December 2016

After making good progress with the Dragon Princes during my lunches I decided to bring them all home with the aim of getting some work done on them during the two weeks I'd got booked off over Christmas and New Year.

Of course, with all the time needing to be spent getting the lounge cleared up for Christmas day, plus doing my part looking after the kids, and adding in several evenings when I got nothing done due to being half asleep due to baby-induced sleep deprivation, the closest I actually got to hobby was moving my tray of in progress stuff from the lounge into the back bedroom out of the way.

Actually, I tell a lie. I did also attempt to make a start on converting some of my broken spearmen into command models, only to spend about 15 minutes going through my boxes until I realised the models in question were actually in the shed, and I was damned if I was going to trek out to the shed at night in freezing temperatures to dig them out.

November 2016

Well I said it last time round but then realised after posting the August & September update just how many horses I'd got left that needed the basics doing, but this time I finally feel like I'm over the hump with my Dragon Prince horses.  

Having decided I'm going to stick with three colours for my horses I'm just about done on the grey horses.  Aside from the leather and cloth I just need to do a bit of touching up on the horseflesh from the other work that's been done before I need to start thinking about sticking on bodies and basing.  After that I think I'll just need to paint the banners to finish the unit, barring one shield which I've ordered this week.

Next up I should really see about getting one or two of my monsters progressed.  One of my dragons is in bits that should be easily transportable to work for painting so I plan to dig that out and bring it in once the DPs are finished.

After that, or in parallel if I can make the time at home, I'll need to get round to making up my command models for my archer and spearmen units.  If I can do that I can finally start selling off my metal models to generate some cash (although at the moment I'm not sure if I have the will to plough it back into a new army or additional units for this army).

August & September 2016

It feels like I'm almost entering the last stretch with the Dragon Princes.

Barring a symbol or something to be painted on the two banners and assembling all the individually painted parts, I think I'm done with the torsos. That means I'm now onto the horses. I've already got about 10 or so whose flesh is painted to an acceptable standard, leaving 20 more to do the flesh on, followed by the armour and cloth.  I'm going to need to take a closer look at the horses I've already done the flesh on as although I know I've basecoated them I'm not sure how many have had the wash and highlight treatment.

From my progress this week and last I'm starting to think I could really do with a much wider brush for getting my basecoats on (especially as I'm still not sure about forking out for an airbrush without having any idea how much use I'd actually get out of it).  The main brush I'm using at the moment is a 4, or at least far as I can tell from what markings on the handle haven't rubbed off. Given how many large areas there are to apply paint to, I'm sure I'd be able to drastically reduce the amount of time needed to apply a base layer with a wider brush, even if I was going have to go back into some crevices with the 4 to make sure everything is covered.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what painting I can do at home that will help reduce the amount that needs doing at work.  Currently it's looking like  about the only thing I can do that won't lead to needing to be too careful is painting the base layer of horse armour and the rider's legs. As I managed to find a rare few minutes to do some painting at home this weekend I touched up the base coat of Ironbreaker on some of the horses that are in the queue for flesh painting and also started work on painting my Repeater Bolt Throwers, since as they're assembled they should be reasonably quick to paint. I say "reasonably quick" as I'd just glued them together without considering how I was going to be painting the bolts, which look like they're potentially going to be a pain on the two that have the six-bolt configuration.

So that I can cross the bolt throwers off my list of units that need to be built and finished I need to get on with building the crews.  As I'm kit bashing them one of the first priorities is making sure I've got the parts I need as I've a suspicion that I needed an extra arm or two but can't recall for definite.

When the bolt throwers are done I then need to find time when I'm at home to work on getting some of my other models built.  I should probably look at sorting out some of my monster and chariot kits first before shifting on to my units of White Lions that I'm currently using three of my cardboard storage boxes to house models in various state of clean up and construction, although my absolute priority should probably be converting up/kit bashing some command models for my archers and spearmen so I can start thinking about finally selling off my metal models, which I've been loathe to do until I've got plastic equivalents of everything I'm currently using (which is one of the reasons why I've been trying to sort the Dragon Princes out as they've been used quite often in any games I've had of over 2000 points)

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.

Raze and Ruin 2015 Part 2

Game 2 – Luke Tranter – Legions of Chaos – Meeting Engagement

Somewhat to my surprise, I wasn’t down on table 30 playing the spare player for game two – apparently there were around four players who scored fewer victory points than me in round one (I have it on good authority that someone had managed to get no victory points at all) as I was on table 28. 

I was also somewhat fancying my chances when I saw what was essentially a Beastmen army in front of me for this game, although Luke was running it as Legions of Chaos for the Marks of Chaos on his units.  End Times shenanigans aside, my record against Beastmen prior to this game was pretty good (one of the few armies I’ve beaten more than being beaten by).  The only real fly in the ointment was the random deployment rules for the scenario which had to the potential to be game breaking depending on what did or,  more importantly, did not turn up.

Doombull (General)

- Mark of Tzeentch

- Heavy Armour

- Shield

Doombull

- Mark of Tzeentch

Gorebull

- Battle Standard Bearer

- Mark of Tzeentch

- Shield

5 Chaos Warhounds

30 Ungor Herd

- Full Command

5 Centigor

- Ghorros Warhoof

5 Centigor

- Mark of Khorne

5 Centigor

- Mark of Khorne

5 Centigor

- Mark of Khorne

6 Razorgor Herd

6 Razorgor Herd

Spells

Archmage - Lore of High Magic

1 - Apotheosis

2 – Hand of Glory

3 – Walk Between Worlds

4 – Arcane Unforging

Archmage – Lore of Light

1 – Shem’s Burning Gaze

2 – Pha’s Protection

3 - Banishment

4 – Birona’s Timewarp

Deployment

The terrain for this table had a wood about six inches from the left board edge and about ten inches from my long board edge, with another wood about the same distance from the short edge and roughly ten inches from Luke’s long table edge.  Around six inches to the right of this second wood, and an inch or two further from Luke’s board edge was a small hill and then there was a larger hill about a foot further from the left than that and just my side of the midline of the table. Four inches on from that was a small water feature a bit more into my side of the table and another one four inches on from that.  Finally, there was another small hill around twelve inches from Luke’s long board edge and roughly the same distance from the right board edge.

As this was meeting engagement we both had to roll off to see what units might fail to turn up to the battlefield.  With Luke deploying first he rolled and everything bar his BSB turned up.

With the diagonal deployment line running from my left corner to Luke’s left corner, Luke deployed three of his Centigor units in a line to the right of the forest nearest to me. The remainder of his units deployed right up against the 6” mark from the mid-line and right up to his ling board edge.  The units lining up from right to left were one of the Razorgor herds, the Ungor, the second herd and then the Warhounds with the remaining Centigor unit behind them.  At this point the characters who had turned up were in the Centigor.

Rolling for my units everything turned up bar my two Swordmaster units, which needless to say totally wrecked any plans I’d been making for how to deploy based on what Luke had been putting down.

As I was without the units I was counting on to do any damage, I deployed my Archer units containing my characters towards the left of my deployment zone, together with a unit of Reavers and a bolt thrower.  The Lion Chariot was on the right flank of the right hand Archers as I didn’t want to put it somewhere it might struggle to make it into combat from.  A unit of Reavers was on the hill with the last unit  a few inches across from them.  Both eagles were also in that area so I could put them in place to divert the Razorgor units.  The second bolt thrower was almost on the board edge which was about the only place I could put it that gave me a couple of different firing lanes.

Game

I failed to steal first turn so over to Luke it was.  He took advantage of the closeness of the deployment to charge the unit of Archers on left with the right hand unit of Centigor from the trio that lined up near the wood, who lost one of their number to the Stand and Shoot charge reaction.  The Centigor unit on the left next to the wood also charged the same unit and made it in, unlike their colleagues.  The left most unit of Razorgor charged the central Reaver unit who fled, giving them the opportunity to redirect into the other unit of Reavers who stood and shot to no effect.

The Ungor unit wheeled round to face my lines better as they waited for the BSB to join them  while the other Razorgor started edging their way up the board.  The BSB joined the unit of Warhounds who were walking up towards the hill.

With no magic phase we were straight into combat where the Archers killed four Centigor and sent the survivor running with his tail between his legs.  The Reavers weren’t so lucky as they were completely munched by the Razorgor without doing a single wound.

In my turn the Reavers on the left charged the fleeing Centigor and redirected into what had been the middle of the trio of Centigor units.  The Lion Chariot charged the fourth Centigor unit, with my hope being to get it up behind the Beastman lines so I could start threatening to get it into the flanks or rear of units.

Anticipating that the threat from the Centigor was now mostly done, I moved the left unit of Archers forward a bit while also repositioning the Archers on the right to ensure the Archmage had the more concerning enemy in front of him.  I brought one of the Swordmaster units on to the right of this Archer unit and left them just a little way behind the rallied Reavers.  The other Swordmasters I brought on to the right of the right-hand bolt thrower, being ready to push them on and threaten the Razorgor, the closest unit of which I sought to hold up somewhat with an Eagle.

My light Archmage cast a Banishment on the unit of Warhounds with the BSB in, doing two wounds to the Gorebull, whose armour proved resistant, but managing to wipe out the Warhounds.  The rest of my magic was ineffective.  The Archers on the left shot at the unengaged Centigor whose armour blocked the shots, although the nearby bolt thrower was more effective, killing two.  The right unit of Archers shot at the nearest Razorgor but didn’t do anything, as was the case with the other bolt thrower.

The Lion Chariot smashed the Centigor it had charged into the ground and reformed to face the Ungor and Razorgor, while the Reavers traded blows with the Centigor they were fighting, with both units losing two models apiece.  The Centigor held their ground.

Luke’s turn two saw the Razorgor charge the blocking Eagle while the survivors of the Centigor who’d been shot down to size the previous turn nipped round behind my unit of Archers on the left.  The Doombull General moved out to threaten the Lion Chariot while the Ungor and second Razorgor unit started moving towards the centre of the table.

In the magic phase the Reign of Chaos roll was a five which saw the right hand Swordmasters and the Lion Chariot hit but both made their armour saves.  The Reavers fighting the Centigor failed to fell their bestial foes and lost two of their number in reply, although the survivor held.  To my surprise the Great Eagle did two wounds to the Razorgor but was killed in response.

My turn two and I charged the Lion Chariot into the Doombull General while moving the remaining Eagle to block the unit of Razorgor that had just done for its colleague.  The unengaged Reavers moved out to the right while the Swordmasters who’d been behind them moved up.  The general and BSB left the Archer unit they were in to join the Swordmasters and the Archmage in the Archers on the left marched over to the unit on the right.

A 10 dice magic phase saw  me try to maximise the magic output I had available.  This started with the Light Archmage casting Banishment on the Razorgor being faced down by the Eagle.  From eight hits the spell did two wounds, which finished off the Razorgor wounded the previous turn.  Pha’s was cast on the Lion Chariot to try and give it some protection against the Minotaur.  The High Archmage attempted to cast Arcane Unforging on the Beastmen BSB but this was dispelled.  The Light Archmage then attempted to cast Timewarp on the nearby Swordmasters but failed to meet the casting rolling even using the Book of Hoeth.  Finally the High Archmage used his Ruby Ring of Ruin to do another two wounds to the nearest Razorgor.

Both Archer units and the Reavers on the right flank tried to trim down the Razorgor herd further but despite scoring 11 hits between them neither could pierce the beasts’ hide.  The bolt thrower on the left slew the Centigor sneaking round the back towards them.  It was only the right hand bolt thrower that managed to further injure the beasts.

In combat the Reavers and Centigor did a wound apiece – this was enough to wipe out the Reavers.  The Lion Chariot failed to do any wounds to the Doombull General and was killed in reply.

Beastmen turn three and the surviving Centigor charged into the flank of the Archers on the left, the Razorgor charged the Eagle in front of them while the Doombull General charged the Archers on the right,  The Ungor and other Razorgor carried on moving up the table.  Magic saw a roll of four on the Reign of Chaos.

In combat the Archers failed to do any wounds to the Centigor and despite being Steadfast fled and were cut down.  The Doombull cut a bloody swathe through the Archers he was fighting but unlike their compatriots, these Archers were made of sterner stuff and held.  Finally, the remaining Eagle was cut down by the Razorgor.

In reply my Swordmasters kicked off their action with the unit on the right charging the nearest Razorgor, who fled, leaving the Swordmasters moving forward six inches, and the left unit of Swordmasters charging into the other Razorgor who were now exposed to a charge.  The Reavers moved round to where they could see the fleeing Razorgor.

A middling dice roll for the Winds of Magic meant I could only attempt two spells and so I cast a boosted Hand of Glory onto Swordmasters fighting the Razorgor and Pha’s Protection onto the same unit, which was stopped by the Beastmen dispel roll.

Shooting saw both bolt thrower crews combine to shoot down the Centigor threatening the machines on the left, while the Reavers failed to cause any more damage to the fleeing Razorgor.  The Archers unceremoniously pushed forward the Light Archmage forward to challenge the Doombull which saw her crushed beneath the beast’s hooves and giving a roll of seven on the Eye of the Gods table.  The sacrifice was not in vain however, as the Archers managed to hold on to their courage at the site of the wizard’s sacrifice and keep the Doombull in place.

The second combat saw the Swordmasters beat the Razorgor, even with the Doombull in the unit but unable to catch them as they fled, although the pursuit took them just far enough to not be in the charge arc of the Ungor and end up not far behind the other fleeing unit of Razorgor.

Both units of Razorgor rallied in the Beastmen turn while the Ungor reformed to face the flank of the Swordmasters.  Reign of Chaos was a score of 11, while the Doombull General finally cut through the remaining Archers.

For my part I declared a charge with the Reavers at the rearmost of the two Razorgor units.  With the Swordmasters highly likely to chop through the other unit of Razorgor with an overrun that should take them into the rearmost unit this left Luke with a choice of holding and potentially lost both Razorgor units,  or fleeing – he chose to flee with that unit.  The Reavers re-directed into the other unit who then fled when the Swordmasters charged them.  The Swordmasters failed to catch them but the Reavers had enough charge range to reach and wipe them out.

So one Razorgor unit was dead but I still had to consider the fact that the Swordmasters now had the Ungor staring at tempting flank charge that would put them at a distinct advantage in static combat res I’d have very little hope of overcoming with just two Swordmasters and my general fighting to the flank.  Therefore in the magic phase I cast a boosted Walk Between Worlds to get them out of Dodge.  This ended up as an Irresistible Force and so the unit was able to make a tactical withdrawal close to Luke’s board edge.  Fortunately my Archmage didn’t drop down a hole from the miscast result.

That just left the shooting phase and both bolt throwers targeted the Doombull out on his own with single bolts. One hit and didn’t wound while the other hit, wounded and caused three wounds, taking him down to one.

Beastmen turn five and the Doombull failed his Frenzy test, declaring a charge on the nearest unit, which turned out to be the bolt thrower on the right.  He failed to make it in, leaving himself a target for the bolt throwers the next turn.  Meanwhile the fleeing Razorgor rallied and the Ungor turned about to head towards my side of the table. Reign of Chaos ended up killing two of the Ellyrian Reavers.

Over to my turn five and my general’s unit edged away from the Razorgor while the Reavers likewise put themselves out of a likely charge range.  The other unit of Swordmasters also moved backwards, putting them out of reasonable charge range of the Doombull.  The bolt throwers both shot at the Doombull but failed to hit him.

Restraining his urges in turn six the Doombull decided not to try taking down one of the bolt throwers but instead waited for the Ungor to catch up and then joined them.  A roll of nine on the Reign of Chaos threatened the Reavers but the template scattered off them.

My last actions of the game were to unload my shooting into the Ungor just for the hell of it.

All in I managed to get 1045 points from Luke and gave up 1070, making the game a draw.

As I feared, the random deployment element had a big effect on this game, although in hindsight I realise that I threw away the potential chance of a win.  With how the units were aligned when I moved the general’s unit of Swordmasters with the boosted Walk Between Worlds, instead of taking them into the top right corner out of the way, I should instead have moved at full speed towards the Razorgor unit that was, at that time, still fleeing.  Looking at my picture of the table I think I should have been able to finish the move out of line of sight of the Ungor unit (which I’m guessing Luke might still have turned round for his own general to bunker in rather than risk him being shot down as well as losing the Razorgor and other Doombull).  The Swordmasters should have done a number on the Razorgor, enough to prevent too many attacks back, and the Doombull had a magic weapon and so shouldn’t have done too much damage to the Swordmasters.  All in I think I would have broken the unit and hopefully caught them.  Plus, I had the Reavers nearby to divert the Ungor should Luke not have sent them to collect the general.

Another potential mistake, although it panned out for me in game, was not moving the bolt thrower on the right when the Doombull was within Frenzy check range.  Had he charged in from Frenzy he would have beaten the machine easily and then been right next to the Swordmasters.  With his magic item and gift load out I wouldn’t have fancied the Swordmasters’ chances of taking him on, especially with all the bonus attacks he’d accrued through fighting the Archers earlier on.

Furthermore, there was always the chance that beating the bolt thrower might panic the Swordmasters which could have seen them shepherded off the table.

Game 3 – Terry Flaherty – Dwarfs – Battle Line

I was now on table 26, edging away from the bottom.  This time around I was playing Dwarfs.  With my track record coming into the event I’d played Dwarfs five times (all at tournaments funnily enough) and was so far three games to the good, although I’d only played once against the 8th edition incarnation of the army.

For his part, Terry told me he was usually competing for best Dwarf player at events he went to and had been hoping to do the same at this event.  While I didn’t fancy his chances of winning best Dwarf player if he was down this end of rankings in game three, it did mean I knew he’d probably be taking best advantage of all the tricks in his list.

Dwarf Lord

- Shieldbearers

Runesmith

- Shield

Runesmith

- Shield

Thane

- Battle Standard Bearer

- Shield

Grim Burloksson

21 Quarrellers

- Full Command

- Shields

21 Quarrellers

- Full Command

- Great Weapons

26 Ironbreakers

- Full Command

Gyrocopter

Gyrocopter

Gyrocopter

19 Irondrakes

- Standard

- Musician

Spells

Archmage - Lore of High Magic

1 – Soul Quench

2 – Apotheosis

3 – Hand of Glory

4 – Fiery Convocation

Archmage – Lore of Light

1 – Shem’s Burning Gaze

2 – Pha’s Protection

3 – Net of Amyntok

4 – Banishment

Deployment

On arriving on this table I did ponder for a few seconds about asking Sandy if the terrain was all in the right place as my side of the table was decidedly sparse; the sole piece of terrain was one of the small hills about six inches from my left board edge and just in front of my deployment zone.

Terry had the lion’s share of terrain with a large building in his deployment zone’s left quadrant, a small rocky piece of terrain in his right quadrant and a wood and hill just over the line for  his side of the table, with the wood just right of centre  and the hill a few inches on from that.  There was also a small wall about six inches back from the wood.

From left to right Terry had a Gyrocopter about four inches to the left of the building, one unit of Quarrellers in the building with the other unit to the right of it and a Gyrocopter in front of them.  The Irondrakes went to the left of the wall and the Ironbreakers behind the wall with the last Gyrocopter about six inches to their right.  For his characters, if I remember correctly the Lord went in the Ironbreakers with the BSB and a Runesmith while the other Runesmith and Grim Burloksson joined the Irondrakes (although it’s possible the Runesmith was with one of the Quarreller units).

For my part I put a unit of Reavers and Archers on the left, leaving a big gap to the next unit of Archers and then a gap of about four or five inches to another unit of Reavers.  The Lion Chariot was another three inches further on and then the first of the Swordmaster units with the general and BSB.  The second Swordmaster unit was about a foot away with the Light Archmage and then there was the last unit of Reavers.  Along the back board edge was the first bolt thrower, a bit over a foot from the left board edge, then one Eagle about seven inches along and a few in front, a few inches more over to the last bolt thrower and then six or seven inches more to the last Eagle.

With the main setup complete we made our Vanguard moves.  For my part I ended up advancing the Reaver units on the flanks.  I was unable to push the central unit up where I’d wanted to as Terry had the Vanguard rune on his Irondrakes and Ironbreakers and had pushed them up far enough that the last Reaver unit would be coming within 12” of those units if I were to put them where I’d planned.

Game

I tried not to die of shock when I won the roll to go first for once.  Given that I was wary of the Gyrocopters the only unit I really pushed forward was the right hand unit of Swordmasters, although even then I think I may not have pushed them as far round as perhaps I should as I was hoping to use the Light Archmage’s magic missiles on the Gyros.  The only other unit that really moved was the right hand unit of Reavers who I moved up to threaten the right hand Gyro.

In the magic phase my plan started off reasonably well as the Light Archmage’s Burning gaze took two wounds off the nearest Gyrocopter.  A Banishment at the same target drew out three dispel dice to stop it.  Next, wanting to start tipping the balance my way for the combat I was expecting to come up, I cast Fiery Convocation on the Ironbreakers.  Which went off with Irresistible Force.  After managing to kill four from the spell’s effects I rolled the miscast result which was a four.  While I only lost one Swordmaster from the blast, thanks to the Banner of the World Dragon, the general then fell down a hole into the warp.  Great…

Shooting saw the Reavers on the right fail to take the last wound off the nearby Gyrocopter.  The Reavers in the centre shot at the Ironbreakers but failed to fell any while the Reavers on the left shot at the Gyro by the building but failed to get through the armour save.

The Archer units targeted the Quarrellers but managed to kill a grand total of one.

In Terry’s turn he declared a charge with the Ironbreakers on the Lion Chariot which held, only to see the Dwarfs fail their charge.  The Irondrakes moved up into the wood in support of their brethren.  The Gyrocopters started shifting to the right of the board, with the one by the building ending up behind the Quarrellers in the open, the one in the middle moving to the right of the wall and the last one moving for a flank shot down the Reavers.

The Irondrakes took aim at the Lion Chariot and blew it to pieces while the Gyrocopter shot down the Reavers to a man.

Turn two and I charged the general’s Swordmasters into the Ironbreakers, hoping to keep them there long enough for the other unit to charge into their flank as I moved that unit up at full speed into charge range, although it wasn’t a sure thing.  The Reavers on the left I moved up to hopefully distract the Quarrellers in the building while the Eagles were moved out to the right.

The Winds of Magic gave me a maximum dice phase which I started off by casting Net at the Irondrakes.  The follow-up spell of a bubble Pha’s drew out a Rune of Spellbreaking.

Shooting saw the Reavers’ fire ineffective again as neither unit managed to wound their targets.  The Archers were slightly more successful with two Quarrellers falling to their arrows.  Finally the Bolt Throwers fired at the Quarrellers, managing to kill five.

Into combat and the Dwarf Lord declared a challenge, which was accepted by the Swordmaster champion who managed to do a wound to the stunty leader before being cut down.  The Swordmasters managed to do a further five wounds to the Dwarfs, taking only five back in reply, although two of those were to my BSB who died.  Overall the combat ended as a draw.

Dwarf turn two saw the Irondrakes edge forwards while one of the Gyrocopters moved to block the charge of the Swordmasters into the flank of the Ironbreakers.

Shooting saw the right unit of Archers shot to pieces.  In combat the Swordmasters managed to do six wounds, including one to the Ironbreaker champion to kill him, but took eight in reply and broke, fleeing 11 inches, keeping just ahead of the pursuing Ironbreakers.

Fortunately for me the Swordmasters rallied in my third turn after one of the Eagles had charged the Gyrocopter blocking the other Swordmaster unit and the Reavers on the left had charged the Quarrellers in the building, more for the hell of it than any actual prospect of winning.

The surviving Archmage cast Shem’s Burning Gaze at the Irondrakes which caused four hits and one wound which failed to get through the armour.  A Banishment at the same unit was slightly more successful with the eight hits turning into three wounds and two dead dwarfs.  Pha’s was once again stopped from being cast.

Shooting saw the Archer unit left finally start to get its collective eye in as three Irondrakes were shot down, to be followed by another one shot dead by one of the bolt throwers (the other bolt thrower failing to wound at all).  In combat the Reavers bounced off the Quarrellers in the building while the Eagle failed to kill the Gyrocopter but beat it on combat res and saw it flee into the wood behind the Irondrakes where it lost its last wound to a dangerous terrain test.

The Eagles triumph was short-lived as it was killed by a bombing run by one of the other Gyrocopters that was nearby.  The Ironbreakers, meanwhile, had charged into the recently rallied Swordmasters.  The other unit had been unnerved by the death of the Eagle and fled 6”, their state of mind not helped by the other Gyrocopter that set itself up nearby to use its steam gun on them.

In the shooting phase the Quarrellers targeted the Archers who lost seven of their number.  Combat saw the Swordmasters put another wound on the Dwarf lord and one on the Runesmith, as well as two rank and file slain but they lost seven of their own number and fled four inches, failing to rally in my fourth turn.

Fortunately for my chances of getting anything out of the game, the other unit of Swordmasters did rally, as did the fleeing Reavers.  Magic saw the Archmage furiously casting magic missiles at the Ironbreakers with little effect: Shem’s Burning Gaze causing no wounds, Banishment likewise ineffective and the Soul Quench from his Khaine’s Ring of Fury bringing out the second Rune of Spellbreaking. 

My shooting also targeted the Ironbreakers who were now depleted enough that any hits had to be specifically allocated to models.  This saw an Ironbreaker die, a wound on the BSB and the Runesmith dead.

Terry’s fourth turn saw the Ironbreakers declare a charge on the nearest of their tormentors, the right hand bolt thrower but their little legs couldn’t carry them that far and the charge fell short.  The Irondrakes carried on their slow move forwards along with a reform to ensure more of them could shoot, while both Gyros lined up on the Swordmasters.

The Quarreller units combined to shoot dead the remaining Archers while the Irondrakes shot at the right-hand bolt thrower and managed to cause the requisite number  of wounds to kill the crew.  The Gyrocopters managed to kill 15 of the Swordmasters.

Passing their march test the Swordmasters headed closer to the Irondrakes to get the Archmage in range for his spells.  Starting with Banishment on the Ironbreakers, the Dwarfs hurriedly dispelled that leaving the unit open to Shem’s Burning Gaze, killing the last Ironbreaker and the BSB, leaving the Dwarf Lord all on his own.  Khaine’s Ring of Fury was fired up once more, striking the Dwarf general and hitting him four times but only wounding him once, a wound that was turned aside by his armour. With the last magic die Pha’s Protection was cast on the Swordmasters.

The remaining shooting from the Reavers and bolt thrower targeted the Dwarf Lord but could not find its way through.

Dwarf turn five and the Irondrakes reformed again to turn round and extend their unit close enough to the Dwarf Lord that he could pump his little legs hard enough to reach the relative safety of the unit.  The Gyrocopters both flew out to the flank of the Swordmasters again.

Shooting saw the Quarrellers wipe out the last unit of Reavers while the Gyrocopters wiped out the last of the Swordmasters, leaving the Archmage running for the board edge, only to rally in my sixth turn. 

With eleven dice against six in my last magic phase the Archmage cast Shem’s at the wound Gyrocopter, killing it.  She then went on to cast Banishment on the other Gyrocopter but see the hits fail to wound.  The Ring of Fury bit out once more, doing two wounds to the Gyro before the Archmage tried to protect herself with a Pha’s again.

My last shooting of the game saw the last bolt thrower try and shoot down the Gyro but it failed to wound, despite hitting it three times.  The Dwarf turn saw the Irondrakes wheel round to get as many shots as possible at the Archmage and shot her down.

So this was another big defeat for the me, with nearly my whole army taken off.  At least this time, however, I managed to give my opponent’s army a bit more of a bloody nose, taking 975 points from Terry.  Under the amended 20-0 scoring in use that made the result and 18-2 to Terry.  Not a great result for me but I was still doing better than my last Raze and Ruin (where my third game was also an 18-2 loss, although that time around those were my first tournament points of the event).  Apparently I was the first person to take down Terry’s Ironbreaker block so quickly which was some consolation.

Overall the main thing I’d have done differently would have been to move the Swordmasters on the right up and towards the Ironbreakers more in turn one.  I hadn’t expected the Ironbreakers and Irondrakes to vanguard and I probably should have moved the general’s Swordmasters  and the Lion Chariot towards the Ironbreakers, to make sure I could be confident of getting both in on a turn two charge and then used the Reavers to block the Irondrakes from shooting the Lion Chariot.  Hopefully that would have allowed me to combo charge with at least one unit of Swordmasters and the Lion Chariot, rather than the general’s Swordmasters going in solo. 

Of course, it would also have helped if the general hadn’t dropped down a hole with the first spell of the game that he cast.