#171: Championship Heat 1 Battle Report - Game 2: Legion of Azgorh Vs. Dispossessed

Coming off a big win against the Greenskins, I found myself facing an ancestral rival. The arch-enemy of the Chaos Dwarfs. Dispossessed.

Probably fueled by their jealousy of all the cool magic and war machines of the Dawi Zharr, the Dispossessed were ready for a proper brawl, and had called up all their mates to help out. The scenario was Starstrike, which actually had me really concerned. As you can see by Dion's list, he had a massive numbers advantage, and off the charge, almost all of those Duardin would be re-rolling their saves. To top it off, between his Warscroll Battalion, the Order allegiance ability and the mechanics built into his warscroll, it was going to be almost impossible to battleshock them off, unless the dice favoured me in a significant way.

Here is what I was facing.

Allegiance: Dispossessed
Mortal Realm: Ghur

Leaders:
Warden King (General, Master of Defence, Gryph-Feather Charm)
Runelord (Rockjaws)
Unforged

Units:
40 Warriors
30 Warriors
10 Warriors
30 Longbeards
20 Ironbreakers
10 Hammerers
10 Irondrakes

Battalions:
Grudgebound Warthrong

Total: 1980

My opponent deploying 153 models in a single drop was pretty confronting. I was confident my shooting would be able to put in work, but my combat units would potentially get bogged down in prolonged combats, and stop me from capping objectives.

Knowing that if he took first turn, there was zero risk of anything even being able to try and charge me, I deployed everything on the line. No screens or layered deployments; no zoning out my backfield. This game was going to be a brawl in the middle of the table with no prisoners taken. I knew that given the opponent and the scenario, I was going to have to try and focus-fire off a unit at a time, prioritising whatever was most threatening to the objectives.

Dion took first turn, and marched almost everyone up onto the three possible locations of the objective ready for turn two. The Longbeards marched up and locked shields opposite my K'Daai, while a 40-strong unit of warriors parked on the middle point with an aftersave from the Runelord and the 30-strong unit marched on the right side of the board. The Irondrakes, Hammerers, Ironbreakers and 10-man Warrior unit all moved up in support, but remaining close to where the Turn 3 objectives would drop. 

Left facing a metric ton of Duardin in the middle of the board, I decided to commit, and hopefully start grinding down these blocks of infantry. My shooting phase began with one of my Magma Cannons burning the Runelord to ash in a single shot, and that set the tone for one of the most horrific displays of violence I have ever witnessed in a game of Warhammer. The Fireglaives opened up, slapping through an uncharacteristically high number of wounds and mortal wounds, weakening the dwarfs for the imminent assault on their lines.

The Warhounds pushed up the flank, hoping to get a good dash at the Turn 3 objective, should it drop nearby. Before the Runelord's fiery demise, he'd managed to stop Daemonic Power from the Sorcerer Lord, so the K'Daai had to be content with Oracular Visions as they charged headlong into the Longbeards. Many of the grizzled veterans fell, despite re-rolls on their saves.

On the other side of the table, things were getting significantly more bloody.

The Taur'ruk and Skullcracker, knowing that they would never be able to outnumber the Warrior units, decided to go in anyway and try to chip down the units for an advantage later in the game. They both made long charges, and then went absolutely postal. The Taur'ruk pushed through four of his five axe attacks and a few plinks with his hoofs for fifteen dead dwarfs.

Then the Skullcracker took a swing at the forty Warriors. Both myself and Dion knew it was going to get messy when I rolled 22 for his 4D6 attacks, and it all spiralled from there for the Dispossessed. The towering war machine went on a bloody rampage, killing almost thirty Warriors in one activation.

But, they would surely hold strong. They're dwarfs, with a re-rollable battleshock check that is ignored on a 1-3. All three units, with their re-rolls, rolled nothing but 5's and 6's. The usually stalwart core of the Dispossessed army was swept aside in a bloody display of power! The 40-man Dwarf Warrior unit in the centre completely dissolved, the K'Daai were left fighting 4-5 Longbeards, and the Taur'ruk was busy hacking down survivors on the hill.

Including the Runelord, 84 Duardin met their end in my first turn.

To say that Dion and I were both completely stunned is putting it lightly...

At the start of Turn 2, the first objective landed next to the building in the centre of the board, just outside of control of the Skullcracker, and after what he'd done to the Warriors, his name was at the top of the Grudge list in bold font. The Ironbreakers and Hammerers both committed to the combat, to try and bring down the infernal construct,

As if to balance the luck from last turn, the Skullcracker only rolled six attacks this turn, but still managed to clobber a good number of the Ironbreakers. It took two full rounds of combat, and the rest of the Ironbreakers, but the Skullcracker finally fell at the hands of the Hammerers. He'd done his duty! 

Many of the combats continued in bloody fashion, with the Taur'ruk dispatching the last of the Warriors on the hill, and the K'Daai incinerating the Longbeards. 

In my turn two, the K'Daai continued on their bloody rampage, killing the Unforged and the Irondrakes, who had already suffered losses at the hands of the Magma Cannons. This signalled a catastrophic collapse of the Dwarven battle line, as the twenty Fireglaives pushed into the centre of the table, firing as they went into the Skullcracker's combat, preserving the machine as long as they could and eventually murdering the Hammerers after the Duardin had finally dispatched the Skullcracker. 

The game ended at the start of turn three, when Dion issued a challenge to my Taur'ruk to fight his Warden King in single combat. The King struck first, but his labour was in vain, as the hulking Dairy Queen shrugged off the damage before beheading the Dwarven lord and holding his head aloft in victory. 

This game caught everyone by surprise, purely based off the fact that so many models died so quickly. Between long charges, lucky Magma Cannon shots, horrendous battleshock checks and the luckiest Skullcracker War Engine in history, I managed to forge a massive advantage in the first turn, and dominate the battlefield from that point onward. It was a scenario where I think I had the advantage, both in my ranged firepower, and ability to move around the table and react at speed. 

I've played Dion several times before (most recently at RCGT last year), and he's always a blast to play, throwing plenty of insults and making many entries in the Book of Grudges. We had some great back and forth regarding the battle between ancient foes, but the Legion of Azgorh rose to the challenge on this day, with a bloody and decisive victory!

This left me with two major wins and maximum kill points going into my third game, propelling me to Table 1; not somewhere I'm entirely familiar with, but absolutely stoked to be there. It also put me into the top bracket full of armies that were no joke. From here on in, it was going to be tougher and tougher if I wanted to do well! 

Check back in soon for my third game against Sylvaneth! 

If you enjoy these articles, be sure to like and follow the Rune Axe Wargaming Facebook page for regular, weekly content! 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe

#144: RCGT Game 2 - Maggotkin of Nurgle Vs. Dispossessed 2500pts - Focal Points

Coming off a big (and frankly, downright lucky) win in Game One, I really had no idea where I would land when it came to opponents. As it happened, I ended up facing Dion with his Dispossessed horde.

Allegiance: Order
Realm: Ghur

Warden King (General, Anraheir's Claw)
Runelord (Gryph-Feather Charm)
Runelord
Unforged
40 Warriors
30 Warriors
10 Warriors
30 Longbeards
20 Hammerers
20 Ironbreakers
10 Irondrakes
3 Skywardens
3 Skywardens
Grudgebound War Throng (Warscroll Battalion)

The first thing that stands out about this list is the sheer volume of models on the table. With 160+ models in his army, my biggest concern was that we just weren't going to get through our game. We had a really good discussion at the start of the game regarding time management and Dion assured me that he played fast with the army. To my delight, that's exactly what he did. He had movement trays for the larger units, he was decisive with his tactical decisions and he knew the warscrolls inside out; all key elements to playing a smooth and concise game with a horde army.

While I was having dreams about playing this list in Three Places of Arcane Power, which would have leaned heavily in my favour, the mission was Focal Points. With so many high-armour bodies, I was going to have to be quick on my feet!

Knowing full well that I was going to be outdropped, I went with my kneejerk reaction and hid everything behind a wall of Plaguebearers. In hindsight, this was probably a tad over-cautious, as the only thing in my opponent's army that could hit me early were the two flanking units of Skywardens. But the scenario is all about numbers, and I wanted those hard-to-shift bodies up front to flood objectives. My Lord of Afflictions with the Witherstave was nice and central, and the GUO was carefully placed so as to give both Plaguebearer units, the Blight Kings and the Pusgoyles extra movement from his Doomsday Bell. Festus parked on my bottom objective, knowing full well that his spell would be vital in getting through the resilient armour of the duardin. 

Unsurprisingly, my opponent took first turn in hopes of getting onto the objectives before me, but even with the first moves, their short little legs only just got them onto the central objective. At the top of the table, a unit of thirty warriors got onto the objective in the woods, while on the left side, Ironbreakers planted themselves on the objective at the foot of the hill, shielded by the Unforged and Hammerers, who got the available buff from the Runelord nearby. Irondrakes held up rear of his centre line, moving into a position to fire on anyone who got too close. Having taken next to no casualties in turn one, I struck back, and hard. With the exception of the Blight Kings, I pushed up with absolutely everything. The centre (cream-coloured) Plaguebearers, buffed by the Lord of Blights, lurched forward, intent on pushing bodies onto the central objective. My opponent had left a little too much space in front of him, and I was sure I could get Plaguebearers between him and the objective. 

The Pusgoyles had a similar idea. Launching around my right flank, and using the Gnarlmaw for some added speed, they circled the ruins and slammed into the exposed flank of the Warriors. The GUO had used his command ability on the Pusgoyles to give each profile an extra attack, and the Lord of Afflictions was close enough to give them re-roll 1s to hit. Caught between the anvil of -2 To Hit Plaguebearers and some very aggressive flies, the Warriors began to melt. I managed to kill enough to claim the objective, but there were still so... many... dwarfs. 

Seeing a golden opportunity, I launched the Jabberslythe over my army on my left side, and straight into the front of the Hammerers. In a stroke of perfect luck, the Jabberslythe survived on a single wound, meaning that they were still locked in combat with the horrifying monstrosity, but that it caused maximum damage with its Bile Blood. Nine Hammerers were dissolved inside their armour as a result of the damage they had inflicted. Perfect! 

Scoring the cheeky double turn going into turn two, I was keen to keep momentum in my favour. I utilised my very healthy Contagion Point bank to summon a second tree, as well as five Plaguebearers on my back objective, which left the Blight Kings free to go punch on with things. Thanks to the Bell and the tree, they raced across the open ground to hit the three Skywardens threatening my flank. With any luck, I was hoping to draw the Unforged and Hammerers away from my lines, and killing units that would have no real impact on the scoreboard. The Hammerers finally took the last wound off the Jabber, with minimal repercussions. 

At the top of the table, the Skywardens found themselves trapped in a combat that they had no hopes of winning, against a horde of Plaguebearers that, every time they took casualties, would grow them back with a cheeky one on the Battleshock test. Every... single... time...

The other Jabber, seeing what stellar success his comrade had had, decided to barrel toward the Dwarfs and fail a charge. But the real action was in the middle of the table. 

The Pusgoyles, not content with slicing and dicing Warriors, used a sly pile-in to drag the Warden King and Irondrakes into combat with them. With their lack of rend, the Blightlords all but ignored the Warden King, and instead divided their attacks between the Irondrakes and the surviving Warriors, inflicting horrific casualties on both! The scales of battle were tipping in my favour, as I solidified a lead on the scoreboard. 

In a "Just As Planned" moment, my opponent took the bait and sent the Hammerers and Unforged after my Blight Kings. While the Unforged's little legs couldn't quite make the charge he needed, the Hammerers went in and delivered some grudge-settling, splatting Kings left and right, leaving one alive on two wounds. Before they died, though, they did manage to dent the Skywardens. But with them now dead, and the Plaguebearers otherwise indisposed, my back objective was looking awfully weak, and if my opponent could claim it, even for a turn, I was going to be in a real pickle. 

But I had one more trick up my sleeve. My Great Unclean One and Festus managed to draw out both unbind attempts from the Runelords with obviously potent spells, like Curse of the Leper. After successfully shutting them down, Dion found himself in a real spot of bother when the GUO cast Soulsnare shackles with no opposition. The impact was crippling, slowing all the threats to a snail's pace, as well as dishing out some sneaky mortal wounds here and there. 

At the top of the table, things were not going well for my opponent either. Having absolutely butchered their way through a full unit of Warriors and the Irondrakes, the Pusgoyles continued their path of destruction north, tagging another unit of Warriors in tandem with the Jabberslythe. This also pinned the Duardin between two units, stopping them from maximising their output thanks to awkward pile-ins in two different directions. 

As time on the clock ran out, it was apparent to both of us that I'd managed to take a commanding scoreboard lead, and that my position on the battlefield was firm. I'd managed to land another major win, and actually get a sizeable chunk of kill points out of it too! 

The game as a whole was great! We had a few laughs, and I was pleased with how fast my opponent played, considering the army. I think he was a little bit stand-offish with a few of his backline units. You can see in the photo that there was a whole unit in the backfield that never really entered the conflict. I think they would have been well used to either reinforce the top objective or push on the centre if only for a turn to take the objective out of my hands. Once my Plaguebearers got onto that centre objective, I made them as difficult as possible to shift, with their Locus, Witherstave and the Lord of Blights all contributing to their tenacious manner. 

I think baiting the Hammerers away with the Blight Kings saved Festus and his objective, as there would have been little I could do to stop him from getting his bloated head caved in. And I think the Pusgoyles had a dream game, just butchering whatever came within arms reach! They ended up killing 700 points worth of my opponent's army, practically on their own. Standout unit of the game. 

All in all, the army did what it was designed to do. Get onto objectives and never leave. But being on two major wins now, with both offering up plenty of kill points, I found myself going into round three on Table One!

Check in for game three soon! 

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#112: Masters Class 17 - Dan Saye (Dispossessed) Interview

I present to you my interview with Dan Saye, the man with more passion for beards than anyone I've ever met! Naturally, he's playing the beardiest army of them all; Dispossessed.

Allegiance: Dispossessed

Warden King (General, Grudgebearer)
Warden King
Runelord (Ancestral Pickaxe)
Celestant-Prime (Ally)

10 Longbeards (Great Axes and Shields)
10 Longbeards (Great Axes and Shields)
40 Warriors (Runic Icon, Double-handed Axes and Shields)
30 Ironbreakers
20 Irondrakes

Dan: So, what's in my list? I wasn't able to confirm that I was going the night before I had to send lists in, and I'd mucked around with a list. And then I was like, "This seems like an OK thing", because I'd been working on a Gutbuster army for Cancon next year, and then I was just gonna take the same list I took to MOAB. But I thought I'd change it up. 

Gabe: Ok, let's kick this off. Was Dispossessed what got you to Masters?

D: I literally only played Dispossessed. I mean, I played them from Cancon until now, and took them to pretty much every event I went to. 

G: You weren't ever tempted to go… I mean, I know you love beards. You weren't ever tempted to go Fyreslayers or Overlords?

D: I have a small Fyreslayers army and a gigantic Overlords army. But, but I dunno, I really like the Dispossessed. The other two are fun to play but I just love the Dispossessed. 

G: So, it's a very "Dwarf" problem to somehow control the board in movement. Is that a big issue for you?

D: Yes. So, that's why "pre-GHB17", I always took Bugman and Rangers. Or Miners. Or both. Because having something that can pop up is really important. GHB17 was really good in a number of ways for Dwarves, especially the Ancestral Pickaxe, which is pretty much the best artefact ever. Being able to drop a Hero and a unit means that I don't have to take rangers or miners. I can take maybe a stronger unit, which usually ends up being the Irondrakes because it pops up and blasts something into oblivion. Or a big unit of Warriors. People usually expect the Irondrakes, so when a unit of forty dwarfs pops up on an objective, it's like, "Come and have a go!".

G: Do you think the introduction of things like the Pickaxe, offset the loss of all the compendium units that have dissolved into the void?

D: Yes. Umm, I used to play with Grudge Throwers and Bolt Throwers, because I thought they were awesome and I loved the models. So, I was disappointed to lose those into the compendium. But at the same time, as much as I disliked losing it, I was excited for everything that I gain. Kinda like, "Ah yeah, that sucks", but I came at it with the attitude that I was lucky to have used that stuff for as long as I did. I had a good run. GHB17 came out in time for MOAB, so I got to get in a good spin with the dwarfs. The only problem is I will always be out-dropped now, because Dispossessed used to have an amazing Warscroll Battalion that is now redundant. 

G: The unit of Ironbreakers. Is there a reason…

D: They're cheaper. I used to run two units of ten and they were a pain for my opponents to shift. Then, I ran one unit of twenty, and they were awful for my opponents to shift. Then I ran a unit of thirty at MOAB, and no one killed it. They're brutal. They ignore rend -1, re-roll armour saves, passing battleshock on 1-3, and then the Runic Icon on their banner is just annoying for opponent's magic. At MOAB, I played against a Tzeentch list, and it was an awesome game. But across my game, I stopped five spells out of six, to the point where he just stopped casting at them, because there was no point. My little banner wavers were exhausted by the end of it, just screaming "No magic for you!". But yeah, that blob gets an 80 point discount for running full strength, where a lot are only giving 40 to 60 points off. 

G: And twenty Irondrakes? You didn't want to go two units of ten?

D: No, only because if I choose to use them with the Pickaxe, I can take all twenty with me. As well as that, I think people expect the twenty Irondrakes to be tunnelling, and of the seven games I've played post-GHB17, they've only gone tunnelling three times. A lot of opponents set up in preparation for Irondrakes to be the pop-up element, and sometimes deploy very conservatively. So, when a close combat unit like the Warriors or Breakers pops up instead, it catches them on the back foot. Irondrakes pop up and kill something, but they inevitably die. I can sack that unit and maybe a few others with it, but if a unit of Ironbreakers pops up, they spend the rest of the game, just not going anywhere. In scenarios such as Duality of Death, it means I can pop up a hero on an objective surrounded by a shield wall of near-impenetrable armour. 

G: So, at no point did you write up a list for one of the other Dwarf armies you own and consider dropping it in?

D: What other army is.. Well, no, I would have considered taking another bearded army, but Dispossessed got me there, so it's the Year of the Beard. And there's this big joke that I only play bearded armies. 

G: Yeah, I know a lot of the guys I've interviewed so far are kind of taking the armies that got them to Masters, as a bit of a poetic end to the year, I guess. There's a couple that are mixing it up, but a lot are sticking to what they owe Masters to. 

D: And I actually think that's how Masters should be. Take the list that got you there. That's my plan at least. 

G: Good stuff. And how about your decision to ally in the Prime? Was that an easy decision?

D: Not at all. That Prime used to be thirty Quarrellers, which is sixty shots a turn. You can buff them up and kick out a horrific amount of damage. But I went with the Prime, because not only does he give me another movement option when dropping in, but it keeps my opponent guessing about when and where he's gonna enter the game. Say you've got that big unit of Breakers or Drakes popping up, you can bring the Prime in to support them, or split threats and drop on the other side of the board. I used to have a Knight Heraldor in the list, but I think the Prime offers a lot more flexibility and Mortal Wound output. I did have to rejig the list a lot to fit him in without losing too many bodies. 

G: And leading into Masters, is there an Achilles Heel, that you don't want to face? 

D: Realistically, my army struggles with armies that are fast. One of my big losses has been against Seraphon, and on Turn One, they had pinned me on my deployment line, and I couldn't move forward. So yeah, fast armies, only because they don't really need to pin me down for very long to stop me from having the turns to get where I need to be. The thing is, I have the Rend and the damage to break it, but if an army has speed and enough disposable units to block my movement, then I can't move fast enough to get onto objectives. That's kind of the reason the Prime is in there, just in case someone is able to beat off the unit of dwarfs. Then a big ol' Prime is dropping in on them. So, I'm converting a White-Dwarf-crewed Mech Warrior to be my Prime, because I refuse to field beardless models. 

G: Is that going to be fully painted by Masters?

D: It'll have to be! I got three weeks. I was planning on using all eleven weeks leading into CanCon for my Gutbusters, but it wasn't to be. I'm very keen for CanCon as well! Masters will be fun. The one drawback for Masters for me is that its going to be the majority of people who have been playing the tournament circuit for the last year, so there's not really going to be any surprises. In the same way that I'm not going to be surprising anyone with Dwarfs. And like, Liam has played Sylvaneth the whole time, so he'll be playing Sylvaneth. Its very predictable. The Masters that I'm looking forward to is wrapping up the year, and having some fun with the boys. It's been a pretty crazy year for competitive gaming, and I'm kind of looking forward to getting through Masters, and then mucking around with silly, little Gutbuster lists. 

G: Leading into Master's, do you have a personal goal? 

D: I'd love to win three. I'm expecting to get two. I play a second tier army very well, because they're all I've played, but I keep needing to create surprises for people. When I play Sylvaneth once, and they watch me delete a Spirit of Durthu, they don't make that mistake again. Going up against the best players in the country, I think two, but I'd love three. But I also know that everyone there has either played me or seen me play, and as soon as people figure out the army, it's very easy to counter all of those little abilities. So, umm, so that'll be a trick. The other problem is that my army has a lot of tricks up its sleeve, but I usually need to use all of them to win. 

G: So, you kind of have to scrape all those one percents. 

D: Yeah, like, I never win games before turn five. I think I've won a single game before turn five. I don't win early, I win late. It's not like I use one or two of my tricks and it works, I have to use every trick I have and then cross my fingers and hope it's enough. I know it's like 50% Order, but I'd love to play something other than Order.

G: If you had five bucks on it, but who are you betting on to win?

D: If I had to put five bucks on it, I'd vote for me. If you don't have a good tip, go for good odds, and I'm like 100:1 to win this thing. But if I had to pick someone else; Dan Brewer has been a Bridesmaid, never a bride. I'd love to see him up there, because he's very good at what he plays. I think a lot of people will just take a net list, which is fair enough because it's obviously super-competitive, but I'd love to see an unconventional, unoptimised list thats played incredibly well. But then it all comes down to the draw as well. Players #1 and #2 could play each other in the first round and knock each other out of contention with a bad result, you know? It's hard to call, but ultimately I'll go me. Only because no one else is playing Dwarfs and for that reason, they're garbage. If you don't have a beard, you're naturally inferior to people who do have beards. People message me to tell me that half of their army have beards, and I'm like "That's like telling me that half of your army brought weapons to the battle. Good for you, haha." Then, as of next season, if you're not horribly overweight, you're not doing it right. 

G: Pot bellies or go home.

D: Yeah, but my favourite thing about the scene, is seeing all of these left-field lists starting to emerge and do well. Ones you don't hear about on Podcasts and stuff, just cool home-brew lists that people have put tons of thought into constructing and playing. Seeing Liam's FEC, Dan's Skaven, there's so many people I'm not giving credit to. Ash making Gordrakk work in his Ironjaws army. I love to see non-standard, non-"competitive" lists do well. I don't mind who wins, I just want to see a non-standard, non-netlist one do well. 

G: Cos I know that was part of my inspiration for doing Pestilens is that no one else was playing them. They had a Battletome and they had enough support at the time to at least die fighting, but they just weren't even on the radar. I was talking to Brewer a bit, and it sounds like he might be trying out Pestilens next year, but my goal next year, I was like "I want to be the best Pestilens Player in Australia." How hard, could that be, right? I'm like the only one playing them. I could come in at 80th next year and still probably nab Best in Allegiance. Then I get a message from Brewer, and he says "Hey man, I'm playing Pestilens next year." and I'm like "Dammit", haha.

D: See, I'm the top Dispossessed play, but I think I'm also the only Dispossessed player. 

G: Exactly, it's fool-proof! 

D: My goal next year will be to be the best Gutbusters player next year, but we'll see how that goes. I'm running lots of Maneaters! The models are amazing. Will you be at CanCon?

G: Not sure yet. I'm currently... negotiating terms. I would love to, but we'll see. I'm sure it'll sell out, because a lot of people haven't signed up yet. Did you have anything else you wanted to add?

D: BEARDS!!

G: Ha, I guess that wraps it up, then.

D: Grow a beard!