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So, after things were looking up in the team tourney, I brought models to get a pick up game in at the local store. I matched up with Randall, who runs the Ogre Stronghold website. He was proxying his ogres with the new beasts book, and came up with something like this:

Doombull w/Axes of Khorgor (+1 A, reroll misses), 2+ armor save (various mutations), armor piercing attacks, 2+ ward vs flaming, unit gets 4+ ward vs flaming
Gorebull BSB w/chalice of filth (or whatever that makes it tough to shoot)
Gorebull w/things that were probably nasty but I've forgotten
3 minotaurs w/great weapons
3 minotaurs w/shields
10 ungor skirmishers
9 ungor skirmishers
9 ungor skirmshers (ambushing)
10 hounds
10 hounds
Razorgor chariot
Razorgor chariot
2 spawn
Ghorgon

I was running:

Lord w/MR of Gromril, Rune of Resistance, Rune of Preservation, MR of Challenge (1+ rerollable, immune to killing blow)- I know this would be better on shield bearers, but I don't have the conversion.
Runesmith, shield, GW, rune of stone, rune of spellbreaking
THane BSB, Strollaz Rune, Rune of Guarding
Dragonslayer, Rune of Striking, Rune of Fire
25 Warriors, shields, full command
25 Warriors, shields, full command
19 Longbeards, shields, full command, Rune of Courage (immune to fear and terror)
10 Rangers, heavy armor, great weapons, veteran, musician
11 Slayers
19 Hammerers
6 Miners
Bolt thrower, rune of penetrating, engineer
Bolt thrower, rune of burning, engineer
Gyrocopter

So... after a quick run-down, it was clear that under no circumstances did I want to fight the doombull. He was absolutely off the hook.

I didn't take pictures as it was kind of a weird, ugly thing with the proxies- though I do finally have a camera up and running. Next episode, I promise!

The highlights:

The right was managed nicely, with rangers scouted behind a hill, and keeping the chaff honest. They manged to wipe out a unit of hounds and a spawn, then move forward and claim a table quarter. Strollaz put the Dragonslayer in a nice position early, but I wasted it with a failed charge on hounds. He found an appropriate doom shortly after when charged by the ghorgon. Though he put 4 wounds on it, and held it long enough for a 25 warrior block to hit it, he was eventually eaten, healing the ghorgon back a wound. On the plus side, the rest of the slayers had time to snag the ghorgon's flank, and despite horrible rolling managed to kill the thing. To cap it off, a str 7 bolt thrower shot shattered one of the razorgor chariots. Nice!

And that was the only place it was nice. In the middle, I utterly botched some redirect with the gyro. I had a chance to lead the doombull into some woods and buy myself time to deal with the rest, but forgot, somehow, that you only overrun when you *charge*. Thus a suicidal rear charge on the minotaurs did nothing except give the general's unit an extra attack from blood greed. As another option, I could have put them right in front of my blocks, with a paltry 1D6 over run and hit them in the flank with a 6 static res block.

Instead, I took frontal charges on my hammerers from 3 minotaurs and a gorebull, with a spawn in the flank, and two blocks simultatneously from his 3 minos, doombull and gorebull BSB. The damage? Horrific.

The smaller unit mangaged to kill all 19 hammerers in just two turns of combat. My general killed that doom bull, but after his bodyguard evaporated, lost to outnumbering fear causers. He outran the minotaurs but was caught by the spawn. The other units took 19 casualties on the charge, including 9 from the doom bull. That was 1 from his impact hit, and then on 3+ rerollable to hit, with 2+ to wound, on 8 attacks (5 base, +1 Axes, +1 Frenzy, + 1 Bloodgreed won a round of combat)

On the left, my other bolt thrower killed one minotaur, then spent the rest of the game missing or failing to wound. It was charged by a big pack of dogs, and failed stubborn 9 to run, right before the miners had a chance to come to the rescue.

The end result looked pretty much like a massacre. I'd picked up maybe 500 points, and lost close to 2000, probably more, including banners.

This really all came down to a terrible misplay on my part with the gyro. I'd also have helped myself by skipping underground advance, and using the miners as a 66 point redirecting unit out ahead of the blocks. Finally, setting up both bolt throwers to focus fire on the minotaur units would have been a lot smarter. I was worried about the ghorgon, but most of my blocks were going to be able to hold it for multiple combat phases.

I'm still disappointed with MR of Challenge- all I seem to face are armies or units that are ItP. I'll leave it in for now, since I think the game I cut it, I'll really miss it. Also- Strollaz? Perhaps a requirement against certain armies, and I'll keep trying it, but this was not the army to advance against. It did let me get some nice things going with the dragonslayer (though I botched that up as well).

As a final note, I might expect a different list in a tournament setting. This one had no magic defense knowing it was going against Dwarfs, though other model limitations made for non-optimal units like the large hounds and such.

In summary, I'd really like to have this one back. I think I could have pulled a draw or better depending on how badly I could have lead the general's unit around. Ah well. Live (or not) and learn.

Thanks for reading!

RZ

Thanks for the report. That Doombull does seem pretty scary when it gets ramped up.

- Blackbone

Wow! Way to take your licks and keep on kicking, though... you'll get 'em next time

Did the ambushing ungor unit do anything?

New beast report, score! Thanks RZ, though pity about the crumping your stunties sustained. I was pretty horrified by how massive that combo-charge into the hammerers turned ...

Nice to see a beast list without 2x rare monsters, though the minotaur hero herd was running strong.

- Salvage

Yeah, that minotaur is basically a bloodthirster that doesn't fly, and has some charge/overrun liabilities. For significantly less points too.

In a jam, I think a Beasts player would be comfortable sending him into the front of a block, as long as they weren't super, super tough. No problem with Dwarfs though.

@RITides: Thanks for the encouragement. I'm still making silly mistakes, but I'm learning from each one. This particular time, I outthought myself, and set up something expecting an overrun from his bulls- who didn't charge. Oops. Instead, it fed them the gyro, and gave them a round of combat to win and get even more attacks.

Edit: The 9 ambushing raiders arrived on the table edge furthest from everything and didn't show up till turn 3. One volley missed everything, and after that the rest of the army had more or less killed all their options. They did have me keep the runesmith back for a little more combat punch in case one of the warmachines was charged, so I guess there was an effect in that sense.

RZ

Glad to see a Beasts list. They are shaping up to be much better than I originally thought. Sounds like you did everything you could with what you got, though. At least you know what the new Beasts can do now.

Honestly, I coulda done a lot more. The only really scary stuff were the two blocks of minotaurs (though that was enough). If I'd done some decent redirect/taken advantage of the d6" bloodgreed overrun, I could've been a good deal more successful.

Actually, I suppose the ghorgon and razorgor chariots were a little scary too, but I at least felt like I could deal with those face to face.

RZ

Understandable. Those minos seemed to be the largest threat. They need more bolts in them next time.