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I decided to attend the Fantasy side of the Exterminatus GT, I've recently purchased a brand new army and I was keen to try it out.

The Venue:

The Exterminatus took place in a mall, in a large store sized vacant area. As it was in a mall, there was food purchasing places within walking distance (a mexican restaurant in particular, where we've been given the same booth 4 times running...odd). Further, they'd set up a deal with a hotel which was within 5 minutes drive, so you could get a room for the night for cheap. All in all, a satisfactory setup. One thing I'd have appreciated would be the stereotypical soda/candy stand, but I imagine that what you can sell where is quite regulated in a mall.

The Field:

4 Warriors of Chaos (2 Throg lists (one was me), 2 WoC lists, one Gate, one Blitz)
1 Daemons of Chaos (Khorne/Tzeentch hybrid w/no greater daemon)
2 Dwarves (one Thorek, one unkillable Lord)
2 Empire (both with steam tanks)
2 High Elves (both with dragons)
1 Dark Elves (no paritcular gimmick, smattering of stuff)
2 Orc & Goblin lists (one orcs, one goblin)
1 Skaven lists (varied skaven, slightly Skyre)
1 Lizardmen (100+ skinks, Slan)

There were 5 games, in each one there was a primary goal (VP's). Whoever got that would get 13, ties meant both get 6. Secondary objective gave you 3 each for a draw, or 7 for the win. Tertiary gave you 2 if you got it, both can succeed at once.

Game #1: Empire

His List:

Arc Lector w/Speculum + ward save + 1+ armor on barded mount
Hero on Pegasus w/ring of bound spell, pistols
Hero on Pegasus w/ring of flaming skull, pistols
Mage scroll caddy
20 Swordsmen
5 Knights
5 Knights
5 Inner Circle Knights
5 Knights of the White Wolf
5 riding hand-gunners (Outriders? I guess I'll go with that, but they are the guys who ride around and shoot)
5 Outriders
Steam Tank
Giant
Great Cannon

Game #2: Dark Elves

Sorceress Lord on Dark Pegasus w/familiar, casting gear, reverse save pendant
Sorceress level 2
Sorceress level 2
Noble on Manticore
Block of Warriors w/full command
5 Dark Riders
5 Dark Riders
5 Cold One Knights
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
Hydra
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Repeater Bolt Thrower

Game #3: High Elves

Prince on dragon w/bracers of defense, lance, dragon armor
BSB
Scroll caddy
Scroll caddy
10 Archers
25 Spearmen
5 Dragon Princes
5 Dragon Princes
3 Repeater Bolt Throwers

Game #4: Daemons of Chaos

Herald of Khorne on Juggernaught w/Standard of Unholy Victory
Herald of Tzeentch (general)
Herald of Tzeentch
Block of Bloodletters w/full command
Block of Pink Horrors 30 strong
10 Pink Horrors
5 Flesh Hounds
5 Flesh Hounds
3 Screamers of Tzeentch
3 Screamers of Tzeentch
6 Flamers of Tzeentch

Game #5: Lizardmen
Slann w/extra dice per spell, pick a lore and know it all, cupped hands of the old ones
Skink Priest on EOTG
Skink Priest w/flying cloak
10 units of 10 skinks
2 units of 10 chameleon skinks


Reports to follow:

My list:

Kholek Suneater
Throg, the Troll King
3 Trolls
4 Trolls
4 Trolls
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
4 Ogres w/Mark of Khorne, Great Weapons
4 Ogres w/Mark of Khorne, Great Weapons
3 Dragon Ogres
Spawn w/Mark of Tzeentch
Spawn w/Mark of Tzeentch
Scylla Anfingrim

My assessment:

This is a fluffy, cruncy, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night list. No humans allowed. It's got no magic defense, no ability to beat static res from the front and no real way to handle skirmishers and other flankers. On the other hand, it's got Kholek, who is one of the game's biggest wrecking balls.

I like to think of this as the training wheels version of a modern blitz list. If someone's balanced force can weather this they can graduate to taking on the current heavyweights. It's also pretty good at playing counter-blitz, as the trolls can weather enemy's that try and generate CR through combat res, and Kholek can beat down most meteors.

Game #1:

My assessment of my opponent's list:

First off, that Arch Lector is going to be a big problem for Kholek. He can't fight a stat swapper, and that guy's not infantry, so he'll be hard to run around. This means I can't simply crush my way through the center. On the other hand, he's got 4 units of knights that I don't think can beat a single one of my units from the front, and his Stank and Giant will have to be more careful of Kholek than normal. That cannon could be a major pain for the big guy, but it also might just explode. You never know with cannons. Throg, by contrast, is tailor made to kill the stat swapper, with his vomit attacks wounding on 4's and ignoring the guy's 1+ armor save, and his regen and 4 wounds letting him survive the beat down. His silly pegasus heroes can just eat lightning strikes all game.

The game:

He lines up his knights in the middle, 3 blocks with inner circle in the center and the cannon + infantry behind. In the mid east and mid west he's got his outriders, and on the far east he's got the knights of the white wolf, and on the far west the giant and stank. His pegs go one on each side, with his mage in the infantry block and his stat swapper in the knights of the inner circle.

I set up in my typical formation. Trolls + Kholek in the front, with Throg in the middle unit, dragon ogres on the east, khornate ogres in the back. Spawns wandering about. Warhounds are in the very front.

I move up the board face a dilemma. If Kholek goes west he'll take the Stank and/or the giant on next round (can choose which by where precisely I stand, just need to make sure they don't both charge at once.). He'll likely murder them both, but then he'll be far away from the action. In retrospect I should have gone for it, as it would have saved me from the stat swapper.

Instead, I put Kholek center-west, and move the ordinary guys a way up the field. Kholek wounds a pegasus and the hero riding it. Their turn.

His knights remain stationary, then he shoots the cannon at Kholek but misses His outriders ride up to Kholek and the dragon ogres and pepper them with shots, but don't really get anything done. Stank and Giant move south. His magic (here and for the remainder of the game) doesn't do anyting much. He shoots fireballs at trolls who get burned a bit.

On my turn I send Kholek charging at the outriders (who aren't at an angle, because he's a scrub), and the same with the dragon ogres. He flees in both cases, but he's right in front of 14" and 16" chargers, so he gets caught. His knights are also in Kholek's range (not inner circle, just ordinary ones), so they flee as well. He rolls high and they run off the table. The dragon Ogres end up just in front of the Knights of the White Wolf. I put the warhounds right in front of the Knights of the inner circle and the eastern ordinary knights, daring him to charge, with trolls waiting to counter charge.

On his turn he charges the knights of the white wolf into the dragon ogres, and sends a pegasus charging at a unit of troll's flank. His knights stand still, unwilling to charge into the trap. His giant and Stank move east, angling north after Kholek. He's unwilling to use the Great Cannon on Kholek with him standing in a line with all his inner circle knights + his general, so he uses it on Throg, and headshots him. Dang!

The knights and dragon ogres fight inconclusively. Nobody goes anywhere. My Trolls beat his hero and run him down, hitting the giant's flank. (the hero vs. troll fight was more scrubbery. Charging one of your flyers at regenerating fear causers who outnumber you and have a decent shot at wounding you...sigh)

On my turn, all the trolls not in combat go stupid, as they are ld 4. Kholek moves around behind his army and throws lightning at, hmm, the tank I think. It did like a wound. Very daring there, as a 1 would have let him suck me into his stat swapper. My dragon ogres beat the white wolf knights and chase them, but don't catch them.

On his turn he sends the stat swapper out into the backfield to play goalie vs. Kholek, sends in the stank to rescue the giant and finally gets the giant out of his way. He shoots his cannon at kholek and does 6 wounds. youch!

The rest of the game is an anti-climax. Kholek and the goalie run around each other, blocking charges and totally not acting like generals. I eventaully lightning the woudned giant down. He crushes an Ogre unit under the Stank + the inner circle knights (who got free once the Trolls went stupid and couldn't enforce the warhounds + troll trap anymore. There's a lot of maneuvering and marching, but nothing really goes down. He did throw away his other hero (charging trolls alone), and his wizard (left his block to join the cannon crew, which the ogres charged.)

Ultimately, it's a draw. I had the stank at 9 wounds, and he had Kholek at 7. If either of those took another wound the game would have been over, big time. We end up split on the primary (VPs), the secondary (kill enemy general) and I get the tertiary (don't recall, I think it was to take more banners or maybe be in more quarters).

Game #2:

My assessment of my opponent's list:

This is an extremely mediocre list. It's got one knight unit, one meteor and 2 chariots for assault. It's only got 2 bolt throwers to force the enemy to come to it. The Dark Riders are good stuff, but the warriors are an insufficient block. On the other hand, the Lord + 2 casters could be trouble. Depends what lore they go with. I think I'll be able to win this one handily. The Hydra is tough, but I'm pretty sure any of my units can put it down by just regening right along with it.

NOTE: Missed the 3 harpy units in the description. They are there though, 3 units of 5.

The game:

We both deploy in a fairly standard pattern, redirectors and blitzers up front. He's got his main stuff hiding in the back.

I get first turn and move up, bolting the sorceress off her dark pegasus and putting a wound through the pendant of khaeleth's defenses. He charges his harpies in on some warhounds, which they lose to and get run down by. He moves to redirect my other units, setting up a bait and flee trap for Kholek with some chariots and the hydra as the teeth, and his cav as the bait. He shoots Kholek with 2 bolt throwers, but rolls double 2's to wound.

Kholek takes the bait, charging the knights ( who flee, and standing out in front of all his stuff). Throgg moves up into the center (as part of the objective I have to have Throgg closer to the center than his general).

He charges Kholek with the Hydra, but the chariot fails its fear test, and he charges Throg on the flank with a manticore borne hero and in the front with a chariot. Kholek does 3 wounds to the Hydra and breaks it (taking 2 in return), while Throgg vomits the elf off the back of the hydra and regens its hits and the trolls do 2 wounds to the chariot while taking its hits. Everyone holds there.

That's basically game. Kholek charges his knights off the board and Throgg finishes up the chariot + manticore. With all of the fighty stuff gone the remainder of my army is beating up the remainder of his (scylla eats a bolt thrower). Ultimately he ends with a Harpy unit and his wounded general left alive.

Game #3:

My assessment of his list:

NOTE: forgot he had swordmasters and a unit of skirmishers.

This could give me some trouble. His Dragon can eat anything in my list other than Kholek, and his bolt throwers can kill Kholek. If he just hangs back and shoots he ought to win this. His dragon princes can threaten the flanks and keep my ogres + trolls honest. It's a good matchup for him.

Deployment: He puts 2 of the bolt throwers on one side and the other one on the other side. That's lucky for me, as I can put Kholek opposite the one and be out of rangef the other two. His army hangs back.

He takes the first turn, shoots his bolt throwers but can't do much and flies the dragon south.

I move my army north, threatening his dragon. If he moves back north I'll be in trouble. Lightning fails to destroy a bolt thrower.

He tries to charge a troll unit, it tries to flee, he catches it, but he's still in Kholek's range. Excellent. My army continues to forge its way north. He charges a spawn with a dragon prince unit, fails to kill it and gets flanked by dragon ogres and crushed.

Kholek charges his dragon, who sensibly flees. Now that he's routed Scylla pounces on him in the compulsory movement phase. I think by the rules you can't flee twice in the same phase so the Lord + dragon should have been destroyed by a spawn, but that seemed lame, so I didn't protest when he fled again, ending up right in front of Kholek. Meanwhile I send a troll unit in on his spearmen and an ogre unit in on his swordmasters.

The spearmen beat the pants of the trolls, and the swordmasters took slightly more casualties from the ogres than they did, ending up outnumbered by fear-causers...but made the insane courage! Doh. That means that instead of overrunning and wiping out the warmachine hill the ogres will get spakked.

I charge the rallied Lord with Kholek and he tries to fight, but just gets crushed. His mount only takes one wound though (I'm trying to keep this thing going a round to avoid bolt throwers), but breaks away. It runs a good distance.

He bolt throwers Kholek again and advances. His dragon princes crush my dragon ogres in a front charge, and overrun into a corner.

I settle into a holding pattern as regards the elves, backing my trolls up and fleeing his charges. Kholek charges the dragon and it flees off the board. The Bolt throwers, however, finally fell him.

Scylla devours his mage and breaks his archers, then kills a bolt thrower team.

He repeatedly charges Throgg, who flees and rallies on command. Ultimately the game comes to an end in a draw.

It would have been my win, except that there was an objective in the center. We measured + marked it and I sat trolls on it in 4. I made 2 stupidity tests to keep them on it, then ended the game in possession of it. Would have been 400 VP's. He then said. Let's remeasure, and it turned out to be an inch outside the unit. Quite possibly the lamest move I've ever seen. Whatever though, I'm not exactly threatening to win this tournament anyway.

Game #4:

My assessment of his list:

Note: Forgot to mention he had the Blue Scribes.

Hmm, Daemons. I must be moving up in the world. Truth be told, though, they aren't that overpowering against my list. They can pit of shades Kholek, but other than that they don't have a great way to kill my units. I can probably just advance, kill the chars out of the pink horror units and crush the bloodletters and flesh hounds with superior numbers.

Deployment: He puts his big horror unit in the west, his little one in the middle and his Khornate unit between them. THen on the east he's got both dogs. His screamers just sit around behind everything. He chooses metal and fire for his lores. The mind boggles.

He goes first and moves south, but doesn't really have the range to make me pay with his magic yet. A nothing turn.

I respond by moving north, Kholek frenzies himself with his lightning, and the dogs try to block the flesh hounds.

He prepares to bring the pain, but suffers a poor magic phase, just damaging some trolls. He really needs a level 4. His Flesh hounds chase off my warhounds, putting them in Kholek's range. His screamers move over my army, chopping things, but oddly enough neglecting to block Kholek's charge. One of them also lands near a spawn. Rampant scrubbery.

On my turn Kholek charges the FLesh Hounds, my army moves in on his blocks, and the spawn and the screamers fight inconclusively. Kholek kills 2, one more pops from combat res. Big trouble, as he can now land the other screamers in front of them and bait my furious shaggoth off into the hinterlands.

He doesn't do so, however, instead doing more wounds to trolls and warhounds. He charges his other flesh hound unit into a group of 3 trolls (magic has reduced them) and obliterates them, overrunning into my backfield. His flamers start laying waste to trolls wholesale. Kholek finishes off the flesh hounds.

Kholek pivots about the flank of his force and lightning bolts the bluescribes to death, gets ready to charge flank of bloodletter unit. I put 3 trolls into the front of that unit and scylla into the flank. Throgg + Trolls charge little pink horror unit and crush it, though Throgg's EOTG roll lets him duck the char out of the fun for a round.

Trolls passing a stupidity test unaided (on 4) get a rear charge on FLesh Hounds (when was the last time that happened?). And the 3 trolls in the front of the unit vomit the Herald of Khorne to death, while Scylla holds it in place as they flee. A nice assassination, provided that they rally.

Throgg and his buddies get burned down by Horrors, and Kholek and some Khornate ogres jump into the Bloodletters and obliterate them. The ogres overrun into the flank of his big horror block, but are then defeated and run down? (wtf?). The game ends with a bolt of change failing to kill Kholek, but bringing him down to half.

Another draw! I'm undefeated!!

Game #5:

My assessment of his list.

Wow, what an odd list. All skirmishing skinks with blowguns. I can't imagine how he'd handle most lists, but it should work great against mine. He can just flee and get other units in the flank and then shoot me all game. He's got a Slan to Pit Kholek, nothing I can do.

The game:

It's hard to describe this game without making fun of the opponent, but the crux of his problem was that he didn't flee from charges if he could stand and shoot. He pitted Kholek on round 2, but that's about all that went well for him. I was lucky with my regens and just charged skinkies. Throgg got the Slan due to its insistence on advancing behind its skinks, and the stego got chopped down by Ogres.

Even for all that though, they did so much damage with blowguns that it ultimately ended up a draw game. A lesson in the power of volume of fire.

So there it was, my 4th draw.

For the whole tournament I went 1 win, 4 draws. What an odd experience! All of my games were pleasant and challenging, and I'm happy to have attended this tournament. I'd definitely go again.

Congratulations! Undefeated!



In case anyone wants to see 40kenthusiast's Throg Clog, you can see pics at the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/BKArmyPainting/WalterLChaosFantasy?authkey=Gv1sRgCIOKqpjjicLyAw&feat=directlink

Yeah, thanks C99. I can heartily recommend his painting to anyone who wants to buy an army. I love the way these guys look, and they were done real quick.

I was a bit harsh on my opponents in this battle report, sorry about that. Player A was making fun of me for not winning more (he took second in 40k) and I was feeling defensive. To reiterate, I had a blast at this tournament, and would go again.

One question: How did the Empire army acquire a giant?

ZF-

He was a Dog of War, I believe.

Ah.

ZF- (Quietly building his Cursed Company)

That sounds like it went very well for u. Luv how you kept it short and sweet. The two lists you went up against that seemed a bit weak was the DE and the lizzes skink list

Thanks for the report 40k, neat to see one of your wham-bam style reports for fantasy. Not sure what to think of the armies in the tourny - certainly not the kind I like, with predominantly skirmishers / single model units, but then also not the most cracked out end of the spectrum. Like power-gaming on medium setting

Your list is pretty nifty though, I appreciate the no magic, up in their junks and killing aproach. Frankly the models work well for that, with conversions that are to the point and a rough-and-ready paintjob. Not bad at all.

How'd you like Scylla? Never heard of people using him, seems pretty interesting to me. I like the spite-headed spawn conversion too

- Salvage

Thanks! I think this list is a friendly one, because it lets the opponent due whatever their schtick is. Casters can cast at me. Flankers can sneak around me, cav lists can charge me, infantry blocks can withstand my trolls. Kholek prevents it from being completely pushover, but unlike a flying meteor he can be mitigated and redirected.

Scylla Log supplemental:

Game #1: I can't recall anything amazing about Scylla in this one. He wandered around not doing much.

Game #2: He raced across the field and ate a repeater bolt thrower, stopping it from firing at Throg. He also pushed some Dark Riders further away.

Game #3: He shoved the dragon back into Kholek's range (might have killed it if we went RAW, not sure), then jumped a mage in a unit of archers and killed them all.

Game #4: He held the bloodletters in place so they couldn't pursue the assassin trolls, and ate a unit of screamers (also did 3 combat res on the round we crushed the bloodletters)

Game #5: He scared a flying lizard man skink priest off the board with a series of charges, then got killed trying to charge a skink unit that stood and shot.

So, overall, he made his points back in 4/5 games, and in one he was decisive. I was extremely impressed with him. I'm definitely keeping him in the list. I also agree with you that he looks cool, C99 made him from 2 spawn (thus hulk body), but I'm not sure where his head or the barrel he's standing on came from.

40kenthusiast wrote:
So, overall, he made his points back in 4/5 games, and in one he was decisive. I was extremely impressed with him. I'm definitely keeping him in the list. I also agree with you that he looks cool, C99 made him from 2 spawn (thus hulk body), but I'm not sure where his head or the barrel he's standing on came from.

Barrel came from the ogre sprues. I needed something to make it stand a bit more upright, since I also cut some stuff off of the left leg.

There was also a fairly significant amount of greenstuff on the model to fill in gaps between the torsos (I used three torsos, IIRC).

The head...to be honest, I'm not sure. It was in my bitz box and looked appropriate. I think its a really old cold one head that might have been sitting in there since the great bitz explosion or since I played Mordheim (a long, long time ago).

I rather unclearly intimated it's the head of Spite, Malus Darkblade's cold one:



I hadn't caught the multiple torsos, that is indeed quite hulked up

- Salvage

Boss_Salvage wrote:I rather unclearly intimated it's the head of Spite, Malus Darkblade's cold one:



I hadn't caught the multiple torsos, that is indeed quite hulked up

- Salvage

Yep, that's the one.