I played another game against Rusty's Ogres on Wednesday and this time I decided to try the Lore of Heavens. My initial thought was that this was a good matchup for me. He can try to kill my Pegs with cannons, but it is unreliable and I should be able to kill a lot of his Ogres at range with my many crossbows, as well as focusing down single units with my massive manouvreability.
My ListDreadlord, General, Light Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Dark Steed, Enchanted Shield, Giant Blade, Dawnstone - 258pts
Supreme Sorceress, lvl4 Death, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek - 295pts
Master, Dark Pegasus, Heavy Armour, Lance, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield Cloak of Twilight - 188pts
Master, Dark Pegasus, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Lance, Armour of Destiny - 184pts
Master, Dark Pegasus, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Charmed Shield, Lance, Talisman of Preservation, BSB - 211pts
Characters = 1136pts25 Darkshards, Guardmaster, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Eternal Flame - 340pts
9 Dark Riders, Shields, Repeater Crossbows - 180pts
5 Dark Riders - 80pts
Core = 600ptsReaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
5 Harpies - 75pts
5 Shades - 80pts
Special = 435pts9 Doomfire Warlocks - 225pts
Rare = 225ptsArmy Total = 2396ptsHis ListHeroes (575pts)Bruiser
General
Great Weapon, Heavy Armour
Ironcurse Icon,Talisman of Preservation
Bruiser
Battle Standard Bearer, Great Weapon
Armour of Destiny
Firebelly
Great Weapon, Wizard Level 2
Dispel Scroll, Ruby Ring of Ruin
Core (610pts)3*10 Gnoblars
9 Ironguts
Full command
Standard of Discipline
3 Ogres
Bellower
Additional Hand Weapon
Special (871pts)8 Leadbelchers
Bellower, Champion
7 Maneaters
Bellower, Poisoned Attacks , Stubborn
Maneaters (62pts)
A Brace of Ogre Pistols, Light Armour
3*1 Sabretusk
Rare (340pts)2*Ironblaster
DeploymentWe decided to use ETC table number 1 this time. My spell selection was extremely good and I got Iceshard Blizzard, Harmonic Convergence, Curse of the Midnight Wind and Comet of Cassanadora. He got Fireball and Burning Head. I was not completely happy with deployment as I had to decide if I wanted to hide RBTs from his shooting unit or place them so that I actually could shoot with them. The two on the hill were not in a good place as they could easily be shot down, but I could live with it. I deployed my Shades to try and shoot at his chaff to get some easy points. I vanguarded my Warlocks backwards so that they could not get shot at if he got turn 1. I was fairly happy with this as he actually got first turn.
Turn 1He did not move a whole lot, but his Maneaters moved forward, as did his Leadbelchers. I liked this, as he was now in a very dangerous spot. I will come back to this on my turn.
His magic phase is 8v6. He uses the Ruby Ring of Ruin on the Shades, which I dispel. I also scroll his attempt at fireball on the shades, the reason here being that they are the prime target for his magic.
His one Ironblaster kills my leftmost Dark Riders, while the other bounces off the Twilight Cloak. His Maneaters shoot off one of my Reapers, while the Leadbelchers fail to do anything.
I realise that he has left his left flank wide open. His Ironguts cannot do much during the next few round and I should have no trouble beating his other two units in combat. I aggressively move my Dark Riders and Warlocks as well as my two peg heroes up. The Dark Riders were there to give the Warlocks cover and to flee if they got charged. My last Peg Rider went up to threaten the Ogres on his right flank. This was a mistake, I should have moved him towards the other flank instead.
Magic is a massive 11v6 and I have a lvl4, while he only has a lvl2. I get Iceshard Blizzard off on the Leadbelchers with 2d6 and Curse of the Midnight Wind off on the Maneaters with 3d6. I am left with my last six dice against his six. He scrolls Soulblight on the Maneaters on 3d6. For my last spell, I cast Comet, the perfect spell against gunlines. I roll 2 6s and the miscast is a 4...Fortunately I live, but 6 Darkshards dies and the SS takes a wound. A fantastic magic phase! I got three spells off AND drew the scroll.
My shooting does next to nothing. I kill one sabretusk and put a wound on another, the rest of the shots fail to hit.
Turn 2He charges the Leadbelchers into the Dark Riders and I flee through the Warlocks, he does not redirect. The Maneaters then charge the Warlocks and roll a 10 for their charge distance. Irritating, but considering they still have Curse of the Midnight Wind on them, I am going to be ok. The rest of his army shuffles around, trying to get out of comet range.
Magic is 10v6 and he manages to kill four of my Harpies and take the Charmed Shield off my BSB. The Comet does not come down.
He shoots off the last harpy with a cannon. This may sound weird, but I think it was the right call. He has to get rid of my redirectors if he is to have any chance in this game. His left flank is going to break and he needs to get his Gutstar in position sooner rather than later. The other cannon fails to get through my BSBs ward save.
In combat, my lord kills his champion and the Warlocks do 7 wounds to the Maneaters as well. He, however, kills 5 of my Warlocks which is a few too much in my opinion. He sticks due to stubborn.
My Pegs charge into his Maneaters, wanting to finish him off as soon as possible. My Dark Riders move up to redirect the Gutstar.
Magic is 5v3 and I get Curse of the Midnight Wind off on the Maneaters again. In hindsight, this was pretty silly. I should have prioritised spells on other units instead. The comet still doesn't come down.
My shooting is pretty tame, but I think I kill a leadbelcher.
My characters and Warlocks obliterate his Maneaters. The Twilight Peg overruns 1" away from the Leadbelchers.
Turn 3His gutstar charges the DR screen and I flee, he then makes a major mistake and redirects into the Warlocks. I am super happy with this as there are only 4 Warlocks left and my Dreadlord would not get a look out sir against his cannons. They run behind the hill and out of sight. His Gutstar stumbles forward. The Leadbelchers charge the Twilight Peg.
Magic is 7v4, but he only kills one DR with his spells. The BSB survives another cannonball. I think he fails to wound this time.
The twilight Peg kills one Leadbelcher, but he sticks on steadfast.
In my turn, I rally my Fast Cav and join the Lord to the DR, while the Warlocks move up to threaten the Leadbelchers and the Ironblaster.
Magic is 3v2 and I cast Iceshard Blizzard on one of his Ironblasters, but more importantly, the Comet comes down with s8! It kills a few Ironguts and does this to the Leadbelchers.
My shooting this turn mostly goes into the Gutstar as he is no longer in heavy cover and I manage to kill a few. His chaff is almost depleted now.
Turn 4He moves the Ironguts back behind cover and turns the Ironblasters around to shoot at one of my Pegs. One of them kills him in the shooting phase.
In his magic phase, he gets 10v5 dice and he kills one of the Reapers with a 3d6 fireball.
In my turn both surviving Pegs charge an Ironblaster that they easily dispatch.
In magic I get 5v3 and roll 3 6s with my Warlocks, attempting to cast Doombolt on the Gutstar. I kill one Irongut and lose three Warlocks.
I continue to shoot at his chaff and deplete it some more.
Turn 5+6He turns around and kills my Warlocks with fire magic.
I charge all the characters into the Gutstar and beat them over the ensuing three rounds of combat. Heaven really helped here as both Iceshard Blizzard and Curse of the Midnight Wind were extremely good.
My shooting kills the rest of his chaff and I table him!
EvaluationI think I played OK and got some good luck in the right places. I definately should not have moved one of my Pegs all the way over to the left, but rather kept it with the others. Anyway, I am fairly happy with my game as Rusty is a really good player and I love it every time I get to beat him!
Thoughts?
I will probably post about the Lore of Heavens and pros and cons regarding it sometime tomorrow or later tonight.