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The local store had a goodbye ?mini-tournament? to herald the departure of a great player who made for some awesome gaming in Fort Walton Beach. I assembled a list expecting to see two Brettonians (both of whom I?d played against/alongside in the Warbands league) an Ogre Kingdoms army (played once before), and Orc and Goblins army (regular opponent) and a Lizardman army (never played, no idea what he?d bring). We were allowed special characters and forgeworld.

That saw me construct the following list, unposted in the barracks because I simply didn?t have the models to flex much of anything else. It was far from ideal- I wanted a BSB but didn?t convert one in time (the thane is an aborted attempt), would like to have some more oomph in the close combat phase. I wanted another bolthrower, but again, no mini. I also felt that since this was the first time most of my opponents would see the Anvil, bringing Thorek would be a little too cold hearted.

Runelord w/Anvil of Doom, GW, Rune of Stone, MR of Dismay

Thane w/Oathstone, GW, MR of Gromril, Rune of Resistance, MR of Challenge

Dragonslayer

24 Warriors w/standard, musician, shield

16 Longbeards w/full command, Rune of Battle and Stoicism

10 Rangers w/great weapons, Veteran, Musician

12 Thunderers w/shields

6 Miners

12 Slayers

Grudgethrower w/Rune of Accuracy

Bolthrower w/ Engineer w/Brace of pistols

Organ gun

Gyrocopter

This would be my first game using the anvil and gyro. I?d originally had a rune of spellbinding in here, and given the choice with hindsight I?d find a way to put it back in. Never having played up at 2000 points, it was all a bit theoretical for me anyhow.

 

My first battle was against Mike, the O&G player. I got to pick sides and chose the one with a hill in the center. I keep promising myself I won?t get fixated on hills to the exclusion of all else, but this honestly seemed the best choice. An orc village sat just outside his deployment zone, and a large cliff jutted 12-16" from the right table edge, right in the middle of the table. I decided to use that to hold down the right side, keeping the rangers shielded so that they could hit the flank of any orc units that pushed forward.

 

 

Deployments, from left to right:

Wolf riders; Great shaman; Rock lobba; Spear chucka; Blorks; Orcs; Rock Lobba; Night goblin bows; Blork Big Boss; Big ?uns; NG spears; Spear chucka

My deployment:

Bolt thrower; Dragonslayer; Slayers; Grudge thrower (on hill); Thunderers (on hill); Longbeards; Organ Gun; Warriors; Rangers; and in the back corner, the Anvil!

After deployment, I felt my primary concerns were going to be on the left. I wasn?t set up well to deal with the wolf-riders, and once again would have to seriously consider giving them a free-hand to do as they pleased. However, I knew the anvil might allow me to take some kind of action.

Mike got two Gaze of Morks, ?Ere We Go, Hand of Gork, and Foot of Gork. I won the roll for first turn, and chose to take it to speed the miner arrival and get some extra war machine shots in. So we were off:

Turn One

My entire line held still, leaving a clear line of sight for the war machines, except the gyro, which flew over the ridge to open up on a spear chucka, and trigger fanatics from the goblin spear unit. Mike released all three fanatics ahead, with no decent alternatives.

The bolt thrower missed with it?s shot, and the grudge thrower clipped one black orc after I over-guessed. At some point in the past few years, I?ve gotten a lot weaker at guessing ranges. I remember dropping squig catapults dead on space marine captains in 40k 2^nd edition. The gyro shot away two crew on the spear chucka. My anvil, somewhat foolishly, used wrath and ruin on a rock lobba instead of the wolf riders, causing one wound. None of the greenskins panicked. A weak first turn, but I wasn?t expecting fireworks, and the fanatics were going to clog the Big ?Uns and huge night gobbo unit.

Mike started with only the night goblin archers failing animosity, the rest being too close to Black Orcs for any real chance of failing. The night goblins squabbled. The fanatics on my right all died, one due to doubles, two from running into each other. So the right was pretty de-clogged, to my dismay. The night goblins were march blocked by the gyro, but everyone else moved up- the wolf riders aggressively so. His general joined the Big ?Uns.

The Orc magic phase went off with two thunderers getting crushed by a foot of gork serving notice to me that the magic phase might be a little tough this time out. One rock lobba destroyed itself with a misfire, and another crushed a thunderer. The spear chuckas both missed.

Turn Two

The miners arrived, moving on behind his spear chucka and rock lobba on the left. Not sure why I was so obsessed with the war machines, and just went on hoping the wolf riders would spontaneously combust. The gyro swooped over to trigger the night goblins archers? fanatics. One shot out and smashed two wounds off the gyro. The other two tried to make it over to the miners. I performed a little adjusting with the slayers and rangers on the extremes of my flanks.

Shooting phase opened with a grudge thrower shot killing two black orcs. The bolt thrower continued my policy of ignoring the wolf riders and killed another black orc. The organ gun scored 10 hits and took 5 wounds from the Big ?Uns. The thunderers killed a few more black orcs. The anvil almost propelled the miners into combat with the war machines, but I came to my senses at the last minute and hit the wolf riders, scoring 5 hits, 4 wounds, and one save. The wolf riders panicked and fled off the table. The big uns and general also panicked running three inches. Looking good.

 

The Orc turn started with the Big ?Uns rallying, and the fanatic that had previously hurt the gyro turning right back around and destroying it. As you might expect, all his units moved forward, the black orcs getting close to my left flank.

The magic phase showed some serious pyrotechnics again. The foot of Gork stomped another three thunderers, and hand of Gork propelled the Black orcs forward, but only 6", leaving them an inch out from the slayers. The ?itty ring killed my longbeard veteran.

Turn Three

The miners charged the war machine crew, the slayers charge the black orcs. The dragonslayer moves to the flank of the black orcs.

The rest of the army is happy to stay where they?re at. The organ gun misfires, destroying itself, and the stone thrower misses its target but kills another big un. The bolt thrower misses. The thunderers score a single hit, but fail to wound, obviously alarmed by the orcish god tap-dancing on their hill. The anvil propels the dragonslayer into combat.

Using great weapons, the slayers inflict 5 wounds on the black orcs, and win the combat. The dragonslayer pursues 1", but the slayers go the distance and catch the black orcs. The miners kill the rock lobba crew and panic the spear chucka. The slayer pursuit plants them in front of a 12 strong orc unit, ready for a counter charge.

The orc turn sees a charge from the orc unit into the slayers, and the big ?uns and both night goblin units, about 10" away by my estimates. The magic phase is for once, uneventful, as a failed cast and a miscast wrap things up nicely.

The orcs inflict 4 casualties on the slayers, for a couple in return, but they?re stuck there.

Turn 4-6

Things are a little lopsided at this point, so I?ll just touch on the highlights rather than all the gory details.

• The anvil fails to propel my dragonslayer into combat with the great shaman, and is stomped by a Foot of Gork.
• The night goblin archers are propelled with a Hand but come up short of the longbeards. The counter-charge from the longbeards ends up taking several turns to eliminate the night goblins, but the manage the deed.
• The night goblins spears are run off by a combined effort from the warriors, thane, and rangers, but are not caught. They would rally, later charge and run off once more.
• The thane is forced to plant the oathstone to protect a flank from a Big Un charge. The challenge sees one wound on the Black Orc Boss, and none on the Thane, breaking the big uns.
• The miners take a hit from a fanatic, killing four, and the remaining two kill two of the remaining spearchucka crew but are killed by the last goblin crewmen (oops).

Lessons learned/After action

1. I need more practice at handling the magic phase. This wasn?t even an extremely nasty magic army.
2. The anvil was pretty nice, even without any ancient power. I got pretty lucky shooting at the wolfriders, and should have devoted the first turn to this goal, instead of trying for a lucky shot on a rock lobba.
3. I forgot entirely about the runes of challenge and dismay. But the battle was going well enough that I never really needed them.
4. Triggering all the fanatics early was pretty nice, even if they did down the gyro. I?d like to try playing it a little safer in future, keeping the gyro for run-downs.

So? a victory sent me to go play Jules? Brettonians. More on that to follow.

RZ

I?d never played Jules, but she?d dealt with her Ogre Kingdoms opponent in just two turns and her list was going to be one of the tighter ones there, as she and her husband had probably given it a good look. Significantly, it included the Fay Enchantress, who I wasn?t familiar with. I was about to be.

The Enchantress was going to be sporting Master of Stone, Mistress of the Marsh, Thorn something, and Rain Lord, as well as the bound, random heavens spell.

The battlefield had a river, roughly cutting the table in half, from long edge to long edge. On one side a large cliff/hill that would be for most intents and purposes impassible dominated a lot of the playable field. Once the fay Enchantress picked up Master of Stone, I figured I?d hang out on the other side of the river. The other side of the river was less congested, but a house in the Brettonian deployment zone disrupted things just a little bit.

Brettonian Deployment

5 Knights Errant on the opposite side of the river, lined up to shoot across the bridge; Trebuchet w/craftsman also on the opposite side of the river; Fay enchantress w/8 guardians; 10 knights of the realm with BSB paladin; 10 Peasant bowmen skirmishers; Mounted yeomen; 3 Pegasus knights


I deployed with the river grounding the left flank, and spreading all the way to the table edge on the other side. I accidentally left the slayers close enough that they were in range of the river for Mistress of the Marsh, but otherwise, it was just war machines that would be affected by that spell, and they really didn?t care. I considered experimenting with sending the slayers in a long line, so that only one or two at a time would be in contact with the enemy, to reduce frontage and hopefully tie up some knightly unit for a good long while, but decided against it. Still want to give it a go- I?ve read about Undead doing it.

My deployment:

Bolt thrower; Grudge thrower; Slayers w/Dragonslayer; Thunderers; Warriors; Organ Gun; Longbeards; Rangers; (Anvil behind Longbeards)

I won?t get as grisly with the turn to turn as the last report, mostly because I don?t remember it all in that great a detail, so I?ll focus on highlights:

Turn 1

Turns out the Fay Enchantress makes it so Brettonians don?t have to pray, so they rolled for and won first turn. The biggest move was the knights of the realm, who trotted forward in a big 11 strong lance. The Enchantress? unit was in a 5x2 formation and moved directly behind the knights of the realm. The peasants moved up on my right, and the pegasus knights held still, waiting for a counter charge perhaps. The knights errant marched to the bridge, but would not be close enough to charge next turn.

The magic phase went well as a miscast ended things right away. Shooting saw the trebuchet snag one slayer.

I was fairly pleased with things as I intended to anvil the knights of the realm, then march block them with the gyro, jamming up the enchantress? unit as well. The organ gun scores 10 hits, and combined with some other shooting, the knights of the realm are reduced to only 4 models, including the paladin. It is at this point that I deviate from my plan, feeling that I can handle 4 knights with my blocks, and my thunderers should be able to stand and shoot enough to make even that fight manageable. So I try to Wrath and Ruin the trebuchet (foolishly). I?ll learn eventually? I misfire anyway, but will be back in action next turn.

Turn 2

The knights of the realm charge the thunderers- and reveal that they have the Banner of Chalons, which prevents a stand and shoot. Whoops. The thunderers flee instead and the charge fails. Leaving the option open for a move, then anvil charge from my warrior block. The Fay with her grail posse charges the gyro, which flees as a result, and their charge also fails. They?re fairly far back, and so I expect that the warrior block should see off the knights of the realm, then can flee the charge if necessary. Jules also pushed her pegasus knights out to where they could try to get a bead on the gyro.

The magic phase sees a lightning bolt killing a organ gun crew member, and a rainstorm soaking them through (meaning they?d need a 4+ to shoot each turn). The peasants move up on the right, shooting at my rangers but still fail to kill any. The trebuchet misfires, but will shoot next turn.

On my turn, the gyro and thunderers rally. The slayers move forward to block the knights errant from getting involved with the coming big fight, and the warriors set up for an anvil charge on the knights of the realm. The gyro flew to the far side of the enchantress uber unit, trying to march block and stay out of sight of the pegasus knights. My miners arrive to threaten the trebuchet.

I directed everything I had at the Fay Enchantress unit, but the organ gun was too soaked to shoot, the grudge thrower misfired, and the bolt thrower missed. The thunderers were busy rallying. That left the anvil, which propelled the warriors into combat with the four knights in the middle.

I challenged with my thane, and managed a wound on the BSB, and took none in return (on the unit or thane). At this point, I discover that the banner is actually the Banner of the Lady, and so my ranks don?t count. Thus my combat score drops from a 6 to a 3, winning by two, which isn?t enough to break the unit. Even worse, I had a wider frontage, and ended up with models overhanging the right (as I saw it) edge. Which left me open for a charge from the uber unit. Badness.

Turn 3

The Knights Errant charge the slayers. Jules almost doesn?t notice that the Fay Enchantress? unit can see the warriors, but eventually does and charges. One grail guardian and the enchantress make contact with the warriors. The mounted yeomen stray a little too close to the rangers by my eye. The pegasus knights move behind the big combat, still trying to find the gyro. The magic phase has a lightning bolt hit the thunderers, who panic and flee of the table. Shooting sees no casualties, with another trebuchet misfire, and peasants failing to inflict any damage on gyro or rangers.

Hand to hand- things are now at a turning point. If I don?t take down the paladin, I won?t have my ranks, which will probably be the difference between losing, and losing badly. The enchantress kills a warrior with spiteful glance, and the grail knight (and her unicorn) inflict an additonal three kills (the unicorn accidentally got an extra attack here). Even the knights of the realm got in on the action and killed another dwarf, bringing the casualty total to 5 so far. Then the challenge. The paladin couldn?t get through the uber-thick armor I?d paid a silly amount of points for, and I hit twice, wounded once, and it wasn?t saved by armor or ward.

At this point, there was some rules debate. As ranks are counted up before combat, and the banner was still alive at the beginning of combat, the question was whether I had won back my rank bonus or not. After some reading, the tourney judge decided I could count ranks. That meant I lost by two rather than five. I rolled the break test one die at a time for added drama. Needed a seven. First die comes up a six. Next die a one. Whoa.

Elsewhere the knights errant win the combat, causing a handful of casualties for none in return (the dragon slayer wasn?t in contact), but are stuck.

During my turn, the rangers charge the mounted yeomen, who stand and shoot (!), causing no casualties. The gyro loses its mind, and flies over to the far side of the bowmen to flame them, and hide from the pegasus knights. The longbeards move to get an anvil assisted charge in the flank of the fay enchantress? unit. The miners charge the trebuchet, and the peasants flee. The war machine is chopped to bits.

My shooting phase is uneventful. The organ gun gets to fire this turn, but rolls 2 hits on the pegasus knights. I get greedy and convert this to no hits, with the re-roll. The bolt thrower has no real targets, but cracks a shot off a the trebuchet and misses. The The anvil propels the longbeards into the flank of the FE?s unit.

The thane challenges, and is accepted by the enchantress. I was later told, that this was illegal- only one challenge could be declared in each combat, and this was still the same combat where I?d challenged the paladin BSB. Her spiteful glance takes a wound off the thane, and he manages to get one wound past her ward save. I manage to take another three casualties on the warriors and two on the longbeards, inflicting none with my rank and file. This is still a two point win for me, which is enough to run off the knights of the realm, but the FE?s unit has a banner that lets them roll 3 dice and pick the lowest two. They pass.

The knights errant are cut down to just two members and flee, but aren?t caught (good ol? 1? pursuit from the slayers!). The rangers kill all but one of the mounted yeomen, and the last one runs 17?.

Turn 4

Things are looking pretty good, but a bad turn in the middle could send things downhill fast. The pegasus charge the slayers in the flank, not hitting the longbeards instead, critically missing the chance to inflict wounds in the big combat to perhaps turn the tide. The peasants all charge the gyro who is too close to the table edge to flee. The knights of the realm rally, as do the last two knights errant.

The peasants manage to inflict a wound on the gyro, which wounds one in return and doesn?t flee. The pegasus knights kill one slayer. Then we move to the main course, the middle combat. The longbeards turn in a star performance, killing two grail knights, but the thane is struck dead by a nasty look from the enchantress. I win the combat by 5 or 6, and the Fay Enchantress and entourage flee. Hurrah! I can?t catch them, but it?s good all the same.

In my turn, I move up the rangers, possibly to anvil charge the peasants and save the gyro. The longbeards, are close enough to rear charge the pegasus knights and do so. The fleeing enchantress is now about 6? in front of the grudge and bolt throwers, and as I get ready to guess a 8? shot, everyone tells me that there?s a minimum range on the stone thrower. I didn?t think so (I know there?s one on the mortar and trebuchet) and so while the judge looks it up, Jules and I agree to move on to some of the rest of the shooting. The organ gun eliminates the last three knights of the realm, who no longer have their blessing to protect them.

She concedes at this point, somewhat demoralized. I think if she?d played through to the bitter end, she could have had a chance at a draw, especially as the Fay Enchantress was above half wounds, and would have been rallying on Ld 10 with their musician next turn. On the other hand, the pegasus knights were in trouble, and the uber-unit would take a couple turns of shooting without the protection of the blessing. And I had a couple banners.

Learning points

- I intended to avoid doing something stupid with the gyro (like charging peasants) so that I could run down any knightly units that broke from combat before they had a chance to rally. Didn?t do it- but as my second game getting to use the thing, I?m still learning.
- I should have deduced that there were some nasty banners in those two units by the relative lack of enemy on the board. Need to get a little more familiar with the Brettonian options.
- I really could have used another fighty unit. I haven?t been very impressed with the grudge thrower of late, and maybe dropping that and some runes and the rangers could get me where I want to be (though I do love my ranger models?) Hammerers?
- Never found the need to try for ancient power. It just always seems that the more dependable is enough- and you can plan on it working instead, of having to occupy some 'maybe it will work, maybe it won't' twilight.

So in the end, I could claim victory in the (mini-mini) tournament and took home some Gale Force 9 stuff Hoorah for the Dwarves!

There shouldnt have been a debate about the magic standard. The Paladin/BSB was dead, the Bretts would not get its benefits. As soon as the BSB is killed the magic banner goes away.

Congatulations on your victory,those horsey-boys are tough. Take a visit over to Bugman's Brewery and post your battles over there. Tell them Blood Axe sent you,I'll buy you a pint!

I must agree with you that you needed more hand to hand, I personally use a dwarf list with about 60 Warrior/longbeards, around 20 to 30 Thunderers, and 2 Bolt Throwers, 2 Master Engineers, 1 Dwarf Lord, 1 Thane BSB.

Although I can really see that the anvil helped you to control the dwarven slowness factor, I might need to get one and try it out.