with 4-2. In an environment like this, it's so hard to even predict how I'll perform, because so much is up to the tiniest details! I could have four great match ups and butcher my way through, or I could face five tough-as-nails armies that I just can't handle. Only time will tell.

If I go 4-2, I don't think its outside the realm of possibility to hit Top 50. From a competitive standpoint, even 50th place will net you 75+ out of a possible 100 Ranking Points. With the pool so densely packed, the incremental drop in Rank Points based on finishing position is tiny, and there are a ton of points up for grabs. Hopefully, I can leave a mark!

How are you feeling going into CanCon? Feeling confident?

Eat Bray Love
Gabe

Allegiance: Beasts of Chaos
- Greatfray: Gavespawn
Mortal Realm: Hysh

Leaders
Great Bray Shaman (100)
- General
- Trait: Unravelling Aura 
Dragon Ogor Shaggoth (180)
- Artefact: Aetherquartz Brooch 
Doombull (120)
- Artefact: Mutating Gnarlblade 
Tzaangor Shaman (180)

Battleline
30 x Bestigors (300)
20 x Bestigors (240)
10 x Ungors (60)
- Mauls & Half-Shields
10 x Ungors (60)
- Mauls & Half-Shields

Units
10 x Ungor Raiders (80)
6 x Tzaangor Enlightened on Disc (280)
1 x Chaos Spawn (50)
1 x Chaos Spawn (50)

Battalions
Phantasmagoria of Fate (200)

Total: 1900 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 3
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 143