#185: War in the West Game 2 - Legion of Azgorh Vs Beasts of Chaos

Well, after the unbridled butchery at the hands of the Fyreslayers in game one, I'd finally made landfall after my meteoric descent to the bottom tables. I was aiming for 3-2 as my final result, and it just so happened one of those losses has hit me earlier than I would have liked but the dream was still well and truly alive!

In Game 2, I found myself playing an absolute gentleman by the name of Chris. He was running a beautiful Beasts of Chaos army that, if you can believe it, had an even higher deployment drop count than my army! What a treat to be able to choose first turn.

Here's what I was facing.

There were a lot of bodies and a lot of drops in this list!

The scenario for round two was the new Scorched Earth with the eight objectives, and playing longways down the table. This was a big advantage to me, as Chris didn't have the usual board space to stretch his army's legs and really utilise all the mobility the Beasts possess.

That said, there was a lot of board space behind my front line for some cheeky goat-men to ambush on and start burning objectives!

I was going to finish deploying first no matter what, and so I formulated a game plan that would hopefully be able to handle whatever was thrown at it. Making full use of the sizeable footprints from the Warhounds, I managed to zone out my back table edges, leaving no areas for a whole Beast unit to fit while remaining more than 9" away. 

My frontline would split into two. The K'Daai and Epitome would aim to push down the left side of the tower and claim an objective or two, while the three Taur'ruks and Skullcracker would try and chew through enough bodies on the right side to gain the numerical advantage and burn objectives. The Fireglaives were going to be a bit of a second wave if needed, and denial units on my own objectives to prevent any sneaky Beast shenanigans. 

I gave Chris the first turn, knowing that the handful of units he'd put in Ambush would have to come on, and didn't have any windows on my half of the board to come in. There was some shuffling and some boulder-throwing by the Cygors, but I managed to come out of it relatively unscathed. 

With several targets moving closer, I wasted no time in launching what I hoped would be a devastating assault. The K'Daai rolled high on their run roll, and went for the big charge on the Cygor... And failed a 6" charge. No fear, I had a Command Point in the bank for a re-roll. Nope, failed the second attempt too. Good start, Fireborn!

The Taur'ruks and Skullcracker had cleared some Ungor in my first turn, but Chris had won priority, and with his Bestigor coming in behind his front lines, they were itching to fight. Thanks to a few handy buffs, the Bestigor launched at the War Engine and hacked it to pieces in a combat that surprised both of us. And it's not like the Skullcracker was taken out early. He actually hit first and rolled three 1's and a 2 for his 4D6 attacks. 

The Cygor, however, was not so lucky. Having dragged two of the murder-cows into combat, he may have bitten off a little more than he could chew, and was clobbered to death in a single combat phase! 

Finally, my K'Daai were able to get into combat, and they tagged as many units as humanly possible. With fairly low saves across the board, Beasts of Chaos infantry units are a K'Daai's dream opponent, and while I dedicated a ton of attacks to the Cygor to make sure it went down, I was able to dish out plenty of damage on all the infantry units surrounding me. The Riflemen helped out, but the Fireborn were ready to prove their worth! 

With the demise of my Skullcracker on the other side of the board, the Taur'ruk goon squad went their seperate ways, confident that they could hold their own in search of individual glory! Two moved around the right hand objective to clear the Bestigor and Ungor respectively, which they did with relative ease, while the third barrelled straight toward the Herdstone, trying to get his meaty hands on the Shaman, who was knee deep in sacrificed Ungor. 

Chris wasted no time in sending all available troops into the fray, while tactically retreating with his Shamans to maintain the magic support. The K'Daai were quite happy to sit tight and brawl, and slowly tipped the war of attrition in their favour. 

Now, I was very aware of just how many Primordial Call points Chris had racked up by this point in the game, and so had been making sure that my Warhounds and Fireglaives had my back and side board edges locked down. I was fully expecting mass bodies to appear on a flank and start stacking objectives, but what I was not expecting was a Chimera to burst onto Chris' back board edge, make an 11" charge and mash my General into the ground like a particularly crunchy-looking leaf. Even the Armour of Bazerak was not enough to save him against the full might of a Chimera! Coincidentally, this also gave Chris his secondary objective for killing my general! 

The carnage didn't stop there, however, because as soon as he was finished with my general, he double turned and avenged the Dragon Ogors who had been unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of the Taur'ruk's axe. Thankfully I'd managed to burn the objective before the Chimera joined the party, so it all fell under acceptable losses.

Having slayed their way through everything that was thrown at them, the K'Daai had successfully burned both enemy objectives on the left side of the board, and had a single task before them. Kill the only surviving Shaman to claim my secondary objectives (Kill all Leader models). However, I'm pretty sure Chris had worked out what I was up to, and the Shaman made a mad dash for the back right corner of the board, behind the intimidating shadow of the still-unwounded and still-very-angry Chimera. As it stood, I just ran out of time to get over there and punch him. All of my ranged units were out of range, and my combat units were either dead, too far away or being actively chomped in half by a wild monster! 

In the end, I claimed a Major Victory, but missed out on the secondary. I was able to contain the conflict to my opponent's half of the board and fight a war of attrition that Beasts do not enjoy. 

Chris was an absolute delight to play, and his army was beautiful! It was using a lot of the old classic Beastmen models like the metal Dragon Ogors from yesteryear, and the paint job was immaculate! 

Chris easily won my vote for Best Sport/Opponent, and ended up taking out that prize at the end of the event, so his other opponents clearly felt the same way! 

This win left me on 1-1, so I felt like I was back in the mix going into the last game of Day 1, which ended up being my first game against the new Death kids on the block; the Legion of Grief! 

Check back in soon for that battle!

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#184: War in the West Game 1 - Legion of Azgorh vs. Fyreslayers

Going into War of the West, I wanted to mix up my list a little bit from what I took to BrisVegas Open. I felt like I had a really good foundation, but I wanted to lean into a couple of elements in the army. The Fireglaives and K'Daai were always going to make the cut, but I chose to leave both Magma Cannons, the Daemonsmith and the Sorcerer Lord at home.

In their stead, I picked up two more Bull Centaur Taur'ruks and a Contorted Epitome. I did have to split the 40 Fireglaives into four units of ten to make sure that the allied unit ratio evened out, and this meant that I kept the army at a whopping twelve drops. I kept the Skullcracker, partly because of the sheer damage potential, and partly because it makes for a great centrepiece for the army. 

But certainly, the focus of the army was the trio of Bull Centaur Taur'ruks. One is a challenge to deal with. Three can be a nightmare. 

I also included the Epitome, as not only is it just a fantastic utility piece, but it can keep up with the K'Daai and lets me at least interact with the Activation Wars. 

As a little side note, I included the Prismatic Pallisade, which turned out to be a bit of a waste of points. I would have been better just saving the points and getting a triumph.

I'd had a grudge thrown at me by good mate Pattie, who was taking his Fyreslayers out for their maiden voyage. I don't know what it is, maybe my relentless heckling of all less cool Duardin, but Dispossessed/KO/Fyreslayer players seem to have it out for me...

Here's what I was facing.

Allegiance:  Fyreslayers
Lodge: Lofnir
Realm: Chamon

Leaders:

Auric Runefather on Magmadroth (Ingeous Battle-Throne, Ashhorn Ancient)
Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth (Coal-Hearted Ancient)
Auric Runesmiter on Magmadroth (Coal-Hearted Ancient)
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (Coal-Hearted Ancient)
Auric Runeson on Magmadroth (Coal-Hearted Ancient)
Auric Runemaster (General, Explosive Charge)

Battleline:
5 Auric Hearthguard
5 Auric Hearthguard
10 Auric Hearthguard

Magmic Invocations:
Molten Infernoth
Runic Fyrewall

Total: 1970

The one thing that stood out about this list (other than the five fire lizards of death) is that it had a total of 26 models. In an objective/numbers scenario like Blood and Glory, I had a sizeable advantage. But I knew how powerful those Magmadroths can be, and Coal-Hearted let four of them ignore a point of rend on incoming attacks.

I did, however, go into this game pretty confident. The absence of the near-obligatory unit of thirty Hearthguard Berserkers was a pleasant surprise, and in a scenario like Blood and Glory, there was the possibility of just outkilling and conserving kill points to sneak the minor.

Oh sweet, naive Past Gabe...

Deployment was where I set myself up for a bad time. While Pat left his objective on my right hand side pretty much vacant, he'd stacked all twenty Auric Hearthguard on the left side of the board, while his fire-dragon-death-squad deployed centrally, a little bit back off the line. My deployment was pretty standard, and it was part of my undoing. There was no need to have such a wide frontage, or to deploy so far forward. I needed to conserve kill points and isolate elements of Pat's army so as not to take it all on at once.

But the best laid plans are often forgotten in Round 1 of an event. Apparently. And in my first outing against the new Fyreslayer heat (pun fully intended), I really didn't put much thought into my game.

Being less than twelve drops, Pat easily won the choice of who took first turn, and knowing that there was little I could really do with it, he gave it to me. I shuffled a little with the dogs, and nudged here and there with a couple of units, but nothing too exciting. The Epitome threw Pallisade up to block shooting from Pat's Auric rifles, which again, was a mistake. I really should have thrown it up the board to disrupt, or at least stagger the charges from the fire lizards.

In response, Pat popped his movement Rune to speed everything up, whipped out both Magmic Invocations, and thundered across the board! And before you point it out, no. There wasn't a good reason that I had a Magmadroth-sized hole in my screen.

The assault was punishing. Pat began the carnage by popping both Ur-Gold nuggets on his Runesmiters, combined with what felt like an unstoppable wave of buffs. Before I knew it, all five Magmadroths were sitting on a 2+ save, re-rolling 1's with all but the Runefather ignoring a point of Rend. Then he dropped the hammer. The Father had taken up centre position and charged through the gap into my Riflemen. Instead of attacking them, however, he directed all of his attacks into the Warhounds that had been shielding my K'Daai.

Having made a successful charge, but having no enemies in their face, the now-unengaged Runesmiter and Runeson piled into the K'Daai, completely ignoring the wave of Rend-less attacks in return and inflicting a hefty toll in return.

As luck would have it, Pat won priority going into turn two, and since about my whole army was locked up in combat with buffed up Magmadroths, he once again handed the turn to me. This meant that he had a whole extra turn of sitting on nigh-impenetrable armour saves and augments. Having been battered last turn, with entire units just wiped out, I had to try and use the elements remaining to stage some kind of counter-offensive. The Taur'ruk Squad charged in, supported by the Epitome. But it was to no avail. The K'Daai were melting under the onslaught, and the usually terrifying attack profile of the Taur'ruks was rendered useless in the face of such tenacity.

The Epitome forced every Magmadroth in range to strike last, but I wasn't able to capitalise on it. I was able to sqeak through a couple of attacks here and there, but all it was achieving was a handful of wounds on different models. I was struggling to bring any force to bear on one model to burst it down and kill it.

With Pat now taking his second turn, he continued the relentless slaughter. All three Taur'ruks and all twelve K'Daai fell. The Skullcracker succumbed to the volley of lava bullets from the Auric Hearthguard, and I quickly found myself with a handful of Riflemen and a rather exposed Epitome left on the table. 

Pat won priority for a third time to land the double, and mopped up the rest of my army. The Magmadroths split up, no longer needing the support of each other. The two Runesons charged the Epitome, goading each other on to more horrific acts of violence, while the other heroes careened around the board to either stand on an objective or maul some poor Dawi Zharr to death. By the end of turn three, I had zero models on the board, zero kill points and Pat had capped all four objectives to claim the Major Win. 

Wow. 

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty shell-shocked in this game. Not because I was losing (I've lost my fair share of games!), but because no one has ever done that level of uncontested damage to my Chaos Dwarves before. I think I did twenty wounds in total to the Magmadroths, and didn't kill one.I nearly got the Father, but ran out of things to hit him with! 

I think I played like a potato, and just gave away too many advantages (like deployment and leaving a massive hole in my screen), but in hindsight, I don't know how much it would have made a difference. Perhaps I could have singled out some targets and burst-damaged them down with my army. Perhaps it would have only been delaying the slaughter by a turn. 

Either way, I was very impressed with Pat's army, and it was interesting to see a less orthodox build be successful! Because, in a surprise to no one, before being defeated by the powers of alcohol poisoning, Pat utterly crushed two more players after me. 

With no secondaries or kill points (at all... shame!), I plummeted to the bottom table to try and fight my way back! With my goal of 3-2 still being very realistic, I reset and got ready for my next game, against my old flame, Beasts of Chaos! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe  

#183: Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game 5 - Legion of Azgorh vs Flesh Eater Courts

Alright.

We'd finally reached the last round of the tournament. I was sitting on three major wins and a major loss, and was feeling confident that I could maybe jag a 4-1 end result if the match up was kind.

It wasn't.

I drew up against Wes and his Gristegore FEC (at the height of their meteoric rise to the top of the meta). Hitting FEC at this point wasn't a huge surprise, as over 10% of the field was FEC, and all were well and truly in the top half. I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but there was no point wasting any time! Load those cannons!

There weren't too many surprises in the army list, with the exception of the Chalice of Ushoran, which (if used well) can have a huge impact on a fight.

The scenario was Escalation, which was a blessing and a curse. My Magma Cannons, which would be vital to bringing down the big beasties, were stuck at the back of the board, but so were the two Ghoul Kings on Terrorgheists. Thanks to being Battleline, the two Royal Terrorgheists started on the front line. Yikes...

It should also be noted that we both played the scenario scoring from turn 1 (instead of 2). This was a mistake on both our parts, but by the time we realised, we were a full turn and a half into the game, and as we were both playing to the same scoring, we decided to just push on. Short of re-racking the entire game, we felt like that was the easiest solution, as it was still an even playing field. 

My opponent handed me first turn, and I had to form a plan and stick to it. I pushed each unit of Fireglaives to just within 6" of each objective, capping all three for maximum points. Knowing that they were going to be devoured in no time at all, I left a big gap between them and the rest of my army. The idea was that Wes would have to commit to combat to get the numbers advantage with single models like Terrorgheists, and then I could push up fast bodies (hounds, Kdaai, etc) and take back the objectives without having to get into fights I didn't want to. That was the plan, anyway! 

The next couple of turns showcased just how mental FEC's rules are. Making full use of the Command Ability that allows monsters to pile in twice with impunity, the Activation Wars turned into a bit of an activation massacre. The riflemen on the left objective held strong against the first round of fighting, but the second activation from the Royal Terrorgheist was too much to bear. 

The centre objective was really where my undoing lay, however. The Fireglaives had died predictable swiftly, but I was poised to put a lot of damage on the GKoTG, and wipe out the Ghouls with the K'Daai to re-establish numerical dominance on the objectives.

On the left, my plan worked to sling the Warhounds in to claim back the objective, but it didn't take long for them to be nuked off the board too. Wes summoned in a Vargulf Courtier for free to park on that objective, leaving the Royal Terrorgheist to go join the brawl in the middle of the table. 

And here is where my plan fell apart. That bloody Chalice of Ushoran! I didn't really pay too much attention to it, until it was at the nexus of a raging melee! Ghouls and K'Daai kept the Chalice topped up, while the Chalice and Courtier kept the Ghouls topped up in a vicous cycle of bloodshed and healing. Over the course of the game, I managed to put almost 30 wounds on Wes' general GKoTG, but being on the wrong end of a double turn meant that by the time I had an opportunity to dispel the Chalice, it was too little too late.

The melee swirled on, the K'Daai were shattered, and the Taur'ruk was bitten in half like he was a regular old not-murder cow. When fully buffed up with extra pile-ins, striking first, extra attacks and so on, that GKoTG is pretty obscene. The Skullcracker showed his worth, surviving a double pile-in on a single wound, before sawing a Royal Terrorgheist in half. The Magma Cannons finally got into range of juicy targets, and blasted the second Royal Terrorgheist into ash.

But the ploy was up. I'd left the Chalice on the board too long, and it was enough for Wes to weather the worst storm I could throw at him! The last couple of turns of the game were a matter of mopping up the survivors. 

Despite the absolute carnage inflicted, I'd managed to put a pretty healthy score on the scoreboard, tagging objectives and sacrificing units for literally any scenario points, but in the end Wes managed to creep outside of the minor win bracket to claim a Major Win. 

I've not played against FEC lots, but always seem to hit them in Game 5 at events. This game was prior to their minor changes in the FAQ, and it felt pretty overwhelming. I'm glad this game was with someone I knew and had a laugh with, because there were moments where it felt pretty un-interactive. Being on the receiving end of two GKoTGs piling in twice and just deleting whatever they touched wasn't the most fun I've had, but Wes and I weren't playing for sheep stations, and weren't too phased by who won. 

This wrapped up my BrisVegas Open weekend sitting on 3-2 and sitting in 31st place out of 100. I was actually pretty happy with my overall standing. I would have loved to crack the top 25, but I was happy with the overall performance of the Legion of Azgorh.  

While that finished up (finally!) the BrisVegas Open battle reports, I've got plenty more on the way, as I report from my games at War in the West! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#182: Rune Axe Team Championship 2019 Players Pack V1.0

This Player Pack contains all the important information relevant to the Rune Axe Team Championship 2019.

DATES & VENUE:

Saturday 2nd November - Sunday 3rd November 2019

Fitzy's, Loganholme

SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY

8:30 - 9:00 AM - Registration

9:00 - 11:45 AM - Game 1 - FOCAL POINTS

11:45 AM -12:45 PM - Lunch

12:45 - 3:30 PM - Game 2 - PLACES OF ARCANE POWER

4:00 PM - 6:30 PM - Game 3 - STAR STRIKE

SUNDAY

9:00 - 11:45 AM - Game 4 - TOTAL CONQUEST

11:45 AM - 12:45 PM - Lunch &

12:45 - 1:00 PM - Paint Voting

1:00 - 3:30 PM - Round 5 - KNIFE TO THE HEART

4:00 PM - Prize Ceremony

WHAT TO BRING:

* Your army
* Sufficient dice, tape measures and measuring gauges
* A copy of your army list
* Any Battletomes/literature/expansion books relevant to your army
* 3 Pieces of Terrain (not including allegiance terrain such as Herdstones, Wyldwoods etc)

ARMY LISTS & TEAM COMPOSITION

A team will comprise of four armies, each being no more than 2000 Points using the Battlehost requirements listed in the GHB 2019.

A team cannot include more than one army of the same Allegiance, though there is no restrictions on players using armies from the same Grand Alliance (Death, Destruction, Order and Chaos).

Any Warscroll (including Endless Spell warscrolls) and Realm-specific Artefacts can only be used by one player per team. For example, a Tzeentch and a Nurgle player on the same team cannot both use Chaos Marauders in their armies. If one uses Chaos Marauders, the other may not. This includes units taken as Allies and Mercenaries.

Mercenaries are permitted at the Rune Axe Team Championship.

All units with a current Matched Play profile at the time of list submission can be used at this event. Units and Battletomes released after the list submission date may not be taken.

Teams must submit all four army lists via email to gabrielhanna90@gmail.com

All four lists must be included in a single email, and are required to be in Warscroll Builder format. Lists must include all relevant details, including General, any Temples/Skyports/Chambers etc, traits, artefacts and so on. Prayers and Spells do not need to be specified and can be selected at the start of each game.

Realm Spells and Realmscape Features will not be used at this event.

List Submission deadline is 8:00 PM Friday October 18th

ARMIES:

All models (including Endless Spells and Terrain) in an army must be fully assembled, WYSIWYG, based on the correct size base (according to the Warhammer Community Basing Guide), and fully painted to a three colour minimum. Primed models with spot colours is not sufficient

While third party models and conversions are welcome, these must accurately represent the warscroll and MUST be approved by the Tournament Organiser.

Unapproved proxy models and unpainted models are not permitted and will be removed from the table.

Modelling for advantage will be highly frowned upon.

TERRAIN:

Each player must place their 3 pieces of terrain before determining deployment zones. Players shall roll off, and alternate dropping terrain pieces.

Terrain that is already set up on the table should not be moved.

All terrain on the table will be Mysterious and must be rolled for at the beginning of each game.

Saturday games will use Terrain Table 1 from the GHB 2019, while Sunday games will use Terrain Table 2.

TIMING OUT:

There is an expectation that players complete their games in the time allowed to the best of their abilities. We understand that there are many factors in a game, including player experience and time intensive armies, and we don't want to punish that, but we do want everyone to have an enjoyable experience and an opportunity to compete in a 5-turn game.

If you and your opponent are unsure if you can complete another battle round in the time allowed, make a note of the score before the battle round begins. If time is called before that battle round is complete, the score recorded before the battle round began will be the final result.

If you feel that your opponent is slow playing for advantage or to stall the game, notify a Tournament Organiser. Battle Point penalties may be applied to players who are found to be consistently slow-playing.

SCORING:

BATTLE POINTS:

Each team is capped at 60 Battle Points per round.
Major Win - 15 BP
Minor Win - 10 BP
Draw - 8 BP
Minor Loss - 5 BP
Major Loss - 1 BP
Secondary Objective Completed - 3 BP

If a team scores four major wins from their four games, they will receive the maximum of 60 Battle Points, with any points over that (secondary objectives) being discarded.

There are a total of 300 Battle Points available to each team over the course of the 5-round weekend.

SPORTS:

Each player will give each of their opponents a score of up to 5 points, using a check-box system that will be included on your score sheet at the event.

There are 20 Sports Points available each round, for a total of 100 over the course of the weekend.

HOBBY SCORE:

Each player's army will be given a score of up to 25 Hobby Points using the paint matrix found below. There are more points available than the cap of 25, and this is to allow players to achieve a high paint score regardless of their hobby strengths and areas of focus.

There are a total of 100 Hobby Points available to each team over the course of the weekend.

TOTAL SCORES AND FINAL STANDINGS:

At the end of the weekend, teams will be ranked using their total score from Battle Points, Sports and Hobby combined out of a maximum score of 500 (300 BP,100 Sport, 100 Hobby).

In the event of a tie, the Hobby Score will be ignored to determine which team in the tie wins.

THE MATCH UP:

After two teams have been matched against each other for a game, the Captains of each team must follow these steps:

1: In secret, each Captain must note down a Champion. The Champion may not be put forward until the last step of the match up.

2: Opposing Captains roll off, re-rolling ties. The losing Captain must put forward one of his team's armies (Champion excluded), and the winning Captain can select one his his three armies (Champion excluded) to fight it. The winning Captain picks one of the four tables for that battle to take place on.

3: Step 2 is now reversed. The winning captain must put forward an army, and the losing captain can match one of his armies into it, and choose a table to play on.

4: At this point, each team has two players remaining. Each team's player who is not the Champion are matched against each other, with the winning Captain picking the table.

5: Opposing Champions are revealed, and will face each other on the last remaining table.

HOUSE RULES:

UNIFORM DICE:

While there are an abundance of different dice designs out there, be they club dice, allegiance-specific dice or anything in between, we strongly encourage players to use the same type of dice to reduce or eliminate confusion for their opponent.

We encourage players to use one "type" of dice (e.g. Symbols are 6's) and be clear with their opponent at the start of the game what their dice mean.

LAW OF DREDD:

The Rune Axe Team Championship maintains zero tolerance when it comes to foul play or foul conduct. The Tournament Organiser reserves the right to remove any player or spectator from the event immediately on this basis. Anyone removed from the event due to foul conduct or play will not be compensated in any way, will not be eligible for any prizes or awards and may not be welcome back to future Rune Axe Wargaming events.

PAINT MATRIX:

COMPULSARY:

15 PT - The army is painted to a 3-colour minimum
2 PT - Basic details have been painted (spear tips, gems etc)
1 PT - All models are based
1 PT - Army is visually cohesive
1 PT - Army is on correct round and oval bases

OPTIONAL:

1 PT - Army contains minor conversions and kitbashes
2 PT - Army includes advanced conversions
1 PT - Army has detailed basing
2 PT - Army is also presented on a display board
1 PT - Army displays examples of freehand
2 PT - Army displays exceptional freehand throughout
1 PT - Army displays shading, highlighting or blending
2 PT - Army displays non-metallic metal, OSL, wet-blending and other advanced techniques

An army's Hobby Score is capped at 25.

PRIZES:

Winning Team - Highest overall score
2nd Place Team
3rd Place Team
Wooden Spoon - Lowest Battle Points
Ironclad - Player who lost fewest Kill Points
Glass Jaw - Player who lost most Kill Points
Pillow Fist - Player who killed fewest Kill Points
Chosen of Khorne - Player who killed most Kill Points

Best Army Nominees X 10 - Chosen by Judges
Best Painted - Chosen by Judges from Nominees
Best Painted Runner Up - Chosen by Judges from Nominees
Player's Choice - Popular vote from Nominees

More prizes to be announced.

#181: Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game 4 - Legion of Azgorh Vs Gloomspite Gitz

After finishing Day 1 on two major wins and one major loss, I was pleasantly surprised to be facing a second Gloomspite Gitz, this time piloted by Connor "The Condor" Armstrong. His army was absolutely stunning, and compared to the sheer numbers brought to bear by my game three opponent, Connor's list included two Manglers for some reckless damage output! I was stoked to be playing Gloomspite twice, as that was the one allegiance I really wanted to play against.

Here's what Connor was rocking.

There was still no shortage of bodies on the table, but we were playing Gift from the Heavens. So, his objective could drop into nowhere, or it could drop directly on his Loonshrine in the centre, wrapped in 80 Gobbos! The dice would decide.

Connor easily outdropped me, and without knowing where the objectives would land until turn two, he deployed pretty defensively, bunkering up around the Lookshirne. He had a unit of Gobbos on each flank to rush out to a wayward objective, and the cheeky teleport spell if needed. And with a couple of units of Fanatics tucked somewhere in the army, he could afford to be a little bit cagey. 

My deployment was quite the opposite. I was spread right out, making sure I had bodies and threats the whole way across my deployment zone. Gift of the Heavens is 100% about being able to react well, and I didn't have the tricksy movement shenanigans that Gitz had in their spell lore. 

I made sure to put a Magma Cannon on each flank (one conveniently within towing range of the Skullcracker), as well as Fireglaive units on each possible objective location. The K'daai, fresh off their absolute rampage in the last game, deployed front and centre, ready to launch into whatever was foolish enough to get in their way. I didn't worry too much about screening in this scenario, as the only units that could unquestionably bulldoze something were either well out of threat range, or would have to be slingshotted into a position that was wildly precarious.

Connor gave me first turn, knowing that there wasn't a great deal I could do with it. My only real moves were to shuffle everything forward to try and lure him into over-extending, and to slide more dogs up each flank to push back any possible teleports.

The Magma Cannon was towed into range, but couldn't really find a decent target. The Fireglaives made it their business to make sure that there was no viable spot to drop in on my back board edge, and with that, my turn was pretty much over.

Connor's turn one followed much the same theme. He threw out a couple of spells, which I tried to stop, with varying levels of success and failure. Most notably, he dropped the Scuttletide into the centre of my army, and began trying to chip wounds off my Taur'ruk. The Scuttletide is an absolute standout spell, getting in the way and trickling mortal wounds!

Then Turn 2 priority rolled around, and I won the roll off. Much to his dismay, I handed Connor the turn. This was for two reasons. The first is that, because he'd remained defensive, and because only his objective would be on the table, it was essentially another enemy turn where he didn't know where to launch an offensive against my deployment zone. The second was that, while I was wasting his double turn, I was also going into a possible double turn with both objectives on the table.

My biggest fear in this game was put to rest, when Connor's objective landed on a flank, rather than directly on top of the Loonshrine. A unit of Gobbos raced over to claim it, while an 'Ash Storm'ed Mangler Squig plodded over to support. The rest of the Gitz force began a very wary advance, with the central unit of Gitz having just about every buff under the sun. 

In my turn two, my objective dropped in the centre of the board. Excellent! The 20-strong Fireglaives in the centre, and the Fireglaives and Warhounds on the right flank pushed in to stack that objective with bodies. The Daemonsmith, no longer needed for the extra range, joined his comrades to give them a nearby source of Battleshock immunity. The Magma Cannon on the right found itself not really able to get to the objective, and it wanted no part of the Scuttletide, so contented itself  taking pot shots at the twenty archers in the area terrain on the right. 

In the centre of the battlefield, I was intent on clearing as many bodies as I could. The K'daai wasted no time in brawling with the main line of Grotz, using their 3" reach and some cheeky pile ins to not only draw out and avoid the Fanatics, but also stay out of range of the pesky netters (at least for one activation. The Magma Cannon being towed by the Skullcracker also made a vital play! It turned its infernal firepower on the Loonboss on Mangler Squig, slamming it with 5 mortal wounds and dropping it to its very lowest bracket. This could not have happened more perfectly. I was terrified of the Manglers, and with Kill Points not being a tie-breaker or secondary at BrisVegas, I was quite content to leave that Loonboss hobbling around with terrible profiles until I knew for a fact that I could finish him off. 

On Connor's objective, I'd raced the hounds up the flank, with Fireglaives advancing as quick as their legs would carry them. I made a cheeky charge with the Skullcracker into the Grotz, but between their nets and some truly awful rolling, they stood firm and held the objective. If only I could land that double! 

But it was not to be! In a harsh counter-attack, and with Da Bad Moon squarely in the centre of the board, the full wound Mangler Squig cannonballed into the Skullcracker and unleashed absolute carnage! After the dust had settled, the Skullcracker was on a single wound... With the nearby Grots sharpening their toothpicks, I made a last stand and put as many attacks as possible into the Mangler. In a stroke of complete good fortune, two attacks snuck through, and did a total of five wounds. Now, BOTH Manglers were sitting in their lowest bracket! 

Elsewhere on the table, the Taur'ruk finally decided to join the party by failing a re-rollable charge. Fortunately, the Magma Cannon made short work of the now-exposed Fanatics (drawn out by the K'Daai earlier), or else that little confrontation may have gone very, very differently! 

The K'Daai had quenched their thirst for slaughter for a brief moment. Damage was starting to add up on them, but they had done their part by removing bulk bodies from the table. Now, hopefully they stayed off the table and didn't pour forth once more from the dank tunnels beneath the Loonshrine!

The back and forth of battle had begun to shift in my favour. The Fireglaives and Magma Cannon blasted away at the Gitz, allowing the Warhounds to claim the objective (until the Mangler wandered over to enjoy some raw dog meat). 

The K'Daai managed to kill the Loonboss, landing my secondary objective of killing the General, but on the wrong end of a double turn, it was at great cost! Only two K'Daai were standing at the end of the game, as they took wounds and mortal wounds from every possible source in Connors army. A Command Point made sure they hung around, which inadvertantly denied Connor his secondary of killing the highest-points-value unit on the table (and the K'Daai weighed in at a whopping 480 points!).

I say whopping... but they're worth every single point! 

The game ended with the Legion well and truly on top of the scoreboard, as I'd held my home objective all game and had either denied or robbed Connor of his objective.

Connor was an absolute delight to play, and his army is absolutely stunning! 

I was happy with how the flow of battle went. If his objective had landed on the Loonshrine, I would have had to assault the bunker, which is no small task, but I was very lucky. He also didn't manage to bring back any units through the Loonshrine, despite having plenty of chances and re-rolls etc. Lady Luck was not his fan this day. I managed to put Connor in an awkward position early in the battlefield, and was able to keep pressure on for the remainder of the game. 

Once again, the 3" reach and cheeky pile ins helped me negate so much of what makes Grotz painful to fight for a round, but that round was all the Fire Daemons needed to flail their way to murder! The Taur-ruk in this game did sweet nothing, partly because I was holding him back to counter attack any surprise attacks on my objective, and partly because he just sucked at rolling charges...

This left me on three major wins and one major loss. I was stoked, as my 3-2 goal was already complete, and if I got lucky, I could even squeak a 4-1.

Check in soon for Game 5 of BrizVegas Open, closely followed by all five games from War in the West! 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe 

#180: Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game 3 - Legion of Azgorh Vs. Gloomspite Gitz

After a major win and major loss, I ended up facing an army that I'd really been hoping to face...

Gloomspite Gitz!

I hadn't played against them before, but it was an army that I was fascinated with, and I was keen to see what they could bring to the table. Here's what I was facing.

There was an absolute metric ton of bodies on the table, which was going to be a challenge, and the Rockgut Troggoths had some really high-quality damage output, but one huge factor was going to give me an edge. The scenario was Duality of Death, which is a scenario that my army can excel at and one that this Gitz army would struggle with. Having only a handful of squishy little Shamans running around the board, I was confident that Magma Cannons and such would be able to remove them pretty efficiently. But Gitz being Gitz, I was also expecting a few nasty surprises. 

My opponent deployed his many, many Goblins in the centre, around his Loonshrine, with Rockguts and Shamans on the flanks toward the objective. I dropped the K'Daai pretty central, so that they could react to whatever threat was greatest, then the Tauruk and Skullcracker were each given a unit of Hounds, a Magma Cannon and Riflemen to support. The idea was that the Warhounds would take oncoming charges (as the Rockgut Troggs were very serious threats), which would hopefully buy me an extra turn on the objectives. The guns were deployed to push up into range of both objectives in order to kill any hero that was game enough to stand out in the open to claim it. 

I didn't get any photos of turn one, sadly, but here is a shot of the top of turn two, which I gladly took.

Being once again outdropped, my opponent gave me first turn. This wasn't a horrible thing, considering the scenario. I wasted no time in rushing dogs up as a screen, and moving the Tauruk and Skullcracker into position on the objectives. The Skullcracker made use of his special rules to tow the left-hand Magma Cannon 10" forward, and the Daemonsmith made a healthy run roll to stay within 3". With the bonus movement, and extra range, the Magma Cannon drew first blood, by immolating a Madcap Shaman lurking with the Rockgut Troggs in the forest. This removed Hand of Gork (or was it Mork for Gitz?) from the game, and allowed me to relax my backline zoning. 

My K'Daai rolled forward to pose a threat in turn two, but not be on the receiving end of anything too nasty.

My opponent was left with few options but to move up. The Magic Mushroom was thrown into my K'Daai and riflemen, but thankfully didn't decimate too much. 

I won the turn roll going into two, and unleashed the Fire Daemons horde of Grots! 

With Daemonic Power cast convincingly, I knew that this initial charge would have to be a doozy if I was going to chew through the horde of Goblins. The massive unit of ten Fanatics was dumped out of the big unit, as I was kind of expecting. I'd moved my K'Daai to just outside of 3" of both Grot units, which meant that when the Fanatics were deployed, they had to do so between the Grot units, rather than in front of them in order to stay 3" away.  And so I pulled off an ever-so-cheeky charge that showcased just how useful a 3" range is on melee weapons.

My first K'Daai charged into the far right corner Spear-armed unit of Gobbos on the right, coming into range of the Netters and suffering the associated -1 to hit. The rest of the unit was strung out across the front of the unit just outside of 3". The unit had made a successful charge, but because I was not in combat with the Fanatics, they missed out on their start-of-the-combat-phase pile in and attack, preventing a huge amount of damage from hitting the squishy fire daemons. Then it was my turn to attack. I moved all of the K'Daai to just outside of 2" of the whole front line, meaning that only the K'Daai that made the initial charge suffered the effects of Netters. The Fireborn then unleashed all 60 attacks into both units of Grots and the now-exposed Fanatics, decimating all three units with impunity. The surviving Gloomspite models piled in (bringing the nets into range) and struck back, killing one daemon, and wounding another, but the damage had been done.

Having suffered a mighty blow to his centre line, my opponent turned his attention to the objectives. The big unit of Rockguts lobbed a boulder at my Taur'ruk, putting three mortals on him after he had all but shrugged off the arrow fire of their Grot comrades. Then, showing that they weren't here to mess around, they strolled into the Warhounds, and melted them without even blinking. It had bought me a turn as intended, but if I got double turned going into three, even the defensive mechanics of the Taur'ruk could not withstand that kind of high-quality impact! 

On the other flank, the same thing occurred. The Rockguts slammed into my screen of Warhounds and pummelled them into the dirt. I was a little more confident in the survival of an unscathed Skullcracker against only three Rockguts, but they were still going to hurt if I lost the roll going into turn 3...

Lady Luck smiled upon me, and I won priority. And honestly, my movement phase was pretty uneventful. My shooting elements were all in range of their desired targets, and my combat elements were either already in combat, or close enough to ensure a 3" charge. In turn two, I'd already scrambled most units away from the Mushroom, so I wasn't about to to waste a casting attempt getting rid of it to have it burst onto the table in a better spot. 

My biggest concern was the 6-man unit of Troggs, but with some decent rolling and some good Dawi Zharr engineering, the Magma Cannon and thirty riflemen nearby unloaded a volley that killed three outright! Planning my combats carefully, I charged the Taur'ruk into the twenty archers, while staying within 3" of the objective. I was confident that the Grots would be lacking in combat damage output to pose any threat, but I didn't account for completely bombing out my hit rolls with that juicy Damage 3 axe. Instead of murdering his way through the unit, he managed to kill maybe five.

The left flank was not fairing too well for the Gloomspite host either. Knowing that the best defence is a good offense, the Skullcracker fired up its reactor, and dismembered the Troggoths threatening his objective. The K'Daai had now lost three of their number, and the negative modifier to hit had slowed their assault, but round after round of attrition had taken a truly bloody toll upon the Grots. Battleshock had begun to take its toll, and the swirling melee was beginning to lean heavily in my favour. The Fireborn had managed to tag enough units that almost every model, every turn, was unleashing attacks. With the mediocre saves on Grots, the lack of Rend was more than compensated by the D3 damage on each swing. 

Death waits for no-one, however, and when my opponent took his turn, he had one thing in mind. Killing that Taur-ruk. 

Far further forward than the rest of my units, and entirely unsupported by boots on the ground, I knew that this was likely the end. Surrounded, and badly wounded, the Taur-ruk was looking at that -2 Rend Damage 3 profile of the Rockguts, and sweating a little bit. The Loonboss had also charged in, with his eyes on claiming the objective for himself. I gritted my teeth and waited for the inevitable.

Against all odds, maths and reason, the Taur'ruk survived! Not only did he survive, but he managed to take some heads while he was there. In a truly ridiculous series of dice rolls, the Troggs went first, missed with a fair few attacks, and then I rolled the hottest dice of my life to save all but four. With only four wounds left, Blackshard Armour kept me alive, and I responded by sinking his Darkforged Axe waaaay inside the Loonboss's skull. 

Once again, I won priority and took the turn, knowing that I'd already burnt through all of my luck for this game (and probably a few games as well!). There was no way I could survive that same round of attacks again, and so once again, my Cannon and Fireglaives unleashed a volley of Pyrelock ammunition (and a lava beam) into the Troggoths, incinerating the last of them in a thunder of missile fire. The Taur-ruk was then only left to deal with half a dozen archers, who he dispatched with ease. 

With both objectives secured, and the Gloomspite line completely shattered, my lead on the scoreboard had secured me a major victory. This event used scenario point differential rather than kill points to determine minor and major losses, but because I'd gotten on both objectives turn one, and held my opponent off all game, it was a convincing result. There was just one order of business remaining. My secondary objective.

And like an absolute moron, I'd picked 'Kill All Battleline Units'.

"But, Gabe," I hear you say. "You killed all the battleline."

And my dear reader, you would be correct. The Taur-ruk had (eventually) hacked his way through twenty archers, while the K'Daai had rampaged through 100 Grots, 10 Loonsmasha Fanatics, and Madcap Shaman and 6 Sneaky Snufflers. 

But... 

I realised at the end of fourth, after all Gloomspite units had been slain, that my opponent could bring back units of Grots through the tunnel under the Loonshrine. The TO ruled that there had to be no Battleline at the end of the game in order for me to claim it, so I made the very difficult decision to give my opponent the turn going into five. I didn't have enough units closeby to zone out the Loonshrine, but I did have a unit of K'Daai that would hopefully be able to kill any unit that appeared from the hole. If he went bottom of five, I wouldn't have had an opportunity, had a unit returned, to kill it at all. 

As luck would have it, the unit of sixty returned at half strength, plonking thirty models down on the table in a last ditch act of defiance. I had one turn to achieve a single task. 

With all of my guns out of range, and other combat units too far away to assist, it fell to my K'Daai to get the job done, and they put in quite a performance. After their attacks, twenty eight black-robed corpses lay at their feet. Another was immolated by the Kiss of Fire, leaving a single Grot to take a battleshock test. Excellent; no heroes nearby, he's -20-something to his roll. The secondary was mine! 

Well, as it turns out, the Loonshrine has a Battleshock immunity aura, and that one scared, solitary little Grot was my undoing. A single point of damage was the difference, and the Grot stood strong in defiance to the last. 

What a game. The K'Daai single-handedly slaughtered and butchered their way through over 140 models on their own (well, with some moral and arcane support from the Sorcerer Lord)! They'd absorbed an immense amount of pressure that would have otherwise been focused on objectives, and they definitely earned their points in this game. The screens and shooting was enough to protect my objectives against the enemy, and the fact that my Taur-ruk survived that combat at all was... let's be honest... downright lucky. 

When it came down to it, I think this was going to be a tough scenario for my opponent no matter what. With three of his four heroes only having four wounds, getting onto and holding those objectives was always going to be a challenge. I was kicking myself over my choice of secondaries, but that was my own fault for not properly thinking it through. 

This game really showcased why I think that the 12-man unit of K'Daai should be in every single Chaos Dwarf army out there. It's an absolute powerhouse!

This major win put me on 2-1 on Day 1 of the BrisVegas Open. My goal was 3-2, so I had two more opportunities to make that happen. I was sitting behind the main pack, and hadn't maxed out secondaries, so who I faced on Sunday morning, out of a pool of almost a hundred players was anybody's guess.

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe