Friday, 20 November 2015

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.  

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