So this weekend just been there was the 2nd major WHFB event in Wellington of the year. As with the first one (Runefang) it was a Mighty Empires campaign instead of a tournament (I believe that is the NEXT event-Call to Arms 2400pts...). I personally think that the campaign event is the way to go. It has all the “seriousness” of a tournament, but with all the lolz and fun that WHFB is all about. Big ups to Pete Dunn for a) organising it; b) putting all the campaign stuff together; and c) running a campaign instead of a tournament.
So as with the last event I was in the R.O.Man team with the father/son combo of Neil and Peter who were using Bretts (minus Heroic Killing Blow that I think he missed all event) and Woodies (Peter’s first ever run with woodies in 8th...).
The Event was 2000 points with 3 “sideboards” of 100 pts that you could buy with campaign gold. You had to buy your core first, then special, then rare. I took 10 scouts (never again!) and 10 Great Swords (totally worth it!). As a team we also had a “mission”. Ours was to a) survive; and b) hold 2 of the 3 coastal tiles. This meant we had a weekend of games vs Skaven, Lizardmen, and the Chaos Alliance (Dark Elves, WoC, DoC).
Also-N00b moment for me-on day 1 brought my woodie army book instead of my Empire, and day 2 I forgot my camera...sigh.
My list:
Lvl4: Light-scroll
W.Priest: HA, Sh (general)
W.Priest: HA, 2hw
BSB: FPA, opal Amulet, charmed Shield.
2x46 Halberds: FC with 5 Free Company detach (the Sisters of Sigmar)
30 Halberds: M, SB
10 xbows
30 Flagellants
2 cannons
Mortar
5 Pistoliers: M
GAME ONE vs High Elves. Traditional punch up.
SO game one I got to choose my opponent of the High Elf players. I chose to play Hugh instead of rematch Glen from last time-not because I wanted to avoid Glen-but because Hugh brought a dragon, and my cannons were eager to go monster hunting! (+ plenty of games left for the rematch).
Hugh’s list was something like:
Prince with stubborn, 4+ ward, Sun Dragon
BSB on Stead with 2+ As, 5+ ward, Gw usual stuff
Lvl2: High magic, +1 spell
36 sea guard: FC
9 Silverhelms: FC-the UoU cold blooded item
5 Dragon Princes
Lion chariot
2 Eagles
SO, a very fast list with lots of targets and armour to make life fun for the men with feathered hats.
Turn 1
The HE got first turn and moved their flanking force up hard. This worried me as it meant I only had 1 turn with the cannons before the Dragon got his nom nom nom on.
In the magic phase, I stopped Drain magic, before the shield of Sapphery was IF’ed onto the dragon...yay. Snake Eyes was rolled on the miscast table, but the mage dodged the warp.
In the empire turn my troops slowly started their trap move. I made a mistake with the pistoliers. Instead of pushing up to kill the eagle, I moved them to make the charge impossible. Sounded smart, but I forgot about the dragon princes charging through the xbows. I got the big pha’s off (better hitting me on 4’s not 3’s). The shooting phase was awesomeness x1000000. The mighty dragon is felled, the prince frustrating survives haha. The xbows also then put 2 wounds on the lion chariot.
Turn 2
So as expected/realised in my shooting phase, the DP’s and the Eagle charged my xbows.
The mage, not having had enough fun last time, decides to IF the shield AGAIN, and takes a wound for the trouble. The sea guard then let off a volley, killing a unit of my sisters. As you can expect, the xbows died, and everything overran into the pistoliers...though buying my cannon another round of shooting...
The empire movement phase was me setting more traps/bad ideas for the high elves. This meant entering the forest (but not enough to lose steadfast). However, this forest was a stupid forest-but hey, I can’t remember failing re-rolling ldship 8 tests...*cough* can opener vs Woodies *cough*
I wanted to trap the silverhelms in a combat they could not win, and then Combat res them into submission. The other side of the battle was a little more “tactical” as I needed to get the flank of the sea guard to have any hope at all of winning vs them.
My magic phase was fruitful. I got speed of light off and also unbreakable on my general. Shooting was very fruitful. The cannon saved my the pistoliers finished off the lion chariot, while my other cannon, decided to grape shot FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME and killed an eagle for its efforts. Not bad, not bad. In the combat, as you can expect the pistoliers went squish and the cannon found itself in combat with an eagle and some DP’s.
Turn 3
So the high elves, not being a stupid bunch, retreat. Well, the Silverhelms turn around and “redeploy” to help the sea guard...but exposing a juicy flank to my halberds.
In the magic phase the silverhelms get the shield-though the mage had finally learnt how to temper the winds of magic, and cast it safely. The sea guard in the shooting phase open up on the other unit of sisters, but only manage to kill 4. The remaining sister, holds firm. The cannon dies a sorry death. The eagle reforms to try chase my mage, and the DP’s overrun to hunt the mortar (not really needed TBH-hadn’t hit anything all game!).
The flagellents with nothing to do, reform to play “catch the prince/make sure his ldship is miles away from where it is needed”.
Repeat for the rest of the game. The general and his merry men, seeing the golden opportunity to wrap this game up quick, decide that it would be tactically “better” to hang out in Sherwood Forest for another turn...sigh. At this point I could see the game slipping away from me. I try to position my 2 blocks as best I could.
My mage get’s pha’s up for some much needed anti-shooting.
Turn 4
The high elves, seeing the opportunity charge...and the sister flees haha. The Sea Guard redirect into the horde to get their chop on. The Silverhelms, on the craziest of angles, could see me, and were thankfully in my front; they also joined the fun.
I dispel the shield on the Sea Guard, and the stubborn spell fails to cast...phew! Now I’m thinking I’ve probably lost as my other blocks are nowhere near the situation to support me, and my “flanking unit” is still frustratingly in the front arc of the seaguard (wanted 1 more turn before the charge). The only good thing was that Pha’s was still up. The DP side show resulted in a dead mortar. The real funfest however was a bit of a blood bath. I managed to pull the BSB from his horse to his grave, and scare the sea guard. However, the highelf onslaught was too much and I lost combat by 4. I picked up my dice, pleaded to Sigmar, and rolled snake eyes! Praise Sigmar! Then to my surprise, the Sea guard reformed into a steadfast block-giving my “flanking” unit the flank! I suspect my opponent didn’t see this as was more worried about my magic phase making me unhittable (understandably), so when deep for steadfast not wide for killy.
So In charge the halberds. My General’s unit decides it is time to get into the action, swift reform, and walk up to the silverhelm flank. My mage then fluffs....looks like this war will have to be won with the sweat from the brow and the might of the feather and cod piece of the Empire grunts...REAL WAR. Needless to say, the combat was a rip roaring success. I win 3, the seaguard are run down by the flanking halberds-who overrun into the silverhelms-who held due to the cold blooded item thingie.
Turn 5.
The other cannon fluffs a grapeshot and dies. I scroll the stubborn spell and pull the silverhelms apart with combat res-running them down.
With no chance of either side catching any other unit we call it there. Adding up the points, I was 764 points up. This also meant we could steal a tile from the highelves (which we did).
A fun game, and great to see the dragons being used. Didn’t do much in this one, but I hear in the later games it did much nom nom nom. Nice.
GAME 2 vs Lizardmen. Meeting Engagement.
So into game 2. My team was in last place (we lost the other 2 games), so we took the “all or nothing” card. This was changed since last time-instead of getting 1 point for a loss, you get none, but get an extra point if win.
For this game I annoyingly had to set up first. As I may have moaned in earlier posts, this gives the 2nd player a HUGE advantage-even if they go 2nd. Anyway-I was determined to win this one and prove to myself that it was do-able. To make it more “fun” the Lizardmen team chose the “elite army” card = one player gets their elite choice sideboard for free. As I had cannons, I was up against an extra 100 points of fun.
So my opponent Reid had a list that looked something like this:
Slann bsb-banner of discipline. +1 dice per spell, extra spell, if my mage within 24 = discard all 6’s, 4+ ward, 2+ ward vs ranged. Life
2 scar vets on coldones.
2 blocks of saurus
2 cohorts
2 Salamanders
Ancient Stegadon (cannon target #2 of event)
3 terradons (sideboard)
So rolling for deployment, only my mortar failed to start on the board (not that it does much anyway). I deployed as boring and defensively as I could.
The lizardmen rolled for their deployment-only 1 cohort was off the board. They deployed like this:
Turn 1:
I got first turn. My movement was to bring my flag into the forest (another stupid one) and to move the pistoliers up to frighten the terradons. I my magic phase, put the net on the slann. Shooting was rather eventful. My pistoliers did 5 wounds to the terradons-leaving 1 fustratingly still alive (and re-growable). The cannons opened up. They killed all the crew on the ancient steggy and only managed a frustrating 2 wounds on the beast itself.
The Lizardmen turn got off to a good start. The cohort moved on to flank my blocks (well 2 or 3 turn’s away flanking). The surviving terradon moved up along with the steggy and the sallys. The scar vet saurus “death star” charged the pistoliers-who killed one lizard with S&S before dying a squishy honourable death.
This good start however came crashing down around them when the slann failed a strength test, and 2 wounds got past the 2+ ward AND had no magic phase for the effort as well. Best. Net. Result. Ever.
The sallys then ominously failed to flame the flagellants... (two 2’s for range)
Turn 2.
The flagellents declare a charge on the sallys who flee. The flagellants then promptly fail a re-rolling ldship 10 test to redirect into the Ancient steg. One of the sister units was JUST within charge range of the sallys-so declared another charge, making the sallys flee some more. Good.
In this magic I gave the Flagellants ASF, and banished the last terradon. The lizards, sore from last time, save everything to stop the net. The cannons opened up on the ancient steggy, and took another wound from the hefty beast-this was looking like a job for the crazy men.
The Lizard turn started with the ancient steggy charging into the flagellants-hoping for some life buffs to keep it going. The sallys rally and stuff moves up
The slann starts by giving its froggy self a throne of vines before s6 MMissiling the sisters-killing 4. The survivor holds. I throw everything to stop flesh to stone on the ancient, who had regained 1 wound from the lore of life (slann had also healed itself 1 wound). In the combat, 3 flaggellants are trampled to death before 2 martyr themselves so the ancient steggy’s head can be mounted in the local shrine as a gift for Sigmar.
Turn 3
The flagellants, with a movement of 8 and having just killed an ancient steggy, charge into the saurus block with the 2 scar vets (sorry forgot to take a photo of this). My mage, overwhelmed by the winds of magic unleashes an IF net on the slann (didn’t note down the result, but nothing died/no wounds taken-probably lost rest of powerdice). In the shooting phase, my cannons do nothing-one misses the sallys, the other misfires. My mortar and xbows kill 3 skinks and do 2 wounds to a krox on the advancing cohort.
In the combat, the flagellants kill 13 saurus. The lizards kill 8 in return, lose by 5 and run in a very un-cold blooded way. They are run down by the flagellants who power on through into the Slann.
The Cohort then charges the xbows. S&S does 3 wounds to the krox, killing 1.
The Sallys and the other saurus block turn to face the Flaggellant/Slann combat.
In the magic phase, the Slann AGAIN fails their strength test. Wow. The shooting phase is a bit more productive as the lurking cohort opens up with many javelin shots at the sisters and kills them many times over. The flagellants vs Slann combat = 2 wounds on the Slann who holds. The xbows kill3 skinks from the cohort, before running off the board to the pub, leaving a cannon to it’s fate.
Turn 4.
So in the back field I start to move my halberds to engage the cohorts. I dispel the throne and fail to cast net again. The Shooting phase results in a mortar misfire (the other cannon still trying to repair itself). Combat however is a lot more productive as the Slann is killed by many flagellant fails. This is where I made a “mistake” (the flagellants were toast either way). I queried the initiative of the sallys-who are I4. With this in mind I figured the sallys would charge to wipe me out before I struck –completely forgetting that they are really there to destroy at range + I did not realise the movement + shoot range of the sallys. So I make the decision to reform to face the sallys instead of the saurus block (who were the obvious choice for the charge).
The cannon also dies-no cohort overrun L
So as I should have seen the Saurus charge the flagellants and the sallys move the flame the halberds. In the pic note that the sallys are out of halberd charging arc.
Shooting results in 24 dead halberds OUCH. I believe I flee (as somehow appear in next photo a bit further back...) In the combat I martyr 2 and kill 4 saurus (from 7 wounds). 4 flagellants die in return.
Turn 5
So my Halberds magically appear back from where they were last pic-must have rallied or something.
Also please note how far away the top cohort unit is from the halberds-not really a flanking threat...I cast unbreakable anyway as a precaution (more worried about more flame!)
So having been told to make this the last turn the lizardmen throw caution to the wind and declare a charge from the cohorts onto the halberd flank. Needing a double 6-and they make it OMG. Then with a 3 dice magic phase they dispel the unbreakable. From the last photo please note the “auto off the board” if the halberds flee.
The sallies flame the other unit. We don’t bother rolling it-I just pass a panic test haha.
In the tense last combat, I kill 3 skinks, who kill 5 of me in return. Losing by a lot, I close my eyes, ask for more of that Sigmar luck the unit has last game and pass my break test!
Adding up the points I won by 907. I say “I won”, but what I really mean was that my flagellants won the game.
A good game, and finally won the mission setting up first. Yay for flagellants striking first due to initiative and kicking ass (Despite depleting their own reserves in the process). Even though they finally died at the end, they more than got their points back many times over.
As a result of the game, we take a coastal tile from the lizards and get a bonus point due to all or nothing.
Game 3 vs High Elves. Grudge match vs Glen-straight up fisty cuffs.
Round three and I see on the board a match up vs High elves-even though we had no opposing tiles. This could only mean 1 thing: Grudge match vs Glen. I quickly consulted my team mates and got myself the match.
We were even assigned to the same gaming board we played on last time (gross super bouncy GW gaming board: look fantastic, horrible to roll lots of dice on!).
His list was:
Prince on foot with GW, 4+ ward, 2+ armour in a unit of 20 swordmasters: FC and banner of sorcery.
Lvl4 with Shadow
Lvl2 with life
BSB on foot with stuff
40 spears
10 archers
5 DPs
5 Reavors
1 Eagle
So super fast flank and solid infantry line-my Flagellants and those Swordmasters were NEVER going to meet if I could help it!
So we set up
The High Elves got first turn. Their turn started with a long range charge attempt from the swordmasters on the pistoliers. A S&S reaction kills 1 swordmaster-and they fail to reach the Pistoliers. The fast flank moves up. At this point I gave the reavors a challenge-they have to lap my army haha.
The magic phase saw wither fail to cast, me letting flesh to stone cast on the spears (my lvl4 losing concentration), then ominously, a failed casting of Dwellers...Shooting kills 1 pistolier and puts a wound on one of the cannons.
My turn got off to a great start with the pistoliers finding themselves march blocked. The rest of my army moved to engage the blocks; I opt to set the flagellants against the archers.
In a small magic phase, I get pha’s up.
Shooting was not much of a show-the mortar decides to blow up and I kill 6 spears and 1 Swordmaster with the cannons. Xbows fire daisies at the swordmasters, and the pistoliers kill 3 reavors.
Turn 2
The tit-for-tat around the dance floor continues. The eagle (marched blocked) and Reavors move around the forest to get behind my lines. The DP’s charge my pistoliers, who kill 1 with S&S.
The rest of his army stumbles up, querying how to deal with the road blocks. I then dispel Flesh to Stone before his lvl2 IF’s Dwellers killing 22 Halberds from the general’s unit. Lvl2 and lvl4 take a wound each for the effort.
Shooting fails to do anything and the DP’s butcher the pistoliers.
My turn starts with an awkward decision; I have to 5 wide the general’s unit to keep them combat effective. Gross. Sensing plenty of turns left in the game, I opt to bide my time. In the magic phase, I get a big Time warp up and also make the general’s unit unbreakable. The xbows kill 2 swordmasters, and the cannons kill 7 spears.
Turn 3
The DP’s, eager for more blood declare a charge on the xbows, who sensibly flee, drawing the DP’s into comfortable charge range of the support halberd unit.
A 4v4 magic phase seemed promising for me until the lvl2 IF’ed Dwellers AGAIN, killing 19 halberds + the W.Priest in the 2nd halberd unit. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. However the lvl2 dies for the effort and the lvl4 takes another wound.
Seeing a game winning flank charge from the flagellants on the spear block, it was only suiting that they fail to make it haha. Oh well. To make up for it my support halberds charge into the DP’s. My sisters move to block the swordmasters from supporting the DP’s if everything goes wrong. I then IF Time warp-once again to keep the Elves honest. The cannons manage a frustrating 2 wounds on the eagle. In the combat, my CRes wins the day-the halberds running down the DPs and getting into position for a good charge on the lvl4 in the building.
Turn 4
So the combat starts...with the eagle failing a charge on a cannon. The swordmasters and the spears both charge their road blocks. I scroll and dispel the magic phase. Long range fluky shooting puts a wound on my lvl4. The sisters are cut down (though not before doing a bit of damage despite forgetting the +1 attack). The swords overrun into the general’s halberds-getting an “unusual situation” charge. The Spears reform to face off with the flagellants. I was a little annoyed with the swordmaster overrun –my halberds were just a wee bit too far forward. Oh well.
So time for my counter charge...kinda. The support halberds charge the lvl4 in the building-Glen forgot to move him out (therefore balancing out my halberd mistake). Rolling a massive snake eyes for my magic phase I try to cast light of battle on the general’s unit...and fail to cast. Sigh. The cannons then open up, killing 2 archers, and finishing off the eagle. The lvl4 dies a horrible death. The swordmasters+prince butcher 14 halberds who manage to kill 4 in return. A quick look over my notes and I confirmed what I suspected-the unbreakable from the general had NOT been dispelled. Woot for writing battle report notes!
Turn 5
Turn 5, and reavors finally make it into a cannon. The magic phase results in a hasty dispelling of the unbreakable prayer. The archers fail to wound the cannon on 2 wounds. The cannon combat is fantastic. The reavors kill 2 crew, and the remaining crew kills 1 in return, and then holds. Noice. My notes for the swordmaster combat go like this:
“swordmasters kill heaps = snake eyes”.
I guess you all know what that means....SUPER FEATHER HATS AND CODPIECES FTW
My turn 5 and the combat starts proper. The flagellants and halberds co-charge the spear unit. I Then get a big phas and a big timewarp up. The spearelves manage to kill 2 halberds and 5 flagellants before the flagellants kill the Spears to an elf. The BSB kills a token flagellant, then dies with a failed break test. In the other combat, super BSB defensive kit = I actually win the combat! Sadly the Prince and his body guard were having none of that and held.
Turn 6
Not much to say really, The Prince cuts down the BSB and the cannon holds 2 rounds of combat woot!
HOWEVER. Super fluky archer shooting (long range, moved, through units, through terrain) kills my lvl4. SUPER FUSTRATING. But thems the breaks.
I had a chance to charge in and do heroic stuff to the swordmasters, but a quick math thingie in my head told me that I did not have the bodies in the unit (thank you dwellers) to absorb the wounds and CRes out the sword masters + no W.Priest for hatred, so the game ended like this:
Valten and the Prince shook hands and called it a day.
Post battle adding up the points resulted in a draw. If the lvl4 hadnt died to super shooting, it would have been a win as I was up by just under 100 points. However, the game felt like a draw. There was a crucial failed charge from the flagellants (needed a 5 to get in) that could have pulled the game my way in a big way. Had that charge got off I suspect I could have taken the Spears in 1 or 2 rounds of CC, allowing my halberds to grind down the swordmasters. But oh well-should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.
A fantastically fun grudge match though. Glen has very quickly become one of my top 3 favourite opponents in WHFB + I also super fan boi his painting skills haha. He also made noises of resurrecting his Vampire Counts army. If that is true (and if you’re reading Glen DO IT), I can’t wait to take on the hordes of zombies, skeletons, grave guard etc with the might of my feathered hats, super cod pieces, spiky halberds and black power.
I’ll get him next time though...
Day two to follow shortly :)
P.S I owe you chocolate.
ReplyDeleteWe actually achieved our objective
-Peter