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*a warp rift blinks into existence, then widens startlingly, vomiting Salvage and his gribbly blue minions back onto the planes of war before winking out*

Annnnd we’re back. With the coming of official points and the heavy nerf to summoning, I’ve finally returned to my Tzeentch Daemons, who were too cheesy for me before Matched Play Unfortunately, after a couple games I’m getting the feeling that they won’t be particularly awesome until the Daemons and/or Daemons of Tzeentch battletome lands, giving them a full spell lore to work with, rather than the awkwardness of the One Rule on spells making an army based around magic a bit of a joke. Again. But more on that another time.

Like its predecessor, this blog will ideally track all the games I play with my DOT. Let’s get started:

DAEMONS OF TZEENTCH-ISH
Daemon Prince (of Undivided) - axe
20 Horrors
20 Horrors
Soul Grinder (of Tzeentch) – daemonbone claw
----------
1000

Monster Mash Tizz! Not necessarily playing to the faction’s strengths, but that’s how I do. DP is Undivided for the healing, as being yet another wizard in an army with only two spells doesn’t help much, and I’m not rewarded for going purely DOT yet

FREE PEOPLE + STORMCAST
General on Griffon – lance, shield
Battle Wizard
30 State Troops – swords, shields
20 State Troops – spears, shields
10 Crossbowmen
3 Prosecutors

This was a dude’s Brotherhood army from Kings of War, that he broke out for his first game of Age of Sigmar.

SCENARIO
We did an ultra-simple kill scenario, which was something like first person to reduce the other to 25% remaining points? We forgot about the technicalities of how much death was required.

GAME


Battelines are formed!

Turn 1


Tizz is given the initiative by the forces of Order, and generally uses it to shuffle forward, with the exception of the Soul Grinder who goes balls-deep down his flank, sporting a shiny Mystic Shield.



His Harvester Cannon strips a wound off of the Battle Wizard, but that’s about it (spoiler: his Phlegm shot never hits this game).



In response, the Free People and Stormcast charge into the massive beast-machine, as the Grinder is peppered by crossbow bolts (although the Wizard’s Fireball is shut down by the Horrors). Despite the General’s Rousing Battle Cry, the larger unit of State Troops can’t make the long charge into the left Horrors. In combat, the Grinder takes a few wounds, and tramples a handful of spearmen into the dirt, prompting a couple more to flee. The nearby Horrors are pulled into the combat, managing to do exactly nothing with their few attaks.

Turn 2
Chaos retains the initiative, using it to Arcane Bolt off a wound from the enemy General and keep the Shield on the Grinder going. The Prince moves in to help out the Grinder against those scary troopers, and everybody else is in combat or doesn’t really want to be. Speaking of the left Horror blob, they pour 20 shots into the large Troop unit, to very little effect after good saves. The engaged Horrors envelope the Wizard in a torrent of fire, dropping him; the Grinder gets carried away in the excitement and misses all of his shots. And then whiffs a lot of attaks in combat, until the daemonbone claw splatters a Prosecutor and change. Grindy takes a few more wounds and the Prince halfheartedly slaps some mortals. Horrors grope ineffectually.

The Empire General begins his retaliation by Rousing the Swordsmen, before spurring his monstrous mount to pounce on the Daemon Prince. The Swordsmen get up to a good jog before charging into the left Horrors, and the Crossbowmen keep their cool and chunk away at the Grinder. In combat, the Swordsmen and Horrors faff away at each other – Order’s bad hit dice + good save dice meaning not much happens; also Horrors are pants. Main event, the Grinder starts off whiffing a lot before daemonboning the last two Prosecutors. The General and his Griffon gouge away at the Prince, who focuses on the State Troops but can’t finish them off. The few remaining Spearmen poke the Grinder as the Horrors feel them up. While deeply disturbed, they hold tight.

Turn 3
The Free People finally wrest the initiative from the Daemons, but it’s a bit of a moot point. Everybody in combat stays there, as Crossbows maybe wounded the Grinder (who’s on 3 dice worth of wounds now). The Swordsmen figure out how swords work and drop a handful of Horrors; the DP lays into the Spearmen and can’t finish off the last dude (which would free up the Grinder to consolidate 3” into the Griffon, and a good chance of pulping it); the General and his birdy fluff hard against the Prince; the Horrors too fail to end the last Spearmen (*shocked face*); so the Grinder is forced to turn all his mounting angst at the mortal … and misses everything. CAN I HAVE A 2+ TO ANYTHING PLEASE?!

Tizz takes a deep breath and tries to be tactical. The Horrors fail to Arcane Bolt the final Spearman. The Grinder pumps all his shots (1 Harvester + 1 Phlegm) into the Spearman, missing. The Horrors rev back up and coat him in warpflame … which are all saved or don’t wound. Giggling spitefully, the other Horrors shoot their State Troops in the face, miraculously burning like 10 of them down! But it’s on to combat. The Prince axes the Griffon convincingly, but can’t stop it from scooting into range of the battered Grinder (2 wounds left). Astoundingly, the Griffon is not able to drop the machine O_O The Grinder retaliates, missing with everything until the daemonbone claw decapitates both Griffon and rider. Then the Horrors smother the Spearman as it goes to poke the Grinder one more time. In the other combat, the Horrors continue their weird levels of success and kill a few more Swordsmen, for token loses.

Turn 4
Chaos retakes the initiative with murderous intent. A few Crossbowmen are Bolted, then the rest die to Horror fire. The Swordsmen get cooked a bit by Horrors, before being charged by the Prince, who lays about him with surprising competence. Only the standard bearer survives the assault.

Karl von Karlson III hefted his unit’s standard one final time and brandished it at the looming daemon prince, aiming its pointed cap at where he presumed the beast’s heart was. Surrounded by leering faces and beset by waves of raw malice, Karl fought back the terror eating at his nerves through sheer focus – he would only get one shot, but Sigmar-willing he would make it count. As the archfiend languidly drew back its enormous claws to squash him like an insect, Karl leapt forward and drove the point of the standard into the monster’s chest. It gave a squawk of surprise as the spear sank home … which quickly turned into a rasping chuckle. The standard – tip, furled flag, pole and all – burst into green flame before falling from Karl’s startled hands as ash, joining the churned mud of the battlefield.

Karl took a step back, before setting his jaw and drawing his dagger. Before he could belt out his war cry, there was a blur of motion and he was slammed a dozen feet away from where he stood. Or half of him was anyway. Karl gazed with some horror as the smaller blue daemons pounced on his legs and waist, devouring them. He struggled faintly to push himself away as the prince strode over, examining him first with one eye and then the next, like an enormous raven. One last curse formed on Karl’s bluing lips, cut short as the daemon swiftly clamped its huge beak around his head, flipped his tattered body up into the air and swallowed him whole.

+1 to Chaos

- Salvage

The day after pounding on the newbie in Game One, I threw down against a veteran 8E Ogre player who was not new to AOS. Nor building lists and putting holes in teeth. (Spoiler )

We played as complete of a Matched Play game as we could, including Artefacts and Command Traits.

DAEMONS OF TZEENTCH
Daemon Prince (of Undivided) – Lord of War; Chaos Talisman
Herald of Tzeentch
20 Horrors
20 Horrors
10 Horrors
9 Screamers
Burning Chariot
Burning Chariot
Soul Grinder
----------
2000

Lord of War = General picks unit within 3”, they get +1 to hit
Chaos Talisman = Additional 6+ save on wounds that get through armor
Unpredictable Destruction = Unit in combat within 8” of a Hero gets +1 to hit on a 6+

OGRES
GUTBUSTER WARTRIBE:
Tyrant – Ravager; Talisman of Protection
Butcher
6 Ironguts
6 Ogres
6 Ogres
6 Ogres
3 Leadbelchers
+
Thundertusk

Ravager = +2" to Rampaging Destroyers
Talisman of Protection = 4+ save vs mortal wounds
Rampaging Destroyers = Units within 6” of Hero get D6” move in hero phase

SCENARIO
We didn’t have the GHB scenarios handy, so I suggested three objectives down the center line, claim the most at end to win. Simple and not just about killing.

GAME


Battelines are formed! Tizz won the choice of who goes first, and after considering for a moment, chose to let the Ogres go first – for objectives, for him to close range to my guns, for me to be out of range of his enhanced charge range, etc.

Turn 1


Ravager + Rampaging Destroyers scoots the entire Ogre line up rather distressingly. The Tzeentch general begins to fill with vitriol …



The Ogres finish their movement. For those playing at home, Ravaging Destroyers with Move 6 can charge things that are 23+3D6” from their table edge (12” deployment + D6” rampage + 2” ravager + 6” move + 2D6” charge + 3” engagement). The vast majority of the Daemons are sitting at 37”.



The Ogres need solid dice to make these charges (8-10), and they only manage Ogres into the Grinder and Tyrant into the Screamers. The Thundertusk gives insult to injury by insta-gibbing a Burning Chariot (I flip out a little – I know they’re good, but 2+ to erase one of my key models? Thankfully my terrain is huge, so LOS-blocking is a possibility in future home games!) The Grinder takes 12 wounds, then the Screamers nibble on the Tyrant, before he rolls 6,6,6 on his wounds, doing 18! wounds with the Gutgouger. The Grinder probably flubbed against the Ogres, before a 7th Screamer flies away.

Well fakk. The Daemons mostly cower in return …



… though the surviving Chariot swoops atop a rock to at least make the Thundertusk roll a die for the wounds it causes (BECAUSE SERIOUSLY), and the Prince moves to help out the Grinder. Magic puts up a Shield on the Grinder’s last 4 wounds and a tasty 3 wound Bolt into the Tyrant is completely stopped by his Talisman. In shooting, the Horrors tickle some wounds off Ogres, then the Chariot chunks 4 wounds off the Thundertusk, dropping it down a level! BUT THEN a 1 comes up to see if the warpflame causes extra wounds, healing it back up 3. (I curse the gods and regret not playing my own Ogres …) Combat somehow goes Tzeentch’s way, with the Ogres splitting their attaks between Grinder and Prince and largely missing. The two behemoths tagteam the Ogres and scatter them.

Turn 2
Tizz nabs the initiative, meaning there’s still a game, at least for a little while! The Grinder and Prince carry up the left flank, as the Chariot hops to a further rock. The Prince uses Lord of War on the left Horrors, receiving a Mystic Shield from them in return, and the smaller Horrors Bolt a wound or two into the Tyrant successfully. Horror fire rips into the left Ogres (2 dead), but is less effective on the right Ogres. The Chariot unleashes a second volley into the Thundertusk, however both wounds that make it through are saved on 4+ armor (Rend 0 ftl), and the Chariot understands it’s dead now. In combat, the Grinder fails to make it into the Butcher on the left flank, but the Prince easily skips in and decapitates the enemy wizard. As Tizz does.





The Ogres ability to Rampage is fairly limited, but also isn’t really needed at this point. The Ironguts scoot towards the small Horror blob, then charge headlong into it. Meanwhile the Tyrant tracks down the hiding Screamers and Ogres left and right close in on things to punch. The horde pauses as the Thundertusk insta-gibs the other Chariot (I mean, it does cost 320 points … and has now claimed 320 points extremely easily), then commences the charging: right Ogres into right Horrors; Ironguts into center Horrors; Tyrant into Screamers; left Ogres into Daemon Prince. All Daemons are sent back to the warp, with the exception of a single Screamer left on 2 wounds.

Turn 3
The Ogres earn their own double turn, eager to end this thing.



Leadbelchers patter off the Grinder ineffectually, followed by the Thundertusk removing 6 Horrors. Charges happen, and the result is the Grinder dead on impacts (nearly all of its wounds had been to mortal wounds caused by impacts), 14 Horrors liquefied by Ironguts, and the final Screamer put out of its misery.

With just the Herald of Tzeentch left on the table, this was a quick one. The plucky daemonic hero pops off an Arcane Bolt into the Tyrant, which makes it past his Talisman of takes his last wound. Bam! Then he scampers for relative safety in the East …

Turn 4
… until the Thundertusk turns and erases him.

+1 to Destruction

+++++++++++++++

So Ravager is really a problem, and I would move to ban it. Maybe it makes sense to be able to alpha strike a dedicated fast assault unit into enemy deployed too far forward, but I’ve seen GW game after game remove it as a possibility. I mean, what was I supposed to do? If I went first, I have a gakky Grinder shot and that’s it. If I move forward, I get charged even easier, as well as shot by the far better Thundertusk. If I deploy on the table edge, I still die. Rampaging Destroyers is clearly the mechanic that’s making this bulldozer run, but I would never recommend denying a faction their Battle Trait entirely. Ravager feels like the thing that takes it from extreme dice game to get first turn charges, and a startlingly reality. And even then, I’m not sure how you stop it – and this Destro army had none of the fast units that Ogres or Orcs can bring with them. Plus my opponent and I talked for a while about the flaming cheese that is Godrakk + Ogres, the only saving grace of which is his enormous points cost.

This battle also convinced me that AOS is not a game for the squeamish. Sorry Screamers: you’re cute and all, but I need to get my Flamers out. When your army has Rend 0, you need to make the wounds you get count.

+++++++++++++++

EDIT: I've been thinking about the game, and I guess the way to beat the Ravaging Destroyers setup - assuming TAC lists but knowing that if you're up against Destro, particularly Ogres, it's a good assumption the alpha strike is inbound - is to deploy on the edge of the board and try to get whatever ranged assets you have lined up with the few heroes you're likely to face. If you get to choose first, there're two options: 1) you've got enough long range shooting (~30" in AOS basically) or magic (does that kind of range exist for spells?) to assassinate some heroes, denying that part of the army their RD roll, so you go first; 2) you don't, in which case you go second and pray for bad Destro dice. If you don't get to chose first, I guess the Destro player will want to try for the alpha strike? Because they're a Destro player, and going second brings your guns + magic into range of their heroes. Unless you're a pure combat army, in which case I'm not sure you've got a hope in hell, barring some kind of crazy anvil the likes of which I haven't seen in AOS. They probably exist, but so far it feels like the point of AOS is to have everything die.

That's as close to a survival strategy as I can get so far. Bums me out that the GHB not only allows for but sets this sort of non-game up, hoping I've missed some caveat or tactic to neuter it ...

ANOTHER: Since they're a Destro player, forward deploying a unit as bait might be a thing. Ogres pounce on the easy kill, splatter it, you're free to retaliate with your dudes, who you better hope can out-magic/shoot/fight the bastards you've just pulled into your DZ. Though the second wave of Ogres is headed in right after them ...

- Salvage

Thanks for the great battle! As someone getting into Igor's I'm curious about which units frightened you (other than the thundertusk of course).

Keep em coming.

Ironguts are mind-numbingly good, but I already knew that from winning multiple games with them That Damage 3 is just unreal, on top of everything else. The Thundertusk we also already knew was fantastic, it just happens to drive me extra crazy being on the receiving end - and comparing it to the Soul Grinder's shooting, it's just super ridiculous. Really, anything that hits on 2+ bothers me, but I'm coming from Skaven and Tizz Daemons in 8E, where reliability is a dirty word

- Salvage

A Balewind Vortex could be fun to use though no points appear to exist for it yet.

I've always had good fun with summoning it and activating Infernal Gateway with a Lord of Change to assassinate characters 36" away.

Great writeups so far! Though I'm sorry to say you lost the second game in the listbuilding phase. Even without rampaging destructor you would've needed some pretty hot dice to pull that off. Though the Ogre player was nice enough to take the worst weapon option on the Tyrant (and apparently no shooting either?). And heads up: if you think the rampaging allegiance ability is bad you haven't fought Death yet...

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Though I'm sorry to say you lost the second game in the listbuilding phase.

I am getting pretty distressed that there's a listbuilding phase for AOS now. I enjoy building lists ... but I also like to think that anything is viable and I can take what I want, not be forced to go WAAC or go home. On Saturday I should run into a few more of the competitive, really hoping things feel more like Fantasy and less like 40k Because if the alternative is true ... I'll just go back to lurking until the Daemons battletome

Even without rampaging destructor you would've needed some pretty hot dice to pull that off.

Agreed, Ogres are great. AOS is without a doubt their best edition yet, having played them since the faction began.

Though the Ogre player was nice enough to take the worst weapon option on the Tyrant (and apparently no shooting either?).

Gutgouger got much improved with the Alliance book! But I agree, I prefer double weapons because I'm bad at dice. He also had a pistol, just never remembered it until after the game.

And heads up: if you think the rampaging allegiance ability is bad you haven't fought Death yet...

Care to give me a preview? I figured Death was hosed with the amount of complaining about summoning nerf, but I keep seeing they're just behind Order most in the campaign, despite being outnumbered.

EDIT: That Death battle trait + Ruler of the Night I'm wondering if events will force these charts to be rolled on? Or simply ban out the crazeball results.

- Salvage

 Boss Salvage wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Though I'm sorry to say you lost the second game in the listbuilding phase.

I am getting pretty distressed that there's a listbuilding phase for AOS now. I enjoy building lists ... but I also like to think that anything is viable and I can take what I want, not be forced to go WAAC or go home. On Saturday I should run into a few more of the competitive, really hoping things feel more like Fantasy and less like 40k Because if the alternative is true ... I'll just go back to lurking until the Daemons battletome

Even without rampaging destructor you would've needed some pretty hot dice to pull that off.

Agreed, Ogres are great. AOS is without a doubt their best edition yet, having played them since the faction began.

Though the Ogre player was nice enough to take the worst weapon option on the Tyrant (and apparently no shooting either?).

Gutgouger got much improved with the Alliance book! But I agree, I prefer double weapons because I'm bad at dice. He also had a pistol, just never remembered it until after the game.

And heads up: if you think the rampaging allegiance ability is bad you haven't fought Death yet...

Care to give me a preview? I figured Death was hosed with the amount of complaining about summoning nerf, but I keep seeing they're just behind Order most in the campaign, despite being outnumbered.

EDIT: That Death battle trait + Ruler of the Night I'm wondering if events will force these charts to be rolled on? Or simply ban out the crazeball results.

- Salvage

There's been a lot going around of GHB points being the magic bullet that suddenly makes everything balanced, but they don't. I don't think they were ever meant to be a replacement for communicating with your opponent so you both end up with reasonably balanced lists, but a guideline which makes that process much easier. This is to say that if one relies on GHB points alone for balance then they will likely be disappointed; I'd recommend having your opponent scale back their list a little bit. If he dropped the 6-man Ogor 'Bull' units to 4-man and you swapped in some flamers I think things would be much more even. Alternating initiative instead of rolling for it would also help get a better idea of how the forces balance (you eliminate the potential of one army seeming stronger because of a double turn) then you can go back to rolling initiative once it's figured out. Another alternative is to swap out the PPC values (see my sig) for the GHB ones, ignoring the rest of the comp (and the summoning spell bit) since those numbers are very well balanced.

It seems you found the Death trait I was talking about, and yeeeeaaah its definitely the best benefit out of the allegiances. But TBF, Death as a grand alliance also has far less options than the others and is more easily countered as a result. I think some Death players are freaking out because of the summoning change since they are used to having it as a crutch but the GHB points allow for non-summoning Death to be perfectly viable. Also the summoning is taken from a reserved pool of points so you can decide on the fly what you actually need during the game.

I didn’t think I’d post about last Saturday’s campaign game, buuuuut I did promise to report all my battles with the DOT. So here’s a lil’ batrep for you. Like 14 people showed up for the throwdown, then we were divided into factions and decided amongst ourselves how we wanted to wrassle. Me and a Nurgle player put our religious differences aside and took on a Dwarf + Sylvaneth alliance. This was the Nurgle and Sylvaneth players’ first game of AOS (they’re 40k players mostly / previously).

CHAOS
TZEENTCH DAEMONS
Daemon Prince
20 Horrors
20 Horrors
Soul Grinder

NURGLE DUDES
Harbinger of Decay
5 Blightkings
5 Blightkings
10 Plaguebears
3 Plague Drones
Jabberslythe (!)

ORDER*
DWARFS
Warden King
Cogsmith
Unforged
Unforged
10 Longbeards
10 Longbeards
20 Thunderers
Cannon
Organ Gun

SYLVANETH
Branchwych
20 Dryads
10 Dryads
5 Tree-Revenants
3 Kurnoth Hunters
Treelord

*You’ll suspect the Dwarf list is bigger than 1000, and it was. Originally the Sylvaneth player said she didn’t have enough to hit 1k, so the Dwarfs mustered enough to make the difference … however the tree spirits ended up with 1000 exactly. So Chaos was playing 240 points down (on top of the 40 Nurgle didn’t spend).

SCENARIO
We played the GHB scenario with four objectives, because it seemed the simplest and to hamper slow armies like the Dwarfs the least – many of the others would have required the Sylvaneth to punch deep into Chaos territory, for which I don’t think she was prepared. Turned out Nurgle was pretty slow too

GAME


The sides dropped one army at a time, rather than unit: Dwarfs, Tizz, Sylvaneth, Nurgle. Wildwood popped up directly in the path of the gribbly assault units …

Turn 1
Order grabbed the initiative and commenced the bombardment. Plaguebearers suffered somewhat against the Organ Gun and fluffy Thunderers, however made good use of cover and their Nurgle save, while the Tizz DP was chunked down to 3 wounds remaining by a halfhearted volley from the Kurnoth Hunters! The hype is real, ladies and gentlemen O_O Order otherwise advanced.

Chaos sallied forth to commence pounding, with the Nurgle center hitting the Dwarf King and his posse, and the Tizz Grinder scuttling up to bait the first wave of Dryads, safely outside of the wildwood. Little did he know, however, that they get buffed within 3” of that enormous chunk of terrain, not just within it Tzeetchian fire was capricious, scorching a few Dryads, while the Grinder began targeting the Branchwych (and completely failing). In the first rounds of combat, the Jabberslythe saw great success bleeding all over the Thunderers (3xD3=9 mortal wounds for the cost of 3 of its own!), although the King, his Longbeards and the central Blightkings largely fluffed about.

Oh, and the mighty Tzeentch Daemon Prince hid from the Hunters behind a building

Turn 2
Order maintained the initiative and increased the pressure. The Jabberslythe evaporated under focused artillery fire (its caustic blood miraculously boiling off and leaving the Thunderers unhurt), and the Plague Drones copped two cannonballs and were nearly sent back to the Warp. The Grinder took some wounds from the Treelord’s roots (what a great attak, even with Damage 1!), then lucked out like crazy when the Hunters missed a lot and then fluffed the 3x 3+ to wound him. In combat, the Dwarf King figured out how his great axe works and slaughtered some Blight Kings, letting the Longbeards soak the return casualties. The smaller Dryads made contact with the left Horror blob, dropped a couple and then were weirdly and awkwardly brutalized in return?! Leaving just the nymph after battleshock! Finally, the larger Dryads hit the waiting Soul Grinder, tearing off a leg before the daemon machine failed spectacularly (enraptured Grinder is sad Grinder) … until he landed the iron claw and disintegrated 6 of them. But with 12+ left they were still rocking that pimp save.



Grindy Chaos retaliation was grindy. On the Nurgle side, the second wave of Blightkings waded into battle with yet more Longbeards, everybody punching each other in the face while laughing and not caring all that much. On the Tzeentch side of the table, the left Horrors started the round by Bolting the nymph they were engaged with, freeing themselves to advance to mid-table and gain LOS on the Tree-Revenants, three of whom they burned to cinders. The other Horrors crept around the Grinder and ineffectually poured fire into the Dryads … as the DP waited to make his move The Grinder opened up on the Branchwych, this time scoring a few wounds with his (rapidly sucking) harvester cannon. Combat was largely a non-event, with the Shielded Grinder taking minimal damage and the Dryads proving too hard to hit.

Turn 3
Snapping out of last turn’s slumber, the forces of Chaos seized the initiative! Mostly for another turn of the same! Nurgle and Dwarfs punched each other – I honestly glazed over during their long combat phases - after a brief interlude while Tizz shot things. An Unforged had crept into the right side of the board, and was flambéed by a sterling volley of warpfire from some Horrors, while the Grinder riddled the Branchwych with yet more bullets, ending her for daring to cast magic in Tzeentch’s presence. The struggle between Grinder and Dryads continued, with me unable to hit and her Dryads tearing off yet another leg. Some of that big Horror blob had wrapped around and gotten engaged at this point, but literally no one cared.

Also the DP thought really hard about jumping on the Tree-Revenants, but being insta-gibbed by Kurnoth Hunters seemed like the suck.

Order had other plans, of course! The Tree-Revenants rounded the house, ready to end the cowardly Prince of Daemons! The Treelord finally shoved his way through the wildwood to get his stomp on! The Dwarfs shot some things and then hit them with axes! (Funny moment: the last 3 Plaguebearers absorbed virtually all of the Dwarf shooting, thanks to the 5+ Nurgle save thing, leaving just the standard … who summoned back a handful of his mates when it came to test ) The Sylvaneth dug into their gribbling blue enemies, the Treelord tickling more wounds off the Grinder and the Hunters deciding that they’d rather see what they do against a unit this time, for Tree Science. 9(!) Horrors were ventilated from the left unit, with another 5(!) running after a dire battleshock roll. Oof! In combat, Dwarfs and Nurgle pounded on each other – there really were very few things left over there, with the King I think just vanquishing the Nurgle Harbinger this turn – and the Grinder lost another leg, although was able to finish off his Dryads. The Treelord had charged the closer Horrors, and actually fluffed hard, removing a single Horror.

Annnnnd the Daemon Prince? He ended up going first, shredding the Revenants and healing a wound back. So there

Unfortunately, the four hours I had for the campaign day was up and I really needed to leave, so we called it there. Honestly, it was essentially a draw that was about to swing hard either way, especially knowing we were down 280 points, however I gave them the Grinder’s 280 and we did a few partial points here and there, and ultimately we called it a Minor Victory for Order. Cause Order needs the wins.

- Salvage

Here’s another batrep I didn’t think I would report on, but a promise is a promise. Put out the call for some AOS last Saturday, and a very new tabletop player picked up the gauntlet. He had 1400 points of Bloodbound, made up of a mix of starter sets and extra dudes, and this would be his third mini game ever. Let’s also note right now that he was using the 10 white dice that came with his AOS starter … … …

TZEENTCH DAEMONS
Daemon Prince (Lord of War; Favor of the Gods)
20 Horrors
20 Horrors
6 Flamers
Soul Grinder

My standard monster mash + flamers, because as douchey as it felt to bring six of them, I’ve still never seen what they can actually do on the table! Plus easy math was easy.

KHORNE BLOODBOUND
GOREBLADE WARBAND
Mighty Lord of Khorne (Great Destroyer; Favor of the Gods)
Bloodsecrator
Bloodstoker
40 Bloodreavers
3 Khorgoraths
5 Blood Warriors
+
Skarr Bloodwrath
3 Mighty Skullcrushers
5 Skullreapers

That … was a lot more than I was expecting, both in body count, heroes, average armor save and buffs! And yes, this was my first time facing Bloodbound

SCENARIO
We sorta played the GHB scenario with three objectives, except anybody could hold them (not just Heroes) and they only scored at the end. So basically, a ‘classic three objectives down the center, play until Turn 5’ game.

GAME




Armies plopped down a unit at a time – I had forgotten that his entire formation could have gone down as one, which would have helped beat my smaller army to the draw. But I also think we diced to decide first turn anyway? Which I won. I had him go first to close the gap, so I could shoot things better when the time came.



First time facing such a large unit, and on 32mm rounds no less!

Turn 1
Khorne generally ripped off the line, sprinting for the Tzeentch bastards … after a judicious application of buffs that wouldn’t matter a whole lot, with so much distance between the two forces. On the left, Skarr, the Skulltakers and Khorgorath piled into a bunker; while on the right, the Skullreapers snuck around a large manse; and centrally, the Lord and his entourage attended to the mob of Reavers. The host took a collective breath and awaited the Tzeentchian opening volley.

Cracking his enormous knuckles, the Daemon Prince used Lord of War on the Flamers, and felt well pleased with himself. Meanwhile, an arcane bolt from some Horrors failed to cast, however the Grinder successfully received his obligatory mystic shield. He scuttled up into the waiting ruins, snuggling into the warm sweater of a 2+ armor save. The Horrors near him mobbed about to remain relevant / escape the encroaching Skullreapers, and the other Horrors backed away from the Skulltakers, largely out of habit, as they knew they were kind of toast. Speaking of toast, the Flamers, mightiest of daemonic shooters and runners up for Nastiest Unit in the Game, let loose into the Khorgoraths. Tons of hits and tons of wounds later, the Bloodbound general picked up his tiny white dice and saved every single one of them, on a cover enhanced 3+ save. The Tzeentch general felt a sinking in his stomach, and loudly declared that the game was kind of over at this point. For his part, the Grinder fired through the general ranting, pegging a wound on the Bloodsecrator.

Turn 2


Shockingly intact, the Khorne dudes went to hurl themselves upon the blue daemons, but a bellow from the Mighty Lord stopped them in their tracks. He calmly gestured at the Bloodstoker, who whipped the Khorgoraths; then the Bloodsecrator, who picked up his banner rather sheepishly, having placed it too early the turn before; and then cleared his throat and told the Skulltakers, Khorgorath and Bloodreavers to charge a little better, ok? Then the Khornate host bolted forward: Skulltakers crashed into the left Horrors, Khorgoraths powered into the Flamers, Reavers mobbed the waiting Soul Grinder, and Skullreapers failed a 5” charge into the right Horrors – at which point the Khorne general loudly declared the game was kind of over. But soldiered on despite. (The Khorgoraths had tried to do horrible things to the Grinder with their tentacles, to no avail.)



Combat was catastrophically uneventful. The Bloodreavers, unable to bring all 80 of their attaks to bear at once due to terrain, having 32mm bases (we were playing with bases, so hush), and the pile in rules not really allowing sliding along the edge of the enemy’s base as he had played previously (we had a long discussion about this), swung with ~30 instead, doing 0 wounds to the Grinder after his 2+ save kicked in. The Skulltakers were weirdly gentle to the Horrors, the dudes fluffing and the juggers themselves eating a few gribblies. But the real stunner was the 15 attaks from the Khorgoraths doing 1 wound to the Flamers. Horrible dice were fakking horrible. In return, the Horrors nearly unseated a Skulltaker (!!), the Flamers and Daemon Prince nearly took down a Khorgorath, and the Grinder did horrible things to the Reavers, prompting even more to run away in surprise and anguish.



Tzeentch’s turn was not particularly subtle: the Grinder got his shield, the Flamers got +1 to hit, the left Horrors failed to cast arcane bolt, and the right Horrors cuddled in a little closer to the Reavers (and further away from the Skullreapers). In shooting, the left Horrors finished off a Skulltaker, the right Horrors flambéed a bunch of Reavers, the Flamers shot the Khorgoraths point blank, leaving just one badly singed monster, and the Grinder raked the Bloodsecrator with his harvester cannon before tagging the phlegm barrage and blowing the totem bearer apart. A distinct cackling could be heard from the heavens, as the massive icon of Khorne melted in candy-colored goo.

Then back to face punching. The Skulltakers’ juggers nommed up another handful of Horrors, before losing one of their number (!!) to the Horrors’ groping. The Khorgorath finished off the wounded Flamer, and was bopped around to little effect in return (the DP had been killed out of 3” at this point). And the Reavers scratched sadly at the Grinder’s undercarriage, moments before losing a few more to the Grinder’s talon – but particularly to battleshock.

The Khorne general extended his hand at this point, but having come so far, why not push for at least a third turn, said Tzeentch?

Turn 3
Tzeentch stole the initiative, shuffled some things and moved to shooting. The Flamers opened fire on the Mighty Lord and did something like 12 wounds, despite his 3+ armor save. The Khorne general reextended his hand, and we shook.

TIZZ WINS, FEELS KIND OF SH!T ABOUT IT

So another weird game of AOS, marked by an unexpected amount of fatalism on my part and horrrrrrible dice on his part. We were talking about how he should expand, and I told him he should get a big cool monster (Bloodthirster!) … after he replaces those hideous Citadel dice. (He’s since bought 25 casino dice!)

Anyway, my deal was that when all your army really has is shooting, and isn’t particularly survivable in combat, you need to be able to make that shooting count. Except how do you do that when your shooting is 18”, and 18” is very doable for the assault elements of most armies? Flamers actually might be one of the only units that can pump out that kind of damage in a single volley, but as my panic attests, what do when the only volley you get doesn’t work? Apparently pray for bad dice?

Our disagreement about how Pile In works lead to a very long thread on the local AOS FB page, which couldn’t really come to a consensus, except that it seems clear that when your base is touching the enemy base, it isn’t possible to move in such a way to end closer, without accepting a level of abstraction that AOS doesn’t seem too interested in.

This also felt like the game where we forgot the most stuff: both of our battle traits, half of his bonuses (especially formation stuff), objectives ...

Final round of the campaign is Saturday, will be trucking Tizz back out to see what mayhem we can get up to. I have a feeling it'll be another multiplayer game, possibly allied with the Bloodbound chap here. Bit of a bummer, as I really want to just play 2000 again, to see what my army can do at size, rather than in all these weird little games. Preferably not against Destro, as I'd like to see what my army can do

Because if I'm honest, I'm not really enjoying AOS very much, not with the DOT anyway. I'm still interested in busting out the Ogres that I terrorized the locals with over that first year of AOS, now that we've got MP and I've got a score to settle with the other Destro players But really, I think my time might be better spent with KOW and all its internal balanced goodness, or continuing to try to wrap my mind around Malifaux.

- Salvage

Oh wow, crazy rolls in this one. If it was over so quickly I would have thought you could fit in a rematch!

With regards to pile-ins ands base-orbiting. As you played it is correct; once in base contact you can't move round because you wouldn't end your move being closer, (you're already as close as you can be).

However...

One thing I didn't pick up on first, (which you may have not too), is if you roll enough on your charge distance, don't place them all the way into base contact, instead leave them 1/2" away from the enemy (as that makes a successful charge).

When it's time to pile in, you can now use that 3" to swing round the sides and roll down the gaps. You do not have to move straight to the closest model, instead the only requirement is to end the move closer. So swing round the side of the closest enemy into base contact with another enemy, just make sure you finish the move closer than 1/2" to that original closest enemy model.

And I am sad to hear you're not enjoying AoS so far. It seems you are still not getting the style of games in that you want. I would also recommend using the random scenery rules (they are great when you get used to them) and play the scenarios as is. That Hero scoring scenario is one of the best and you sort of made it a bit more bland.

What Bottle said in regards to pile-ins.

One thing about Tzeentch is even in a perfectly balanced match things can swing wildly because everything is so very random. Add in mostly shooters with rolling for initiative and it gets even more random!

Something that could help would be to wrap a horror blob around the back of the soul grinder, so your opponent needs to contact him first (and probably can't get a lot of models in range of the horrors anyway). Alternatively throw down 30 plaguebearers in front if you don't mind mixing gods since they will stick around for a while.

NinthMusketeer wrote:Something that could help would be to wrap a horror blob around the back of the soul grinder, so your opponent needs to contact him first (and probably can't get a lot of models in range of the horrors anyway).

Good suggestion on the Horror bubblewrap. I'm always trying to find uses for the things, beyond shooting, dying, and casting mystic shield on the big guys.

As far as the Bloodbound general's frustration with attaking the Grinder, I did point out that I intentional put him forward as the anvil of the army, with a shield, in cover, and in a congested ruin that would minimize the Reavers' ability to swarm his base. So it wasn't just the game messing with us, or my hearty refusal to let him overlap his bases

Bottle wrote:I would also recommend using the random scenery rules (they are great when you get used to them) and play the scenarios as is. That Hero scoring scenario is one of the best and you sort of made it a bit more bland.

Yea, random terrain isn't going to happen if I can help it, especially given how much we forgot in this match without remembering terrain effects. Frankly I have no idea why random terrain would exist in Matched - it seems totally fine in the lulzhammer of Open and would presumably be best in Narrative, but Matched is about trying to form equivalent armies to face each other on an even playing field. Not who gets their hands on the mystical woods first.

Fair point on the scenarios, I do want to try the scenarios as written, and I assume they have a sizable effect on TAC lists, between needing Heroes here or Monsters there. But since the GHB landed I've only played with people wholly new to the game, and haven't wanted to burden them - or their fledgling mini collection - with pages of scenario specifics, on top of other stuff. So someday.

Cheers for the comments guys

- Salvage

For me with the random scenery it makes the games more varied and forces the players to adapt tactically to the placement. You might have been planning to deploy in a certain place and hold back but that Mystical Terrain piece is going to get in the way as you'll no doubt roll some ones. Or perhaps just outside of your deployment is an Arcane or Damned piece that will aid you but you'll have to risk pushing your troops forward.

I think all the random scenery effects have enough affect on your game to make it varied and allow for some neat tactics on the fly but they don't dominate the game.

On the other side I hate using the Scenery Warscrolls in a PUG because they are too dominating. If you have a Realm Gate in each deployment zone then the entire game is soley about those Realm Gates and it detracts from the scenario. The standard random terrain just adds little buffs and debuffs here and there.

Playing with random terrain rolls is also the tournament standard in the UK.

Keep in mind that monsters do not benefit from cover in matched play.

You should think of investing in a Lord of Change and a Balewind Vortex at 2000 points.

260 pts for a 36" Infernal Gateway and Arcane Bolt at +2 to cast? Pretty good.

The downside would be the inability to properly buff the Flamers with Lord of War if you intend to move them forwards.

Unless you make someone else your general and rely on the Balewind's +1. Which is normally good enough for how powerful a Lord of Change's magic already is.

Great battles so far.
I agree with the mystical terrain stuff too, really can add quite a lot to the game. Such as watching a near invincible behemoth trip on a tree and die instantly after tanking entire armies.
Warscrolls though, I still use them all. It's generally just the balegates that seem to be a bit much at times, although they generally seem to become something on the side for most games and if they'd be too damaging to how a scenario works common sense just has you not use them or maybe just disable the teleporting feature cause they can be fun at times with their double effects. One thing I wouldn't mind seeing in larger games would be linking multiple tables with them.

 Lou_Cypher wrote:
A Balewind Vortex could be fun to use though no points appear to exist for it yet.

I've always had good fun with summoning it and activating Infernal Gateway with a Lord of Change to assassinate characters 36" away.

And just to add here the GHB FAQ has clarified that things that allow you to add scenery are free.

Q: Sometimes it is possible to 'summon' pieces of scenery to a battle. As these scenery warscrolls do not have points, can they be summoned in Pitched Battle games?
A: Yes, and they will not cost any reinforcement points.

So feel free to drop many whirlwinds of friendshiprisking. Figure more or less everyone knows by now, but thought it'd be nice to still put that here just in case people wander in and wonder if they can.

Yes, I am fully expecting the Balewind Vortex to be shenanigans at the GW Warlords event. No points required for a powerful OOP terrain piece is frustrating lol.

So it's the AoS equivalent to the void shield generator then?

NinthMusketeer wrote:Keep in mind that monsters do not benefit from cover in matched play.

I had no idea that was a thing! Though it reinforces that I need to actually read the GHB, instead of just looking up things I already know are in there

Lou_Cypher wrote:You should think of investing in a Lord of Change and a Balewind Vortex at 2000 points.

Yeaaaaa I've had an unbuilt LoC for five years now, and he's spent the entire summer orbiting my hobby desk but never getting built. I mean, once he's done he'll be in just about every list I run ... but I guess I'm waiting for AOS to convince me I should take the time to build/paint him? Which is nearing Catch 22 status I fear - game is more fun with the LoC, but I need the game to be more fun to build the LoC

n0t_u wrote:And just to add here the GHB FAQ has clarified that things that allow you to add scenery are free.

Q: Sometimes it is possible to 'summon' pieces of scenery to a battle. As these scenery warscrolls do not have points, can they be summoned in Pitched Battle games?
A: Yes, and they will not cost any reinforcement points.

So feel free to drop many whirlwinds of friendshiprisking. Figure more or less everyone knows by now, but thought it'd be nice to still put that here just in case people wander in and wonder if they can.

I actually had no idea how a BWV got to the table - I assumed it was something like the wildwood for Sylvaneth, except more 'requires opponent permission'-y. I'll have a look around my LGS on Saturday, curious if there's one lurking ...

Cheers for the replies all

- Salvage

Balewind Call: If you have a Balewind
Vortex model, Wizards in your army
know the Summon Balewind Vortex spell
in addition to any others they know.
SUMMON BALEWIND VORTEX
Summon Balewind Vortex has a casting
value of 5. If successfully cast, remove the
caster and set up a Balewind Vortex where
they stood. You and your opponent must
then move any models so that none are
within 3" of the Balewind Vortex if possible
to do so. Then, place the caster on the
upper platform. If this spell is cast, it does
not count towards the number of spells the
wizard can attempt to cast in a turn.
Roiling Vortex of Magic: Models cannot
move within 3" of a Balewind Vortex while
a Wizard is atop it. In addition, you can
add 1 to the casting and unbinding rolls
made for a Wizard atop a Balewind
Vortex, and double the range of any spells
they attempt to cast.
Held Aloft: A Wizard atop a Balewind
Vortex cannot move. However, at the start
of your hero phase, a Wizard atop a
Balewind Vortex can banish it and return
to the ground. If it does so, remove the
Balewind Vortex from the battlefield until
it is summoned again.

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-scenery-en.pdf

Kind of interesting how it's a get out of combat card as well.

Last Saturday was the end of the global campaign, so the AOS crew was out in force slamming some games out. A big multiplayer (2v2? 3v3?) game was going down, and a poor Skittles Chaos player was being schooled in how to lose to Ogres @ 1500 points. I didn’t want part of either of those situations, so threw down in a proper full-sized matched game with the Dwarf dude from this multiplayer game and this game vs my Khorne Daemons.

TZEENTCH DAEMONS
Daemon Prince (Lord of War; Favor of the Gods)
Herald of Tzeentch
20 Horrors
20 Horrors
10 Horrors
6 Flamers
Burning Chariot
Burning Chariot
Soul Grinder

Bam! Still no Lord of Change. I keep wanting to take Cunning Deceiver instead of Lord of War, but I like giving my DP something to do with himself while he’s cowering behind things

DWAFS
Lord on Shieldbearers (Legendary Fighter; Obstinate Blade)
Runelord
Unforged
Unforged
Unforged
10 Longbeards
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
30 Thunderers
10 Miners
Gyrobomber
+
ARTILLERY BATTERY
Engineer
Cannon
Organ Gun
Bolt Thrower

All banners are Runic Icons (ignore spells on a 5+), except for the Longbeards’. For those playing at home, that Lord has 4x 3+/3+ attaks with -3 rend and 3 damage …

Spoiler: While I remembered his Order trait (and it worked well for him with all those heroes), I never once remembered my Chaos one

SCENARIO
Border War (4 claimable objectives worth different points, score at the end of your turn). No mystical terrain.

GAME




Armies assemble! Tizz (L2R): 10 Horrors, Flamers, DP, 20 Horrors, Herald (in the shade), 20 Horrors, Grinder, Chariot, Chariot. Dwarfs (L2R): Thunderers, Warriors, Slayer, Lord, Slayer, Longbeards, Slayer, Warriors, Bolter, Organ Gun, Cannon, Gyro. Miners in ambush.



Turn 1
With fewer deployments, Tzeentch is gifted with the choice of who goes first and humbly shoulders the responsibility. Daemon Prince Sküllflux begins the game by daintily gesturing towards the Flamers and impelling them to hit better, please, while also Inspiring them to care less when they get shot back. All spells are out of range, save for a Mystic Shield that fails to cast on the Soul Grinder (by 1, even with the Herald’s +1), who sighs, knowing full well that every Dwarf big gun is going to shoot him. He wanders up into range of his harvester but out of range of Slayer charges, signaling all daemons to advance gingerly into range of their eldritch firepower, including the Chariots swooping up the right flank to aim at the artillery battery ...



While the horrors gibber and set fire to the desert, the Flamers and Chariots get to work. The Thunderers suffer significant casualties to the Flamers’ kitten-mittens (12 dead after ‘shock), stripping them of their size bonuses, and the Cannon is melted into slag by both Chariots. The Grinder meanwhile chews up the sand around the Organ Gun but predictably misses with everything.

SCORE: 3-0

The Dwarfs respond with a heavy bout of grumbling (Lord Inspires someone, Longbeards do stuff that is forgotten, Runelord increases the rend on the Organ Gun), then everything that isn’t artillery powers forward, as the Minders emerge behind the Grinder in the daemonic backfield. Black powder answers the warpflame of last turn … but kind of flubs it. A Flamer is shot down by Thunderers and the Grinder takes 4 wounds, almost entirely from the Miners’ harpoon (Bolter missed and Organ Gun managed 8 shots on 4D6, for a single wound), tearing a leg off.

SCORE: 3-1

Turn 2


But lo! A Dwarven Double Turn! Heroes shout louder, stumpy legs stump harder, and guns are reloaded with vigor! All this effort pays off too: Thunderers shred through the Flamers, leaving the Pyro on 1 wound; and the Grinder loses another leg to the Bolter + steam harpoon, until the Organ Gun revs up 22 shots with extra rend and absolutely shreds the daemon engine.

SCORE: 3-4



The Daemon Prince grimly wipes the Flamer juice off his beak, tells the big Horror blob near him to hit better, then begins loping towards the Thunderers, accompanied by the smaller Horrors. Magic sparks off across the line, with the Herald’s Pink Fire and an Arcane Bolt from some Horrors devastating the Longbeards, as a Chariot is given a Mystic Shield before it and its brother swoop around the Gyrobomber, their twin flaming contrails reducing the machine to a single wound. Finally, Pyrocaster leaps into some ruins as the Herald and his Horrors form a thick blue line around the Tzeentchian objective …



Warpflame cascades across the Dwarven line. A handful of Thunderers fall to the Pyrocaster and the smaller Horrors (another handful to ‘shock); the Longbeards perish to the boosted Horrors; the advancing Warriors cop a few wounds to the other Horrors, who are more intent on burning a Slayer down (he survives on 1-2 wounds); and the Organ Gun ceases to exist under the wrath of the Chariots.

Combat is at last joined as the Chariots slam into the Gyrobomber, which clips a Chariot for a wound before being dropped. The Daemon Prince likewise powers into the Thunderers, but fluffs spectacularly, doing 0-2 wounds.

SCORE: 8-4

Turn 3
That Tzeentch Double Turn though! The DP tells himself to hit better, dammit, and receives a Mystic Shield from his Horror buddies, and the wounded Slayer is erased with an Arcane Bolt (and a good amount of giggling). Pink Fire fails to cast. Blue daemons scoot about and then unleash a fresh round of hell: the Bolt Thrower evaporates under the gaze of the Chariots, as Thunderers and Warriors are severely depleted across the board. In combat the Prince can’t screw this up, breaking the necks of the remaining shooty Dwarfs with his exuberant high fiving.

SCORE: 13-4



Their clansmen reduced to brightly colored charcoal and their beards singed, the Dwarven heroes finally reach the daemonic foe …



The Lord Ancestral Grudges (+1 to wound against) the right large Horror blob, as he wades into the left himself, accompanied by a frothing Unforged. The other slayer hero and the remnants of some Warriors dive amongst the begrudged Horrors, and the survivors from the other Warrior unit take on the Prince for great vengeance. The surviving artillery crew grimly take on a Chariot with the help of their Engineer, and the Runelord sprints for the other (but can’t land the charge, though he augments the crews’ weapons).

The Warriors fighting the Prince swing first, unable to dent the beast’s enhanced armor, and are crushed into the sands for their trouble. The Horrors fighting the Lord rip a stunning 3 wounds into him, as well as 2 on the Unforged, before the heroes return the favor – the Unforged drops a meager 2 and the Lord slips on his shield, only wounding twice … which multiples to 6 Horrors exploding! The other Horrors pull down 2 Warriors and wound their Unforged a few times, before losing 6 of their number. Finally, the Engineer + Crewmen swing hard on their Chariot, managing to pull down the floating daemon and bludgeon it to goo!

SCORE: 13-5

Turn 4


Tzeentch retains the initiative! The Prince continues telling himself to hit better (cause can ), as he races for the Dwarven objective and captures it for Chaos. Meanwhile, a Mystic Shield pops up on the rightmost Horror blob, Arcane Bolt fails to cast despite the Herald’s +1 (!!), and Pink Fire is likewise too hard to cast. Warpfire works pretty well though: the two left Horror blobs burn down one Unforged, and the right Horrors leave theirs on 1 wound. Miraculously, the Runelord survives pointblank shooting from the last Chariot!

Combat begins with the Lord’s Horrors scrabbling at his armor and managing a single wound this time (3 left). He gets a good chopping stance and returns the favor …



… killing all 12 with one swing!! Undeterred, the other Horrors drag down the Unforged and surviving Warriors and grope them to death. The Chariot and Runelord exchange a couple wounds each.

SCORE: 20-5

With little left to do, the Dwarfs steadfastly continue to pound on squishy blue things. The King scoots into the waiting Horrors and the rampaging artillery Crewmen carry on into the accursed Chariot.



The Horrors flail at the Lord, stripping a 5th wound from him, before losing a more statistical 9 (TIZZ ABIDES) in return. The remainder may have popped? As for the Chariot, the Runelord swings first, ending its long reign of terror. The Dwarfs finally capture the Eastern objective.

SCORE: 20-7

Turn 5
Like games of old, the initiative returns to Tzeentch. The Daemon Prince starts sprinting towards the Lord, until the Herald steps up and puts an Arcane Bolt through the Dwarf’s chest. The glowing, ichor-stained great axe slips from the king’s grasp, before the Dwarf himself topples from his shield-throne. Beset by monsters, his bearers prepare to make the daemons pay …

SCORE: 27-7

(The Dwarfs consolidate behind their oasis and are content to score one more round in relative safety.)

SCORE: 27-9

TIZZ VCITORY

Easily the best game of AOS I’ve played

- Salvage

Love your write-ups, Boss! And looked like this game went perfectly to plan for you. :-) Hope the Dwarf player had fun too. Smashing 12 horrors with one swing would make me happy enough no matter how much I lost the battle by :p

Holy gak... I'm super dense. I've been a big fan of these, and it only just now occurred to me that you played that first Bat-rep in front of me. (Its Mark, hey man). :-p

Love these bat-reps, and am looking forward to being part of one soon. We can throw down for the DakkaDakka Heavy-Weight NY Championship. :-p