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...
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 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.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment