Olde World Gaming – Round 1 – Joel Lucas – Wood Elves

The Mission :

Deployment – Battle for the Pass

Primary Objective – Objectives – three objectives, placed by TO. One is in each deployment zone and one in the center. Objectives could be held by any unit with five or more rank and file units (6 inches) or a character. Any unit could contest and prevent scoring. The objective in your own deployment zone was worth 1 point, the center was worth 2 and the last worth 3.

Secondary Objectives – Slay General 2 points; Capture (in combat) Standards (and BSB) 1 point each; Table Quarters (can be held by any model) 1 point each.

All Missions allowed for a maximum of 15 points to be earned.

The first thing I saw about this mission is that it required 5 rank and file models. I am running 4 units of 6 models. That means that if my opponent places 8 wounds well I’m left with just my characters able to score. I also see that I can give up a maximum of 16 points (6 if they get objectives, 2 for my general, 4 banners and 4 table quarters) so it’s possible for me to do well, but still only split the baby. What I would need to do was push hard and fast to keep my opponent facing his board edge instead of moving down the field to claim objectives. I would also need to quickly shut down any shooting, flyers or scouts. Smart play would also be needed to maintain at least 3 of my 6 possible scoring units (including characters).

Pairings went up and I seem I’m playing Wood Elves. His list was:

Spellweaver, Level 4, Lore of Life

Noble, Ogre Blade, Dragonhelm

8 Dryads
8 Dryads
10 Glade Guard, Music, Standard
7 Glade Guard, Standard, Scouts

3 Treekin
5 Wardancers
5 Wardancers

Treeman

So looking back at my plan and I see my priorities. His list allows for 9 scoring units (monstrous infantry counted at 3, not 5). He has only 2 banners, so a maximum of 14 points for me to earn (6 objectives, General, 2 banners, 4 quarters), but because of his larger amount of scoring units I will have to work much harder to open up my points. Based on my priorities, I knew that the two units of glade guard and the treeman would have to be top priority. While the characters also had bows, I needed to remove the major shooting first. For his spells Joel rolled Awakening of the Wood, Flesh to Stone, Throne of Vines and Regrowth.

Spells I rolled were Spirit Leech, Caress of Laniph, Soulblight and Doom and Darkness

The Table: I don’t usually make a section about terrain, but with the mysterious terrain everywhere I will be for at least this game. My third game was also on this table, so remember as you read. There were three buildings on the table, one each in opposite corners of one level and a big three level on more center. There was also a thick wood hedge (hard cover, -2), an impassible grave and a small forest.

You can’t tell in the above picture, but behind the tall tower is another building that granted a 6+ regen to any ‘good army’. The big building provided any wizard within 3” access to his entire spell lore. The grave caused a +1 to point on any model within 6” and the building in the bottom right gave an ‘evil army’ -1 leadership within 6”.

At first glance I thought this table put me at a disadvantage, but after some thought I realized that the pro-good and anti-evil features were in the corners and so easily avoidable, but the extra spells and +1 to point were much more towards center and more to my liking. After some thought, and two games, I was very happy with this table.

I missed pictures for deployment and the first few turns, but I kept to my pre-stated plan. I chose the top side in the above picture, placing him deploying next to the +1 to point for buffs to my shooting and giving me early access to the all spell building. Using the table picture for orientation, I deployed top, with one unit of dark riders on the right, one of the left and one towards center. The hydras and the characters went on the left-center to play ring around the building.

Joel deployed a dryad on the left, then his wardancers (with the hero going in one), then his treekin and treeman. His glade guard with his lord went into his first just off center with the last unit of dryads closing off the right side. He was able to use his skirmish and the narrower board to mostly block off the table.

We rolled and he got first scout deployment, placing his scouts in the top right corner. I countered with my shades in my back field. For vanguard, my two units center and left moved up to just be within long range (and avoid the -1 to move on my turn) and the right unit turned around to face the scouts. We rolled off and I got first turn.

I advanced my characters and hydra to take over the building. All the shooters stayed still. I rolled a 9/6 magic phase and proceeded to only get an 8 on my first casting of soulblight, ending my phase. For shooting I knocked down the skirmishers to only a few models and began to put pressure on the left most dryad unit in order to open up his back field.

On Joel’s turn 1 one he advances and spreads out, but leaves gaps between his units for me to exploit. His magic 7/6 magic phase is also a bust when he fails his first spell. He shoots up my right most dark rider unit, knocking them below scoring.

My turn 2 and the shades charge the few remaining skirmishers, which then flee and run off the table to deny me the banner. On the right I exploit the gap between the dryads and wardancers and move a unit of dark riders behind his lines. On the right I move the center unit between his units in the hopes of getting a later turn charge on the glade guard. The remaining right flank dryad unit moves to the edge to try to secondary that charge. I roll a 3/2 magic phase, get of spirit leech but fail to cause any wounds to the treeman.

Joel’s turn 2 and he reacts to my hard rightmost push. His dryad unit falls back to defend the glade guard and the treeman swings back. The treekin and wardancers close the door with the building to meet the hydras should they continue their swing around the building. The weakened dryad unit pulls back, but can’t get away from the +1 wound grave marker. Joel rolls a 9/6 magic phase, putting +2T on the gravestone dryads. His treeman puts 5 wounds on the center unit of dark riders, who roll an amazing 4 6’s. Because of this Joel is forced to put his bow shooting into this unit, knocking 2 more off.

On my turn 3, the center dark riders charge the glade guard, surviving the stand and shoot, but losing a member to the forest. This causes a panic, making the unit fall back. A hydra charges into a unit of wardancers with the hero. My wizard and a hydra move up to see his closing door, outside the wardancers range and at an angle where the treekin cannot get around the building to charge them. My left darkriders pull back to continue to pepper the dryads (the +1 wound stone effectively negating the +T). My right flank dark riders pull back away from the treeman. My shades move to claim my objective. I roll a 7/4 magic phase and fail the first spell (go magic!). In shooting I kill a little, and in combat my hydra pushes through the wardancers and hero, over running towards the glade guard.

On Joel’s turn 3 the treeman charges and runs down the fleeing unit of dark riders. He moves his left unit of dryads to block the hydra from the glade guard. The treekin turn to face the hydra, as does the treeman after the over run (with his leadership test). I’m assuming he thinks the dryads won’t break and he will get a counter charge. With a 2/1 magic phase Joel +2T the dryads, reinforcing my assumption.

On my turn 4 I charge the dryads. The dark riders begin to envelope the glade guard. My other hydra and wizard come around a little to see the treekin and treeman. My BSB charges the last unit of wardancers. I roll a 7/4 magic phase and things finally start to happen. Please note, that so far this game my magic has done nothing. My first cast is soulblight on the dryads, which is dispelled. I then put Doom and Darkness on them. I use the last of my dice to soul leech the treekin, killing one model. I use the dice I get back thanks to death to roll one die on Power of Darkness, getting 4 dice. I use those 4 dice to cast a small purple sun (thanks building), hitting one treekin and the treeman and killing both. Getting three dice back from that, I use Fate of Bjuna to kill off the last treekin. So 7 dice turns into 16 and kills 3 treekin and a treeman. In shooting I drop the archers down some. In combat I kill the dryads and overrun into the glade guard. Also, my BSB takes out the last unit of wardancers in combat.

Joel’s turn 4 and his right most dryad unit makes a break for my objective (at least I think that’s where he was going). He puts +2T on his glade guard with a 9/5 magic phase and follows that up with a regrow of 3 models (I had used all my dispel dice on a really good throne roll). My hydra decides its tired and doesn’t kill the unit off. He rolls snakes to stay.

My turn 5 and I move to shoot up the dryads, though being careful to not pull units to far away from the objectives. With a 9/5 magic phase I get soulblight off on the dryads and whittle them down with shooting (to 5 models, which leaves them as scoring). My hydra finishes off the archers but doesn’t kill his general, who stays.

Joel’s turn 5 and with a 4/4 magic phase gets +2T off on his caster. The dryads continue to run. The caster dies.

My turn 6 and my BSB charges the flank of the dryads. I move to claim all the objectives. I roll a strong 10/5 magic phase. Joel dispels Doom and Darkness but I cast Aspect of the Dreadknight on my BSB and soulblight onto the dryads. This is the first time I’ve ever cast Aspect, which is a shitty spell, but I didn’t want to risk failing that fear test. I kill 2 dryads, making them no longer scoring, but because he has moved into the building he is stubborn and holds.

Joel’s turn 6 and I kill 2 more dryads, leaving the last one stubborn in the forest, but he fails his leadership test and gets run down. Because of this I get to claim the fourth quarter, missing only the one banner that ran off the table and only giving up the banner the treeman ran down. 13/1 victory.

Next Steps – Adepticon Doubles – 1200 points per player

For the Adepticon Doubles event I will once again be pairing up with my friend a club mate Sean Smaker. We will again be doing the lizard/dark elf combination, but with one big wrinkle. There are no lords allowed. Our list will be as follows:

Sorceress, Dark Pegasus, Level 2, Lore of Death, Pendant of Khaeleth, Tome of Furion
Scar Vet, Cold One, light armor, ruby ring of ruin, dawnstone

Assassin, additional hand weapon, rending stars, manbane

6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
11 Skinks, standard

9 Shades, additional hand weapon, light armor, champion
6 Chameleon Skinks
6 Chameleon Skinks
6 Chameleon Skinks
3 Terradon Riders
3 Terradon Riders

Hydra
2 Salamander Hunting Pack
2 Salamander Hunting Pack

What I don’t like about this list is that we are forced to devote half of our power dice to a fireball every turn. I suppose this could be a good addition, but as designed it’s the only option. What I do like is a fast lizardman general able to be where it needs to be to provide that key leadership bubble, along with the high armor to keep him alive.

Next Steps – Davis Doubles – 1250 points per player

At the end of the month I will be attending a doubles event. I’ll be pairing with Sean Smaker (round 3 from Bay Area Open). Sean and I have paired up once before, at a 1600 per player event. We will also be pairing up for the Adepticon doubles event. We have created a list for this event, but may just end up running our Adepticon list. This system has no restrictions, while the Adepticon event is 1200 points a player but doesn’t allow Lords. So here is our Davis Doubles List:

Supreme Sorceress, Dark Pegasus, Lore of Death, Pendant of Khaeleth
Slann Mage-Priest, Lore of Death, Focused Rumination, BSB

Skink Priest, Dispel Scroll

Assassin, additional hand weapon, rending stars, manbane

6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
6 Dark Riders, repeater crossbows, banner, musician
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers
10 Skink Skirmishers

9 Shades, additional hand weapon
6 Chameleon Skinks
6 Chameleon Skinks
6 Chameleon Skinks

Hydra
2 Salamander Hunting Pack, extra handler
2 Salamander Hunting Pack

This is a fairly hard list, with layered waves of BS shooting. It also compensates for the required splitting of magic dice by having two casters that are able to generate additional power dice. The strong weakness of the list is in its ability to dispel, specifically the required splitting of dice and its inability for one player to defend the other with those dice. I also have some concerns about the amount of space this army takes up, limiting actual places to go.

The event itself is a 3 round, 1 day event. Each mission will be out of the book, rolled randomly for the round, and then also each side chooses secret objectives for bonus points. For the watchtower mission it has been revised to utilize the optional building destruction rules, making the buildings T8 with 7 wounds and requiring at least strength 5 to attempt to wound. For the battle for the pass, the last 6” of the deployment zone can only see (and be seen) into (from) the deployment zone, presumably to prevent warmachines camping at the board edge, or blocking the only edge ambushers can come on. For Blood and Glory, each army has its own breaking point; this mission will be our most challenging as Sean’s contingent will be prone to running away.

For Composition the event will be using a cumulative player judge system. Each team will rank their opponents 1-3. Getting 2 3’s grants your battle score a -2 modifier, while getting all three 3’s gives a -8 modifier. On the other side, getting 2 1’s or 3’s provides an equal bonus to battle score. The event also has a few hard changes:

No Special Characters
Banned Book of Hoeth
Slann cannot take both Mystery and Rumination
Only the Ogre’s BSB can carry the dragon hide banner
No more than 6 dice may be used when casting Mindrazor
Unit caps of 35 for infantry and 18 for monstrous infantry

We’ll see how it goes.


Later Note: we decided to go with our adepticon list, which will follow in a later post.

Olde World Gaming – 1500 points RTT – Arrival

I have known about a mysterious game store in Elk Grove for a while now. At the first Bay Area Open I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in a while and she had mentioned that she was playing Warmachine at this. Elk Grove is a bit of a drive for me (about 45 minutes), and it just hadn’t been worth the drive to just take a peek. A month or so ago they posted on one of the Facebook groups I watch that they were going to be hosting their first Warhammer RTT. As this was a good excuse to go down and take a look, I called and purchased my ticket (10 bucks ahead, 15 at the door).

Day of and I arrived way too early. I was disappointed to see that the immediate food was only a Papa Johns and a Taco Bell. There was also an adjacent doughnut shop, though I’m not a big sweets in the morning fan. When lunch did finally come around I went down the block where there was plenty of food, and was able to get back and eat over half in the 30 minute break we had (we were provided with more but my friend’s game went long).

The event turned out 8 people, 6 of the ‘locals,’ myself and my friend Chris. We joked that we would see each other at the bottom table round 3. Knowing I had brought a hard list at 1500, I was glad to see that no one there had taken a soft list. I saw an abomination/warp-lightening skaven list, 40 halberdiers empire, and a full lore/extra die/ no 6’s Life Slann. There was also an all orc army with some fairly large blocks and a wood elf army. Lastly, there was a daemon player as ringer, though it was only his third fantasy game and he was making is list as round one was starting. The players didn’t seem to be that tournament experienced.

While an event of 8 seems small, I think it was the perfect number for a first event. 8 people and 3 rounds allows for a true winner, meaning no need for complicated tie breakers. For scoring the event was based on earned mission points only, so theoretically I supposed someone who won all three games wouldn’t have gotten first (but he may have been using W/L with points as tie breakers, as the true winner won I couldn’t tell). For paint prize each player picked one character, one monster and one unit to display for a player’s choice vote. I think this was the perfect way to do it for a first event. Besides my friend and myself there were only 2 other fully painted armies, but with this breakdown it allowed everyone to compete equally – a great way to encourage paint but still allow for a growing community.

I think I defiantly came in an inappropriate attitude. The Contest of Champions have a fairly high level of competition, even with composition scores, but walking away from this event I think it was a much more ‘friends playing for money’ feel. That’s not the attitude I went in with, and I left feeling somewhat of an intruder. This feeling came in part due to a judge ruling (not on my table), that what a player was attempting to do wasn’t ‘in the spirit of the game, even if within the rules’ and therefore wasn’t allowing the desired result. This may have been in part due to the TO not actually knowing the rules, but I hesitate to fix myself there. It may just be he believes in the ‘spirit’ of the game as the driving force. Not an opinion I disagree with, just not one I see often at tournaments.

The shop had posted the missions a day or so ahead of time. I’ll wait to go into the missions during the round write up since there wasn’t time to go over them in their own post. My initial thoughts though were that they seemed very 40k influenced.

For Terrain, there was a good amount. Most of it was unfinished (remember, first fantasy event) and that included Styrofoam hills and unpainted GW buildings. There were a lot of buildings. Also, all terrain, forests and buildings were mysterious.

I’m still working on getting the right pictures, but I do have some for each game.

Next Steps – Olde World Gaming – 1500 Points

This is just an interrupt because the BAO battle reports will not have completed in time to post this after but still before the event... the normal BAO battle report shall return after this message...

The next event I will be participating in will be my first event (and perhaps their first fantasy event) at Olde World Gaming on March 16th. If things go as planned this will also be my first time at their shop. As far as I know there are no comp restrictions for this event so I’m going to win. My list is as follows:

Supreme Sorceress, Level 4, Lore of Death, Lifetaker, Pendant of Khaeleth,

Master, BSB, heavy armor, sea dragon cloak, repeater crossbow, warriorbane, dragonbane gem, black dragon egg, charmed shield

3 units of 6 dark rider, banner, musician, crossbows

6 shades

2 Hydras

I had to make the tough call and drop the BSB, as I felt the metal wizard would be needed in case I saw some all knight empire or warriors armies. I also decided to keep the Lord at level 4 even though it was more points than level 3 with an extra spell. I feel that the +1 may come in handy as not a lot of lists will have lord wizards due to the point restriction. I expect many will just go with a level 2.

I find that my list does better at smaller points as there becomes less on the table, but I’m just as fast. I just need to play it right against shooty armies.

Bay Area Open – Round 5 – Chad Pond – Skaven

Round 5, and I’m 2-2 with both my wins being strong. Over lunch I talk with Henri, he’s the chaos dwarf player I haven’t played yet, and find out he is also 2-2 with strong wins. Uh oh. Pairings go up and I’m matched with Chad Pond, phew, but only slightly. While his list doesn’t make me near wet myself, Chad is a good player and I haven’t beaten him as many times as I have. Chad and I were supposed to play, in my opinion, round 5 at the first Bay Area Open. At the time I was confidante that I would have beaten him to win the first fantasy BAO. Due to the 3rd and 4th players already having played though, I was matched against Brad, a match I couldn’t win (yay pandemonium and puppet being gone!). So I was happy to see Chad and I finally getting that round 5 BAO matchup, but sad it wasn’t at table 1 with the winner taking the price as it should have been that first year.



Come to think of it now, having gone 3-1-1 and then 5-0 at the last two years, starting round 5 at 2-2 already made for my worst BAO yet.



The mission was just a plain old battle line, and Chad’s list was:



Warlord, general, shield, biting blade, armor of destiny, dragonbane gem, crown of command

Grey Seer, tormentor sword, earthing rod, talisman of preservation, ironcurse icon



Chieftain, bsb, warrior bane, dragonhelm, foul pendant

Engineer, level 1, doom rocket

Engineer, level 1, dispel scroll

Engineer, brass orb

Engineer



49 Slaves, champion, musician, shield

49 Slaves, champion, musician, shield

34 Stormvermin, stormbanner

40 clanrats, full command, shield

40 clanrats, full command, shield

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

25 Giant Rats, 3 Packmasters (1 of which was a master mouldor)



6 gutter runners, slings, poison

6 gutter runners, slings, poison



Warplighting Cannon

Doomwheel



For spells both of Chad’s engineers took warp lighting, one even defaulting off of howling warpgale, which I felt was a mistake. His grey seer took Skitterleap, Warplighting, Howling Warp Gale and Cracks Call. Chad also rolled for his grey seer first, which I also felt was a mistake. I think that he should have rolled the Engineers first, taken warplighting with one, and probably the second. This would maximize the Grey Seer’s chances of getting what I felt were his optimal spells, Howling Warp Gale, Scorch and Cracks Call (I would probably have tossed the fourth at the other lore in the hopes of getting plague or wither). HWG shuts down my shooting and magic, Scorch kills dark riders and Cracks Call kills hydras. That would make any of the spells he tried to cast key dispels for me, which would mean I would always be forced to let a strong spell through. Chad also rolled 2 warpstone tokens on his grey seer.



Chad deployed his fighty unit of giant rats on the left side, though mostly towards center, followed by a unit of clan rats, a unit of slaves, his stormvermin with general and bsb, his second unit of slaves (with cannon behind) and his other unit of clan rats. His doom wheel held the right board edge along the deployment line. A rat dart went in front of each of his clan rats and stormvermin. He held his gutter runners in reserve.



I deployed one unit of dark riders far right, in case of scouts, two center, just right of the building in my deployment zone. Right flank got the rest, another unit of dark riders, than a hydra/dark rider/hydra with all the characters for support. Because he had deployed his doom wheel off my hydras, and I didn’t want to take the risk for basically 4 cannons across from my doom wheels, I dropped both shades right in front of the doomwheel. I figured even if he went first, the assassin should survive to fight, and then I would kill it on my turn, and if I went first I would just focus fire it to death with both assassins. I did deploy far enough out that he may not have gotten the charge should he have gone first. I vanguarded strong on the left, and moved the other four just up enough to be in shooting range without being charged should I go second. We rolled off and I went first.



On my first turn I continued to advance strong on the far left and kept the other four units of dark riders still to prevent the -1 for shooting. My general moved up behind an impassible feature to hide from the cannon, with my level 2 farther back along that same line. My BSB stood out in the open to draw fire from the cannon and try to get into position to charge his stormvermin to both pin them and attempt to character snipe. During my magic phase I only rolled 3PD/2DD but thanks to Power of Darkness managed to pull out the scroll anyways. My shooting took off the packmaster on one of the rat darts, killed another and dropped the doomwheel. Have to say, the assassins performed much better on day 2.



On the Skaven turn 1 the packmaster less rat dart jumped out in front of the right slave unit, and the right rat dart moved up to try to block up my shades. The fighty giant rat unit moved up to threaten the dark rider line in the center/right. The left most clan rat unit turned to face left/center. Skaven magic wasn’t effective at a 5PD/5DD phase. His cannon rolled S6 on a hydra but failed to wound.

My turn 2 and I tripled charted the fighty, in the rear with the left most unit and twice in the front with the center units. I did this mostly because this turn he activated the stormbanner. I also charged my BSB, using the Black Dragon Egg. I charge the rat dart in front of my shades with the Hydra, terroring it away to allow both of my shade units to flank charge the huge block of slaves. I wrap center with my general and advance my level 2 up the side to try to get a long charge on the warplighting cannon the next turn. In the combat, the giant rats fall to 10 models, including the death of the master mouldor, but pass their leadership 6 steadfast test leaving my dark riders hanging in the wind for the clan rat counter charge. Because of this I funky reform the unit in the rear to make the charge a little longer. The shades pummel the slaves who fail their leadership 10 reroll test, exploding and killing an entire shade unit and dropping the other to one model (but the Brass Orb dies as well). The stormvermin champion challenges out my BSB, who proceeds to achieve max overkill and win the combat. The stormvermin do not break.

On Chad’s turn 2 both gutter runners come on the board, one on his side to try to pick off the shades and assassins and one on my side to start to pepper the right hydra. Chad decides not to counter charge into the dark rider/giant rat combat due to the massive wounds I had put on in the last combat (though then I was at full strength, with spears and hatred and now I would have none). The terrored rat dart runs off the table and the stormbanner ends. His slaves in the center turn towards the right. In the 5PD/2DD magic phase not much happens except that I scroll cracks call, for which Chad uses a token. In combat the giant rats die off, with all three of my units overrunning towards the left rear and my BSB holds, taking a wound. The gutter runs kill the last shade and put a wound on an assassin. Chad forgets to shoot his cannon this turn.

On my turn 3 and its time for more charges. I put my level 2, a full unit of dark riders and a 1 wound assassin into combat with the right most clan rat unit. I put another 1 wound assassin into combat with the warplighting cannon. The other hydra advances on the second slave unit. An 8/6 magic phase doesn’t net much (just soul blight and doom and darkness on stormermin), but combat kills the cannon and panics off the gutter runners. My other assassin dies, as do a bunch of clan rats, which make their leadership test. The giant rat killing dark riders turn and start shooting the other clan rat unit. My BSB fails and dies in combat, allowing the stormverin to reform..

On Chad’s turn 3 he is starting to get distracted. He forgets to move his other gutter runner unit (I thought he just wanted to conserve points, but he later indicated he forgot). His stormvermin charges into the clanrat combat. On his turn he gets off a cracks call with a 10PD/6DD magic phase, drawing a line through two dark riders and into the right flank hydra. All pass their test (phew!) He wins the combat, with my character and dark rider unit running off.

On my turn 4 I double charge his stormvermin, front and flank with hydras. With a 5PD/3DD magic phase I fail to get Doom and Darkness but do get Soulblight into the combat. I roll for my handlers on the front hydra, killing the grey seer and Chad concedes the game.

so with my poor 3/2 showing that makes my 2013 DE at 8w/5l/0d

Bay Area Open – Round 4 – Dave Inman – Skaven

So for once I didn’t sleep horribly in a hotel the Saturday night of an event. Let’s be clear, I didn’t sleep great either but at least got 6 of the hours I actually set aside for the night. I spent the morning talking with Van (my hotel mate) about how each of us could improve our lists, which was a nice exercise. I actually ate breakfast and then drove to the event. As I was parking my car it occurred to me I had left my charger in my no checked out of room. I sped back to the hotel, managed to get a key and grab my charger. Apple wants $18 just for another cable, geeze. I still got back to the venue with just under 30 minutes until the 10am round time. As I was walking in I was told paring were up, and that people were told they could start early to get a few extra minutes in their round. As I walked in Dave caught me and told me we were playing, so straight to the table to set up I went.



Dave and I had played before at the top table at SAWS last May, where we had a slug fest that saw me the winner due to the mission ending on turn 4 (on a roll of a 6). In that game I played the chaff and tank game, tying up his units while I picked on one after the other. It was a game that Dave should have won had we made it to round 6. I think round 5 would have been a draw and round 7 (the maximum for the mission) would have seen me near boarded. In this game, Dave had the Skaven (though I didn’t have his khorn daemons) and he was playing the chaff and tank game. His list was:



Warlord, general, Rat Ogre Bonebreaker, relic sword, charmed shield

Warlord, Rat Ogre Bonebreaker, shield, sword of might, warpstone armor, dawnstone, portents of verminous doom

Warlord, Rat Ogre Bonebreaker, sword of corruption, enchanted shield



Chieftain, BSB, great weapon, sacred banner of the horned rat

Chieftain, great weapon, Ironcurse Icon, Helm of Discord

Chieftain, great weapon, obsidian amulet

Engineer, Level 2, scroll of shielding

Engineer, Level 2, Dispel Scroll

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer

Engineer



36 Stormvermin, full command, Razor Standard

25 Clanrats, full command, shields

25 Clanrats, full command, shields

20 slaves, champion, musician

20 slaves, champion, musician

20 slaves, champion, musician

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

5 Giant Rats, 1 Packmaster

25 Giant Rats, 5 Packmasters (one of them a master mouldor with a great weapon)



9 Gutter Runners, poison, slings

9 Gutter Runners, poison, slings



Dave likes to call this a soft skaven list, and in arguing this he points to everything he doesn’t have in his list: Grey Seer, Furnace, any Rare, stormbanner, doom rocket, brass orb. That’s all true, but it doesn’t make his list soft. Let me tell you what he does have: an 1171 point death star that uses bonebreakers to put up a wall of T5, 4 wound guys with mid to low armor saves, one of which fights back if he makes it (and gets to reroll it). He also puts out 15 S5 attacks from the mounts alone, plus another 12 from the characters AND great weapons and halberds behind. He also has 10 44 points or less chaff units to ensure that his death star isn’t bothered while it does its work. The large gutter runner units do the hard lifting on any warmachines. Oh, and did I mention that when he does tank into your units he also provides a nice -2 leadership when he wins said taking? Not a soft list, or at least not as soft as Dave would have you believe. Though let’s be clear, it’s not a dick list either (except for the leadership bomb).



Anyways, back to the game. I like playing Skaven. After 3 years of this book, lots of events, including more than my fair share of wins I’d like to think I know the book well. Very well. Well enough to understand how it works, pull it apart and stomp the shit out of it, no matter what I’m playing. Then the mission went and gave me a huge advantage on top of all that.



The mission was Dawn Attack, and it did play to my advantage. Dave’s deployment ended up being the following (from left to right). A rat dart (my term for the 5 rat, 1 packmaster unit), a unit of clan rats with one of the chieftains, the stormvermin death star with all three lords (starting in a forest), the bsb, another chieftain and the scroll of shielding engineer. A unit of clanrats with the other engineer, two slave units, two rat darts in a forest, the larger giant rat unit, a rat dart and then a unit of slaves on the other side of a building. The key hurt on this deployment was the general on the left flank. Optimally the general will be in the center to maximize the time it takes me to kill his chaff, but this way the right flank was very weak.



My deployment was hydra on the left, with my general and a unit of dark riders (a some scouts joining them), a unit of dark riders in the center and then the rest clumped on the right, a unit of shades joining them. So my strong right matched his weak right. I decided that being super aggressive on the right would clear up what was otherwise looking like a solid line of rats. So on the left I vanguarded just enough to shoot if I went first but went harder on the right (though not enough that he would charge me with good odds). Dave elected to hold both of his units of gutter runners as ambushers. We roll and Dave gets the first turn.



Dave rolls skitterleap and warplighting on the engineer in the tanker and warplighting and howling warp gale (ugh!) on the other engineer.










On Dave’s turn 1 he advances up the field, moving strong with his big block and the clan rats on the right and left. He also advances with the slaves across the board. He holds the rat darts back, perhaps because they are vulnerable, or perhaps to try to prevent me from getting around his flanks. He rolls a strong magic phase, (11PD, 6DD) and manages to get off one warplighting killing 4 Dark Riders and I scroll a howling warpgale.



On my turn 1 I advance aggressively on the right flank, charging the far right slave unit with two units of dark riders. Shades and dark riders move up on right and center to kill off some rat darts. Hydra advances on the right, as does my BSB. On the left I hang back to keep drawing his three strong units in. In my magic phase (10PD/5DD) I pull out the scroll of shielding, which combined with the obsidian trinket saves his general from any harm. I kill a rat dart and a unit of slaves in combat, the slaves exploding quite well and killing of some dark riders from each of the units that attacked it.



On Dave’s turn 2 Dave counters my attempts to kill his rat darts, charging 2 into one of my units and one into another. He advances further with his left most clan rat unit and tank unit towards my left general. His other clanrat unit and slave accompaniment swing towards center to try to blast with magic missiles. A unit of gutter runners comes on the back field (and kills my level 2 in a single round of shooting – I forget to roll my armor save). The giant rats don’t fare well in combat, clearing my dark riders to move on my turn.






On my turn 2 and I choose not to charge his tank unit (which he has placed into a forest). I instead walk up and drop a hydra breath weapon on him, opening the hydra’s flank to the clan rats on the right. Dave would later comment that I failed to take advantage of his mistake (not having steadfast). I on the other hand assumed he would block the hydra from fighting the unit, and so only the breath weapon would allow me to get over his static combat. I didn’t rate my chances very high. With the right side of the board already cleared (but for the gutter runners), I swing my flank to start peppering the clan rats. The hydra moves over next to the gutter runners (eliciting an ‘oh’ from Dave) and drop them by half with a breath weapon (and for 6’s on Dave’s part keeping them from just disappearing). They pass their panic. Magic is small, 3PD/2DD, but with Power of Darkness I manage to generate enough threat to pull out the Dispel scroll.



Dave’s turn 3 and the clanrats flank the hydra on the left side. The gutter runners go around the hydra on the right and try to pick off some of the smaller dark rider units. In his magic phase Dave irresistibles howling warp gale. The clanrats lose combat but hold. The tank unit swings towards the hydra to join combat on Dave’s next turn.



On my turn 3 charge the left shade unit into the rear of the clanrat/hydra combat. I move around to shoot the gutter runners on the right. In my magic 5PD/5DD, I put a Doom and Darkness on the center clan rats and then shoot a solo engineer to make them panic. I kill off the gutter runners. The clanrats die to the man. The shades reform long to maximize attacks should the hydra die/flee and the tank unit over run into them.



Skaven turn 4 and the tank unit charges into the hydra’s combat. The center units reform/rally and basically hold position. The other unit of gutter runners comes on and shoots dark riders, trying to get their points. They hydra loses combat and fleets through the shades. The tank unit fails to both catch the hydra and overrun into the shades.

My turn 4, and I’m closing up on the game. I move my shooting around to start peppering the stormvermin and line up the few remaining dark riders to escort a fleeing slave unit off the table faster. I take out the second unit of gutter runners. In my magic phase I spirit leech his general dead. The shades wrap around so not to be charged and the hydra rallies. I start moving the other hydra left. I drop the black dragon egg on the stormvermin, killing a few.



Skaven turn 5 and the tank unit, now missing a general and below half charges the wounded hydra even with the black dragon egg at leadership 6. The hydra dies in the combat.



My turn 5 and I kill off the slaves, and on at 6PD/3DD magic phase kill off another bonebreaker. At the end of my turn the tank unit consists of one bonebreaker, the BSB, the Chieftian, an engineer and two stormvermin. I continue to move the right flank hydra back towards the left.



Skaven turn 6 and the stormvermin make a break for the forest to take advantage of the -1 to shooting. Dave skitterleaps his BSB to a far corner to save him and gets off howling warp gale with a 12PD/6DD phase. I stop the magic missiles to keep my dark rider units alive, some of which are now down to one or two models.



On my turn 6 the hydra, finally having come far enough around attempts to charge the unit in the forest, but Dave flees. I then use my 8PD/4DD magic phase to snipe out first the obsidian trinket and then the last two members of the stormvermin unit, at which point Dave concedes.