The War in Winnersh Toruney

[Undead Dan]

Quick go-over of this nice little (emphasis on little!!!) tournament yesterday. A last-minute venue-change meant we were playing in a golf club of all places, which is nice, as the locale was nice and green, and lots of light. Only 10 of is made it in the end, but quite a few of the local guys we all know and [censored], well, basically anyone who didn't make it to Midlands Open

My list was...
Level 4 Sorcerer Lord (Fire!!), Dragonhelm, 4+ ward, Puppet, Ironcurse Icon 3rd Eye
Level 2 Nurgle, Charmed Shield, Dispel Scroll
Exalted BSB, Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Necrotic Phylactery, Potion of Foolhardiness, breath weapon
15 Nurgle Warriors, AHW/Shield, Rage Banner
17 Warriors, Shield, Standard of Discipline
5 Warhounds
20 Slaanesh Marauders, Shield
8 Chaos Trolls
2 Chariots
Hellcannon

So, quite well-rounded, and fire magic is actually very decent (especially when flaming sword lets you autowound ).

First up vs Leo, in only my second game vs Empire this edition.
Arch Lector on War Altar, Speculum
Level 3 Shadow
Level 1 Shadow
Priest
Captain BSB
Captain on Pegasus
25 Halberdiers, FC
25 Swordsmen, FC
10 Crossbowmen, Standard
30 Flagellants, Prophet
2 x 5 Outriders
2 Cannons
Steam Tank

Kind of the list that just makes your face drop when you see it set up, and you can probably guess how it went. The scenario for this one was diagonal deployment, but alternating units, everyone turns up on time etc. Basically he deployed the Outriders and Steam Tank forward, then everything pretty far back, while I deployed everything around a house near the 6" deployment zone axcept for 1 chariot and Marauders. I was disappointed not to get the spell Cloying Quagmire which kills a Tank on 2+, and while he rolled Mindrazor (which I could steal with 3rd Eye), he didn't get Pit, which was a shame.

I got turn 1 and chucked the Warhounds straight in front of the Steam Tank, while moving both Warrior blocks up, aiming to get through with 1, but leaving the other to be Tank'd. Meanwhile one Chariot chased the Outriders all game. In magic I got off no spells thanks to +3DD and his destroy magic scroll, which deleted Buboes as he didn't want me sniping a wound off the tank all game! Now, he'd vanguarded his Outriders right next to his Flagellants, and so I decided to have a pop at both units with the Hellcannon, and after a direct hit he suddenly remembered that he "forgot" about the 1" rule and insisted the units be separated, meaning less hits on both. Now I don't really care about the 1" rule all that much, and I'm not going to force people to play by it, but if a player does ignore it, and then he suffers as a result, he should live with it. As justice, the Outriders failed their panic and ran off the board, which was a good start.

His turn and War Altar/Tank both charged the Warhounds, which was all right by me. Magic saw the Flaggelants Mindrazor to dissuade my chariot, but I didn't really want to charge them yet anyway! Then the cannons started... first, straight at Hellcannon... crewman got in the way! Second, straight at Hellcannon... crewman got in the way again! Then the Steam Tank fired as well (during combat wtf) but this one fell short thankfully. The hounds got murdered of course and the War Altar overran near my Warriors.

I ran my main block with all characters up to try and get past the Tank, which could barely wheel due to being next to a mountain. The other one stood in front of the War Altar to further block stuff up. Chariot moved back to countercharge if War Altar hit Warriors and Trolls made it to charge distance of one of his blocks. Hellcannon misfired and rampaged, which would have got his Pegasus hero if my Marauders hadn't been in the way (failed march block test, doh).

The War Altar charged my Rage Warriors now, and the Tank made an iffy wheel to get around the War Altar and hit the Discipline unit (with all 3 characters) in the flank. Meanwhile his level 1 and Priest bailed from the Halberdier block facing down my trolls. Again he used his magic to boost the Flagellants, but again I did not care (he didn't see the chariot had the flank of the Altar). Cannon time... next cannnon shot, final crewman got in the way! Next cannon shot, hit, wounds, no more crew, 5 wounds, dead. Don't you just love playing vs empire that never misfires?

Lector killed my warrior champ in a challenge- good! Tank killed a half dozen Warriors from the other unit after wasting a Steam Point on using its Steam Gun in the combat. My numerous S4 and S6 attacks from BSB never caused a single unsaved wound to it. In fact he didn't lose even one wound the entire tournament. Tank needs to be banned IMO, it doesn't fit into 8th edition warhammer- at least, the 8th edition errata version doesn't! The 7th edition one, that isn't healed by Life Magic, that can be eventually killed by normal enemies, rather than 2 or 3 spells, now that would be nice to face.

Back to my go, and the Trolls charged the Halberdiers and ate them over a couple of turns, pursuing nearly off the board then being unable to pass stupidity as too far from my lord. My one real hope for the game came as my Chariot charged into the flank of the War Altar, and I went for a 6-dice Mindrazor to give the the Warriors fighting it S8- all they had to do was destroy the chariot and break the Lector, which would let them pursue into the Tank and dish out another 20 S8 attacks. Suffice to say, I barely even cast the spell, and he had a second dispel scroll, just in case, you know anyone wanted to have a fair chance at casting a spell

I still had a good chance at destroying the War Altar though, but after impacts, some S5 from chariot crew and tonnes of attacks from Rage Warriors, and about 8 passed 4+ ward saves, the Altar survived on 1 wound. Next turn Flagellants came into the Warriors' flank, and I just barely finished off the Altar. Not that it really mattered as no VPs were gained. The Warriors broke, well, the 1 remaining warrior after the Flagellants' attacks, and were run down the next turn by the Outriders. On the plus side, the destruction of the War Altar meant my Chariot could no longer maintain contact, and in its current position, a 5 or more would let it charge the remaining Swordsmen block, with BSB and level 4 sitting in it! Needless to say, I rolled a 3, and his Pegasus hero flanked it to kill it next turn. Then he cannoned off the other one. I feel like I'm writing up the other side of an old Bad Dice Ben Johnson tournament report here ("I cannoned it. I cannoned it. Then I hit it with the Tank. I smashed him good and proper").

Still, my opponent's slow play meant we only got 4 turns in, which wasn't enough time for him to finish my army off. The Tank took out the last Chaos Warriors, but the 3 characters in it were mostly fine. I'd only scored 300 points or so, but he'd only got about 800 more than that, so I lost 5-15, which is better than nothing!

It wasn't a BAD game per se, but a bit soul-destroying because absolutely everything worked for him, and I really just needed one thing to go wrong for him or right for me- like the Hellcannon doing a wound, or stealing Mindrazor successfully, or a single misfire or miscast. Funny to think I fired the Hellcannon twice, got a misfire, and he fired around 10 cannons shots without a single one. And we used the same dice, grrr! But that's tactical genius for you

But oh well, I was happy to be matched up vs Ogres in the next game... to be continued!!

[fatolaf]

Tank needs to be banned IMO, it doesn't fit into 8th edition warhammer-

100% agree, and there are still players who say it's poop in 8th Ed....

Next battle please Dan, quick as you like 

[maelzch]

...there are still players who say it's poop in 8th Ed....

Like the kid at SCGT who's tank was yelled away by me 

[Undead Dan]

Rightso, next up was Brian with his good MMU (multiple medium units) Ogre army, I could tell it would be a good game with lots of scrapping regardless of who won!

Tyrant, Tenderiser, 4+ ward
Bruiser BSB, 4+ ward (Ironcurse Icon on him or Tyrant)
Butcher, Dispel Scroll
3 Bulls
2 x 8 Ironguts, Standard, Bellower, 1 had Runemaw Banner
50 Gnoblars
2 x 5 Leadbelchers, Bellower
2 Gorgers

This scenario was Blood and Glory variant, with 1000 bonus VPs if you "broke" your enemy. In addition no magic levels added to casting/dispelling. The two main Ogre units went in the centre, east flank protected by the huge Gnoblar unit, and both leadbelchers on the west, hanging around a building. He put his 3 Bulls off to one side, commenting that he'd rather just not deploy them at all!

My stuff pretty much just faced off against him, except my Chariots and frenzied bloc went a bit east, hoping to rush around a Dreadstone Blight and attack him from the side/rear. I won the roll for first turn and pushed most of it forwards staying more than 10" charge roll away, except for my Warhounds who zoomed up close to his Gnoblars to see what would happen. For magic I cast Flaming Sword on the Hellcannon, and then let 'er rip in the shooting phase... misfire! But it was the top misfire, which makes it a direct hit, S10. So, with my +1 to wound, 9 Ogres in his general/BSB's unit were hit, the one under the hole took 3 wounds and that left 8 more wounds on the unit, so 2 more dead Ogres. Even though the Hellcannon would no longer be able to fire... nice!

He responded the only way an Ogre player ever should... and charged with pretty much everything! One Irongut unit with Butcher slammed into my Trolls, the main unit went into the flank of the Warhounds and the Gnoblars went into the front. Magic saw me dispel Trollguts, scroll Toothcracker and let him have S7 impacts on my Trolls. But the impacts from his 3-wide units only caused one wound to my Trolls after regeneration, and my better-deployed unit (5 wide, 3 in rear) responded by putting max attacks on the Butcher and killing him outright, plus a few more wounds. The Ironguts killed a Troll or two in return, with Mutant Regeneration kicking in and granting my Trolls even more attacks! They passed their steadfast break test, but the next turn they were broken and chased off, but not caught. Of course the Tyrant's unit and the Gnoblars annihilated the Warhounds (not before a Warhound killed a Gnoblar, moral victory!) and the Gnoblars overran into the flank of a chariot. This was fine, because my frenzied Warriors were positioned for a flank charge, and smashed in, and killed almost all the unit over two turns, breaking the few survivors, who again escaped.

Meanwhile since the Hellcannon could no longer fight, I pushed it in front of the Tyrant's unit and hoped to get a few wounds on the BSB before it died. The Hellcannon survived the Tyrant's Tenderiser, allowing my chariot to charge in the flank. I tried to drop the Ogres' S/T with my lovely Nurgle magic, but the lone Irongut survivor of the other unit was still just within 6" and so he took the brunt of the Curse of the Lepar instead, thanks to the Runemaw banner, which redirects magic! The Chariot in the flank managed a single wound before having 3 wounds smashed onto it, fleeing through the Dreadstone tower while the Hellcannon died horribly.

Elsewhere minor skirmishes saw my other chariot take out the 3 Bulls, and the 10 Leadbelchers pouring shot after shot into my Trolls, killing one or two more.

The Irongut star was now significantly weakened, and went into my Disciplined Warrior block, after my characters ejected and hung around the Marauders instead. The Marauders proved themselves real stars, killing both Gorgers that came onto the back of the table (thanks in part to Flaming Sword). My Chaos Warriors crippled the Ironguts, leaving only the Tyrant, BSB and Standard Bearer on one wound, before being annihilated themselves; the three Ogres reformed to try and charge my Trolls, failing their charge. In return, the Chariot charged their flank for a second time, and the Trolls went into their front. I'd had enough of trying to kill his BSB at this point (He'd passed about a dozen ward saves on his Tyrant and BSB at this point) but was confident of doing enough damage to finish off the standard bearer on one wound! Impact hits did... nothing, then my 3 Trolls' attacks also failed abysmally to finish him off... but then I remembered my Trolls had earned +1 attack from Eye of the Gods, and with 3 more attacks, finally killed the standard bearer. The Trolls died horribly in return and then fled, but that was fine by me. All that was left was for a final volley of shots from the Leadbelchers into my units, one of which caused a panic test on the Ogre shooty boys and panicked them, to give me another free 300VPs.

Counting it up, it was pretty close, until I remembered the 1000 VPs I got for breaking his army, while mine remained safe. So that made it an 18-2 in the end, for a hard-fought win!

> Ogre

[Undead Dan]

Third and final game vs Martin Parker and his best-army winning Daemons. A normal game and no Greater Daemon, so I'd be able to fight him without worrying about the Eye of the Gods rule forcing my characters into unwinnable challenges...

Herald of Khorne general, Armour
Herald of Nurgle BSB, Breath weapon, Slime Trail
Herald of Tzeentch, Master of Life, Dispel Scroll
36 Horrors, FC
25 Plaguebearers, FC, re-roll wound Icon
30 Bloodletters, FC
8 Furies
3 Nurglings
6 Fiends
1 Fiend
4 Flamers

Confident I could take this army, I was quite surprised at Martin's deployment, as he's a very good player. His Horrors went in the centre, then Plaguebearers east past a mountain (impassable terrain), then Bloodletters, then Flamers at the far right and 6 Fiends far left. This only gave his Flamers my Chariots and Hellcannon to target, which are like sponges when it comes to S4 fire. My blocks went in the middle, my Trolls in a nice space I'd left for them.

Martin won first turn, and continued to surprise me by moving the Horrors forward (18" from Trolls), but flew his furies to the east, far away from my lines where he'd be unable to use them to block my Trolls. His left Fiends zoomed at my army, the loner rushed the right past my Chariots' line of sight, and his other infantry cautiously advanced, not wanting 2 chariots in their faces. Magic saw a couple of magic missiles do some wounds to my Trolls but nothing too hot. The Flamers let loose with a load of shots vs a Chariot, but I rolled as impressively as him and saved all 3 wounds caused. With the path clear, I zoomed my Trolls up straight at the Horrors, while my blocks protected the rear. I decided my Marauders, the only Slaaaneshi troops in my army deserved a nasty fate against the Fiends, and pushed them into the Fiends' claws. Similarly I shoved my Hounds forward, blocking the progress of both the Bloodletters and Plaguebearers- I did this partially to make him charge with the Bloodletters and waste the +D6" charge banner that every Daemon player puts on them, although as it happened he didn't have it anyway.

For magic, I couldn't help myself, and stole the Tzeentch Herald's Life magic to irresistibly cast Dwellers on the Fiends- two of them died instantly, for the loss of one Chaos Warrior's life. Fair exchange! (I'd have gone for the Horrors, but wasn't confident of getting the casting value for the big version). I followed this up with the Hellcannon lobbing a shot at the Bloodletters, but it scattered between the two big blocks to graze them both, killing a couple of Bloodletters.

The Fiends started the next Daemon charge with some charges, the 4 into my Marauders and the single into my Chariot's flank. Plaguebearers charged and destroyed the Warhounds to get them out the way while the Horrors, realising their mistake, inched backward. It would not be enough for them, as I used my dispel scroll this turn to stop his magic. On the plus side for the Daemons, his Fiend warded the blows from my Charioteers and ran down the Chariot, pursuing into the flank of the second one, which his Flamers had wasted another turn shooting at.

Time for action, and the Trolls went into the Horror block. I was a little concerned about this fight, but with a bit of help from magic, and a lot of luck, I killed the Herald on the charge, and whittled the unit down but by bit, destroying them by the end of the game with 3 Trolls left. Still, his Plaguebearer and Bloodletter blocks were quite scary, so I put my Hellcannon in front of the Bloodletters and pointed my Nurgle block at his Nurgle block, in preparation for an awesome confrontation.

The Bloodletters went into the Hellcannon, which survived for a shocking amount of time, with me passing several 6+ armour saves for the machine after the death of the crew. My luck continued, and after 3-4 turns of putting all the Hellcannon's attacks on his general, I finally got a pair of wounds through; Martin rolled a 1 and a 2 for his save and groaned as he went to take him off: I reminded him that the Herald probably had armour, so that was his failed armour save, and he had a ward save he could take. He promptly failed those as well, earning my Hellcannon more VPs than he had cost. In spite of my sporting reminder here Martin got stroppy on TWF and posted about how I'd played the Hellcannon's rules wrong (which I hadn't) and how miffed he was. Might not be so eager to remind him next time if that's how he thanks me, although he did apologise after I corrected him!

The Nurgle vs Nurgle combat finally happened, but I had a severe advantage, as my second Chariot beat up the lone Fiend and popped it, then pointed himself at the Plagubearers and charged in as well. On top of that with his Horrors dwindling away, I had a major magical advantage, and gave my frenzied Nurgle Warriors Fleshy Abundance (regeneration) and Flaming Sword. After a whole heap of attacks and both our breath weapons, the Plaguebearers had lost by a lot and weren't steadfast, losing nearly all their models, until just the Herald remained. As Martin squirmed and tried to think of a way to avoid the challenge, my Exalted Hero Battle Standard Bearer stepped up and destroyed the Daemon whose cowardice shamed Papa Nurgle, earning an Eye of the Gods roll! Okay, it was only MR3, but such a rare victory must be savoured.

Meanwhile the Fiends had dispatched all the Slaaneshi followers, and ran behind my army in a vain bid to aid the Plaguebearers before their destruction. Although my regeneration rolls were utterly appalling, my valiant Warriors still managed to defeat the Fiends, and my Pyromancer Sorcerer Lord showed the Daemons how it was done, charging the flank of the Fiends on his lonesome, before conjuring up a Cloak of Fire to kill one of the Fiends, and helping my Warriors finish off the bizarre Slaaneshi creatures.

We were in the end end-game now, and all that remained for the Daemons were a few Furies and the block of Bloodletters. My Nurgle Warriors had taken a pounding, and only 3 and my BSB remained. Despite outnumbering the Chaos Warriors by 5, maybe 6 times, the Bloodletters and Flamers both edged away in fear rather than taking the opportunity for a final charge. In disgust at the Daemons, my Sorcerer Lord threw a final fireball at the Flamers, who enjoyed their bath barely damaged, before slinking away back into the void, leaving the Warriors of Chaos victorious (17-3)! Raawwwwr!

Great game, if a bit marred by the subsequent TWF moan. Round-up to come...

[Undead Dan]

So, after 2 big wins and one medium draw, I placed 4th, as Ben Gibson pummeled a Skaven army with his Warriors in the last round - even killing the Abomination twice - to leapfrog me into third position. Meanwhile Grant and Leo (My Empire opponent from the first round) had decided on a golden handshake, deployed in opposite corners and took a 10-10 10 minute draw instead of playing a proper game, giving Grant first place and Leo second. I found this pretty galling, as the pair then played a "fun" game in which Grant safely whupped the Empire- if this had been the actual result, then Ben would have been second and myself third. So a bit of a poor ending really, Grant deserved the first place of course, just not a fan of the route to get there. But what can I say, it's what the "proper" tournament players always do in the final game, and don't we all want to be the next Dan Heelan or Bobo?

Would LOVE to see the final game in tournaments - especially those with scenarios - make the last game Blood and Glory, or anything really that prevents people deploying in the corners. I've read too many winning tournament reports where that is all the player had done in their last game, such as in a copy of Unseen Lerker I read at Grant's place.

The tournament itself was good fun, all three games were good and enjoyable, and as much as I despair over the Empire TM list I faced, it was a close game that could have been closer. Lunch was pretty good too, just glad I had Grant to drive me to the venue as it was a in a golf club miles from any train stations, so, extra thanks to Grant!

Oh, and I'd probably not mention this tournament to the Trampoline when you see him next

[The Trampoline]

Oh, and I'd probably not mention this tournament to the Trampoline when you see him next

, it didn't go too well for me. Small units are rubbish, I'm going back to horde size units.

[khaosgoblin]

Meanwhile Grant and Leo (My Empire opponent from the first round) had decided on a golden handshake, deployed in opposite corners and took a 10-10 10 minute draw instead of playing a proper game, giving Grant first place and Leo second.
But what can I say, it's what the "proper" tournament players always do in the final game, and don't we all want to be the next Dan Heelan or Bobo?

Whilst its know to be fairly common practice at major events (100 player two days ect) for players to make similar decisions, there is a world of difference as UK rankings, Masters Positions, ETC influence & community coudos from these huge events, I cannot understand this when only ten players play in a 3 game event, it should be everyone pushing armies as hard as they can for the win.

Another obvious outcome, dump the scenarios they are rubbish, A few of us are signed up for Warfare, but if its Scenarios I wont be bothering.

Mark

[Undead Dan]

The scenarios were pretty forgettable here- first one was simply deploying along the diagonal (which I don't care for), second one was Blood and Glory deployment, +1000VPs for breaking the enemy and no adding level for casting, final game was straight battle. As long as there's no Watchtower or Battle for the Pass I'm happy to play minor scenarios.

[fatolaf]

Meanwhile Grant and Leo (My Empire opponent from the first round) had decided on a golden handshake, deployed in opposite corners and took a 10-10 10 minute draw instead of playing a proper game, giving Grant first place and Leo second. 

I'm sorry but WTF! at a 3 game one dayer..

If they tried that at an OG event, they would both get disqualified..

Sorry but that type of 'Heelan' Tm tournie crap really makes me angry...

Well done Dan on your placing