Friday 27 November 2015

Raze and Ruin 2015 Part 3

Game 4 – Will Dunn – Dwarfs – Dawn Assault


After my defeat to Dwarfs in game three I was rewarded with another game against Dwarfs in game four on table 29 (just one above the bottom).  Will’s list was more of the expected gun line Dwarfs so despite my experience against Terry, I wasn’t expecting any vanguard moves except possibly for a couple of the Gyrocopters.

This game was a teensy bit of a struggle for me in terms of note taking as I kept getting Will’s Quarreller and Thunderer units mixed up.  I think I’ve sorted it out in the report in the end but if there’s a couple of bits relating to those units that doesn’t make sense, that’s why.


Grim Burloksson

Runesmith

Thane
- Battle Standard Bearer

14 Thunderers
- Champion
- - Brace of Pistols
- Musician

12 Quarrellers
- Musician

12 Quarrellers
- Musician

12 Quarrellers

Gyrocopter
- Vanguard

Gyrocopter
- Vanguard

Gyrocopter

34 Slayers
- Musician

Cannon

14 Irondrakes
- Standard
- Musician

Organ Gun

Organ Gun


Spells


Archmage - Lore of High Magic
1 – Soul Quench
2 – Walk Between Worlds
3 – Tempest
4 – Fiery Convocation

Archmage – Lore of Light
1 – Pha’s Protection
2 – Net of Amyntok
3 – Banishment
4 – Birona’s Timewarp


Deployment


This game was something of a novelty as it was played on a table with a river running down the table on the right hand side as I looked at it, starting about a foot from the right board edge at Will’s end, coming in to about eight inches from the right edge as it hit the middle of the board, and then back out to about a foot from the right edge when it hit my long board edge.  The river had a bridge over it midway up the board.

Other scenery on the board included a hill about eight inches from the left board edge and just inside my half of the table.  There was a building slightly straddling Will’s deployment zone line parallel with this hill. The next scenery was a bit of marsh and another hill about six inches further on and just inside Will’s half of the table.  Finally there was a hill in my half of the table a couple of inches to the left of the river.

For this game we were back to a funny deployment scenario.  Rolling for his units Will ended up with an Organ Gun and a unit of Irondrakes in his left corner, the Irondrakes taking up residence in the building.  The bulk of his army ended up in the central zone; in line there were the Thunderers with the BSB, the other Organ Gun, a unit of Quarrellers, the cannon and another unit of Quarrellers.

Behind this front line there was a Gyrocopter behind the Irondrakes, Grim Burloksson just behind the Organ Gun with the Slayers behind and to the right of him and a second Gyrocopter behind the cannon.

In the right corner was the last Gyrocopter and the last unit of Quarrellers, who deployed in the river.

My deployment ended up being not too dissimilar to what I would have planned had it been a normal deployment.  In my left corner there was just an Eagle.  In the other corner there was the second Eagle close to the board edge, one of the bolt throwers, the Lion Chariot, a unit of Reavers and a unit of Archers.

In the centre, in a line to the left of the river, was the other Archer unit and then the remaining two Reaver units, behind whom went the Swordmasters – the unit with the Razor Standard on the left and the unit with the flaming banner on the right.  The Light Archmage went with the left unit while the BSB and general went with the unit on the right. Finally the remaining bolt thrower was right back on the board edge about 28” from the left board edge.

With vanguard moves Will moved the Gyrocopter on the right out the full 12”, effectively stopping my Reavers on the right being able to vanguard themselves, and the Gyro on the left moved out towards the hill in my half of the table.  I was able to push the Reaver units in the middle of the table forward.


Game


The Dwarfs had the first turn and the Gyros moved up, with the one on the right carrying our a bombing run on the bolt thrower on that side, killing the crew and causing the Great Eagle to panic off. 

In the centre of the table the Gyrocopter there shot its steam gun at the Reavers, killing one.  Grim Burloksson used his ability to extend the range of shooting for the nearby Quarrellers, giving them range to hit the remaining bolt thrower and kill one of the crew.  The left unit of Quarrellers shot at the depleted Reavers and killed the remainder, while the other unit shot at the Reavers in the centre but failed to kill any. Finally the cannon shot at the unit of Swordmasters on the left, killing three.

For my first turn I pushed forwards with the Swordmasters moving in line with the Archers to the left of the river who moved up onto the hill.  On the other side of the river the Reavers moved up towards the flank of the Quarrellers in the river with the Lion Chariot moving up as quickly as it could behind them.  The Archers wheeled to draw line of sight on the nearby Gyrocopter.

In the magic phase the general attempted to cast a boosted Walk Between Worlds on his unit but failed to meet the casting value.  To compensate somewhat, the Light Archmage managed to cast a boosted Birona’s Timewarp.  On the right the Archers shot at the Gyrocopter but could only do one wound to it.  The other Archers and the Reavers on the right shot at the damp Quarrellers, killing four between them.  The other Reavers, who’d marched right up in front of the central Quarrellers, managed to shoot one dead for their troubles while bolt thrower killed three Irondrakes.

Dwarf turn two kicked off with the Gyrocopters moving round for shooting positions and bombing runs and the Irondrakes wheeled to face where my Swordmaster units could be expected to end up after their next movement phase.  The Slayers also wheeled round to face towards the Reavers menacing the central Quarrellers.

The central Gyrocopter’s bombing run ended in a mishap with the bomb misfiring as it flew over the Swordmasters, causing it a wound.  The Gyro on the right bombed the Archers there, causing them to flee 6” towards my long board edge.

Shooting saw the most advanced Reaver unit shot down to the last elf.  Burloksson’s special ability was put to use to extend the range of the nearby Quarrellers who proceeded to shoot off a rank of the Archers on the hill.  The cannon targeted the left unit of Swordmasters again but misfired.

High Elf turn two saw my surviving Eagle charge the central Gyrocopter while the Reavers on the right changed into the flank of the Quarrellers who were struggling to keep their heads above water. With the effects of Timewarp in place both Swordmaster units made the most of their potential 20” march range to move right up into the faces of the other Dwarf units, while the Archers on the hill moved to the other end of it.  The lone Reaver had moved out of the way of  the Swordmasters and positioned himself to prevent a flank charge by the Thunderers. Meanwhile, the fleeing Archers had rallied.

Magic saw the general try and cast Tempest on the Slayers but this drew out a Rune of Spellbreaking.  A bubbled Pha’s was dispelled with all the Dwarf dispel dice leaving just Khaine’s Ring of Fury to unleash at the Quarrellers ahead of the Swordmasters on the left, which killed two.

In the shooting phase the bolt thrower tried to gun down one of the Gyrocopters but firing a single bolt saw it miss.  The Archers on the hill shot at one of the Quarreller units and managed to kill one of their number.  In combat the Reavers beat the Quarrellers but the unit held.  The Eagle surprised me by beating the Gyrocopter (albeit only through having charged, with neither combatant managed to land a blow on the other) but then failed to run it down as it fled, ending up an inched behind it.

Unsurprisingly, the Gyrocopter rallied in Will’s third turn while the other Gyro in the middle of the board positioned itself to take an interest in the Eagle or Archers on the hill.  The remaining Gyrocopter positioned itself on the flank of the recently rallied Archers.  The cannon crew decided they didn’t like the look of the Swordmasters bearing down on them and retreated behind the Quarrellers while the Slayers moved as far forwards as they were able with the units nearby.  The Irondrakes exited the building.

In my right corner the Gyrocopter shot its steam gun at the Archers, killing three but the unit held its nerve, unlike the unit on the hill who took four casualties and fled towards the river.  The Irondrakes shot down the Reaver on the left.  The Dwarf shooting then concentrated on the Swordmasters on the left, killing 12 of the unit.  In contrast, the unit on the right took only two casualties. 

Combat saw the Reavers overcome the Quarrellers in the river and run them down.  With the Quarrellers now out of the way the Reavers charged the  cannon at the start of turn three as my Swordmaster units charged the Quarreller units in front of them – the unit on the left taking two more casualties from the Stand and Shoot reaction before making their charge.  Elsewhere the fleeing Archers rallied while their compatriots in the right corner moved forwards away from the board edge and the last Eagle and Lion Chariot moved up.

In the magic phase the general successfully cast Fiery Convocation on the Slayers which only killed six.  The Light Archmage then attempted to cast a bubble Timewarp but failed to reach the required casting value.

The Archers in my right zone shot at the central Gyrocopter, managing to do one wound to it while the bolt thrower fired a volley at the Thunderers but could only kill one.

In the combat phase the Dwarf crew failed to put up much resistance to the Reavers’ spears but one was left cowering under the machine at the end of the combat, preventing the Reavers from getting an overrun into the Slayers.  Despite being outmatched and failing to cause any wounds to the Swordmasters, the Quarrellers on the left also held on, again preventing the Swordmasters from getting an overrun into the Slayers.  The other Swordmasters were not so stymied by the Quarrellers they were fighting and cut them down before reforming to face the Slayers.

As I expected, the Slayers charged the Swordmasters in front of them while the Thunderers rushed in to save the Quarrellers.  The Irondrakes carried on moving round while the central and right hand Gyrocopters moved into position to steam the Archer units.  The third Gyro had charged the remaining bolt thrower.  In case it might have any effect on the battle Will started moving the Organ Gun in the left zone round the building.

The unit of Archers in the right zone survived the attentions of the nearby Gyrocopter for this turn but the unit further up the table were not so bold and fled after taking four casualties. 

With Dwarfs in the front and flank the Swordmasters on the left did only two wounds and took three wounds in reply, leaving just the Archmage standing.  The Slayers killed seven Swordmasters but not before they’d taken ten wounds themselves.  Finally the Reavers finished off the cannon crew.

In what was to be my final turn of the game I charged the now free Reavers into the flank of the Quarrellers in the multiple combat.  The Lion Chariot and Great Eagle moved up to look like they might be thinking about getting involved with things.

Magic saw the Light Archmage case a bubbled Pha’s while the general cast Walk Between Worlds on the Lion Chariot, mainly for the Shield of Saphery boost.  He also cast Fiery Convocation on the Irondrakes for the same reason.  At least that’s what he said after not managing to kill any.  Finally the Light Archmage tried to cast Timewarp on the Swordmasters but this was stopped.

The Archers in the corner shot at the Gyro hovering near the bridge doing the last wound to it.  It was then on to combat.  To my surprise and relief the Archmage fighting the Quarrellers and Thunderers survived and the elves won the combat, although it was a case of handbags at dawn with neither side causing a wound.  In the other combat the Swordmasters killed 12 Slayers, losing nine of their number in reply. 


The scores as totalled up then gave Will a 11-9 win.  Annoyingly, while reading up on various magic items, runes etc when writing these reports, I realised the result should have been a little different.

Will had the Master Rune of Grungni on his BSB and on the turn I cast Fiery Convocation on the Slayers he used the ward save from that to roll save six Slayers from the spell’s effects.  However, on reading the rules for this rune, it gives a ward save against shooting and magic missiles.  Convocation is a direct damage spell and so the ward save wouldn’t apply. 

With the extra six slayers that should have been dead from the spell by the time the Swordmasters fought them in the last turn they would have been wiped them out, rather than having six left standing.  That would have given me an additional 418 points, turning the game from a 11-9 loss to a 10-10 draw.  Not an earth-shattering difference I don’t think in terms of the final standings but a better result on a personal score and might have given me a different match up in the last game.

I don’t think this was a deliberate attempt to cheat by Will.  In truth I don’t think he’d been playing Dwarfs all that long as his army was nearly all unpainted barring the undercoats.

Game 5 – Joe Sutton – Tomb Kings – Battle Line


It had taken me four games but here I was  in the last game on the last table.  This time though, I was there because the only person with a lower tournament score than me had already played Joe, who was the spare player for the event.

This was, in fact, only Joe’s sixth game of Warhammer in several years, not that I expected this to be a pushover by any means considering the huge unit of Skeleton Archers I had to contend with.  This was also only my second ever game against Tomb Kings so this was still going to be a case of trying to turn theory-hammer into practice.


Liche High Priest
- Level 4 Wizard
- Lore of Nehekhara

Tomb Prince
- General
- Great Weapon

Tomb Prince
- Great Weapon

Liche Priest
- Level 2 Wizard
- Lore of Death

Liche Priest
- Level 2 Wizard
- Lore of Death

6 Chariots
- Standard
- Musician

52 Skeleton Archers
- Full Command

28 Tomb Guard
- Full Command

3 Sepulchral Stalkers

3 Carrion

Screaming Skull Catapult

Screaming Skull Catapult

Casket of Souls

Casket of Souls


Spells


Archmage - Lore of High Magic
1 – Soul Quench
2 – Apotheosis
3 – Walk Between Worlds
4 – Fiery Convocation

Archmage – Lore of Light
1 – Shem’s Burning Gaze
2 – Net of Amyntok
3 – Banishment
4 – Birona’s Timewarp


Liche High Priest
1 –Djaf’s Incantation of Cursed Blades
2 – Neru’s Incantation of Protection
3 – Ptra’s Incantation of Righteous Smiting
4 – Usekhp’s Incantation of Desiccation

Liche Priest
1 – Spirit Leech
2 – Doom and Darkness

Liche Priest
1 – Spirit Leech
2 – Doom and Darkness


Deployment


There was a large piece of impassable terrain nine inches from the left board edge and extending from a couple of inches in Joe’s half of the table to about six inches into my half.  Also in no-man’s land in my half of the table there was a hill eight inches on from the impassable terrain and halfway to the midline and finally a group of impassable blocks of stone about 10 inches from the right edge and in front and slightly straddling my deployment line.  Likewise in Joe’s half of the table there was another large area of impassable about a foot from the right edge and stretching from his deployment line almost to the mid line.

In Joe’s deployment zone proper there was a smaller chunk of impassable about 14 inches from the left and just touching the deployment line and a hill midway along the deployment zone and on it’s edge.  In my zone was a wood just to the right of the centre.

Other than his Stalkers, which started the game entombed, Joe’s army basically deployed in a line with the chariots to the left of his impassable terrain and the Tomb Guard to the right of it.  Next up were the Skeleton Archers, deployed 25 wide with the Carrion and Screaming Skull Catapults behind them.

Joe deployed his characters in the Tomb Guard and skeleton archers – one Liche Priest in each unit with the Prince and Liche High Priest in archers.

For my part I had a unit of Reavers three inches from the left board edge with another unit about eight inches further on.  One of the Archer units was another five inches on with the Lion Chariot next to them.  The Flaming banner Swordmasters were in the wood while the other unit went next to them, along with all my characters.  In the remaining gap between the Swordmasters and the impassable terrain I put my last unit of Reavers with the Archers behind them.  Along the back of board edge I had a bolt thrower behind the first unit of Reavers, an Eagle behind the next unit of Reavers, the second bolt thrower behind and to the right of the Lion Chariot and finally the last Eagle behind the Swordmasters containing my characters.

With vanguard moves I pushed the Reavers on the left and right up almost the full 12 inches, with the middle unit advancing only three or four inches.




Game


The Tomb Kings went first and declared the first charge of the game by the chariots on the Reavers on the left, who stood and shot, causing one wound.  The Reavers’ confidence in staying put was rewarded as the chariots failed their charge and moved only two inches.  The Tomb Guard and archer units moved forwards, as did the Carrion, who hopped over the archers.

In the magic phase Joe Succeeded in casting Doom and Darkness on the unit of archers on the left and then irresistibly cast Righteous Smiting on the archer block, losing a wound from each of his wizards.

Shooting saw one Screaming Skull Catapult misfire while the other targeted the Swordmasters on the right and scatter onto the nearby Archers, killing five.  The archers took aim at the Reavers on the right, shooting the unit to pieces.

Keen to endure as few monstrous volleys as possible I marched both Swordmaster units at full pelt towards the skeleton archers in my first turn.  Both archer units moved up into better shooting ranges while Eagle on the right and the Lion Chariot moved up in support of the Swordmasters.

The general attempted to cast Fiery Convocation on the skeleton archers but failed to meet the casting cost by two, leaving Joe all his dispel dice with which to stop Birona’s Timewarp, although according to my notes he scrolled it, so I must have rolled quite high for the casting roll (annoyingly I haven’t noted the total roll down).

My shooting was pretty ineffectual with one of the bolt throwers managing to knock down a Tomb Guard and one of my archer units shooting down a skeleton archer.

In the second turn the chariots thought better of trying to charge the Reavers on the left and instead started moving into the centre.  The Tomb Guard moved further forward while the Carrion moved to march/charge block the Swordmasters on the left.  The Stalkers were brought up on the left to threaten the Reavers who were being ignored by the chariots.

This time it was my turn to use my scroll as I acted to stop Smiting being cast on the Archers again. Doom and Darkness was cast on the Archers on the left again.  Both caskets went off although the damage was limited to the archers on the left.  A Screaming Skull Catapult misfired again as the Tomb King shooting again targeted the Swordmasters, although the second machine managed to put a wound on my BSB.  The archer block targeted the Swordmasters on the right and managed to kill five while the Stalkers’ Transmogrifying Gaze killed one Reaver of the unit in front of them. However, one Stalker killed itself with it’s attack.

With not much choice in the matter, considering I wanted to get my combat units in position for a third turn charge into the skeleton archers, I charged the Lion Chariot and Swordmasters into the blocking Carrion in my second turn.  The unit of Swordmasters with my characters in moved forwards at full speed, with the archer unit on the right marching up behind them since they were going to be shooting with enough modifiers to make it not worth their time this turn.  On the left the Reavers skipped round the Stalkers to face the rear of the unit.  The middle unit of Reavers moved back out of charge range of the chariots while the Archers moved back as well.  The Eagle on the left moved to the edge of the hill in case it might be required in future turns to fly in front of the Tomb Guard or chariots while its colleague on the right flew out to the far end of the impassable terrain.

In the magic phase the general’s attempt to cast Fiery Convocation drew out all of the Tomb Kings’ dispel dice, leaving the Light Archmage able to cast Timewarp on the general’s unit of Swordmasters.

Shooting was poor once again with one Tomb Guard being felled by a shot from a Reaver and one Stalker taking a wound from a volley from the left bolt thrower.  In combat the Lion Chariot wiped out the Carrion with its impact hits and reformed to face the Tomb Guard and Archers while the Swordmasters overran five inches.

Joe’s turn three saw the Stalkers move forwards and the chariots reform to face the Reavers while the Tomb Guard wheeled to face towards the left hand unit of Swordmasters.  I managed to stop Doom and Darkness going through again this turn but Joe was able to push Smiting through irresistibly on the archers.  He rolled an eight for the miscast result, killing his Liche Priests.

The chariots shot at the Reaver but only killed one.  The skeleton archers unleashed at the Swordmasters on the right, killing 10.  One Screaming Skull Catapult shot at the same unit but the magical skulls failed to get past the Banner of the World Dragon’s ward save.  The other catapult targeted the Lion Chariot but the attack scattered off.

It was now or never time as both Swordmaster units and the Lion Chariot charged into the skeleton archers while the Reavers on the left chanced their luck by charging into the rear of the Stalkers.  The Eagle on the left moved out to block the Tomb Guard while the central Reavers moved to the front edge of the hill.  I completely forgot to move the other Eagle.

With only a five dice phase I threw all the dice at a boosted Timewarp which Joe was unable to stop.  My shooting was, yet again, nothing to write home about as the archers on the right, the left bolt thrower and the Reavers shot down a Tomb Guard apiece.

In combat the Reavers caused two wounds to the Stalkers which, combined with the crumble test wiped out the Stalkers and allowed the Reavers to overrun out of the way of the chariots.  The Tomb Prince called out a challenge which was met by one of the Swordmaster champions who did a wound to the undead royal before being slain himself.  The Swordmasters and Lion Chariot caused a further 33 wounds to the archers while losing four rank and file Swordmasters from each unit in reply.  Unsurprisingly, the archer unit an the characters within crumbled, with one of the Screaming Skull catapults also destroyed due to Crumble.  The Swordmasters on the right overran into a Casket of Skulls while the unit on the left didn’t quite manage to make it into the remaining catapult and the Lion Chariot was on the far side of the hill after the catapult it had overrun into was destroyed by the Crumble.

Tomb King turn four saw the chariots reform and move up alongside the Tomb Guard.  The Caskets tried to fire and I could only stop one, with the effects of the other putting three wounds on the Lion Chariot and killing two from the Swordmasters on the left.  The last catapult shot at the Eagle on the left but it scattered off, while the chariots shot at the middle Reavers and killed one.

I think we may have forgotten to do the combat with the Swordmasters and Casket as it was still there next turn and I’ve not made any notes as to what happened.

High Elf turn four and the Swordmasters on the left charged the nearest Casket while the Lion Chariot charged the remaining Screaming Skull Catapult.  The left hand Reavers moved back out to the left so they could shoot the chariots while the Archers on the left sidestepped to give themselves better line of sight to the Tomb Guard and chariots. 

Magic saw the general try and cast Apotheosis on the BSB but this was dispelled.  He was, however, successful in casting Walker Between Worlds on the unit of Archers on the right, allowing them to move up into better range.  Shooting went a bit better this turn with the Reavers on the left chipping two wounds off the chariots, while the bolt thrower on the right managed to squeeze a shot through a take the last wound from a chariot.  The bolt thrower on the left shot down four Tomb Guard.

In combat the Swordmasters on the left smashed the Casket pieces but lost four of their number as it blew up, with the nearby Screaming Skull Catapult also taking a wound.  The Lion Chariot finished off the catapult.  On the right the Swordmasters there destroyed the final Casket but the explosion from that took the last wound from the Lion Chariot which in turn caused the Swordmasters on the left to panic and flee off the board. The survivors in the other Swordmaster unit reformed to face the Tomb Guard across the hill.

Tomb King turn five saw the Tomb Guard charge the Eagle which fled – but not far enough to avoid being caught.  The Eagle’s death caused the central unit of Reavers to panic and flee 11 inches.  Meanwhile, the chariots moved round to try and threaten my remaining Swordmaster unit.

High Elf turn five, which proved to be the last of the game saw me edge the Swordmasters further away from the hill, the fleeing Reavers rally while the other unit moved round once more so they could target the chariots. 

In the magic phase I the Light Archmage kicked things off with Shem’s Burning Gaze at the Tomb Guard which was dispelled.  She followed up with Banishment which turned five Tomb Guard to dust.  A blast from the Ruby Ring of Rhuin hit but one Tomb Guard and didn’t wound.  Finally she cast Net of Amyntok on the unit.  Shooting saw the Archers on the right shoot down a Tomb Guard.

That was the last action of the game as we didn’t have time to complete turn six.. 

I don’t think I need to tell you that this was a win for me, running out as a 15-5 in the end.  I’m not really sure what I’d have done differently in this game to be honest since as far as I saw I had two options, sit back and try and take out the ranged threat of the Skeleton Archers with my own shooting, or push forward and try and get my movement spells off to limit my exposure to that massed shooting.

Losing the second Swordmaster unit to a panic check was annoying as with them still on the table the result would have been a 17-3, which would have been worth a couple more places in the final standings.

I must admit that by this game I was definitely feeling a bit worn out and with all the noise in the hall I didn’t realise when we started that Joe had rolled up Doom and Darkness on both his level 2 Liche Priests.  It didn’t have an effect on the game fortunately.

Conclusion


So, where did I finish?  Going into the last game I was a bit worried that I might be on course for the wooden spoon once more, although I hadn’t factored in the Tally Score into my calculations.  While I was sitting on a -1, the person who was behind me was using a Host of the Phoenix King Malekith list and was sitting on a -16 comp score and so would have had to overcome a 17 point difference to overtake me.

In the end I ended up 55th which, while not exactly where I’d have wanted to be, I couldn’t really complain about given the lack of practice and not really running the sort of list I’d wanted to.  

I also spent my second through fifth games playing with a bit of an eerie feeling due to a picture that was on the wall where the row I was playing on was.  Take a look at the picture below and tell me if I’m crazy or not when I say that it was almost like having Obi Wan Kenobi watching over you for four games.




(As the venue was the social club attached to the local Ukrainian church I’m assuming whoever the photo is actually of is/was someone of importance in the Ukrainian church)



Overall though, aside from the couple of moments when my general ran off the board or fell down a hole before doing much. I had fun at the event, which is the main thing, and would definitely be back for another event next year if it were to run.

No comments:

Post a Comment