Quake City Rumble – Round 2 – Alex Easter - Empire

Mission: The Beer Wench Arrives

Deployment: Dawn Attack - Unit with Keg always rolls center.

Special Rules: One unit gets the Keg (Stupid, ITP, Stubborn, Cannot use character’s LD on break tests, cannot be joined by characters, must be core with either banner or champion).  Dropped Keg can be picked up by anyone and gets items of having key.  Can only be picked up during movement phase and ends movement.  Can only be dropped by fleeing from combat or dying.  NOTE: If the unit loses combat, the winner can pick up instead of OVERRUN or PURSUE (This will matter in the mission, oops!).

Bonus Points: 2 for stealing keg.  1 for protecting Keg, 1 for holding YOUR keg in opponent’s half of the table.

The List:

Arch Lector, General, Shrieking Blade, Armor of Meteoric Iron, Luckstone, Crown of Command

Wizard, Level 4, Lore of Light, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon

Captain, BSB, Pistol, Shield, Warrior Bane, Helm of the Skavenslayer, Talisman of Endurance

Witch Hunter, Brace of Pistols
Master Engineer

39 Halberdiers, full command

10 Crossbows (Detachment)
19 Swordsman (Detachment)
10 Knights, musician, banner, Gleaming Pennant

30 Greatswords, full command, banner of eternal flame

15 Free Company (Detachment)
10 Huntsman
Great Cannon
Great Cannon

Hellblaster

Celestial Hurricanum

Alex is a member of the BizarroHammer club out of Davis.  With a comp of 8 and a big win Alex fell right into my trap.  That is to say, that my hopes that a small win round 1 would see me playing a big winner with a lower comp round 2 and not a lower comp army.  I wanted to be playing people softer than me all weekend and squeak in battle points, hopefully going big later in the event.  Before I had said that BizarroHammer was more hobby than tournament focused.  While still focused on the hobby, their team has really started to step up their play and I knew I was in for a challenge.  Luckily, I had the mission helping me along, and hopefully breaking up his battle line.  The hellblaster didn’t look like a lot of fun to me, probably taking off (or at least crippling) a unit a turn.  The cannons were probably going to be able to take out my two non-reverse ward save characters.  I had to hope that the inability of Alex to place one model and know that there will be something else to support it would play to my advantage and make these priority targets vulnerable.

For spells Alex gets Pha’s protection, banishment, burning gaze and Net… Harder to shoot, nukes my reverse ward save (and is only strength 4), a decent magic missile to kill dark riders and a thing to make me not run away when I want to with my strength 3 army (except for characters, which are a 4, thank you dark peg).  Not a great magic set up for me… why couldn’t he have gotten movement (which I could hide from) or weapon skill (which I don’t care about)?

My magic I rolled up searing doom and final transmutation on metal, giving death spirit leech, caress, soulblight, doom and darkness and purple sun.

We roll off and I get first turn, choose my side and start to roll for deployment.  I get a fairly normal looking set up.  Two dark riders on the left (one with a 6) along with my metal caster (which was good as his knights ended up opposite).  Center I had two dark riders and the harpies, along with both characters.  One unit of dark riders on the right, luckly to keep the huntsman back and the bolt throwers both took center.

Alex didn’t roll any for the left side (from my perspective) except for a cannon which he placed as close center as he could to be protected (and possibly hoping something else would be able to take that side.  Then came the knights far left center, the halbreds with detachments, the greatswords and the free company detarment holding the right side.  The Hurricanum also took right side, but he deployed it as far center as possible, and facing the center.  The hellblaster when on the line in the center and the other cannon went on the right, protected by the free company.

With the right flank free and clear I match up my two units of shades, knowing that one will get blasted by the hellblaster and hoping the forest will save me.  The dark riders all advance, mindful of his shooting.  He has the witch hunter select my general despite the killing blow no longer effecting him and fails to roll the 6, giving me the first turn.  He does put his huntsman fairly center/left ish, not sure what he was thinking.  Looking at the photos, it looks like I have a unit of shades way to close, I think it’s because I took this photo after I had moved them up from behind the other unit…otherwise I made a mistake that went uncaught.

I’m not sure what Alex was going for with the huntsman, maybe because they could be in the forest and he wanted to kill the metal caster.  I’m not sure.  But on turn 1 I charged them with that metal caster, who was not wounded by the stand and shoot.  With the shades there he didn’t want to flee so I jammed a unit of dark riders in as well, losing one to the dangerous terrain.  Otherwise I move up on all sides, including moving the assassins into range of the cannon and the dark riders on the right coming up around the free company (to which Alex cursed with his chariot facing the wrong direction).  I roll a 5/3 magic phase and proceed to roll snakes on my PoD for the death caster.  The other dice don’t do anything as my metal caster is in combat.  Together the assassins bring down the cannon.  I put 2 wounds on the Hellblaster (not sure couldn’t read my notes) and put 7 wounds on the cross bows.  I lose 2 dark riders but kill off the huntsman.

 

On Alex’s turn 1 he moves up strong, opening up the hellblaster to the shades.  He rolls a 5/2 magic phase after channels.  I scroll banishment on my general but he gets off net on the general.  The hellblaster only kills 1 shade.  The crossbows kill 1 harpy.  The witch hunter puts 1 wound on my general.  The cannon grapeshots the dark riders but it’s not effective at long range.

On my turn 2 the harpy unit charges the hell blaster.  The dark riders charge the cannon.  The other harpy unit flanks the hurricanum that was watching the rear for the right dark rider unit.  All the charges make it.  My caster fails his net test and so can’t fly away from the impending charge.  I roll an 8/6 magic phase.  Knowing my death wizard is likely to not cast, I throw 6 at a big searing doom on the knights which he scrolls.  I don’t both with 2 dice for final and move to shooting.  My breath weapon kills 22 halberds and puts a wound on the witch hunter that fails his test.  Both throwers kill only 4 more halberds.  I kill the engineer with the shades.  Dark riders take out the crossbows.  The other unit of shades kills 3 knights.  In combat I kill both the cannon and hellblaster.  I put 1 wound on the Hurricanum but he passes his test to flee with a 5, rerolling.  He doesn’t turn around though.

Alex’s turn 2 and the general makes his net test and flees from the charge.  The knights move up, so my fleeing general (should she rally) will be facing the knights on the flank, and 3 units.  A 6/5 magic phase has me dispelling banishment and burning gaze kills 1 dark rider which has them run off the table (only 3 left after fighting both trees and huntsman).  The harpies do 2 more wounds to the Hurricanum and run it down when it flees, barely keeping themselves on the table.

My turn 3 and I have no charges, and no real threats left.  My general rallies.  My turn for a 6/5 magic phase.  Alex dispels my PoD.  He then fails to dispel Spirit leech on his BSB.  With my last die I throw a 1 die PoD with metal caster, getting 3 more (8/5).  I then searing doom knights, getting 1.  In shooting I kill 4 knights, leaving 2.  I kill 9 halberds.  To protect my general from the knights I had put a unit of harpies and dark riders in front of the block units and knights respectively, so…

On Alex’s turn 3 he double charges the harpies and puts the last 2 knights into the dark riders.  The remaining halberds and characters book it to the building.  He then rolls a 6/5 magic phase.  I fail to dispel banishment on my general even though I rolled 5 dice to his 4.  Luckily it only does 1 wound.  He then double 6s burning gaze, failing to wound with it.  The miscast does a wound to the wizard and kills 1 halberd.  The building really mitigates the miscast.  The witch hunter take the charmed shield off the BSB.  The horses of the dark riders kill one of the last 2 knights.  He wiffs, and I win on the tie.  He is stubborn because of the keg and holds.  The harpies get just slaughtered.

My turn 4 my keg unit goes stupid, but luckily I have it far enough back that it doesn’t leave his deployment zone.  The shades charge the building, the other shades charge the knights and fail, but I had also charged with a unit of dark riders (both couldn’t make it), so I do get the second unit into combat that I wanted.  Dark Riders are pretty much just as good as an assassin vs T3, at least for the first round of combat (maybe even better with 6 attacks).  I roll a 7/5 magic phase and start off with getting 4 more on Pod (9/5).  I double 6 spirit leech on the BSB, getting no wounds and losing 5 dice.  In shooting I kill 4 swordsman.  In the building the arch lector doesn’t take a wound in the challenge and slaps down the assassin.  I then kill his wizard and all the halbreds.  He passes his test and keeps the building, with just the witch hunter (1 wound left) and the lector.  The Dark Riders kill the Knights – at which point I DON’T pick up the keg.  At the time I was thinking I could do it next turn… I didn’t remember I could do it on the over run.

Alex takes his turn, with the swordsman charging the bolt thrower I put to close to the line.  The BSB moves out of his unit to shoot my caster.  A 3/2 magic phase has me allowing the ward save on the building and I dispel the rerolling.  Forgot he didn’t have a caster when I let the first prayer through.  BSB fails to kill my caster.  The Bolt thrower doesn’t die.

Game is called due to time.  I consider asking to be allowed to pick up his keg for the points, thinking I had to do it during the movement phase.  I decide not to ask for special dispensation though, and only realized I could have gotten it the previous turn by doing this report.  But picking it up would have given me the 20 and I was trying to fly below top table radar.

 I had a good game.  Alex seemed engaged and willing to take on the challenge.  The deployment set him back where it barely fazed me.  Too many targets able to challenge his warmachines saw him quickly lose his ability to control the board.

 

 

HAHA... I didn't notice it until I was prepping this to post (a week after i wrote it and two weeks after qcr)... there is a hand print in that forst.