#70: Age of Sigmar Battle Report 1000 points - Khorne Bloodbound Vs Duardin

With my wife braving the shops during the Boxing Day sales, it took little to no convincing at all to catch up with an old friend and throw some dice. My lead up to Christmas had been a hectic one, so this would be my first game of Sigmar in quite some time, but I was looking forward to stretching my legs! 

With my Death army is still in the early stages of construction, I grabbed a case and loaded up my ever-faithful Bloodbound to unleash their poorly-managed anger issues upon my foes. 

I really struggle to look past the Mighty Lord of Khorne for my general. He's just that good, and extraordinarily versatile. The rest of my force was basically everything I currently have painted, minus a few characters. Ten Blood Warriors and twenty Bloodreavers filled my battle line slots, while a Warshrine of Khorne backed up my Crushers and Wrathmongers in their roles of carnage and murder machines. 

Across the table, I was staring down a bearded challenge! A Dwarf Lord (on invisible shieldbearers while a cool conversion gets completed) was joined by a Runesmith and an Unforged. Ten Warriors, 10 Longbeards, 20 Quarrelers and 10 Irondrakes (yikes) filled out his force!

Then we rolled scenarios and got Three Places of Power. Great. My choice to bring a single hero was coming back to haunt me, as I was outnumbered on the character front. My only hope of winning the game was to push my Lord onto an objective, while using the rest of my army to protect the others! At least, that was the idea...

As it was a friendly game, we decided to just use terrain pieces instead of markers for the three central Places of Power. I deployed solidly across my entire battlefront, while my opponent castled in the right hand corner. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing in my mind. If I could launch past the middle line and slam into his lines, perhaps I could contain his army and tie up his heroes to prevent them settling in on an objective. "Perhaps" being the key word here. 

With some healthy run moves, I made good progress up the board, confident in my combat prowess if the Duardin made a long charge. 

My Wrathmongers made their way toward the main action, and my Lord flopped his run roll. No points this turn.

My opponent was a little more mobile than I originally thought. The Unforged long-bombed a charge into my pack of Bloodreavers...

...and butchered thirteen of them in cold blood! This... This was not a great start. To make things worse, I was taking some serious heat from the Dwarven firepower. 

The Irondrakes unleashed a flaming salvo into my Crushers, stripping four wounds off, while the Quarrellers unleashed absolute hell upon the Blood Warriors, five falling with crossbow bolts lodged in their necks. 

My infantry continued their slow advance forward, while the Skullcrushers knew that if I had any hope of winning this game, I had to shut down the shooting phase! After benefiting from the command ability on the Lord, and being blessed by the Shrine, they launched a devastating charge!

My Lord finally moved onto a Place of Power to start cranking up that tally!

The slaughter was bloody and quick. The Irondrakes fell under the thunderous hooves of the Juggernauts, but the nearby warriors and Runesmith were dragged into the fight. 

And they were not messing around! Things on my right flank were going poorly, to put it gently. 

I'd reached a pivotal point of the game. I was in a difficult position if I wanted to win. It was gonna need some solid forethought. I needed to keep my Lord alive, and I needed to stop the Unforged (currently racking up a pretty tally) from being alive anymore. The warriors pitched into the half-naked berserker and, thanks to another blessing from the Shrine, beheaded the dwarf where he stood.

The Wrathmongers finally made combat, and while my choice to kill the Unforged gave first swing to his Lord, it wasn't all bad. His runic hammer crushed the majority of the unit, but their aura of rage could not be resisted. The ancient dwarf King ended up slamming himself in the face as hard as he could (as well as his Shieldbearers putting a few boots in), leaving him staggering, but still standing on a single wound. 

My opponent knew that the key to victory was the death of my only points-scorer. A veritable hail of crossbow bolts slammed into him but I saved fifteen of the nineteen wounds, but it didn't end there. The warriors who survived the combat with the Crushers (and Wrathmongers) charged up the steps of the ruins, and in the most cinematic moment of the game, the sweeping Khornate axe slaughtered all but one who met his demise to the jaws of the Flesh Hounds. 

 The Blood Warriors were crushed beneath the onslaught of the wounded Lord, Runesmith and Longbeards, starting the tally once more! 

I was confident that I could scrape a win! I was ahead on the tally, and all I needed to do was win priority, and launch an assault with my full-wound Warshrine! His Lord was on a single wound, and the Runesmith was right behind him. If I could orchestrate this just right, I could kill the lord and perhaps even halt the tally by wiping out the Runesmith. That would leave me high and safe on the scoreboard, even if the Khorne Lord met his demise at the hands of the crossbow men next turn.

Alas, it was not to be. I lost priority, and the Dwarf Lord charged up the steps of the ruins, smiting down the Chaos champion in herioc fashion. The Longbeards joined the charge by pitching into the Shrine, but the deformed monsters holding it aloft weren't happy and smeared the veterans into the ground before someone could yell "Skulls for the Skull Throne!".

With my opponent passing me on the scoreboard and my only hero meeting a dastardly demise, the game was securely in the hands of the Duardin! Well played by my opponent. 

I had great fun in this game, and I think my biggest downfall came in listbuilding and deployment. A second character would have meant a much more aggressive final score. 

All in all, a great game and a good learning experience. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#69: Chaos Undivided...

With the Thousand Sons bursting into the 40k universe with a sorcerous bang, and the Chaos Legions supplement on the brink of unleashing the next Black Crusade, I'm backing up last time's Death focussed post with a post discussing the second part of next year's big hobby drive!

My favoured legion, the Word Bearers!

It's happening. Choas are getting the love in 40k! It's not to say that I think they will be top dogs or meta kings, but if the leaks are anything to go by, Chaos will go back to being a FUN army to play again, as well as becoming very themed and characterful. More so than those loyalist dogs, anyway! 

In the past, Chaos has really only come in five flavours. Nurgle (for people who love a good chesty cough and sneezing on commuters aboard public transport), Tzeentch (for people who love walking slowly and Dynamo), Khorne (for people who struggle to hold it together in the slow line at the super market), Slannesh (the less said about Slannesh, the better... This is, after all, an all ages blog.), and good Ol' Chaos Undivided.

And that's where I landed when I first ventured over to the dark side. I wanted my cake and I wanted to eat it too. Not only did I want unrestricted access to all marks and units within a single force, but also wanted a unique army, something you don't see all the time. Death Guard armies were a dime a dozen, Khorne Daemonkin did a lot for World Eater population, one of my close mates was a die-hard Thousand Son player, and Slannesh simply had next to no model range; not to mention the Noise Marine Upgrade packs were horribly dated and made a squad over $100 to make. 

And you didn't really see the other five legions represented at all...

Until now! By the looks of things, the five "undivided" legions have received the full treatment, with relics galore, warlord traits and Legion Tactics that fit snugly into the playstyle and flavour of the army seamlessly! No longer are we the unwitting victims of the power creep! Chaos is ascendant once more!

Let's take a closer look at Word Bearers. Their whole "schtick" revolves around three things! Possessed, Dark Aposltes and the Malefic Psychic discipline. Possessed have long been considered, how you say... Not worth it. Not that their rules are trash, or even their points value too high (though some would argue). The problem was that they were oft overshadowed by Terminators and the likes as "Best in Slot" for elites. But not for Word Bearers!! These bad boys are Troops now, and are no longer in competition with other powerful units! Thanks to some new formations, they have become seriously scary and I have a great idea based around them that we'll discuss shortly! Oh, the shenanigans and trickery!

Dark Apostles have often been neglected in the past, being pretty locked into wargear and being 40 points more than a Lord with a quarter of the options. To be fair though, he comes stock with a 4++ and a Power Maul, as well as having Zealot and a handy Leadership 10 bubble. He's pretty much a must have for Word Bearers. I mean, it'd be in-Word-Bearer-like NOT to, right? But it looks like there is a lot built around Zealot and having a Dark Apostle seems like the right thing to do considering the legion...

Lastly, the Malefic discipline suits the legion perfectly. This is pretty much what the Word Bearers are all about, and the rules naturally steer them in that direction. I can harness on a 3+ when casting Malefic powers, which is super handy because it's already a pretty tough Discipline to manage Warp Charges with the high value of a lot of the abilities. 

One combo I'm really keen to try is to take a big (and I mean BIG) unit of Possessed as troops with the mark of Tzeentch (bumping their Invulnerable save to a 4+). Then I'll jam a Cyclopean Cabal in there, rolling almost exclusively on both Malefic and Sanctic tables! Sanctic, I hear you say? Well, look at it like this (I can thank my chaotic mate, Blake for this treachery!) The Sanctic powers are amazing and for the most part only warp charge one. This means that one Sorcerer can calmly one-dice powers (two-dice if I'm feeling ballsy), and while they may be easy to stop, people have to decide if they want to use valuable dice preventing these instead of some of the more invasive Malefic powers! While things like Hammerhand and summoning will be nice, the two powers I'm really chasing are Sanctuary (+1 to unit's invulnerable save) and Cursed Earth (+1 to Daemons invulnerable saves within 12"). Possessed have the Daemon rule. Suddenly, there's the potential for my big unit of Possessed to be running around with a 2++ Invul, potentially summoning and Gating as I go. It's not without risk and there's a lot of moving parts, but it fits the theme and is at least a start to mastering the Masters of Chaos!

Edit: It would seem Chaos Sorcerers cannot roll on Sanctic, which makes sense and completely sinks my idea...

Now, before I get too carried away writing lists and buying reinforcements, I'm going to wait until the book drops and in the meantime, I'm brainstorming cool combos and upgrading the paint job on my existing force! 

It's been surprisingly quick and painless to add a few highlights and up the quality of (let's be honest, here...) a pretty average original paint job. 

Although widely considered to be perhaps on the expensive side, I've always loved the Chaos Space Marines army for exactly that. Chaos Marines. None of this clean-cut, purity-seal adorned, Aquillas-out-for-the-Emperor business. It's good to be bad, and although it's on the older side, the CSM sprues are still jam packed with cool bits, icons and shoulder pads. With limited special weapon options, it's hard to look past the trusty Meltagun for hard-hitting efficiency and affordability. I'm loving doing a red army (again), and the silver trim really unifies the scheme! I also love the idea of using the DV Chosen as my squad leaders, as they just have that extra level of detail and really stand out as unique champions in their own right (just the way it should be).

It wouldn't be a Word Bearers army without Cultists. These ten are geared for close combat and will be joined shortly by just a ton of their friends!

Lastly, these three slobbering powerhouses made the cut for some versatile, long-range displays of aggression. Obliterators, though pricey, have the edge over Havocs in most (not all) situations due to their increased survivability and array of weapons at their disposal. Sure, they have to cycle through guns, but there's plenty of great options to choose from! 

So here's the plan moving forward. I'm going to finish updating the paint job on the rest of my "painted" models (roughly about 1000 points worth). 

Once that's done, I'm going to pick a Formation from the Legions book, build it and paint it. To satisfy my inner collector and completionist! Certain formations will take precedent, of course. Lost & the Damned as well as Favoured of Chaos lend themselves naturally to WB, being Cultist- and Possessed-focused, respectively. A Chaos Warband is also on the high-priority list. Much to my surprise (and a testament to how many models I own), I found a complete Cult of Destruction in a box of Chaos stuff; a Warpsmith, six Obliterators (three pictured above) and six Mutilators (don't ask, I can't really explain it...). 

Long story short, things are about to get Chaotic in the Halls of the Rune Axe! Are you jumping on the Chaos train?

Would love to hear your plans,

Thanks for reading.

Gabe 

#68: My Cold, Dead Hands...

I am really excited for my upcoming Death army! They have such strong aesthetics, the current range of models are exceptional, and I think Death has more army-wide synergy and combo potentials than any of the other three! The secret is unlocking them!

I've honestly never tackled Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings before Sigmar. Vampire Counts felt like there was only one way to play them, while Tomb Kings suffered from many crippling drawbacks, not the least of which being if your horrifically fragile Heirophant died (usually to rune-etched Dwarf cannonballs), it was basically game over. 

Not that I can really use that excuse. I was, at the time, playing Beastmen which were arguably as bad! 

So when I pondered my options for a new army for 2017, there were three real contenders. Ironjaws, with their plate-armoured wall of infantry and the infamous toad-dragons. Nurgle Rotbringers, with a disgustingly low model count of Blight Kings and a heavy focus on Characters riding virulent monstrosities. Or Death, in its entirety, complete with masses of infantry, several cavalry options, and a menagerie of monsters and constructs that loom over the battlefield. 

A handful of players in the local scene already played Ironjaws, and all of them centred around the Ironfist Warscroll (who can really blame them), which meant I'd be running a similar kind of army as everyone else... Because I would also be succumbing to the lure of the Ironfist (who can really blame me?).

So Ironjaws got scratched. 

Rotbringers were written off for a different reason entirely. Mostly because I felt they lacked range and that I would get distracted from them far too easily! To do a true-to-the-cause Rotbringer force, I was spoilt for choice with characters, both named and generic, but with Blight Kings as my only real unit (Battleline or otherwise), I felt that it would get stale for me very quickly. That's not to say that they are bad models; in fact, they are fantastic. But with an attention span as deficient as mine, it wouldn't take long for me to meander away from an army that revolves around a single kit. I know my flaws, and I can recognise the warning signs!

This made Death an easy decision. Currently, it is by far the smallest and least represented of the Grand Alliances, but here in lies it's beauty. I didn't feel as if I had to pick a sub-faction in order to keep a unified theme. 

While Order for example, is much bigger, and has had several sub factions fleshed out to complete stand-alone armies, it has a lot of sub-factions that borderline on redundant. Stormcast Eternals, Sylvaneth and even Fyreslayers have complete ranges (although it still feels like we're getting a brand new Stormcast character every couple of months), while many other forces (High Elves, Dark Elves and Empire spring to mind) have each been split into several branches that are almost too small to sustain an army themed around them (until GW shows them some love of course!). And I do love a strong cohesive theme, especially on armies as big as the one I'm planning! While I love all of Order's models (and I'm picking Order as an example, not as a target), the grand alliance contains factions so diverse in appearance that I don't know how I could make it into a single cohesive army.

Not so with Death! Literally every sub faction in Death is useful and cohesive with the next. Keywords are abundant and synergies stretch across the entire Grand Alliance! Not only that, but the Death Grand Alliance is currently small enough that tackling it as a single army does not feel unrealistic! Not only that, but every model looks like a natural fit to the eye. The whole Vampire Counts range is just amazing, and really plays on that Victorian Horror theme! Tomb Kings obviously have a strong Egyptian theme, which looks altogether out of place next to VC's but I have a solution! More on that later, though...

Death will be my main army for '17, and I'm keen to try out different units and combos. The options are expansive! But you gotta start somewhere, so I decided to open my foray into Death with Deathrattle. 

This was an easy choice. Skeleton Warriors are generic Battleline, meaning that no matter what kind of army I was building, they could help reach the obligatory requirements if needed. The Wight King offered me with a fantastic (and let's be honest, pretty darn powerful) Hero to lead the first stage of the horde. With Battleline and Hero requirements within easy reach, I was also supplied with faster support in the form of Black Knights and the sheer, horrific damage output potential that can be found in Grave Guard. 

As I researched further, it just so happened that Deathrattle even have their own Warscroll battalion that nearly bundles everything together and gives it some handy bonuses! With that in mind, I punched out a 1000pt list to work toward! And here it is...

Deathrattle Horde Warscroll Battalion (80)

Wight King (120)

20 Skeleton Warriors (160)

10 Skeleton Warriors (80)

10 Skeleton Warriors (80)

20 Grave Guard (320)

5 Black Knights (120)

Eventually, I'll fill all three units of skeletons to twenty and add another five Black Knights (for the OCD in me), but this formation will be the foundation upon which my whole army will be built! But I want to have the 1000 points painted by the Blog's birthday in January. 

Not so hard, right? It probably wouldn't be until I realised how intricate and detailed even the most basic infantry is!

First off the bat was, of course, my fearless leader, the Wight King!

Well, I wanted this army to catch people's eyes and pop on the table, and I'm happy with where my pallet landed. The worn, rusty armour and dark cloth of the model are offset by the pale bones, and of course, the flashes of pink that are designed to contrast starkly on the table! Not to mention, pink armies are few and far between, and I'm hoping this gives it a unique look!

After finishing my hero and settling on colours, I got stuck straight into the masses of infantry on my painting desk, the first of which were half the unit of Grave Guard. I'm really happy with how the colours looked on a full unit, as it can sometimes be hard to visualise how it will appear after only painting a single model. 

It's a long process painting the Death infantry, but hopefully I can slog my way through it! I better; there's plenty more to do. 

After I finish this formation, I'm going to pick another subfaction to give attention to, and hopefully build my army in large chunks that way, though I'm not opposed to picking and choosing random units that catch my eye or to break up the monotony of painting bones. The key is to keep it fun! 

Flesh Eater Courts will make an appearance at some point, as will Nighthaunt and Deadwalkers. These two factions could have some fantastic work done on them I feel, similar to the love that FEC received. Both are iconic to the Death faction, with the spirits and ghosts of Nighthaunt floating across the battlefield (oh, for a new Black Coach model!), while it would be great to see Deadwalkers get some new models in the form of perhaps some monstrous infantry (zombie ogres?) or perhaps even a Zombie Giant! Wishful thinking I know, but wait! I'll fill you in on one of the elements of this project that most excites me! 

Conversions!

With the Tomb King range gone, and the Egyptian theme not matching anyway, this opens the door to many potential hobby projects, not the least of which are Ogres and a Giant being converted and 'zombified' to represent Ushabti and a Bone Giant respectively! This allows me to continue using these out of production units, while still fitting the theme and looking the part! I also have some plans for Necropolis Knights and a Casket of Souls that will fit seamlessly into the force! 

All in all, I'm very pleased with how this project has launched! It's humble beginnings, but I feel that if I can remained focused (and I am determined to do so), that it won't be long before I'm adding some of the titanic models in the Death range to my own army! Yes, Nagash, you...

Cheers for reading, and for coming on this journey with me!

Gabe

#67: The Road Ahead...

Today, I want to look back as well as looking forward. 

This year has been a big one, both in hobby and in life. In hobby, I painted a Tau army, a Bloodbound army, and made some considerable additions to my Salamander Legion. Throughout the year, I also added models to projects here and there, as well as a few new projects that never really got off the ground (Tyranids, I'm looking at you...), as well as repaint ing elements of my Grey Knights. 

In life, I changed jobs, became a dad, and rediscovered a lot of great things that I used to enjoy as a young chap. So yeah...

You could say it's been a big year on all fronts. But this post is not about all fronts. It's about this here blog!

I want to chuck out a few shout outs before we carry on to thank a few people. Al and Blake, two Games Workshop store managers from my city,  have been constant supports of the blog and my endeavours. You're both enablers of my spontaneous hobby projects, and you've revitalised the Toruament scene for me through your series of events focused on celebrating the great aspects of the game!

There are several other people who I'm going to send messages to in the next couple of days, who have been steadfast supporters! 

The reason that I'm getting all sentimental is because the Rune Axe has its second birthday in January! There'll be some special stuff coming up to celebrate! I'll be doing a bit of a give away, too, to show some love back to you, the readers!

As with every new year, and accompanying resolutions, I have two. I know, right? A bit early to be doing resolutions, isn't it? Perhaps. But wait, it will all make sense soon!

My biggest weakness (but definitely not my only one) in my hobby is a minuscule attention span, to the point where it can be difficult to finish a project before starting two more!

So my goal for the first six months of 2016 is to work on two main projects! 

Despite my love of Chaos, my Age of Sigmar focus will this year be aimed almost (disclaimer for future distractions) exclusively at the Death Grand Alliance. I'm kicking things off with a large contingent of Deathrattle, and a heavy focus on creating a unique force of Death to spread their cold grasp amongst the realms!

My second project that will be getting attention is none other than my 40k Word Bearers, who are getting dragging out of suspended animation (a.k.a. My shed) to once more launch crusades across the galaxy in the name of Chaos. Unsurprising, this was inspired by the recent announcement that not only are Thousand Sons getting all the love they deserve and more, but that Chaos Legions are getting a codex supplemen, doubtless full of delicious goodies and new tools of war that are hazardous to people's health! I've had a large Chaos Marime army for a long time and I feel now is their moment! Let's go big!

So they're going to be my main armies (for now) for next year! 

Other big announcements. I'm finally going to be moving toward some video content with elements of my blog changing from written word to film! This has been something I've talked about for some time and have dabbled in behind the scenes, but I feel it is the natural next step in growing this media platform that we all share here!

To do that, I need you! Id love to get you involved, whether it be an army showcase, a narrative campaign or a straight-down-the-line battle report. If you have a fully painted force, get in touch! Next year is going to be the year of community, where this blog is less about me and more about us.

Because at the end of the day, this game is about community and relationships and coming together to celebrate a common interest with other like-minded people!

I know this has been a bit rambling, but what I want to really convey to you is that I appreciate your support, and the future holds bigger and better things! 

Wow, I condensed pretty much the whole post into one sentence! 

Next week, I'm going to be showing you the fledgling start of my Death army! I can't wait! Thanks for reading, guys and gals!

Gabe

#66: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Hunters of Khorne VS. Harbingers of Decay

After game two, which ended with my Great Unclean One's corpse face down in a ditch, I was ready for some redemption! And when the draw was read out, I found myself staring down an imposing (and very fast) Khorne army, captained by one of the gentlemen who regularly visited the store. This game was going to be a laugh! Both of us knew that, as the field sat, we were unlikely to hit podium grounds, so we both went into this game with nothing to lose. 

This is a view of what I was staring down! Hounds, a Daemon Prince, more Hounds, three Skull Cannons, a Bloodthirster...

...more Hounds and Skulltaker!

The scenario was Gift from the Heavens, where at the start of turn two, a meteorite lands somewhere in each player's deployment zone and each turn, whoever controls the meteorite gains points! 

I went first and advanced very, very cautiously.

I didn't mind getting to grips with the enemy, but both my opponent and I were vividly aware that we really didn't know where our objectives would land, and therefore were hesitant to commit large portions of our armies to prolonged combat!

Unsurprisingly, my opponent did the same, resisting the urge to attempt the long charges that my movement had offered. 

Cannonballs started flying, and while my Great Unclean One remained relatively und amazed, the Herald responsible for keeping the Beasts under control caught one straight to the face, only just saving a single wound. Lucky! I was going to need  his help in the ensuing struggle. 

Meteorites started raining! My enemy's objective lagged behind his Daemon Prince, leaving my Beasts with one job and one job alone; kill everything in their way to claim that objective! Things, however, did not start well; the Herald and left unit of Beasts failed 6" and 5" charges respectively, leaving the right unit to slog it out on their own! Far from ideal, but if there's one element of the army that I can trust to deliver, it's the Beasts. They've proven this again and again. 

My meteorite (as represented by a Nurgling base at bottom of picture) landed right at Epidemus' feet! Perfect! He is almost always on a position of being protected as it is, so there was double the incentive to keep him safe! Plaguebearers made a string across the front of terrain in order to screen my objective, while the Drones and Soul Grinder advanced quite aggressively, opting for a offensive defence; take the fight to my enemy and keep them far away from where they needed to be! Shooting did very little, but I managed to put down two Hounds. Every little bit helps!

With some frankly ridiculous charge rolls, my central battle line hit the unit of Hounds with considerable force, pinning the middle battle in place. I was confident I had the numbers to overwhelm him, but last game taught me numbers don't always save you...

Both charges were successful on the right flank, as both units slammed into the hounds. These were currently the biggest threat to Epidemus, so the sooner I could be rid of them, the better!

The Beasts, being out of range of their Herald, didn't have the impact I was hoping for, but they made up for it by taking zero damage from the furious dogs!

The right flank put work in and killed a few more dogs, while in the middle...

The GUO and company made quick work of several hounds, while losing only a few in return. 

Straight out of the gate, the counter charge was feirce! Karanak, two Skull Cannons and the towering Bloodthirster all joined the fray with bloody (pun wholeheartedly intended) results! 

The ensuing carnage saw more than twenty Plaguebearers fall and the Great Unclean One suffer several horrific wounds! I managed to keep my eye twitch under control as I started having flashbacks to Game Two. It was happening again! On the bright side, before getting punched in the throat by the Thirster, GUO managed to turn Karanak to paste with his massive flail! Moral victory!

With the Beasts getting serious about killing things, the Prince sprung into action, leaping over the swirling melee to severe the head of my Herald lurking in the shadow of the Realmgate. As the game moved forward, I realised that victory lay not in claiming the enemy objective, but simply denying my opponent the points for a turn, launching me into the lead! With a fresh unit of beasts, I knew that I had a Cannon and a Prince to get through but I was confident!

And I wasted no time in getting stuck in!

On the right side of the board, a single hound opposed me! With my Soul Grinder on a measly three wounds, he was nearly crippled to the point of redundancy, but he had managed to mash Skulltaker into the ground before he could unleash his fearsome blade!

So you know how in Game Two, my Great Unclean One had suffered a horrible and lightning fast death? Not so in this game, despite spending the first half of the game catching cannonballs. His accompanying Plaguebearers had fallen. His foe had amassed lethal combat units to go in for the kill! But he would...

not...

die. 

He took three cannonballs to the face in one shooting phase, and shrugged almost all off, taking a single wound. Then in combat against the entire remaining centre force of my enemy, he took zero wounds. Zero! The hell blades, the hounds, even the Bloodthirster's gigantic axe could do nothing against him!

He was a sole light of pestilent optimism holding back the darkness of bloodshed and non-surgical skull removalists!

In the dying moments of the game, my Beasts got the job done, getting stuck into the Daemon Prince and successfully denying my opponent points essential to victory!

And with that, the game ended. 

What a hilarious match! The too's and fro's of battle, Lady Luck tipping the scales one way and then the other, and non stop banter between myself, my opponent and everyone watching the game. Voting Best Sportsman to my opponent from game three was an easy choice, and he ended up winning Sports overall!

All in all, it was a very evenly matched game. I don't think either of us made major blunders. I think if my opponent had sent his Thirster behind my Drones and Soul Grinder, he would have butchered the units guarding the meteorites, and changed the outcome dramatically! While the GUO was certainly an object of pressing attention, his location and role on the battlefield had not a great deal of effect upon the outcome or objectives!

As always, thanks for reading!

Gabe

#65: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - Harbingers of Decay Vs. Beastclaw Raiders "Frosty Reception"

So, my first game went well, and I'd managed to jag a sneaky win! The combos were definitely there in my list. All I had to do was keep my wits about me and outsmart my next opponent... 

Beast.

Claw.

Raiders. 

Of all the armies I could have faced, I was throwing down against Beastclaw. "What's so bad about that?", I hear you say. Well, two reasons. 

1: My army gets significantly stronger once I get Epidemus' tally up, and Beastclaw have an incredibly low model count. There's literally not enough models to hit half the bonuses, and the models that are there to be killed are all multi-wound and tough-as-nails.

2: The Scenario was Three Places of Power, where only Heroes can hold or reclaim objectives. And my opponents characters were riding gigantic stone mammoths with the attitude of an enraged grizzly. I knew that if he got onto an objective, it was going to next to impossible to shift him off. 

But I'm usually a pretty positive guy, and so I chose to look on the bright side. I had something my opponent did not. Numbers. If I could bog down important models, perhaps I could buy myself enough time to kill the weaker elements before bringing the full power of Grandfather Nurgle down upon my foes.

My deployment followed the trends of game one, forming my three "pods" in front of each Place of Power in the centre of the board. I only had three heroes, so they were gonna have to put in the work and survive long enough to actually get some points on the board. 

I was confident that the Beasts could drag down some of the bigger models on the board, or at the very least, tie them up for several rounds of combat. 

I won first turn, and usually I would hand turn one to my opponent for the possibility to get back to back turns early in the game, but I needed to get to those objectives. If a Stonehorn reached that objective before I did, I was not gonna shift him off in a hurry. Speed was key, and if there's one weakness that my army struggles with, it's speed. The Drones and Soul Grinder made a successful push, with Epidemus just falling short of holding the Place of Power...

... While my central pod flopped miserably. To be fair, I needed pretty high run rolls to begin with. Odds were against me, but I'm always optimistic. 

The Beast flank found itself in the same predicament. And this is where things began to spiral...

Four Mournfang cavalry launched at the Soul Grinder, which I wasn't devastated about. He's pretty tough, and I had a couple of units to counter charge with next turn. 

A Stonehorn slammed into my GUO, causing three mortal wounds from the charge alone. Things could get ugly...

The Beast flank was starting to look pretty shaky. Yhetees blasted forward and tied up some Beasts (which I could handle), while the Thundertusk fired an ice beam at my Herald (which I couldn't handle). If it wasn't for my pseudo-Feel No Pain, I would have lost him and forfeited all possibility of gaining points from that Place. 

It was in this combat phase that I realised what I was up against. The Mournfang ripped eight wounds off my Soul Grinder...

...while in the centre, Yhetees joined the Stonehorn in administering a sound flogging, wiping thirty Plaguebearers out in a single round. Mystic Shield, Feel No Pain, nothing could protect them. It was bloody and savage. So much for the numbers advantage.

My battered Great Unclean One stood alone, my centre completely collapsed...

The clobbering continued on the left flank, with the Drones joining the party. The Mournfang were beginning to falter, but I was still concerned for my now-crippled Soul Grinder. 

Beasts proved how tough they are by mauling the Yhetees to death, only conceding two wounds in exchange. 

Just as I thought I had a flank protected and controlled, a Hunter and his pack of flea-ridden cats showed up, intent on removing Epidemus from the Place he currently held!

My opponent wasted no time in dispatching my GUO with frightening ease, before redirecting his units toward the beast to cleanse the area of the Nurgle incursion. 

The swirling combat on the right was all about one thing; protecting my Herals. And boy, oh boy, was I rolling dice like my life depended on it! I could not fail a save with him, infuriating my opponent, who had chosen not to commit another ice beam to finishing the job. This had a snowball effect, as his lingering presence allowed an increased damage output by the Beasts! 

As if the Hunting Pack's arrival wasn't inconvenient enough, the Stonehorn decided to continue its rampage across the board, slamming into the hulking Grinder.

And just like that, I lost a flank. The Hunter on foot took up residence upon the Place of Power, and the Stonehorn turned its attention to the surviving Drones.

On the other side of the board, my opponent finally got the job done, slaying my Herald before moving his Thundertusk-mounted hero to the central objective. 

This signalled the last glimmer of hope fading for a victory. My opponent was racking up points at an alarming rate, surpassing my current score, and with no Heroes of my own to earn any more points, the win was his. We played out the game, but it consisted of my surviving units getting systematically bulldozed off the board. 

All in all, it was a hilarious game, despite the outcome. I had completely underestimated Beastclaw. They are fast and they hit like a ton of bricks! I was straight up outplayed in this game. My opponent was calculated in his actions and didn't bite off more than he could chew. If I could play the game again, I probably would have been less aggressive turn one, denying him those convenient charges, while also probably consolidating my force around two objectives instead of trying to claim all three. I feel my army was spread a little thin, but then I also wasn't expecting thirty Plaguebearers to crumple in a single charge from four models...

Four.

It should be said that my opponent was a great sportsman, and won my vote for best army with his fantastic looking force!

Lessons learned. Onward to game three. I was in the middle of the pack with a win and a loss, but as I said with these tournaments, winning is not everything. There were still plenty of prizes up for grabs. 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe