012 Ogres V Orcs & Goblins - Battle for the Pass

So managed to get down to Games Workshop today nice and early and managed to get a game in against my regular arch-nemesis (see: best mate who always beats me!). He'd brought an O&G list down which was slightly altered to the one I faced last time - no Warmachines!

We rolled up and got Battle for The Pass which i usually really dislike but as i'm testing out a new Ogre list then anythings game really!

Deployment

Ogres
 From left to right i have 4 Mournfang (like usual) with Heavy armour, Ironfists and the Dragonhide Banner. 2 Ironblasters are on the hill at the back. 2 Sabertusks are as far forward as possible - critically, more than 6" away from any other unit! These have one purpose only in this game - kill the damn Manglers! (in my last game I learnt the hard way what they do, when I charged my Mournfang into them....didn't have no Mournfang after that!...sad times!)

A unit of 12 Ironguts with Full command and the Wailing Banner house my Slaughtermaster, Butcher and BSB. The Slaughtermaster is  L4 with Heavens, Crown of Command and Dragonbane Gem. The Butcher is a L2 with Maw and a dispel scroll. The BSB has only got the Banner of Eternal Flame.


I've been fancying Heavens for a while and think that the buffs can really help a shooting army and the hexes can really make up for ogres having crap WS!

A unit of 5 Leadbelchers sets up in a Wizards Tower on the right flank with another unit of 5 to the right of it!

Orcs
From left to right: An Orc Boar Chariot, Mangler Squig and Snotling Pump Wagon load up his right flank. A horde of 40 Night Goblin Archers contain his goblin BSB with the Poison Banner and a L4 Goblin Shaman.

Behind these is a unit of 24 Black Orcs, 6 wide and a unit of 24 Savage Orcs, also 6 wide and containing his Orc Warchief and Level 4 Orc Shaman.

On his left flank, a Chariot hides behind a building. Then an Arachnarok lines up behind a mangler squig and 2 units of 5 Wolf Riders.

Spells
I cant quite recall which i was missing but i was within the Wizards tower the whole time so essentially have Loremaster of Heavens and Maw!

He had spells...he only got to cast Foot of Gork.


Ogre - Turn 1

The Leadbelchers move out of the building to enable them to shoot whilst the other group move slightly forwards to get the back row firing.
I move the Ironblasters forward after realising they only have a range of 36"

In the magic phase i get Harmonic Convergence bubble through and comet is dispelled. I manage to get Bonecrusher off on his Wolf Rider squad, wiping them all out and forcing the Chariot to flee off the board!

In the shooting phase, my leadbelchers kill the mangler stick a wound on the other unit of wolf riders.
The Ironblasters then hit the Arachnarok and cause a single wound!

The Sabretusk breathes a sigh of relief as its apparent suicide mission is no longer there!

Orcs - Turn 1

The Arachnarok and wolf riders move towards the Leadbelchers and i'm getting a bit nervous - i need a good shooting round next turn again or that will mince those units! (Still hating on poison here!)
On his other side, he moves everything up and i'm bemused to see that his Savage Orc squad is being hindered by his desire to allow his archers to shoot the Sabertusk!

The magic phase sees me using my dispel scroll when he tried to "Foot of Gork" my Irongut unit! Nothing else happens as i wither dispel or he fails to cast.

In the shooting phase, he kills my Kitty and i'm left thinking "21 pts to stall his entire army for a turn - oh. hell. yes!"

Ogres - Turn 2

 The Leadbelchers daringly move closer to the Arachnarok to enable them to hit on 4's.
The Ironblaster move so that they can kill the Arachnarok but also see other viable targets if it goes down quicker than expected.

In the Magic phase, he dispell scrolls my bubble casting of Harmonic Convergence. I then IF Curse of the midnight wind on his arachnarok just in case i fail to kill it and it charges - gets rid of poison at least!

In the shooting phase, i fire an Ironblaster first doing 3 wounds. The first leadbelchers open up hoping to take that last 3 off it and only manage 2 wounds. The next unit of Leadbelchers then finish it off causing the wolf riders to flee.
The 2nd Ironblaster then kills the Snotling Pump Wagon and goes through and kills a single Black Orc.

My opponent is shaking his head in a combination of frustration, anger and ...other stuff at this point!

Orcs - Turn 2

The Wolf Riders rally and hang back.

Everything else muddles forward a bit - ill take this again. Look like kitty-pin-cusion again!

In the magic phase, the only thing of note was he got Foot of Gork (but quite possibly - it may have been Mork!) on my Ironblaster. It does 3 wounds and then just to add more despair on my opponents day, he rolls a 1 and i place it lovingly on his Orc Shaman's head! He passes his Look out Sir! roll but 5 Savage Orcs aren't so lucky!

Predictably, my kitty doesn't make it out of the Shooting Phase!

Ogres - Turn 3

I move the Leadbelchers round to start shooting his Wolf Riders then start work on his Savage Orcs. Sensing no real reason to keep my Ironguts out in the open, i move them into the wizards tower. I have about 1200 pts in this unit currently, if he wants it he's going to have to come over this side everntually which should give me a turn or two of shooting them and trying to comet them! At this point my Leadbelchers are totally expendable!

In the Magic phase i fail to do pretty much everything - no comet again!

In the shooting phase, my unit of Leadbelchers kill his Wolf Riders which panics his horde of Night Goblin Archers. the roll 11 and bounce through his units and off the table. Lucky for him they're both Immune to Psychology! My opponent wanted to call it here but since i've lost to him the last, i dunno, 20 games, i took the time to Ironblaster his Mangler and last Chariot off the board before (not so) graciously accepted his defeat!

Result: Ogre Victory!


Afterthoughts
Well, its hard to judge a list off one game. My mate reckons this list is filth and that Leadbelchers are overpowered! My view is - no. I didn't have the Runemaw Banner on my Ironguts - it wasn't even a true Horde (had em 5 by 3). I didn't have the Hellheart either!

I think this game was won by Deployment! He allowed me to have 2 units of Leadbelchers shoot all his chaff and support units and by wanting to shoot his horde, blocked the 2 units i wanted to avoid all game (BlOrcs and SOrcs) behind them!

I've certainly never won a game of Warhammer before without a single close combat being fought! I only lost 42pts of disposable Sabertusks too!

I think i deployed well and my tactics were sound; Don't engage the Savage orcs or Black Orcs until absolutely necessary, Order of shooting: Manglers, Arachnarok, Pump Wagon, Chariots and Try and use magic as much as possible to hold him up

Which leads me to Heavens. I think that when i use Maw, because of the buffs to Strength and Toughness along with regen and Stubborn, i always rush forward think i need to be in combat ASAP to get the most out of it!

Heavens on the other hand, by nature of having movement controlling spells and magic missles, allows me to sit back and pop a few units off before the brunt arrives.

It will be interesting to see how this list fares in a standard game!

011 Ogres V Lizardmen - 2400 Pitched Battle

So managed to get a game in against my mates Lizardmen yesterday. Pitched battle, 2400pts and he'd re-written his previous list, dropping the Steg and a few Skink Priests in favour of a crap load of Skirmishing skinks

When i saw the sheer amount of poison shots i thought this was gonna be a short game!

Deployment

Lizardmen (from Left to right)
10 Skink Skirmishers with another 10 in the wood. Outside the wood, he has a Salamander, another 10 Skinks skirmishing, the first of 3 20 strong Saurus units and another Salamander.

He then has a BSB with an Enchanted Shield in the second Saurus units and then another Saurus unit.

Behind all this is his unit of 20 Temple Guard containing his L4 Life Slann. The Slann ends up having Loremaster, Ethereal, the "no 6's within 18"" one and the "i get an extra dice on every cast one"

On his left flank is two more units of 10 Skink Skirmishers and a unit of 5 Cold Ones.

Ogres (Left to Right)
Ironblaster behind some walls and next to an (unused) Elven Waystone.

The Mournfang with the Dragonhide Banner line up followed by 10 Gnoblar Trappers. Behind these are a Sabertusk and a Thundertusk.

A big unit of Ogres with the Firebelly (with Hellheart) line up infront of the Ironguts which contain the Slaughtermaster (L4 Maw with Glittering Scales, Fencer's Blades and Rockeye) and BSB (with Enchanted Shield and Talisman of Protection).

On the right flank is 4 Leadbelchers, 10 Gnoblars and another Sabertusk!

Despite finishing first, i fluff the roll for first turn...this is gonna hurt!

Spells
Slann (Life) has Loremaster
L4 (Maw): Bonecrusher (2D6 S2 no AS), +1T buff, Panic test, Trollguts (Regen)
L2 (Fire): Fireball and Flame Cage

Lizardman - Turn 1

Lizardman player pretty much moves everything up. Skink Skirmisher 3 take a wound to Dangerous Terrain and SS5 lose 2 to the venom thicket!

Magic: 11/6
Throne of Vines cast. Flesh to Stone Cast on Saurus(2) unit. Shield of Thirns cast on Salamander (2). Oh and the Sorcerous Portal Fireballs an entire Leadbelcher off the table!

Shooting:
Both Salamanders shoot at my Mournfang Cavalry but fail to cause a wound! With everything else being out of range, i escape a turn of venomous shooting!

Ogre - Turn 1

The Ironblaster charges the Salamander(1) and the Mournfang charge the Salamander(2). With his S2 saurus unit buffed to high heavens i'm ignoring it! There's no way i'm taking it on yet! He may be able to cast a lot of spells but he can't get every unit buffed right?

The IB's Salamander flees, through the Skirmishers behind  but they hold their ground (Damn cold blooded!). The Mournfang make it in!

Magic: 6/3 > 7/3
First, the sorcerous portal rusts the Leadbelchers light armour away!
The Firebelly attempts a mid level fireball at the Saurus to soften them up but it's dispelled with authority!
The Slaughtermaster then casts Trollguts (bubble version) with IF (9), causing a wound on himself and one on the Firebelly!
The Regen does save the Mournfang from Shield of Thirns damage though!

Shooting:
I forgot to fire the bloody Thundertusk (the problem of playing with just a base until i figure out what i want it to be - i forget it's there!)
The Leadbelchers roll abysmally and fail to do anything on the  Cold One's

Combat:
The Mournfang easily beat the Salamander and only overrun 7"...they needed like, 8-9 to get into the Saurus! Gutted! Despite how the pic looks, they wouldn't have clipped the skirmishers!

Lizardmen - Turn 2

Brutal Combat turn!

The Saurus my MFC had almost reached charged which i tool, His S2 saurus unit then charged the Trappers which i was cool with - they lost 4! The S1 Saurus unit charged the Sabertusk again i'm fine with! The Cold Ones charged teh Sabertusk which was fine - i just needed a good turn of shooting with the Leadbelchers and they'd die quick! What i wasn't expecting was being flank charged by the Slaan's Temple Guard. The pic doesn't make it look like a flank was possible but it was - and because his S2 Saurus unit was in the way at the start of the turn i didn't even realise i was in danger! In hindsight i should have flee'd! Doh!

Magic: 3/2
Thank god - a crap winds roll - and i needed it.
My Firebelly was just in range of his Slaan and so i popped the Hellheart needing a 3.....and got a 2! Gutted! Really could've done with him blowing up some of them temple guard!
As it goes, that stupid ability to add a die to each cast meant he could play with more spells than someone should be able to with 3 bloomin dice!
I used my dice to dispel ToV. This meant he had to use dice to recast it leaving him with enough to cast the enhanced Flesh to Stone on the S2 Saurus unit (clearly hoping they'd overrun into the Ironguts!)
Oh and the Leaddies took a soulblight on the chin from the portal.../sigh!

Shooting:The Leadbelchers take 2 more wounds courtesy of blowdarts, losing another of their number! The Ironblaster shares a similar fate, taking 3 wounds as the poison erm...gets in the eye of the Ogre...and really REALLY annoys him?? (Damn poison!!!)

Combat:Cold Ones take a wound from the kitty before eating it and reforming!
The Mournfang unleash the Dragonhide banner on the saurus unit and between that, stomps, ogres and rhinox, manage a total of 5 measley wounds! In return, they take 4 but lose on res and get cuts down by both units eager to pursue their prize!
The S2 Saurus unit, having lost 4 to trappers only kill 3 Gnoblars in combat!!! Regen baby - i lol'd!
The S1 Saurus unit didn't have any better luck! They take a wound from the kitty and can't do anything back! The Kitty shuffles down to make way for the next turn charge!

Ogres - Turn 2

The Firebellies' Ogres charge the S1 Saurus unit (gotta get points from somewhere!). The Thundertusk (i'd placed an elf on top so i remembered it was there!) manouvered to support the Ironguts in anticipation of the Gnoblars getting cut down!

Magic: 8/7
Portal belches another Soulblight on the Leaddies again...
Fulminating Flame Cage was allowed through on the Temple Guard in anticipation of me bubble casting Trollguts again. does 1 wound initially.
...i then fail to cast the damn thing! gutted!

Shooting:Leaddies kill a cold one. The Thundertusk harpoons a Temple Guard and through some clever talking from my opponent - i got sidetracked and forgot to fire the bloody stone thrower...AGAIN!!! GRR!!!
The Ironblaster - in hindsight, should have grapeshotted one of the skirmish units surrounding it in the hopes of panicking them - instead i got giddy at the thought of Cannonballing the Slaan and shot the Temple Guard instead - it was at this point that i found out the damn Slaan was ALSO Ethereal! Grr! - one dead temple guard!

Combat:Ogres  get a massive charge off so kill 5 Saurus from impact hits alone! 9 more wounds combined from the Firebelly and the unit make for a pretty good start - i used the breath weapon! In return, the Firebelly takes 2 wounds, the unit takes 2 and the sabertusk takes 1. The Lizzies flee and the Sabertusk overruns and catches them while the Firebelly and his squad reform to face the BSB's saurus unit!

The S2 Saurus unit kill the trappers and reform facing the Ironguts!

Lizardmen - Turn 3

The S2 Saurus with the BSB charge the Ironguts - i'm liking this cause with the Thundertusks ASF aura, they'll be striking at the same time as the Ironguts. The Slaughtermaster and BSB will still get to strike first essentially!
The Tomb Guard quick reform and take the hits from Flame Cage - losing 6! Nice! The Saurus charge the Ironguts! The Cold one charge the Gnoblars.

It has to be said at this point that we were running short on time and so decisions were being made rather rashly!

Magic: 5/4 > 5/5
I dispelled ToV again. He cast it again...Flesh to stone was dispelled. Shield of Thorns cast on the Saurus - does 2 wounds on the Ironguts!

Shooting:A crap load of poison shots on the Ogres takes 7 wounds off them! The Ironblaster is left a pile of wood...and poison!

Combat:The Ogre BSB kills 2, the Ironguts 5. in return, the Slaughtermaster takes a wound as do the Ironguts. I'd put all the attacks on the unit expecting his BSB to have all kinds of 1+ re-rollable - i wish i'd gone fo rthe BSB as the damn things held fast!
The Cold Ones kill the gnoblars and reform to face the Leadies.

Ogres - Turn 3

I try to dual charge (in desperation) the Thundertusk and Firebellies' Ogre unit into the Temple Guard. Only the Thundertusk makes it...the Ogres dont though!

Magic: 5/3
Trollguts bubble cast with IF. the Slaughtermaster takes a wound from the Miscast (9)

Combat:The Ironguts only manage 3 wounds on the saurus for no loss but the damn things hold again thanks to re-rollable cold blooded! Grrr!
Next, i was dismayed to find out that the Thundertusk doesn't have any impact hits!? It does one wound on the Halberd weilding Temple Guard before being hacked to pieces! - really needed that double charge!

Lizardmen - Turn 4

Right. At this point, my missus' was ringing wondering where the hell i was and wondering why i wasn't home, getting ready to go out for our one month wedding anniversary! Eeep! We hastily agreed to play VERY rash and very quick!

As such, my opponent charged his Temple Guard Slann unit into my Firebellies' Ogre unit. Without the rush, he would have no doubt sat them back and regrowth'd them for a few turns whilst dealing out poison death to my ogre blocks!

Magic: 8/5
Once again, i dispelled ToV...Once again, he re-cast it. I'm doing this because its eaier to dispell it on the base value than play against higher rolls. He unfortunately had the extra dice with every ast and so threw so many dice i couldn't keep up! He got Flesh to Stone and Regrowth on the Temple Guard.

Shooting:The Leadbelchers finally succumb to poisonous death!

Combat:The Ironguts wipe out the Saurus unit except the damn BSB - who holds on god damn snake eyes! My only hope was that the Ironguts could overrun into the flank of the Temple Guard!
Speaking of; the Temple Guard do 5 wounds in total, including killing the Firebelly. The Ogres did 6 wounds back....until we realised we'd forggotten about Flesh to stone...and now my missus was REALLY mad...so we decided that i was probably wise to throw in the towel!

Afterthoughts and Reflections
That Slaan is a bitch! I can see why tournaments ban the fucker from having all those toys as you're just powerless to stop him from casting 2-3 spells a turn min and with Life, the inbuilt danger of too many spells (thus higher chance of miscasting) is negated by the Throne!

There's an interesting topic on Warhammer Forum about why Special Characters are banned and things like this are considered sound and i gotta admit - that git is one special character!

I still think pound for pound i did better than i expected. i really thought i'd be shot to death quicker than i was! At 70 pts, i'm not really for going after them units with anything as they're not worth it and i was always wary of the Stand and shoot!

The Saurus aren't all that and it was only the life buffs and the insane Cold Blooded rolling he got off in this game that let them hang around that long!

I didn't mention that his Temple Guard had the Flaming banner - that relaly dicked on my parade with the regen bubble buff!

I really overestimated Salamanders (see: forgot) and thought they were S5 when in fact they're S3 (-3AS)...which makes them significantly less threatening! Probably wouldn't have made them a target priority in early game!


Either way it was a good game - leanrt lots about my list! Thundertusk is on the chopping block and i've not even built the damn thing yet! (still a cool model!)

010 - High Elves Vs Tomb Kings 2400pt Pitched Battle

Hi again,

I've been really hankerin' for a Tomb Kings army lately. I can't quite explain why but its probably an amalgamation of the following:

1) The models are cool
2) "Teh Internetz" says they're crap and being British i can't quite help but root for the underdog
3) I'm crap, so they make a perfectly good cover-up of my poor generalship if 2) is true!

But mainly i love the models and some of the rules.

So, i drew up a 2400pts army, and since my work filter bans the Tomb Kings of Khemri forum - presumably filed under "necromancy", i haven't had anyone look over it yet! Howeverm before I ran out and spent £307 on it (+what is an as yet unknown Heirotitan model), i thought i'd do a proxy battle with it against my recently new(ish) High Elf "Metal Mage" list.

So:

Deployment

High Elves: (from your left to right)
3 Eagles line up infornt of a hill facing a Bane Stone in no-mans land. To their left, a 20 strong unit of Pheonix Guard with the Banner of Sorcery. The BSB is in this unit and is tooled up to survive with wards and all.

In the centre, is a unit of 20 archers which house the Level 4 Metal Mage with the Annulian Crystal, a unit of 10 Archers and a Repeater Bolt Thrower. These three units are perched rather handily on an Anvil of Doom (flaming and magical attacks for those not in the know!).

To the left of this is a 21 man strong Swordmaster unit with the Bannr of Swiftness and the last Eagle.

On the High Elf left flank is a unit of 25 Spears housing a L1 Beasts mage with a scroll and a unit of Dragon Princes. In front of the spears is a Sinister Statue.

Tomb Kings (Left to right)
A unit of Horse archers hide behind a house. 6 Chariots in 2 ranks squeeze inbetween the house and some Arcane Ruins.

To the right of the ruins is a unit of 20 Skeleton Archers whic house the L4 Liche Priest (also the Heirophant) with a scroll and the Talisman of Protection. Behind this unit is the Heirotitan. On the hill are 2 Screaming Skull Catapults, upgraded with Skulls of the Foe which means any unsaved wounds cause a panic test at -1Ld.

To the right of the hill is a Casket of Souls and a30 strong unit of Tomb Guard which have the Banner of the Undying Legion. This unit also contains the Tomb Prince with the Blade of Antarhok and a Tomb Herald BSB with the Armour of Destiny.

On the right flank is a unit of 3 NecroKnights and a small unit of 10 archers.

Spells:
Level 4 (Metal): Enchanted Blades, Glittering Robe, Transmutation of Lead, Final Transmutation.
Level 1 (Beasts): Wyssans Wildform
Level 4 (Nehekhara): Incantation of Cursed Blades (gives Killing Blow), Nemi's Incantation (5++ ward), Righteous Smiting (+1A) and Incantation of Desication (-1S and -1T)

High Elf - Turn 1

Everything moves forward. Eagles to hopefully hinder the Tomb Kings shooting long enough for me to get in combat. By swarming my right flank i'm hoping one or two will break past and be able to get to the SSC's. I figure with 2 SSC's and good magic coming at me, i should get in combat ASAP with this particular list but want to pick my fights.

I expect the Pheonix Guard to be able to hold up the Chariots but dont have a hammer available to help them out! Hopefully the spears can take the charge from the NecroKnights and the Dragon Princes can help flank. I expect the Swordmasters to be able to deal a lot of damage to the Tomb Guard but this will be reliant on their ability to neutralise the Tomb prince first to get rid of his "My will be done" rule.

With all my shooting having the flaming attacks rule courtesy of the banner and the anvil of vaul hill i should be able to significant'y weaken the Tomb Kings units! Edit: At this point i was mistakenly thinking that ALL Tomb Kings were flamable - this isn't true - only their characters for the most part

Magic: 4/2 > 5/3
Enchanted Blades on the Archers dispelled. Glittering Robe cast on Swordmasters giving them a 3+ save.

Shooting:
With an amazing number of hits and wounds, the archmages archers put 10 wounds on the Tomb Guard! Flaming attacks FTW! Mwa ha ha ha!! (Edit: again - mistake with flaming attacks!)
The smaller archer unit kill 2 of the Liche Priests archers.
The RBT fluff's its shots on one of the Screaming Skull Catapults

Tomb Kings - Turn 1

Damn thats some harsh shooting! It must die!

The Tomb Guard charge the Swordmasters hoping to pull some tricks off in the magic phase! The Necro-Knights failed their charge on the spears. As tempting as it would have been to take out the eagle and over-run into the flank of the Dragon Princes, that would have left me counter-chargable by the spears!

Magic: 10/6
Cursed Blades allowed through on the Tomb Guard, more than making Killing Blow 5+, it allows 2 more bodies back in the squad courtesy of the Nehekaran lore atribute!.
Righteous Smiting (+1A) cast on the 20man Archers
Casket dispelled.
Banner of the Undying brings back only 3 tomb guard!

Shooting:
The Horse Archers put a single wound on the Eagle infront of them (4)
The Chariots manage a meagre 1 wound on their Eagle (3)
The 20 strong archers kill 10 of the Archmages archers but they hold their ground!
The first SSC gets a direct hit on the RBT, wounds...and then only does one wound! Grrr!
The second SSC misfires and can't fire this or next turn!
The 10 strong archers on the right flank put 2 wounds on the Eagle (2)

Combat:
The Swordmasters kill the Herald after he dives infront of the Tomb Prince and proceed to hack another 5 Guard down. The Tomb guard take vengence by slaying 8 men of Hoeth, winning the combat but the High Elves remain put!

High Elf - Turn 2

Eagle 4 (right flank) charges the horse Archers hoping to hold them up for a turn. The Dragon Princes charge the Archers in front of them hoping to one turn them and reform to get a flank on the necroknights!

The Pheonix Guard move to where they can charge the chariots next turn if need be but due to the footprint of the chariots, can't be charged back due to the eagle! They are also within 6" of the Bane Stone but far enough away so the chariots wouldn't be if they charged! The Spearmen move away from the Sinister Statue after losing one to it this turn!

Magic: 11/7
Failed to dispel "Transmutation of Lead" on the Tomb guard meaning i had to scroll the attempt at Final Transmuattion on my Liche Priests unit. This left the High Elves free to cast Enchanted Blades on the Swordmasters! Ouch! This combat is going to hurt!

Shooting:
The Archmages archers managed to put 2 wounds on the Heirotitan but the archers behind and the RBT all manae to fluff their shots in some manner or other!

Combat:The Eagle manages to kill a horse archer for a wound in return but manages to crumble them and reform to face the flank of the Chariots.
The Dragon Princes likewise kill 6 archers for no loss and the rest crumble back into the sands.
The Swordmasters, in what could/should have been a game ending combat phase, fail their fear test. They still manage to kill 6 Tomb Guard for a loss of 2 of their own. 3 more crumble!

Tomb Kings - Turn 2

Realising i've critically screwed myself with the deployment of the chariots, they reform to 6 wide and angle themselves to shoot an eagle out the way - gotta hope it panics something!! The Necroknights also turn to face the dragon princes! The Heirotitan moves out to start doing...something!!

Magic: 11/7 Damn the annulian crystal and the high Elves double channeling! This is gonna be tough!
Banner of the Undying is dispelled easily!
Casket is Dispelled...easily!
Righteous Smiting is cast on the Tomb Guard...with Irresistable force...sheesh! I roll a 4 on the miscast table and watch as the Heirotitan shrugs off the S10 hit, but the Liche Priest is sucked into the warp...causing crumbles galore! The SSC that can't fire this turn takes 2, the Casket 1, the archers a bunch...the chariots and the TG escape and the Necroknights take 1!

Shooting:
The Archers kill 2 of the Archmages bunker. The SSC misses the spears completely.

Combat:
The SM pass their fear test and slaughter 6 more tomb guard. Enraged and with the extra attack, the TG kill 5, losing 1 to crumble!

High Elf - Turn 3

Dragon Princes charge the NecroKnights. Mage spear unit moves up to help buff. With the Eagles pinning the Chariots in, the PG refrom to face the oncoming Heirotitan.

Magic: 9/4
Wyssans cast on the Dragon Princes and all dispel dice are used to dispel it.
Transmutation of Lead and Enchanted blades are cast on the swordmasters/guard combat.

Shooting:
The Archers and RBT team up to kill the Heirotitan.

Combat:
The Dragon Princes manage 2 wounds on the necroknight but have 3 struck down in return - drawing the combat!
The Swordmasters, hitting on 2 re-rollable and wounding on 3's, wipe out the Tomb Guard unit! Ouch!!!

Tomb Kings - Turn 3

With the only movement being the crumbling of a few archers and a wound on one of the SSC's...

Magic: 6/6
Casket of Souls IF'd on Archmages archer unit, kills 5 and they proceed to flee off the table! Yay!

Shooting:
Archers kill a single Pheonix Guard - ooh that'll swing the upcoming battle >_>
The first SSC misfires (2) and cant fire enxt turn either, the second SSC misfires (4) and can't fire...

Combat:
The Dragon Princes only manage a wound on the Necro Knights who in return kill 3 and reform to face the rear of the spears.

High Elf - Turn 4

The Spearmen Rally!

Eagle 2 charges the Casket, Pheonix Guard chanrge the archers and the Swordmaster take a reach (but fail) at the Necro Knights

Magic: 3/2 > 5/2
Wyssans fails to cast on the spears on three dice!

Shooting: Archers and RBT fail to wound the SSC thats on one wound!

Combat: Eagle does a wound and forces the casket to crumble! Pheonix Guard kill 8 archers and watch the remainig 2 crumble!

Tomb Kings - Turn 4

Necroknights and chariots avoid the crumble. The left SSC isn't so lucky and returns to the sands. The right SSC is lucky and takes a single wound.

The Necroknights (sensing a lost battle) gung-ho charge the spearmen.

The SSC aims at the Archers but overshoots, the Chariots ping the last wound off one of the eagles!

In Combat, the Necro-knights avoid all damage whist killing 8 spearmen. Being steeadfast helps the spears hold their ground!

High Elf - Turn 5

Swordmasters get in the rear of the NecroKnights and decimate them. The Eagle forces the SSC to crumble

Safe to say the game doesn't need to continue!!!

Afterthoughts and Reflections
Well Damn - lots of lessons learnt!

Chariots: Well i screwed myself with these guys from the off! Having never used anything with such a large footprint i placed them pretty much last and had ran out of room for them and didn't realise just how easily they'd get Eagle'd out the game! Jury's still out on these guys as i didn't use em properly!

Archers: The magic synergy (double shotting) is really cool and really useful, but i miss being able to stand and shoot!

Casket: All kinds of awesome when it goes off! I imagine the opponent would get wise and save dice to dispel, but then that leaves room for Nehekaran buffs to get through! The +D3 power dice are just gold-dust for Tomb Kings too!

Necroknights: I like these and should probably find a way of upping them ot 6 or 2 units of 3! WIth Poison and Killing blow, they can pretty much have a fair chance at most things (except Swordmasters in the rear!)

Tomb Guard: Looking back, i really over-estimated these guys - i mean, charging 21 swordmasters!?! What the hell was i thinking? I should have let them come and drop some skulls on their heads!


Catapults: Well i've never known so many stonethrower shots go miles wide or misfire as much!

Main lessons learnt are shoot as long as possible and use magic well! high Elves ASF and magic superiority was always going to make this a hard battle! I'll send the Tomb Kings against  my Ogre List and see how they fair within the next week!

Let me know your thoughts!

009 High Elves Vs Ogres (Watchtower) 2400pts

Hi guys!

So despite wanting to get through the whole 6 BRB scenarios without changing lists, there's been a couple of new army books released which have changed the meta of the game in a few ways and, as often happens, we change our lists just to try new things!

As such, i've re-written both my High Elf and Ogre 2400pts lists. I tried the High Elf one out last weekend in a three-way-battle witha couple of friends against (New) Empire and Wood Elves, which resulted in both the elves staking a claim for victory over the seriously battered Empire forces!

I did however want to get a game in with both to "gauge" the lists and so rolled up a scenario - in this case Watchtower to play out! This is an interesting one as i've found this scenario to be rather easy with my Ogres in the past!

Without further ado...

Deployment

Ogres
The Ogres won the roll off to take control of the watchtower and so set up a unit of 10 Trappers in there. The thinking behind this is that High Elves are expensive and anything wishing to charge them out of the towers will hopefully lose some expensive troops in the process!

So, as you see it, 4 Mournfang Cavalry (MFC) line up on the left. They have HA, Ironfists and the Dragonhide Banner! A Sabertusk keeps them company in order to run interference on the expected eagles that will get sent their way!

The Ironblaster and Ironguts (complete with BSB and Slaughtermaster [SL]) line up just past tehIdol of Gork. The BSB has an Enchanted Shield and Talisman of Protection along with HA and so should be sticking round for a while. The Level 4 (Maw) Slaughtermaster has the ol' faithful Glittering Scales, Fencer's Blades and Rock Eye making him really hard to hit...and with T5...wound!

A Mist Wreathed Swamp and River really mess the deployment up and so a Sabertusk and Thundertusk line up just before the bridge.

The Ogre Bulls line up infront of the bridge ready to move on the watchtower. The Have the L2 Firebelly in their with a GW and Hellheart.

Finishing off the Ogres, are four Leadbelchers and 10 Gnoblars on the left flank.

High Elves
On the far left flank, behind a few Blazing Barricades and Altar of Khaine is an Eagle, ready to lead the MFC where i want them. A unit of 10 Archers occupy a building, not wanting to stray to close to the 6" frenzy bubble!

The (20) Pheonix Guard with Banner of Sorcery, house the BSB behind a barricade. The BSB is tooled up with a Great Weapon, Dragon armour, Enchanted Shield and Talisman of Protection.

An Eagle deploys to their right followed by 21 Swordmaster with the Banner of Swiftness. I'm really loving this banner lately as opponent dont expect it! They also have the Ironcurse Icon.

Behind them on the hill is a 20 strong archer unit with Banner of Eternal Flame and Level 4 Archmage with the Annulian Crystal and Lore of Metal!

To the right of a Grail Chapel are 25 Spearmen with a Beast Mage.

Rounding off the right flank are 2 more Eagles and a unit of 5 Dragon Princes.

Spells:
Level 4 (Maw): Spinemarrow (Stubborn), +1S, +1T and Trollguts (Regen)
Level 2 (Fire): Fireball, Flamecage

Level 4 (Metal): Searing Doom, Enchanted Blades of Aiban, Glittering Robe, Transmutation of Lead.
Level 1 (Beasts): Wyssans Wildform

High Elf - Turn 1

Charges:
Swordmasters charge the Watchtower from the get go, taking 1 casualty to a stand and shoot reaction followed by 3 to the gnoblars traps.

Eagles on left move to ruin charges and on right to protect Dragon Princes from Leadbelcher shooting next turn. Dragon Princes (DP)  move to a position to charge next turn. Spears move to protect flank of tower. Pheonix Guard (PG) move closer to IronGuts, but remain wary of being charged by them!

Magic:
7/6 > 9/6 after chanelling and Banner of Sorcery (BoS)
Enchanted Blades cast on archers - allowed through
Glittering Robe failed to cast on SM
Wyssans easily dispelled on Spearmen.

Shooting:
RBT does 3 wounds on IG with volley fire!
AM's archers cause Seven wounds on IG which in turn pass their panic test.

Combat:
SM butcher the Gnoblar Trappers and consolidate into the tower!

Ogre - Turn 1

Charges:
Sabertusk next to MFC fails charge to Eagle. Ironblaster charges Eagle. Ironguts charge Watchtower. Gnoblars fail charge on Eagle.

MFC move to possible flank on PG next turn. Ogres move close to spears. Thundertusk moves towards Dragon Princes. Sabertusk marches to tower to harass Spears. River turns out to be a River of Light and casts Birona's Timewarp on the kitty!

Magic: 9/5 >9/6 after channeling and Annulian Crystal
Toughness buff on IG dispelled.  Flame Cage failed to cast. Regen on IG dispell scrolled.

Shooting:
Leaddies kill Eagle. Thundertusk Harpoon guns a Dragon Prince but forgets to fire the launcher! Doh!

Combat:
Swordmasters fail their damn fear test! Only manage 2 wounds on Slaughtermaster and 2 on unit - which is enough to kill a model!
Slaughtermaster eats 3 elves, the BSB smashes 1 and the Irongut kills 2. Ogres win by 2 but Swordmaster hold.

Ironblaster smushes the Eagle with Impact hits alone and careens into the Pheonix Guard!! Bugger!

High Elf - Turn 2

Charges:
Eagle charge Sabertusk on left flank. Eagle charges Gnoblars on right flank. Dragon Princes charge through river (of light) into Leadbelchers, gaining Biron'a Timewarp but losing a midel in process.

Magic: 6/4 >7/4 after BoS
Enchanted Blades cast on Archers. Searing Doom cast on MFC; 4 wounds caused and model removed.

Shooting:
Archers put wound on MFC
RBT puts another, taking away another model!

Combat:
Eagle does wound on Sabertusk for no loss, breaks the ST and runs it down 10"
Ironblaster does 1 impact wound on PG. BSB makes way and puts 2 wounds on IB. Rhinox and Ogre manage 3 dead PG but combination of ranks and banners win the combat. Ironblaster flees 11", PG only pursue 7".
Eagle kills 2 gnoblars for a wound in return, wins combat and runs em down 8"
Dragon Princes, with the help of Birona's Timewarp put 7 wounds on the Leadies for no loss, break em and run em down for 9"

Ogre - Turn 2

Charges:
MFC charge flank of PG. IG Charge Watchtower again. Sabertusk and Bulls double charge spears
Thundertusk rotates to shoot the Dragon Princes

Magic: 5/3 > 4/5 after AC
Trollguts easily dispelled.

Shooting:
Thundertusk harpoons a dragon prince but chaintrap misses. Having rallied, the Ironblaster aims at the Archmage. A Look out Sir roll saves the archmage but 2 archers aren't so lucky. Even worse, the cannonball rolls on through and turns the pesky RBT into splinterwood!

Combat:The High Elf BSB makes way and promptly hacks 2 wounds on the MFC. The rest of the PG aren't as fortunate, receiving 8 wounds for no output in a combination of Rhinox, Ogre, Stomp and Dragonbane Banner. The PG hold and reform to better face their foe!
In the watchtower, the Swordmasters put another 2 wounds on the Slaughtermaster, one on the Ogre BSB and one on the unit. In return, they suffer 4 wounds, drawing the combat.
The Spearmen gather together to kill the Firebelly but leave no room for wounds on the unit. In return, they suffer a total of 8 wounds and despite being steadfast, leg it and get chomped and clawed by the Sabertusk. the Bulls reform.

High Elf - Turn 3

No Charges

Magic:
6/4 > 7/4
Enchanted Blades on Archers. Searing Doom IF'd, doing 3 wounds on IG and 1 on Ogre BSB. Unfortunately, 7 archers and the wizard are sucked into the warp!

Shooting:
Archers combine to put a wound on the Slaughtermaster, the BSB and the Ironguts, killing the Slaughtermaster!

Combat:
The High Elf BSB does 2 wounds on the MFC, killing one, witho no other wounds from either side (god bless 4+ wards!), the remaining MFC breaks from combat, but, being the banner bearer, is removed as the PG reform to face the tower!

Ogre - Turn 3

Charges:
Ogres charge Watchtower. Ironblaster charges PG.

Shooting:
Thundertusk kill a few archers with stonethrower weapon.

Combat:PG manage a wound on the IB which kills 3 in return but loses combat on res. Hold ground though!
Swordmasters do 11 wounds on Ogres for a loss of 3 to push them back!

High Elf - Turn 4

Charges:
Eagle into flank of IB. Eagle into rear of Ogres.

Shooting:
Archers kill Sabertusk. Other archers put one wound on IG, taking a model away.

Combat:
BSB Noble puts the only wound on the IB which flees and is cut down. The PG overrun into the IG and BSB.
The Eagle manages a wound on the Ogres, removing a model, but siffers 2 wounds. The ogres hold and reform to face the eagle.

Ogre - Turn 4

Thundertusk sends a harpoon through the window, killing a swordmaster.

PG can't wound Ogre BSB and receive no wounds in return. Ogres hold on a 4 and manage to reform!

High Elf - Turn 5

Thanks to the Dragon Prince rear charge, the PG finally finish off the BSB and IG unit and reform.

Ogre - Turn 5

Ogre unit goes gung-ho and charges the watchtower. SM kill 1 ogre (3 wounds) for loss of 2

High Elf - Turn 6

Eagle flanks Ogres, does one wound for 2 in return but wins combat, breaks and catches them.

Game Called!

High Elf Reflection
Well, once again a bloody affair! This is the second game i've played with this High Elf list and i'm really liking it.

I've wanted to try Metal for a while now but thought it might be "beardy". However, given thought, my main opposing armies are WoC, DoC, WE, Empire, Skaven and Lizzies (and now OnG!). Of them, only WoC would potentially suffer! However it isn't the damage dealing i like from metal the most. Glittering Scales is brilliant at keeping my expensive units alive and combined with the Ironcurse Icon means i can get  my swordmasters into battle ASAP! The enchanted Blades is brilliant as it turns our overcosted weak S3 archers into quite a formidable foe! Granting Flaming and Magical attacks are a huge bonus given the new popularity of Vampire Counts and the need for magical weapons!

My biggets worry in this list is that the Swordmaster are the only hammer, but my with 2 anvils in the Spears and PG, i expect the Dragon Princes to be able to flank well!

The limited number of infantry block is made up by a good chunk of shooting and Eagles. When the shooting receives the aforementioned Metal buff, the opponent has to come to you and with 4 Eagles, i can dictate who they go to to some extent!

Ogre Reflection
The trappers did what i expected them to do in that 50 points of them took out 60 points of Swordmasters. In hindsight i shouldn't have put anything in the Watchtower as i allowed the SM to charge on T1 and consolidate in there! Without being able to charge in on T1, i would've given myself a turn to Leadbelcher and Ironblaster them!

I really didn't utilise the Thundertusk as well as i should, but it was the first time i've tried it! I should've parked it next to the watchtower earlier to remove the Elves' re-rells (due to granting ASL) and instead, wasted 250 points on ineffectively trying to neutralise 150pts of Dragon Princes.

I was impressed with the survivability of the BSB and Slaughtermaster and in open combat reckon that unit will still cause some pain. I was also happy with the icreased Bull unit size (previous ran at 5 + Firebelly). The increased size crushed the Spears!

The Ironblaster - i think i finally used this right! I took a valuable shot when i could, taking out the RBT (which was a complete git this game!) and charged when i should've!

The MFC are causing me headaches as thats 2 games in a row now where they've been pretty useless and whilst the first was me charging them into a mangler squig (not knowing what happened in my defense!) i worry their footprint is too large and might try experimenting with Maneaters for the points!



Anyway - hope you enjoyed the report and my radomn post-BatRep mumblings!