All,
Just thought I'd post my results from a day full of gaming at TBS in Fort Walton Beach, FL. I wasn't taking notes on the fly, so these will be relatively abbreviated- kind of a general movement, critical moments summary.
My army was the same for all three games- not very optimized, but were based on the models at hand.
My army:
Thane- GW, MR of Gromril, Shield (forgot to remove it after some shuffling)
Dragonslayer
25 Warriors, HW/Shield, full command
15 Longbeards, HW/Shield, full command, Rune of Stoicism, Rune of Determination
10 Rangers, Musician, Veteran, Throwing Axes
12 Thunderers w/shield
6 Miners
Bolt thrower, Engineer w/BoP
Grudgethrower, Rune of Accuracy
Game 1 vs. Orcs (Bloodgutz Ladz), Pitched battle, 4x4 table
Excellent opponent- we're both learning the tactics side of things- he's fully painted (shaming me) and we ha a pretty positive interaction for figuring out rules. He had: Rock lobba, 2x spear chuckas, 35 goblins (w/ 3 fanatics), Black Orc Big Boss, Goblin shaman (w/double doin' doo dahs & itty ring), 5x wolf riders, 8x arrer boyz, 2 blocks of ~20 orc boyz, 12x Black Orcs
Deployed from left to right: Rangers (5x2), Bolt thrower, Dragonslayer, Thunderers, Longbeards, Warriors, Grudgethrower
His deployment (from my perspective): Spear chucka, lobba, Orc boyz, Orc boyz, Black orcs, boss and shaman, night goblins, wolf riders, arrer boyz
Turn 1
I began by having to deploy the rangers at the end of my line, as there was no where out of sight of his (large) deployment. I opened by misfiring the grudge thrower and dropping two black orcs with a bolt.
He responded by pushing forward, black orcs falling in behind the normal orcs. The wolf riders and arrer boyz squabbled.
Terrain split his advance between the black orcs and night goblins. Woods funneled his forces slightly. The smaller board proved to be a fair hindrance for him and clogged him more than he would have liked.
The lobba dropped a rock on the warrior unit crushing 12 (!). The spear chuckas picked off a single longbeard.
Turn 2+3
Screened by woods to their flank, rangers moved up, waiting for the orcs to clear the corner. They are supported by the dragonslayer. The right flank holds to avoid closing with the night goblins. Grudge thrower and thunderers deal damage to the black orcs, cutting them down to 8. Miners enter to threaten the incredibly lethal rock lobba and spear chucka.
Orcs continue to push forward, forcing the issue on my left flank, setting the rangers up to charge or be charged. Wolf riders snap out of it, racing forward to the center and unleashing arrows, picking off a thunderer. Night goblins press forward, within a turn of unleashing fanatics.
Goblin shaman casts gaze of gork at miners, kill 2, they panic, and flee back off the table. Rock lobba destroys itself on a misfire.
Turn 4-6
Grudge thrower and bolt thrower cause 10 casualties on the night goblins, panicking them, never to return, despite the Black Orc boss running over to yell at them, critically keeping his boss out of combat until the very last turn.
Wolf riders are cut down by shooting, then are wiped out while attacking the bolt thrower crew (engineer killing two with his pistols!). Rangers charge a depleted (9 strong) boyz unit, Dragonslayer charges the other unit, bottling up the Black Orcs. Longbeards prepare to get in a rear charge on the 9 strong Orcs.
Rangers whiff and flee, are caught and destroyed. Their attackers are wiped out from shooting, dropping them below a quarter and panicking them.
The dragonslayer kills the boss, then holds out until he is killed in the last hand to hand phase of the game. Warriors on the right charge and break, but fail to catch the arrer boyz. The goblins shaman panics, but rallies on the last turn. So do the arrer boyz.
The final combat could prove crucial- the orc general and 6 remaining black orcs charge the warrior unit (still at 13 after taking 12 casualties from the first shot of the rock lobba). The orcs cause two casualties, dropping the Dwarf unit below half, but lose the combat. They don't break (dang!)
The total ends up showing (somehow) a minor victory in my favor. My guess that the night goblins were loaded down with fanatics was a good one- and this picked up a great deal of points for me.
The battle all in all went well- I think I'll try to avoid overextending the rangers next time, and perhaps try to panic the night goblins earlier. They held my right flank in place, preventing my warriors and longbeards from threatening the heavy hitters on my left. Models permitting, I would have reduced the warrior unit somewhat to bulk up a warrior unit to replace the rangers. Also, it sure might have been nice to try a flame cannon. Auto panic checks would have been pretty darn sweet.
The other games will be posted later. To bed with me!
RZ
