#160: RCGT Game 4 Battle Report - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Stormcast Eternals - Three Places of Arcane Power

After finishing the first day of the tournament on three major wins and a healthy pool of kill points, I knew I was going to have a tough run on day two up in the nosebleed section! And just as Lady Luck had favoured me in round one, taking on a Gautfyre in Total Commitment, so she had turned her back on me in round four, as I took on a Sacrosanct Chamber in Three Places of Arcane Power.

My opponent was fielding...

Stormcast Eternals from the mortal realm of Ghur:

Lord-Arcanum on Gryph-Charger (General, Staunch Defender, Gryph-Feather Charm, Wind Runner)
Lord Castellant
Lord Relictor
Knight Vexillor (Pennant of the Stormbringer)
Knight Incantor (Mindlock Staff)
Knight Incantor
10 Sequitors (Battleline)
10 Sequitors (Battleline)
5 Sequitors (Battleline)
5 Sequitors (Battleline)
10 Evocators
10 Evocators
Cleansing Phalanx (Warscroll Battalion)
Soulsnare Shackles (Endless Spell)

Straight away, I knew that I was in for a rough ride. One of the main weaknesses of my list was an almost complete lack of rend. And if there's one thing Stormcast do incredibly well, it's really good re-rollable armour saves! And with a huge amount of area terrain on the table, it was going to be a grind. Uh-Oh...

Deployment was a tricky one, as I had to decide early on how I wanted to play this. I knew that I didn't have enough in my army to contest all three, so decided to leave the right hand objective to the Stormcast, and instead focus all my attention on the left and centre objectives. 

Unfortunately for me, my opponent Adam outdropped me, and had a very decisive first turn. Between the Scions of the Storm, the Vexillor and some magnificent run rolls, he'd managed to get all three objectives locked down with multiple units, screening his wizards with Sequitors. All of his buffs went off pretty reliably, and thanks to Cleansing Phalanx, the Sequitors were re-rolling just about everything. It was at this point, very early on in the game, that I accepted that I'd lost. Having looked over the list the night before, and how all the rules interacted with each other, I knew I wasn't going to be killing a lot, and it was going to come down to who got onto objectives first and could hold out.

I knew that as soon as Adam got ahead on the scoreboard, I wasn't going to catch him, but I was determined to still give him a hard-fought game! The last thing I wanted to do was pack it in and deny him a full-length game purely because I was going to lose. So, in true Nurgley fashion, my army ground forward and started throwing punches. Both of us were playing for kill points from that point forward, as they were the secondary tie breakers at this event! 

 I launched an all-out assault on the left objective, with the Lord of Afflictions and Pusgoyles careening across the battlefield to try and kill the Arcanum and Incantor claiming the objective. The Jabberslythe slammed into the other end of the Sequitor unit, leaving many unable to fight. The ones that could fight didn't particularly want to either, as Jabberslythes have a habit of going 'POP!'. Being wholly within cover and Staunch Defender meant that nothing was dying in a hurry, but in return, the Pusgoyles proved their toughness by taking an immense amount of punishment for very little reward! Festus lurked nearby in hopes of stripping their armour saves off, but in the face of such arcane mastery, it was very difficult to get any of my spells off.

The centre was a much tougher situation to get to grips with. The Sequitors had zoned out the front of the terrain, making it all but impossible to even get within range of the objective with my GUO. He slammed into the front rank, being confident in his ability to shrug off most damage. This proved to be less reliable than I originally had planned, as the Greatmaces made their presence known and pummelled him for ten wounds! My second Jabberslythe went into his Evocators, and my eyes lit up! Their damage output is insane, and they were about to do a great deal of damage to themselves. The weapons inflicted six wounds, which bounced a couple of mortal wounds back. Then Adam wound up for the big zap, before I informed him that (at the time), you could suffer mortals from excess wounds inflicted on the Jabber. Luckily for him, the Celestial Lightning Arc is an ability, and not an attack profile, meaning he didn't have to use it if he didn't want to. In a very wise move, he chose to refrain from using it, and avoided any backlash from the damage.

From this point onward, it turned into an absolute bloodbath. The central Jabberslythe was cut down by the less valuable Sequitors, while the Evocators on the right flank left their objective in the capable hands of an Incantor, leaving them free to carve their way through the Blight Kings.

The brawl on the left was a real battle of attrition, where I just didn't seem to be able to bring down any of the heroes. On the last turn of the game (only turn three, mind you, as was a common theme with the clock being what it was), I was hoping for a priority win,which would have given me the opportunity to retreat with the wouned LoA and the one surviving Pusgoyle, conserving well over 600 kill points, but it wasn't to be. Before they could fly away, they were cut down by mace and spell.

This game ended in a crushing defeat on my part, but was still a really enjoyable game. My opponent was great to play against, and I felt like we had a very clean, concise game, both being very deliberate to declare intent and so on. I didn't really use my Plaguebearers at all in this game, which was a bit wasteful, but then there really wasn't a lot they would have done considering the scenario.

With three major wins, a major loss and two games played up on Table One, I was pretty happy with my performance so far. But the weekend wasn't over yet, and I dropped down to Table 3 to face off against yet another formidable opponent!

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#102: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - 1600 Pt Clan Pestilens Vs. Stormcast Eternals

And here I am, in round three of the event, facing down another Stormcast player. I was sitting on a win and a loss, and as with every event I attend, my goal is always to win more games than I lose. But the final game of the day would prove to be my toughest opponent yet.

The scenario was Duality in Death, which is a new take on Three Places of Power. My opponent was fielding a Castelant and a Lord-Aquilor, so I definitely had the numerical advantage when it came to units that could claim the objectives. Not only that, but the Castelant is slow as a wet week, and the Aquilor doesn't have the tenacity to be able to withstand an all out assault without support.

But while I had the advantage in regards to scenario-playing units, my opponent had three very intimidating units that I didn't really have an answer for. The first is the obligatory unit of ten Liberators (buffed by the Castelant's lantern and Stanch Defender of course), which would be a challenge to break down without some serious luck. The second was the ever-reliable and ever-lethal pair of Fulminators. And the third, assisted by the Aquilor for some uncatchable and inescapable movement shenanigans, was a unit of nine (yes, nine) Longstrike Raptors.

You know all those characters that I was talking about in my army? This unit would very likely become their doom.

My deployment followed normal suit with the Furnace and Corruptor lining up an objective each, backed up by a Priest in case they met a messy end. I sat my catapults a fair way back, in an attempt to lure the Raptors close. If they wanted to kill the catapults, they would have to move within reach of the bulk of my army. There was also a cheeky unit of Vanguard Hunters lurking off-board, so I was again, mindful of my backfield. 

Knowing that my heroes were on borrowed time, I took first turn, pushing forward on my right flank. Thanks to the multitude of nearby monks, the Furnace got a bit of a push and launched into within range of the objective, starting that vital scoreboard ticking over. It was accompanied by the massive regiment of monks, who took up centre stage. In the shadows of the ruins, the back up Priest lurked, waiting for his moment of glorious burden. The left flank was a little more restrained, for fear of the crossbowmen opposite. 

My first turn was altogether pretty uneventful other than movement. The Furnace had Mystic Shield cast upon it, while the big unit of monks in the centre received Rabid Fever and the Command Ability, in case the Dracoths made a long-bomb charge. The Catapults were either out of range or completely ineffective. 

The retaliation was unforgiving. The Aquilor and the Raptors leapt to the left flank, while the rest of the army pushed forward. The impenetrable shield wall advanced to support their general, but despite his movement abilities, he fell just short of being able to claim the left objective. The Dracoths failed their charge (thank you Bale Chimes!), but the Longstrikes put work in and outright deleted the Furnace in a single volley. Well, alrighty then...

In response, I continued my forward march, pushing most elements forward. My Corruptor moved onto the left objective, protected by Vexler's Shroud and Verminous Valour. After the ungraceful death of my furnace, the Priest moved onto the right-hand objective, seeing his opportunity to reap glory and climb the clergy ladder. 

With the relentless grind forward by the Clan, pressure was beginning to be applied to Sigmar's finest. The Raptors leapt to the back board edge and made the risky decision to split their fire. To my surprise, he chose not to shoot the Corruptor because of his ranged damage mitigation, and instead focused on the two priests. The Priest in the shadow of the Corruptor was indiscriminately skewered, while the Priest on the right staggered to his feet with a single wound left. To add to my suffering, the Judicators managed to punch holes in the left hand Plagueclaw, splintering it into a pile of twisted timber, bent metal and a rather unsavoury soup-like substance. 

The Vanguard-Hunters also made their triumphant arrival emptied a few crossbow bolts into the nearby monks. At this point, I was quietly pleased with how this flank was going. I'd well and truly taken the lead on the scoreboard, and for some reason, my opponent didn't commit to combat. While the monks posed a significant threat, I could barely scratch the Liberators, and the same goes for the Corruptor. His complete lack of rend, and Lay Low the Tyrant would have swung the conflict in my opponent's favour. Even the Fulminators would have made short work of him! Not that I was complaining...

Having been given a moment to take a breath, I didn't waste the opportunity. The severely wounded Priest healed thanks to his proximity to the objective, while the nearby Monks encircled him to protect the bread-winner from any surprises. The unit accompanying the Corruptor daisy chained in front of him to create a speed-bump, giving me at least one round of combat between my general and the hammers of the God-King. The final play of the turn was a bit of a gamble. The central unit pushed hard up the centre in a hyper-aggressive move that was either going to be a glorious assault or end up with that unit stranded in the middle of nowhere and get mopped up. 

But the dice were with me. I charged 11", which not only allowed me to tag the Fulminators, but also pile in to the Raptors with the majority of the unit. This worked out perfectly, as if I finished within an inch of the Raptors, they could fire into the vulnerable ranks of my Monks. However, because I made a successful charge against the Fulminators and finished with models within 3" of the Raptors as part of the initial charge, they could then Pile In unscathed! 

I snuck through a total of four wounds upon the Fulminators (in no small part thanks to exploding rats), but managed to wipe out the Raptors completely after Battleshock claimed the two surviving Stormcast. Excellent! Even though it required me to throw away a large unit of monks, it ultimately led to the complete destruction of probably the only unit capable of affecting the late-game scoreboard. 

Realising all too late that the battle was slipping through his fingers, despite inflicting horrific casualties, my opponent finally committed to combat, charging in his Lord Aquilor and Liberators into the Monks, while the Hunters and Judicators trimmed two wounds off the Verminlord. 

Elsewhere on the battlefield, disaster struck once more for my opponent, as he failed a five-inch charge that would have spelt inevitable doom for the Monks and Priest. 

In true verminous fashion, I unleashed my surviving Plagueclaw (who had done sweet nothing all game) and the Priest's Pestilent Breath upon the Dracothian knights, and pushed through such horrific levels of damage, there could be no withstanding it. 

In the fading light of the last turn, my General stood tall against the odds! He survived shooting from the Hunters and Judicators, and the melee assault from the Liberators and Aquilor while only dropping four wounds… He turned out to be far tougher than I gave him credit for! 

In the end, I landed a major victory with a convincing scoreline. I think my opponent underestimated his army's power. I have no doubt that if he'd been more aggressive, he would have pushed me off one or both objectives and been in competition for the win. I think he was unnecessarily cautious around my left flank. The Dracoths were incredibly unfortunate to have failed a short charge, because they would have easily cleaned that objective. 

At the end of the day, I was able to capitalise on my opponent's errors and push the advantage to a convincing scenario win! 

Once again, I spent the whole game haemorrhaging victory points, and my opponent went on to win the prize for most victory points killed. I'm fast learning that Clan Pestilens, much more so than Bloodbound, have to be prepared to throw away any and every unit in their army for the greater good of winning the scenario. This is a liberating play style, as everything is an acceptable loss, and no sacrifice is too great for the win! 

This finished my first outing with Pestilens and I was stoked to walk away with a 2-1 record. The army is quite nuanced, and requires a lot of thoughtful planning, but it's a challenging army that I'm really enjoying. I wouldn't have changed much about the list that I took, and am currently working on what to spend four hundred points on to bring me up to 2000 points. I think the army would really benefit from another big unit of Monks, and maybe even another Furnace, but there are also some pretty tasty Allied options available to me. Time will tell. 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe

#101: Age of Sigmar 1600 Pt Battle Report - Clan Pestilens Vs. Stormcast Eternals

Coming off a significant amount of learning in game one, my second opponent was none other than Stormcast Eternals! It was a very combat oriented list, which was more favourable to me than one with a significant shooting phase, but thats not to say that Stormcast are a push over. Far from it!

The scenario was Battle for the Pass, which, due to the fact we were playing on a 4x4 table, essentially meant playing Border War. This was totally ok with me, as I hadn't actually played Border War that many times, so the game was still fresh. In trend with the new scenarios, units of 20 or more take precedence when claiming objectives, which was great for me.

My deployment was fairly similar to Game One with the exception of making sure that I actually had somewhere advantageous to place my Verminlord. My Catapults held down the two back corners to make sure no Stormcast units dropped in to gain a foothold in my territory. In contrast to Game One, I actually had a really valuable objective to defend in my half of the table, so I wasn't about to just hand my opponent an opportunity to sneak a 4-pointer. 

My opponent deployed a Lord-Castelant, a Lord Relictor and two Fulminators on his objective, keeping 10 Retributors, 10 Liberators, two units of 5 Liberators and a Celestant Prime in the sky to drop in and cause havoc. Knowing that I had very few viable targets for shooting, and that I could snatch objectives off the enemy with my big units, I chose to give turn one to my opponent.

In true Stormcast fashion, a massive unit of Retributors materialised, intent on shattering my right flank, while five Liberators dropped onto the right hand objective. The Fulminators who started on the board moved onto the the left hand objective, claiming five points in the first turn. The Retributors weren't satisfied with that, and attempted to charge both the Plagueclaw and the Plague Priest hiding in the woods, but Bale-chimes (musicians who emit a 12" -1 to Runs and Charges of enemies aura) in the nearby unit of Monks proved their worth, neutering the charge potential and ultimately preventing the Retributors from reaching combat. This failed charge absolutely saved my bacon. Losing those elements so early in the game would have been catastrophic.

Having made it through my opponent's first turn completely unscathed, my army launched into action, orchestrating a perfectly executed series of prayers and buffs. The Priest in the woods bumbled through his Prayer and mortally wounded himself, but was within 13" of the Retributors and cursed them with his Plague Tome. This gave me re-rolls To Wound against them. The nearby unit of Plague Monks had Rabid Fever and the +1 Attack Command Ability on them, while a Mystic Shield was placed upon the Furnace and Rabid Fever was cast upon the forty-strong Monk unit bubble-wrapping my objective. My shooting achieved very little, killing a single Retributor. The furnace also managed to trigger the Neverblight, adding 1 to all Prayer attempts, and negating the possibility of my priests hurting themselves. 

On my left flank, my other twenty-strong unit pushed up onto the objective, clawing it away from the Fulminators, while the Verminlord charged into the Fulminators to pin them in place and stop them from getting their truly destructive charge against anything. Unsurprisingly, I inflicted next to no damage to them! 

The real conflict was on the right flank, however. The furnace made a successful charge, which put some serious hurt on them. But the real highlight was a successful charge from the monks. Thanks to a re-roll from the Furnace as part of the Congregation of Filth, the monks made it well and truly into combat, and politely explained to the Retributors that it was time to get shanked...

In a combat phase that left the entire player pool stunned, the monks absolutely blended the Retributors, killing five outright, only losing five of their own (who in turn piled in and exploded, kiling two more), and claiming objective for having more models within 6" of the objective! Battleshock cleared out the ragged survivors of the Retributors, and the Furnace suffered four wounds in exchange for three Liberators. The flank was well and truly mine! This was a huge psychological advantage for me, as I was really concerned about the Retributor unit, and my opponent had a lot leaning on their performance! 

On the other side of the table, I quickly learnt that Fulminators do not need the charge to kick teeth down throats. My Verminlord suffered ten wounds, somehow escaping its demise with some truly ridiculous save rolls.

My opponent took the next player turn, and in a brilliant move, killed my barely-standing Corruptor with their thunderous shooting attacks, then charged into the nearby monks, obliterating them to a man, but not making it out unscathed. A single Fulminator held the objective with a single wound!

The Liberators embroiled in the fumes of the Furnace were reinforced by a second unit of five Liberators, which was fortunate, as the first unit had but a single model on a single wound! Also in this photo, you'll notice that my Monks from last turn that killed the Retributors is no longer on the table. There is a very good reason for this. The Celestant Prime also arrived this turn, hitting the battlefield like a comet, and going to work. His AOE mortal wound blast rolled a 1 for its radius, which was catastrophic, as he had dropped it between the Furnace and the Monks and any result other than a 1 would have resulted in significant damage to both. He then used his dice modification ability to guarantee his charge into the Monk unit. He absolutely obliterated them in the combat phase (no surprise to anyone), but simply wasn't prepared for the Rabid Fever and sheer damage output of the monk in their death throes, still fully buffed from my last hero phase. The Prime is brutal, but against the mortal wounds and volume of saves he was required to take, he simply couldn't survive the odds! This was the second huge blow to my opponent, as the one unit of monks had successfully slaughtered both of his main offensive pieces. 

A this point of the game, I started to tear away with the points scoring. The unit of Plague Monks unclasped their Book of Woes, clipping a wound off the Liberators near the furnace, and more importantly, killing the last Dracoth. My catapults leant their weight to the Furnace, trimming wounds off where they could, while the foul stench of the Furnace's aura also took its toll. The Furnace also managed to bless itself with Filth, and in the process, manifested the Undulant Scourge, killing two Liberators! On the left, now that the objective was wide open, my Priest made a dash for it and took up residence on it, hopefully claiming it for the rest of the game. My large unit of Monks spread out as much as they could, as I was painfully aware of the fact that there was still a 10-man unit of Liberators in the sky. 

The Furnace now held the right-hand objective, as the last remaining Liberator was a hairs-width outside of 6" of the objective to contest, further pushing me ahead on the scoreboard. Running out of bodies, and facing a daunting points margin on the scoreboard, my opponent started the last turn of the game with the sole intention of claiming as many VP's as he could (for which there were significant rewards at the event). His 10 Liberators finally came down behind the ruins in front of my Furnace, but failed their charge, as did his Lord-Castelant, who finally left his woods to smite down the pretentious Priest currently holding the left objective but he failed his 7" charge. 

In the dying moments of the game, I followed suit and also attempted to claim some last minute Victory Points. The last remaining Liberator in combat with the Furnace fell to his knees, coughing and spluttering as the noxious fumes filled his lungs. His demise came at the hands (?) of the Great Censor, whose impact saw Sigmar's finest launching into the nearby Dias, shattering the golden warrior against the ancient masonry. 

The opportunistic Priest on my left middle objective took the opportunity to cast Pestilent Breath, managing to clip both the Castelent and the Relictor! To top it off, he manifested the Bubonic Blightplague, which outright killed the Castelant and caused another two wounds to the Relictor! Huzzah!

This was my first win with Clan Pestilens, and I was much happier with my performance after the defeat in game one. I think I was much more aware of unit placement, planning a turn ahead for prayers, and elements supporting each other. I don't think anyone was expecting the absolute blinding carnage inflicted by twenty humble Monks as they rampaged through 10 Retributors and a Prime! 780 points killed by a 140 point battle line unit… not too shabby at all! 

I wish I could take full credit for the win, however. Luck did not favour my opponent. His units arrived piecemeal, and there were several crucial charges that he failed, allowing me to dictate the flow and pace of the battle. He was a great sport, though, and I'd gladly play him again!

Game Three will be published in the coming days. Until then, 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

#85: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Khorne Bloodbound Vs. Stormcast Eternals & Tournament Wrap Up

Game Four was here. It was getting toward the end of the day, but energy levels were still high! Which was lucky, because my final game of the day was against a friendly rival of mine; Stormcast Eternals, straight out of their new, shiny battle tome. This was my first exposure to the new and improved Stormcast, and while I had done a little bit of browsing of the new book, I was a little unsure of the finer points, especially the new units. But I was about to find out.

This is also my last pre-Blades of Khorne Battle Report. All bat reps from here on in will use the new Battletome.

My opponent's list was as follows; A Lord-Aquillor with (forgive me if I get this wrong) Stalwart Defender(?), six Knight-Palladors, five Judicators, five Vanguard-Hunters, a Knight-Azyros and three Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows. The Scenario was Border War.

Deployment was predictable. I deployed in much the same manner as Game Three, using my Reavers as a rearguard screen to combat the inevitable arrival of the Hunters, keen to take my objective. The Axe Turtle formed up in all it's red-plated glory.

On the other side of the board, The Aquillor and his Palladors prepared to launch an assault on my left side, while the Raptors and Judicators formed a firebase upon their objective. You'll notice that my first Bloodsecrator is deployed centrally, but quite far back. This was 31" away from the Raptors, as they would make short work of a high-priority target! My second Bloodsecrator was on my far right flank, using intervening terrain to block line of sight to the same lethal snipers. If there was any hope of Khorne's minions winning the day, these two chaps needed to stay alive! The Hunters were held in reserve, while the Knight-Azyros was up in the clouds, ready to bring holy vengeance down upon the forces of chaos.

I pushed forward with the Turtle, planted my Totem in the backfield, and sent my Bloodsecrator sprinting into the shadows of the ruins, remaining obscured from the celestial snipers on the hill. The reavers made a cheeky run move to stretch out as far as they could, leaving nowhere behind my lines for the Hunters to march on that was 7" away from enemy models while still fitting the whole unit; a five man unit on 40mm bases has a surprisingly large footprint. 

My opponent opened the turn strongly, with the Azyros arriving very promptly to the battle on one of the centreline objectives, getting the Stormcast on the scoreboard and getting ready to rip open his blinding lantern. 

His next big decision was to turn my Aspiring Deathbringer into a very well ventilated corpse, by showering him in crossbow bolts. My general was dead already, and it wasn't even the end of turn one… Well, then. All other activity involved moving the Palladors forward, but recklessly so. They were, however in range of the other central objective; something i could not afford to ignore if I wanted to make it out of this with a win.

My turn two was quite blunt in its approach to problem solving. The Blood Warriors on the right slammed into the Azyros, not only injuring him with a flurry of axe blows, but also claiming the objective, as to hold it, all you need is more models within 6" than your opponent. This played perfectly into my hands on the left flank, as I sneakily moved at least seven of my Blood Warriors into range of the objective formerly held by six Palladors. The rest of the unit of Blood Warriors was tucked neatly behind Deadly Terrain, while my Skullreapers walked up the other side of the terrain to protect their flank, and make a charge highly undesirable for my opponent. The Bloodsecrator lurking behind the ruins also planted his banner, increasing my potential threat in combat!

The Palladors were still in range of the Stalwart Defender, however, making them an incredibly tenacious unit to deal with. But I had faith in the martial superiority of Khorne. These warriors of the Man-God were no match!

In response to my rather aggressive negotiations, my opponent's Azyros unleashed the holy power of his lantern, reducing a Blood Warrior and a Wrathmonger to cinders. Fortunately for me, the D6 mortal wounds on my nearby Bloodsecrator only resulted in two wounds. A five or a six would have outright killed him! Elsewhere, my Skullgrinder met a similar fate to my Deathbringer, catching every available crossbow bolt with his face before slumping to his knees in defeat. It was in this turn that my opponent came to accept that his Hunters were not going to find their way on the back of the board, so resigned themselves to marching on the left hand side of the board to support the Palladors. They were unfortunately outside of the objective, leaving it firmly in my control. The Palladors charged in to do as much damage as they could, while avoiding the damned terrain. Despite their best efforts, they were left in the unfortunate position of fighting Skullreapers, Bloodwarriors, as well as inadvertently drawing the Wrathmongers into the fray with disastrous results. While I took a few casualties, the Stormcast lost three of their sleek cavalry. 

Now, I didn't manage to catch images of every step of the final turn, but once the Hunters had arrived on the board (far from where my opponent would have liked), my Reavers were free to string out between my rear objective and the right-hand objective, supporting the Blood Warriors and further protecting both of my Bloodsecrators in the process. There was some debate as to whether a single unit can hold multiple objectives, but the scenario makes no mention of units, only models, so the Reavers were well within their abilities to contribute to holding both. The Aquillor and the remaining Palladors got out of dodge thanks to the Knight's ability to master the Azyrite Hurricane, which once more gave me numerical superiority, even with the Hunters adding their five models to the tally. The Knight-Azyros, despite his most valiant efforts, was finally butchered by the frenzied Blood Warriors. I considered pushing for the objective on the hill, and attempting to slaughter the ranged support there, but decided against it, as i was under the impression that Raptors make a full round of shooting when receiving a charge. It turns out, they can inflict mortal wounds on a 6, but it was far less intimidating than i originally thought. Regardless, my biggest weakness as a player is over-extending, so I chose to consolidate, and maintain my leadership board ascendancy. 

My opponent made his last big play, by bringing the Palladors and Aquillor onto the board from my left flanking an attempt to contest the objective. To this end, all available firepower was directed at the Blood Warriors occupying the objective, thinning their numbers to three. With the possibility of holding the objective now very achievable, my opponent charged his newly arrived cavalry headlong into the Reavers; if he could just kill enough of them, he would claim the objective!

Much to his surprise and dismay, i took the fifteen wounds inflicted by the charge from the far end of the daisy chain, which still left me with plenty of models on the right hand objective to keep it firmly in control of the Bloodbound. The Bloodsecrator at the rear was still close enough to score points off my back field objective, while the wounded Bloodsecrator near the ruins made the decision to pile in and give the Knight-Aquillor a bit of a touch up with his mace. And with that final flurry of blows, the game ended; the scoreboard firmly in my favour! 

What a way to end the day! This was probably my most satisfying win of the day, as it was a true contest of tactics and strategy. I think what won this game for me was using the Reavers to daisy chain across my backfield, forcing my opponent to bring the Hunters on in a less-than-optimal position, and too late in the game to have a lasting impact on the outcome. Credit where credit is due, however; Stormcast shooting is horrific! Two characters in two turns just deleted off the table! The Palladors also proved incredibly tough to budge. 

All in all, I think my opponent was faced with an uphill battle from the start. In an objective game where numbers dominate objectives, I just had too many bodies in comparison to the ultra-elite Stormcast army! I was very happy with how I played in this game. Unlike many other games I've played, I was able to focus solely on the mission at hand and even showed a shred of restraint (Khorne would be disgusted!). I gave this opponent my nod for Best Sport, as this game had the perfect balance of hilarious banter and a serious strategic battle of wits (and luck). 

This turned out to be a fantastic day. I was pretty skeptical that we could fit four games into six hours, but I managed to finish all four of my games within the time limit. All of my opponents were great, and the armies in attendance were varied and diverse. 

I was really satisfied with how my list played out, and it proved to be very strong, and a challenge for a lot of people to handle! I was able to compete really effectively in most of the scenarios, while I think there were lists throughout the tournament that would have been very difficult match ups! 

In the end, I claimed Second Place. This was a huge honour, as a large part of the tournament was made up of your Sportsmanship score and getting nods for Best Sport. So, to those who voted my way, thank you very much. It's always humbling to win prizes like that, especially in a pool of such great players!

As always, thanks for reading!

Gabe