The first battle report from the fourth edition of Warhammer Fantasy to appear in White Dwarf. Bill King against Nigel Stillman.
WD153 Battle Report – Warhammer Fantasy (Battle of Grimdal’s Tomb)
Tag Archives: Games Workshop
My Introduction to Kriegsspiel as a Player
After my many years as a wargamer (25+ years) I’ve played quite a number of different games during that time, but one that I’ve never played (despite hearing about) is Kreigsspiel the original wargame written in the 1800’s by George Leopold von Reisswitz.
Kreigsspiel is a game of warfare that attempts to realistically replicate what would happen on a battlefield during the 1800’s. It requires a map, some blocks to represent the different units involved and three players.
Why three players?
When I say three players, what it actually involves is two players and an umpire. But it’s best to think of the umpire as a Games/Dungeon Master.
Each player is only aware of what their own units are doing on the table top and exactly where they’re positioned, and the enemy movements and units only become apparent once they move into visual range of your own. This is where the umpire comes in.
Each player communicates with the umpire how they wish to deploy their units and what movements and actions they would like those units to take. This gives the players a true fog of war setting.
It sounds complex right?
Yes it does! But actually it’s really not. Why? Because the only person who needs to know the rules is the umpire. The players just have to communicate with the umpire what orders they would like their units to follow. This can be communicated either in an RPG format or a simple “I would like these units to entrench themselves on top of the hill overlooking the town“
The umpire then moves both players units according to their wishes and communicates back to the players if any contact has been made with the enemy.
When contact has been made the players then decide how they want their units to act, i.e. “The units will form line and wait for the enemy to attack before firing.”
The umpire then rolls the dice and decides the outcomes for that turn (which replicate a few minutes of real world battle at a time).
That Sounds like it takes Ages!
Actually no, a small game of Kriegsspiel can played out in a few hours. Or you can even play it on a play by post basis with a number of friends negating the need for vast spaces to be used like a conventional table top wargame.
Why have I not played this before?
When I read about the rules and the requirement for three players I immediately thought it would be too difficult to get a game together. Bot was I wrong!
The International Kreigsspiel Society which I have recently had the honour of discovering, have a Discord channel where you can join introduce yourself and just jump straight in with your first game!
I’ve recently started two play by post games, one being a small battle during the Haitian Revolution and another being the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. In the first I’m in command of a small Brigade of infantry (7 battalions) with the game having 5 players a side, while in the second I have an entire Division under my command and roughly 17 players per side.
Is it just for Wars in the 1800’s?
Absolutely not, the Society is currently developing additional rules for World War 2 and Ancients to name but two.
Interested?
If this sounds like your cup of tea, then why not slide into the Discord server and take a look around, perhaps try a small game with the friendly guys who run the many games each week that takes place.
INTERNATIONAL KREIGSSPIEL SOCIETY DISCORD SERVER
Painting Competition Open to Entries
So after the failed attempt of deciding a winner the first time around via voting, we’ve decided to reopen the competition to entries.
The winner will be decided by a panel of judges and the winner will receive their choice of start collecting or Combat Patrol box. This is made possible by our generous sponsors at SCN Hobby World.
You’ll have until 31st December to make your submission. As before the rules are as follows;
1) your submission can be any miniature from any games system, as long as;
2) the miniature fits on a 50mm wide base (round or square)
3) One submission per person
4) one of the photographs submitted with the miniature must include it with a note showing the email address of the competitor.
5) entry for submissions closes at midnight (GMT) on 31st December 2021
6) send your submissions to thewoehammer@gmail.com
Tournament Preparation – Leicester GT
Following my reasonable success with the One Drop Ironjawz list at Warfare, Ascot I am back on the tournament scene this weekend and heading to Leicester. Leicester GT is using the Win/Draw/Loss scoring system as the primary scoring (with 20-0 as the tie breaker). This meant that winning by smaller values will still see us playing against other winners.
Because of this I have decided to bring a very different Ironjawz force with 10 drops, and no Gore Gruntas… which fits my playstyle (wait, wait, counter punch) much better than the hyper agressive 1 drop list I took to Warfare.
I had to send this list in before seeing how the Reading list did, and I may have swapped in a few Gore Gruntas before the inevitable points increase, but I am happy overall with the following list:
Allegiance: Ironjawz
– Warclan: Ironsunz
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)*
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un
Orruk Megaboss (140)***
– General
– Command Trait: Touched by the Waaagh!
– Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)
– Lore of the Weird: Da Great Big Green Hand of Gork
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)**
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
15 x Orruk Ardboys (255)**
– 3x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
– Reinforced x 2
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
5 x Orruk Ardboys (85)***
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
Units
3 x Rippa’s Snarlfangs (70)*
Core Battalions
*Warlord
**Hunters of the Heartlands
***Vanguard
Additional Enhancements
Artefact
Total: 1985 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 150
Drops: 10
As a 10 drop I’ll likely not often get the choice of first or second, and so need something to grab early objective or put some threat on the opponent. The Maw Krusha is the threat with 24″ + charge threat range on turn 1, and Rippa’s are the speed to grab a middle objective. Other that the main aim is to advance as quickly as possible and hit the enemy turn 2 or 3… I will be honest about a concern against shooting armies, but I can always use Foot of Gork or the Maw Krusha for an alpha strike if I need it!
Character 1 – Megaboss on Maw-Krusha
The Megaboss on Maw-Krusha is a great unit, and a fun warscroll and is currently an auto-include in every Ironjawz list I have seen to date. His equipment is easy – a Rip Tooth for a 3+ armour save is this only real option.
I then make his mount a ‘Smelly ‘Un’ which is my go-to option at the moment, as it makes opponents -1 to hit in combat if you don’t charge. Perfect if you plan to alpha strike and then survive an opponent’s turn.
He also has the essential Amulet of Destiny, so he has a chance of reaching turn 2. As a combat unit his only chance is to get into range of the enemy and take some damage – unlike similarly priced shooting units – so his task is to either be a powerful counterpunch unit with the Ironsunz ability to charge in my opponent’s charge phase. The 1″ reach has been a problem, but that just needs to be worked around!
Character 2 – Megaboss on Foot
This will be the first time I have run my General as a foot Megaboss which will allow my opponent to Bring it Down (Maw Krusha) and Slay the Warlord (Megaboss) so I will need to be careful with him.
His main reason for being here is as a more defensive Orruk Shaman, with Arcane Tome, Hand of Gork and Touched by the Waagh! This command ability requires him to cause D3 mortal wounds before casting a spell and add this to the spell casting. Turning a 55/45 into a 60/40 or even better, and also making it more difficult to dispel.
Hand of Gork was the mobility I really missed at Warfare, so I’m really glad to have it back. He may have to hide near the back though until any shooting threats are removed, but I do have the option of using Hand Gork on him, charging and then casting Arcane Bolt in the next phase (D3 wounds from the command ability, D3 wounds from the Bolt). Could catch out a few players!
Characters 3 & 4 – Warchanters
The Warchanters are just superb with Violent Fury providing +1 damage and two of them allow to buff the Maw Krusha and one other unit. I give them Fixin’ Beat (healing) and Get ‘Em Beat (3D6″ charge) to give me an option of going second, healing damage done to the Maw Krusha and striking back.
No self respecting Orruk Ironjawz general wouldn’t go to war with at least 2 of these – and I’ve seen people take 3 with success. They are also not bad themselves with 6 attacks, 3+/3+/-/D3 – especially against things with low armour saves
Units 1 & 2 – 10 Brutes, 10 Brutes
20 Brutes, 3 wounds at 4+ save and Jagged Gore-Hackas. These guys can push out some serious damage, can stop 1 wound models counting on objectives (looking at Pink Horrors here!) and can be used as a screen if that is what’s needed. Plus they are great models, and who doesn’t love great models. They are definitely signifcantly better with the Warchanter buff (+1 damage) on them but I also love their movement shenanigans with redeploy and counter charge. They can suddenly be on an objective that your opponent thinks is safe.
They are also both in the War in the Heartlands battalion to stop monsters using their monstrous rampage abilities – this is great to guarantee that they can have the +1 to save (they rarely need the +1 to hit because they get this naturally against 4 wound models).
If you’re unsure how Brutes work, you’re also in luck, for there’s an article on this very blog on it. Just here.
Units 3,4 & 5 – 15 Ardboys, 5 Ardboys, 5 Ardboys
One of the things I really missed at Warfare with the 1 drop was having units to hold rear objectives, or throw forward as screens. Fortunately, I can bring them back now and use them to slow down fellow Ironjawz players or to stop teleporting units from getting my objectives. The unit of 15 will either be a last punch unit, or a forward screen with Hand of Gork. They will also be used as fodder for the General’s Touched by Waaagh! command ability. I am hoping I may be able to get off some cheeky rallies with this unit (on a 4+ if done with their leader and a Warchanter nearby), but I’ve not used it in 15 games, so it may just be a pipedream.
Unit 6 – Rippa Snarlfangs
I got them back in the army… thank Mork (or possibly Gork) for their reappearance. I’ve written about these guys a lot, so if you’ve read my previous blogs you’ll already know about them. If you need a catch-up it can be found here.
Ironsunz, Grand Strategy & Triumph
These are unchanged from Warfare. Alright, Get ‘Em allows me to charge units in my opponents charge phase either forcing them to charge me, or be counter charged. It’s great for keeping the Maw Krusha in combat. Grand Strategy is Hold the Line so my opponent needs to kill (and catch) all the Brutes and Ardboyz and Triumph is inspired (+1 to wound)
My Grand Strategy was equally easy to chose – Hold the Line – and the reason why I have taken 10 Ardboyz at my final unit.
What would you run in a Win/Loss/Draw system with Ironjawz; can’t get enough Gore-Gruntas or just want to run 3 MawKrushas – let us know below!
— Declan
Rogue Trader Collection – VI
Another week under the belt and just that little bit closer to Crimbo.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time to get much done this week, but I did receive the plinth through the post….. And I may have made a slight error in judgement.
It’s a little bit small! Never mind I’ve ordered a slightly larger one, while this one can be used for the Imperial Army Land Speeder once that’s finished.
I’m still in two minds about the bear, as the print quality is pretty shoddy when viewed in person.
Does anyone have any decent tips for solving this?
Warscroll Review – Khainite Shadowstalkers
Having written a few warscroll reviews for Destruction I thought I would branch out and talk about other Warscrolls – particularly those that you may not have seen or missed from the books; or those Warscrolls you may see at tournaments.
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
The only limit I’m setting myself at the moment is that I have to have seen the unit in action at least once, either playing or playing against!
The first of these are from Order, and Daughters of Khaine… but you may have missed them because they are from Warcry.
The Khainite Shadowstalkers are from the Warcry game and they are lovely models. They are 9 individual sculpts with great movement and a leader.
The Scroll
As before, all screenshots from the AOS App:
As with the Underworld Warband Rippa Snarlfangs, it is not immeditely obvious why anyone would take this scroll. Movement 6″, 1 wound each (so 9 wounds for 120 points) and 5+ save is hardly setting the world alight.
So this is a little better because it’s now 12 wounds for 120 points which in AOS isn’t bad. But range 6″ weapons and 2 attacks 4+/3+/-/1 is not going to set the world alight. Sure it’s okay but it’s not beating anything other than trash. Is there anything else on the warscroll, or have I gone crazy!?
Cursed Missiles gives the unit mortal wounds on a six – not bad for an Unleash Hell (but, see below), so it’s in keeping with the rest of the army. We’ll temporarily ignore that Spider Riders don’t have this on their poisoned arrows, but this article isn’t about Destuction.
Harness Shadow – is a great benefit giving them Grot nets for anyone who wants to fight them in combat. Ouch!
And finally, the ability that takes them out of mediocre and into great. Shadow Leap gives the unit a free teleport 5 times a game in each of your movement phases! So ignore the 6″ movement this is almost an infinite movement. In a game that is all about mobility for objective capture and for delaying and limiting your opponent this is a superb ability.
What’s not on the scroll
This would be great in almost any army – I’d certainly love a version of it in Gitz to give control of the board – but in Daughters of Khaine it just makes the army much better.
The AOS meta is changing with the arrival of the Ironjawz list as they have a very strong Alpha-Strike capability meaning that if you come to a tournament without screens you need units who can take charges from Maw Krushas and Gore Gruntas – which is very difficult – or put out screens. And these are great screens for the Bow Snakes.
They can be within 9″ of 15 Bow Snakes – 2 attacks, mortal wounds on 6+, shoot in the hero phase. So your opponent has to charge these units, you can unleash hell with the Bow Snakes, then when this unit is dead you can shoot in your next hero phase as well.
And because they teleport you can teleport them away their move almost anywhere, and then teleport the Bow Snakes behind them meaning they are always protected.
Added to that they are not Battleline, so there is no Battle Tactic available for killing them.
If you play Daughters of Khaine and don’t use this unit I urge you to give it a go – they are great.
— Declan
(Special thanks to my opponent at Warfare for showing me the unit and what a difference it makes to the DoK army… even if I did lose 1-19 to get this information to you!)
Woehammer Painting Competition
Announcement in regards to the painting competition.
We are extremely sad to announce that due to cheating the competition has been closed and no prize will be issued.
My apologies to those of you who have competed. All your entries were amazing and unfortunately this has been spoilt by one individual who shall remain nameless.
We will however hold another competition soon where a judges panel will be selected in placed of voting.
I’ll be reopening to entries in the next day or so with a closing date of 31st Jan. This time I’ll have the Woehammer guys as judges rather than voting. I’ll automatically include those who entered into the competition.
My sincere apologies!
I know I originally said that I would run this on twitter AND the website, but I’ve decided for greater control the voting ill be done through the website only (this way I can delete multiple votes from the same IP).
We’ve had ten fantastic entries to our first ever painting competition sponsored by the lovely people over at SCN Hobby World. Go and subscribe on their website to get 25% off GW products!
But it’s time to close for entries and get the voting under way! Voting will start today and run until 31st December to give everyone plenty of time to vote. The winner will be announced on the 1st January, at which point I will contact them and ask which start collecting or combat patrol box they would like as their prize.
So in the order of submission here are your competition entries! Get voting!
Nick Munro
Steve Milford
Christine Coram
Titusz Skoflek
Nicky Rod
Joseph Isham
Justin Jackson
Jack McQuiggin
Wayne Cooper
Li Bryan
WD148 Battle Report – Warhammer Fantasy (The Battle of Blood Keep)
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
The first four player battle report with forces of 3,000 points per side. The Perry Twins take on Mike McVey and Wayne England.
Solo Wargaming for your Favourite Games
I’m in the process of creating a series of Wargaming Aids which allow players to play their favourite games in a single player format against an AI controlled enemy army. To find out more on this click here.
For as little as £1 a month (the price of a chocolate bar) you can help support me in this endeavour and receive cool perks as a thank you, such as access to our Discord Server as well as downloadable copies of the gaming aids which you can print out and use at home.
Why not pop over to Patreon and sign up and help me in this project? Money raised will go towards making these as physical products.
Writing a Tabletop Wargame – Part 1
I’ve always enjoyed creating my own rules and scenarios for the games I play, and last year I jumped into writing my own ruleset for Napoleonic Wargaming called ‘Clausewitz’.
But I thought it may be fun to create a ruleset with the community which could then be hosted here on the site for free.
So what should it be? A historical game? Sci-Fi, Fantasy? Should it be Grand Tactical, skirmish level or something in between?
What about measurements? Should they be in inches, centimetres, base widths or something completely different?
As you can see there are a lot of points to consider before getting into the nitty gritty of it all. So let’s tackle the first question.
Genre
What about the genre? What should it be. Well that’s up to you all. Why not vote in the poll below that I’ll keep open until the next article and you can decide here what we work on. Of course there’s always an argument to make the game genre agnostic as well, meaning the ruleset can be used for anything…
Orruk Warclans – Ironjawz in 20-0 System
5 Tournament games at Ascott Race Cource – Warfare 2021
Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.
But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)
Last weekend I was happy to be able to revisit an old event, that I have been attending for many years – Warfare. But this time there was a change of venue as the old sports hall in Reading was being redeveloped and the show had outgrown the venue anyway. (For those who may not know, Warfare is a trade show with some tournaments along the side)
I would be bringing my Orruk Warclan – Ironjawz – after my success at Carnage and War in the Heartlands with them. But this time I wanted something that was quicker to play than my normal armies – because I wanted to see the trade show!
The thoughts behind my list can be seen in my Ironjawz One Drop Article, and is repeated below:
Allegiance: Ironjawz
– Warclan: Ironsunz
– Grand Strategy: Hold the Line
– Triumphs: Inspired
Leaders
Megaboss on Maw-Krusha (480)*
– General
– Boss Choppa and Rip-tooth fist
– Command Trait: Hulking Brute
– Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)
– Mount Trait: Smelly ‘Un
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Fixin’ Beat
Orruk Warchanter (115)*
– Warbeat: Get ‘Em Beat
Battleline
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
10 x Orruk Brutes (320)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 2x Gore Choppas
– Reinforced x 1
5 x Orruk Brutes (160)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– 1x Gore Choppas
10 x Orruk Ardboys (170)*
– 1x Gorkamorka Banner Bearers
– Reinforced x 1
Units
6 x Orruk Gore-gruntas (300)*
– Jagged Gore-hackas
– Reinforced x 1
Core Battalions
*Battle Regiment
Total: 1980 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 4 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 155
Drops: 1
I’ve never really tried a 1 drop army before, but I knew that this would definitely have quick games… allowing more time for shopping!
Although the Gore-Gruntas are a more popular choice I had two things which limited what I would take. Firstly I didn’t have any painted, and only had 6 available so I didn’t want to give myself too much painting to do… secondly I like to sit and counter punch so the idea was that the Maw Krusha & Gore Gruntas would charge first, and the Brutes would follow up… but no plan survives contact with the enemy!
Game 1 Savage Gains v Kharadron Overlords
I was drawn against club mate – Ben – in this clash which was great as we’ve not had an opportunity to play recently because of COVID. Also he was using his great undead KO army. It’s lovely!
Survival of the Fittest doesn’t use the ‘normal’ scoring for AOS3, and instead has 1 point for a home objective, 2 for each of the middle ones, and 4 for the opponent’s. I was also lucky enough to have recently played against KO – albeit with my Gitz.
I started with Agressive Expansion, and grabbed the two neutral objectives, putting a toe on the one on the left (picture above), and moving some Brutes onto the one on the right. The MawKrusha (MK) meanwhile used Mighty Destroyers, and charged off to kill a unit of Duardin – I wanted to reduce the size of Ben’s army and was reasonably confident the MK could survive a round of shooting.
In Ben’s turn he picked up his boats and put them all over on my right away from the Maw Krusha, getting the objective (Agressive Expansion) and killing a few models with shooting. The Gunhauler charged 10 Brutes… it’s torpedo missed and it was killed.
I won priority turn 2, triggered Monstrous Takeover and charged the frigate off the objective, whilst getting near the Ironclad – I didn’t want to have unleash hell without the MK & GG getting in, but I failed the MK charge… however I had also made a mistake and the MK was a little too near Gotrek! I redeployed 3 away, forcing an 8″ charge but he succeeded with his reroll and charged… MK died! I’ve only played Gotrek with Gitz before and watching him wipe out an MK (albeit only just) was a shock! Ah well live and learn – I was still ahead 16-11 though because the MK had grabbed 4 points for Ben’s objective.
Winning Priority again, I chose Slay the Warlord… but failed to get through his armour and he lived – I always seem to do this instead of just attacking the boats — must remember next time! Ben did Broken Ranks and the difference was still 5 points in my favour.
Turn 4, and Ben won his first priority completed his Savage Spearhead and picked up 3 points; however I was struggling to get objectives and running out of Brutes – I did grab three objectives though to lead 26-19.
Turn 5, and I won priority again – unfortuantely with units in combat I couldn’t do any Battle Tactics (my third failure in the game!) and picked up 5 points… Ben then taught me the garrison rules – his general deployed out of the Ironclad onto my home objective and shot off the last of the Brutes getting the full 9! … This gave him 12 points at the last… bringing us to 31-31 DRAW!
It was a great game, and really happy it ended in a draw for both of us – must remember to avoid Gotrek with the MK, and attack the Ironclad and not the people inside it next time.
Game 2 Survival of the Fittest – vs Sylvaneth
This was bloody and very, very short. I took the first turn, charged the Kurnoth with the Gruntas – killing them, charged the Revenants with the MK – killing them with the impact hits & Stomp – charged again into the other Kurnoths – killing them! The Ardboyz & 5 Brutes took the outside objectives.
In his turn 1, he charged the MK with everything, but this allowed my Gore Gruntas and Ardboyz to counter charge with the Ironsunz ability – Drycha did some damage, but the Gore Gruntas killed the Warsong Revenants. The Treelord & Stormcast chap couldn’t finish off the MK who then killed the Stormcast and hurt the Treelord.
I won priority for Turn 2, and my opponent conceeded… I was a huge rock to his surgical scissors – 20-0 WIN
Game 3 Power Struggle – Bonesplitterz
This was a classic army with 4 Wurrgog Prophets:
This is a superb characterful ability and I was worried about the potential damage – especially as the Prophets have 6+ ward, and general has a 4+ ward, to reduce the damage they take! These things can (and in the tournament did) take down a Gargant so my MK was at risk… given that I needed to try to get his units away from the Prophets and let the Bonesplitterz go first.
Turn 1, he took Monstrous Takeover and moved his units forward whilst ensuring the Prophets could cover some of the units if I charged them. I took the bait, charged into the Rogue Idol with the MK, and engaged 2 of the Boar Boyz. Killing the Idol, 5 Boars and 3 Boars I was ready for the punch back… but if I could win priority it would all be over.
But it was not to be, and the Bonesplitterz won the priority and took the run selecting Bring it Down on the MK. The first Prophet started the attack doing only 5 damage before dying, but the general was still available – he went all out and rolled until his head exploded… but the MK had only 3 wounds left. Meanwhile one prophet was in range of the GoreGruntas and killed three of them, but died leaving just 1 Prophet left. He charged the MK with some boarboyz, and I counter charged with 5 Brutes and the remaining GG. The boars killed the MK, but the Brutes & GG took down the Boarboyz. Whilst I had lost the big guy I’d done a lot of damage, and was able to grab Broken Ranks in my turn. Meanwhile one of my units of 10 Brutes was walking towards the objective on his side of the board. It was 9-9 but the Bonesplitterz had lost most of their damage dealers.
Turn 3, and Bonesplitterz went first again, the remaining Prophet killing 9 Ardboyz and surviving… wow! gaining Broken Ranks, but this was the high point and I took Agressive Expansion, killed the 10 Orruk Bonesplitters and moving 12″ away from the remaining Prophet. I finished off with Furious Advance and then Savage Spearhead giving me the win. WIN 17-3
Game 4 Veins of Ghur vs Blades of Khorne
Cagey Start from both players!
Bright and early on the Sunday and I was playing Blades of Khorne and Myles, who I had played before recently. I knew this would be fun, although with Veins of Ghur having the random drop locations I didn’t know if Skarbrand and his mates were coming straight for me.
I set-up defensively, gave Khorne the first turn and we both just shuffled a bit, gained Furious Advance and waited for turn 2.
Khorne won priority turn 2 and gave it to me after the middle objective fell on the side of my MK… this was also the side of his Bloodthirster and Skarbrand, so we knew where the fighting would be. I decided to ignore Battle Tactics for this turn and just moved the Ardboyz onto the objective whilst my 5 Brutes and 10 Brutes advances on my left in case an objective landed over there. Myles predictably took back the objective with Conquer and he led 6-4. A very small lead in Veins.
I won priority turn 3, but the objectives fell reasonably for us both (his on my left guarded by Fleshounds so I couldn’t reach it, mine in the middle) so I gave the turn away. Khorne again played carefully and took Agressive Expansion for the two objectives he already held. I took the same, took back the one in the centre on my right with my Ardboyz and charged into the Fleshounds on the left. I had to keep out of 18″ from the Daemon Prince of Khorne to ensure my charge was successful. The unit of 5 did some damage to the Fleshounds.
I won the key turn 4, declared Monstrous Takeover with the MK who toe poked the objective, whilst on the left the 10 Brutes joined the 5 Brutes and started to threaten the objective. In Myles’ turn they took over the objective and so Myles went on the attack… but Skarbrand failed an 8″ with re-roll and so the Bloodthirster and Juggernaughts went into my force on their own. They failed to kill the 10 Ardboyz, failing their Battle Tactic… but worse – failing to capture the objective. 0 points gained in turn 4 and I was ahead 22-14.
However, the game still had something to give – and by this time we had quite an audience – and turn 5 priority went to Khorne – he selected Slay the Warlord and Skarbrand went for the kill – he wiped out the GG who were guarding the MK and did 16 wounds to the MK. The MK swung back and killed Skarbrand, but the Bloodthirster swung around and killed the MK. The Deamon Prince stood on my objective which I thought was safe as I had a garison near it… only to be told it only counted as 1… ooops! It was 28-22 going into my turn 5.
I selected conquer, set-up outside my garrison and charged the Brutes and one Warchanter into the Bloodthirster (who had used Bloodtithe to get onto my objective). The Daemon Prince’s Blood Soaked Ground made the charge a little more difficult but I was succesful and the Daemon Prince fought twice… killing 3 Brutes – but it wasn’t enough and the Brutes killed the Bloodthirster! I had won 38-31. WIN 14-6. Because of his previous games though Myles was still ahead of me in the tournament.
Game 5 Feral Foray vs Daughters of Khaine
I had not played Morathi yet (suprising with all the games in AOS3 I’ve played) and so this would be useful. My opponent had already beaten an Ironjawz list to get to this point in game 5 and so this might be difficult!
I went first, moved the GG up to grab an objective and got the 5 points… and then found out what Morathi does! She shot, charged the GG and killed 5 of them. The remaining one managed to do the 3 wounds needed (because little Morathi had miscast), but this was a bad start! On my right the Bow Snakes and Shadowstalkers were advancing and killing anything I put within 32″ of them – I did know enough to be outside 24″. First up was the Ardboyz.
With no throw away units or ranged damage to hurt Morathi I was struggling to see a way out, so I took Monstrous Takeover turn 2, and 3 objectives (2 points) putting me on 9. The DoK took the objective on my right, which I had retreated my Brutes from to stop them dying in the hero phase, and we were 9-9… and then it went wrong as I lost the third turn priority. I burnt my middle objective to make the DoK concentrate on an area I wasn’t in, whilst Morathi killed 10 Brutes and put loads of wounds on the MK. I did do three more wounds, but this was too little too late and the teleporting troops meant I couldn’t escape them.
I lost priority turn 4, and hence the MK. The last 3 Brutes charged Morathi and did the remaining 3 wounds gaining some valuable points but I was then wiped out finishing 32-14 for LOST 1-19
This army really struggles in this match-up especially as I don’t have any throw away units, and he was screening well. I think next time I’ll try to get the Warchanters into Morathi as they can be reasonably confident of doing the 3 damage required, but with my other Ironjawz army (lots of drops and Rippas!) I fancy my changes more.
Summary
I finished with 3-1-1 and 62 points having only lost to Morathi. It was a great tournament and I finished 10th out of 38, so very happy with the result. Also managed to chat with a lot of the other gamers there and catch up with friends on the 40k tables!
This was a great army which definitely achieved the target of being quick to play, but still having a chance. The last game draw was critical though and the game against KO was perhaps a little short of what I should have got… but that would have got my playing against some of the Team England chaps who had turned up due to a cancelled event at Warhammer World, so I definitely can’t grumble
I’m not sure it’s a play style I like (a little too reckless for me) but I can definitely see how this can regularly get very high scores in a 20-0 tournament and I may bring it back to the next one of those.