Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi everybody,


This is my first ever battle report, not to mention my first time using Battle Chronicler. I will be recounting my battle this past weekend against an Ogre list that everyone dreads - i.e. double Mournfang, double Blaster, three Sabretusks and a Gutstar.

My List:

Lord: Tress of Isoulde, Curiass of Fortune, Lance, Shield, Virtue of Knightly Temper
Prophetess: Lvl 4 Life, Chalice, Crown of Command
Paladin: Virtue of Heroism, Lance, Shield
Paladin BSB: Sword of Might, Gromril Great Helm
Damsel: Lvl 2 Beasts, Prayer Icon, Ruby Ring

10x Knights of the Realm, Full Command, Banner of Discipline
8x Knights of the Realm, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness
8x Knights Errant, Full Command, Errantry Banner
5x Knights of the Realm, Full Command, Banner of Chalons
36x Men at Arms, Full Command
13x Bowmen, Musician, Brazier

5x Mounted Yeoman, Musician, Shields
3x Pegasus Knights
2x Trebs

All-in-all a relatively friendly all-comers list. No real shenanigans that can be pulled with this list - pretty straight forward.


His List (to the best of my memory):

Slaughtermaster: Lvl 4 Maw, Fencers' Blades, Greedy Fist, Glittering Scales
Bruiser BSB, Dragonhelm, Crown of Command, Luckstone
Firebelly: Lvl 2, Scroll, Extra Hand Weapon

14x Iron Guts, Banner of Discipline, Full Command
4x MournFangs, Full Command, Dragonhide Banner
4x MournFangs, Full Command, Flaming Banner
3x1 Sabretusks (individual units)
2x Ironblasters


Rough.



Enjoy the report.




Deployment:



My deployment was fairly simple. I wanted to try to single out one of the mournfang units, or at the very least keep one unit distracted for a few turns. My initial plan was to deploy a few token units on the right, driving him to drop on the same side, then pump everything on the left and make him come around the building one unit at a time. Obviously that didn't work, so I essentially flipped my scheme. I deployed my Men at Arms on the left to hold his unit(s) off for a turn while hopefully setting up some juicy counter-charges. This shot also shows my

Pregame thoughts: this is a scary list. His mobility just about matches mine with the big cav, and his charges are far more scary than mine. I know I need to walk the line between disaster and glory, but there is absolutely no room for error here. One failed charge could break this game for me. I figured there was going to be a lot of cat and mouse going on today.

Ogre Turn 1:


He marches his guts up 10, but only moves his cav up 6 because of the forest. He shuffles his left flank (my right) realizing that he bottled himself up and needed to protect his left flank, which I overloaded.

After channeling once and using the Chalice, I had more dispel dice than he had power dice - this happened in at least three turns. I completely shut down his 5-dice phase. He tagged one of my trebs with one of his blasters, but rolled a 1 to wound. The other missed.


Bret turn 1:



I moved up pretty aggressively with my Pegs, 5x KotR and my Errants (with my heroic killing blow lord). My opponent showed some overly afraid of this guy due to the possible damage he could wreck, which I felt was misplaced. I don't really think he is all that great, but he does instill fear in my opponents, which is the main reason I take him. I moved my men at arms back a few inches, and shuffled my other two Realm units to face the gutstar (gulp).

I got thrones up on my Prophetess. Bowmen and Yeoman combine to take down an ogre. One of my trebs pinholes a blaster and rolls up 5 wounds! First Blood!!


Ogre turn 2:



He tries to charge my men at arms with the star, needing an 11 but rolling a 5. His Sabretusk on the left flank charges my Peg Knights. I'm liking that matchup - I should break the cat and get up close and personal to the flank of the remaining Ironblaster(...). He shuffles his central Sabretusk to protect the star from my knights.

He then irresistable forces flame storm on my men at arms. Between their 5+ armor and 5+ ward, he only kills 6. His Firebelly is dragged into the warp and takes 2 more ogres with him. He then gets troll guts up on the star. Blaster misses again. I'm feeling pretty good at this point.

And then my luck changes.

The sabre tusk and Pegs tie, doing no wounds either way, so he actually wins by one. My pegs then opt to flee (sigh) after the cat roars at them, with the Ironblaster laughing the rest of the day.


Bretonnian turn 2:



More Knight shuffling. Moving up with my right flank, reshuffling the left. I moved the Men at Arms up to force the star to charge them instead of the knights. I moved my lvl 2 out next to the impassable terrain to the right of the unit.

I failed my cast on Flesh to Stone (+4 T), Wyssan's got dispelled. One treb misses, the second scatters back on my men at arms, killing 2. As if they needed any help being killed. Bowmen put one wound on the gutstar.


Ogres turn 3:



As expected, Gutstar charges the men at arms, Mournfangs and tusk charge Yeoman. Central Sabretusk is shifted to protect the flank agian. Magic gets toothcracker on Ironguts. Blaster misses again.

After 14 wounds to 3, the Men at Arms break, fleeing 10 inches and land 3 inches from the table edge. The guts follow up with an 8. Yeoman are destroyed by the impact hits alone. Sabretusk overruns, Mournfangs reform. Thankfully the Bowmen were out of range of the destroyed Yeoman.


Bretonnian turn 3:



More knight shuffling. At this point, my right flank needs 10's to charge. My left flank would hit the cat and take it in the face from the Mournfang. So I try to bait the Mournfang up top, and play safe with the knights below. Men at Arms fail to rally (shock!) on a 6, but only flee 2 inches!.

Big magic phase - got my +4 T Flesh to Stone on the 5x Knights of the Realm unit by rolling 4 6's and a 4. My Throne protects me though. My lvl 2 kills the center Sabretusk with ruby ring. My archers put a wound on a Mournfang. Trebs suck again.


Ogres turn 4:



Mournfangs take the bait up top. The Sabretusk coming down my right flank hits his 9 needed to charge my trebuchet. He reforms his Ironguts and moves up knowing my Men at Arms are not going to rally. He shuffles his Iron blaster to within 12" of my Errants, and moves his Mournfangs to countercharge. His left Sabretusk stares down the flank of my bowmen.

Magic sees troll guts up on the star. With his blaster, he grapeshoots my Errants, killing 3, who then decide they've seen enough. They flee 7 inches.

Between impact hits, Ogre attacks and Mournfang attacks, 1 Knight dies. They lose by 2 after doing no wounds back, and fail on 2 tries at a 6. They flee 11 through the building, and hopping both of my units of knights, popping out just in front of my other treb (Note - not sure if my guys could flee through the building). All 4 knights pass rough terrain test.

Treb dies to Sabretusk.


Bret turn 4:



Knowing he has troll guts up, I opt not to charge, but rather to shuffle back to force a 10-roll with his Mournfang. Both units of knights rally, and my men at arms rally!! Bowmen wheel to face the Sabretusk.

Magic is shut down, archers kill the cat, and my treb misfires, unable to shoot this turn or next.


Ogre turn 5:



Instead of charging, he moves his Mournfangs over to support a counter charge on my knights in case I charge the star. He reforms his Mournfangs up top, and reforms his Gutstar to 3-wide, 4 deep.

He dispels Throne, and misses again with his Ironblaster.


Bretonnian turn 5:



Knowing this was a make or break turn, I opted to double charge the un-buffed guts. I debated on whether I wanted to charge just one unit, and run the other in flank support, but opted to take them both. My Errants failed their charge on the blaster, needing a 10. They moved up 4 inches.

My magic phase was pretty big with 12 dice, but he scrolled thrones (which, in hindsight couldn't have happened because his Firebelly had the scroll). So I got +2 toughness on my smaller unit (with the BSB in it). I got Savage Beast of Horros on my General with Knightly Temper giving him 7 base attacks this turn at strength 9. He then puts all his dispel dice into blocking Wyssan's on the BSB unit.

I accept the challenge from his BSB with my champion so that my Lord can wreak havoc on his unit (in hindsight, I should have accepted with my Lord and killed the BSB. He had Crown of Command). No wounds were done in the challenge on either side, but my Lord (after using Tress and with Knightly Temper) does 10 wounds!! the rest of my knights combine to kill another Ogre, and my BSB does no wounds to his Slaughtermaster. The ogres lose big, but stay on their rerolled Crown.

I forgot about the crown. Not breaking that unit is bad news...


Ogres turn 6:



Predictably, the Mournfang charge the flank of the BSB unit. They are now T5 though, so I'm feeling moderately comfortable about this. The Ironblaster and Mournfangs up top both fail their charges on my Knights, needing 9's to make it. They both move up 3-4 inches. Sabretusk fails his charge on my treb. No more shooting or magic, so we'll get right to the meat of the turn:

After rolling up ~8 impact hits, he only kills 2 knights. In return, my knights do 2 wounds, killing a Mournfang before they get to attack back. My still Savage Beast Lord does another 9 wounds, while his BSB and Slaughtermaster each do 1. His BSB does exactly 1 wound to my champ, and his Mournfangs and Slaughtermaster each do only 1 wound to the +2T Knights.

Ogres lose by 6. Mournfang flee. Knowing he was going to take a charge from the Errants on his Ironblaster and knowing my Lord was going to eat his BSB for breakfast next round so that he loses stubborn, he decided to concede.


Post game notes:

I really hated the cat and mouse game for the first four turns. I have been playing increasingly aggressive as of late, and it generally works out for me. Not seeing any real combat until turn 4 frustrated me a bit, but bad leadership rolls will do that.

Losing my Peg knights to the Sabretusk and my Errants running away from the grapeshot were infuriating. Those kinds of things are not supposed to happen.

Aside from that, I don't think I could have really done much different to make this game go much better. The first few rounds were definitely in my favor, but as soon as I had to start taking leadership tests, it all went down hill for me. My opponent definitely underestimated my Lord, and (in my opinion) overestimated my HKB Paladin. I think the next time we play, he may view these guys a bit differently.


Anyway, hope you enjoyed the report, and constructive criticism is always welcomed.

The Mournfangs are Illegal.

Only one unit of Mournfangs per army may carry a magic banner.

lovely battle report, I really liked the maps you made

A very well done battle report. Maps are a nice touch and make things much easier to follow.
However, this is correct:

Grey Templar wrote:The Mournfangs are Illegal.
Only one unit of Mournfangs per army may carry a magic banner.

nice report!

Also, I didn't think an Ogre BSB could carry magic items.

PeteGodwin wrote:nice report!

Also, I didn't think an Ogre BSB could carry magic items.

Yep. Magic standard OR magic items.

He doesn't have a magic banner so he can carry magic items(just like any other BSB)

Thanks for the replies guys. This was my first batrep using Battle Chronicler, and I thought it came out pretty good. A lot of work though.

And thanks for the info on the magic banner deal (only one unit). My opponent has updated his list accordingly.

im an.ogre player. and a brettonian one... can someone please tell me why that above list is so feared?

My guess is that the Ogre player is an experienced one.

And the fact that all of the ogre combat blocks have Str5+ attacks. Knights only getting 4+ or worse saves is never a good thing.

Thanks for the nice report.

Nice battle report! Your explanations and maps are quite clear.

Great job for your first battle report and congratulations on your victory!