Blog Suggestion: The Big House

I'd like to take a moment to recommend a great blog that I ran across:  The Big House.  Its posts cover Warhammer Fantasy Rules, and often debate different sides of those rules and discuss ambiguities.  For an eight edition player, I think this blog is a must.  Check it out!

Podcasts You Might Enjoy

Hey kids,

I end up listening to a lot of podcasts at work, as well as audiobooks, to better pass the time.  Here's a rundown of three that I particularly enjoy, and that you might as well:

Brohammer is a local podcast dealing with Warhammer Fantasy.  It's well done, and humorous, dealing with everything from book reviews to tactics. 

Pointhammered is a hilarious podcast recorded up in Wisconsin also dealing with Warhammer Fantasy.  Their thoughts on painting and play are pretty valuable, and you can tell they're having a great time recording. 

The D6 Generation is a general gaming podcast that is a great time to listen to, and offers a ridiculous amount of content.  It's hooked me up with a few great board games over the years!

Brawler Bash IV - Day Two

Now that I've gone ahead and lost my notes from the last two games, we'll see how much I can remember.

I finished the first day, 2-1, and had a chance to do well going forward.  Then I sat down to my Round Four, and got a wee bit nervous.

Round Four

Jon was my opponent in Round Four, and brought the Double Abomination Skaven scariness.  He did only have one magic user, a Level Four Gray Seer, and rounded things off with several blocks of Slaves, Clanrats (including a block with his War Litter General and BSB (which was in the second rank, grr!) and a Warp Lightning Cannon, as well as two groups of Gutter Runners.

Since I don't have notes, I'll hit the pivotal stuff.  We played Meeting Engagement, where units and characters have to stay in reserve if they roll a one.  Deployment was weird, with only my Gor block of 45 getting left in reserve.  This caused my BSB and General to be in the Flaming Banner group of Bestigor instead of my Gor. 

By the beginning of turn two, Jonathan had killed all four of my mages using his Abominations and General's unit.  My level four had managed to use his bound Stone of Spite, which killed Jon's Grey Seer.  At this point, I was pretty nervous.

Enter the Bestigor.  These guys, combined with the General and BSB, suddenly became an unstoppable unit.  They got charged by the Skaven General unit with BSB and an Abomination, and chopped everyone down.  They chased a couple other Clanrat units and the other Abomination until everything died, and Jon ended up with nothing left except a few low point rats on the table.  His WLC had been eaten by a Razorgor.

Massacre to me, and I believe Jon went down as my favorite opponent of the tournament.  He was a great sport when he was kicking my butt, and a great sport when the tides turned.

Game Five

Joel was my final opponent, and was somebody I had never had a chance to play before.  He had a pure Nurgle Daemon army, with a Great Unclean One, Three Blocks of 25 Plaguebearers with Heralds, Three Beasts of Nurgle, and Five Swarms of Nurglings.

Our final match was straight Battleline.  Joel got an early lead when I charged a unit of Plaguebearers in the flank with my Flaming Banner Bestigor, only to whiff and end up fleeing.  His Great Unclean one charged my other Bestigor, and while the GUO killed a ton of the Bestigor, he didn't manage to kill my Level Four in the unit.  The Bestigor fled through my Gor block, and then rallied.

At this point, I managed to get some good magic off, and took down his Great Unclean One, followed by a Purple Sunning of one of the Plaguebearer blocks.  My Gor Block moved up, and supported by Beast and Shadow buffs and debuffs took another Plaguebearer block out.  Meanwhile, my Chariot and Razorgors were busy tying his Nurglings and Beasts of Nurgle up on the other side of the Board.  Joel ended up killing them, but not soon enough, and the game ended with my achieving a massacre.

So I ended the tournament 4-1, and placed 3rd overall out of 38.  Not bad for some bright orange Beastmen! 

Brawler Bash IV - Day One

After Brawler Bash, I scribbled down my thoughts about my games so that I could copy them here.  Now that I have the chance, I'll attempt to read my chicken scratch and give some short battle reports. 

Game One

My first game was against Jerry, who I played and lost to in the final game of last year's Bash.  I was hoping to even the score.  Jerry's Empire army was very cool and well done, with a Sigmarite Zeppelin representing a Hero on Pegasus, and every model having individual colors and heraldry.  He had (roughly):

Arch Lector on War Altar
Level 4 Shadow Mage on Foot (in a unit of Swordsmen)
BSB Captain and War Priest in a unit of ten Knights
Captain on Pegasus
3-4 Big Blocks of Swordsmen
A Horde of 40 Halberdiers. 
2 Cannons, a Hellblaster, A Mortar, and a Steamtank.

Our mission was Dawn Attack.  Jerry's game was a story of bad luck, whereas I couldn't roll badly.  He deployed a coupld warmachines and his big troop blocks in the center, with a Steamtank and Zeppelin on one side and his Knights and Altar with his other Warmachines on the other.  I countered by covering one corner opposite his Steam Tank with almost my entire army, with one Razorgor opposite his Knights and Warmachines on the other side of the board.

On my first turn, my Level 4 pulled off a Purple Sun, which went 30 inches and destroyed his Steam Tank.  Meanwhile, my Razorgor opposite his Knights moved up the board to threaten his war machines.  Jerry took the bait, and used his Knights to block the Razorgor on his turn.  He moved up a bit and shot a bit, but nothing major occurred.  On my second turn, my Level 4 again hit a 30 inch Purple Sun after my Shadow mages lowered his War Altar's initiative, and the Altar was destroyed.  The Sun also clipped his Level 4 Mage, which failed her Look Out, Sir! check and died as well.  At this point, my Razorgors had also gotten into his war machines.  There was a little more shooting, but Jerry's dice continued to desert him, and between my magic and my Bestigors, I took his Knights and remaining characters down.  In the end, Jerry's Horde failed a stubborn check after losing combat to my Bestigors, and fled off the table.  At that point, he called the game. 

Jerry was a great opponent again this year, and went on to win his other four games and finish 5th overall for the tournament. 

Game Two

My second game was against Jason, who had his Daemons.  The scenario was a modified Watchtower, in which the watchtower itself was replaced by a hill.  Units touching the very center of the hill became stubborn, and whoever controlled the hill at the end of the game won the entire game.  Jason had:

Greater Daemon of Tzeentch with Lore of Tzeentch
Herald of Tzeentch with Lore of Life
2 Units of 35 Bloodthirsters
Two Small Units of Screamers
A Unit of Furies
Six Bloodcrushers

Jason won the game in the first turn, by winning the roll to go first and marching both units of Bloodletters onto the hill.  One unit became stubborn, and if that unit was destroyed the other unit would be the closest to the hill's center and become stubborn int it's place.  This was a masterful move on his part, and meant that destroying his entire army was really the only way I could have a shot at winning the game.  I grinded the Bloodletters, but couldn't kill them off by the end of Turn Six. 

This was my second time playing Jason, and he is a great player and a ton of fun to play against.  The scenario was a bit rough on me, but I look forward to our next game.  Jason went on to win Best General at the Bash and place second overall. 

Game Three

Michael was my third round opponent, and had flown up from Texas to attend the Bash and visit our mutual friend Lance.  He borrowed Lance's Empire for the tournament, although his normal army was Skaven.  We played the Blood and Glory scenario, and the matchup did not favor him.  He had:

A War Altar
2 Level Twos
Swordsman and Halberd Blocks
Several War Machines
A Steam Tank

Michael started with six Fortitude.  I have trouble remembering his exact list, as our game was very short.  There was minor shooting on his part at my large (45) Gor block, but my Level 4 quickly sniped his General off the War Altar.  I then plowed my Chariot, Razorgors, and a unit of Bestigor into one of his smaller units with a standard, and ran them off the table.  Because of Blood and Glory, his army then broke automatically, giving me the big win.  Michael was very gracious and a great opponent, even when things went against him that quickly. 

Brohammer Episode 6 is out!

Check out the new episode of the Brohammer podcast, released yesterday!  It's got some Brawler Bash and Grail Quest tournament action, and is a great time!

From their website: 

Sunday, April 17, 2011Brohammer ep006 "Brawler Bash 2011"


Ep006 of Brohammer "Brawler Bash 2011" has gone GOLD!

Get it here: http://www.cyberears.com/podcasts/podcast_5800.xml

Also available on itunes a few hours after this post!

-We start off with introductions and our wet your whistle/whatcha' drinking section.

-At 14:30 we announce the winner of the Warhammer's Real Men of Genius Contest and debut the winning submission!

-At 16:20 We start on our What's going on in Warhammer section. Kevin and I attended Grail Quest in Durham NC. We have a short musical interlude after that and hear from our guest Jim Emerick about a recent tourney he attended out on the West Coast at 49:04.

-We debut a 2nd RMoG

Brawler Bash IV Results

The results are up for the Warhammer Fantasy Brawler Bash IV Grand Tournament, and yours truly took home third place overall! 

I'm going to try and get some short battle reports up in the next couple days.  Overall, I went 4-1 (with my loss being to stubborn Daemons in a "Watchtower" style hill, so I'm not beating myself up).  Click on the results below for a closer look at my Beastman fury.

Looks like I did well on Battle Points and Sportsmanship, but couldn't score very high on painting as compared to some of the great painted armies at the tournament, which ended up costing me a higher finish.  I told people going in that it would be impossible for me to win the Bash since I am not a very top tier painter, but I sure gave it a heck of a run.  Being placed in the "hard" tier of composition (along with over half the tournament attendees) ended up hurting a bit as well.  Overall though, I'm thrilled with my finish and my improvement over a 2-3 showing last year, and have a lot to live up to next year. 

My list, for those interested:

Beastman the Beastlord (General), with Crown of Command, Biting Blade, Heavy Armor, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Endurance

Skeletor the Great Bray Shaman with Level Four, Talisman of Preservation, Stone of Spite

Charles Sharkley, Wargor BSB with Great Weapon, Armour of Destiny

Level One Shaman, Lore of Beasts, Additional Hand Weapon, Shard of the Herdstone

Level One Shaman, Lore of Shadow, Additional Hand Weapon, Dispel Scroll

Level Two Shaman, Lore of Shadow, Additional Hand Weapon

45 Gore, Additional Hand Weapons, Full Command

30 Ungor, Full Command

Tuskgor Chariot

27 Bestigor, Full Command, Banner of Flame

27 Bestigor, Full Command

Razorgor

Razorgor

Warhammer Expansion Announced: Storms of Magic!

From the GW Astronomicon, announced today:

Storm of Magic - when the eight winds howl...

The Winds of Magic are tumultuous. Drawn by Morrslieb, they are prone to rise from a strong gale into a howling tempest. And when they do no kingdom or realm is safe.

Monsters awaken from their slumber and are summoned from their lairs at the bidding of sorcerous masters. Armies assemble, ready to defend their borders or seize the opportunity to gain limitless power. It is in these desperate times tenuous pacts between wizards and creatures of darkness are sealed to create alliances never thought possible.

A time of doom and great deeds is at hand. Will you rise to meet the storm?

Announcing the impending arrival of Storm of Magic, the latest and largest Expansion for Warhammer, the Game of Fantasy Battles. Launched in July 2011, Storm of Magic describes what happens when great eldritch maelstroms roil across the lands. Magic becomes far more powerful and there is a whole range of Cataclysm spells to cast, unleashing untold devastation on the enemy. Arcane Fulcrums burst from the ground, not only acting as loci for the swirling energies that pervade a battle fought amidst the Storm of Magic, but changing the way a Warhammer tabletop looks and interacts with your armies. With such things so crucial to your Storm of Magic games a new range of Warhammer scenery and Wizards will soon be released in time for you to wage cataclysmic battles.

Then there are the monsters. When the Winds of Magic blow with such strength, the fell creatures of the world gravitate towards the tempest, slithering from deep tunnels or emerging from mountain lairs.

With the new Expansion allowing you to use so many different creatures there are a whole host of new monstrous plastic kits on their way. Citadel's queen of creatures, Trish Morrison, has spent the last few years in her own lair preparing for the new monsters to be unleashed upon the world and you can see two brief glimpses of what is to come below:

• 
• 

July is still a few months away; we are in the calm before the storm so now is the time to prepare. Bolster your forces, prepare your regiments and summon your wizards in time for the ultimate war. Keep checking White Dwarf and the website for updates, for when the storm hits nowhere will be safe!

___________________________________________________________________-

So how about that?   Personally, I would have liked to see more army books released before an expansion, but this does seem interesting.  Scenery, wizards, and monsters, oh my!

Beastman and Skeletor: Ready for War

As Brawler Bash quickly approaches this weekend, I've finished up my painting and modeling.  Leading the Orange Beasts are Beastman the Beastlord and Skeletor the Great Bray Shaman.  Can anything stand in their way?  Probably, but at least it'll be a good time!

Battle Report,: Beastmen vs. Bretonnians, 2500 Points

I had the pleasure of playing a game against my friend Erik last weekend, and he went on to write a great battle report on the Brohammer Forums.  I've copied it below:

I played a game with my Brets this past weekend! My friend Ben came over and he brought his beastmen army with him. We played a 2500 game and decided to just play straight battleline.

My Army:
1 Bretonnian Lord
General, Heavy Armour; Knightly Vow,Virtue of Heroism (1st) [40.0],Dragonbane Gem [5.0]
Sword of Swift Slaying [25],Enchanted Shield [10.0]
1 Hippogryph @ [200.0] Pts

1 Prophetess level 3 Lore of Heavens
Crown of Command,
1 Warhorse

1 Paladin Battle Standard Bearer
Heavy Armour; Battle Standard Bearer; Knightly Vow
Warrior Bane [5.0],Gromril Great Helm [30.0]
1 Warhorse

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 110.0 Pts
Lore of Beasts
Silver Mirror [40.0]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 155.0 Pts
Magic Level 2; Lore of Beasts
Ruby Ring of Ruin [25.0],Chalice [15]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

CORE
10 Knights of the Realm (Lvl3+ BSB go here)
W/FC+ Standard of Discipline
8 Knights of the Realm w/FC
5 Grail Knights
Standard; Musician, Banner of the Eternal Flame [10.0]
17 Peasant Bowmen +Std, Mus, Braizers
20 Peasant Bowmen + FC; Braizers

4 Pegasus Knights +FC
2x Field Trebs

His List (approximate)
1-Beast lord with magic weapon and magic wardsave+ Crown of Command
1-BSB Wargor with beast banner (unit gets +1 Str)
1-Level 4 Great Bray with Lore of Death
2x Lvl1 bray Shaman lore of shadow
1- Lvl1 Shaman lore of beasts

45 Gor extra hand weapon (BSB and General in this one
2x 24 Bestigors (Lvl 4 in one of these)
1x 25 Ungor (all three lvl1¡¦s go here next to the shard of the herdstone (all wiz within ¡§6 gain +1 power die)
1x beast chariot
2x Razorgor
So he had a huge unit of gors with General and BSB in it. That unit was +! Str and the general had crown of Command, it wasn¡¦t going anywhere!

Here is a picture that will show my deployment and after the Beasts move up on T1:


It is blurry but you can see where things are I think. From my right flank I have a unit of 20 bowman on the hill (had to use goblins, hahah not finished with my brets yet!) and right behind them you can see the General on Hippo). Next to them are the 8 realms with the lvl1 beast mage. Next are the 10 realms with the BSB and Lvl3. A unit of 17 bowmen with the lvl2 beast mage is next. The Peg knights vanguarded forwards and behind them, on the extreme left flank you can see my small unit of grails deployed in a line. My trebs are well back in my backfield and spaced roughly equal distance across the back.

The hills were all normal. The forest in the middle ended up being a fungus forest, but it didn¡¦t make a difference. There was an Elven waystone on the right flank near to his side, but it also did not come into play. The river is normal but no one ever got in it The piece of terrain that was the most important was the ruins on his side next to his ungors and the wizards. That granted frenzy to any unit within 6¡¨. That meant that I couldn¡¦t panic him off the board with a treb shot. Drats!
His deployment was (starting from my right flank again) Razorgor, chariot, unit of 24 Bestigors with Lvl4 death Shaman, huge unit of gor with Gen and BSB, herdstone shard there is the terrain piece and right beside that is the unit of 25 ungor with the 3x lvl1 shaman. Right in front of them is the second unit of Bestigor. You can¡¦t see it, but he has his second razorgor on the extreme left flank (at the top out of the picture.

T1-I of course prayed! So Beasts get to go first. I van-guard moved my Peg knights straight forward up the left flank. He basically moves everything up, keeps his chariot slightly back (alongside the bestigor block). He debuffed my peg knights with Shadow which I let go since I didn¡¦t plan to charge with them next turn. I dispelled his hex on the large knight block (he was trying to lower Int to throw a purple sun through there!) and when he casts purple sun I dispel with the silver mirror, causing a wound on the Lvl4.

A Bret's eye view of the advancing horde!


T1-Brets- I move my peg knights forward 20¡¨ and face the flank of his ungors while staying out of the charge arc of any of his units. I move my grails up on the left flank to protect the treb and threaten the advancing bestigors on the left flank. I fly the Hippo Lord out to the right flank to make it uncomfortable for him to advance. The other knight units backup some because I don¡¦t want to rush that large combat coming my way! Magic is decent with some buffs, but nothing major gets through. The lvl2 on foot fails to cast transformation :> I had chain lighting, 1st hex spell (-1 to hit and ld), and Uranon¡¦s thunderbolt on the Lvl3.

Shooting was a whole different matter! Both trebs landed direct hits on the right Bestigor unit. I killed around 15 or so. **We did the template wrong, we used a direct hit only touching 9 models. It should have been 15 models on 25mm bases touched on a direct hit. Even still, it was devastating! Trebs are nasty like the devil in 8th!

T2-Beasts: Time for revenge. He moves up with just about everything. The right razorgor charges the small Realms. He took some wounds the turn before from the bowmen and he takes another on the way in. They finish him in combat so I won¡¦t talk about that one again. He reforms the ungors to face the peg knights. He moves the left razorgor to face the rear of the peg knights.


His magic is powerful! He gets off fate of Bhjuna IF on hippo lord. He rolls like a gangbuster and gets 6 hits. Three of them wound. I need to make a single 6+ ward to stay alive. I don¡¦t and the gen dies on top of T2! The Hippo passes his reaction test and holds fast. He rolls up a 4 on the miscast table and proceeds to kill even more of the bestigor unit while sucking himself into the warp. I¡¦ll take that trade!
Here you can see the depleted Bestigor unit and the hippo looking at them hungrily before my turn!


T2-Brets: I charge the peg knights into the rear of the left Bestigors. I should have waited and been patient, but I felt like I could seize a big advantage if the Grails could roll well enough to get a supporting charge in on the flank of the same unit. The grails also charged. They needed a ten and had to go through a forest, but it was doable. The pegs made it but the grails failed. Rut-roh. :> I charged the Hippo into the remains of the other bestigor unit. They held. I then moved my lvl2 on foot out of the bowmen unit and to safety while I moved the bowmen unit in front of the huge gor unit as a sacrifice to buy me some time. The magic phase is uniteresting again but I do manage to get off a hex on the Gor unit (didn¡¦t make much difference). Shooting sees one treb misfire and can¡¦t shoot for this turn or the next. The next one lands a partial on the ungors and kills about 10 or so, but they are still stubborn so no panic test.

In combat the Hippo takes 2 wounds while eating the bestigor unit. I restrain overrun. The pegs do well and kill several bestigor and only take 2 wounds back. They win combat handily with the carge+ rear bonus, but the bestigor are stubborn on a reroll and they easily hold. They reform to face the Pegs¡K this is bad.

T3-Beasts- The huge Gor unit charges my sacrificial bowmen unit. The chariot charges my bowmen on the hill. His razorgor on the left flank moves up to threaten the grails. Magic is easier to defend now that his Lvl4 is gone, but that herd stone is kicking my butt by giving him +3 extra dice per turn. He gets some buffs on his gor herd. They burn right through the bowmen of course :> They decide to combat reform to take my lances head-on next turn. The bestigors are now getting supporting attacks and the peg knights didn¡¦t charge. They also got hexed by his magic. I knew they were going to die so I let that go in order to stop some other spells. Predictably, the bestigor tee off on the defenseless peg knights and slughter the unit down to 1 Peg. I break and he doesn¡¦t pursue,(knowing that a single knight from 4 can¡¦t rally) and opts for a combat reform to face my knights (offering the grails a flank charge.) The chariot gets nowhere with the bowmen on the hill and stays in combat.

T3-Brets. I have nowhere else left to retreat so I sound the charge with the large Realms with BSB. I move my other realm knights around to a flanking position on the huge gor unit (I don¡¦t know that his lord has the Crown yet). The grails take the offered flank and make it this time. I did lose one knight on the way in to dangerous terrain though. So 4 grails into the flank of about 17 bestigor. I move the Hippo to the hill in his deployment zone, but facing the rear of his units. (I think this is a mistake looking back. I should have moved to threaten the ungor unit and the wizards. I didn¡¦t know that the general had the crown at that point and I figured I would need all the help I could get in wittling that huge unit down to break steadfast.) I get off Iceshards on the Gor unit this turn which is nice. The treb that can shoot tries to hit the ungors in the back but misses.

Combat sees the grails do what grail knights do, kill a lot of stuff on the charge. I take no wounds back and win by a large amount. Doesn¡¦t matter though, he is still stub on a 9 from the general and he passes the test. He also passes the test to reform and now is facing me Drat! Supporting attacks are coming next turn along with a rear charge by pumba! It ain¡¦t looking good for the home team! I slam his unit of gors with the big lance and do a lot of wounds. My BSB kills his BSB which is a huge bonus! He decides not to make way with his general this turn (I guess because he doesn¡¦t want charging brets to attack him-probably smart). I lose no knights back! I am on fire with armor saves so far tonight. I win the combat by a huge margin, but doesn¡¦t matter as he passes his stub 8(because of the hex) check easily. Darn!
No more pictures. ƒ¼ Sorry, I forgot after this turn, but I think you know where everything is now.

T4 Beasts: He charges the rear of the grails with razorgor and makes the charge. Don¡¦t remember what magic did. Not much. The grails directed all their attacks at the razorgor. They did manage to do three wounds and kill it (thereby eliminating at LEAST +3 combat res) but bestigors with GW¡¦s and primal fury made sure that there were no grails left to savor the good fortune. The bestigors reform to go around the large gor unit and take on the lance of unengaged knights. Even with his general making way this turn, I win combat again against the big Gor unit. He makes another Stub 8 check and we move to

Bret T4: I STILL don¡¦t know he has the crown on the beastlord yet since he has been steadfast up until this point. I charge the realm knights into the Gors. This turn I should get them below steadfast! I move the Hippo to threaten the ungors. The trebs shoot at the bestigor unit. Both miss.
Magic: I get the hex off on his unit of gors. The realms are +1 St +1 t also. The combat goes exactly how it should. I kill a ton of gors and win by a large amount. The general does take out 2 of my Realms knights from the BSB¡¦s unit, but it isn¡¦t enough. Alright! He no longer has more ranks than I do and I won combat. That is when he tells me he has the crown, hahaha I should have totally known it of course, but I didn¡¦t. He makes another stub 8 check and we move on.

T5 Beats: He charges the flank of the smaller Knights with his bestigors. He moves his wizards out of the ungor unit (that will be eaten by the Hippo) and also manages to keep all 3 out of LOS of the Hippo-smart move! The game is set now. It all depends on this combat. I kill a decent amount of gor again and he kills a few knights. I got lucky because the flanking unit of Bestigors failed its PF test, that made a HUGE difference. I lose combat, but pass my tests.

T5 Brets: I charge the ungors with the Hippo, they die. I shoot both trebs at the wizards (they are all huddled up :>) and get one direct hit. Kill one of ¡¥em and wound the other 2. Sweet! I get a good round of magic and I have extra dice left after I cast all the spells I wanted to. I decide to cast chain lightning on the wizards. I use 4 dice and of course it comes up IR. I get no wounds on the wizards with my dice (horrible rolls) and then I roll up a 4 for miscast. Kill 5 knights and suck the Lvl3 into the warp GAHH!! Oh well, it happens :> The combat is now on the beast¡¦s terms. I am no longer stubborn either, now that the Lvl3 is dead. He wins combat and my BSB¡¦s unit breaks, but my other realm unit holds on a 3! The BSB is dead and that unit flees off the table. The game is now firmly in his grasp.

T6-Beasts: nothing of note other than my realm knights finally break, but get away, denying him VP.

T6 Brets Game over. The beasts have won the day. Even though I have very few units on the board there was only a difference of around 300 VP total. The hippo was still alive (and thus no VP for Gen other than the +100 VP for killing him), the realm knights were still there with a lvl1. Both trebs and a bowman unit still around.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed playing the Brets! The beasts are a good matchup for my army. In this particular battle I should have known that the Beast lord had the stubborn crown. I have to think it is in just about every army (except VC, TK, DoC) and that is where it should have been. I made several very big tactical mistakes during the game. I should have pressured the ungors with wizards right away with the hippo (after I ate the depleted Bestigors of course). Instead, I wasted a turn with useless manuvering. I think being more patient with the peg knights would have paid off big dividends. Getting a combo charge is crucial to locking units down with smaller flanking units. Otherwise you win-they don't care- they reform and beat you to death in round 2!

Miscasts inside of knight units can be HORRIBLE! I think the dominant market strategy will be Lvl4 with life (for vines) as miscast protection. I was using a strange combo for my lord choices because I wanted to use the HippoLord. Lvl3 of life isn't good enough, I don't like Life with anything less than a Lvl4. There may even be some options of running 2 Lvl4's (life and heavens) at 2500+ pts. Probably it would be more efficient to use a Lvl4 and 2 Lvl2's instead though. I'll have to look at it. I know that Wyssan's Wildform is an awesome spell that really works well with our army. You should probably have at least one of those in each list!

I didn't miss the General's leadership in the middle of the table really. The BSB is extremely durable and with his re-rolls, Ld 8 (or 9 even with a Banner of Disc) is good for most everything. The HippoGryph is not an optimal choice in 8ed. i think everyone knows that. Not that it can't do well for you, it can! It is just not the most efficient use of points imo. The blessing save extending to the mount really shines in this application. Otherwise it would be ultra vunerable and almost not worth even considering.

There are sooo many combos available for heros/lords. I have only begun to stratch the surface. I look forward to exploring all the various builds! I really want to do a RAF styled army, but I am having trouble visualizing how it will work on the battlefield in this ed. I may still do one since I love the models (and have them painted!)

I haven't even started thinking about peasant heavy builds. Without them we surely struggle with watchtower scenario.

Read more: http://www.brohammer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=251&page=1#ixzz1IY58CigC