Beastmen Tournament Short Battle Reports from the July 9th Sci Fi Genre Warhammer Fantasy Tournament

Wow, work really threw me for a loop this week!

Last weekend, I got to participate in a 14 player Warhammer Fantasy Tournament at Sci Fi Genre in Durham, NC.  While it wasn't Blood in the Sun (which also happened that weekend, but I couldn't make the trip), it was a well run tournament and was a ton of fun.  And *spoilerth* my Beastmen ran away with the top prize.  While I didn't take notes or pictures for full battle reports, here's a quick rundown of my games.

I was especially pleased with my day as I had brought what I consider to be an extremely soft Beastman list, which consisted of:


Wooly Bull, a Doombull with Sword of Swift Slaying, Talisman of Preservation, Ramhorn Helm, Gnarled Hide, Heavy Armor and Shield

Shambo, a Level 4 Great Bray Shaman with a Talisman of Endurance and the Lore of Shadow

Hordor, a Wargor BSB with Armor of Destiny and a Great Weapon

Shamalama, a Level 2 Bray Shaman with Lore of Beasts and a Dispel Scroll

45 Gor with Full Command and Additional Hand Weapons

Two Units of Ten Ungor

Two Units of Five Ungor Raiders

Tuskgor Chariot

24 Bestigor with Full Command the Flaming Banner

5 Minotaur with Additional Hand Weapons

Ricky the Razorgor

Robby the Razorgor

Percival the Giant

Game One

In my first game, I drew Ben H., who has a very nicely painted Skaven army that is almost finished.  I've played him before and he is a great opponent who seems to really enjoy playing.  He had a Grey Seer, Level 2 Plague Priest, Two Warlock Engineers, a BSB, 4-5 big units of Clanrats/Slaves, 40+ Stormvermin, 40+ Plague Monks, 6 Rat Ogres, 2 Doomwheels, and a Hell Pit Abomination.

What he didn't have was any shooting.  Since my Minotaurs generally die to light shooting, they breathed a sigh of relief.  I was still worried about the combined power of the Plague Monks, who I guessed had the scary banner which allows them to reroll hits and wounds for one round, and the Stormvermin who had a Skavenbrew character to make them extra mean.  Fortunately, Ben H.'s dice helped me out.  The Skavenbrew rolled a 1, so it killed a few rats instead of helping them.

I managed to get a Pit of Shades off on the Plague Monks, and took off 15 or so of them.  In his first turn, Ben H. then miscast with his Plague Priest and ended up removing it from the game and having to place a large Blast Template over his Plague Monks.  In the end, eight of them remained.   Meanwhile, I had managed to ambush some Ungor, and was using them to steer his Hell Pit Abomination off in the opposite direction of his fighting.

This allowed me to concentrate my Bestigor and Minotaurs into his Stormvermin / Chaff, and in the first round of combat my Minotaurs rewarded me by doing twenty-one wounds all on their own to the Stormvermin. 

After that, it was a matter of mopping up.  Ben H.'s Grey Seer had been hiding in a unit behind the Plague Monks, and the Gor finished the Monks and then had the Seer for dessert.  The HPA was contained long enough so that when it got into the fight, it had to do so against flaming Bestigors.  A good game, and a massacre for the Beasts.

Game Two

My good friend Tom was my second round opponent, and was also rocking Skaven.  This one will be brief, as it really comes down to Tom's dice not working.  He fired Warp Lightning Cannons, nasty Skaven Spells, and general scariness at me, and everything either missed or didn't go off.  He did have a Plague Furnace, which I had to redirect using my Giant of all things in order to whittle down his other units first.  At the end of the day, Tom's dice handed me a massacre.

Game Three

At the top table, I drew Mark and his Chaos Warriors.  Mark had a roughly 1700 point unit consisting of 35+ Chaos Tzeentch Warriors, four mages (Level Four Death, Two Level One Shadows, and Level Two Tzeentch), his General and BSB).   He also had a unit of 20 Chaos Warriors, Two Warshrines, and Five Marauder Horsemen.   His general goal that day had been to give the big block of Tzeentch Warriors a 3++ Ward Save (I hear it's the new black) and mow down everything in the opposing army.  His first two opponents had obliged him in combat, and had been mowed down. 

Since Mark's army was so small, I held everything out of ambush and simply deployed my inexpensive junk units (Ungor, Razorgor, Chariot) while he had to deploy his whole army.  Once his giant block was down, I deployed my expensive stuff as far away as possible, on the same side of the board as the rest of his army.  Long story short, I then proceeded to put Ungor Raiders and Razorgors in the way of his giant unit while using my army to kill off the rest of his army.  At the end of the game, Mark had managed to kill 160 points, while I had 450 or so for the win, and I think he might have learned an important lesson about Death Stars.  Wait, not the one in the link, the one about eggs in baskets. 

So the Beastmen won first place, with second going to Rob's High Elves, third going to Mark's Chaos Warriors, and fourth going to Ben H.'s Skaven.  I had a bit of a lucky draw on my day, as there was very little shooting to really hurt me, and my army performed well against its opponents.  I'm comfortably achieving my goal of being the southeast United States Mark Wildman, striking fear into the hearts of my opponents with a subpar army book.

Mocksville Fantasy Tournament: Fourth Place Beasts

I attended the Heroes Headquarters Warhammer Fantasy Tournament put on by Game On in Mocksville, NC this past weekend.   The venue was very nice, the event was well run, and I had a lot of fun.  In three games, I lost to a Lizardman Slann army, beat a Skaven army, and barely got a win against some Dark Elves in a wild back and forth game that came down to a 200 point difference.  Thanks to all involved for a great time!

The Battle of Five (or More) Warhammer Armies

So I've written up a scenario that we'll hopefully be playing here in the next few months.  I like to watch this for inspiration:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y30LAj502mY



___________________________________________________________________________

Scenario:  The Battle of the Five (or more) Warhammer Armies

Players:  Five (or more).  Fluffwise, these consist of two or more forces of order armies, Skaven, Beastmen, Lizardmen, and Orcs.  Feel free to swap out armies if convenient.

Points:  2,500 points outer (evil) army.  3,000 points per (center table) army.  These points should adjust to provide some semblance of balance (at about a 10:6 ratio), although evil should always outnumber good.

Deployment:  The center table defenders deploy anywhere on the center table.  The outer table attackers deploy within 12” of their outer board edges. 

First Turn:  Defenders go first

Game Length:  The Game will last for six turns, or until a time limit is reached.

Victory Conditions:  Each player has secret conditions. 

Scenario Special Rules:  Lots!  Coming Soon!

Map:   

Fluff: 

Bobo was scared.  He’d stolen the Ring from the scary dragon, Flogg, just like the old Sorcerer Randalf had asked him to do, but ever since then, things had gone horribly wrong.  Randalf and the Dwarfs that were supposed to protect him were drunk, Flog the Dragon was pissed, and Bobo’s pants were sopping wet down the front. 

“No worries, Bobo”, grinned Randalf, “I’ve got this here horn, and I’ll blow on it to summon some allies to help us out.  Pretty soon, we’ll be up to our arses in archers and eagles”. 

Randalf whipped out his horn and went to blow.  Unfortunately, his mouth was still filled with “pipeweed” smoke, and a hacking cough struck him just as he sounded the horn.  The resulting note sounded something like a cross between a startled sheep and a wet fart.

Beastlord (or Beastlady, as she preferred) Gortia Gorson led her herd through the woods around Mount Boom carefully.  No longer satisfied with petty loot and plunder, Gortia had become a militant anti-man zealot after a late night jam session with her Gor-crush Malagor at the Herd Stone last Boxing Day.  She was on the lookout for any settlements to defile, loot, and hopefully poop on. 

Randalf’s “note” sounded in the air.  To all the Beastmen, it sounded like the world’s most awesome Bray-Horn.  Gortia smiled and turned to address her herd.   

“Let’s get moving, boys!  There’s more Beasts ahead!

Randalf looked down at the horn and frowned.  Whatever note he had blown, it hadn’t summoned much help.  Bobo looked even more terrified, and several Dwarfs looked ready to sick up. 

“Ah ha!”, exclaimed Randalf, “I’ve got the ticket!  What I’ll do is jazz up the next note with a little Razzle Dazzle Magic ™.”  He sniffed at the Winds of Magic.  They seemed pretty ripe!

Glowing with power, Randalf blew into the horn.  On the plus side, the horn blew a perfect, beautiful note.  On the down side, Randalf exploded.

When the smoke cleared, Bobo and the Dwarfs found Randalf stunned on the ground.  “Well”, groaned Randalf, “I sounded the horn with Irresistible Force.  Unfortunately, that’s also a miscast in this edition”. 

To the east, the Eagles and their Wood Elf friends heard Randalf’s call, and took to the air immediately to go to his aid.  The majestically soared over the trees, true friends and allies to Randalf’s cause.  Sadly, as they flew, the air around them grew hot and then exploded in a white hot burning ball of unnatural miscasted Strength Ten D6 Wound Ouchies.  When the light cleared, only a few eagles remained, and the green fields and trees below had been replaced with a squalid swamp and unnatural temple.  Lizardy eyes glared up at the eagles.

“What. The. Croak.”, snapped the High Slann Slippimus Prime.  “I don’t know what jerk mage summoned us up on accident, but we’re going to follow those feather Pteradons up there and kick his butt”. 

Meanwhile, up in “Da Hills”:

“Boss, we’ve been after these Stunties for days”, complained a Big’Un, “When are we gonna bash sum heads?”

General Bork gave his troops the stinkiest eye an Orc can give. 

“Shut it up, you lot!”  He chopped a nearby Gobbo in half in irritation. “We’ve almost caught ‘em.  I can feel it.  Plus, listen to dat racket down there near the mountain. We’ll smash ‘em up good, and Gork’ll be proud.  Chargelzors!”

The woods were rustling, there was a new swamp to the east, the sounds of a Waaaagh could be heard from the hills, and most of the Eagles were BBQ.   Even Randalf looked worried. 

The only place left to look for help was to the west, in the small settlement of Durham nearby.  Randalf tooted despondently on the horn again, hoping to summon some men, at least.  Amazingly, he saw men approaching!  Unfortunately, they looked like they were in bad shape. 

One of them screamed, “We’ve been swarmed by rats!” and fainted dead away.  Bobo peed in his pants a little more. 

In Durham, Gray Seer Burns stroked his whiskers.  “Exxxxcelent!”, he hissed.

The plan to take Durham had gone well, using only some cheese, a Pied Piper, and twelve cucumbers.  His alliance with the Vampires was underway…for now…and no man-thing remained in the town.  Burns could now launch his raid on Mount Boom, and steal all of its magical artifacts.  Enough Slaves could take down a dragon, and no other inconveniences could stand in his way.  Mounting his Bell, Burns screamed to the sky.

“Rat-ulators!  Mount up!”

All around the Dwarfs, things were going badly.  Nowhere seemed safe, and the Dragon was coming out from the mountain.  They had some guns, and some knights, and quite a few peasants, but they were completely surrounded!

Bobo had to get out of here!   His hand crept towards the Ring….

Island of Blood Sails In

My local store got its Island of Blood in this past Tuesday, and promptly doled them out!  I picked some copies up, and man is it nice!  I plan on building a nice Skaven and High Elf foundation from some boxes, and passing the rest on to Ebay.  I'll put up some links when the auctions are made.

Auctions are here:  http://shop.ebay.com/btuite1/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

The box set contains several things I really like.  Having a small rulebook is a fantastic thing, considering the enormous size and weight of the hardcover version.  More dice and templates are always welcome, as I'm always losing my scatter dice and templates at tournaments.  Every one of the sculpts is fantastic and highly detailed, and could be a centerpiece to an army.

Last of the Trollbloods: Dire Troll Bomber Painted!

Like my Khador and Imperial Fists, who have all wrapped up in the last month or so, my Trollbloods are finished now with this fantastic model, who brings the entire collection up around 110 points.  concept and pose of the Bomber, and wanted to add him in.

Unlike my Khador, my Trolls aren't going up for sale.  For now, they'll sit in the cabinet while old projects (Dark Elves and Beastmen) get upgraded for Eighth Edition and new projects (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, High Elves and Skaven) get started.  In the long run, I think this fella has a great gaming future...as a Hellcannon in a Warriors of Chaos Troll army. 

Incoming! Sea of Blood for Warhammer Fantasy!

Got an email from Games Workshop this weekend officially announcing the Sea of Blood boxed set.  While they didn't state what the armies would be, the picture above was included.  So it's either Skaven v. High Elves as suspected, or this is one heck of a trick they're pulling!   Here's the text of the email below:


"Incoming! The Island of Blood

The Warhammer world; it is a place riven by battle, where mighty armies clash for glory, honour or the entertainment of Dark Gods. Darkened skies, tortured by cataclysmic magics tear open and rain blood upon the ceaseless combatants and the landscape is wracked by the carnage around it. Trees writhe in mutated agony, lashing out with limb and branch and rivers flow thick with the corpses of the slain. All upon the land are consumed by the unending battle, an age of war in which victory and defeat hang in the balance.

Cast against this macabre tableau fight mighty armies -warriors by their million raise banners of defiance or icons of dismay, taking up arms in the clash for survival. Beleaguered and surrounded, the forces of Order fight desperately to stem the tide of the armies of Destruction. Delighting in the carnage and ruination, the Dark Gods look on.

The Island of Blood is but one battleground upon the face of the Warhammer world, a mystical and dangerous place that has been twisted and mutated by the warping power of Chaos. In ages past the Island of Blood was a battleground upon which armies have bled and died in the ageless battle for supremacy... and they will do so again. Soon.

The Island of Blood is the new boxed game for Warhammer and is released this September. Packed full of stunning plastic Citadel miniatures and containing all the rules, dice and templates you'll need to play, it's the essential purchase for fans of the Warhammer hobby.

Meanwhile, if you like the Battle for Skull Pass boxed game (and who wouldn't with all those Goblins and Dwarfs) then it only seems fair to point out that once the last few remaining copies are gone they're gone, and they're never coming back! Pick one up while stocks last.

In August we'll feature more information about The Island of Blood on games-workshop.com and the full details will be released in September's White Dwarf.

If you can't wait until September to get your hands on the new rules then don't forget that the new Warhammer Rulebook and complete range of accessories are available to advance order by clicking on the image below."

The Ally Matrix?

Apparently, the Eighth edition has an ally matrix in it for people teaming up in games.  They've developed forces of order and destruction, with a couple neutral armies in the middle.  Now, I'm all for team games of Warhammer, but I'm not sure that it really needed official rules on who can team up and who can't. 

Warhammer has always been a rich, varied universe in both versions.  Lumping armies together into "the good guys" vs. "the bad guys" ignores the fundamental idea that everyone is more or less at odds all of the time.  Even then, some allies don't make sense.  Dwarfs and Wood Elves?  Lizardmen and Empire? Beastmen and Skaven? Sure, you could justify these, and I think you should play them if you want to, but is it really any easier than just playing what you wanted in the first place, without a matrix to limit things? 

Good ally rules will be a plus, though, so outside the matrix, I am really looking forward to seeing what GW has in store there!

Interlude: 2250 Beastmen First Game!

 

Last night, I got to field my new Beasts for the first time, and play against the new Skaven for the first time, all in one game!  Tom is one of my regular opponents here in Durham, and is a great guy to play against.  

I brought:  

Doombull with Brass Cleaver, Blackened Plate, Shield, Gouge Tusks, and Gnarled Hide

Gorebull with Ramhorn Helm, Heavy Armor, Shield, Sword of Battle

Gorebull with Chalice of Dark Rain, Biting Blade, Heavy Armor, Shield

Bray Shaman with two Dispel Scrolls

Eight groups of five Ungor Raiders

Five Warhounds (with the Doombull)

Two groups of three Minotaurs with Additional Hand Weapons (each got a Gorebull)

Two Razorgors

Five scouting Harpies

Ghorgon

Jabbersclythe

He brought (from memory):

Gray Seer on a Bell w/ 40+ Clanrat Warriors

BSB

Plague Priest on a Furnace w/ 35+ Plague Monks

Three Units of 25+ Slaves

Two units of Plague Censer Bearers

Doom Wheel 

Hell Pit Abomination

He had two huge unbreakable units in the middle, with the Wheel and the HPA on (my) left flank.  His two units of Censer Bearers covered his other flank and rear, with slaves scattered through the line.  

I put my two units of Minotaurs and my unit of Hounds down in the middle, and covered them with screening Ungor Raiders.  The Ghorgon held my left flank, and the Jabbersclythe my right with the Razorgors.  My harpies managed to scout behind some trees on his right flank. 

First Turn:

On my first turn, three units of Ungor Raiders ambushed in on the right side of the board near his line.  They didn't do anything, but were march blocking some slaves, which would soon spark the wimpiest side war in game history, in which fifteen Ungor Raiders and twenty-five slaves battled the whole game for a board quarter.  The rest of my stuff moved up.

On his turn, his Doom Wheel shot forward eighteen inches towards my Ghorgon!  It then misfired, and shot another eighteen inches off the side of the board!  His lines moved up, but I just managed to hold down his shooting and magic.  

Turn Two:  

I moved my lines up a bit more, and used my Ungor Raiders to make him charge me with his big blocks and turn them at an angle.  I did the same to his Abomination.  I charged his Slaves with one group of Ungor Raiders, who managed to whittle away at them, but lost just the same...they held on, though!  

In his turn, he charged with his Abomination and two big blocks.  Shockingly, they destroyed my Ungors.  The Plague Monk block overran through some other Ungors, who fled, into one of my Minotaur Groups.  Whoops!  The Abomination overran and was hanging out in front of my Doombull (who would charge it in the front) and the other Minotaur group (who would flank it).  His Doom Wheel came back on and shot my Ghorgon for three wounds. 

Turn Three: 

My Jabbersclythe charged a unit of Censer Bearers and ate them, but had a huge overrun to land in front of another group of Censer Bearers.  My Doombull charged his Abomination, as did the other Minotaurs.  The Doombull promptly beat it to death...wow!   It was at this point that I really started to realize his monstrous potential, which would come out full force this game.  The Minotaur group that had been waiting to fight the Abom had a nice overrun into the side of the Plague Monk block, while the Doombull charged into the front of some Slaves.   This allowed me to use the Minotaurs in the Plague Monk Combat.  Long story short, I chopped up 15-20 monks, and he wounded the Minotaurs in front just a bit.  I win, but he's unbreakable.  

In his turn, he killed my Jabberslythe, and then his Doomwheel got S 10 shots and killed my Ghorgon.  My Doombull killed his Slaves, and my Minotaurs continued to grind Plague Monks, steadily getting more and more frenzied.  My Razorgors were stuck out on the east side of the board, and one would die to Crack's Call.  The harpies and remaining Ungors were hanging out and claiming quarters.  

Turn Four:  

I continued to grind Plague Monks.  My Doombull headed over near his other big block.  I should note that his other big block had pretty much gotten stuck between the Plague Monk combat, my Razorgors, and a river, and was trying to back up to do something.  It hadn't moved all that much.  

In his turn, he shot some Minotaurs with his Doom Wheel, but they finally killed the Plague Monks and the Furnace.  At this point, they were each attacking a lot.  

Turn Five:  

My turn started with one Gorebull charging his Doomwheel, and everything else charging the front of his huge Gray Seer / Clanrat block.  They killed roughly twenty of the rats in one round of combat, and he didn't do much back.  My Gorebull on his Doomwheel (there to keep it out of the back of my Doombull) did some wounds to it, lost, and held.  

In his turn, I killed the remaining Clan Rats, and his Doomwheel killed my Gorebull.  At this point, my regular surviving Minotaur was making ten attacks a turn, and my Doombull was making thirteen or fourteen.  It was nuts.  

Turn Six:

My Doombull beat his Gray Seer to Death despite the 4+ Ward Save, and my Minotaur and Gorebull killed his BSB.  I moved the Harpies over to prevent his Doom Wheel from charging my Doombull.  In his turn, he killed the Harpies.  

Results and Analysis:  

I killed everything he had on the table minus the Doom Wheel.   He killed about 1100 points worth of stuff, mainly the two big monsters, 1.5 units of Minotaurs, a Gorebull and a couple handfuls of Raiders.  

Minotaurs are real combat monsters, and against big blocks of unbreakable stuff will just go absolutely crazy.  Combined with the Brass Cleaver, there were a few turns of the Doombull dishing out over a dozen S6 attacks.  Getting these guys into combat is awesome.  

Ungor Raiders are, as expected, a pain in the opponent's butt.  Protecting the big guys is something I need to work on, but they keep the opponent busy trying to get them killed.   Overall, I'm pleased with the army's performance, and will see where they go from here.  

 

Swatting at Bees - The Art of Swarming the Enemy

Hi, my name is Ben, and I play swarm.


Now, a lot of people will define swarming (in terms of wargaming) in what I consider the typical sense; that is, in terms of how you do it. You need a lot of cheap, expendable units, outnumbering your opponent by multiples, and heading accross the board in vast waves designed to drown his or her army by sheer weight of numbers. Typically, this is done by the usual horde army suspects, such as Skaven and Vampire Counts in Warhammer Fantasy, Tyranids and Orks in 40K, and Legion and Cryx in the Privateer Press Games. It's also not how I play. Side note: Why are most of these armies kind of gross and slimy? Weird.


I prefer to define swarming not by the method, but by the objective. A swarm overwhelms its opponent, providing him or her with too many confusing options. If your opponent attacks Units A and B, then he must ignore C, D, and E, which remain threatening. Likewise, if C and E are attacked, then A and B are still around and deadly. Of course, in a typical swarm of, for example, Skaven, there will be far more than five options. In overwhelming your opponent with choices, the idea is to promote bad decisionmaking. Like a man attacked by hundreds of bees, your opponent should swat around in a panic. Maybe you'll lose a bee or two to the swatting, but your opponent's confusion will let you eventually bear him or her to the ground. His guns might be bigger and better, but they're nothing if he can't make proper decisions on how to bring them to bear.


Vast, horde armies are a mainstay of modern wargaming, and they have the aforementioned strengths. They usually have typical weaknesses, such as lower leadership troops and lynchpin units or models that hold the rest of the army together, sometimes literally like with Vampire Counts.


The type of swarm that I prefer might not be as numerous, but it accomplishes the objective the same. In my current Dark Elf army, I like to run plenty of Dark Rider fast cavalry, some harpies, and perhaps a unit of shades or two. Using this setup, I can force an opponent to make multiple decisions in the first and second turns. He or she is generally unable to focus enough attention on the big hitters coming down the table, as they have to protect their weak bits against these fast units that are up in their face.

Like a typical horde, this army forces opponents to make decisions that have negative aspects no matter what, hopefully forcing a panicked "swatting" at my army. Weak spots like warmachines are taken out quickly, assassination runs can be taken at key enemy units, and hard hitting units like Knights can be pulled out of position. Disorganization and panic reigns while my heavy hitters (Cold One Knights, Black Guard, perhaps a Hydra) come in unmolested to finish the army off. I once had an opponent end up turning his two flanks, still on his side of the table, completely sideways to face one another in order to deal with all my little biting units. Realizing what he had done soon thereafter, he conceded the round.


All in all, we look as good generals to make an opponent fight the battle on our terms rather than theirs. Swarming them with confusing decisions, be either method, is a great tactic for doing so.